El Segundo, CA, - September 28, 2026: Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James (9) takes part in the team's media day at the UCLA Health Training Center on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026 in El Segundo, CA. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Despite still not fully cracking the rotation, Bronny James showcased strides in his second NBA season a year ago. He shot 38.6% from deep (28.1% in 2024-25) and 43.1% on 2-pointers (34.3% in 2024-25) while continuing to flash some impressive feel, on-ball defense and connective passing.
In 2026-27, the goal should be to prove his outside shooting was not an aberration and further grow attacking closeouts if run off the arc. For the first time, he’ll also be playing without his father, LeBron James, as a teammate and wants to make clear he’s his own player beyond his dad’s shadow.
“I think, for me, just the motivating factor of creating my own path and my own career just makes me want to get up every day and work hard and come into the gym and learn from guys that have been here longer than me,” he told reporters at Monday’s media day. “I think it’s just something I’ve followed my entire life. You guys know me as Bronny and my real name is LeBron. I’ve been doing this for however long so I think it’s a motivating factor for me just getting up every day to prove myself as Bronny instead of LeBron.”
As a 6-foot-2 off-ball guard with limited dribbling and interior scoring comfort, Bronny is facing an uphill battle to establish himself as a full-time rotation player in the league. Fortunately, the Los Angeles Lakers’ offense is led by a pair of bigger initiators, Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, who can allow smaller players to slide off the ball — an area Bronny focused on this offseason — and reap the rewards of their creation talents.
Los Angeles needs more point-of-attack stoppers, where Bronny has displayed promise, so if he’s a legitimate floor-spacer and develops a bit offensively, it’s plausible he becomes a reliable option off the bench independent of any ties to his family name. That certainly seems to be his goal.
It’s not often we get a cataclysmic sports gaffe on Capitol Hill, but Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri) gave us something absolutely incredible on Tuesday morning. In what can only be described as “the Sideshow Bob stepping on rakes of attempted gotchas,” Schmitt confidently dropped what he believed would be a smoking gun in causing Jack Smith to perjure himself as part of the probe into Smith’s investigation of President Donald Trump.
Schmitt confidently (and cockily) claimed that he had evidence from a series of text messages that Jack Smith was in Atlanta on Feb. 3, 2024, watching the Atlanta Hawks play the Golden State Warriors. Just one problem: Smith was actually in Maryland, seeing the Iowa Hawkeyes play Maryland.
🤡 Eric Schmitt beclowns himself during Jack Smith hearing 🤡
Schmitt concocted an elaborate conspiracy theory that Smith traveled to Atlanta to go to a Hawks game and collude with Fani Willis, and briefly displayed his "evidence" on a poster board before accusing Smith of… pic.twitter.com/wDMiVrrKBF
“It … it was because Caitlin Clark was coming to Maryland to play. That’s why we went to the game,” Smith said. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) tried to hold back her laughter at the gaffe, before criticizing her fellow senator for insinuating Smith was a “dirtbag” over his incorrect “evidence,” while also taking a shot at his lack of hoops knowledge: “For a U.S. Senator to have false information, and imply, based on a confusion about the name of a team — which I knew, knowing my midwestern sports…”
Smith said that he was present at the game with members of the U.S. Marshall’s service, which was confirmed. He absolutely was not in Atlanta, when Schmitt said he was. But … should he have been?! Let’s compare the game he went to, with the one that Schmitt thought he was at.
Iowa Hakweyes 93, Maryland Terrapins 85
Caitlin Clark went off, scoring 38 points, dishing 12 assists, and adding 6 rebounds for good measure. It wasn’t her most efficient day from beyond the arc, as she shot 7-for-17 from three — but ultimately it was an astonishingly good game.
Atlanta Hawks 141, Golden State Warriors 134
It took overtime to settle the game between the Hawks and Warriors. Steph Curry was nuclear, scoring 60 points, including 10-of-23 from three, but it wasn’t enough to stop a barrage of Hawks’ offense led by Trae Young.
