Category: NBA

Ramp to Camp: What version of Derrick White will Celtics get this season? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Let’s state the obvious: Derrick White had a miserable shooting season last year. In fact, pick the meanest adjective you can think of, replace our word miserable, and it probably fairly describes White’s season-long shooting woes.

But lost in those shooting struggles — with White connecting on a grisly 32.7 percent of 8.3 3-pointers per game, and shooting a meager 39.4 percent from the floor overall — was that White still was an advanced metrics darling, finishing among the league’s elite in net rating despite his misfires. His defense remained top tier and he routinely impacted winning during his court time.

The shots just would not fall.

For Day 3 of our Ramp to Camp series, we asked our panel: What version of Derrick White will the Celtics get this season?

We suspect you’ll hear a lot of prognosticators talking about a potential “bounce-back year” for White. The reality is that it’s simply his shot that needs to rebound. White put up All-Star-caliber production in basically every other facet of the game. But, thrust into an elevated offensive role while Jayson Tatum rehabbed, it was hard to ignore the shooting splits.

White still finished third on the team in net rating with Boston outscoring opponents by 11.3 points per 100 possessions during his floor time. Among all NBA players that averaged at least 30 minutes per game last season, White ranked fourth in net rating, one spot ahead of Denver MVP candidate Nikola Jokic. The only three players ahead of him were the actual MVP in Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (plus-16.3), Detroit’s Cade Cunningham (plus-11.4), and San Antonio’s Devin Vassell (plus-11.4).

White, despite his shooting woes, ranked in the 95th percentile at his position while generating 29.6 points per game off scoring and assists. He averaged a career-best 1.3 blocks per game, earned a spot on the All-Defense first team, and was sixth in voting for Defensive Player of the Year.

Go find your favorite advanced metric acronym (there’s a lot out there nowadays) and it probably loved White’s season. DARKO had him as a +1.5 DPM (full daily plus minus), the same mark Jaylen Brown posted while finishing sixth in MVP voting. Dunks & Threes’ Estimated Plus-Minus had him at +4.4, which was the 14th best mark in the NBA (one spot behind Cunningham).

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The good news for White is that a healthier Jayson Tatum ought to take a bunch of stress off White’s offensive creation and maybe jolt his shot quality this year. The bad news is that, with the departure of Brown, there will be lingering pressure to be a secondary scoring option. Maybe Paul George and Payton Pritchard can help alleviate some of that stress.

White turned 32 in July. He’ll cross 20,000 total NBA minutes played this season. He has to prove that the shooting funk wasn’t tied to age. If those shooting splits bounce back early in the season, there’s a good chance he could earn the All-Star nod that has somehow evaded him in recent years.

The Celtics need the confident White who punishes teams when they stray from him at the 3-point line. They need the White who ranked in the 97th percentile among guards while shooting 59.4 percent on all 2-point shots in 2024-25, and not the guy who dipped to the 36th percentile while shooting 48.7 percent on 2s last season.

If White finds his floater, the entire perception of his season completely changes.

Our guess is that his numbers perk back up and that a lot of the consternation dissipates. His bond with Tatum is well established. If Tatum can take much of the playmaking duties off White’s plate, it might free him up to thrive in more familiar ways.

The shot might bounce back, but White’s ability to impact winning has never wavered. That can’t change regardless of how he shoots the ball this season.

Jason Levine: Executive Producer, Content Integrations

We might not get the 2024 D-White but he’ll be better than last season. He was pegged as the No. 2 with Tatum out, and I think that’s asking too much. He needs to think the game like he normally does, and I think his shooting will be what we’re accustomed to with the lower level of pressure on his shoulders.

Nick Goss: Producer, Multi-Platform Content

A 37-plus percent shooter from 3-point range and an All-Defensive team selection. The Celtics won’t be a real contender if he shoots as poorly as he did last season.

Michael Hurley: Producer, Multi-Platform Content

That’s hard to say. The Celtics would like to get a more comfortable Derrick White this year, because the team probably asked too much from him last year in Tatum’s absence. I simply believe they have a roster that needs him just as badly this year. Paul George is the wild card here. If the newcomer can be effective and available, White can easily slide into a role that suits him better. But those are some big ifs.

Josh Canu: Editor

I am unfortunately not as optimistic about Derrick White’s offense returning to its previous form. White is once again thrust into needing to be option No. 2 or 3 in the offense and we saw how that played out last season. Tatum should provide more open looks for shooters than Brown did, but I think White’s best days are behind him. He will still provide elite defense and solid playmaking, but I would feel better if he was more of a complementary piece than a focal point.

Justin Leger: Producer, Multi-Platform Content

We should expect White to bounce back offensively after shooting a career-worst 39.4 percent from the floor and 32.7 percent from 3-point range. Tatum’s return and George’s presence will allow White to settle back into his catch-and-shoot role. Last season, White felt the need to carry the offense alongside Brown while Tatum was sidelined. In 2026-27, he should return to form as a dependable shooter while earning yet another All-Defensive nod.

Adam Hart: Executive Producer, Content Strategy

Shook up my Magic 8 Ball: Ask again later.

When Nick Nurse took over as the Sixers’ head coach ahead of the 2023-24 season, players were buzzing with excitement about his energy and creativity. But with Joel Embiid and Paul George cycling in and out of the lineup over the past two seasons, Nurse hasn’t gotten many chances to show off that side of himself. His experimentation with lineups was more out of necessity than anything else.

That shouldn’t be the case this coming season. Between Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown, VJ Edgecombe and some guy named LeBron James, the Sixers have more top-end talent than they’ve had arguably in decades. But their talent doesn’t just stop at their starting five. They’re far deeper than they’ve been at any point in the Nurse era, too.

After an up-and-down regular season last year, Nurse already started getting back in the good graces of Sixers fans by helping orchestrate the Sixers’ thrilling 3-1 series comeback against the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was so rattled by the end of that series that he started Baylor Scheierman, Luka Garza and Ron Harper Jr. in Game 7. On purpose!

Granted, the good vibes didn’t last long. A second-round sweep at the hands of the eventual champion New York Knicks left the Sixers looking rudderless heading into the offseason. Of course, that was before new president of basketball operations Mike Gansey pulled off the coup of all coups by landing both Brown and James.

Those two were the headliners of the offseason for obvious reasons, but they weren’t the Sixers’ only key additions. Dean Wade, Anfernee Simons, Ariel Hukporti and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope could all play key roles off the bench this season. Gansey also resisted the temptation to draft for fit over talent when he took Labaron Philon Jr. at No. 22 overall, giving the Sixers another ball-handler behind Maxey and Edgecombe.

It’s now on Nurse to figure out how all of these pieces will fit together.

Will the ‘mad scientist’ show up?

Nurse made a name for himself in Toronto when he helped guide the Raptors to their first-ever championship in 2019. His decision to deploy a box-and-one defense against Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry in the NBA Finals that year was some true sicko stuff.

“Trying new stuff, being innovative, is who Nick is,” then-Raptors president Masai Ujiri said about Nurse during his introductory press conference in Toronto in 2018. “You can tell he’s a tactician who really thinks the game.”

That innovation hasn’t been on display as much as expected in Philly… yet. The Sixers had 54 different starting lineups in 2024-25 (!), but that was a byproduct of injuries more than anything else. Much like Doc Rivers before him, Nurse flirted with the idea of double-big lineups featuring Embiid and either Andre Drummond or Adem Bona, but Embiid and Bona played only 46 minutes together last year, while Embiid and Drummond shared the floor for only eight minutes.

This season, Nurse should have plenty of chances to lean back into his experimental nature.

Nurse already confirmed that he plans to deploy LeBron as an “offense creator” who will “bring the ball up the floor and try to create for himself and others,” but Maxey and Edgecombe should get some ball-handling reps as well. Being able to use LeBron, Maxey and Edgecombe both as on- and off-ball weapons should make the Sixers that much more unpredictable on offense, so it’ll be imperative for Nurse not to lean solely on LeBron as the main ball-handler.

Nurse already began moving away from Embiid as the Sixers’ offensive fulcrum last season, and the Sixers’ offseason overhaul should only further expedite that process. This will be the first time in Embiid’s career where he doesn’t have to score 20-plus points on any given night to give the Sixers even a puncher’s chance of winning. Can Nurse get him to buy into scaling back his offensive role even more and instead get him to spend his energy on defense, rebounding, screen-setting and boxing out?

