Category: Basketball

The Dallas Mavericks are just weeks away from year-two Cooper Flagg and a new look roster taking the court for training camp. In the calm before the upcoming storm that is the NBA season, basketball-related news is quiet, but that leaves plenty of room for things like… jersey leaks.

It’s no secret that the NBA loves to pump out multiple jerseys for each team around the league, enlisting Nike to help them do just that. Originally having an eight-year deal, Nike and the NBA didn’t even finish their first contract before extending their partnership an additional 12-years through the end of the 2037 season.

Since Nike took over jersey duties, the notion of home and away uniforms has gone by the wayside. Instead, there are five categories of jersey for each team.

• Association Edition: Formerly known as the “home” jersey; the standard white color scheme.
• Icon Edition: Formerly known as the “away” jersey: the standard primary team color.
• Statement Edition: Formerly known as the “alternate” jersey (back when there were only three), which features a more dramatic look and the Jumpman logo.
• City Edition: Features designs that harken to local culture.
• Classic Edition: These are “throwback” jerseys that reference a team’s past classics.

That is a lot of jerseys to go around every team for 82 games, but fans generally seem to like the notion of a changeup from the usual home and road options. Of course, there are plenty of alternate jerseys that meet the ire of a given fan base season-to-season. This year, it seems as though Nike is looking to avoid any new options receiving criticism by giving the league retreads. Case in point, the Mavericks are rumored to be bringing back the gold and white Pegasus jerseys for their City Edition this season.

Dallas has had a mixed bag of City Editions over the years, but the Pegasus jersey seems to be generally well-liked, despite not having any real tie to the historic blues and greens the Mavericks are known for. The Pegasus jersey does adequately give a nod to the city by way of the famous Pegasus that was adorned atop the Magnolia Building in 1934 (with modern appearances outside the Magnolia Hotel and the Omni Dallas Hotel), making it one of the better city tie-ins, per se.

Although the jersey makes sense based on a nearly 100-year connection to Dallas, the rehash is somewhat ponderous. Just last year, Nike revamped the Pegasus jersey into a black and blue version, which fit better with the Mavericks’ traditional color scheme while still connecting to the city at large. Now, barely 10-years after the start of their partnership with the NBA, and with more than 10-years remaining, Nike isn’t even doing something new. 10 years is a long time, but it seems too soon to bring back what we’ve already seen. Anyone who missed out the first time should be happy, but anyone with long term goals of having a 20-year collection of different City Editions is going to have a duplicate!

Jests aside, this is a weird look for Nike. They position themselves as one of the premier shoe and apparel companies of all time, but this just feels like they are somehow out of ideas and mailing it in. Already we’ve seen different color schemes of the same design, but now we’re getting outright exact duplicates? One would think Nike would have at least the next few years of new designs in the bag in advance, yet here we are.

For my part, I’d be plenty happy with three jerseys. Give me a home, an away, and an alternate that changes (into something new!) every year. Keep it simple. Keep it fresh. If we’re out of ideas already, maybe five different uniform variations is too much.

I invite you to follow me @_80MPH on X, and check back often at Mavs Moneyball for all the latest on the Dallas Mavericks.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Mavericks fans and fans across the country.

We’re in one of the deader times for the NBA. There is the FIBA World Cup for men and women but it’s not really on TV in America unless you find some streaming options. That means here at Mavs Moneyball we’re whittling away the time.And while we do have posts, I wanted to ask this poll question to gauge what our August and September diehards think. More thoughts from me once I see the results lby Friday.

“Time does not exist as a horizontal line but rather in a vertical relationship to the present.”
—Rebecca Walker

Stop. Find your DeLorean, TARDIS, displacement sphere, or phone booth—whatever you’ve got access to. Set the destination. Close your eyes.