I don’t know if there was a right or wrong game to go to here, to be honest. I’m giving the edge to seeing the Hawkeyes in Maryland — only because you got to be a part of the Caitlin Clark experience and saw a game where she absolutely went off. Obviously, Steph had an amazing game as well, and it’s not every day you get to watch him drop 60, but it doesn’t have the same level of gravitas.
When the Warriors lost their play-in game to the Suns 111-96 last season, the year ended at 37-45 and Steve Kerr walked into the postgame presser sounding like a man drafting his own farewell. “These jobs all have an expiration date,” he said; his contract had already hit one.
I’m gonna defer to the legendary Anthony Slater at ESPN who described how for the next three weeks Kerr sat with owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy and talked about everything from how the team should play to who should be sitting next to him on the bench. Apparently the real sticking point was the roster as Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody were both rehabbing serious knee injuries that will keep them out into the new year, and the core was getting older by the month. There was belief that if management wanted to hit the eject button and rebuild, Kerr probably wasn’t the coach for that job.
Management didn’t hit the button though! On May 9 Kerr agreed to a two-year deal that keeps him the highest-paid coach in the league after he made $17.5 million the season before. Kerr brings stability, championship know-how, and the comforting voice that Stephen Curry and Draymond Green have been hearing for most of their careers.
The question from Dub Nation is whether Kerr can develop some young frontcourt talent while the Warriors are still trying to win. The narrative is that he has relied on squeezing all the juice he can out of trusty veterans while recent top lottery picks like James Wiseman and Jonathan Kuminga never realized their potential in Warriors’ uniforms.
Steve Kerr to the fans who say he doesn’t develop young players
"Grownups win championships… Any frustration from our fans is probably coming from this idea that young players should get it right away. It just doesn't work that way."
That brings us to this past summer, when Golden State’s No. 11 pick was their most valuable chip, and for a while it looked like it might get packaged for a star.
Then Giannis went to Miami, and the Warriors kept the pick. A couple days before the draft, the front office asked Kerr what the roster needed most. Dunleavy told NBC Sports Bay Area that Kerr’s answer was, “There’s a huge gap in the middle of it with our forward position.” He wanted a connector, somebody who could fill that hole by sliding into the Steph and Draymond machine and keeping it moving. Dunleavy said he sat there wondering whether Kerr was steering them toward Yaxel Lendeborg on purpose. Then they took Lendeborg at 11, and on paper you can see what Kerr saw.
Lendeborg was the best player on a Michigan team that won the national title, averaging 15.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists while stuffing the defensive box score too. He’s 6-foot-9, 240 pounds, and took the long road through junior college and UAB before Michigan, where he evolved from a bruising power forward into a wing. He’ll be 24 when the season starts. Then he went out and led the Warriors to a Summer League title, just in case anybody needed some more data before the season starts that this young man is a hot prospect.
The 2026 NBA Summer League MVP is… Yaxel Lendeborg of the Warriors!
Lendeborg, the 11th overall pick, averaged 14.8 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 4.0 APG en route to Golden State becoming NBA Summer League Champions. pic.twitter.com/IKeQ4fykzm
Yaxel Lendeborg on his early conversations with Steve Kerr: “He doesn’t normally play rookies as much. He has a history of that. But the way the team is looking right now, I’m going to have a really good chance to play, maybe even start.” pic.twitter.com/Vm1DXhkjUO
The opening for Big Yax is real. Butler’s knee has him targeting early 2027, Kuminga is in Minnesota, and besides Draymond Green the other options at the four are Gui Santos, Georges Niang and Malevy Leons (unless you go super big with Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford). None bring Lendeborg’s combination of size, athleticism, and spacing. Here’s every frontcourt player the Warriors have drafted in the Kerr era since 2019, plus Trayce Jackson-Davis, whose rights they traded for, with their rookie-season numbers:
The best rookie line on the board belongs to Paschall, the 41st pick in 2019. He got a ton of playing time with the Splash Bros out and was a genuine bright spot in a dismal pandemic season. I loved that year for him…and I also remember the rest of the roster, because 2019-20 was the 15-50 year. Paschall got those minutes because somebody had to play them. When the roster got reformed around Curry, Paschall’s fit suddenly started disappearing. Remember his quote:
“Steph and them came back, and Dray was hurt early in the season,” Paschall explained. “But I couldn’t play with Steph early in the season. I’m still going to do me — y’all saw what I did last year. That’s what I’m thinking. But I can’t do that because I’m on the floor with Steph all the time. I ended up asking to come off the bench. I was not wired to set a screen, pass up an open shot — like if I’m open, I’m shooting it. It gave me a false reality of how the NBA works.”
