Category: NBA

The final stop on the NBA Summer Leagie schedule was the 2026 Summer League in Vegas. Seven former Orange were on rosters in Sin City: William Kyle (Lakers), Nate Kingz (Heat), Buddy Boeheim (Thunder), Jesse Edwards (Bucks), Chris Bell (Pelicans), Quadir Copeland (Rockets) and Maliq Brown (Spurs).

Here’s how they fared in Sin City:

Kyle- 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal vs Thunder

4 points on 2-2 shooting vs Mavericks

2 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks vs Clippers

4 points and 3 rebounds vs Bulls

2 points and 1 block vs Warriors

Kingz – DNP vs Bucks and Magic

10 points and 3 rebounds vs Cavaliers

2 rebounds and 3 assists vs Raptors

3 points and 1 rebound vs Pistons

Boeheim- 8 points on 2/8 shooting, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal vs Lakers

6 points on 2/7 shooting vs Celtics

10 points on 4/5 shooting vs Nuggets

13 points and 3 steals vs Mavericks

3 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists vs Nets

Bell- 0/2 shooting, 1 assist and 1 steal vs Timberwolves

DNP vs Hornets

3 points against the Suns

12 points and 2 rebounds vs Cavaliers

2 points vs Pacers

Brown- 0/2 shooting, 4 rebounds and 3 steals vs Hawks

8 points, 8 rebounds vs Knicks

4 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals vs Bucks

7 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals vs Jazz

DNP vs Suns

Edwards- 1/1 shooting, 1 assist and 1 block vs Heat

6 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist vs Spurs

DNP vs Suns

4 points and 3 rebounds vs Hornets

DNP vs Sixers

Copeland- 14 points on 4/6 shooting, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 9 fouls vs Nuggets

9 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and 8 fouls vs Raptors

6 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals (and only 3 fouls) vs Sixers

13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals.

24 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals vs Grizzlies

Will these performances be enough to make an Opening Night roster? Outside of Brown, it would seem like unlikely at this point, but we’ll be watching in the early Fall to see what happens.

Starting with Yaxel Lendeborg, summer league was smashing success for Warriors originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Any chance to compete is an opportunity the Warriors don’t want to waste, including during the NBA’s summer league. 

Development is the top priority every year during summer league. Teams aren’t dictating their future based on the production of their top picks. But good play jumps off the page just as much as bad. Seeing the growth of second-year players as roster competitions come together is as big of a win as any numbers on the scoreboard. 

Just don’t tell that to the players and coaches. 

Warriors assistant Khalid Robinson, who served as the team’s summer league head coach, made it clear before any games were played what his top goals were for these few weeks.

“We want to develop our guys and help them get ready for preseason and next season, but we want to win,” Robinson told NBC Sports Bay Area before the start of summer league. “We want to establish this culture. We’re about winning here, and when these guys come in, we want them to know what we’re about. We’re going into this thing like we want to win. We want to develop and get these guys better on individual skills and team concepts. 

“But we want to win games. Building these habits of consistent competition and playing to our identity is part of it.”

On Sunday night, the mission was accomplished in the Warriors’ 94-90 comeback win against the Memphis Grizzlies in the Las Vegas NBA Summer League championship game. The win was the Warriors’ first summer league championship since 2013.

Yaxel Lendeborg, the Warriors’ top draft pick at No. 11 overall, was everything they could have hoped for this summer. His cherry on top was again outplaying Cameron Boozer, the No. 3 overall pick, in the championship game. Lendeborg in 32 minutes put together a 21-point, 10-rebound double-double on 9-of-18 shooting with two assists and two steals. He was a plus-7. 

Boozer played 35 minutes and was a minus-1 with 19 points and eight rebounds on 7-of-17 shooting. 

The kind of culture and identity Robinson wanted established out of his team for the biggest moments came to light in the fourth quarter when the Warriors faced a 12-point deficit against the Grizzlies after the first possession of the final frame. Their first lead in the fourth quarter didn’t come until there were two minutes left and Lendeborg hit a step-back three. He made a driving floater to give them a one-point lead, a three to give them a two-point lead, and then a pull-up jumper to give them a four-point lead before two huge rebounds in the final minute. 

For Lendeborg, the fourth quarter truly was winning time three and a half months after winning the national championship at Michigan. He and Will Richard were the only two Warriors to play the entire fourth quarter. Richard scored eight points and was a plus-14. Ledeborg scored nine points and also was a plus-14, also adding seven rebounds – three offensive and four defensive – two assists and one steal. 

Lendeborg following the win was named the Las Vegas NBA Summer League MVP. He played all six games in Las Vegas and averaged 14.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists with 45.9/35.7/80.0 shooting splits. This came after Lendeborg in two California Classic games averaged 15.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists while going 7 of 9 from 3-point range. 

Off the court, Lendeborg was non-stop fun as a walking quote machine. On the court, he made his case as a seamless fit in Steve Kerr’s system who should make an immediate impact on the Warriors. But the Warriors’ summer league success wasn’t about only their biggest star. 

Down the stretch, it was Lendeborg and Richard who the Warriors leaned on to lead them to a championship. Richard in the fourth quarter of the championship game made three shots, drained two threes and blocked a shot. He was the Warriors’ unquestioned leader of the summer. He also was noticeably stronger and has a quicker shot, resulting in going 9 of 19 from 3-point range (47.4 percent) in Las Vegas. 

It was LJ Cryer, not Lendeborg, who was the Warriors’ top scorer this summer. Lendeborg totaled 89 points in Las Vegas and Cryer put up 90. Cryer in six Vegas games took 51 threes. The next most on the Warriors was Lendeborg’s 28 attempts. Cryer wasn’t chucking threes, he was making them to the tune of a 41.2 3-point percentage (21 of 51). 

In the very least, Cryer will be back on a two-way contract with the chance to compete for a spot on the 15-man roster. Malevy Leons should also occupy another one of the Warriors’ three two-way contracts and continued to show why. As Leons still needs to improve as a shooter, at 6-foot-9 and 210 pounds, he had a non-stop motor all season and displayed the small details that can go a long way to earn minutes on a veteran team. 

The Warriors haven’t decided where second-round pick LaJae Jones will fall on the roster. Jones didn’t show a lot of scoring ability in the summer and is best served to spend a lot of time in Santa Cruz. That could leave forward/center Graham Ike as a prime candidate for the third two-way contract after averaging 10.5 points per game in Las Vegas with a team-high 8.0 rebounds per game and five blocked shots. 

Bay Area native Chance McMillian showcased his scoring ability and shot 54.5 percent from three (12 of 22) in Las Vegas. Lance Olbrich is an interesting name to follow as well after playing professionally in Australia, being taken in the second round of last year’s NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls and showing flashes as a clear Warriors fit this summer. 

Intrigue was obvious throughout the Warriors’ summer league roster, and it all started with Lendeborg. 

“I live for this moment right here,” Lendeborg said after the Warriors’ summer league championship. “Do whatever we gotta do to win this. We’re the Warriors, we win. We’re gonna get another one next season. Go Dubs.” 