When you arrive, it’s 2003. The San Antonio Spurs have just won the NBA championship in a 4-2 rock fight against the New Jersey Nets. Only twice did either team break 90. Tim Duncan holds the crown as the best player in the league and bigs continue to rule supreme; the last of the great dinosaurs. The game is played down low. Slow. Like the August news cycle.

But around the corner, change looms.

A transatlantic migration has already begun. A new regnal era approaches. Threatening that is a one-and-done collegiate champion.

In the shadows, a flash.

Cyclical: The context

State of the franchise

First, the timing. Coming off a relative golden era, the Miami Heat are in the NBA’s basement. Seven-time All-Star; two-time All-NBA, All-Defensive, and Defensive Player of the Year; and best player in franchise history, Alonzo Mourning, just missed the entirety of the 2002-2003 season as the Heat finished 25-57, the fourth-worst record in the league. Then, in the offseason, he rips the franchise’s heart out, joining the rival Nets in a move NBA GMs envision having the third most impact of any player acquisition. And so the Heat are forced to retool, placing their bets on an uber-talented 6’10” forward with plenty of question marks and a freshly-drafted 6’4” combo-guard dubbed an “NCAA Tournament standout [who] can contribute now.”

That combo-guard is Dwyane Wade.

Draft class

Despite being a highly-touted prospect, Wade doesn’t have the fanfare of his draft class counterparts. He isn’t a 6’8” teenage phenom ready to transform a long-suffering franchise. Nor is he a polished, inside-and-out forward ready to drop 20 a night from the jump. He doesn’t have the tantalising appeal of a versatile, lithe big, either. Even “worse,” he’s older than all of them, putting a supposed cap on his ceiling.

Despite these limitations, Wade bursts onto the scene, finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting with 117 points, trailing only LeBron James (508 points) and Carmelo Anthony (430 points). More importantly, he helps the Heat surpass the 35 wins projected for them prior to the season, finishing 42-40 and beating the New Orleans Hornets in the first round before succumbing to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. That offseason, Miami trades for Shaquille O’Neal and, well, you know the rest from there.

Now and then: The players

Scouting report

Now, the players. Here, in all of its archival glory—courtesy of another time-bending device (the Wayback Machine)—is Wade’s NBA Draft.net pre-draft scouting report. And here, as you see it today, is Burries’.

From a qualitative standpoint, it’s hard not to see the parallels. Different worlds, different era, remarkably similar players. For starters, they are—for the sake of this exercise, and considering time’s vertical stacking, we’ll stick with present tense—both physical guards with NBA-ready frames:

• Now: Burries is a “Strong, well-built guard with good positional size and an NBA-ready frame”
• Then: Wade “Has an NBA ready body”

Both also excel because of their fast-twitch first steps:

• Now: Burries “Shows a deliberate and quick first step that allows him to gain separation off the dribble.”
• Then: Wade “Possesses one of the most explosive first steps in all of college basketball…”

They weaponise both of these—physicality and explosion—to finish through contact too:

• Now: Burries “Excels in transition where his blend of strength, coordination, and athleticism allows him to finish above the rim or through contact.”
• Then: Wade “Has an NBA ready body which usually allows him to finish after contact occurs”

And excel as rebounders despite their shorter statures:

• Now: Burries “Does a very good job rebounding the ball for a guard”
• Then: Wade “is an excellent rebounder”

Both even raise similar lead-guard concerns:

• Now: Burries has “questions about his full-time point guard projection,” is “Still developing as a pure facilitator in pick-and-roll situations,” and has a “Handle [that] is solid but not elite”
• Then: Wade “is dangerously close to being a combo guard. Too small to be a shooting guard not enough point guard skills to run a team offense” and his “ball handling could stand to be improved if he is to play some point guard in the NBA” 

As defenders, they are disruptive:

• Now: Burries is a “Disruptive defensive presence with solid anticipation (1.5 spg), frequently jumping passing lanes and creating turnovers,” a “Physical defender who competes on that end and uses strength well at the point of attack,” and “Shows the ability to impact the game on both ends with his energy, instincts, and feel”
• Then: Wade “Plays solid perimeter defense and understands how to cut-off the passing lanes”