The Dubs traded Paschall before the 2021-2022 season and won a championship, while Paschall was out of the league the next year. So the one frontcourt player the Dubs drafted who really put up numbers with serious playing time suddenly had trouble fitting the minute the basketball started revolving around Curry again. Hmmm.
Take Paschall’s outlier season out and the rookie frontcourt pattern gets loud. In any year the Warriors were trying to win something, no rookie frontcourt player averaged more than Wiseman’s 21.4 minutes. Kuminga played 70 games as a teenager on a championship roster and stayed under 17 minutes a night, which was the right call for a team hanging a banner. Baldwin, a first-rounder, barely got off the bench. Jackson-Davis and Post, picked 57th and 52nd, both had promising stretches before eventually being overshadowed by the vets.
There’s one common denominator with those guys: all of them are gone! The Warriors have been swinging at frontcourt prospects for over half a decade, and nothing has stuck.
"We don't practice anymore. So we have to develop these 19 year old kids who are coming into the league without much practice time…Frankly, I'm not great — I'm an older coach…So I lean on the young [coaches]."
The good news is Kerr isn’t being asked to teach another teenager how to play NBA basketball. Wiseman and Kuminga were 19 and learning the league in real time. Lendeborg has already played the highest level of college ball and Kerr’s checklist of dribble, pass, shoot and process is something that the rookie apparently aced. The Curry era is running on borrowed time, and the franchise has been desperately trying to find the next wave of quality players that show up while the old ones are still here. If Lendeborg develops into the big, jack-of-all-trades connector Kerr envisioned, then Golden State’s coach has something he hasn’t had since the dynasty’s prime: a young frontcourt player he can close games with.
If he doesn’t, a coach who nearly walked away in April will be staring at the same roster problem that almost ended his run, with fewer years left to solve it.
El Segundo, CA, - September 28, 2026: Los Angeles Lakers center Walker Kessler takes part in a press conference during the team's media day at the UCLA Health Training Center on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026 in El Segundo, CA. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Through five games last year, Walker Kessler was off to the best start of his career as he averaged 14.4 points (78.6 percent true shooting), 10.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.8 blocks. But his quick success was immediately derailed as he suffered a labral tear in his left shoulder and underwent season-ending surgery shortly afterward.
Despite that, the Los Angeles Lakers were willing to dole out two unprotected first-round picks, two first-round pick swaps and a four-year, $130 million contract for Kessler’s services to land their center of the future. The organization seems optimistic about both his recovery and how he fits with the roster. During Monday’s media day, Kessler addressed the injury and told reporters he’s entirely past the problem, with full confidence from both Lakers GM Rob Pelinka and head coach JJ Redick in his health.
“I’ll speak to the health. I feel 110%. My shoulder feels better than it’s ever felt,” Kessler said. “To have that confidence in playing is going to be really important. As far as my injury, speaking to [President of Basketball Operations] Rob [Pelinka] and then [head coach] JJ [Redick], we haven’t really talked about it because they believe in it. It’s back to better than what it was. So there’s no question in my mind about it.”
Kessler didn’t have much injury trouble through the first three seasons of his career. While a handful of minor issues kept him out of games once the new year began in 2023-24 and 2024-25, he still averaged ~65 games per season from 20223-23 to 2024-25. If the Lakers organization is confident in his availability, fans likely should be, too.
Kessler is critical to the Lakers’ success this season. I’m fascinated to see how he’s deployed on both ends and whether he forms more chemistry offensively with Luka Dončić or Austin Reaves, which I assume will impact how Redick opts to stagger his starters throughout the rotation.