The back of Lendeborg’s statement still is in wait-and-see mode, like the rest of the Warriors’ offseason. 

Starting with their top pick, though, summer league was nothing short of a smashing success for the Warriors.

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With Summer League wrapped up, I wanted to discuss Nate Ament and how he moves forward from here. Ament is certainly one of the more difficult prospect evaluations I’ve ever done (not that I’m some expert in this space) because he is a truly unique archetype insofar as he has me thinking “OK, this is certainly a unique skillset, but it doesn’t translate to winning basketball as of yet; how does he get there?” To start, I think the most prudent thing to do is to lay out what I believe are his strengths and weaknesses right now.

Player breakdown

Strengths

• Spot-up shooting/attacking hard closeouts
• Bodying smaller defenders and shooting over them
• Handling the ball in the full-court (context dependant)
• Catching lobs

Weaknesses

• Consistently beating guys off the dribble in the half court
• Finishing around the rim
• Being a plus defender (on or off-ball)
• Reading the floor well in traffic/limiting turnovers

Which of these weaknesses can be improved upon?

Beating guys off the dribble

I’d bet against Ament ever being able to consistently beat guys off the dribble; he’s just too stiff, and he doesn’t have “shake.” Because of his size and skillset, Ament has drawn comparisons to Kevin Durant, but what makes Durant so lethal is his ability to shake defenders out of their shoes with violent crossovers—Ament has never really had that at any level.

Now, what I will say is that Ament does have surprisingly solid dribbling ability and overall coordination at his size—that, at least, is somewhat Durant-like. He really does have the ability to handle the ball and not look out of place. Against legit NBA full-court pressure? No. But he flashed some advanced coordination, and that is one of the main attributes I hope is utilised in practice along with when he inevitably goes down to the G League next season. This is a player who, while he can play off-ball, also needs reps with the ball in hand to maximise his development. Maybe it never becomes a plus NBA skill of his, but the Bucks should absolutely experiment in this space.

Rim finishing

This is an area where I think Ament can certainly improve; it might just take some time. I mean, he just looked so skinny at Summer League that this one might be a slow burn, but I don’t see why he couldn’t become a much better rim finisher as his body develops. Ament’s poor rim numbers at college are also contextualised by him having two teammates crowding the paint at all times; that Tennessee team’s spacing was truly horrid. The one thing that does give me pause is the number of layups that seemed to just roll off the rim in Vegas with pretty minimal pressure; it made no sense how he could have missed some of those shots at point-blank range while being so tall (and thus close to the hoop). One to monitor.

Being a plus defender

Yes, Ament can certainly become a plus defender; he just has to learn technique. He’s got excellent dimensions for it, but has no clue how to use any of his attributes at the moment. His off-ball defence was really poor in Vegas—losing sight of his man, failing to switch onto ball-handlers—and his shot-blocking/altering ability was strangely underwhelming for a player that size as well.

His on-ball defence was somewhat better, but still not where it needs to be to step onto an NBA court. There were lots of what I like to call “fake hustle” possessions, where he got too close to the ball-handler because he was trying to show effort and intent—which I love, don’t get me wrong—but then the defender sped right past him because he reached for the ball and/or allowed his momentum to go too far forward. Giannis, ironically, was a serial offender in this category (and it actually got worse as he got older, funnily enough).

The best defenders can apply pressure to the ball-handler without letting them get past either; there are a bunch of tricks regarding how to do that, but the biggest one is keeping your hands out of the cookie jar and focusing on moving your feet. It’s a skill that needs to be developed over a few years, but Ament has a body type that should allow him to become good at it, whereas there are other body types where it’s near impossible.

Reading the floor in traffic/limiting turnovers

I think there is certainly some room to cut the fat here regarding some of the outright horrendous turnovers, such as when he just threw it to nobody; improved strength will help him avoid being stripped. With all that said, part of the reason I doubt Ament will ever be a primary initiator is that I don’t see him developing advanced passing skills. For example, I don’t see him ever being able to read the low man in a pick-and-roll and distinguish between passing to the roller and the opposite corner shooter; I’m optimistic he can make basic short roll reads, but that’s probably the extent of it. Does that limit his ceiling? Yeah, it does.

The path to NBA minutes as a rookie

To reuse a term, I think the first order of business for Ament in his rookie year will be cutting the fat out of his game. If (and it’s a big “if”) he can demonstrate that he can be passable on defence, there might be a role for him for 8-12 minutes per night just playing as a complementary piece because of his ability to stretch the floor. If I were him, I’d be on the coaches non-stop about the defensive part.

From there, he needs to build his ability to attack closeouts and make simple plays. Also, perfect ancillary skills, like learning to screen and read the on-ball defender. Are they switching? If so, can I slip to the rim and catch them off guard? Are they going over the screen? If so, what’s the best screening angle to get the guard going downhill? Put simply, Ament’s ticket to early NBA minutes will be nailing the basics and playing off others. Once he’s done that, he can build.

Player projections

Given everything I just laid out, the player I think Ament should be modeling his game after is Jabari Smith Jr. Despite having limited on-ball shake, Smith can play 40 minutes in a playoff game because he takes nothing away from his team. He provides spacing on offence, making the stars’ lives easier, but can also body his opponents and get to his (admittedly limited) bag of pull-up jumpers as a Plan B. Crucially, he’s also an excellent defender with elite toughness, size, and instincts. To me, this sounds like a player-type Ament could realistically become one day, though I’m unsure about him ever becoming as strong as Smith.

If you’re looking for someone more in Ament’s weight division—and this is a high-end outcome, to be clear—I see similarities between him and Jaden McDaniels, a secondary creator who works a lot in the mid-range. That said, McDaniels is an elite point-of-attack defender, which Ament most definitely is not right now, but it’s not inconceivable that he gets there. McDaniels was definitely not seen that way coming out of Washington.

Of course—and I hate to mention it—there are also outcomes where Ament becomes Perry Jones. Yes, he is something of a lottery ticket, but one I would take again given 1) the upside of this pick “if it hits,” and 2) me not loving many of the other names on the board for various reasons (small guards, non-shooting wings, undersized and/or injury-prone centres, etc.)

Brew Hoop fam, let me know what you think of my Nate Ament breakdown.

Sixers set to face Celtics twice in 2026 preseason  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

With their summer league complete, the Sixers now have two dates on their 2026 preseason schedule.

The Sixers appear twice on the preseason slate the Celtics announced Monday. They’re set to visit Boston on Oct. 10 at 8 p.m. ET and host the Celtics on Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. ET. 

The games against the Celtics should be more intriguing than average preseason matchups. The Sixers came back to beat the Celtics in a seven-game first-round playoff series, then dealt Paul George and draft picks to Boston this summer in exchange for Jaylen Brown.

The rest of the Sixers’ preseason schedule has not yet been released. The team played two of its four exhibition games last year in Abu Dhabi and the most notable preseason development was rookie VJ Edgecombe securing an opening-night starter spot.

The full NBA regular-season schedule is typically released in mid-August. The Sixers already know they’ll be in East Group B for the 2026 NBA Cup with the Knicks, Cavaliers, Heat and Pacers.