Beyond skillsets, both exhibit clear leadership qualities too:

• Now: Burries “Emerged as Arizona’s go-to scorer and emotional leader” and is a “High-level competitor with clear leadership traits”
• Then: Wade “Plays very poised and mature for his age. Seems to maintain the same facial expression regardless if his team is up or down by 30 points” and “Has become more of a leader this year”

Remove the names throughout these and you’d be hard pressed to work out which describes whom. The point is clear: prior to playing a game in the L, Burries and Wade were seen by scouts in the same light.

Need more? You’ve got it.

Measurables

From a quantitative standpoint, using Tankathon’s historical NBA Combine data, the parallels between Wade and Burries are even more concrete:

While Wade’s length is the glaring exception, allowing him to do preternatural stuff like this, the numbers are otherwise eerily similar. That Burries actually bests Wade in maximum vertical is especially interesting considering the disparity in athleticism-related superlatives surrounding them (conversationally and, to an extent, in their scouting reports). So, is this more a case of temporal dilation, where Wade appears to explode at a quicker rate than Burries but doesn’t actually? You know, because of the relative quickening of the league and increased gravitational pressure of the three ball.

On that note, Burries’ prowess as a shooter shouldn’t be seen as a point of contention in any comparison with Wade. It is merely a byproduct of time revisiting itself. No Terminator is the same as its predecessor—but they are equally (relatively) destructive.

And this, my friends—contextually, stylistically, and physically—is what we have in Brayden Burries: Dwyane Wade, reincarnate.

Just wait and see.

Heavy.com’s Sean Deveney, in a summary of things left unresolved at summer’s end, reports that the Brooklyn Nets and their high scorer from last year appear to be at an impasse over an extension, raising the possibility that if it continues, Michael Porter Jr. might be on the trade block.

Porter is in an odd spot because he needs an extension as he heads into the final year of his contract, at $40 million. He showed All-Star ability when given more free reign last year, but that was on a bad Nets team. Brooklyn should be better this year, and Porter will need to show he can keep putting up star numbers on a team that is trying. But if an extension does not get done … what then?

Deveney quotes an “Eastern Conference executive” on the possibility:

“I think what he did last year is legit and teams are going to see it that way. But the problem you have is if you trade for him, are you going to extend him and what is the number? The Nuggets overpaid him when they gave him that extension, and if he wants to be paid based on that, that is not going to be an easy sell. If he can accept getting into a salary slot that makes more sense for him, you can make that trade. It’s an expiring deal but the Nets would get a first-round pick for him still.”

Just turned 28, MPJ is now after that big Nuggets contract an expiring deal worth $40.8 million, which is $7 million more than any other Nets player will receive this year. And even though Sean Marks has said all the right things about Porter Jr. and his agent, Mark Bartelstein, has said all the right things about the way the Nets and particularly Jordi Fernandez, have treated him and how happy he is, it is a business and the two sides have different views on what should happen next.

“I’m sure we’ll have those discussions. I think we’ve got time. There’s no immediate hurry right now with Mike. We value him a lot. He had a terrific year last year, arguably his best year as a pro. I give him a lot of credit for that,” Marks said back on July 16. “It’s been great to see what Mike’s done for us. I look forward to having those discussions, and seeing what Mike can do the rest of the summer and the rest of the season.”

So, no urgency?

“No, any time you’re in a hurry, that’s when people make mistakes,” Marks added. “We’ve got a well-thought-out plan here over not only the last couple of years but the couple of years ahead. We’re gonna try and find who the next Nets are gonna be. I don’t think we wanna do anything hastily or in a rush here.”

And indeed, the Nets can extend Porter Jr. at any time up until July 6 of next year. But Bartelstein sees things differently, as presumably does his client. MPJ has recently talked about how he sees his life beyond basketball, but this could very well be his last chance to make the big bucks.