Andre Drummond drew interest from several other clubs around the league during the offseason, but after talking things over with his agent, he decided that joining the Knicks made the most sense.
“This was the best option,” he said Tuesday. “Being born in Mount Vernon and then moving to Connecticut very young, I’ve always been a Knicks fan -- from Amar’e [Stoudemire] to PatrickEwing, the list of greats in this organization, it’s a true honor to put the jersey on.”
Bruce Brown is Drummond's only new teammate whom he's played with before, but he does have plenty of experience competing against the majority of this roster over the years.
The most recent time, of course, was when the Knicks sent him and the 76ers packing in the Eastern Conference Semifinals last year en route to their drought-snapping championship berth.
One thing Drummond remembers from that series: New York fans completely taking over Xfinity Arena.
“It was crazy,” he said with a smile. “It felt like a road game the whole series, you guys came down and took over the Philadelphia arena, it was crazy even seeing some of the fans from there wearing Knicks jerseys too -- the Knicks fanbase is far-and-wide, it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, definitely the basketball Mecca.”
Now, the 33-year-old will get to experience what it’s like being on the other side of that passionate fanbase.
Drummond is expected to play a pretty significant role in his first year with the team, too, helping make up for the loss of beloved big man Mitchell Robinson to the rival Boston Celtics in free agency.
The Knicks know replacing Robinson's production is an awfully tall task to ask of anyone, though, so they are simply looking for the veteran center to go out and play his game.
"The best part of the situation Andre is in," captain Jalen Brunson explained. "He’s not coming in to be Mitch, he’s coming in to be himself -- we have to give him the confidence to be himself -- this is a new team and a new journey, we’re going to attack it every day.”
Though he's seen his production drop off a bit as his career has progressed, Drummond was able to pull in 8.4 boards while averaging just under 20 minutes per night across 63 games with Philly last season.
El Segundo, CA, - September 28, 2026: Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) speaks during a press conference during the team's media day at the UCLA Health Training Center on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026 in El Segundo, CA. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Last year, Austin Reaves enjoyed a career-best campaign, averaging 23.3 points, 5.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game. But a pair of separate injuries interrupted his season. He was limited to 51 regular-season games (and missed four playoff outings), missed out on an All-Star berth and was ineligible for an All-NBA nod, both of which were very plausible had he stayed healthy.
As he enters 2026-27 equipped with a new, four-year, $184 million contract, Reaves understands how much attention must be devoted to taking care of his body — a lesson learned from his former teammate, LeBron James, whom he spent the first five years of his career playing alongside.
“I think that’s one of the biggest things I learned from LeBron was what he did every single day to give himself the opportunity to still play this game at the highest level,” Reaves told reporters during Monday’s media day. “There’s a lot more that goes into it than the casual fan sees. You have to do more every single day and especially the older that you get. He’s a perfect example of that. We’ve had a really good summer, put myself in a really good spot going into this year.”
Dan Woike of The Athletic also reported former Lakers strength coach Ed Streit will be Reaves’ dedicated trainer this season.
My understanding is that Streit will be on staff similar to the relationship Mike Mancias had with LeBron James and the one Anže Maček has with Luka Dončić. https://t.co/R3Mj9ai8Qq
Reaves is entering the prime of his career and should seriously contend for All-Star appearances and All-NBA honors, if he can stay healthy. He’s a dynamite creator, adept off-ball scorer and talented passer who thrives at all three levels and draws fouls.
Based on Monday’s comments, how he’s described his approach to the offseason and the decision to have his own trainer, it seems he fully understands the lengths he has to go to remain on the court.
Reaves and Luka Dončić are among the league’s most dynamic backcourts and the foundation of any success the Los Angeles Lakers will accomplish this season, particularly on offense (where they should be very, very good). To do so, though, they each have to play more than they did in 2025-26. It appears both recognize that and have dialed up the diligence to ensure they will be moving forward.