It is not smart to overreact to what you see in NBA summer league; there are just too many examples of great players getting off to a bad start to their pro careers in Las Vegas.

Cooper Flagg and Victor Wembanyama didn’t have amazing summer league debuts. Jalen Brunson struggled mightily, Draymond Green was really bad, and Coby White couldn’t buy a bucket. Summer league is not that important. With that being said, it’s the end of July, and there isn’t much else to write about until LeBron James finally signs, so here are some summer league takeaways that verge into being overreactions based on what we saw in the sample in Las Vegas.

Also, read my summer league rookie rankings. Then read my list of the eight young veterans who were too good for summer league this year, and also my list of six rookies who looked underwhelming in Las Vegas. Feel free to drop your own favorite summer league overreactions in the comments, and I’ll respond.

Darryn Peterson is not a point guard

Peterson was something of a mystery box coming out of Kansas because he looked like a completely different player from high school to college. As a senior at Prolific Prep, Peterson had the look of a heliocentric guard who could pressure the rim and overwhelm opponents physically. The college version had to adjust after soft tissue strains and cramping zapped some of his explosiveness, and he promptly turned into an off-ball gunner who did most of his scoring from the perimeter.

Peterson said he’s healthy now, and after watching him at summer league, it feels like he’s better suited to run around screens and maximize his three-point rate than trying to be a do-everything guard right away. The Jazz already have a solid point guard in Keyonte George, and what they really need next to him is a high-level defensive playmaker who stresses the defense with his shooting gravity. I think that could be the best version of Peterson early in his career, partially because he can be really good in those areas, and partially because his rim attacks don’t look particularly overpowering at the moment.

I wish I sent this tweet.

Peterson’s three-point rate (percentage of field goal attempts from three) dropped from 46% at Kansas to 33% throughout summer league. Meanwhile, he had nearly as many turnovers (24) as assists (26). Get those threes up, DP, and the Jazz will be better off for it.

Free Noa Essengue from the Bulls

The Bulls’ new braintrust of lead executive Bryson Graham and head coach Tiago Splitter did not draft Noa Essengue with the No. 12 overall pick a year ago. Essengue basically had the worst rookie season ever, suffering a season-ending shoulder injury before he scored his first point. He’s still just 19 years old, and figures to be just starting to scratch the surface of his long-term upside. Essengue needs live reps more than anything else after being sidelined since Nov., but he immediately found himself in the doghouse in summer league with Splitter coaching the Bulls for the first two games in Las Vegas.

It sure seems like Graham and Splitter don’t care much about Essengue, because he’s not their guy. Fair enough I suppose, but Essengue has intriguing physical tools, a history of performing well against older competition, and a real path toward one day becoming a useful player — unlike the vast majority of the SummerBulls roster outside of Caleb Wilson and Dailyn Swain. Essengue’s numbers weren’t even that bad, 62.4% true shooting, a 20 percent defensive rebounding rate, an 8.1% block rate, and a 3.3% steal rate.

Okay, there were some ugly moments, from bad turnovers to missed free throws to falling over every 30 seconds because he can’t handle physicality. But Essengue is only 19 — he’s six months younger than Caleb Wilson — and he has some real potential pathways to value in switchability on defense, offensive rebounding, transition spacing, and maybe eventually floor spacing. I had Essengue at No. 10 on my draft board last year, and I think it’s completely ridiculous that a team with as little talent as the Bulls is already apparently writing him off. Essengue needs a franchise that will invest in his development, not yank around his minutes in completely meaningless summer league games. If the Bulls don’t care about Essengue, another franchise will.

Two Lakers summer league players are the key to their regular season

The Lakers have arguably the best offensive backcourt in the NBA with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, and now they have a very good rim protector in Walker Kessler behind them. There’s only one problem: Los Angeles still needs athletic defenders on the wings, and they don’t really have any way to acquire them after spending every possible future asset on Kessler. Would you believe me if I said the answer might be hiding on their summer league team?

Chris Mañon and Adou Thiero could be everything the Lakers need. Both young wings played great during summer league, and have the exact skill sets that could push the big league club over the top. Mañon was a monster defensive playmaker out of Vanderbilt who slipped in the 2025 draft because of his offensive limitations. He showed a little growth as a shooter in the G League last year, and if anyone can make his offense playable, it’s Luka. Mañon thrives as a disruptive defender who can blow up screens, pick shaky ball handlers, and dart in for blocks and steals in a free safety role. The Lakers badly need a bulldog at the point of attack, and Mañon will be excellent there if they give him a chance. Thiero is just an athletic freak with a rare blend of speed and power. He crushes in transition, and has the tools to defend wing scorers.

If the Lakers are smart, they will have a developmental plan for both players in place to hopefully shape them into real contributors come playoff time.

7 second-rounders who will be solid rotation players

The second round of the NBA Draft was supposedly destroyed by NIL. While I agree with that narrative to some extent, there are still going to be players picked in the second round this year who go on to good careers, and I think summer league helped prove it. Here are seven second rounders from the 2026 draft who can carve out careers in the NBA:

• Bruce Thornton
• Meleek Thomas
• Henri Veesaar
• Trevon Brazile
• Jack Kayil
• Baba Miller
• Nick Martinelli

Thornton and Thomas are my favorite of the group, and both looked tremendous in Vegas. Brazile landed in a great situation in Denver where he’s a perfect complement to Nikola Jokic, while Kayil surpassed expectations for me, and Martinelli continued to look like the Julius Randle of the North Shore. There’s always talent in the draft, and don’t let anyone tell you differently.

Khaman Maluach will look like a future All-Star by the end of the year

I was super high on Maluach entering the 2025 draft, and I still believe even after essentially getting redshirted by the Suns as a rookie. The big man was absolutely dominant in summer league by putting up 19.5 points, 12.7 rebounds, and two blocks per game with 40% shooting from three (on five attempts per game) and 70.4% true shooting.

I went over everything I love about Maluach on the Swish Theory podcast:

Yaxel Lendeborg will have a great career even if he’s an old rookie

The Warriors won the summer league championship behind the play of Yaxel Lendeborg. The rookie is just a couple months away from his 24th birthday, but his winding journey to the NBA is proof that players can develop on their own timelines and still reach the pinnacle of the sport.

I usually push back on the idea that older players are more “NBA ready” when they enter the draft. It’s true in Yaxel’s case. He’s going to be a valuable contributor to Golden State from day one.

I began watching the NBA in 1988, nearly 40 years ago now. Granted, I experienced it through the eyes of a child who was captivated by the game, but I was fortunate enough to grow up watching not only an entertaining brand of basketball but one built on consistency.

Free agency truly arrived the season after I became a fan, and trades have always been part of the league. Even so, continuity was still the norm. Players moved when relationships fractured, organizations believed they had reached their ceiling, or age dictated a different direction. It wasn’t common to see players traded simply because a team was trying to be fiscally responsible.

Today’s NBA is different. The modern collective bargaining agreement has made maintaining continuity increasingly difficult. Add the player empowerment era to that, and loyalty has become increasingly rare.

