Category: NBA

Welcome to Pounding the Rock’s 2025-26 player reviews! The series will look at the players who finished the season with the San Antonio Spurs on guaranteed contracts and who played consequential minutes and/or a vital role (so no two-way players because we hardly saw them this year, no players who were traded away, and none of the deep bench centers, since they were both irrelevant and are now all gone).

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De’Aaron Fox

2025-26 stats: 72 games, 31 MPG, 18.6 points, 6.2 assists, 1.2 steals, 48.6 FG%

Contract Status: 4 years, $221.7 million remaining

Age: 28

What goes into a grade? With 82 games and four playoff series, there is so much time to reflect on. Summarizing it all with an overarching grade is a unique task. And yet, so far, it’s been largely easy to assign a letter to most of the Spurs. Grading De’Aaron Fox is not so easy.

Fox made one of San Antonio’s most famous mistakes of the season. Getting blocked by OG Anunoby with seconds left in Game Four of the NBA Finals will haunt him and the Spurs for quite some time. After being pretty good in the first two playoff series, an ankle injury held him back from being as effective in the Western Conference Finals and Finals. And yet, Fox was an All-Star this season, and without him, the Spurs don’t reach the highest highs of their season.

Fox did two things extremely well this year: lift the team when Victor Wembanyama sits (a very important job for a team with a superstar with some delicate health issues), and steady the ship when things got tough in the postseason. Fox averaged 24.6 points, 6.2 assists and 4.4 rebounds in the 18 games Wembanyama missed this season. With a mostly inexperienced roster, Fox kept the team afloat while guards like Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper could not yet handle a primary ball-handler role (Castle had a major turnover problem when Fox was not in the lineup).

Still, it’s hard not to feel like Fox left a bit on the table this season. San Antonio’s offense, while effective (4th in offensive rating), never seemed to click. Fox was left playing off the ball due to Castle and Harper’s lack of three-point shooting. That meant less of Fox running the pick-and-roll where he was most effective, and a lot of him spotting catch-and-shoot threes, where he hit only 33.2% of his deep shots.

Despite the disappointing end to the season (which was almost certainly affected by injury), Fox was one of the Spurs’ best players all season long. He was a steady, veteran performer who lifted his teammates and took over when he needed to. It was actually kind of the exact type of season you’re looking for from your starting point guard (minus the Finals blunders).

So a grade here is tough, because there are large, glaring negatives to take away from this season. But I am, admittedly, a basketball optimist. For every Fox mistake late in the season, I can think of 5 moments where he came up with a clutch basket, or settled the team after a wild run. So he gets a passing grade, but is certainly one of the Spurs with the biggest microscope on him entering the 2026-27 season.

Looking ahead

Fox’s max contract extension kicks in this year. With that comes even more scrutiny for the veteran, especially coming off his NBA Finals performance. For the first time since he’s been a Spur, it seems like Fox will be fully healthy coming into the season. His ankle is healed up, and there has been no word of other lower body injuries cropping up. A fully rested and motivated Fox could be a dangerous player coming into the year.

It would be great to see Mitch Johnson lean into the Fox-Wembanyama pick-and-roll that was so deadly last season. Castle and Harper have improved as off-ball shooters, and are good enough cutters to make defenses pay for losing them in the half-court. Overall, it’s on Johnson to find a way to play Fox and the other three guards. It’s an offensive scheme that the team needs to figure out to ascend to another level.

San Antonio’s personnel actually should fit Fox a bit better this season, too. A potential lineup of Fox, Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie, Tobias Harris and Wembanyama could be an interesting mix of shooting, playmaking and finishing that would allow Fox to play a more central ball-handling and playmaking role. If Carter Bryant becomes a better shooter, he could be an interesting player next to Fox who could space the floor on the wing and run out in transition with the point guard.

I am bullish on a bounce-back year for Fox next season on the court. San Antonio needs that to recoup his value. With Harper nipping at his heels, Fox’s time as the starting point guard seems to be dwindling. It is going to be very hard for the Spurs to field a competitive team when they need to hand out max contracts to Castle and Harper, alongside Wembanyama and Fox’s contracts. Right now, it’s easy to point to Fox as the odd man out of that core.

But what realistically could the Spurs get in a trade for Fox at this point? Are teams clamoring to acquire a 28-year-old point guard coming off of his worst playoff series, and starting a contract many have labeled one of the worst in the league? San Antonio needs Fox to play well, not only to help the team this year, but to make him moveable down the road once they need to clear space to build a competitor around Wembanyama, Harper, and Castle.

That is likely not a problem for this season, or maybe even next offseason. But it is something that will be on Spurs fans’ minds, and maybe even Fox and Harper’s as they compete for playing time moving forward. In an ideal world, that drives Fox to play to the level of his contract. In a world where things go wrong for the Spurs, it kills chemistry and a move needs to be made. Which direction things start to go is going to be one of the biggest storylines for the Spurs next season.

Top Performance

Nov. 26 at Portland Trail Blazers: 37 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals,12-12 FTs

Final Grade: B+

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Up next: Victor Wembanyama

Previous Reviews

Jordan McLaughlin

Carter Bryant

Luke Kornet

Dylan Harper

Keldon Johnson

Harrison Barnes

Julian Champagnie

Stephon Castle

Devin Vassell

The final 2026 Sixers free agent has found a home.

ESPN’s Shams Charania has reported that Trendon Watford has signed a one-year, $2.9 million dollar deal with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Free agent F Trendon Watford has agreed to a one-year, $2.9 million deal with the New Orleans Pelicans, sources tell ESPN. Watford considered multiple options but for New Orleans serves as a productive two-way get late into the offseason after a year in Philadelphia where he… pic.twitter.com/F8ecDrfLei

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 17, 2026

In his lone season with the Sixers, Watford averaged 16.3 minutes across his 53 appearances while struggling with soft tissue injures. A strained hamstring made him miss the start of the season and an adductor strain cost him a healthy chunk of the middle of the season.

Watford put up 6.5 points per game along with 3,3 rebounds and 2.5 assists as a Sixer. As a starter he dropped a triple-double early in the season and was very popular in the locker room as a close friend of Tyrese Maxey.

As the season wore on his struggles as a shooter and a defender made it hard to for him to stay in the rotation. His last made three-pointer came when Jared McCain was still a member of the Sixers.

There was some talk that Watford’s next opportunity would come overseas, but instead he found a deal to remain in the NBA. Earlier this month Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com reported that Watford was close to signing a deal with Valencia Basket in Spain. Watford himself shot down those rumors pretty quickly on X.

false news you guys .. don’t believe everything you see 🤣🤣

— Trendon Watford (@trendonw) August 3, 2026

The New York Knicks’ full 2026 preseason schedule has emerged after X account New York Basketball (kudos!) put together other franchises’games, giving us our first look at the reigning champs’ five-game tune-up before the start of their title defense.

The complete slate will run from Oct. 5 through Oct. 15 and feature four different opponents, three games at Madison Square Garden, and two on the road — one of them not in the USA of A.

New York will open preseason play Monday, Oct. 5, with a trip to Philadelphia (of course) before returning home for games against two very exciting and promising teams in Washington and Minnesota. The Knicks will then finish with a home-and-home against Toronto on Oct. 13 and 15.

The final matchup was initially listed by the Raptors with a 7 p.m. ET tipoff, but NBA New York subsequently clarified that the Oct. 15 game at MSG will begin at 7:30 p.m., as corrected by the Knicks.

UPDATE 🚨 Knicks full preseason schedule:

New: 🗓️ 10/5 Mon 7pm Knicks at Sixers

🗓️ 10/8 Thu 7:30p Wizards at Knicks

🗓️ 10/12 Mon 7:30p Wolves at Knicks

🗓️ 10/13 Tue 7p Knicks at Raptors

🗓️ 10/15 Thu 7:30p Raptors at Knicks pic.twitter.com/2xwE0QvmoD

— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) August 13, 2026

Knicks’ 2026 Preseason Opponents

Philadelphia 76ers: The preseason opener might also feature the most intriguing opponent on the schedule, although we all know there won’t be any NYK vs. LBJ on Oct. 5, right? Philadelphia added LeBron James and Jaylen Brown during the offseason, putting them alongside Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and perennially hurt Joel Embiid. On paper, that makes the Sixers quite the first test—even if maybe none of those five play.