And how will he deploy Brown, who’s fresh off a career year as the No. 1 option in Boston? Brown’s handle isn’t tight enough to merit running the offense through him again, but he’s a legitimate weapon in isolations. He’s also big and physical enough to back down smaller defenders. Finding the balance between that and keeping the ball moving might be among Nurse’s greatest challenges this year.

Pace is the other big question looming over the Sixers offense. Maxey, James and Brown were second, third and fourth, respectively, in transition points per game last season, and Edgecombe’s youth and athleticism should make him a dynamic weapon in the open floor as well. Embiid… not so much. How does Nurse blend those two styles together?

While the Sixers’ starting five figure to open and close games together, they’ll also have plenty of time intermingling with bench players. It’ll be on Nurse to figure out which combinations and skill sets fit best together.

He did lean into more three-guard lineups with Maxey, Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes last year—again, mostly out of necessity—but will he try out units with three of Maxey, Edgecombe, Simons, KCP and Philon? How will the forward rotation shake out behind Brown and James? What’s the optimal role for Wade and Dominick Barlow this year? Do Jabari Walker and Justin Edwards factor into the rotation at all?

While it’s imperative for the starting five to develop chemistry—after all, they’ll be playing the lion’s share of the minutes if (when?) the Sixers make it to the playoffs—Nurse needs to lean into his experimental side during the regular season, especially early on. The Sixers will have an opportunity to address any holes in their roster at the trade deadline or on the buyout market, but they first need to identify their biggest needs before looking to rectify them.

Luckily, Nurse’s experience with integrating Kawhi Leonard into the 2018-19 Raptors could help him this season.

“Nurse was brought in to deliver outside-the-box thinking to a group that had grown stagnant, and accordingly, he was all over the map in his first go-around,” William Lou of Yahoo Sports wrote in 2019. “He treated the entire regular season as one great experiment, shuffling through 22 different starting lineups while managing a never-ending slew of injuries.” (Sound familiar?)

“The Raptors lacked the consistency and continuity that powered them under [former head coach Dwane] Casey, but it was a concerted sacrifice made in the name of versatility,” Lou added. “The ability to adapt was thought to be an advantage come playoff time.”

During his introductory press conference with the Raptors, Nurse specifically said that he wanted to get more creative defensively “so we can try to be ready for more things in the playoffs.” The box-and-one in the 2019 Finals was a total wild card, but Nurse used a double-big lineup with Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol in the Raptors’ second-round series against the Sixers to flip the script after they fell into a 2-1 hole.

The Sixers will face a variety of threats throughout the Eastern Conference this year, all of whom present different challenges. The Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers will all trot out double-big lineups, while elite guards and wings and a five-out starting unit will be the New York Knicks’ calling card. Befitting their name, the Pacers figure to push the pace and overwhelm opponents with depth, while the Boston Celtics will once again likely look to leverage the math battle by bombing away from deep.

The Sixers need to be prepared for all of the stylistic challenges that their potential playoff opponents can present. The regular season is an 82-game crucible to get them ready for that. While they need to focus on winning as many games as possible for playoff-seeding purposes, using the same lineups and combinations night after night won’t do much to get them ready for the postseason.

In 2022, Ujiri described Nurse as a “mad scientist” who “lives, sleeps and drinks the game.” He’s had plenty of time this offseason to be in his lab figuring out the best ways to deploy the new talent he has at his disposal. In a few weeks, we’ll get to see what he’s cooked up.

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.

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Sixers pre-camp questions: Will Sixers be healthy when it matters most? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Sixers’ new era is on deck.

With LeBron James and Jaylen Brown on board and training camp set to begin in late September, we’re taking a look at key questions for the 2026-27 Sixers. 

We’ve asked: 

Just how dramatic of an impact will James make?

What role will Brown play on his new team?

Next up: Will the Sixers be healthy when it matters most? 

Joel Embiid is naturally the first name to cover with the Sixers’ health picture.

Embiid last exceeded 40 regular-season games in his 2022-23 MVP year. He played 38 last season, then missed the first three games of the Sixers’ first-round playoff series against the Celtics as he recovered from an appendectomy and sat out Game 2 of Round 2 vs. the Knicks because of ankle and hip injuries.

As many Sixers fans have seen, Embiid has been on the court and looked in excellent physical shape this offseason. Embiid has indeed been moving well and feeling good about his summer, a team source recently said. The organization is optimistic about his health and mobility in the season ahead. 

We’ll see exactly how the team handles his games and minutes this year. It would certainly be a surprise to see Embiid play back-to-backs again off the bat. The Sixers plan to have a fluid approach with Embiid as the season progresses and they see what works for his body and for the team. On head coach Nick Nurse’s 2018-19 NBA champion Raptors, Kawhi Leonard played in 60 games and zero back-to-backs.Toronto went 9-3 on the second leg of back-to-backs. The Sixers had a great year in that regard last season, going 12-4 on the second night of back-to-backs, and would be thrilled with similar results in the 2026-27 campaign as they manage their star-packed roster. 

Sixers vice president of athlete care Simon Rice has worked closely with Embiid, who credited him after scoring 40 points in the team’s Jan. 31 win over the Pelicans. 

“We figured out the schedule,” Embiid said, “and what I have to do every single day to make sure I’m prepared and that I feel good. … Simon Rice, he’s been the main guy when it comes to everything. I would say probably everybody mostly gave up on me. 

“He’s the one guy who kept trying to figure it out. What can we do? How can he help me? I’m really thankful because he was that one person. He’s in the background. No one is ever going to mention his name and talk about him, but he’s the guy.” 

James played 60 games last season and averaged a career-low 33.2 minutes. Like with Embiid, the Sixers will care more about his playoff availability than the regular season. Of course, James has developed an exceptional understanding of how to treat his body and get through seasons over the years. He’ll turn 42 years old during the regular season and will undoubtedly have periodic rest with the postseason in mind. 

Tyrese Maxey’s norm the past three years with Nurse has been enormous minutes. He played an NBA-high 38.0 per game last season. Whatever that number is for the 2026-27 season, the Sixers will expect Maxey’s minutes to be substantially less taxing with two new stars on the team in James and Brown. 

Maxey logged 70 games last year, though he returned from a pinky finger injury ahead of schedule late in the season, aggravated it multiple times, and wasn’t near 100 percent in the playoffs. The two-time All-Star guard will always push to play, but it’s worth remembering that nagging, recurring injuries have impacted him before and the Sixers would obviously prefer to avoid those sorts of problems in 2026-27. 

The Sixers are pleased with their depth, including second-unit summer pickups Anfernee Simons and Dean Wade, but any team can be stretched thin when injuries pile up. They’ll try to control what they can health-wise and hope for better luck than in injury-cursed years past.

The timing of the Lakers announcing they’re going to unveil a statue of legendary coach Phil Jackson made a lot of sense. 

The franchise was less than seven months removed from immortalizing Pat Riley, one of the last key figures of the Lakers’ “Showtime” era who hadn’t been honored with a statue up until that point (James Worthy is also deserving of a statue). 

With Shaquille O’Neal (2017) and Kobe Bryant (2024) already having statues outside of Crypto.com Arena, it made sense for the Lakers to honor Jackson, one of the masterminds from their last dynasty in the 2000s.

And with the Lakers on the cusp of a new era and on the verge of changing majority ownership for the second time in a year, this much is clear: It’s time for the Lakers to honor the late Dr. Jerry Buss with a statue. 

Buss’ worthiness of a statue doesn’t need to be argued. 

He’s not only the greatest owner in NBA history but he also has a strong argument for the greatest franchise owner in sports history. 

After Buss purchased the Lakers from Jack Kent Cooke for $67.5 million (the deal also included the NHL’s Kings and the Forum in Inglewood), the franchise went on a historic run before Buss died in 2013: 10 NBA titles, 16 Western Conference titles and 32 playoff appearances in 34 years. 

In addition to the success off the court, Buss revolutionized the business side of the NBA in myriad ways, changing how sports franchises throughout the world present and operate their teams. 

Buss was a cultural and sports icon. 