In Phoenix, we’ve experienced every version of that over the past few years. I now have a deep hatred of aprons, and I now possess many shirts with stains upon them as a result. At the same time, we’re one of the few organizations that still has a player entering his 12th season with the franchise. We know what loyalty looks like because we’ve watched Devin Booker embody it. He’s one of only four players who have remained with the same organization since 2015, joining Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Nikola Jokic.

But in an era defined by escalating salaries, annual cap growth, and restrictive tax aprons, loyalty has become a dying breed for both players and organizations. It’s simply become too difficult to afford it.

We see this in the conversations surrounding Devin Booker, whose salary will account for 35.1% of the cap this upcoming season. Unless he’s producing at an All-NBA level, people begin viewing that contract as a negative. That’s simply the reality of today’s NBA.

We’ve watched that same reality play out in Boston. The primary reason general manager Brad Stevens ultimately moved on from Jaylen Brown was his contract. Boston was scheduled to pay him $57.1 million this season and another $185 million over the following three years. That salary created an inflection point, forcing the organization to ask whether keeping one of its most beloved and respected players was still financially responsible.

Sure, the Celtics didn’t have to offer Brown the supermax extension. But he earned it. You can’t fault an organization for trying to stay loyal to a player who helped deliver a championship. At the same time, that loyalty eventually forced a decision, one that ultimately resulted in Brown being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers.

“The reality in this era and in this day of age of the NBA,” Steven stated in his presser explaining why the decsions was made, “and you can see it obviously with the last couple of champions and some of teams that were at the very top of the league, when it was all said and done at the end of this year, you have to do a great job, and you have to have the optionality to do a great job of building out depth, that hopefully replace the irreplaceable individual. And that’s not an easy thing to do.”

One thing I appreciated about what Brad Stevens said in his press conference was that he openly acknowledged the issue. He pointed directly to the way the current collective bargaining agreement is structured and how it discourages organizations from keeping together the players they drafted and developed. That’s something that has to be addressed when the next CBA is negotiated. I’m glad Stevens said those words publicly because it gives the players’ association something tangible to build from as both sides begin preparing for the next round of negotiations in 2029.

The league has to find a better balance. It shouldn’t penalize organizations or players for loyalty. The longer a player stays with one franchise and the better he performs, the larger his contract naturally becomes, and it should. Players deserve to be rewarded for their success. At the same time, the organization that drafted, developed, and retained that player should receive some benefit as well.

At the end of the day, this is sports entertainment, and part of what makes it entertaining is loyalty. And it is for the fans. It’s identifying a player you enjoy rooting for, watching him grow, and knowing there’s a good chance he’ll still be wearing your team’s jersey for years to come.

So how do you fix this? Let’s call it the “loyalty tax.”

I’ll use the Phoenix Suns as a practical example. Devin Booker is slated to make $57.1 million this season, which accounts for 35.1% of the salary cap. Now imagine a world where a loyalty tax is built into escalating contracts.

Booker is on his third contract with the Suns and has already signed his fourth. Imagine if cap relief became available beginning with a player’s third contract with the organization that drafted him. The player would still earn a salary based on the percentage of the cap he negotiated. In Booker’s case, that’s $57.1 million, or 35.1% of the cap. The difference is that the organization would receive a 5% loyalty tax break.

So while Booker still earns 35.1% of the cap, only 30.1% would count against the Suns’ cap sheet. That immediately creates $8.25 million in additional cap room, because 5% of this season’s $165 million salary cap equals $8.25 million.

What does that 5% accomplish? It gives the organization greater flexibility to remain competitive while rewarding it for drafting, developing, and retaining a homegrown player. It creates enough room to add an $8.25 million player to the roster. More importantly, it helps preserve continuity and competitiveness without forcing organizations into a financial inflection point that eventually leads to tearing everything down and starting over.

It sounds like a win win, but there are certainly byproducts to a system like this that could ultimately prevent it from ever becoming reality. If there’s a 5% loyalty tax break, that means the owners, if they choose to use it, are effectively paying for another $8.25 million player. Some owners wouldn’t have an issue with that. Others certainly would.

Then there’s the business side of the NBA. Maybe the league likes constant player movement. Every blockbuster trade creates another wave of merchandise sales. As I write this, there are probably brand-new Jaylen Brown jerseys being pressed in Philadelphia, waiting to hit the team store shelves. That doesn’t happen if players stay with one franchise their entire careers.

Perhaps the best strategy is to let them remain loyal for 11 years, then have them change their jersey number before Year 12. That seems to work pretty well for Devin Booker.

Overall, though, I believe the current system is broken. It’s forcing organizations to abandon long-term continuity in an effort to balance the cap sheet and avoid restrictive aprons. In turn, it hurts the customer base. It hurts the fans. Teams aren’t moving on from players because the chemistry disappeared, the locker room fractured, or age finally caught up to them. More often than not, they’re moving on because those players have become numbers on a cap sheet, pixels in an Excel spreadsheet that can no longer fit within the league’s financial restrictions. That feels like a problem worth solving.

Maybe a loyalty tax isn’t the answer. Maybe there are unintended consequences I haven’t considered. But the problem is real. The current system increasingly encourages organizations to move on from the very players they drafted, developed, and celebrated simply because the math stops working. That’s not a basketball problem. That’s an accounting problem. Fans invest in players, not cap sheets. They invest in relationships that take years to build.

If the next collective bargaining agreement can’t find a way to better reward loyalty, both sides risk losing one of the things that has always made the NBA worth following in the first place.

The Dallas Mavericks were part of a three-team trade Sunday that landed them Zaccharie Risacher from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Ryan Nembhard and a second round pick. With the move, Dallas swaps a part-time starter for the No. 1 pick of the 2024 NBA Draft.

This is a very low-risk, potentially high-reward move for Dallas. The undrafted Nembhard was a part-time starter who brought stability to the team last season when guard play was in high demand. He showed flashes of brilliance when it came to ball handling, often producing absurd assist-to-turnover ratios for a solid stretch. Yet, Nembhard is a relatively undersized player who was all but certainly going to lose minutes to the returning Kyrie Irving and newly acquired Marcus Sasser.

Risacher on the other hand, is former first overall pick who has not quite lived up to the status that comes with such a selection, yet nonetheless finished second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2024-25 and who fits well with the Cooper Flagg timeline; he is two years younger than Nembhard and will play most of next season as a 21-year old. His contract is more robust than Nembhard’s, but the Mavericks hold virtually all the cards.

The nuances of the contract

Risacher comes to Dallas with two years remaining on his contract. The Hawks exercised a club option on him to lock him in for the 2026-27 season, which he will now play in Dallas, getting paid $13.8 million. 2027-28 is the final year of his current contract, but that too remains a team option, leaving the Mavericks with great control of the situation. However, that control comes with a caveat.