“Michael loves it in Brooklyn. Jordi has been great for him… I think it’s a great fit,” Bartelstein said in a SiriusXM Radio interview at around the same time. “But that’s something Sean and I have to sit down and talk about. The Nets have to ultimately chart out their course for the way they want to go forward, and we have to do the same thing for Michael. If we can make it work where there’s a long-term fit, that would be awesome. But that’s what we’re gonna be talking about in the days ahead.”

Reportedly the two sides have spoken since but beyond that, there’s been little news. As Deveney noted, Porter Jr. wants a deal that will pay him beyond that $40.8 million and presumably over a longer term than the Nets feel comfortable with. Indeed, it would appear that the length of an extension may be a bigger issue than money. With many teams hamstrung by the luxury tax and first or second aprons, the trend is for shorter deals. The Nets, while not anywhere near either, see themselves in rebuild, if not tanking mode, and don’t appear to want to take on big, long term deals. As we reported Monday in our Off-Season Report:

They do not want, at least at this point in the rebuild, to cut long-term deals either. Thus, the impasse with Michael Porter Jr. as well as the team and “mutual” second-year options Minott, Day’Ron Sharpe, Moe Wagner and Keon Ellis agreed to this summer.

Indeed, other than seven rookies with their two-year guarantees on four-year deals, only Terance Mann is owed guaranteed money beyond this season. He’s got $31 million left on his deal. Julius Randle has a player option. The roster is built to turn on a dime and unsentimentally move on.

In addition, a solution suggested by more than one set of pundits now seems unlikely. Yossi Gozlan and Sam Quinn speculated in July that the Nets could use some of their cap space to give Porter Jr. an immediate raise to say $49 million, then fill out an extension at a lower salary, perhaps in the 30 million dollar range? In that configuration, the two suggested, the Nets could sign Moe Wagner to the room MLE at $9.2 million and pay MPJ out of cap space. But since then, Wagner was signed out of cap space, not the MLE, leaving Brooklyn with only $1.7 million under the cap, per Spotrac.

Whether Porter Jr. would have accepted that is another thing. There was no indication of that.

He did speak about contract negotiations Monday in an interview with Peyton Watson, his former teammate with the Nuggets, but that discussion on his Curious Mike podcast focused not on his situation but Watson’s. (Porter sure seemed like he was recruiting the 23-year-old to the Nets at one point earlier in the summer, but the Nets never seemed that interested.)

What could MPJ bring back in a trade? Another first round pick to add to the 13 firsts and 19 seconds they have already banked? What about as a nice piece in a trade deadline deal for a younger player come February? Whoever takes him on whether for a pick or player would also have to talk to Bartelstein about his future and the issues would likely be the same for that team as for the Nets. What’s his market?

Bottom line seems that the Nets do indeed like Porter Jr. as player and team leader — and need him if they’re going to satisfy their fans need for some wins this season, Marks and Joe Tsai seem ready to stay their course, that “well-thought out plan” Marks mentioned.

And as noted, there’s plenty to time.

• NBA Trade Rumors: Deal Cost for Kyrie Irving, Trey Murphy & More – Sean Deveney – Heavy.com

The NBA’s few remaining notable agents not named Jalen Duren have started flying off the board over the past few weeks. Peyton Watson is now a Cleveland Cavalier. DeMar DeRozan is now a Denver Nugget. Jonathan Kuminga is now a Minnesota Timberwolf? Sure, whatever.

The latest came Thursday when the Heat landed Nick Richards on a one-year, presumably veteran-minimum contract, per ESPN’s Shams Charania. Richards led our late-July list of free-agent options for the Sixers if they missed out on LeBron James, but fortunately, they landed LeBron the day after that piece published. You’re welcome, America.

After signing LeBron and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the Sixers are roughly $1.8 million below their $209.0 million first-apron hard cap. They currently do not have enough space under the first apron to sign anyone to a minimum contract other than undrafted rookies.

