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If the name Thilo Widder sounds familiar, you have a good memory! Thilo is a contributor at our Minnesota Timberwolves sister site Canis Hoopus, and he participated in the second round of Fraternizing with the Enemy with J.R. Wilco during their playoff series against the Spurs. He also enjoys contributing to other blogs, and we have the great honor of him providing this amazing piece on Carter Bryant and his contributions to the deaf community to Pounding the Rock. We hope you enjoy. -the Editors

What’s the first thing you think of when you think basketball? Do you see the sight of the ball dropping through the net? Can you just feel the excitement burst into your bloodstream, a memory turned physical with a moment’s notice?

Or, do you hear it?

Because I hear basketball. I hear its presentation when Mike Breen yells “bang.” I hear the sound of shoes squeaking up and down the court, of Mark Cuban’s speaker system bafflingly installed inside the hoop itself.

I hear it all. I live for it. It’s essential to how I have fallen in love with basketball.

But what if it hadn’t been? What if I, like thousands of fans, could not hear the game? Deafness continues to be a more and more common disability. Over 430 million people world-wide already deal with some sort of hearing loss with the WHO estimating that number to rise to over 700 million by 2050, approximately 10% of the world’s population by that time.

There’s an ESPN story about “Invisible Disabilities” faced by sports fans that has stuck with me many years after it was originally posted just about two years ago. There’s one section about a deaf fan, Amy Gomme, who said the following:

“These leagues, these teams are missing out on a new fan base, potential fans who would show up to games if the experience was inclusive enough.”

I wonder how Carter Bryant feels about that.

To be clear, Bryant is not deaf. Instead, he’s been molded by the community that still seems like such an afterthought to the NBA’s production. As a child in a non-hearing family, and a special advocate of Gallaudet University, a school for the hearing impaired, Bryant called himself the “face of their platform” in a pre-draft video. That seems more important than ever.

“For the longest time, I thought half the population was deaf and half the population was hearing,” Bryant said. “Because, just how I was brought up, half my day was spent with deaf people.”

Bryant is something called a GODA – or a grandchild of a deaf adult. The slightly less known acronym than its generationally separated CODA (child of a deaf adult) has fundamentally shaped the man he is today.

That G part of that set of four letters carries more than it seems. Bryant’s grandfather is Doc Torres, who few of you will know. Widely considered the brightest star of an 80s Gallaudet team, Torres was shunned from the NBA for his deafness. He would go on to play nearly 20 years in Puerto Rico and win two gold medals at the Deaflympics.

There has only ever been one deaf NBA player. Lance Allred played for the Cleveland Cavaliers for three games in the 2007-08 season. He would spend 16 seasons bouncing around 17 different teams from the early 2000s to the mid-2010s.

During his time in the G-League, Allred faced discriminatory abuse from his coach while playing for his hometown Utah Flash.

It was clear that the NBA was not ready to empower deaf players. Whether it was for a lack of readiness or a lack of care, they simply did not set up Allred – or Torres for that matter – for success.

It is certainly not from a lack of talent. That much is very clearly certain.

Carter Bryant decided on Arizona, a university with an established pipeline to the NBA, for any number of reasons. They played the fast paced brand of basketball that would empower him. His aunt had played volleyball there and he knew the coaches well. They had a history of turning forwards with similar body types to his own into lottery picks and champions. From Aaron Gordon to Derrick Williams to the more recent Benedict Mathurin, the fit was clear.

Still, there was an option that must have tugged at Bryant’s heart-strings. Gallaudet University could offer him a third generation of his family, tied to a school and a community that he clearly cares about so strongly.

And yet, it never could’ve been in consideration. To go to Gallaudet would be to abandon the dream he had built in his parents’ home.

He understandably made the only real choice he had, the only choice that loving family would’ve allowed.

Still, at Gallaudet, his grandparents would be able to attend games and be treated as people first, not as their disabilities.

Instead, Arizona had an incredible season. Bryant was a blur in transition and his body rapidly took form as his defense did the same. Transfer Caleb Love joined him to lead the Wildcats to the Sweet Sixteen.

During that run, or even during his whole college season, Carter’s mind was on his family, as undoubtedly theirs was on him. Yet, despite their continued care for him, Bryant’s games were getting harder and harder to follow and watch for the people that he wanted there most.