On the surface, it appears Dallas could simply walk after this coming season if they don’t like what they see, but there is more to the story. If the Mavericks plan on locking down Risacher and his $17.4 million for the 2027-28 season, they will need to do so just a few games into his Mavericks’ tenure. The Mavericks have until October 31, 2026 to exercise the team option for 2027-28 season. If they choose to exercise the option and Risacher does not work out, Dallas is stuck with him and a $17.4 million bill. If they choose not to exercise the option and Risacher has a breakout season, Dallas will have market competition to retain him. Risacher will no longer be an unrestricted free agent in this scenario, but Dallas will retain his Bird Rights.

What to expect

While we don’t know the philosophical approach the Mavs’ front office will follow, for my hypothetical money, Dallas is going to exercise their option on Risacher and commit to him for the remaining two years on his contract. To me, this is a no-brainer.

Risacher was drafted two years ago, but is of an age that he could easily have been in the Draft this past June. He is just shy of two years older than Flagg, so he is well aligned with the timeline of the face of the franchise. Ultimately, it’s difficult to determine any reason not to take the chance here. Risacher may benefit from a scenery change, and the tutelage of Dusty May, Joe Boylan and the player-friendly coaching staff forming in Dallas could yet bring the best out of him. For what relatively little they gave up to get him, it makes sense for Dallas to commit in the short term to see what Risacher can yet become. This is especially true if the forward-heavy team is trimmed down a bit if and when a veteran or two is moved. In a worst-case scenario, they will have a $17 million expiring contract to dangle as trade bait in 2027-28.

Whatever the case, we have just over three months (or less) until we find out. For now, Dallas continues to put together a young, long and rangy team of athletes around Cooper Flagg, with most of the summer yet to play out.

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

At its heart, NBA Summer League basketball is a chance for teams to see their draftees and other young players in action, and how they respond, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and so on.

Players being competitive though, they want to do two things: make an impression as a potential NBA player, and, not incidentally, to win.

And while Cameron Boozer has a habit of winning, it didn’t work out this time, as Golden State got the championship Sunday night, in a 94-90 victory.

Boozer took a three-pointer with Memphis down 92-90 with about 0:08 to play, but missed.

Still, he made his point in Las Vegas. Boozer still has some doubters, but his new teammate, Cedric Coward, is very happy with what he’s seen from Boozer, saying this:
“He’s special, man. I mean there’s no other words I can describe it. Like I told people before, I can’t believe he’s 18, but he’s a special, special player.”

The questions about Boozer always suggest that he’s not that athletic, but he actually outperformed former UNC star Caleb Wilson in the pre-draft agility drills. His vertical is not that great, but otherwise?

He’s better than people think.

Where he just kills people is with his overall grasp of the game, and his fundamentals. As Coward suggested, Boozer is way ahead of the curve for a teenager (he just turned 19 on Saturday, incidentally). And if you have a solid grasp of the fundamentals, and you’re fairly rugged, you’re going to be able to make an impact.

We’d love to be a fly on the wall with the Grizzlies to get a better idea of what they learned about Boozer and how they plan to use him this upcoming season.

• Cameron Boozer has been one of the stars of Summer league
• Grizzlies’ Cedric Coward gave Cam Boozer a perfect birthday present at Summer League
• Duke’s Cameron Boozer Gets Insane NBA Prediction That Even Fans Might Not Agree With
• Cameron Boozer with the hoop & harm
• Cameron Boozer’s new teammate raves about his ‘special’ skills
• Grizzlies can soon maximize Cam Boozer’s biggest strength with Zach Edey
• Cameron Boozer Ranked As ESPN’s No. 2 Rookie Post-Summer League
• Why the NBA Rookie of the Year race ‘is gonna get nasty’
• Why Cameron Boozer is the toughest prospect to evaluate in NBA Summer League

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If you’ve ever watched an NBA playoff game, there’s a solid chance you’ve seen James Goldstein sitting court side. A California real estate mogul, Goldstein has season tickets to both the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers games, but he purchases court side seats throughout the season, especially in the playoffs.

The eighty-six-year-old has attended over 2,000 games over the years, often dressed to the nines in his flamboyant leather, cowboy-style outfits.

Goldstein has shared that he started watching basketball as a 10-year-old. By the age of 15, he was hired by the Milwaukee Hawks. “Once I did that and sat courtside for the games, I was totally hooked. My entire life has been devoted to professional basketball since then. I have such a passion for the game. I think there’s more athleticism displayed in basketball than in any other sport.”

Recently, Goldtsein was on vacation at Verde Beach in Saint-Tropez in sporting a Spurs Western Conference Finals t-shirt.

Goldstein was a fixture during the Spurs Race for Seis. It stands to reason he will be spending more time in San Antonio in late spring for years to come.

Welcome to the Thread. Join in the conversation, start your own discussion, and share your thoughts. This is the Spurs community, your Spurs community. Thanks for being here.

Our community guidelines apply which should remind everyone to be cool, avoid personal attacks, not to troll and to watch the language.

If you spent any amount of time on Mavericks Twitter, Reddit, or Discord after the Zaccharie Risacher trade was announced, the reaction was almost universal.

“Another forward?”

“Do the Mavericks know guards exist?”

“What exactly is this roster supposed to be?”

Honestly, I understood every bit of it.

Mine wasn’t much different.

When Shams Charania first reported Dallas had acquired the former No. 1 overall pick in a three-team deal with Atlanta and Oklahoma City, my first thought wasn’t excitement. It was confusing. The Mavericks already entered the offseason overloaded with wings and forwards, yet desperately needed another ball-handler. Trading for another player who occupies a similar position felt like doubling down on a roster imbalance that already existed.

Then the details started trickling in.

Ryan Nembhard was heading to Atlanta. Dallas was giving up a future second-round pick that originally belonged to Chicago. The Mavericks were using the Anthony Davis trade exception to absorb Risacher’s contract.

The more I looked at the trade, the more my opinion shifted.

Not because I suddenly think Zaccharie Risacher is going to become a star.

I don’t.

But I think this is one of those deals where the process deserves more credit than the initial reaction gave it.

Let’s not pretend Risacher has been good

There’s a reason Atlanta moved on after only two seasons.

Risacher hasn’t been a very good NBA player.

That’s not an overreaction.

That’s reality.

After entering the league as the No. 1 overall pick, he never developed into the player the Hawks envisioned. His sophomore season was especially disappointing. His production stagnated; his efficiency never took the leap Atlanta hoped for; he eventually lost his starting spot; and by the end of the season, he had fallen out of the Hawks’ playoff rotation. Reports throughout the offseason suggested both sides had reached the point where a fresh start made sense.

Even more concerning is how he has struggled.

Risacher wasn’t drafted because scouts believed he’d become an elite shot creator. He was drafted because he projected as one of the safest prospects in the class—a long, athletic wing who could defend multiple positions, shoot open threes, and fit seamlessly around stars.

Instead, he hasn’t consistently done any of those things at an NBA level.

The jumper hasn’t been reliable.

The defense hasn’t become the strength many expected.

He doesn’t create much offense for himself or others.

For a former No. 1 pick, that’s understandably disappointing.

So if your immediate reaction was, “Why are the Mavericks trading for a player who hasn’t even been good?” you’re not wrong.