And the person responsible for the Lakers being an iconic franchise who welcomed other iconic individuals — including many who will be or have been honored with a statue from the Lakers.

Now, it should be his turn. 

Especially during the period the franchise is in. 

After Buss was the Lakers’ majority owner for nearly 34 years, and his children were the majority owners of the franchise for another 12 years, the Lakers are in the process of being sold for the second time since last summer. 

Mark Walter, the Dodgers’ controlling owner, bought the majority ownership of the Lakers from the Buss family in June 2025 at a then-record valuation of $10 billion. 

Fourteen months later, amid Walter’s business empire facing a federal investigation into potential loan fraud and business wrongdoings, he sold the majority ownership of the Lakers to businessman Josh Kushner and ex-Disney executive Bob Iger at the historic valuation of $12.5 billion.

And in the aftermath of the latest sale, five of Buss’ children (Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse Buss) attempted to sell the family’s remaining stake of the Lakers (17.8%), but Lakers Governor Jeanie Buss filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court to block her siblings’ attempted sale of their minority ownership stake of the franchise.

With a court hearing not set until Dec. 8, the Buss family’s future with the franchise is uncertain. 

And with there not being a track record of a sports franchise being led by Kushner and Iger, the franchise’s overall future is unknown. 

But a great way for Kushner and Iger to ingratiate themselves with Lakers fans would be to honor the icon responsible for the empire they’re taking control of. 

It would be an immortalization that’s long overdue.

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Go Stones.

Now that the Dallas Mavericks’ roster is 99% set with a little more than a month before the start of the 2026-27 season, one thing that has been on my mind is who is going to be in the rotation on day one. While there are some familiar faces, a third of the roster is brand new.

Returning Players: Kyrie Irving, Cooper Flagg, PJ Washington, Daniel Gafford, Caleb Martin, Max Christie, Dereck Lively II, Naji Marshall, Moussa Cisse

New Players: Tarik Biberovic, Sergio De Larrea, Morez Johnson Jr., Santi Aldama, Marcus Sasser, Zaccharie Risacher

Six new faces may not seem like much turnover, but when you consider that Lively and Irving were non-factors last year and Cisse was on a two-way contract, over half of the playable roster is new this season.

On top of that, the Mavericks have a brand new front office and coaching staff. I don’t know much about Dusty May yet. I do know that he is considered an analytics darling and has shown a willingness to adapt his game plan to the roster in front of him, something that was evident in his rotations at FAU and Michigan.

Looking at the limitations of this roster, shot creation and playmaking, while improved from last year, still stand out as the biggest weaknesses. Is May going to prioritize those areas? Or will he lean into the size and shooting the Mavericks have added throughout the offseason?

Unfortunately, we don’t have those answers yet. But I’m going to do my best to look at this roster through the eyes of Dusty May and rationalize what I think he might do.

So, who is going to play?

Looking at last year’s data for Mavericks players who appeared in at least 50 games, here is how the minutes were distributed:

Cooper Flagg: 70 GP, 33.5 MPG

P.J. Washington: 56 GP, 31 MPG

Naji Marshall: 74 GP, 29.5 MPG

Max Christie: 77 GP, 29.1 MPG

Brandon Williams: 66 GP, 22.2 MPG

Daniel Gafford: 55 GP, 21.7 MPG

Klay Thompson: 69 GP, 21.7 MPG

Ryan Nembhard: 60 GP, 19.5 MPG

Caleb Martin: 58 GP, 14.8 MPG

Dwight Powell: 63 GP, 12.3 MPG

This isn’t a perfect representation of the rotation, especially when you get to the final few players, but it gives us a starting point for this thought experiment.

I would normally lock Dereck Lively into the rotation, but from what I’ve seen, I don’t believe he will be ready to go on opening night. For now, I’m leaving him out.

The only other player I believe will be completely out of the rotation on day one is Caleb Martin. His offense, or lack thereof, is ultimately why I think he will start the season on the bench.

My locks for the day-one rotation are Kyrie, Cooper, P.J., Gafford, Naji, Max and Rez.

Assuming a 10-man rotation, that leaves six players fighting for the final three spots. Let’s make the case for each of them:

Moussa Cisse

Cisse was one of my favorite players to watch last season. When I was at games last year, I would spend stretches just watching him. He would contest a shot, fall down, then immediately sprint to the other side of the floor, ready for a pick-and-roll action.

He averaged 4.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 0.5 steals and 1.2 blocks in 38 games while playing just 13.9 minutes per game. He was one of five players to average more than a block per game while playing fewer than 20 minutes per game. The other four were Yves Missi at 1.5 blocked shots in 19.7 minutes, Robert Williams at 1.5 blocks in 17.1 minutes, Mitchell Robinson at 1.2 blocked shots in 19.6 minutes and Adem Bona at 1.2 blocked shots in 17.4 minutes per game.

Per-36 is a flawed stat, especially for high-energy bigs who do a lot of the dirty work, but Cisse’s numbers translate to 11.5 points, 14.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 3.1 blocked shots per 36.

What will hold him back is his obvious offensive limitations, along with his tendency to foul. If he can clean up those areas, I believe Moose could develop into a solid rotation player this season.

Zaccharie Risacher

Unfortunately, Risacher didn’t show the year-one-to-year-two progression you would like to see. He went from 12.6 to 9.6 points, 3.6 to 3.8 rebounds, 1.2 to 1.1 assists and 0.7 to 0.9 steals per game, while remaining stagnant at 0.5 blocked shots.

His only notable improvement came from three, where he went from 35.5% to 36.8%.

I believe a fresh start is exactly what he needed, along with a fresh set of expectations. He has said himself that he wants to prove he belongs on the court and earn his minutes.

He has a quick release, can attack closeouts and has shown flashes defensively, but consistency is still the biggest thing missing from his game.

If he can maintain that 37% mark from three, or even improve it with more volume, and utilize his size on the defensive end, I could see him making a legitimate push for a starting spot by the end of the season.

Sergio De Larrea

De Larrea was the star of Summer League. He walks in as probably the best lob passer on the team and one of its best overall passers from day one.

The biggest limitation for him will be his scoring gravity. Nembhard had a very similar problem last year: if you aren’t a threat to score, your playmaking ability becomes significantly less effective because defenses don’t have to respect you as a scorer.

In his last two seasons playing abroad, De Larrea averaged 6.3 points, 2.7 assists and 2.2 rebounds per game on 45/41/77 shooting splits. On the bright side, his efficiency is solid, but it isn’t exactly eye-popping either.

He is young and still has plenty of room to grow. If Dusty May wants to prioritize playmaking and positional size, I can see Larry earning a spot in the rotation early on. But I think it may take some time before he is ready to consistently contribute.

Tarik Biberovic

Watching highlights of Biberovic reminds me of prime Warriors basketball: a bunch of off-ball actions designed to get shooters open and launch threes.

Over the last two seasons, he has averaged 42.9% from three on five attempts per game. And they come in every way imaginable. Stationary catch-and-shoots, highly contested attempts, coming off screens, it doesn’t seem to matter for this guy.

Nothing would bring life to the AAC quite like a Klay three, and I have a feeling Tarik is going to have a similar effect. The biggest questions are whether his defense will hold up and whether he can do enough off the dribble to keep the ball moving when defenses play him tightly.

Either way, I cannot wait for a Biberovic heat check.

Santi Aldama

A lot has been made this offseason of the fact that Aldama was one of just four seven-footers last season who shot at least four threes per game at a 35% or better clip. That is a unique skill set to have, and even more importantly, it is a skill set the Mavericks can actually use in a variety of ways.

Add in 6.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.5 stocks per game, and Aldama brings a ton of versatility to the lineup. If the Mavericks want to play five-out, they can use him at center. If they want to go big, he can slide to the four alongside another center.

Ultimately, his shooting ability could be the lynchpin that unlocks a number of different lineups for the Mavericks this season.

Marcus Sasser

Marcus Sasser had a down year, missing the first 23 games of the season with an injury before spending much of the remainder of the year in and out of the rotation. He posted career lows in every major statistical category last season except for three-point percentage, where he actually set a career high at 41.5%. Sasser brings some much-needed ball handling and self-creation, but as we’ve seen around the league this offseason, his archetype is becoming less valuable.