It seems silly to say. Arizona’s games were all televised. There are gaggles of reporters doing write ups for these contests. Coverage was not too far out of reach.

And yet…

“I think basketball is unique, because it’s a live event, so I think ways I could relate to that would be theater, cinema, concerts. It’s really hard to find caption films when they come out live, and so there’s a lot of delay in access to information.” said Apolline Tardy, a Ph.D student at Berkley College and an advocate and researcher of accessibility technology.

“Movies will come out in theaters, they don’t have captions yet… even if something is coming out live, the captions often have a delay, especially if they’re manually typed, and it’s just.. it’s such bad of an experience that I don’t follow at all. I don’t want to, because it’s kind of incoherent. The timing is so important. I imagine basketball is so visual, like you don’t want to see someone shoot and then wait 40 seconds to, to know who did it”

Only four teams – the LA Clippers, the Phoenix Suns, the Portland Trailblazers, and the Brooklyn Nets – offer OneCourt, a disability aid for low vision individuals or the vision impaired. As far as whatever is publicly available, no teams offer any sort of support for deaf fans.

The assumption is that fans who need them will have their own cochlear implants, that all these fans need to do is to join the “hearing world.”

In 2021, Zach Lavine took a group of hard of hearing students to a Chicago White Sox game, continuing a commitment that started when he was in high school. The interpreter he includes in his messages are a stark reminder of what the NBA has not done.

What’s your favorite part of being a fan of the NBA? Or any sports league for that matter?

Is it the moments in play that remind you of when you first fell in love with the game, the nostalgia of remembering what it was like ten, fifteen, however many years ago?

Is it the transactions, the trades that promise endless debate and the thoughts of different universes? What if the Spurs had lost Tim Duncan to the Magic? What if they had drafted better players in the first few years of their rebuild?

Or, as it is for me, is it the community that comes with discussing these questions with peers, who decide to unite in their care for a sport that is slowly but surely becoming the world’s second most popular game?

Many of those who push back on accessibility claim that communities should be responsible for their own engagement. There hasn’t been much proof that the deaf community wants to engage with sports so why should we build out tools to help them?

The better question is: how many fans have we missed out on learning from because the league failed to invite them into the game.

Carter Bryant was invited to join the game that those fans shunned had made, a space they could play without the usual questions. Whereas hearing players, players who have been socialized yelling out orders on the basketball court, can communicate with ease, there is no place for signing in these runs.

“If I’m guarding the ball and I have four other people behind me, you kind of have no idea what’s going on,” Bryant told The Athletic in a February interview. “So being able to check out your peripherals, use your feet and just have a sense of natural feel for the game, it’s different. We take it for granted as players, and we don’t use our other senses as much, but we don’t have to.”

Bryant heard the same floor squeaks, the same sound of the swish we have all fallen in love with, but without the barking. He didn’t hear a screen called out, or a switch, it instead became a second instinct.

Schemes were internalized, matchups memorized, in a way that would not require communication but instead only the trust that his teammates would be there.

Inherent, unthinking belief that someone would be there. That someone would reach out.

The priority of the NBA has been globalization.

They have, to their immense credit, found ways to build basketball from a game for fans all over the world to a worldly game, which is not an insignificant jump to make. Fans can now experience their favorite teams in Spanish, Japanese, French, and any of the other 60 languages offered.

If you’ll bear with me, Spanish broadcasts of NBA games first started in 1995 when the Miami Heat partnered with a local radio station and decided they would supply the local market with dubbed commentary of Heat games. For over a thousand straight games, Jose Pañeda sat in the booth and excited fans who had not been ignored entirely, but certainly also hadn’t been invited.

A few years later, the NBA greenlit a deal with Telemundo, leading to a 15 game trial period across three years, opening the door for ESPN Deportes and the ilk. Decades later and those are cornerstones of the ESPN network.

It is insane to argue that the league would never have sought out a way to communicate with fans outside of the English language. However, it took just one act of one franchise, 25 years ago, to make the league better, not just for Spanish speakers but for fans in China or Germany or Brazil.

Because they reached out. They assumed someone would be there if they opened their doors and they were right.