That’s exactly why I understand the gamble

This is where I think two things can be true at the same time.

I don’t think this was some home-run acquisition.

I’m not sitting here trying to convince anyone that Risacher is secretly destined to become an All-Star.

Honestly, I have no idea if he’ll ever become a consistently good NBA player.

But I also think flipping Ryan Nembhard, an undrafted rookie, and a future second-round pick that originally belonged to Chicago for a former No. 1 overall pick is a perfectly reasonable swing.

That’s the important distinction.

I’m not buying Risacher.

I’m buying the price.

Those are two completely different conversations.

If Dallas had traded one of its remaining first-round picks for him, I’d probably hate the move.

If they had given up one of their core young players, I’d understand the outrage.

Instead, they took a chance on a player whose value had completely cratered while giving up relatively little.

That’s the type of bet rebuilding teams should be willing to make.

Sometimes players need a different environment.

One thing I keep coming back to is that Risacher feels like a player who needed a fresh start.

That doesn’t guarantee anything.

Sometimes former top picks never figure it out.

Sometimes a change of scenery changes absolutely nothing.

But development isn’t linear, and environment matters.

Atlanta clearly reached the point where it was ready to move on.

Dallas has a new front office led by Masai Ujiri and Mike Schmitz, a coaching staff led by Dusty May that already has a reputation for player development, and far less pressure to force Risacher into becoming a franchise cornerstone.

Will Dusty May fix him?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

But if you’re going to take a swing on a struggling former No. 1 overall pick, this feels like one of the better situations for that player to land.

The roster questions are still real.

None of this means I suddenly understand everything Dallas has done this offseason.

I still think they need another legitimate creator.

I still think they have too many forwards.

I still think Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving would benefit tremendously from another guard capable of organizing the offense.

This trade doesn’t solve any of those problems.

And that’s why so many fans reacted the way they did.

People weren’t just reacting to Zaccharie Risacher.

They were reacting to an entire offseason that still feels incomplete.

That’s a fair criticism.

This trade makes much more sense if it isn’t the last move

Maybe that’s the biggest takeaway.

If this is the roster Dallas brings into training camp, I’ll probably have a very different opinion of the offseason as a whole.

But I don’t think that’s the plan.

Masai Ujiri inherited one of the strangest roster situations in basketball. Nico Harrison left behind a team with limited draft assets, an aging core, and a roster that didn’t fit particularly well together. Fixing that wasn’t going to happen in one draft or one week of free agency.

The Risacher trade feels more like another dart throw than a finishing touch.

Dallas essentially used a trade exception, an undrafted rookie, and a second-round pick to acquire a 21-year-old former No. 1 overall pick whose value has never been lower.

If it works, the Mavericks suddenly have another intriguing young piece alongside Cooper Flagg.

If it doesn’t, they move on.

That’s a risk I’m comfortable taking.

Final thoughts

I still don’t know what this Mavericks roster is supposed to look like this season.

I’m still waiting for the move that brings another true ball-handler into the fold.

I’m still skeptical that the roster construction, as it currently stands, makes much sense.

But I also think it’s important to separate the value of the trade itself from the bigger picture.

Those are two different conversations.

From a roster construction standpoint, I still have questions.

From an asset management standpoint, I think Dallas did well.

The Mavericks didn’t give up a premium draft pick.

They didn’t sacrifice one of their best young players.

They bought low on a former No. 1 overall pick whose value had reached rock bottom.

Maybe Zaccharie Risacher never becomes anything more than a rotational wing.

Maybe Atlanta ends up looking smart for moving on when it did.

But when the cost is an undrafted free agent, a second-round pick, and a trade exception, I think that’s a gamble worth taking.

It doesn’t fix the Mavericks.

It doesn’t suddenly make the offseason a success.

But it also isn’t nearly as bad a trade as many of us thought it was in those first few minutes after the news broke.

Draymond Green jokes he would change playstyle if LeBron James joins Warriors originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Draymond Green has seen this movie before — he’s just casting himself in a different role this time.

A fan on Threads asked Green on Sunday who would run the Warriors’ offense if LeBron James signs with Golden State: Green, Steph Curry, or James himself. Green’s answer left little room for interpretation about where he sees himself fitting in.

“Bron,” Green wrote. “I’d become PJ Tucker. Greatest corner 3pt shooter ever.”

It is not the first time Green has made that exact claim about Tucker. Back in Sept. 2020, following a Houston Rockets playoff loss, Green tweeted that Tucker “may be the best Corner 3-point shooter in NBA history” — a claim NBC Sports Bay Area’s Ali Thanawalla examined in detail at the time and found did not hold up.

Curry and Klay Thompson both posted significantly better corner-three shooting percentages than Tucker over that stretch, even with a fraction of his attempts, and six other players in the league that season alone out-shot him from the corner as well.

The real number behind Tucker’s reputation is volume, not efficiency. He has made 704 corner 3-pointers over the past 12 seasons, the most in the NBA during that span, according to Second Spectrum — built largely during his prime years in Houston, where he led the league in corner threes three straight seasons. His career 3-point percentage sits at 36.6 percent, with a corner-specific mark of 38.4 percent.

As for Green actually pulling off the transformation himself, the numbers offer a mixed verdict. He has shot better than 32.6 percent from three just once in the past decade — but he shot 38 percent specifically from the corners last season, and has topped one made three per game in each of the past two years after going seven years without hitting that mark even once.

Whether Green can realistically become the next Tucker is beside the point. The joke fits neatly into a summer-long recruiting pitch that has already included declining his own $27.7 million player option and jokingly offering to give up his No. 23 jersey number for James.

Six years after his first attempt at this exact comparison, Green still is selling the same pitch — he is just hoping this time it comes with a very different teammate attached.

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Las Vegas Summer League is the most wonderful time of the year. It’s a time when every dribble, rebound, and shot can mean as much or as little as the beholder wants.

My personal rulebook for Summer League is that rookies can only improve their stock; second-year guys should look like second-year guys; and third-year guys better not play poorly, or they will be looking for a spot on my hometown professional team, the Tasmanian JackJumpers.

The great news for Celtics fans is that every player of consequence showed out at Summer League. Before we hand out some summer grades, I will remind everyone that I am grading these players based on my expectations and perceptions of their abilities coming into Summer League.

I’m not comparing Chris Cenac Jr. to Cam Boozer. 

Hugo González – B+ 

Hugo Gonzalez is having an excellent summer. It tipped off with a pair of strong performances in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers, in which Gonzalez contributed 13 points, 4 points, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block.

The skill that really flashed in Hugo’s two FIBA games was his passing, which he carried over to Summer League, where he was tasked with being the team’s lead shot creator, a tall task for a 20-year-old wing who was given close to zero ball-handling responsibility in his rookie season. While there were some clunky stretches for the Summer Celtics’ offense, most notably the streak of 17 straight misses in the first game of the campaign, Hugo acquitted himself nicely in this role. Gonzalez showcased improved handling and passing skills. The young forward turned in 5.7 assists to go with 3.7 turnovers per game.