Washington Wizards: New York gets its first preseason appearance at Madison Square Garden against Washington on Oct. 8. The Wizards have only lost D’Angelo Russell (if you still cared about him) while adding Deandre Ayton, Khris Middleton, and mostly AJ Dybantsa to their squad. Ever-hated Trae Young is still around, and the Wiz Kiz are my underdog to make the ECF, so I’m highly intrigued!

Minnesota Timberwolves: Minnesota visits MSG on Oct. 12, providing another meeting between two teams that went deep into last season’s playoffs. For the Knicks, it will also be their final preseason game before playing on consecutive nights north of the border. Will we get at least a glimpse of the new LaMelo Ball-Anthony Edwards backcourt? We hope!

Toronto Raptors (x2): We don’t know which sort of team the Knicks will face here. Will Kawhi Leonard play? Will he even be a member of the Raptors by the time we get to this game? Will RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley face their former team? Will Brandon Ingram or won’t he? Too many questions for which only Pablo Torre has the answers.

Knicks’ 2026 Full Preseason Schedule

Oct. 5 — at 76ers — 7 p.m. ET
Oct. 8 — vs. Wizards — 7:30 p.m. ET
Oct. 12 — vs. Timberwolves — 7:30 p.m. ET
Oct. 13 — at Raptors — 7 p.m. ET
Oct. 15 — vs. Raptors — 7:30 p.m. ET

What do you make of this, if anything at all? Are you already looking forward to anything in particular? Do you expect any spicy matchup to happen during these meaningless, early-to-mid-October games? Let us know in the comments section below!

Free agent forward Trendon Watford has signed a one-year deal with the New Orleans Pelicans worth $2.9 million, per reports.

Free agent F Trendon Watford has agreed to a one-year, $2.9 million deal with the New Orleans Pelicans, sources tell ESPN. Watford considered multiple options but for New Orleans serves as a productive two-way get late into the offseason after a year in Philadelphia where he… pic.twitter.com/F8ecDrfLei

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 17, 2026

The former LSU Tiger was most recently with the Philadelphia 76ers, after previously spending two seasons with both the Portland Trail Blazers and Brooklyn Nets.

The Birmingham native immediately made an impact at LSU, averaging 13.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game as a freshman in 2019 and earning SEC All-Freshman Team honors.

As a sophomore, Watford averaged 16.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. He scored a career-high 30 points in LSU’s SEC Tournament championship game loss to Alabama and earned First-Team All-SEC honors from the Associated Press and Second-Team honors from the coaches. He declared for the 2021 NBA Draft following the season.

After going undrafted, Watford signed a two-way contract with the Portland Trail Blazers in August 2021, which was converted to a standard contract in February 2022. He scored a career-high 27 points against Washington that March. In the 2022 NBA Summer League, Watford led Portland to the championship with 19 points, seven rebounds, and three steals, earning Championship Game MVP honors and a spot on the All-Summer League Second Team.

In July 2025, Watford joined the 76ers on a two-year contract worth $5.3 million. He recorded the first triple-double of his NBA career on November 8, finishing with 20 points, 17 rebounds, and 10 assists in Philadelphia’s 130-120 win over the Toronto Raptors.

The 25-year-old will now head to New Orleans, where he will look to help the Pelicans turn things around after finishing the 2025-26 season with a 26-56 record, 11th in the Western Conference.

Buss family dispute unfolds over reported plan to sell stake in Lakers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The latest Buss family dispute emerged Monday following a report that the family will sell its remaining stake in the Los Angeles Lakers to new majority owners Bob Iger and Josh Kushner.

The move to sell off the remaining 17.8% ownership stake, reported Monday morning by ESPN, would mark the end of the Buss family era with the 17-time NBA championship franchise.

In a statement reported by ESPN, the Buss family said. “We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction. We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles; but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can.”

The sale would mean Jeanie Buss would no longer be the team’s governor, which requires a qualifying 15% ownership stake in a franchise. She has been team governor since 2013, following the death of her father Jerry Buss.

But later Monday, CNBC reported that Jeanie Buss is opposing the potential sale of her family’s stake, citing a letter addressed to law firms representing Jeanie Buss’s siblings. The letter said Jeanie Buss has not agreed to sell the team and a vote suggesting the family is selling “would be and is void,” CNBC reported.

Attorney Adam Streisand argued in the letter that Jeanie Buss remains the controlling shareholder, CNBC reported.

The siblings have been in frequent conflict since their father’s death. Jeanie Buss fired Jim Buss from his job as the Lakers’ head of basketball operations in 2017. A week later, she filed a lawsuit against her brothers during an attempt by Jim and Johnny to oust Jeanie from her role as the Lakers’ controlling owner.

Iger is the former CEO of the Walt Disney Co. Kushner is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, who is married to President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka. They confirmed last week that they had reached an agreement to purchase the Lakers for a record $12.5 billion.

The deal was announced about 10 months after Dodgers owner Mark Walter purchased a majority stake in the team from the Buss family for $10 billion.

ESPN reported that a majority of the Buss siblings, Jeanie, Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse, voted to sell off the family’s remaining stake in the team. According to the ESPN report, Jeanie Buss’ agreement under the sale to Walter would have kept her as governor of the franchise through 2030.

The team sale must still go before the NBA Board of Governors for approval. The board’s next meeting is Sept. 15-16 in New York.

Jerry Buss bought the Lakers in 1979 for $67.5 million. The deal included the NHL’s Kings and The Forum in Inglewood.

Following his death in 2013, Lakers ownership passed to his children, with Jeanie Buss serving as team governor ever since.

Under the Buss family, the Lakers captured 11 NBA championships, the last coming during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

For most of their history, the Knicks and Rangers have been cozy bedfellows, with a shared owner, arena, training facility, and the same balance sheet. Now James Dolan is making moves to break them up.

On Friday, Madison Square Garden Sports publicly filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission outlining its proposed separation of the Knicks and Rangers businesses. From Financial Times:

MSG Sports currently expects to complete the spin-off by the end of October 2026. There can be no assurance that the proposed transaction will be completed in the manner described above, or at all. Completion of the transaction remains subject to various conditions, including any required league approval, receipt of a tax opinion from counsel and Company board approval.

MSG Sports first announced in February that it was exploring a separation. The new filing lays out how the businesses would actually be divided, with the company targeting completion by the end of October. If completed, MSG Sports would become MSG Knickerbockers Corp., containing the New York Knicks and Westchester Knicks. A new publicly traded MSG Rangers Corp. would contain the Rangers, Hartford Wolf Pack, and MSG Training Center in Greenburgh.

Dolan is expected to remain executive chairman and CEO of both companies. Existing MSG Sports shareholders would receive proportional shares in the new Rangers company, leaving investors with stakes in two separate businesses instead of one containing both teams. The key difference is that investors could value and invest in the Knicks and Rangers independently. The timing of this is no surprise: the proposed separation comes on the heels of the Knicks winning their first championship in 53 years and producing record business results.

In July, Dolan’s 32-year-old son, Quentin Dolan, stepped into day-to-day operational control of the New York Rangers as the team’s new President, Chief Operating Officer, and Alternate Governor. Under the new hierarchy, Rangers General Manager Chris Drury continues to oversee hockey operations while reporting directly to Quentin, who will also retain his role heading the organization’s sports science and analytics department. The move allows Dolan to step back from hands-on oversight of the Rangers while maintaining direct control over the Knicks, aligning with the corporate effort to divide the two franchises into distinct business entities.

MSG Sports reported $278.7 million in fiscal fourth-quarter revenue, up 37% from a year earlier, and nearly $1.154 billion for the full fiscal year. The Knicks generated approximately $182 million in playoff-related revenue during their championship run, compared with $115.2 million the previous postseason, despite playing nine home playoff games in both years. Average playoff revenue reached a company-record $20.2 million per home game, with record playoff ticket and merchandise sales. Even the MTA got a boost! The Knicks’ historic championship run drove staggering transit surges across their network, setting multi-year post-pandemic ridership records at 34th St–Penn Station and pushing single-day subway travel past 4.3 million trips. Expanded subway and commuter rail services accommodated over one million fans during the June 18 ticker-tape parade.