Fortunately, minimum contracts begin to prorate downward daily once the regular season begins. By early December, the Sixers should have enough wiggle room to fill their remaining open roster spot, although they’ll likely keep it open until the trade deadline to see which options shake free.

If the following free agents don’t find new homes before the start of the season, the Sixers should at least keep tabs on them as potential in-season options.

Kelly Olynyk, PF/C

Kelly Olynyk averaged a career-low 3.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 8.6 minutes per game across 42 appearances with the San Antonio Spurs last season. Granted, he was on a roster with four other centers. The Spurs relied on Luke Kornet as their primary backup to French wunderkind Victor Wembanyama, which left Olynyk battling with Mason Plumlee and Bismack Biyombo for table scraps.

The 35-year-old Olynyk might be fully washed at this point of his career. But if nothing else, he’d at least add a different look to the Sixers’ frontcourt behind Joel Embiid, Adem Bona and Ariel Hukporti.

Bona has hit exactly two three-pointers across the first two years of his NBA career, while Hukporti has only one. Olynyk knocked down 12 last year alone and is a career 36.9 percent shooter from deep on 3.0 attempts per game.

Olynyk likely wouldn’t supplant Bona and/or Hukporti as the primary backup to Embiid. But if the Sixers occasionally wanted to trot out lineups with a floor-spacing center, he’d give them the ability to do so.

Kevin Love, C

Speaking of floor-spacing big men… it appears as though Kevin Love is already eyeing a reunion with LeBron, whom he played alongside for four years in Cleveland.

The soon-to-be 38-year-old Love is even older than Olynyk, but he’s still been productive in limited spurts in recent years. He averaged 6.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.4 made threes in only 16.6 minutes per game across 37 outings with the Utah Jazz last season.

Even in his prime, Love didn’t provide much rim protection, but he’s an elite rebounder and an above-average three-point shooter. His locker room leadership and built-in chemistry with LeBron is a plus, too. NBA teams can never have too many Good Vibes guys.

It wouldn’t be remotely surprising if Love winds up snagging the Sixers’ final roster spot at some point this season.

Bruce Brown Jr., SG

During a Bleacher Report livestream on Tuesday, NBA insider Jake Fischer reported Bruce Brown Jr. “would have been in the mix in Philadelphia” had the Sixers not landed LeBron. However, KCP “kind of came as a bit of a package deal” with LeBron, which effectively closed the door on Brown landing with the Sixers this offseason.

“Bruce Brown is going to be playing for some type of playoff-caliber team this season,” Fischer added. “It’s just a matter of where and a matter of when.”

Fischer mentioned the Los Angeles Lakers as one possible Brown suitor, although they already have 16 players on guaranteed contracts. Unless they’re able to salary-dump two of those deals, they already have work to do just to get down to the 15-man roster maximum before they turn their attention to Brown.

If Brown can’t find a new home this offseason, the Sixers should keep tabs on the do-it-all 30-year-old. He averaged 7.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 24.4 minutes per game off the bench in Denver last season, and he was a key reserve in the Nuggets’ championship run during the 2022-23 campaign.

Jeff Green, PF

What’s better than having one 40-year-old on your roster? Having two 40-year-olds on your roster.

Jeff Green just turned 40 on Aug. 28. He shot a career-worst 36.8 percent overall this past season and averaged a career-low 2.2 points and 0.8 rebounds in only 5.8 minutes per game off the bench in Houston, which hardly inspires much confidence. However, he averaged a far more respectable 5.4 points in 12.4 minutes per game while shooting 50.4 percent overall in 2024-25.

The Sixers do seem to be lacking forward depth behind LeBron and Jaylen Brown, particularly at the 3, barring a leap from Justin Edwards. Green is far more of a power forward at this stage of his career than a small forward, but he’d give the Sixers another warm body off the bench to join Edwards, Dean Wade, Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker.