“I think an argument you should make is that deafness is very similar to a language barrier,” said Tardy, “If I only spoke French and I went to the NBA in the US, I wouldn’t know what was going on… Some deaf people just consider themselves a linguistic minority. They say ‘if everybody spoke ASL, then it wouldn’t be a problem at all for anyone, because everyone could just operate on other senses.’”

What would a broadcast for deaf fans even look like? It’s certainly not as easy as an option as for different non-English verbal languages. Would it be as simple as having an interpreter, as has been provided for concerts and films?

“My goal is that it doesn’t become secondary, that you know you have the primary source of information, that speech, for example, and then you have the secondary source, like it’s translated in another way, and then you become the second to hear it.”  continued Tardy, “I think what would make the experience so much smoother is if there was a primary way to access information… why can’t there just be a deaf commentator that’s not translating a hearing commentator?”

430 million people are deaf worldwide. That is more people than the population of all but two countries in the world.

They – and their potential fandom – are ignored.

Carter Bryant is being ignored.

It’s the middle of the season and the 15th pick has still not cracked the rotation. He has been sent back and forth from the G-League, and he is playing against the end of the bench guys that NBA fans so frequently forget are among the top 500 players in the world.

Worst of all, he’s missing dunks. What was once the easiest thing on the planet is now coming harder and harder. It’s like the court is screaming at him. Gone is the quiet, the focus on simply trusting and executing, here is the new reality.

At first, he gets loud. He plays the character he thinks he needs to. He becomes robotic. His movements are stiff. He falls further and further from a normal role.

He is transferred back down to the G-League again. However, this time it comes not with a focus. He is not told to practice his mechanics or on-ball creation, although I’m sure that was in the notes as well.

No, he’s told to find himself.

There’s a concept in accessibility circles called imagined needs. In Apolline’s words, “accessibility has a long history of being made by people who don’t experience the disability and who imagine what the needs might be, and then when they actually show their products… this is fun, but I won’t use it in my day-to-day life, because it’s impractical, or because I just feel embarrassed to use that in public.”

I think the same concept applies to development in the NBA. We assume we know the swing factors for players to succeed. We rave about whether a handle or a buffer frame or any number of things are the things that will take our favorite young players from prospect to star.

Maybe these two things are unavoidable. What did it take for Bryant to find a spot as the first forward to sub in for a Spurs team that would make their first final in 12 years? Was it a better shot? Was it a return to non-robot form?

No, it was finding home. And he found it in the fraternity that grew him.

Bryant would re-engage with the deaf community, although it’s more accurate to say he extended an open hand in a new place. He led events at the Sunshine Cottage School for the Hearing Impaired in San Antonio. He signed hello to deaf families when out and about, an act so simple that had become so foreign.

For Carter, silence is home. Not just the lack of sound, but the lack of outside input. He speaks sparingly. He is kind, yet soft spoken. He is looking out for obstacles that he does not expect to be announced. He is compared to dumplings on Twitter.

In a world full of invisible barriers to the league, those silent and those overwhelmingly, unendingly loud, he has focused on what is directly in front of him.

It’s a quiet journey. But it was never one without communication. Maybe the next step is helping to take the courts he grew up on, the ones without the relentless chatter, and shaping the NBA landscape with them in mind. Maybe it comes first in the form of a breakout sophomore season on the Western Conference Champion. Maybe it does not come at all.

But what is undeniably certain is the means he will use to pursue that journey, wherever it leaves him.

With silent growth, and ever open arms.

With words unheard but not unspoken.

With a future he is sure to grasp, and a community he has never stopped hearing.

Silence has never been quite this loud.

The NBA’s investigation into Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers reportedly reaches beyond the controversial Aspiration sponsorship deal that first triggered scrutiny nearly a year ago, with the uncertainty now putting Leonard’s planned trade to the Toronto Raptors on ice.

According to new reporting from The Athletic, the outside law firm conducting the inquiry has examined whether the Clippers paid expenses on Leonard’s behalf without receiving reimbursement. Investigators have also looked into whether Leonard held a previously undisclosed endorsement agreement with a second company.