He competes defensively, but he is still an undersized guard. He can absolutely provide value when the Mavericks need a scoring punch, but I’m not sure that will be enough to earn him a regular spot in the rotation. If the Pistons who also were severely lacking playmaking and shot creation wouldn’t play him, will the Mavs?

So, Who Makes It?

Ultimately, who do I believe Dusty May will employ on game one?

I don’t think Sasser necessarily fits the positional size May appears to be looking for, and that the plan for ball handling will be to utilize Naji alongside the backup point guard.

As much as I love De Larrea and think he will be a good player, I also believe it is going to take some time for his development. His playing time early in the season may be inconsistent as he adjusts to the NBA.

That leaves Risacher, Biberovic, Cisse and Aldama fighting for the final spots.

Risacher is the closest thing to a lock among this group. He brings size, shooting and versatility to the wing, and even if he doesn’t have a breakout season, he should still be a useful bench player.

The same goes for Biberovic. As long as his shooting translates, which I have little reason to believe it won’t, he can provide something this roster desperately needs: spacing and high-volume three-point shooting.

That leaves the biggest question of all:

Cisse or Aldama?

Ultimately, I think Dusty May will lean toward Aldama.

With Gafford anchoring the starting five, Johnson and Aldama can form a sort of bullpen at the big-man spots, with both players capable of sliding between the four and five. The difference is what Aldama brings offensively. His shooting creates spacing that Cisse simply cannot provide right now. That versatility gives Aldama the edge.

So, my projected day-one rotation is:

Starters: Kyrie Irving, Max Christie, Cooper Flagg, P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford

Bench: Naji Marshall, Tarik Biberovic, Zaccharie Risacher, Morez Johnson Jr., Santi Aldama

And that’s before Lively eventually returns.

There are still plenty of questions surrounding this roster, particularly when it comes to shot creation and how the offense will function when Kyrie isn’t on the floor. But that’s also what makes this team so interesting. There are a lot of different lineup combinations available to Dusty May, and several players who could force their way into bigger roles as the season progresses.

My day-one rotation probably won’t be the rotation we see by the end of the season. That’s the fun part.

For now, though, this is the group I expect to see when the Mavericks tip off Game 1.

Every day, we’ll take a closer look at another member of the 2026-27 Phoenix Suns, examining what they bring to the roster and what their role could mean for the season ahead as we count down to training camp and the preseason.

CJ Huntley

Power Forward/Center, 6’10”, 230 pounds, 24 years old, 2nd season

We start our annual player previews at the end of the bench, with second-year big man C. J. Huntley. At 6’10” and now 230 pounds, he provides an insurance depth piece up front. There is a real chance he sees more NBA-level time this year, given Mark Williams’ health history, or that a mid-season trade affects the current deep frontline rotation.

Last Season

Huntley logged 42 total games at 27 minutes per game with the Valley Suns G-League team, combining the tip-off tournament and regular season. Per 36 minutes, he put up 21 points, 11 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, and 3.3 three-point attempts (making them at a 34% clip). That willingness to hoist three’s supported what the Suns scouts saw at Appalachian State, where he put up 3.8 per game. He played in four games (10 minutes per game) with the NBA club, with garbage-time minutes and a small sample size.

Worth monitoring: CJ was held out in the 2026 Summer League with hamstring issues, and those can linger or recur.

Contract and Roster Context        

Under a two-way contract for this season, he becomes a restricted free agent in 2027-28.

What He Brings

There are things to like, explaining why the front office gave him another run at one of the two-way contract spots. Physically, he has good length (a 7.5” wingspan). As cited in draft profiles, he continued to demonstrate good hands, as shown by a better-than-average G-League big-man turnover rate of 8.8%.

Power hasn’t been a strong suit, but he’s now at 230 pounds after being listed at a lower weight range out of college. He moves well enough to provide some perimeter defense ability as a potential — albeit lesser — shadow of Oso Ighodaro’s role in this. CJ is better on the offensive glass (11% offesnive rebound rate, above norms for frontline players).

Last year’s player preview highlighted his need to develop offensive flow and spatial awareness. This has developed to some extent in Tempe and should remain a focus. Defensive rebounding is average at best. He is not a pure rim protector. The G-League coaching staff complimented him as a hard worker, as referenced in this short highlight video:    

One Key Factor              

When given an NBA opportunity this year, Huntley must fit seamlessly into the Suns’ offensive flow while maximizing the core strengths that earned him a chance. Can he move to the right spots at the right time while not disrupting the Suns’ offense?

Prediction         

There is a good chance, better than 50/50, that one of the following occurs with effects on the frontline: injuries, trades, suspensions, or depth limitations from rest days. When that happens, CJ will get his chance to play some non-garbage minutes in 5-10 games or perhaps more. His work ethic and attributes will allow him to play at an NBA baseline level and force an interesting decision when it is time to discuss a contract for the following season.

Editor’s Note: We’re excited to see our very own Matt Harren, better known as harebear in the comments section, taking the brave dive onto the Canis front page. You’ll be seeing a lot more from Matt this season, so please give him a warm welcome!

During the 2020 NBA Draft, just after the Minnesota Timberwolves selected Anthony Edwards 1st overall, the Wolves traded James Johnson and the 17th pick (Aleksej Pokuševski) to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for the 23rd pick (Leandro Bolmaro), the 28th pick (Jaden McDaniels), and Wolves legend Ricky Rubio.

Then-Wolves President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas returned the fan favorite PG less than a year after declaring, “Why didn’t we sign a point guard on July 1st? Because we wanted that point guard,” hinting at the team’s belief in D’Angelo Russell. During Edwards’ first season, he took his first NBA steps under the tutelage of two very different guards.

Since then, Minnesota’s point guard play has remained in flux. For Edwards, each mentor guard has imparted lessons on what to do and what not to do. As the Wolves embark on a new season with another new guard – this time a peer from Ant’s draft class – I wanted to look back at Ant’s growth and the point guards that helped him get there and question what is next if his partnership with LaMelo Ball is to flourish.

Ricky Rubio

It was Rubio who rekindled my love for Timberwolves basketball again, years after the Garnett trade. I was more excited about the return of flashy passes than the Dion Waiters-comped Edwards.

After helping Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell and Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns reach stardom, Ricky was brought in to work his magic with Edwards.

Since his first stint with the Wolves, Rubio was beloved for his ability to raise the level of the players around him. As a pass-first point guard with a limited shot, defenders dared him to let it fly. Despite this coverage, on-time passes still zipped from his fingers like notes from a Flamenco guitar player. Early Ricky cared about basketball and playing with joy.

After season-ending injuries, unexpected trades, and losing loved ones, Ricky became jaded with the business side of the profession. Nevertheless, on the court he played with all of himself. Ant gravitated to that. Per Chris Hine, then of the Star Tribune, Ant spoke about Ricky after Chris Finch’s first win as the Wolves head coach.

“He leads by example and communication. Some leaders, they’re going to lead by example. Some of them lead by talking, but Ricky, he does both,” Edwards said. “He’s the best leader I’ve been around all my life.”

Ricky knew his limitations: an inconsistent shot, subpar athleticism. He could also read the floor better than most and maximize the talents of his teammates. It is not a great leap to think he saw the potential in Ant and laid out the path for him.

Edwards has spent every year since improving. Offseason reporting notes that Ant reached out to Jonathan Kuminga, selling the free agent on his importance to the Wolves. At Jaylen Clark’s training camp, Edwards called Ball and had the campers wish him a happy birthday.

While Edwards is still rising into his prime, he has faced the gauntlet of the playoffs and been dismissed early. His talent is otherwordly, far eclipsing the skills of his first PG mentor, and like Rubio, he knows the summit is only reached when everyone is playing at their best.

Patrick Beverley

During the 2021-22 offseason, the Wolves traded Jarrett Culver and Juancho Hernangomez to the Memphis Grizzlies for Patrick Beverley.

After a career that first started in the EuroLeague before earning All-Defensive honors, along with some suspensions for reckless play — he missed the Wolves’ first game of the season for shoving Chris Paul in the back during the Western Conference Finals — many thought Beverley’s best years were in the distant rearview.

With the very young Wolves, Pat Bev found a group brimming with raw talent and little cohesion. Through unrelenting effort and arrogance disguised as brash confidence, Mr. 94 Feet made the Wolves believe in themselves enough to stop being polite after the whistle was blown.