For a franchise that prioritizes limiting turnovers, I’m sure the coaching staff would like to see the turnover number lower, but an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.54 is impressive in this context. The Celtics Summer League roster was low on spacing and shot creation, so Hugo being a passable offensive engine is encouraging.

Letting ourselves get carried away by the Vegas Vibes, if the young wing can develop his creation ability, it would be a significant boon for the Boston Celtics. With Hugo already showing in his rookie season that he can be a defensive and rebounding machine, if he can simultaneously morph into being a jumbo secondary creator? The “I can’t believe the Celtics didn’t trade this guy for Giannis” takes won’t age well.

Lastly, Celtics fans are likely already familiar with Gonzalez’s historic plus/minus numbers as a rookie. Rivalling all-time greats like Tim Duncan and Jayson Tatum in their rookie seasons. Well, Hugo did it again at Summer League. The Celtics were a plus-34 with Hugo on the court and a minus-28 with him off the court. The kid impacts winning. I docked Hugo down from an “A” because I thought his defense in the second Summer League game was disappointing. He got torched by Liam McNeely. But I won’t let a bad half of Summer League supersede a rookie season of being a defensive menace. 

Amari Williams – B

Amari Williams has some passionate believers. I get it. The blend of size and vision is tantalizing. When you squint (close your eyes), it’s not hard to see British Nikola Jokic. Summer League shenanigans aside, the former second-round pick left me feeling optimistic that he could become a solid backup big man at some point.

For those who think reaching a ceiling of a competent backup big man is something to scoff at, I implore you to look at the big man market in today’s NBA. Walker Kessler was just traded for an unconscionable haul, Jock Landale (Australian King) signed for $14 million, and even Zach Collins managed to secure a two-year $17 million contract. The pendulum has violently swung back on the value of big men. Teams have realized the value of having high-level center play for 48 minutes.

So, what did Amari do that leads me to believe he can provide competent centre play for the Celtics? The seven-footer continues to flash impressive rim protection, the ability to gobble up rebounds, and the alluring trait of being a team’s offensive hub due to his passing skills.

On the alluring passing, Williams had a handful of turnovers on no-look and overly saucy passes. My recommendation would be to both look when passing and limit the amount of sauce on some of these passes to ensure better ball security.

My biggest gripe with Williams is that, despite being the biggest guy out there, I’m often left wishing he could experience a motor upgrade. While the seven-footer had several high-level moments as a rim protector and rebounder throughout Summer League, I see no reason why he couldn’t be a game-wrecker.

In the consolation game, we saw what it can look like when Williams cranks his motor up. The big fella had a beautiful tip-in on an offensive rebound, a sequence with back-to-back blocks, and a lovely backdoor pass to DeVries. We need more of that for the big man to fulfil his potential as a high-level backup big man. If we could clone Hugo Gonzalez’s motor and install it where Williams’ currently is, we would have a monster on our hands. All that to say I’m encouraged by Amari’s development and feel confident in his ability to reach the level of rotational big man in the NBA. 

Chris Cenac – A 

I loved the Celtics’ selection of Chris Cenac at the 27th overall pick. He fits the profile of the type of prospect I wanted the Celtics to draft: a high upside big man that, in a ceiling outcome, gives you two-way versatility in the playoffs.

The book on Cenac was that he was a raw prospect. I come away blown away by how this kid fell to the Celtics at the 27th pick. The blend of size and length, skill, and motor all popped across his Summer League campaign. I expected Cenac to look like Bambi on ice out there. But he flashed the ability to switch on the perimeter defensively, hit clutch threes, mash opponents on the glass, and make smooth passing reads out of the short roll… and he just turned 19 years old in February.

The Chris Cenac hype train has left the station. In just 23.3 minutes per game, the first-round draft pick stuffed the stat sheet with 10.5 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2.8 blocks. If we let our imagination run wild and extrapolate those numbers to a per-36-minute number, we would be looking at 18 points, 12 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 4.3 blocks.

One of the concerns about Cenac as a prospect was his incredibly low block rate in college, despite being an athletic marvel. The big man out of Houston only averaged 0.5 blocks per game in college. The optimists explained this by saying it was due to Cenac playing in a Houston context that had him at the power forward spot, where he was not asked to be a rim protector. Well, those concerns have been addressed emphatically with 11 blocks over his four games. The rim protection isn’t perfect; Cenac has the quintessential rookie trait of biting on lots of pump fakes. However, Cenac also has the ability to recover from these mistakes to either collect blocks or still impact shots at the rim thanks to his freakish mix of size and athleticism. 19-year-olds picked late in the first round of the NBA draft rarely get much playing time, but I would love to see what Cenac could do with some real NBA minutes.

Dillon Mitchell – B+

Dillon Mitchell is a fun player to watch. The 40th overall pick is a high-octane, turnover-generating, rebound-securing chaos agent. Mazzulla Ball is often pigeonholed as only being about three-point shooting rate. It is more about maximising possessions, and Mitchell fits this philosophy. The explosive guard looks like Ed Reed picking off passes on the way to thunderous dunks on the other end, and is often in danger of concussing himself as he soars through traffic to collect offensive rebounds.

This is what the Celtics envision with Mitchell: a non-shooting possessions generator. Mitchell is not a shooter, but he is a smart offensive player. The explosive guard is quick to set screens that spring teammates open, a timely cutter, and a precise passer. He also hit more threes in Summer League (3) than he did in the entirety of his last college season (1)…so maybe there is a shooter in there that the Celtics development staff can coax out of him. I don’t see a path for Mitchell to get burn in his rookie season with so many perimeter players ahead of him in the rotation, but I’m certainly intrigued to follow his development.

John Tonje – A 

John Tonje already stamped himself as a Celtics legend with his performance in Game 82 of last season. The two-way forward continued his strong play for the Summer Celtics.

Tonje can stroke it from three. Catch and shoot threes, pull-ups, and side step threes. The athletic wing also showed improvement on defense, continued to hit the glass, and showcased his athleticism with a one-handed tomahawk slam in the final Summer League game.

The only thing working against the toolsy guard-forward hybrid is that the Celtics are overflowing with talent on the wing. Between Jayson Tatum, Paul George, Hugo Gonzalez, Sam Hauser, Baylor Scheierman, Ron Harper Jr, and Jordan Walsh, there isn’t a path for Tonje to earn minutes. For this reason, I would lean toward giving the last two-way slot to Milos Uzan. That being said, I am terrified that Tonje will end up on the Miami Heat and be the next Caleb Martin or Max Strus for them. Dude can play. 

Milos Uzan – A

Milos Uzan is a slippery, tough-shot-making, consistent shot-creator. At a minimum, Milos Uzan will go down as a Summer Celtic great. The highlight of Uzan’s Summer League was his clutch buckets to seal a victory against the Sacramento Kings.