Sep 28, 2026; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics center Mitchell Robinson (4) talks to reporters during media day at Auerbach Center. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Fresh off a slew of offseason roster turnover this summer, the Boston Celtics find themselves in a much different spot in the frontcourt than they were a year ago.
Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens ensured that rather than being backed into a corner again, the team would have options.
When asked about the three-man center rotation of Neemias Queta, Mitchell Robinson and Luka Garza, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla had one word for what he’s most thrilled about.
Robinson arrived via free agency after Boston signed the 28-year-old to a three-year, $47.39 million contract shortly after his NBA title capture with the Knicks. That added a secondary starting option, with qualifications, to Mazzulla’s group, giving the Celtics flexibility to get creative this upcoming season.
Mazzulla acknowledged that while the Celtics can’t run all three each night in Boston’s lineup, each is deserving of being rewarded for their leaps last season.
“Obviously Mitch’s resume speaks for itself,” Mazzulla said. “If you take a look at Neemi and Luka, they both are significantly better players than they were at the beginning of last season. Credit to them and their work ethic. I think with guys that you have coming back, you want them to take the next step. They both had great offseasons. They both deserve to be given more responsibility within the framework of our team. But we have three different kinds.”
Queta entered training camp as the man under the spotlight. Boston had just parted ways with Kristaps Porziņģis, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet, leaving the roster’s frontcourt thin. And with only six prior starts through three seasons, Queta quickly adjusted to his promotion and became a vital fixture — averaging career-highs in points (10.2), rebounds (8.4), and blocks (1.3) across 76 appearances.
Garza, too, carved out a role for himself behind Queta, knocking down a career-best 55 threes while sweating like a marathon runner fighting for second chances on the offensive glass.
Meanwhile, in New York, Robinson logged 16 starts in 60 appearances, finishing eighth for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year vote.
Oct 9, 2023; New York, New York, USA; Boston Celtics center Neemias Queta (88) shoots the ball as New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson (23) defends during the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
Being the newcomer, Robinson isn’t concerned about competing for a starting role.
“For me, it doesn’t matter,” Robinson told reporters. “I’ve started before. I came off the bench. I’ve been up and down. That don’t really bother me too much, so whatever happens, it is what it is. I’m gonna still continue to play hard and do what I do best. That’s just one of those things, like, we’ll see what happens.”
From watching Jayson Tatum and Paul George forge their bond to making amends with Mazzulla over his Hack-a-Mitch tactics, Robinson spoke highly of his early Boston experience.
“I feel like they’re gonna get the best out of me,” Robinson added.
So far, Robinson and Queta are on the same page as the Celtics begin training camp. They recognize their similarities and differences, but also understand how their contrasting skill sets can strengthen Boston’s frontcourt.
Robinson has competed against the Celtics 22 times over the last eight years, and the organization is thrilled to bring that to an end.
“Mitch is a great guy to be around,” Queta told reporters. “He’s gonna make us a lot better. I’m excited to have him as a teammate way more than having him as an opponent. And he’s going to give us a different look, being able to rebound at a really high level, defend one through five. He’s a great guy to be around too, and he’s gonna help us get to the next level.”
Boston also has second-year product Amari Williams and incoming rookie Chris Cenac Jr., both in the early stages of their development.
Queta looks forward to watching them get their opportunities as well, working alongside the veterans in an environment similar to the one the Celtics cultivated last season. He’s even got a name for Boston’s new big-man group: “Big Fella University.”
“Just made that up. Big Man University,” Queta chuckled. “Those guys should be pretty reliable, and night in and night out, whoever gets called upon, I got 100 percent confidence that we’ll deliver.”
James famously took Reaves under his wing after the Lakers signed the guard to a two-way contract after he went undrafted in 2021.
Only Anthony Davis played more games alongside LeBron James in a Lakers uniform than Austin Reaves. NBAE via Getty Images
Reaves signed a standard NBA contract with the Lakers just before the start of training camp entering the 2021-22 season.
Only Anthony Davis (296) played more combined regular season and playoff games as a teammate of James’ than Reaves (284) during James’ eight seasons in L.A.