The $12.5 billion sale of the Lakers last week was just another reminder of how valuable NBA franchises have become. MSG Sports shares have also roughly doubled over the past year. Separating the teams gives the Knicks their own corporate identity and stock price, while investors would no longer have to determine how much of MSG Sports’ value comes from basketball and how much comes from hockey.

As noted above, the MSG Training Center in Greenburgh, which the Knicks and Rangers both use, would belong to MSG Rangers Corp. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Knicks would need a new practice facility; the Rangers company could play landlord while the ‘Bockers continued using it through some sort of agreement. There is a similar arrangement at Madison Square Garden already. MSG Sports owns the teams, while the arena is operated by the separately traded Madison Square Garden Entertainment.

Management says the split will give each business more strategic and financial flexibility, and it leaves the door open to selling a minority stake in either team down the road.

In a nutshell, the split gives investors the ability to evaluate the Knicks as a standalone business right when the ‘Bocker business is booming. If everything goes according to plan, by the end of October the Knicks will have their own, publicly traded corporate home: MSG Knickerbockers Corp. Try putting that on a jersey.

Knicks in five.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are still keen on shedding salary to gain more financial flexibility even after recently trading away Denis Schroder. As reported by Marc Stein, “Cleveland remains in active search of a trade to send out Max Strus as Strus enters the final year of his current contract.”

Strus is entering the final year of his current deal with the Cavaliers earning $16.7 million in 2026-27. Strus spent the bulk of this past season on the shelf due to a Jones fracture he suffered before training camp.

Strus suited up for 12 regular season games, including his debut, where he went 7-9 shooting (6-7 from three), ending with 24 points and eight rebounds in 23 minutes.

With the trade of Schroder on Friday, the Cavaliers were able to shave $6.8 million off their books for next season. Finding a buyer for Strus could require attaching draft capital, given the amount owed to him next season.

While it is a one-year rental, deals like this are harder to accomplish in the NBA’s apron era. Teams are more hesitant to take on any form of sizeable salary as each apron offers less roster flexibility and prevents an ability to be liquid with their current assets.

While Strus is far from a player teams would view solely as a salary hold, the salary size is notable enough to give certain teams pause. Strus is still a very capable scorer in the league and a great locker-room presence. Cleveland would definitely feel the absence of Strus’s presence on and off the court. However, according to Stein, the Cavs are looking to create the flexibility to acquire either Jonathan Kuminga or Peyton Watson.

The active search would imply the Cavaliers are still proceeding with this approach. The question now is how much the Cavaliers will have to attach or take back from a potential trade partner to clear up the necessary space to pursue a starting small forward.

For the majority of Joel Embiid’s tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers, the power forward spot has, among other factors, served as a nagging hindrance against their title aspirations. 

Ben Simmons was averse to embracing the position and its typical physicality-oriented duties. Tobias Harris could not provide ancillary contributions like keen decision-making and defensive versatility while his supposed foremost trait of scoring proved mercurial in the postseason. Paul George’s health woes and on-court inconsistencies often left Philadelphia in a bind; his finest stretch as a Sixer was headlined by malleable defense, silky shot-making and grease-the-wheels passing to upset the second-seeded Boston Celtics in the first round last spring. 

Over the past five years, all three players have exited the City of Brotherly Love, two via trade, one via free agency. In their stead is LeBron James, who signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Sixers after spending his past eight seasons as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Despite nearing his 42nd birthday*, James remains a very good NBA player who can address weak points for the Sixers since they reshaped their roster by swapping George for Jaylen Brown earlier this offseason. 

*This will be the one time I acknowledge James’ age when discussing his skill-set. It is incredibly impressive he persists as such an impactful player this deep into his career. But I am projecting how he fits onto a team carrying championship hopes, not simply celebrating the staggering accomplishment. Through that prism, his game must be assessed without any age caveat. 

Most prevalently, James seriously invigorates Philadelphia’s passing attack and broadens the possibilities of the playbook offensively. Prior to his signing, a Brown-Embiid-Tyrese Maxey-V.J. Edgecombe quartet was severely lacking in the playmaking department. I worried how that group could decode stingy, ingenious playoff defenses to optimize their individual scoring talents together. 

Now, James helps shore up that once-glaring deficiency, even if he’s not the ethereal offensive engine of five years ago, let alone a decade ago. He is still one of the league’s premier facilitators fueled by his size, manipulation, vision, and processing speed. Given the amount of strain Maxey, Brown, Embiid and Edgecombe can impose upon defenses as scoring threats, James should be equipped to capitalize on whatever concessions opponents allow. 

At this stage of his career, his passing comfortably transcends his scoring. Conversely, Maxey, Brown, Embiid and Edgecombe are all score-first options who own varying levels of passing limitations. James is perhaps the ideal solvent to unlock them and won’t be asked to fill too large of a scoring role. Theoretically, it’s about as perfect a partnership as he and Philadelphia could’ve found. 

Last season, the majority of his half-court work occurred in the post, against switches following a screen he set or operating around the wings with an empty corner alignment. I anticipate much of that deployment translating to Philadelphia since it’s not too dissimilar from how head coach Nick Nurse utilized George.

Where those two veterans differentiate is in the pressure they inflict from the elbows and mid-post. Most of George’s touches there resulted in jumpers, so teams were content to play single coverage against him, narrowing the scope of his scoring gravity. 

James, though, brandishes considerably more lower body strength to chisel himself into deep position at or near the rim. George just shoots over the top of defenders — mismatches or otherwise. James bowls through them to finish inside or elicits multiple bodies to table-set cutters, shooters and big men for rhythmic scores. 

According to Cleaning the Glass, 40 percent of his shots were at the rim in 2025-26 (77th percentile among forwards) and he converted 75 percent of them (92nd percentile). That’s a stark upgrade from George’s 15 percent frequency (15th percentile among wings) and 55 percent success rate (ninth percentile), which dramatically alters how the Sixers can leverage James as a stationary hub inside the arc. 

James’ effective, audacious passing should behoove Maxey, who’s been overextended as an on-ball engine since James Harden’s departure and flourishes as an off-ball scorer. Look at the discrepancy in his efficiency between creation (pick-and-rolls, isolations, post-ups) and spacing play-types (spot-ups, handoffs, off-screens) last season, per databallr:

I’d love to see screen-the-screener actions for Maxey — who’s a contact-oriented screener — in which he primes Embiid for deep catches inside before zipping around a pick himself. Sets like those spotlight two divergent, high-level scorers but have been hard to embed with the lack of creation and ball-handling around Maxey in recent seasons.

The Sixers should also implement Split actions for Maxey with Embiid — who doled out the sturdiest picks of his career last year — as his screener. Heck, they can even tab Brown or Edgecombe to screen for Maxey, as both are capable of vibrantly diving to the rim if defenses swarm Maxey. Split actions were a staple of the Golden State Warriors’ dynastic run and unfold like this:

Maxey isn’t a Stephen Curry or Klay Thompson-level marksman but has drilled 41.9 percent of his career catch-and-shoot triples. Among his shooting credentials, speed and instinctive off-ball movement, he can certainly tilt the defense to let everyone thrive in Split actions, particularly with a decision-maker like James at the helm. 

High-low actions between James and Embiid should feature heavily into the chemistry those two aim to establish together. Embiid’s never played alongside a passer of James’ ilk, the closest being James Harden from 2022-24. During that stretch, he averaged 36.0 points per 75 possessions on 65.5 percent true shooting with Harden on the floor, according to databallr. James’ contemporary playmaking panache is built less around pick-and-rolls than Harden’s but could nonetheless be a nightly stream of easy points for Embiid

With James most comfortable at the elbows and in the mid-post, I do wonder how he meshes alongside Brown, who considers those spots his home as well. The Sixers’ offense is better served treating James as their foundational mid-post player yet such a hierarchy may stunt Brown’s impact. 

Brown is likely a superior scorer to James but a much lesser passer and a fairly stationary off-ball cog. He does not routinely cut or move and has only made 34.8 percent of his catch-and-shoot long balls the past three seasons. 

The degree to which they harmonize could determine Philadelphia’s offensive ceiling and be contingent on how well each performs as spot-up shooters, where they’ve both oscillated over the years. Although, I do think their collective propensity for physicality and paint scoring are major boons to potentially paper over incongruency elsewhere.