Beverley played with a chip on his shoulder but held a special place for any team or player he felt slighted by. He loathed Chris Paul after he was sent to the Los Angeles Clippers in a trade for the All-Star Guard. He went through a euphoric episode after helping the Wolves defeat the Clippers, who had dumped him in Memphis, during the Play-In Tournament.

The Wolves were bounced by those same Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs. A few months later, Pat Bev sent to Utah as part of the Rudy Gobert trade.

What he left was a Wolves team no longer just happy to be there. For Ant, each playoff appearance since has put him against the Western Conference team that would eventually reach the Finals. In every one of those series, Ant has played with the full, near-arrogant belief that he was the best player in the series.

Confidence is key. But overconfidence has its downfalls as well, as we can see in the next guard’s tenure.

D’Angelo Russell

I thought it was going to work.

I fell for the upstart 2019 Brooklyn Nets and D’Angelo Russell.

I was heartbroken when D’Lo chose to sign with the Golden State Warriors over the Wolves.

I nearly let out a yelp of excitement in the middle of a work call when the Woj Bomb dropped.

I was wrong. The cerebral player I thought Russell was, was a facade. A master of after-the-fact analysis, the Ohio State product could accurately walkthrough any segment of the game and tell you what went right and wrong.

When the next game came around, though, it was a coin toss on whether his words would turn into action. He was benched during Ant’s first playoff series against the Grizzlies due to his shot selection, pace of play, and defensive limitations. Taking his place was the smaller undrafted guard Jordan McLaughlin, who outperformed the max-contract player and better executed Coach Finch’s vision.

The next season, the Wolves traded for Gobert. They envisioned Rudy covering D’Lo’s defensive weaknesses and Russell creating lobs from a Rudy pick-and-roll.

None of it came to fruition.

Early in the failed attempt, Russell had come to the conclusion that he couldn’t work with Gobert.The fruit of their partnership withered on the vine. By the trade deadline, the Wolves swapped point guards, bringing in the steady and familiar hand of Mike Conley.

Throughout it all, Ant had a front-row seat to Russell’s behavior. He saw the price of arrogance and what happens when teammates give up on each other.

Ant has clearly prioritized never being in that position. In one breath, he can call out Karl-Anthony Towns to stop fouling — as he did during the 2024 series against the Suns — and in the next, tell President Barack Obama to keep Towns’ name out of his mouth.

Hey, not all of these lessons came from good role models.

Mike Conley

Mike Conley is a pro’s pro. The one-time All-Star was a part of the Grit-n-Grind Grizzlies, the Mitchell/Gobert Utah Jazz, and landed on the Timberwolves in the midst of a failing Towns-and-Gobert double-big experiment. He spent a few games post-trade understanding his new team and their preferences, and then set to work doing what he has always done: involving everyone.

Conley has a preternatural ability to know who hasn’t touched the basketball in a while and the empathic selflessness to get that player the ball in a place where they feel effective. What’s more, this sixth sense for the right play doesn’t need to be flashy. Its often simple, effectively communicated, and leads to trust.

Entering his first full season with the Wolves, he organized the offense, making Rudy effective with lob dunks, finding KAT on the perimeter for threes, and empowering McDaniels and especially Ant to attack, all while putting his body on the line on defense.

His efforts helped the Wolves reach their second-ever Western Conference Finals in 2024, going back again the next year. When he was traded this past February, then traded again and waived, the Wolves were desperate to bring the PG back to help maintain the locker room. He came back to the Wolves searching for the championship that eluded him, the crown jewel in a laudable career.

Ant grew into superstardom, into the team’s leader, into an adult under the mentorship of Conley. He learned how to make the simple play and take what the game gave him. Sadly, the last and greatest lesson Conley, now signed with the Boston Celtics, imparted was simple.

Don’t take this for granted…

Himself

Just before tipoff of the 2025-26 season, the Timberwolves made a starting lineup change. Out was Mike Conley, and in was Donte DiVincenzo. As such, primary ball-handling duties went to Edwards.

This season-long experiment put the ball in Ant’s hands. There it stayed for possession after possession. Somehow, despite it all, he averaged nearly one fewer assist per game.

His opponents sent double teams as he crossed half-court. He’d fight for freedom and burn precious energy that left him sagging on defense. Edwards vacillated between spreading the ball around and chucking, finding success and failure in both approaches. His passes to less capable shooters left his shoulders sagging. His early shot-clock bricks brought the same response from his teammates.

In the second round playoff matchup with the San Antonio Spurs, a hobbled Edwards was hounded. His teammates struggled to offer him effective options and the Wolves were sent home looking for answers.

The Point Ant experiment was a failure. It’s not easy to feed yourself and the team all at once.

LaMelo Ball

LaMelo Ball was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets two spots behind Anthony Edwards. Like the Wolves of that era, the Hornets were also mired in year over year ineptitude. LaMelo beat out Ant for Rookie of the Year, and made his first — and at this writing, only — All-Star appearance a year before Edwards. Since then injuries, erratic and unserious shot selection, a steady rotation of coaching changes, and off-court erratic driving has marred some of the shine on the promising 6’7” point guard. That he was traded for Naz Reid (winced as I typed that), a first round pick and some swaps shows just what the Hornets thought of Ball’s future in the league.

For Tim Connelly and Chris Finch, they believe Melo’s ability to see over defenses offers something Ant has never played with, an athletic pass-first point guard who teams have to guard close. Melo should elevate every teammate with his passing. He’ll make some of them feel like superheroes with alley oops. The cost of this for the Wolves, including Ant, is defensive effort to save Melo when he is attacked. When Melo’s passes are too audacious, he’ll need to hear it from his teammates as well as Finch.

While there is excitement about the pairing of two of the league’s best backcourt players, the immaturity label has been used on both of them. Ant has improved each year. He has learned hard lessons from his point guard mentors.

To peel off the immaturity tag, Ant’s next lesson is to become like the mentors who shaped him.

The playoffs, the draft, free agency. These are the pinnacles of NBA—and by extension Milwaukee Bucks—fandom. Well, Ranking the Roster isn’t too far behind, especially around here! 

An annual tradition, Ranking the Roster has been a staple of Brew Hoop since 2014. Back then, a little-known sophomore won the crown in a vote that showed the community’s collective prescience. In second place came a highly touted second-overall draft pick. You know who on both accounts. Other names of yesteryear include Larry Sanders (fifth), Kendall Marshall (ninth), Jared Dudley (11th), and O.J Mayo (18th). Memories… For a complete nostalgia trip down original rankings lane, click here. 

Of course, back then, the rules were slightly different, with fans asked to rank players—and even picks—as “assets” in this hypothetical scenario:

Imagine the NBA was having an expansion draft, and the Bucks were able to “protect” their entire team from being taken by a new expansion organization, except for one player. Whoever is left unprotected will be selected in this hypothetical and totally unfair expansion draft. After this player is chosen, his salary comes off the Bucks’ books instantly, as though he was never on the team at all. Then (and this is important) the Bucks’ future plays out for some number of years, however long you care to imagine, only they no longer have the chosen player on the roster or on the cap sheet.

Over time, like the game we love so dearly itself, Ranking the Roster has evolved too, with the focus strictly on which player is more important to Milwaukee’s success in comparison to his teammates. More specifically, as Van Fayaz reiterated last year, you should heed Managing Editor Emeritus Adam Paris’ advice when making your selections:

Postseason success should be paramount in your mind when considering your rankings. Regular season competency is a bonus, especially if they can help the team get to a higher seed that yields dividends in the Playoffs, but think about how you envision each individual player factoring in when postseason games arrive.

Considering the context of this year’s team, with the Bucks tying up the laces on a new pair of kicks as they embark on a rebuild, “playoffs” might be a bit of a stretch (it’s also partly because of this that the “Gut Check” poll portion of the series has been shelved). But they will come down the road. And when that happens, which of these Bucks do you trust? 

Before we get to that, let’s revisit the archives (current players only). As noted, Giannis was the first winner in the series and it will come as no surprise that he’s the only Buck to ever hold that title. With his glaring absence from the books, this year we’ll see a first—and there’s no dominant school of thought as to who might fill the relinquished throne, at least as far as I can see it. 