The time Reaves and James spent as teammates allowed for Reaves to pick up on one of the key aspects of the NBA as he becomes the Lakers’ unquestioned co-star behind superstar guard Luka Doncic: The work that’s required to stay healthy and be available to your teammates for an entire season.
“One of the biggest things I learned from LeBron was what he did every single day to give [himself] the opportunity to still play this game at the highest level,” Reaves said. “There’s a lot more that goes into it than the casual fan sees. You have to do more every single day, especially the older you get. He’s a perfect example of that.”
LeBron James’ impact on Austin Reaves is present even though they aren’t teammates anymore. AP Photo/Chris Szagola
He holds the NBA’s records for most regular season games played (1,622), most playoff games appearances (302), most regular season minutes played (61,030) and most (12,446).
And James is still going, entering an unprecedented 24th NBA season after leading the Lakers to a first round playoff series victory over the Rockets in the spring.
This is the kind of example that was set for Reaves for five years.
In the spirit of taking care of his body, Reaves will have his own trainer starting this season: Former Lakers strength and conditioning coach Ed Streit, as first reported by The Athletic.
Streit worked for the Bulls from 2015-17, eventually joining the Lakers in 2019 as an assistant strength and conditioning coach.
He was promoted to the franchise’s head strength and conditioning coach ahead of the 2023-24 season before departing the Lakers last year.
Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves has taken steps to take better care of his body. AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Streit is expected to be on the Lakers’ staff similar to how James’ longtime personal trainer, Mike Mancias, was on the Lakers’ staff as an athletic trainer/athletic performance liaison.
“I’ve had a really good summer,” Reaves said. “Put myself in a really good spot going into this year.”
The Lakers will need Reaves to not only be more available but also more durable after signing a four-year, $180 contract with the franchise.
Even though Reaves played at an All-Star level in 2025-26, he’s coming off playing a career-low 51 games because of a Grade 2 left calf strain that sidelined him for 1 ½ months (late December-early February) and a Grade 2 oblique strain that had him out of the lineup for the final five games of the regular season and first four games of the playoff series against the Rockets.
Reaves returned for the Lakers’ final six playoff games before they were swept in the second round by the Thunder.
The Lakers will need Austin Reaves (left) to be more durable as he becomes the franchise’s undisputed co-star behind Luka Doncic (right). AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Improved durability should help the 28-year-old maintain his performance in the postseason after injuries have hampered his last two playoff appearances.
He averaged 20 points, 5.8 assists and 4.0 rebounds during the playoffs, but shot just 40.7% from the floor and 25.7% on 3-pointers.
That came a year after he averaged 16.2 points (41.1% shooting, 31.9% on 3-pointers), 5.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists in the Lakers’ five playoff games during the 2025 first round loss to the Timberwolves while he dealt with a toe injury.
Mitchell Robinson made his first Celtics appearance Tuesday at media day.
He said he and head coach Joe Mazzulla have put their past behind them — after Mazzulla repeatedly fouled him when Robinson starred for the Knicks.
Robinson, who missed his introductory press conference for personal reasons, also opened up about his relationship with Mazzulla, including a visit the Celtics coach made to Robinson’s home in Nashville.
Boston Celtics center Mitchell Robinson talks to reporters during media day at the Auerbach Center in Boston, Monday, September 28, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
“At first, we had a little issue because I’m like, ‘You gotta say sorry for fouling me,’” Robinson said. “…But he apologized, and now we’re on the same team, so it’s going to be great, just build together and stuff like that, get to know him as the year goes on. I feel like it’s going to be epic.”
Across eight seasons with the New York Knicks, Robinson made 50.8 percent of his free throws but his accuracy has trended downward.
His best season at the line was his rookie year, when he shot 60 percent.
Mitchell Robinson (23) of the New York Knicks hits a free-throw during the first quarter of a game against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, at TD Garden. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
Last season was his worst, at 40.8 percent.
That struggle at the line prompted several Eastern Conference coaches to adopt a “Hack-A-Mitch” approach, intentionally fouling Robinson to exploit his free-throw shooting.