Tossing Embiid, a face-up and low-block player, into the mix could further complicate matters, too. But his size, pick-and-roll scoring, midrange touch, dribble handoff talents and advantage passing make me more optimistic about how he’ll fit with James. 

While still a useful half-court technician because of his virtuoso playmaking, James is not much of a dribble-drive creator these days. He can burp up unnecessary, ill-advised jumpers and lacks the explosion/ball-handling to punish defenders off the bounce as he did in his heyday. Perimeter creation attempts sometimes grow stagnant or unfruitful and lead to wasted trips down the court.

Yet in the open floor, he is mesmerizing and devastating, seemingly eager to maximize those opportunities and avoid the constraints of the half-court. Per Cleaning the Glass, with James out there, the Lakers’ transition frequency was 2.4 points higher and their transition offensive rating was 1.6 points higher per 100 possessions last season. 

Since the Sixers traded away Simmons — they ranked among the top eight in transition rate during three of his four seasons — they’ve dialed down the tempo. They’ve finished 19th or lower three times and never eclipsed the league’s 11th-highest transition frequency over the past five years. 

James, Brown, Maxey and Edgecombe are likely to change that; according to Synergy, the initial three were among the top four in transition possessions per game last season while Edgecombe was 48th overall (409 eligible players). All of them can ignite and punctuate fast breaks, especially James. He’s a bullet train with the ball who loves arcing outlet passes for quick buckets. 

In semi-transition, inverted actions including James as the ball-handler and Maxey, Brown or Edgecombe as the roller will lather up this offense. James and Austin Reaves wielded these connections to team up for plenty of snappy scores during their years together. His new running mates should do the same.

James’ passing flair ensures he’ll see plenty of time on the ball. But there will also be many stretches when Maxey, Brown and Embiid commandeer possessions. During those periods, James’ feel and athleticism can shine. He and the Sixers would be shrewd to minimize his half-court creation volume — containing most of it to transition chances — and funnel the majority of his field goals in that context to play-finishing responsibilities. 

Cuts, drives off the catch, deep seals, off-ball screens into hard dives and on-ball screens into spacious rolls should be the emphasis. Of course, it is unrealistic to fully separate one’s scoring and playmaking usage like this. He will take shots via his elbow/mid-post touches and snug pick-and-rolls. Being diligent about not letting those scenarios overlap too much, though, is imperative for fostering his ideal offensive environment.

Beyond Maxey, the Sixers’ starting five is quite light on shooting. Reserves Anfernee Simons (career 38.1 percent from deep) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (36.5 percent) are pivotal in alleviating some of those concerns. Regardless of what those three do, Philadelphia, to reach the lofty offensive heights it seeks, must ply its trade inside and rely heavily on James to do so.

His individual interior exploits have been outlined above. But he is also one of the NBA’s foremost playmakers around the basket — an area Maxey, Philadelphia’s primary playmaker last year, has long struggled — tossing lobs, whizzing feeds to cutters and fitting drop-offs or wraparounds through keyholes. 

Note his at-rim assists per 100 possessions from the past four seasons (smaller number is percentile ranking):

Or how much higher the Lakers’ rim frequency was with him on the court each of the last four years, per Cleaning the Glass (a consistent trend throughout his illustrious career):

An interior-inclined offense short on long-range shooting is not a new phenomenon for the Sixers. They’ve been among the top 10 in rim frequency the last three seasons. But they’ve dawdled as a bottom-15 group offensively partly by virtue of never placing higher than 24th in rim efficiency. James (and Brown) should help remedy that.

For as monumental an offensive upgrade James represents over George for Philadelphia, his latest seasons defensively indicate a notable defensive decline from his Sixers predecessor. 

James is a fairly inactive defender, content to switch out of most actions and avoid being thrust into screen navigation requirements or on-ball duties. Once a ferocious help-side rim protector, his flame has dimmed. Vigorous rotations at the basket or pick-six steals are highlights rather than an accurate snapshot of his signature off the ball.

Philadelphia will miss George’s point-of-attack aptitude, swirling limbs of chaos and interior imprint. The gulf between his and James’ rim protection over the past three years is vast, per databallr (top is George, bottom is James):

Similarly, the gulf between their playmaking is substantial. Last season, George averaged 2.7 steals (98th percentile) and 6.5 deflections (98th) per 100 possessions. His STOP rate (steals, blocks recovered by the defense, offensive fouls drawn per 100) was 3.5 (94th). 

James’ production in those categories? 1.8 (64th percentile), 2.7 (30th) and 2.4 (60th). 

Illuminating this reality does not mean the indirect George-for-James swap at the 4 is a negative for Philadelphia. In essence, the Sixers opted for Brown and James over George. That’s an easy decision that makes them much better entering 2026-27, led by the offensive dominion those two acquisitions will instill.

Yet they are demanding lots from Embiid as the lone interior force (commonplace for him, we’ll see what he looks like another year removed from the tumult of 2023-24); hoping for a bounce-back year on the ball for Brown (while still carrying a hefty load offensively, albeit smaller than 2025-26); asking Edgecombe to expand upon the defensive intrigue of last season, and banking on Dean Wade to continue excelling at the point of attack. 

None of those are unreasonable expectations. They’re merely many dominoes needed to fall for Philadelphia’s presumably potent offense to be flanked by a serviceable defense in a post-George existence (again, George out, James and Brown in is a smash hit). 

More than anything, envisioning what an overhauled roster uniting so much talent and starpower may resemble is a guessing game of the highest order. I have an idea of what James brings and how he fits. I could be off-base in my assessment. 

At worst, I know his passing sorcery is an element Brown has never experienced, nor has the All-NBA version of Maxey or the still-very-good-yet-below-MVP-caliber era of Embiid. That should benefit all of them and render the Sixers an improved team in 2026-27. I’m fascinated to watch it shake out.

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

With the season inching closer and the preseason and regular season schedules released, it’s time to start thinking about the realities of the Milwaukee Bucks’ roster. And while there are moves yet to be made—the Bucks still have 17 rostered players and thus must trim that to 15 to begin the season—what better way to start than by considering, well, who starts?

Over the next week or so, we’ll break down the options at each position—and, of course, seek your insight too. But to set the scene, let’s first consider the Bucks’ (relatively) newly acquired talent, courtesy of Giannis, Bobby Portis, and the Miami Heat: Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., and Kasparas Jakučionis. 

We’ve already profiled each of these players individually, detailing Herro’s homecoming, dissecting Jaquez’s old-school game, examining why Ware is primed to break out, and explaining why Jakučionis was a must-have acquisition. But considering their games and whether they start are two very different things.

Thus, we pose the question: how many of these Miami expats should Taylor Jenkins start?

For reference, the Heat went 43-39 last season, finishing 10th in the Eastern Conference standings. During the regular season, only Herro was a near-lock for the starting lineup, racking up 28 starts in 33 games. Ware was next, but he was part-time at best—34 out of 77. Of course, Jaquez was runner-up in the Sixth Man of the Year award, so he seldom started in his 77 appearances (just once, in fact). As for Jakučionis, he played 53 games, starting 12.

In the postseason, things mostly stayed the same. The Heat played just one game, losing an epic overtime Play-In battle to the Charlotte Hornets, 127-126, and Herro continued to start, putting up 23 points, three rebounds, and six assists. In somewhat of a surprise, Ware joined him, going for 12 points, 19 rebounds, four assists, and five blocks, while Jaquez did his usual thing off the bench (13 points, six rebounds, eight assists, a steal and a block). Jakučionis, on the other hand, collected a DNP-CD.

Context considered, how do you envision the ex-Heat quartet fitting in with the Bucks? Four players. Five starting spots. How many should Taylor Jenkins actually trust with a starting role?

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While Kawhi Leonard was the driving force behind the Toronto Raptors’ first-ever NBA title in 2019, there was an entire operation behind him, constantly scheming to put the superstar in a position to succeed.

Vice President of Player Health and Performance, Alex McKechnie, became a household name among casual basketball fans when he coined and implemented the term “load management”. The season-long strategy was designed to keep Leonard healthy enough for an eventual post-season run. This meant devaluing certain stretches in the regular-season, often games falling in a back-to-back.

Despite not having their captain on the court, Toronto ultimately finished 2nd in the Eastern Conference with a 58-24 record. The Raptors’ home court was a tremendous advantage in the playoffs, particularly during the seven-game series against the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers finished as the third seed that year. It’s tough to envision Leonard’s bouncing game-winner anywhere but at Scotiabank Arena.