Green did play one season alongside LeBron in Cleveland in 2017-18, and he also won a championship with the Nuggets in 2022-23. He’d mostly be a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option at forward for the Sixers, but his locker room leadership could go a long way as the Sixers look to put aside their egos for the greater good this season.

Drew Eubanks, C

After spending the first three-and-a-half years of his NBA career in San Antonio, Drew Eubanks has bounced between the Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings over the past four seasons alone. The 14.5 points and 8.5 rebounds that he averaged during a 22-game stint in Portland in 2021-22 proved to be a mirage, but he’s been steadily productive in limited minutes ever since.

Across that four-year stretch, Eubanks has averaged 5.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in only 15.8 minutes per game while shooting 61.3 percent overall. He’s taken threes sparingly, although he’s 14-of-34 from distance (41.2 percent) during that span.

Eubanks might not be a long-range bomber like Kelly Olynyk or Kevin Love, but as Andre Drummond proved last season, the occasional out-of-nowhere three-pointer from a backup big man can still be demoralizing for opponents. At 6’10” and 245 pounds, he at least has the size to hold down the fort for a few minutes whenever Embiid is off the floor.

Granted, players typically don’t bounce between that many teams for no good reason. One look at Eubanks’ Dunks and Threes page gives a solid clue as to why he’s already become an NBA journeyman.

Tony Bradley, C

Once a Sixer, always a Sixer?

The Sixers acquired Tony Bradley in November 2020 in exchange for Zhaire Smith (sigh). He was the third-string center that season behind Embiid and Dwight Howard, although he did play in 20 games and made eight starts. The Sixers then flipped him and a handful of second-round picks for George Hill at the trade deadline, which blew up in their face almost immediately.

After Bradley’s brief stint with the OKC Thunder, he spent two years in Chicago, 1.5 years in Indianapolis and had a cup of coffee in Atlanta last season. He’d be nothing more than another insurance policy in case Embiid went down with a long-term injury, but that’s still a valuable archetype for the Sixers given Embiid’s injury history.

Granted, having to choose between the likes of Bradley, Eubanks and Green or someone who shakes free at the trade deadline is exactly why the Sixers figure to leave that roster spot open for now. It would behoove them to spend the first few months of the season identifying their new-look roster’s biggest needs before seeking to address those.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

Follow Bryan on Bluesky.

Really, how often do you remember Rowan Junior?

Mayor Zohran Mamdani did. Speaking at the Knicks’ championship ceremony at City Hall on June 18, he made sure RJ Barrett’s name was included among those who helped build the title team:

“This championship belongs to them too, because championships aren’t just built in one season. It belongs to Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Donte DiVincenzo, Julius Randle, and also to a coach who also laid the groundwork, Tom Thibodeau.”

Still, Barrett has become strangely easy to overlook when we talk about the era that began with Thibodeau, Julius Randle, and the 2020–21 “We Here” Knicks. On this date, September 1, 2022, RJ signed an extension that appeared to establish him as part of the long-term core; 16 months later, he became the central piece of the trade that brought OG Anunoby to New York.

Rowan Alexander “RJ” Barrett Jr. arrived with bona fide basketball bloodlines. His father, Rowan Barrett Sr., starred at St. John’s, played professionally overseas, captained Canada at the 2000 Olympics, and later became general manager of Canada Basketball. His mother, Kesha, was a nationally ranked sprinter and long jumper at St. John’s. Steve Nash, one of the greatest Canadian basketball players ever, is RJ’s godfather. With all that preceding him, clearly young RJ was destined to be a professional bowler.

Born in Toronto in 2000, Barrett starred at St. Marcellinus before transferring to Montverde Academy in Florida. By the end of his high school career, he was the consensus No. 1 recruit in the class of 2018, with Naismith Prep Player of the Year and Gatorade National Player of the Year honors in his trophy case.