“[The investigation] looked into whether the Clippers improperly covered expenses for Leonard but were not reimbursed for them, those sources said, wrote The Athletic. “And the firm has examined if Leonard had a previously unreported endorsement deal with another company, those sources said.”

Those two developments significantly broaden what was initially understood to be a narrow investigation centered on possible salary-cap circumvention.

The league hired Wachtell Lipton to determine whether the Clippers helped arrange Leonard’s lucrative agreement with Aspiration as a way to provide compensation outside his NBA contract. The environmental company agreed to pay Leonard $28 million, though he never appeared in a public advertising campaign before Aspiration’s financial collapse and eventual bankruptcy.

The Athletic reported that investigators are now following additional financial threads uncovered during the process. It remains unclear which expenses the Clippers allegedly covered, how much money was involved or what company was connected to the possible second endorsement deal.

No finding of wrongdoing has been announced.

The Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer have repeatedly denied using Aspiration to funnel money to Leonard. The organization maintains that it was among the investors and business partners defrauded by Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg, who pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges and was sentenced to prison.

“We did not funnel money to Kawhi Leonard through Aspiration,” the Clippers said in a recent statement, adding that the team expects the investigation to confirm it did not violate league rules.

The widening inquiry could shed light on why the case has continued into its 11th month despite NBA commissioner Adam Silver previously suggesting it was approaching a conclusion. Silver has said the league needs finality but also wants the outside investigators to complete a thorough review.

The delay has already complicated one of the offseason’s biggest potential moves.

Toronto paused its agreement to reacquire Leonard after the NBA informed the Raptors they would assume the risk of any discipline affecting him after the trade. The Raptors still intend to complete the deal but will wait until the investigation ends before taking on that uncertainty.

The NBA’s original question was whether Leonard’s Aspiration contract crossed the line between a legitimate endorsement and off-the-books compensation.

Now investigators appear to be asking something broader: whether the Aspiration arrangement was an isolated issue or part of a larger web of financial benefits surrounding the Clippers star.

Until the league answers that question, Leonard’s Toronto return—and the Clippers’ offseason—will remain frozen.

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LAS VEGAS — Robbie Avila has heard the chants.

He heard the fans inside of Thomas & Mack Center shouting “We Want Rob-bie!” during the second half of the Lakers’ summer league game on Friday against the Thunder.

The same scene repeated itself during the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game against the Mavericks, with fans booing anytime a Lakers player who wasn’t Avila subbed into the game. 

It got to the point where even the PA announcer for the Lakers-Mavericks game got in on the chants, saying “say it louder” while the fans made it clear they wanted to see the 2026 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year showcase his unique skillset on the court. 

“It’s pretty cool to hear the fans cheer my name,” Avila told the California Post. “It’s a little bit of motivation because right now I’m not on the court and so it’s gonna continue to make me strive to be better so that I am out there so I can give them what they want to see. But it’s awesome to hear them chant.”

The Lakers played their third Las Vegas Summer League game, and sixth summer league game over the last 12 days, on Tuesday night against the Clippers.

And with two more summer league games left after Tuesday, Avila is hopeful he’ll get more playing opportunities than he had entering Tuesday. 

Avila played in just one of the Lakers’ five summer league games entering Tuesday.

He started in their win over the Spurs on July 6 during the California Classic, finishing with 2 points (1-of-6 shooting), 2 assists and 1 rebound in 14 minutes. 

“Just to continue to learn,” Avila told the Post on what he’s hoping for the rest of the week. “Hopefully [I’ll] be able to maybe get an opportunity to play. If not, then be the best teammate I can.”

Fans wanting to see Avila play isn’t surprising. 

Despite going undrafted, he was one of the more popular players in the 2026 class.

The fact fans know his name is more surprising considering the laundry list of nicknames he accumulated while in college.  

“I think some people don’t even know my real name at this point,” Avila told the Post. 

Avila’s most popular and widely-known nickname? 

Cream Abdul-Jabbar — a nickname popularized by Kentucky Sports radio host Matt Jones in 2024 while Avila, who wears protective goggles like NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, was playing at Indiana State before he transferred to Saint Louis for his junior and senior seasons. 

“It’s one of the most unique nicknames I think I’ve ever seen,” Avila told the Post. 