During that season, Toronto played in 12 back-to-back sets. This year, the Raptors have 15 on the schedule. The 2018-19 Raptors were an impressive 17-7 in back-to-back games. They were also 11-3 from October to December, an astonishing feat considering the roster was still trying to sort out its chemistry at the time.

By comparison, the Raptors finished 12-16 in back-to-back games last year.

When Leonard missed one of these contests, his team still produced, with Toronto accumulating a 12-3 record. Additionally, it seemingly didn’t matter which game of the back-to-back Leonard missed:

• Missed the first game: 4-1
• Missed the second game: 8-2

Leonard also sat in three entire sets of back-to-back games, with one a month from November to January.

Subsequently, Toronto often leaned on players like Norman Powell (earlier in the season) or Fred VanVleet as fill-in starters whenever Leonard sat. Factor in other options like Serge Ibaka, OG Anunoby and Jeremy Lin, and it’s easy to understand why that team was so successful without Leonard.

Does this year’s iteration of the team have the same luxury?

As it stands, it depends on what’s measured. Defensively, the Raptors are ready to support Leonard at an elite level. The combination of Jamal Shead, Ja’Kobe Walter, Collin Murray-Boyles, and Allen Graves is a relentless group. Offensively, it’s unfair to compare this year’s bench to the firepower that the championship team had. If Walter can make another significant jump in his development, that’ll certainly go a long way.

Toronto could also still make additions this off-season or make a trade-deadline move similar in value to when the team acquired Marc Gasol.

Regardless, the Raptors must improve their back-to-back record, especially in an Eastern Conference that is forecast to be a gauntlet.

Ken Burns, the brilliant documentarian, is fond of repeating a quote attributed to Mark Twain: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

Burns usually says this in reference to landmark events that shaped the world in which we live, not something so trivial as the fortunes of a pro basketball team. Yet it can be applied to the Sixers at this point in their history.

The addition of LeBron James has seismic implications, and can be compared to the September 1982 trade for Moses Malone, which greased the skids for the franchise’s most recent championship the following spring. But given James’ stature, the better analogue might be the acquisition 50 years ago of Julius Erving.

The comparison is not perfect. Dr. J was acquired from the then-New York Nets for $6 million – half of which went to Roy Boe, the Nets’ cash-poor owner, to cover the territorial fees the Nets were required to pay after being absorbed with three other ABA teams into the NBA, when the leagues merged that summer of 1976. The rest went to Erving, who signed a new six-year contract.

James on the other hand joined the Sixers as a free agent recently, and a cut-rate one at that. He will be paid a mere $8 million over the next two years. He is also 41, and nearing the end of a career entering its 24th season. Erving was 26 when he was acquired by the Sixers, and at the very height of his powers.

“Forget the age, because age has nothing to do with it,” former Sixers player and coach Fred Carter said in a recent phone interview. “It’s the impact each one of them had on the whole sports platform in Philadelphia.”

Doc wound up playing the last 11 of his 16 professional seasons here, leading the Sixers to the Finals that first year and on three other occasions. And with Malone and Co. he collected that 1982-83 title. 

LeBron is just passing through, just trying to enhance his already considerable legacy by chasing his fifth championship with his fourth different team. But like Dr. J he is an epic figure. And like Doc he is joining a superteam. That is the foremost comparison, the rhymingest rhyme in this piece of sporting history.

Carter, a Sixers backup guard in ‘76-77, was beginning the last of his eight NBA seasons when Erving arrived on opening night, and would remain with the team only through Dec. 8, when he was traded to Milwaukee. He believes James is coming to a team that has “far more talent” than that one, and added that if everyone stays healthy, “They could win 70 games.”

There was actually similar hype surrounding that ‘76-77 bunch. George McGinnis, a muscular forward, had come over from the ABA a year earlier, and had established himself as the franchise fulcrum. Doug Collins and Steve Mix had already played in All-Star Games by then, and Caldwell Jones had also been plucked from the ABA. Not to be forgotten, either, were young guns like Lloyd Free (still years away from his conversion to World B. Free) and Darryl Dawkins.

So the same questions face this group as that one: Can everybody coexist on the court? Will minutes and touches and shots become issues? That remains to be seen, but Carter, 81, believes James’ mere presence will change things.

“It puts everybody on notice that you’ve got to play the game the right way,” Carter said. “It’s not like you can dilly-dally and come not ready to play.”

Which happens, he added, to every team.

“Players,” he said, “take nights off.”

But that is far less likely to happen with a guy of James’ stature in town.

“Players that have any type of self-esteem, self-respect, will not take nights off,” said Carter, who also served as a Sixers assistant for six years (1987-93) and the team’s head coach for a season-plus after that. “That’s going to force Joel Embiid to play at a level higher than what he’s played at, which will help them tremendously. Because the last thing you want to do is have a 41-year-old guy out there, playing his heart out, and you’re out there half-stepping. That can’t be tolerated.”

The bottom line, Carter said, is this: “The price of poker just went up, and everybody’s got to ante up. … Guys have got to be playing at their highest level, because LeBron is here. The King is here.”

Again, it was a little different when Erving came to Philly. For one thing, his legend had largely spread by word of mouth in that pre-Internet, pre-cable, pre-streaming age. There was a lot of buzz about him, but few had seen video of him, and fewer still had seen him play live.

“I had heard that there was a guy who could walk literally on air,” Harvey Catchings, then a reserve center for the Sixers, said in a recent phone interview, “and he was just an incredible player.”

The Sixers had in fact faced Erving’s Nets in preseason play in the years before his arrival, but didn’t have a full read on him. Nor was it clear whether his game would translate to the more-established league.

“I did not believe the hype,” Mix said.

Others did. Pat Williams, the late Sixers general manager, always said that he described Dr. J as “the Babe Ruth of Basketball” while persuading team owner Fitz Dixon to pony up the cash to bring him aboard. The thing was, McGinnis had established himself as the Sixers’ version of Lou Gehrig the previous season, and for that reason Williams sought Big George’s blessing before finalizing the deal.

But as Catchings said, “What were you going to say? … At least they gave him the courtesy.”

Erving made his Sixers debut in the season opener against San Antonio, scoring 17 points off the bench in a 121-118 loss. Beforehand Mix had chosen to welcome the new guy by taping his hightops together and throwing them atop a light in the Spectrum locker room. (Carter has no recollection of Mix’s prank, though he did add this: “Steve was a jokester, so I can imagine Steve doing that.”)

“He was probably a little irked, I would think,” Mix said of Erving. “I went and got them down. I put them up, I got them down.”

Mix and Doc became fast friends. Roomed together on the road for years, in fact. They also remain close all these years later, and even coach together in the Big3.

But that season was a roller-coaster ride for everyone.

“I don’t know,” Mix said, “whether some of those guys knew how to play as a team.”

“Doc had to get his, Doug had to get his, Lloyd was trying to come into his own,” Catchings, 74, said. “Then you had Darryl. You had a lot of mouths to feed, and egos to feed.”

It reached a point where a Daily News columnist named Bud Shaw likened the Sixers’ offense to “a line at the delicatessen. You took a number and waited your turn at the counter. Every so often, somebody would take all the numbers and four other hungry stomachs would go home growling.” 

Mix said Erving was the one who had to make the most sacrifices, the guy who had to tailor his game to everyone else’s. Even so, he made an immediate impression on his new teammates, who marveled at his physical gifts and improvisational abilities.

“It didn’t take but a minute,” Carter said. “Maybe half a minute.”

“You knew the guy could play,” Mix said. “Anybody who has an Afro like that has got to be able to play.”

And indeed Doc’s ‘fro was something to behold.

“It wasn’t as good as Darnell Hillman or Artis Gilmore,” Mix said, naming two others who made the ABA-NBA transition, “but it was a good look.”

His demeanor was no less impressive.

“Just the way that he carried himself was just so different from anything that I had ever seen before,” Catchings said. “It wasn’t arrogance. It was just confidence.”

Erving averaged a team-best 21.6 points a game that first season, two-tenths more than McGinnis. And despite everything the Sixers won 50 games and knocked Boston and Houston out of the playoffs. Then they took a 2-0 lead over Portland in the Finals before getting “backwards swept,” as Carter put it – i.e., the Bill Walton-led Blazers won the last four games.