Barrett entered Duke as the projected top pick in the 2019 draft, but his roommate Zion Williamson quickly became the main attraction in Durham. The two became close friends, referred to each other as brothers, and made history as the first freshman teammates to each average more than 20 points. Williamson’s gravitational pull (literal and figurative) pushed Barrett into the background somewhat, even as RJ set ACC freshman scoring records and earned consensus first-team All-American honors.

Meanwhile, the 2018–19 Knicks were deliberately dreadful, finishing 17–65 during the first season of the new lottery odds. Their 14% chance at Williamson turned into the third pick, with New Orleans selecting Zion and Memphis taking Ja Morant. Barrett was still considered a top-three talent and a clean fit for New York, so the Knicks pounced without hesitation. Still…he wasn’t Zion. (I still think about the woman who got the Zion Knicks tattoo ahead of draft night and wonder if she still has it…)

On draft night at Barclays Center, RJ became emotional when Adam Silver called his name, later explaining that his late maternal grandfather, a die-hard Knicks fan with Brooklyn and Jamaica roots, used to tell him he would someday play for the club. After his press conference, Barrett turned toward the cameras and declared, “Yo! I’m a Knick!” His excitement was so sweetly genuine: he wanted New York, and New York wanted him right back (but…he still wasn’t Zion…).

Barrett’s rookie season was uneven, with 14.3 points per game on inefficient shooting. Thibodeau’s arrival changed the direction of the franchise and helped Barrett find firmer footing. He averaged 17.6 points in 2020–21, improved his shooting, defended harder, and helped Randle carry New York into the playoffs for the first time since 2013.

RJ reached 20 points per game the following season and continued to start nearly every night. When the Knicks extended him in September 2022, Barrett was only 22 and still looked like a key piece in whatever New York was becoming.

The fit never completely worked, though. Barrett and Randle both did their best work inside the arc, which cramped the paint, and Barrett never became a reliable enough three-point shooter or natural enough playmaker to solve the problem (particularly after Captain Brunson arrived). He could still bully his way downhill and occasionally produce a great Garden moment. His banked-in buzzer-beater that completed a comeback against Boston in January 2022 is a recent classic. Consistency, however, remained elusive.

Then, on December 30, 2023, the Knicks sent Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and a second-round pick to Toronto for Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, and Malachi (Evil Donte) Flynn. Anunoby’s defense and seamless fit transformed the team almost immediately, and it quickly became a pretty lopsided trade.

For Barrett, the deal meant going home. He became a steady 20-point scorer in Toronto, showed growth as a playmaker, and continued using his strength to batter his way toward the rim. Life hit him with tragedy when his younger brother Nathan died following an illness in March 2024. Barrett stepped away from basketball before eventually returning and speaking openly about his grief: “He was my best friend…I’m always missing him. I still text him.” Our hearts went out to him and still do.

The championship story understandably centers on Brunson, Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart. We love them all, but none were on the team when RJ arrived. MSG was still a sort of basketball wasteland. RJ brought some hope that someday soon, things would be different. He absorbed the expectations that came with being the third pick on a miserable team, helped the Knicks climb out of the lottery years, and supplied his share of memorable nights at the Garden. Mamdani remembered, and a few others still do. For a player once expected to become the face of the franchise, his name should come up more often.

Go Knicks.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Hawks fans and fans across the country.

With the news that Jonathan Kuminga has signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves, all the major dominos in this summer’s free agency period have fallen. That means, barring a trade, the Hawks’ core roster is locked in for 2026-27.

With the team surging to the 6-seed after going 19-5 down the stretch of last season (20-6 after the All-Star break), the organization opted to retain flexibility and re-sign key free agents like CJ McCollum and Jock Landale to one-year contracts.

Add to the core of Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker the former Thunder duo Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins, and you have a roster full of potential — but also one lacking the talent to truly compete.

So I turn this microphone over to you, what letter grade would you give the Hawks this offseason?