But Avila’s personal favorite nickname is Rob Wave, which is a play on rapper Rod Wave, who is Avila’s favorite music artist. 

“They think it’s just funny,” Avila told the Post on what his family and friends think about his nicknames. “They think it’s awesome. Obviously whenever something new comes out or when somebody uses it in a video, they like to send it to me. And so that’s why I enjoy them too. Just to see everybody around me have fun with it.” 

Larry Nerd, a play off of NBA icon and Indiana State legend Larry Bird, is the nickname Avila doesn’t get enough love. 

“The Larry Nerd one’s kind of gone down a lot more not being at Indiana State anymore,” Avila told the Post. “But when that one came out, that was obviously one of the most creative ones as well.”

Avila discussed some of his nicknames with the California Post, including ranking them by tiers (S tier, A tier, B tier, C tier, D tier and F tier)

Cream Abdul-Jabbar

Avila: “I think out of creativity, you got to put that at the S tier. If I were to rank it myself, I’d put it at A.”

He added: “I wouldn’t say it’s my least favorite. Obviously, Cream’s been used [for] so long. It’s the most used one. I’m trying to get that away from that one. That’s why I’m pushing Rob Wave.”

Larry Nerd

Avila: “Larry Nerd is an A tier. That was a good one to tie in with Indiana State.” 

College Jokic

Avila: “That one obviously being tied to [Nikola] Jokic is just pretty cool. But as far as creativity, it’s not the highest, so I’d probably put it a B tier.”

Larry Blurr

Avila: “Larry Blurr I think is a B tier as well.” 

Rob Wave

Avila: “Rob Wave [is] S tier, no joke.”

Milk Chamberlain

Avila: “Milk Chamberlain I think is also an S tier one, the creativity with that as well.”

Steph Blurry

Avila: “Steph Blurry I think, let’s go C tier.”

Shaquille Oatmeal

Avila: “That one’s another creativity one, but me personally, we’ll put it at the C tier.”

SLU Alcindor

Avila: “SLU Alcindor, when I went to [Saint Louis] was pretty good. I’ll put that as an A tier one too.”

LeBron Frames

Avila: “That’s another good one. I put that at B.”

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Like clockwork, the final domino has fallen as it pertains to the Phoenix Suns’ offseason moves to this point.

After the Miles Bridges trade with the Charlotte Hornets became official yesterday, the necessary cap space was created for Phoenix to utilize its non-taxpayer mid-level exception. With that, the Suns have officially signed Luke Kennard, who most recently played for the Los Angeles Lakers.

In a statement from the team:

PHOENIX – The Phoenix Suns announced today that the team has signed free agent guard Luke Kennard to a multi-year contract.

“Luke’s work ethic and commitment to his craft have made him one of the most efficient three-point shooters in NBA history,” said Suns general manager Brian Gregory. “His floor spacing, high basketball IQ and connective playmaking bring another dimension to our offense. We’re excited to welcome Luke and his family to Phoenix.”

The move makes plenty of sense. Phoenix lost a significant amount of shooting when Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale were sent to Charlotte in the Bridges trade. The two combined to make 371 three pointers last season while shooting 38% from beyond the arc. Adding Kennard provides the organization with another much-needed perimeter threat.

The challenge isn’t efficiency. It’s volume. The three most three-point attempts Kennard has taken in a single season are 423, which came with the Los Angeles Clippers during the 2021-22 campaign. He’s not going to replicate the combined volume Allen and O’Neale provided, but that’s not necessarily what the Suns are asking him to do.

With the number of options Phoenix now has on the wing, Kennard simply becomes another tool in Jordan Ott’s toolbox. He can be deployed based on specific matchups and lineup needs, giving the Suns another way to create spacing and maximize their offensive efficiency. That’s especially valuable when the player you’re adding is a career 44.2% three point shooter over nine NBA seasons.

As an aside, Kennard will wear No. 8, the jersey number previously worn by Grayson Allen. I nailed both of my predictions on the Bridges/Kennard jersey numbers, a first for me.