Tyler Herro and Myles Turner have both made the Finals as key players, so you know they at least fit the bill. Then again, Kyle Kuzma has won one. So, I’m not convinced any of those (save maybe Herro) will get my vote. Ryan Rollins made the biggest leap on the team last year—it still baffles me how he didn’t get more Most Improved Player (MIP) consideration—and seems primed to do so again. But Jaime Jaquez Jr. was runner-up for Sixth Man of the Year (6MOY) and has open forward spots beckoning him to take on a bigger role, so that’s no guarantee either. Then there’s Kel’el Ware, who’s got perhaps the highest ceiling on the team and is itching to break out so long as he gets enough minutes (and stops being so curious). Oh, and there’s a tenth overall draft pick who you already know I think has a chance to be, uh, pretty okay. 

On the other end of the scale, I’m also eager to see who Bucks fans don’t trust. Kasparas Jakucionis was a sticking point in the Giannis trade, but do you value him as highly as Jon Horst seemingly did? What about been-there-before vets Caris LeVert and Gary Trent Jr., who were key rotational playoff pieces just last year and the year before that, respectively? Or have they soured that much? Only time—and you—will tell. That’s what makes this exercise so fun (and evergreen). Speaking of Green, how the hell is AJ the longest tenured Buck—by two years!? Things really done changed.  

One final point. As it stands, the Bucks still have 17 players under contract to go along with two out of a possible three two-way players. So, with teams able to carry a maximum of 15 players during the season, anticipate roster trimming at some point. Until then, treat everyone as if they’re on the team for the year ahead.  

Now get your GM hat on and get to work, starting with the first ranking:

Please note that technical changes across SB Nation mean polls must now be created in The Feed, so you will see them both there and in the articles themselves. They are also capped at six options, so we’ll present these as best we can. It’s not perfect, we know, but it’ll work. Thanks for your understanding.

Per a Spurs press release:

“Spurs fans are invited to the free 2026-27 Silver & Black Open Scrimmage, presented by Ticketmaster, at Frost Bank Center on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. The San Antonio Spurs will take the court for four 10-minute quarters, giving fans the chance to preview the team in action ahead of their Oct. 20 home opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Tickets are free and are required for entry – see details below and online at Spurs.com/OpenScrimmage.“

If you are asking “how do I obtain tickets?” there are a few requirements:

TICKET INFORMATION

The Silver & Black Open Scrimmage will be ticketed due to anticipated high demand. To be eligible to receive free tickets, fans must complete the following steps:

• Head to Spurs.com/OpenScrimmage or text SCRIMMAGE to 210-444-5940 to join the Official Spurs Fan Club and enter to win
• Both new and existing Fan Club members will need to enter to win through the above link
• Deadline to enter is Sunday, Sept. 20 at 11:59 p.m.
• Each fan is eligible to win up to four free tickets while supplies last
• Winners will be notified by Monday, Sept. 21
• Winners must claim their tickets within 24 hours of notification; if not, new winners will be selected
• All tickets are General Admission seating and cannot be transferred or resold

Current season ticket members do not need to enter as they are guaranteed tickets and will receive them in their Account Manager. Spurs Give is hosting a yard sale from thge time gates upon throughout the game. Parking for the event will be free. Fans can pick up selected new Spurs gear at a 15% discount in the Spurs Fan Shop inside the arena.

Hope to see you there…and Go Spurs Go! (Spoiler alert: either way, the Spurs win.)

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, do not troll and watch the language.

It has been a strange summer for the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

After waiting, and waiting, and then losing out on the LeBron James sweepstakes, the Cavs had to pivot. They already watched Keon Ellis and Dean Wade depart before James’ decision, and then had to offload Dennis Schroder and Max Strus to get a smidge of wiggle room to improve the top of the rotation. Acquiring Peyton Watson is a good gamble to make given his age, athleticism, and reasonable extension number, but the Cavs are undoubtedly more top-heavy than they already were. That is a problem. 

A short bench is nothing new for the Cavs, but there are even more legitimate concerns now. The wing rotation got an infusion of juice with Watson, yet there are plenty of questions after that. Jaylon Tyson has shown promise, but he fell out of the rotation in the playoffs and often got into head coach Kenny Atkinson’s doghouse. Mario Hezonja has not played in the NBA since before COVID, and there is a reason he is on a non-guaranteed contract. There really is no way of knowing what he will be able to provide, let alone in high-leverage playoff situations. 

Thomas Bryant makes his return to the frontcourt, but the Cavs should have sought out a more athletic, non-traditional backup center. Nae’Qwan Tomlin is listed as the team’s backup power forward, a scary proposition considering he was a two-way player last year. There is nothing necessarily wrong with Tomlin, but a team that wants to compete for a championship should have a better option in tow. Craig Porter is serviceable, but the Cavs are putting a lot of faith in him being the full-time backup point guard. 

Whether you want to believe it or not, Cleveland needed Wade out there. The Cavs were +5.9 with Wade on the floor last season, which is +3 better than they were without him. His true value does not show up in the box score. Wade’s ability to defend the arc, disrupt passing lanes, and stay in front of guards was all vital to the Cavs’ defense. When he hits a few shots and grabs a few rebounds, Wade was nearly invaluable. The Cavs will miss that two-way ability, even if he drew the ire of the fanbase.

Once seen as the prize of the De’Andre Hunter trade, Ellis was a near non-factor in the postseason. That being said, watching him walk is certainly not ideal, given that he’s provided a burst of energy off the bench more than a few times. That woke the Cavs up more than a few times this past season, especially in the doldrums of the winter. Sam Merrill was already a difference-maker, but he will shoulder more responsibility this upcoming season.

It is hard to say the loss of Schroder is detrimental, as his on-court play was already a net negative, but the replacement, Porter, has many pitfalls as well. Tyrese Proctor is intriguing, but not reliable yet. Porter has a lot of supporters in the organization, and plenty of fans outright, but there is a reason the Cavs felt they needed to get Schroder last year in the first place.

Trading another fan-favorite like Strus was tough to see, but the Cavs had only a few levers to pull to improve the roster. Strus is a good movement shooter who would come around pin-downs and get up quick shots, and that will be tough to replace. His ability to get hot from the floor saved the Cavs more than once this past season, and his size makes him a viable defender – if not a little overrated. Then there is the leadership and locker room impact, something not quantifiable. But there is a reason the Cavs were reluctant to trade Strus, and the off-court traits are part of that calculus. Hezonja will be tasked with filling in some of those cracks, and it is entirely possible he does so admirably. But there is also a real possibility that he is unable to reach NBA-level and ends up off the roster.

The Cavs are playing for the playoffs, and bench players who possess one or two specific skills are crucial. Strus’ movement shooting, Ellis’ energy, or Wade’s defense are traits that are hard to measure individually, but add up to something important in a seven-game series. The New York Knicks got key contributions from the likes of Landry Shamet, Mitchell Robinson, and Josh Hart — each with a unique ability off the bench that, at some point, swung a possession or two and changed a game. The Cavs’ bench does not have that, or at least not right now.

As they have been for the past few years, Cleveland is going into the season with a top-heavy roster. While Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen are talented enough to get the Cavs home court advantage in a playoff series, there should be concern for the quality of the bench. This is NBA Finals or bust for the Cavs, as they rapidly approach the edge of the cliff. The bench has been an issue for the last few years, and that may rear its ugly head again.

Multiple times this summer, I’ve heard it claimed by fans, pundits, and current/former coaches, players, and front office types that the Wizards are deep. My instinctual reaction is skepticism. I delved into statistical analysis in part because so much of what I heard from the “experts” on TV when I was a kid didn’t seem accurate.

I’d watch Player X (names redacted to protect the innocent) would grab a rebound, and I’d hear the “analyst” (almost always a former player) make a claim like, “Player X is a strong rebounder.” Then The Sporting News would arrive in a couple weeks, and I’d look it up and see that Player X almost never got rebounds.

I’d see highlight packages that included a volume scorer like Dominique Wilkins dishing out multiple assists — clearly assembled to create an impression that he was a generous playmaker. TSN would let me know he was averaging 2-3 assists per game. (This is in no way meant to smear Wilkins, who was a) one of my favorite players, and b) earned his Human Highlight Film moniker.)