It’s a big day for The Dream Shake. Today, the SB Nation app is live, and it’s the best way to follow the Rockets. 

You can download it by searching SB Nation for iOS or Android.

A year ago we made some big changes to our community, including offering fewer ads and the addition of the Feed. Today, we want to give you even more community tools and fewer ads with this app. It will make starting and joining conversations here as simple as posting to your favorite social media platform.

I grabbed it this weekend, and I’m typically not an app guy, but it’s way simpler to do pretty much everything if you’re accessing TDS on your phone at all. All your registered sites appear, you can scroll sideways right through them, then up or down to engage with an article or Feed post. Really cool. And you never know, there may even be a KD burner or two!

You can check out the video below showing off some of the useful features of the app, and we’ll dig into them below. 

Why should I download the app?

The app will be the easiest way to interact with everybody else in the community: 

• All your favorite teams’ posts in one dedicated feed
• Notifications when someone replies or recs your post
• New game thread section, with an  experience that’s smoother and faster
• Fewer ads
• Easily navigating between your favorite communities with a swipe

It will be the fastest way to read every post from our community.

How do I download the app?

Head over to the Apple store or the Android store to download the app. Today, the app is only available for US users.

It’s a big day for Pounding The Rock. Today, the SB Nation app is live, and it’s the best way to follow the Spurs. 

You can download it by searching SB Nation for iOS or Android.

A year ago we made some big changes to our community, including offering fewer ads and the addition of the Feed. Today, we want to give you even more community tools and fewer ads with this app. It will make starting and joining conversations here as simple as posting to your favorite social media platform.

You can check out the video below showing off some of the useful features of the app, and we’ll dig into them below. 

Why should I download the app?

The app will be the easiest way to interact with everybody else in the community: 

• All your favorite teams’ posts in one dedicated feed
• Notifications when someone replies or recs your post
• New game thread section, with an  experience that’s smoother and faster
• Fewer ads
• Easily navigating between your favorite communities with a swipe

It will be the fastest way to read every post from our community.

How do I download the app?

Head over to the Apple store or the Android store to download the app. Today, the app is only available for US users.

It’s a big day for Brew Hoop. Today, the SB Nation app is live, and it’s the best way to follow the Bucks. 

You can download it by searching SB Nation for iOS or Android.

A year ago we made some big changes to our communities, including offering fewer ads and the addition of The Feed. Today, we want to give you even more community tools and fewer ads with this app. It will make starting and joining conversations here as simple as posting to your favorite social media platform.

You can check out the video below showing off some of the useful features of the app, and we’ll dig into them below. 

Why should I download the app?

The app will be the easiest way to interact with everybody else in the community: 

• All your favorite teams’ posts in one dedicated feed
• Notifications when someone replies or recs your post
• New game thread section, with an  experience that’s smoother and faster
• Fewer ads
• Easily navigating between your favorite communities with a swipe

It will be the fastest way to read every post from our community.

How do I download the app?

Head over to the Apple store or the Android store to download the app. Today, the app is only available for US users.

It’s a big day for NetsDaily. Today, the SB Nation app is live, and it’s the best way to follow the Nets. 

You can download it by searching SB Nation for iOS or Android.

A year ago we made some big changes to our community, including offering fewer ads and the addition of the Feed. Today, we want to give you even more community tools and fewer ads with this app. It will make starting and joining conversations here as simple as posting to your favorite social media platform.

You can check out the video below showing off some of the useful features of the app, and we’ll dig into them below. 

Why should I download the app?

The app will be the easiest way to interact with everybody else in the community: 

• All your favorite teams’ posts in one dedicated feed
• Notifications when someone replies or recs your post
• New game thread section, with an  experience that’s smoother and faster
• Fewer ads
• Easily navigating between your favorite communities with a swipe

It will be the fastest way to read every post from our community.

How do I download the app?

Head over to the Apple store or the Android store to download the app. Today, the app is only available for US users.