Kennard doesn’t replace Grayson Allen. He doesn’t replace Royce O’Neale either. That was never the assignment. He fills a different role on a roster that suddenly has far more lineup flexibility than it did a few months ago. Some nights, his shooting will be the answer. Other nights, it will be someone else’s defense, size, or athleticism. That’s the point. The Suns aren’t searching for one player to solve every problem anymore. They’re building a roster with multiple solutions, and Luke Kennard is another one of them.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Celtics fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

With anything that happens in Las Vegas, we’re all quick to temper our enthusiasm.

“It’s just Summer League.”

“It’s a small sample size.”

“Let’s remember that the guy was a second-round pick.”

“Just one more trip to the ATM and I’ll stop playing blackjack for the night.”

In just three games, what were relative unknowns have gone from peaked curiosity to uncontrollable excitement. With Hugo Gonzalez and Amari Williams, the sophomore duo has solidified their standing in their development timeline.

Gonzalez hasn’t had the best shooting performance in Sin City (6-of-26 from the field, 4-of-18 from 3), but he’s gone to the line a dozen times and filled the stat sheet, nearing a triple-double against the Raptors.

Williams has been an effective rim protector (6 blocks), a ferocious rebounder (6 offensive boards), and an effective playmaker above the break.

However, the biggest revelations might be in this year’s draft picks, Chris Cenac Jr. and Dillon Mitchell. In Monday’s game without Gonzalez and Williams, the rookies showed off some early chemistry. Here’s CelticsBlog Adam Taylor on their evolving synergy:

there was a play late in the third quarter where Cenac had blocked the shot, recovered his block and found Mitchell sprinting up the floor. When it comes to a foot face, at least at Summer League level, I’d be happy to bet on Mitchell winning those most of the time. So, no surprise that he outruns Atlanta’s defense to get the finish.

If you’re going to be watching the Maine Celtics a lot next season, I would assume the connection between these two will be something you come to look forward to. After all, Cenac might be signed to the primary roster, but he projects to spend a decent chunk of his time in the G League, while Mitchell will most likely land a two-way deal following his play over the last three games.

Expect a leap from Gonzalez next season. He was reportedly one of the sticky points in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade and has looked solid after a stint with Spain in the FIBA qualifiers. For Williams, Cenac Jr., and Mitchell, their road to playing time appears to be longer runway, but paved with potential.

The only player you care about looking good while the rest of the team gets smoked is the quintessential Summer League experience.

The Summer Sixers were demolished 87-64 by the Houston Rockets. They are now 2-1 with their penultimate game coming Wednesday at 4 p.m against Orlando. Their final game has yet to be announced.

Labaron Philon Jr. was the only Sixer who could find the hoop for much of the night. He went for a team-high 17 points shooting 7-of-11 from the floor along with four assists and two steals. Johni Broome finished with just two points and three rebounds on 1-of-5 shooting.

Amani Lyles was the only Sixer to reach double-digits. He shot 4-of-7 from the floor to finish with 13 points and three rebounds. Isaiah Crawford, who spent last season with Houston on a two-way, led all scorers with 19.

There was a lid on the rim for both teams as they combined to start the game 1-of-12 from the field. Philon snaking in nicely for a midrange at the 6:20 mark was the Sixers’ first points of the game. Finding the hoop remained a struggle for them while Houston was able to get in a rhythm. At the end of the first quarter the Sixers had scored eight points, seven of them by Philon.

The 2026 first-round pick was the only Sixer playing well, and he was doing so despite the Rockets’ defense loading up to stop him. They threw aggressive double teams at him nearly every trip down the court. He passed out of them very well, showing an impressive feel for passing, his teammates just weren’t able to convert. Philon was at least able to throw one flashy assist, saving a broken play with a touch bounce pass down to Amani Lyles for an and-1.

Broome did not have the same success. He missed both his first three field goal attempts of the game, and his first three free throw attempts, finally getting on the board three minutes into the second half. The Rockets were able to take away his post-ups fairly easily, getting the ball out of his hands in various ways.

Shooting 31% from the field, every field goal the Sixers were able to make felt noteworthy. They showed some life coming up with two consecutive steals after a Duke Miles three. Lyles picked up a lot of his production in this stretch doing the dirty work, but the 10-0 run they went on was the best they could do.