Mazzulla was among the coaches who leaned into the strategy.
Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla answers questions during a press conference during Boston Celtics Media Day at the Auerbach Center in Boston, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. Getty Images
In the Celtics’ Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Knicks in 2025, Robinson made 14 of 31 free throws, shooting 45.2 percent — even attempting 10 free throws in Game 1 of that series.
At Media Day, Mazzulla also discussed Robinson’s free-throw shooting—and said he’ll miss fouling him.
After eight seasons in Madison Square Garden, Robinson signed with Boston this offseason on a three-year, $47.39 million deal, leaving the Knicks for a conference rival.
The contract rewards an long-tenured veteran coming off a strong playoff run, during which he served as the Knicks’ primary interior defender and offensive rebounder.
But Robinson’s move to a hated rival hasn’t gone over well with Knicks fans.
Former 16-year NBA veteran J.R. Smith has been arrested in Texas and charged with assault causing bodily injury - family violence, something first reported by TMZ and confirmed by NBC Sports through the Hunt County Sheriff's Office.
As of this writing, he remains in custody after being arrested on Tuesday, Sept. 29, and no bond has been listed. No details have been released so far about what led to the arrest. Hood County, whose seat is Granbury, is about 70 miles southeast of Dallas.
Smith, 41, has been arrested before: He was briefly jailed during his playing days in 2009 and pled guilty to reckless driving tied to a fatal car accident in New Jersey.
Smith played 16 seasons in the NBA, won Sixth Man of the Year in 2013 while playing with the Knicks, and won two titles: One with LeBron James and the Cavaliers in 2016 and one in the bubble with the Lakers in 2020. His time with the Lakers was the last time he played in the NBA. Last Spring, Smith graduated from North Carolina A&T State University, where he was a walk-on member of the golf team. He has played in some amateur golf tournaments, and still appears on some NBA podcasts and shows talking about and analyzing the league.
NEW YORK, NY - JULY 24: Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks and Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees talk before the game between the New York Mets and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on July 24, 2024, in New York, New York. (Photo by New York Yankees/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Ah, playoff baseball. There really is nothing like it. No other sport’s postseason is distinctly embodied in a time of year, but baseball commonly associates the chill of autumn and the month of October with their own march towards a championship.
Today, the Yankees’ journey begins, one that could end as soon as Wednesday night or could last deep into October. It’s an unforgiving sport and playoff format, especially for non-division winners. You play two bad games and you’re done. You get hot? You can go all the way. There’s more variance, hence why some call it a crapshoot.
As we wait for 8 pm, I couldn’t help but think about the last New York team to win a title. A few months ago, that would have been the 2011 New York Giants, but now? It’s the Knicks, baby. They’ll begin their title defense in a few weeks, but for now, the focus of the city is on Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
There’s something about the journey of the 2o25-26 Knicks that makes you think. If you followed them as religiously as I did, you might remember the ups and downs of that season and maybe, if you squint just enough, you can start to see the distinct similarities between them and the Yankees, who will look to bring a second parade to the Canyon of Heroes in the calendar year.
I’m not saying they will, but there are more similarities between the hopeful Yankees and the triumphant Knicks than you might think:
Regular Season Underperformance
Both the Yankees and Knicks entered the season as the favorites in their respective conferences. Both had primary competitors that would turn out to massively underachieve in the Blue Jays and Cavaliers, but outside of them, they were both considered to be the class of their respective conferences.
The Yankees were good but not great, finishing with 93 wins in a season that saw them play at a pretty consistent level, save for a few rough weeks, despite some incredibly rough injury luck. While it was a near-identical record to the two prior seasons, the relative consensus was one of disappointment at not taking better advantage of a bad American League.
Speaking of seemingly underwhelming conferences, the Eastern Conference in 2025-26 was considered one of the weakest in recent NBA history, with the injuries to Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum seemingly taking two teams out of contention. Despite this, the Knicks only won 53 games and settled into the No. 3 seed, struggling to ever look like the juggernaut some hoped for with a wide-open conference.