“We had the best talent,” Mix said. “Portland had the best team.”

It didn’t help that Dawkins squared off with Blazers enforcer Maurice Lucas late in Game 2, throwing a wild punch that caught Collins over the eye. Dawkins, incensed that none of his teammates appeared to have his back (Erving, for example, sat down at midcourt rather than getting involved in the fracas), then trashed the Spectrum’s home locker room.

Nor did it help that McGinnis played poorly in the Finals.

“I wish George was alive, because I don’t want to speak ill of the dead,” Catchings said, referring to McGinnis’ passing three years ago. “But George choked during the playoffs.”

By the time the Sixers returned to the Finals in 1980, they were a vastly different team. McGinnis, traded to Denver for Bobby Jones in ‘78, was gone. Maurice Cheeks, drafted with one of the picks acquired in the Carter trade to the Bucks, arrived that same year. Clint Richardson, who would become a valuable reserve, came in the following selection process.

They finally broke through after acquiring Moses from Houston, and the conclusion is a simple one: Adding a foundational piece like a Dr. J or an LBJ, while obviously significant, is only a start. The right pieces need to be arrayed around them, and sacrifices need to be made for the greater good. That wasn’t the case with the 1976-77 Sixers, and we will only find out in time if that is the case now.

Mix wonders if James is coming as much for business reasons as basketball reasons – if he wants to pick Josh Harris’ brain, then apply those lessons to his own off-court pursuits. Mix further believes, as many do, that LeBron can best be used as a playmaker, despite the fact that he will be playing, in effect, power forward.

As Mix put it, “I don’t expect him to average 20; 12 to 14 would be a good average for him, if he’s distributing.”

Hard to picture James scoring at such a paltry rate, even at his age. He has always been a force, not to mention a force multiplier. Certainly his impact will be felt, as was the case with Erving all those years ago. And certainly much of the history rhymes to this point. Now it’s a matter of adding a few more stanzas, of crafting the perfect ending, in a town where fairytales don’t always come true.

Warriors' Yaxel Lendeborg had emotional moment before first summer league game  originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Helping the Michigan Wolverines win only their second ever NCAA title, Yaxel Lendeborg already is having a year to remember.

And now, the newest Warrior is gearing up to be a key player for the franchise from the jump, ready to prove that his older age for a rookie (soon to be 24 years old) will come in handy.

Golden State’s rookie spoke exclusively to The Athletic’s Nick Friedell for a recent story, and recalled his emotional first moments with the Warriors after he was selected with the No. 11 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Lendeborg never watched the NBA Summer League growing up, only tuning in to the competition for the first time last season, when he followed Cooper Flagg shine for the Dallas Mavericks. But barely one year later, as Lendeborg prepared to take the floor as a pro for the first time, he got emotional reflecting on how he got to this point.

“When we were going to the game in Vegas, I was about to cry on the bus,” Lendeborg told Friedell. “Like, this is crazy. I’m about to play in the summer league in Vegas in front of a bunch of people … Three or four tears kind of like dripped from the eye, but I was on a bus with a bunch of guys. They don’t even know me. They barely know me, so I can’t just be crying for no reason.”

Lendeborg joins a Warriors team that not only still is very much in win-now mode, as they look to maximize the final years of Steph Curry’s career, but also that is ready to build towards a successful future. Lendeborg, after shining for Golden State throughout the competition, averaging 14.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists en route to winning the summer league MVP and guiding the Warriors to the title, is providing optimism.

But Lendeborg admits that it took him time to gain the confidence he needed to play at that high level.

“This is my first year actually going through having a full year of confidence, I guess you could say,” Lendeborg said. “I’ve never been a confident kid. So, actually having this time to believe in myself —  it means a lot to me, and I’m trying my best to not lose that no matter what goes on.”

Once again, the Warriors have one of the NBA’s oldest rosters, with their core of Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler all over the age of 35. And while some of the team’s key reserves are young and players that Golden State could build around, a more developed prospect like Lendeborg surely will give the franchise confidence that it can still compete once the Curry era ends.

Still, Lendeborg is looking to develop and become the player that he knows he can be. From his days of playing junior college basketball in Yuma, Arizona to his two-season stint at UAB and ending with his memorable year at Michigan, Lendeborg stayed the course and now that he is becoming the type of player he dreamed of becoming, he is ready to shatter expectations while still coming to grips with his newfound fame in basketball.

“As far as the expectations and everything that’s going around me, it’s like I’m new to this,” Lendeborg added. “So, I haven’t been living this role my entire life, this just now became who I am. So, I’m just happy-go lucky about everything.

“I’m just smiling through it all. Obviously, I have people that don’t like me or don’t like whatever I say, how I play, all of that stuff, so it’s like whatever. Everyone’s going to have their opinion. And for me, it’s just like, pressure isn’t real.”

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The Phoenix Suns front office has done a solid job over the last two years of identifying under-the-radar talent.

Collin Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin are the latest examples of this. Jamaree Bouyea provided real production for key stretches last season. To a lesser extent, we all saw Dillon Brooks breakout in his new home as well. He was much more on the radar than the others mentioned, of course. You get the point. The Suns have a type.

From a cultural perspective, this is who you want to bring in. A hard-nosed competitor who isn’t afraid to mix it up, chirp a little, and make winning basketball plays. He doesn’t need the ball to make an impact. He embraces doing the little things.

Enter Pat Spencer

The Suns signed the 30-year-old guard to a two-way contract in early July, an acquisition that sailed under most national radars. On the surface, it’s a sensible depth move. The guard rotation needed fortification after some early offseason uncertainty.

But dig deeper, and this signing tells you everything about how the front office operates in 2026.

Pat Spencer arrives in Phoenix fresh off the best season of his career with Golden State Warriors.

In 66 games (14 starts), he averaged 7.2 points, 3.5 assists, and 2.4 rebounds, shooting 42.7% from the field and 35.7% from three-point range. Those headline numbers don’t immediately jump off the page, but his starting splits do.

As a starter, he averaged 11.4 points, 5.1 assists, and 3.4 rebounds per game while shooting 40% from three.

Pat was playing in a Warriors system without heavy volume. Steve Kerr wasn’t running the offense through him, becuase they have a guy named Steph Curry (yes he missed time). Yet when he got real minutes in spot situations and starts, he produced with efficiency. He shot a respectable 35.7% from beyond the arc and averaged 0.7 steals per game.

But the stats only matter if the player has the intangibles to stick. Spencer has that in spades.

Spencer embodies toughness, smarts, and competitiveness. Steve Kerr publicly stated that “he’s kind of the perfect guy to have as a backup” because “he can win you games” and brings consistent energy and attitude regardless of playing time. Kerr doesn’t throw praise at role players casually. He meant it.

Why This Fits the Suns’ DNA

Spencer’s competitive fire runs deep. His brother Cam also plays in the NBA, and Pat’s mentality stems from a lifelong need to compete in everything, even in childhood moments like racing to elevators or calling shotgun, displaying a mindset where he’s always trying to prove something. That hunger doesn’t fade because you’re on a two-way contract. It compounds. Phoenix goes after guys with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove.

Phoenix’s guard rotation entering 2026-27 features Devin Booker and Jalen Green as primary creators, with Collin Gillespie and Luke Kennard handling secondary playmaking duties. Jordan Goodwin in the “super guard” role as a psuedo small or power forward with several other guards bodes well for Pat, at least.

Spencer will not crack the rotation unless there is an injury…. or two.

He probably won’t see 15 minutes per game if there is one. But the Suns aren’t counting on that. They’re paying him for reliability and availability when injuries or foul trouble demand rotation adjustments. We all saw the constant musical chairs of injuries to the guard rotaiton last season and how necessary it was to have a deep guard group.

Consider the modern NBA playoff reality: small guards get hunted on defense. Perimeter players pick up fouls trying to contain athletic wings. Backup point guards need to run second-unit pick-and-rolls without turning the ball over. Spencer checks all three boxes.

His 40% three-point shooting from the starter sample means he spaces the floor. His assist rate suggests he doesn’t force things when he doesn’t have them. His competitive mentality means he won’t shrink in tight moments. These aren’t flashy traits, but they win games.