Isaac Johnson took a couple of charges, but has yet to replicate his shooting performance from his summer debut. His lone assist of the night was a nice high-low pass down to the block. Miles made a nice behind-the-back move to beat a defender, but was unable to finish the bucket. He ended up with five points shooting 2-of-9 on the night. He made some hustle plays to keep possessions alive, but his funky shot form makes it hard to believe in him in any serious setting.

Bell Ringer

Standings

• Isaac Johnson – 1
• Labaron Philon Jr. – 1

Candidates

• Labaron Philon Jr.
• Amani Lyles

Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic are no longer simply two talented guards sharing the Lakers’ backcourt. They have become the center of the franchise’s next chapter and close personal friends, as well.

With LeBron James moving on, Los Angeles has committed its future to Doncic and Reaves, who signed a four-year extension worth roughly $185 million earlier this summer. The deal confirmed what had become increasingly clear last season: Reaves is no longer an unexpected success story. He is one of the Lakers’ foundational players.

And his relationship with Doncic should only help the the next era coalesce.

“He’s one of my best friends on this planet,” Reaves said. “I talk to him almost every single day.”

Their conversations are not limited to basketball. Doncic regularly asks for golf advice, leaning on one of the NBA’s more accomplished golfers for help.

“I talk to him almost every single day. He sends me videos of his golf swing & asks what he can do to get better, and I tell him I’m not a coach.”

This glimpse into a friendship that has developed quickly since Doncic arrived from Dallas less than a year and a half ago. It also reflects the comfort the Lakers will need to translate onto the court as the pair assumes greater responsibility without James.

Reaves said on a recent episode of the Dan Patrick show that he, Doncic, coach JJ Redick and president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka have remained in close contact while the organization reshapes the roster. He believes they share a similar competitive outlook and are trying to build something capable of lasting beyond a single season.

That vision begins with how naturally the two guards complement each other, on and off the court. Doncic controls games through strength, patience and elite playmaking, while Reaves can score with or without the ball, attack closeouts and create as a secondary facilitator.

Reaves has said Doncic’s ability to manipulate pace and generate advantages is almost impossible to copy.

“You can study it, but I don’t know if you can really do it the way that he does it,” Reaves said.

The early results were promising. Los Angeles went 30-11 last season when both players were available, although injuries prevented the partnership from getting a full postseason test.

Now the safety net is gone.

Doncic and Reaves are close friends, golf correspondents and the two players expected to determine whether the Lakers’ post-LeBron era becomes a quick reset or the beginning of another sustained run.

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LeBron James could be close to picking a new NBA team.

The league's all-time leading scorer has been pondering his options since announcing plans to leave the Los Angeles Lakers when NBA free agency opened last month.

James possesses leverage in terms of his timing because his agent, Rich Paul, indicated money won't drive their decision. But the latest reports suggest he is at least narrowing his options and might be on the verge of figuring out where he will play in his record 24th NBA season.

ESPN's Shams Charania said on the Tuesday, July 14 episode of NBA Today that James has "a focus on Cleveland, Miami and Philadelphia," with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors also mentioned as contenders for James (through Paul) in recent days.

A report from Front Office Sports noted that multiple NBA front office executives also consider the Warriors a serious threat to sign James.

The Nets got a bit of a reality check on Saturday night, losing 83-76 to the Atlanta Hawks on a night where the main attractions — Mikel Brown Jr. and Egor Dëmin — rested on the second night of a back-to-back. Fortunately, the young cornerstones are expected to return tonight against Darius Acuff Jr. and the Sacramento Kings.

Enjoy!

📺 Watch

• Who: Brooklyn Nets vs. Sacramento Kings
• When: 6:00 PM ET
• Where: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas
• TV/Stream: YES Network, Prime Video

🏀 Game Preview

Of course, Stephen A. Smith screamed “BOX OFFICE!” at cameras the day after Brooklyn selected Mikel Brown Jr., and proceeded to mention how they should be the next team to be part of expansion. Darius Acuff Jr. could have a great career and we’d be thrilled! But the focus in Brooklyn is all on Brown Jr., no matter how much hype has been around this matchup.

It doesn’t need to be anything more or less than that. Keep an eye on how these two young floor generals attempt to set the tone early.

More here from Anthony Puccio.

💬 Discussion

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