The Celtics’ point guard depth is not the strength of the roster. After Derrick White and Payton Pritchard, the options get a little bit creaky. Mike Conley, whom I love, is coming into his 20th season as a pro. It would be great to add a developmental guard to the pipeline. Interestingly, Uzan and Conley have similar profiles as shifty guards who battle on defense, and more importantly, are great in the possession game. Mike Conley has made a career out of suppressing turnovers and getting offenses organized. I’m not saying Uzan is prime Mike Conley, although that would be wonderful news for the Celtics, but Uzan fits the Celtics philosophy of maximising possessions across 48 minutes and across 82 games.

Milos (have I mentioned how Milos Uzan is an outrageously cool name?), averaged 4 assists to only 1.4 turnovers per game in his Summer League campaign, which was a near identical stat line to his two-year career at Houston, where he averaged 4.1 assists to 1.4 turnovers across 77 games. Signalling to me that this was a deliberate roster decision by the Celtics as they see Uzan as fitting their identity.

As mentioned above, I think it makes sense for Uzan to be rewarded with one of the two-way contracts. Milos fills a bigger need than John Tonje, has some built-in chemistry with Houston teammate Chris Cenac, and is two years younger than Tonje. As much as I will always remember Tonje’s performance in Game 82 of the 2025-2026 NBA season, it is Milos Uzan’s time to shine in Maine. 

Honourable mention – Tucker Devries – A

Tucker DeVries had two jobs: take threes and make threes. Mission accomplished. I don’t know if there is an NBA player in there, but he will, at a minimum, have a long career overseas as a professional basketball player. 

I’m already excited to see what Year Two Chris Cenac looks like at Summer League next year. Until then, we have three months to argue about whether or not the Celtics are better or worse than last season. I can’t wait. 

If you have spotted Kentucky Basketball forward Kam Williams around campus recently, you probably noticed a couple of familiar summer accessories: a protective walking boot and crutches, as seen at the TBT.

Before Big Blue Nation lets out a collective sigh of panic, take a deep breath. This isn’t a case of the injury bug striking again, but rather a visual reminder of the strict, ultra-cautious rehabilitation program Williams has been on all offseason. As Mark Pope and his staff look ahead to the 2026-27 campaign, the goal is simple: zero rushing, zero risks, and ensuring Williams is at absolute full strength when the games actually matter.

Here is a closer look at where things stand with Williams’ recovery and the medical reality behind his current summer routine.

Fighting through to play in March

To understand why the staff is playing the long game right now, you have to look back to January 2026. During an SEC game against Texas, Williams suffered a fractured left foot, specifically a Jones fracture.

Instead of shutting it down for the year, Williams underwent surgery and put together a grueling rehab stint just to make it back onto the floor for limited action during the postseason. It was a massive boost for the locker room, but playing on a recently repaired foot takes a toll.

Because of that grueling stretch, the Kentucky medical staff drew a hard line for the summer. Williams has been completely held out of contact drills and summer practices. The presence of the boot and crutches is simply the tactical continuation of that off-season plan. Absolutely no reason to take any chances of a reinjury when you don’t have to.

Could a reinjury have happened here? Maybe, considering how tricky a Jones Fracture can be, but no updates have been provided.

The tricky nature of a Jones Fracture

For basketball players, the fifth metatarsal (the bone on the outside of the foot where a Jones fracture occurs) is notoriously stubborn. Because that specific area of the foot has a naturally limited blood supply, bone fusion takes considerable time, usually around 4 months.

The risk of a delayed union or a microscopic re-fracture is high if a player returns to full workload too quickly, which may have happened when Williams came back just two months after the surgery. But I still think this is just a continuation of a plan to play it safe.

By utilizing a boot and crutches during the heart of the summer, the training staff is essentially protecting Williams from himself. It forces the foot to rest completely, allowing the bone to harden and adapt without any daily stress.

Ultimately, seeing a key piece of the roster in a boot in July might not be the most glamorous summer visual, but it is exactly what the doctor ordered, unless there was a reinjury that hasn’t been disclosed. Mark Pope’s staff is taking the smart, hyper-conservative route here, and they should.

By sacrificing summer checklist reps now, the Wildcats are ensuring that when the bright lights turn on this winter, Williams will be completely ready to roll.

On Sunday, we looked at the classic 1984 matchup between Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon and Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing. Both went on to brilliant NBA careers and are on a short list of the best NBA big men of all time: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Shaquille O’Neal, David Robinson – Ewing and Olajuwon are both in rarified air.

However, Olajuwon in one respect stands alone: no center, and indeed very few players at all, had the combination of agility and quickness that he had.

Watch this compilation of his signature move, the Dream Shake. Keep in mind that Olajuwon is 7-0 and his playing weight was 255. The only big man who ever approached this level of agility was a young O’Neal, and he packed on so much weight in the NBA that he lost that aspect of his game. For his third championship with the Lakers, though he was listed at 325, O’Neal later said that he played at a staggering 415 lbs.

Olajuwon was one of a kind.

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Whether you care or not, we have collectively transitioned into the coldest part of the schedule for sports fans. Go watch baseball if you like it, but if you don’t, get ready for two months of absolutely nothing at all.

• The Atlanta Hawks are making it clear that the Knicks are (or remain) their biggest target. After lucking into a 2-1 lead in the first round last, Atlanta added Lu Dort and Ryan Nembhard in a three-team trade with Oklahoma City and Dallas. The Hawks already added Aaron Wiggins from OKC in another dump trade by the Thunder earlier this summer.
• P&T alumn Lee Escobedo believes the Hawks are building an “Anti-Knicks” roster. Summary:

“Have the Hawks assembled a championship roster? Atlanta acquired All-Defensive wing Lu Dort after taking New York to six games in the first round, giving Quin Snyder another physical perimeter defender to deploy against Jalen Brunson. Dort allows Dyson Daniels to operate as a roaming help defender while Nickeil Alexander-Walker chases shooters and Jalen Johnson attacks in transition. Ryan Nembhard and rookie Kingston Flemings could also improve Atlanta’s half-court organization. The Hawks still have concerns about size, rebounding, and shooting, but their combination of defensive versatility, ball pressure, and Oklahoma City influence makes them one of New York’s most dangerous Eastern Conference challengers.”

• Deuce McBride sent LeBron James a message.
• Eli Manning has the perfect description for New York, the Giants, the Yankees, the Rangers, the Knicks, MSG, Derek Jeter, plenty more… and Jalen Brunson. Ridiculous clip.

• Former infamous New York Post storyteller Marc Berman returned home and reflected on finally seeing the Knicks win a championship after covering the franchise for 23 seasons.
• Shout-out Kris Pursiainen for this Alvarado story.

“Karl-Anthony Towns says Jose Alvarado told him on ‘day 7’ of celebratory drinking that he slept in a construction yard. Towns adds he’s still not sure if it was a joke. ‘He’s the hood MVP, for sure,‘ he said of Alvarado.”

• Jordan Clarkson became involved in a situation at Manhattan’s Zero Bond nightclub while attempting to calm a confrontation involving rapper Travis Scott. Security removed both Clarkson and Scott from the venue, and no injuries were reported.
• Dillon Brooks his top-five biggest NBA whiners. Yes, you guessed the gold medalist right.
• Spain beat Argentina 1-0 at the World Cup. Spain won the World Cup.