The gap between a playoff team and a championship team in the Western Conference comes down to depth. It always does. Not stars. Not All-NBA players. The ability to rotate fresh bodies without losing spacing, decision-making, or intensity.

Spencer’s personal journey amplifies this logic. A standout college lacrosse player at Loyola University Maryland who won the Tewaaraton Award as the nation’s top player in 2019 and was selected first overall in the 2019 Premier Lacrosse League Draft, Spencer pivoted to basketball, using his final year of college eligibility to play at Northwestern University, then played professionally overseas with Hamburg Towers in Germany before working his way through the G League to reach the NBA.

This is someone who earned every inch.

What Happens Next

Spencer will spend chunks of time in the G League with the Phoenix Suns’ affiliate squad. That’s the reality of a two-way contract. But the framework exists for rapid escalation. If any of Booker, Green, Gillespie, Kennard or Goodwin pick up an injury or enter foul trouble, Spencer steps in. If second-unit scoring dries up, Spencer gets run. He’s an insurance piece that you need to have to withstand the rigors of an 82-game season.

The real question isn’t whether Spencer will play. It’s whether he’ll capitalize when the opportunity comes. Based on his track record in Golden State, the answer is yes. One of Spencer’s best games last season came against the Suns back in February, where he scored a career-high 20 points and was one of the Warriors’ main contributors in their fourth-quarter double-digit comeback.

This is who the Suns’ front office is now. They’re building connective tissue through under-the-radar depth acquisitions. Guys who fit the system, bring competitive juice, and won’t require massive contracts or draft capital to acquire.

Spencer is the latest addition to that blueprint. Low-risk. High upside for a backup guard. Proven character in a Warriors system known for demanding toughness.

The Suns have been solid at identifying these types. Spencer feels like the next one in line.

After winning a championship for the first time in 53 years, the Knicks kept much of their roster intact for the 2026-27 NBA season. The only big change from the offseason could have ramifications for the team’s hopes of producing similar results.

The Knicks let center Mitchell Robinson walk in free agency. Robinson signed a three-year, $47.4 million deal with the Atlantic Division rival Boston Celtics.

To shore up the backup five spot, New York signed veteran center Andre Drummond to a one-year, $3.9 million contract. A two-time All-Star, Drummond has been a productive player for much of his 14-year NBA career.

At 33 years old, Drummond is a downgrade from Robinson, but he can be an important contributor off the bench. Some of Drummond’s best skills blend well with New York’s philosophy. Robinson was arguably the best offensive rebounder in the NBA. Drummond is not exactly on that level, but it is a strength. Of players who played in at least 40 games last season, Drummond was fifth in offensive rebound rate, grabbing 14.5 percent of available offensive boards.

Creating extra opportunities has been a key part of New York’s strategy to win games. The Knicks finished seventh in offensive rebound rate during the regular season, and third in the playoffs. Listed at 279 pounds, Drummond is also a very good screener for his teammates. He led all players in screen assist points per 36 minutes during the playoffs.

Drummond has added the three-point shot to his skill set. After knocking down just 23 trifectas in his first 13 seasons, the big man made 32-of-90 treys (35.6 percent) last season. However, virtually all of those shots were wide open. Per NBA Stats, in 89 of those 90 three-point attempts, the closest defender to Drummond was 4 feet or more away.

If teams are willingly conceding that corner three to Drummond, it will gum up the paint, limiting driving lanes for New York’s other players. Knicks head coach Mike Brown would likely prefer having Drummond in the paint to cause havoc on the offensive glass, rather than standing idle in the corners.

Weaknesses

There are deficiencies to watch with Drummond. He’s been a weak finisher around the basket. According to NBA Stats, Drummond shot just 54.1 percent in the restricted area. Robinson was much more efficient around the basket, converting on 71.9 percent of his attempts. He was also a lob threat the Knicks will miss that next season.

Unless it’s an easy dunk, Drummond will likely have a hard time scoring efficiently close. Dunks are becoming a rarity for the veteran center, who had just 33 stuffs last season. According to Basketball Reference, just 12.2 percent of Drummond’s field goal attempts last season were dunks, the lowest figure of his career.

Another concern with Drummond will be on the defensive end. He will swat the occasional shot and is passable when it comes to defending the paint. But he lacks the mobility to switch on defense or cover a lot of ground. New York’s perimeter players at times will have to cover up for those limitations.

Drop-off

In replacing Robinson with Drummond, the Knicks are capable of contending for a championship. But this trade-off limits New York’s tool kit for the postseason. When the Knicks needed a defensive stop down the stretch in the NBA Finals, Robinson was on the floor. He forced Spurs star Victor Wembanyama into two missed shots in the closing moments of Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Drummond is unlikely to be relied on for defensive stops. Also, his pick-and-roll defense will be tested in the East against guards like Donovan Mitchell, Tyrese Maxey and Tyrese Haliburton.

Financially, the move does make sense. Robinson only played 13.9 minutes a night during the postseason and never recorded over 20 minutes in any of New York’s 19 playoff contests. It would’ve been difficult to pay him nearly $16 million annually in such a small role with New York’s second apron constraints.

The Knicks also lost third center Ariel Hukporti to the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency. The lack of a third center might also push the Knicks to other strategies. There could be more scenarios where they go small with OG Anunoby at center, depending on opponent matchups.

The Knicks unsuccessfully pursued Dallas Mavericks center Moussa Cisse in July, and SNY’s Ian Begley reported that New York looked at a trade for New Orleans Pelicans center Karlo Matkovic. The club could also look for a center who’s either a more capable switch defender or a stretch five between now and the trade deadline in February.

The 2026-27 schedule is out and it shows the Brooklyn Nets, generally seen as having one of the worst rosters in the NBA this season, will open the season October 21 vs. the Charlotte Hornets, just as they did last season, only in Brooklyn rather than Charlotte.

The game is not likely to get much attention from New York or national media. The night before, five miles away at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 33rd Street in Manhattan, it will be “ring night” and “banner night” at Madison Square Garden in 53 years. The long-suffering fans of New York’s legacy team, the Knicks, will celebrate their title — and relive their incredible run — on national TV before facing the Atlantic Division’s exciting newcomers, LeBron James and Jaylen Brown of the Philadelphia 76ers.

It’s not much of a stretch to say that Brooklyn’s team has never been more irrelevant since moving to the borough 14 seasons back. One team is at the top of the world and will be hosting its biggest challenger; the other an afterthought, facing a non-contender a little further along than the home team.

So now midway between the big win and opening nights, how do the Nets look at their challenges in light of that disparity? and a rivalry record 14 losses in a row? We spoke with Joe Tsai and Sean Marks recently, Tsai exclusively by phone, Marks at the rookie press conference last month and read the comments of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment’s chief financial officer Peter Stern in an interview published this week with CFO Magazine.

There are two takeaways: 1) they say all the right things about the Knicks accomplishments but they’re not changing their strategy, their trajectory, just because the team they share the city with won it all … in dramatic fashion and 2) there’s some hope that the championship has renewed New York’s interest not just in the Knicks but in the NBA in general. Tsai was succinct in his comments, saying yup, it’s “irating,” even “embarrassing,” in his words but nothing has changed in his thinking on the path the franchise has chosen. Are they whistling past the graveyard? As with a lot of things, starting in October, we shall find out.

“Every year, some team is going to win a championship,” Tsai told us and indeed the Knicks became the eighth different team win a chip in the last eight years. “So it happens that this year that team is in the same city. It doesn’t make us feel very good. It irates our fan base and it is embarrassing but in business or in competition, in sports, or in anything, you shouldn’t let the embarrassment factor affect how you perform…. [We] had a plan and we’re rebuilding and I think right now we are on a positive trajectory. So it doesn’t change my thinking at all.”

Tsai also noted that the Nets central business theme — generational fandom — remains in place. Get them while they’re young.

Marks, in answer to an ND question about the Knicks back on the day his team introduced its three draft picks, dismissed the possibility of having another team’s success change his thinking. (As more than one NBA watcher has noted, the team governor and GM have been like “peas in a pod” when it comes to strategy.)

“No, not at all. I mean, we’re not, we’re not, we’re not going to be motivated or less motivated by what somebody else is doing,” Marks said. “I think we all we control is our path. I think we set out on this a couple of years ago, and I think I’m very happy with what the group has done, what Jordi (Fernandez), the coaching staff, have done to develop these young men, and it’s gonna be really exciting to see what they look like, and you know, whether it’s a year or two years from here, and who really seizes this opportunity?”