As I’ve written before, I wasn’t alone in this observation. One time, when he maybe 12 year old, I was watching a game with my son. Well, I was tracking the Wizards’ defense, and he was working on a school project and listening to the announcers spew statistical nuggets and other factoids while I sighed and the Wizards got pummeled. Again.

Anyway, at one point then-broadcaster Steve Buckhantz intoned something like the Wizards being third in the league in total offensive rebounds over the past nine days (or something), and my son asked, “If the Wizards are so great at everything, why do they always lose?”

So, I approach this “Wizards are deep” claim with skepticism. Let’s unpack.

“Deep” in sports generally refers to the idea that a team has multiple good players at the same or multiple positions. When the San Francisco 49ers had Joe Montana and Steve Young at quarterback, they had depth. When the Washington Redskins had Joe Theisman and Tom Flick, they did not.

Here’s my current best guess at the team’s depth chart for this season:

• G: Trae Young | Tre Johnson | Bub Carrington | Tre Mann
• W: Bilal Coulibaly | Kyshawn George | Khris Middleton
• F: AJ Dybantsa | Will Riley | Justin Champagnie
• C: Alex Sarr | Anthony Davis | DeAndre Ayton | Tristan Vukcevic

Note: In my thinking, there are four NBA positions nowadays — guard, wings, forward and centers. Coaches can (and do) mix and match when making lineups. This year, I anticipate the Wizards will start games with one guard (Young), two centers (Sarr and Davis), a forward (Dybantsa) and a wing (either Coulibaly or George).

Also, if you think Johnson is more of a “traditional” shooting guard/small forward type than a shooting guard/point guard type, feel free to mentally shift him to the wing bucket.

So far, this is a bunch of names. Part of being deep is that the players have to be good. Entering the season and assuming health, the Wizards can be confident that Davis, Young, and Sarr will be good to very good. Barring a catastrophic case of Idon’tcareitis Ayton probably makes that list too.

That’s four guys we can be sure will be good. Three of them play the same position.

My next tier is the probably at least average to maybe good. In this group: Coulibaly, George, Champagnie, Middleton. The first problem here is the Wizards don’t want to play two of them major minutes (Champagnie and Middleton). Champagnie because he’d be snacking on minutes that could go to his younger and more ballyhooed teammates. Middleton because he’s old (by NBA standards) and has had multiple significant injuries the past few years.

Next up: the probably below average (or worse) group. That includes Dybantsa and Johnson. In Dybantsa’s case it’s primarily an age-based evaluation. Not many teens are even average in the NBA. Turns out, it’s a tough and competitive league, and it takes time for a kid to learn how to excel.

By the way, arguably the only elite teenage rookie will be Dybantsa’s teammate this season. Davis posted a 178 PPA in 1,846 minutes in his age 19 season with the New Orleans Hornets. The only teen to beat that score was Zion Williams for the same franchise, but Williamson managed just 668 total minutes.

Where were we? Oh yeah, the probably below average guys. My thoughts on Johnson are draped on two main hooks: he’s young, and I didn’t see the athletic tools or all-around performance it usually takes to be an above average NBA player. I could be wrong — this is best guess, and Johnson (like any young player) can do the work and become great.

That leaves the probably not too good guys: Carrington, Riley, Vukcevic, and Mann.

By my count, that makes the Wizards six deep with average(ish)-or-better (eight if you count the two guys they don’t want to play much) and two more who probably won’t be good this season but will play anyway in hopes they will become good in the relatively near future.

I could see some upwards push from guys I anticipate being below average, if they work hard and improve. Odds are, some of the team’s youngsters will get better and some won’t. One of the lessons of NBA history is that it’s not safe to assume young players will improve. Sometimes they just don’t.

So, I think the best way to talk about the Wizards and depth is to say they might be deep this season, if several players improve more than anticipated. I don’t think it’s safe to believe they have the kind of depth that will make them competitive in any consistent way. There’s too much uncertainty around the relative quality of half the roster, which is compounded by significant uncertainty about the health and reliability of others the team hopes will form a veteran foundation.

Today’s post doesn’t merit an introduction. Just scroll down to the bottom, and you’ll find all you need.

• Jalen Brunson publicly pushed back on a rumor that he, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges had reunited with former Villanova teammate Matt Kennedy by becoming clients of his wealth management practice.
• Miles McBride revealed when the Knicks realized they were championship material. He also praised former coach Tom Thibodeau for laying the groundwork, saying, “Thibs did a great job; he built a great foundation.”
• Mikal Bridges credited the Knicks’ postseason experience for fueling their remarkable comebacks throughout the title run.
• Landry Shamet has returned to one of his favorite offseason hobbies.
• Josh Hart says the defending champion Knicks are embracing an underdog mentality (how surprising!) despite winning the NBA title.

“I don’t think we have a big target. Because I don’t think anyone is picking us to win again. We’re using it as fuel. We’re still the hunters. We’re not satisfied with one. So we’re the hunters, and we like playing that game.”

• Former Knicks guard Dink Pate is going in reverse, and I’m here for all of it.
• Derrick Rose says he never stopped believing the Knicks would win the championship. “I kind of had them winning the entire time,” Rose said. He also reflected on his own legacy, acknowledging he believes future generations may eventually forget him.

• Another former Knickerbocker, Danilo Gallinari, reflected on the biggest “what-if” of his career, saying injuries—not talent—kept him from reaching his full potential after being traded from New York in the Carmelo Anthony deal.
• Anthony Edwards again singled out Madison Square Garden as one of the NBA’s toughest road environments. Asked about his favorite arenas, Edwards listed MSG alongside TD Garden.
• Kenny Smith believes the NBA was justified in coming down hard on the Clippers over their salary-cap investigation, saying they were “vehemently cheating” and circumventing the cap.
• EuroLeague owners will hold a potentially historic meeting on Oct. 5 in Lake Como that could determine the future of European basketball, with club owners expected to discuss a possible NBA proposal to acquire EuroLeague following the league’s Board of Governors meeting. Yes, as we all knew from the get-go, the NBA doesn’t just want to expand to Europe—it wants to eat it whole.

One rule I’ve developed in years of writing about financial scandals is that, as bad as a scheme appears at first, it’s more likely than not that the facts will turn out to be nastier than they appeared at first.

Case in point: The scandal swirling around the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Assn. and their billionaire owner, former Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer.

The story was initially broken one year ago by sports podcaster Pablo Torre, who reported on a suspect endorsement deal between a sustainability company named Aspiration and All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard that smelled like an attempt to circumvent the NBA’s strict salary cap. (Torre won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting.)

I have no idea why we'd do this.

By Sept. 2, when the NBA issued a series of nuclear sanctions against the team and Ballmer, it had become much bigger. The team, according to an investigative report the league released, actually orchestrated endorsement deals for Leonard with four companies that had been angling for business arrangements with the team, not just one, and took steps to hide the deals from public view.

Because of the extent to which these deals violated league rules and perhaps because the Clippers are repeat offenders (they were fined $250,000 in 2015 for a similar endorsement scheme involving then-free agent DeAndre Jordan), the league hit the team with its maximum penalties.

It fined the team $30 million and took away its first-round draft picks for five years, 2029-2033 (the team already had ceded its first-round picks for the next two years in trade deals). It suspended Ballmer from any league or team activities for one year and imposed a one-year suspension on Gillian Zucker, the team’s president of business operations, and a six-month ban on Lawrence Frank, its president of basketball operations.

The Clippers said they “vehemently reject” the accusations and called them the product of a “heavily biased investigation.” They said they would appeal the sanctions, though it’s unclear how they could do that.

Leonard, who appears to be on his way back to the Toronto Raptors, from whence he came to the Clippers in 2019, issued a statement accepting “full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle.” That’s an apparent reference to Dennis Robertson, his business manager and uncle, who the investigators said was a key figure pushing the Clippers to find “off-court income” for Leonard.

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The report released by the NBA’s investigators at the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz portrays Ballmer and the team as treating the league’s salary cap rules not as strict mandates, but as obstacles to be evaded, like traffic cones. And it describes efforts at subterfuge that seemed to reach a Gilbert & Sullivan-esque level of absurdity.

Ballmer is called out to an extent that one almost never sees when applied to the millionaires and billionaires who own most professional sports teams. That’s even more remarkable given his status in the NBA: With a reported net worth of more than $150 billion, he is the richest team owner by an enormous margin, outranking the next-place owners, the Adelson family, owners of the Dallas Mavericks, by about $115 billion.

The other NBA owners were reportedly stunned by the sheer arrogance of the Clippers’ behavior. That’s saying something, since one would expect that those in the billionaire class have had plenty of rannygazoo paraded past their eyes in the course of their business careers. Ballmer, who can often be seen bouncing around like a hyper-caffeinated party animal in the Clippers’ home arena, Intuit Dome, is no shrinking violet — he was known as a ferociously hard-charging, hands-on leader at Microsoft. The NBA faults him for being “knowingly” engaged in the team’s dealings with Leonard and creating its anything-goes culture.

The NBA values its salary cap as a key to a competitive balance, enabling even mid-market teams to reach the Finals — over the last 10 seasons, eight teams have reigned as champs. Its rules bar teams from initiating endorsement deals or other such arrangements for players by interpreting them as an underhanded breach of the cap; if teams are approached by a potential endorsement partner for a player, they can refer the partner to a player’s representatives but can’t participate in the dealmaking. They’re also required to report any such overtures to the league. The Clippers violated those rules, the investigators say.

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The investigators say the team tried to circumvent the initiation clause via emails Zucker sent to three companies in 2020, implying that she was responding to their requests for introductions to Leonard.

The investigators found “no documentary evidence” that the companies genuinely initiated the requests. They viewed the emails merely as efforts to “create the appearance” that the Clippers were complying with the rules. The companies were Boingo, a wi-fi company at which Zucker’s husband was then chairman; Daktronics, a maker of scoreboards and video displays; and Lockton, an insurance brokerage.

All three were seeking to launch business relationships with the Clippers. The investigators asserted that the team implied to them that participating in its scheme to make illicit payments to Leonard by signing him to endorsement deals would help them win the contracts. They also found that the Clippers essentially assured the companies that it would cover their payments for the endorsement deals via their other contracts.

The investigators called these multi-year, multimillion-dollar endorsement deals, totaling $18 million, “peculiar.” None of the companies had ever signed an endorsement deal “of remotely the same financial magnitude” as these, nor have they done so since.

None of the deals was publicly announced, even though the whole point of signing a pro player to represent your company is to shout it from the rooftops. In any case, Leonard was nothing like a big, popular star—the investigators charitably referred to his “relatively insubstantial endorsement profile.” That hardly mattered, since the deals didn’t require Leonard to actually do anything for the money.

The key deal was with Aspiration, which was guided by the Clippers into paying Leonard $48 million over four years. When Joseph Sanberg, Aspiration’s co-founder and a board member, presented the deal to top executives, they were dumbfounded. “I have no idea why we’d do this,” one wrote in an email, according to the investigators.

But Sanberg assured them that the Clippers would adjust their contract with Aspire to cover the expense. Seeing that the deal was “cashflow neutral,” as an executive observed, they agreed.

Inside the Clippers’ front office, the contract for Aspiration to provide environmental services was seen as “super shady,” according to a text from one executive to another cited in the report.

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Ballmer maintained in at least one interview that the endorsement deal was initiated by Aspiration: “They were off to the races on their own,” he told a television interviewer. “We weren’t involved.”

In fact, the investigators say, the Clippers initiated the contact with Aspiration, put the firm in touch with a business agent who was already a team contractor, and provided the agent with proposed deal terms. The investigators found that the endorsement deal was such a departure for Aspiration that Sanberg needed to be educated about what it should require from Leonard in return for his fees. Sanberg “doesn’t really know what to ask for,” the agent told his associates.

Ballmer maintains that he was the victim in this arrangement. He points the finger at Sanberg, who he says enticed him into investing $60 million in his failing firm, thereby causing him “reputational harm.” But Sanberg might be viewed as a target of convenience, given that he pleaded guilty last year to federal fraud charges associated with the collapse of Aspiration and has been sentenced to 14 years in prison. (The NBA investigators told the court in a pre-sentence letter that Sanberg “substantially assisted our investigation”—though in the investigative report they said they “remained cautious in relying on Mr. Sanberg’s information” unless it was “corroborated by other evidence.”)

Where does this leave the Clippers? Nowhere good. Ballmer’s acquisition of the team in 2014 was seen as a major step toward ending its years-long record of futility, dating to its origin as the Buffalo Braves in 1970. The team still has never played in the NBA Finals. Leonard hasn’t lived up to expectations — injuries have kept him off the court for nearly half of his games as a Clipper, as my colleague Mirjam Swanson notes.

Basketball mavens see the NBA sanctions as condemning the Clippers to as long as 10 more years in John Bunyan’s Slough of Despond. For a brief moment, Ballmer got Southern California fans excited about the team. Ten years from now, will anyone even remember they exist?

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

With preseaon less than a month away, its time to take a look at the Houston Rocket’s roster for training camp. For the purpose of this article I will be utilizing the Sports Illistruated Rockets roster and depth list. The Houston Rockets enter the 2026-27 season with a roster that combines a veteran championship core with several young players still developing. With Kevin Durant, Alperen Şengün, Fred VanVleet, Jabari Smith Jr., Amen Thompson and Tari Eason returning, Houston has plenty of talent and versatility. For ease of reading I will splitting the roster into three groups: starters, rotation players, and end of the bench/G League players.

Starters

Kevin Durant — Forward
Durant remains the biggest name on the roster and the team’s primary offensive weapon. At 37, he brings elite scoring, shooting, and playoff experience. Houston will rely on him to be the closer and a veteran leader of the team.

Alperen Şengün — Center
Şengün is entering his fifth NBA season and remains one of Houston’s most important pieces. His passing and offensive creativity from the center position make him a major part of the Rockets’ half-court offense.

Amen Thompson — Guard/Forward
Thompson is arguably the most important young player on the roster. He averaged 18.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.5 steals last season, and Houston recently committed to him with a five-year, $208 million extension.

Jabari Smith Jr. — Forward/Center
Smith gives Houston size and shooting in the frontcourt. His ability to play alongside both Durant and Şengün makes him particularly valuable.

Fred VanVleet – Point Guard

VanVleet is expected to provide veteran leadership and stability at point guard. His return gives Houston another experienced ball-handler after injuries affected his 2025-26 season.

Rotational Players

Marcus Smart – Point Guard

Smart is one of the most intriguing additions. He reunites with head coach Ime Udoka and gives Houston another physical perimeter defender and experienced playoff player.

Bogdan Bogdanović – Swingman

Newly acquired free agent Bogdan Bogdanović gives the Rockets another veteran shooter and offensive playmaker. He could become especially important when Houston needs spacing around Durant and Şengün.

Reed Sheppard – Combo Guard

Sheppard enters his third NBA season and will be one of the biggest development stories in camp. His shooting and playmaking could give Houston another option in the backcourt. Sheppard’s production and role will be one of the leading stories this season as he is extension-eligible next summer.

Steven Adams – Center

Adams is one half of the double-big lineup, and after exiting the season early he is likely to make an impact.

Reserves and G League Players

Bruce Thornton – Guard

Thornton is an Ohio State freshman guard and summer league standout, will have a chance to contend for playing time and even establish himself as a long-term rotation member.

Julian Phillips – Swingman

Another young wing vying for a part is Julian Phillips. At six feet six, he adds size and agility to Houston’s perimeter.

Quadir Copeland, Isaiah Crawford, Oscar Thswibwe, Rafael Castro, and Sean Pedulla all contribute depth throughout camp, but they will probably have to compete for regular NBA playing time.

Clint Capela adds some extra center depth, but is unlikely to see much playing time.

The Rockets’ greatest strength is versatility. Houston can go big with Şengün, Smith and Durant, or tiny and athletic with Thompson and Eason. The roster also has a lot more veteran experience than the young Rockets teams of a few seasons ago. The biggest issue heading into camp isn’t whether the Rockets have enough skill. It’s how does Udoka fit all that talent together. If Durant remains an exceptional scorer, Şengün keeps growing, and Thompson makes another leap, Houston’s got the personnel to contend near the top of the Western Conference. With all that said, who are you excited to see playing time this upcoming season? Let us know, and make sure to check back at The Dream Shake for more Houston Rockets basketball news.