Patience is the watchword then.

Stern, in his CFO Magazine interview, took a different tack. He gave credit to the crosstown rivals, but argued that a large part of the excitement we saw in the city the night of O.G. Anonoby’s tip-in or Jalen Brunson’s 45-point performance a couple of nights later or the parade that drew TWO MILLION New Yorkers to the Canyon of Heroes, may be contagious.

“We’re happy for the Knicks,” said Stern who came with Tsai from Alibaba. “But even more so, we’re happy for the NBA. You could make an argument that it’s a tailwind because of this reason or that reason, or a headwind. We think about mostly just tailwinds.

“We want more people loving basketball, and the Knicks’ championship, or I should say, even their deep playoff runs previously, really activated many dormant fans. Fans got to engage with it and appreciate this special thing called the NBA in a different way.”

It’s about the city too, said Stern, not just NBA.

“This year, there were plenty of folks around New York who maybe weren’t basketball fans who ended up at a watch party or engaged in some way, shape or form with the playoffs. That’s a great thing for us as the Nets and Liberty continue to grow in Brooklyn.“

While that certainly was true, some of the biggest and most prominent street watch parties was in Brooklyn, like this one in Fort Greene for Game 4 of the Finals …

Epic!!! Fort Greene, Brooklyn Knicks celebration. Go New York, go New York, go! pic.twitter.com/DAs8pa8t0q

— Steve Kastenbaum (@SKastenbaum) June 11, 2026

So, yes, things will require re-introducing the team to fans, take advantage of the possible new interest in the NBA. (We should not from our small sample that there are indications fan, at least the die-hard ones who come to ND, are not giving up. There’s more interest, more of circle-the-wagons mentality. Here’s a fun fact: the three news items that garnered highest number of comments on ND are the Kevin Durant trade in 2023 with more than 4300, the Kevin Garnett-Paul Pierce trade, about 2000 less, ten years earlier … and the signing of Moe Wagner last month which had more than 2100!)

So it’s about patience and steadfastness, which are admittedly in short supply as the Nets enter what is basically the fourth year of a rebuild. It began with monumental collapse of the Big Three and has included a brutal two-year tank that didn’t result in getting a top draft pick (although everyone seems happy with who they did get.) Now, with a flawed roster and two 20-year-olds as the face of the franchise, few other than Jordi and his staff believe there will be much improvement.

Although we’ve not supposed to pay attention to the Knicks, according the three officials we quoted, the Manhattanites basically return with the same club other than Mitchell Robinson who’ll be blocking shots and missing free throws in Boston. But Leon Rose keeps pushing all the right buttons in roster building. Yes, he’ll have to maneuver around his boss’s dictate about the second apron and yes there are huge contract decisions down the road, but they now have that championship pedigree and swagger as well as a staggering amount of continuity. They also have Brunson who is an unlikely superstar but a superstar nonetheless. And everything is going James Dolan’s way.

These pages are filled with the status of the Nets so no need to reiterate all that. It’s also kind of brutal. How soon might they turn it all around? Hope for the best this year and don’t dismiss, despite the Nets history, the possibility of a big trade deadline move. They still have all those draft assets, all those rookie contracts, all that cap space.

Last season, despite the 20 wins, the Nets filled 99.22% of Barclays Center on average and as Stern pointed out, they’re in the midst of a $150 million renovation of Barclays while BSE is also putting together an $80 million training facility for the Liberty. Tsai is ready to spend. He has a record.

So on October 20, it will be all about the Knicks in New York and that’s just fine with the brass. It’s the days after that matter.

Hall of Famers

Back in the 2009-10 season when the Nets were playing their final season in the Meadowlands, losing badly, the people who ran things at the YES Network decided to pair Chris Carrino and Mike Fratello for the first time Over the rest of the season, the veteran announcer and former head coach broadcast a Nets game together. Over the course of their careers, they appeared together 12 times in nine seasons.

Then, this weekend, they were sort of reunited in the grandest of stages, the induction ceremony for the Basketball Hall of Fame, Carrino and Fratello were awarded the Curt Gowdy Electronic Media Award Recipient. They are now both Hall of Famers.

Both of course are familiar to Nets fans as well as fans of national and Olympic media and their time in New Jersey and Brooklyn noted in the Hall’s induction announcement:

Chris Carrino has served as the Brooklyn Nets’ radio play-by-play announcer since 2002, having joined the organization in 1992 as a studio producer and feature reporter. He steadily worked his way up to studio host, backup play-by-play announcer, and ultimately the team’s lead radio voice. Over more than two decades on the call, Carrino has narrated many of the franchise’s defining moments, including consecutive NBA Finals appearances and the Nets’ historic first game in Brooklyn.

Fratello’s broadcast contributions have earned him a 2015 New York Emmy Award for Best Sports Analyst and four consecutive nominations (2012-15). His relationship with Turner Sports spans decades, including NBA playoff coverage (1994-96), regular-season work (1999-2004), and Thursday night NBA coverage alongside Marv Albert, Steve Kerr, and Reggie Miller (2009-13). He later joined NBA GameTime Live (2014-19) and appeared on select NBA on TNT telecasts.

Beyond national broadcasts, Fratello served as color commentator for the Nets on YES Network for 10 seasons (2008-18).

Carrino is not just known as a broadcaster but as a campaigner for those who suffer from facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). His Chris Carrino Foundation for FSHD is the leading non-profit addressing the disease. As the Post’s Phil Musnick wrote a couple of years ago, Carrino may be the “toughest guy in sports.” Wheelchair-bound, he is often helped getting in and out of tough spots by his WFAN analyst, Tim Capstraw, Carrino is a hero to a lot of people, including, it should be noted, his son, Chris Carrino Jr. who’s been heard on the FAN of late.

In his induction speech, Carrino spoke extensively about how his broadcasting career gave him the audience and the stage to discuss the disease and disabilities in general…

“This award is empowering…I am here to tell you… if you have the ability to do the job, you don’t have to let a disability prevent you from reaching the pinnacle of your profession.”

Watch the powerful speech @ChrisCarrino delivered on Friday: https://t.co/E64BchdrQ0pic.twitter.com/9w3Cy6RW41

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) August 15, 2026

For Fratello, the award was just the latest in his long career that has spanned coaching three college teams and four NBA teams either as an assistant or head coach. He also led the Ukraine national team. He won the NBA Coach of the Year in 1986 when he was with Atlanta. His head coaching record is the NBA was 667-548 for a .549 winning percentage.

The New Jersey native spent nine seasons with the Nets on the YES Network. Of those, he was the lead analyst for last four years in New Jersey, then part of a three-man analyst rotation for 1he first five seasons in Brooklyn. Overall, he worked 342 Nets games on YES with Marv Albert, Ian Eagle, Ryan Ruocco as well as Carrino. Previously, he had been a national TV analyst for both NBC Sports and TNT where Albert dubbed him the “Czar of the Telestrator.”

Most recently, he’s done analyst gigs for the Clippers, Cavaliers and NBA TV.

Congratulations to both on their well deserved honor. And special thanks to Frank DiGraci, the YES producer who first paired them … and kept copious notes that we used in this item. DiGraci of course became the coordinating producer for YES broadcast before leaving for a similar job with NBC Sports two years ago.

Final Note

In addition to talking to CFO Magazine about the Knicks and how the Nets business side is starting to use AI, Peter Stern spoke as well about how he teaches financial literacy to inmates at maximum security prisons, most recently in New York, including at Sing Sing.

Stern said he feels empowered by his time teaching and helping prisoners.

I strongly believe in the power of rehabilitation. People talk about, ’Oh, Stern, your students deserve a second chance.‘” Many of them, most of them, never had a first chance. Born into abject poverty, one parent incarcerated, the other parent passed away, or you pick the challenging situation that they’re in.

I want to inspire, and I want to empower, and I want them to know I believe in them. I want them to know that I believe that upon their release, they’re going to be successful.

I tell my students, “I’m going to show you in this class how to buy a house and build an investment portfolio.” I believe if you can help those at the bottom, then all of society rises…

You can learn a lot about resiliency and determination from someone who’s been locked in a cell for decades.

Congratulations to him too.