Midseason Inexplicable Swoon
Perhaps the clearest comparison: the Knicks completely disproved any theory of a champion needing to be dominant from start to finish. After winning the NBA Cup in December, the team suffered from fatigue, minor injuries affecting key players, and the overall slog of the season, going an inexplicable 2-9 from December 31 to January 19, culminating in a blowout loss to a terrible and depleted Mavericks team at home on Martin Luther King Jr. Day
As we know all too well, this is also a tendency for the Yankees, but this year’s summer swoon was significantly shorter than in years past. This year, it was an isolated 4-14 nosedive from June 20 to July 8, one in which the team reached a figurative “rock bottom” with a rare series loss to a mediocre Twins team at home on Fourth of July weekend.
The similarities don’t just stop with the simple fact of three terrible weeks in the middle of the season. The Knicks dealt with small ailments to Josh Hart and Landry Shamet, while also losing Jalen Brunson for two games due to an ankle injury. For the Yankees, this skid happened during the several-month absence by their own captain, Aaron Judge, but also during shorter stints on the injured list by Max Fried and Trent Grisham, with the latter coming off his hottest stretch of the season before going down in mid-June.
Those swoons also saw both fanbases’ vitriol hit all-time highs. You don’t need to go far to find what Yankees fans say every summer about how the manager needs to be held accountable for allowing the team to repeatedly have extended stretches of poor play every summer while demanding wholesale change, both in the front office and even shipping out underperforming players.
For the Knicks fans here, does that sound familiar to the sentiment after MLK Day? In the year after Tom Thibodeau was fired, Mike Brown had to earn the trust of Knicks fans, something that he very much wasn’t doing while the team was unraveling. Somehow, a first-year head coach’s seat was smolderingly hot. With the slump coinciding with the lead-up to the trade deadline, scores of impatient fans were also calling for the head of Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges, two underperforming veterans who were part of the team’s seemingly failing all-in push. It’s super hard to believe after these guys achieved immortality this summer, but it’s true.
Disappointing Supporting Cast
Speaking of Bridges and Towns, they have a bunch of similarities with several Yankees in terms of their regular season performance. It wasn’t just that slump that fans were complaining about. Bridges, who was acquired for five first-round picks, was a definitive fourth option who often went weeks without threatening 20 points. Towns, the team’s highest-paid player, endured a major regression in scoring and shooting while continuing to be a defensive liability.
There are some comparisons here. Jazz Chisholm Jr. was expected to potentially be the Yankees’ second-most valuable player, but slumped to finish a crucial contract year as about league-average offensively, falling well short of his own lofty goals. Trent Grisham was an incredible story in 2025, going from a throw-in in the Juan Soto trade to a weapon at the top of the order, but regressed in a big way on both sides of the ball as he struggled with hamstring injuries and several swing/process changes.
Both teams’ underperformance is predicated on unexpected regression. Now, as we know, Bridges and Towns turned that regression into some of the best basketball of their careers come playoff time. With how small-sample nonsense can create legends in the playoffs (ahem, Ernie Clement), could Chisholm or Grisham (if healthy) rewrite the stories of their 2025 in the same fashion?
Position In The Standings
The way the two teams finished the regular season has already been discussed, but there are similarities between the teams that finished around them in the standings. Both were passed by a young and unexpected team that blitzed the entire league and stunned everyone to get to the top overall seed, while they were also both heavily annoyed by the surprising resurgence of a team from Boston.
For the Knicks, they had to watch as the same plucky Pistons bunch that they eliminated the season prior surged to 60 wins in an improbable rise that saw their gritty defensive tenacity translate into regular season wins in an old-school fashion. Does that sound familiar to a certain division rival from Tampa?
I’m stretching things a bit by comparing the Celtics and Red Sox, but both teams were significantly better than expected at certain points. The Celtics were projected to be a play-in team as they dealt with life without Tatum, but rose to 56 wins by riding a formula that is conducive to stacking wins in the regular season. The Red Sox entered 2026 with high expectations, but those were gone when they fell to 32-46 and seemed out of it after firing Alex Cora. Their tremendous 32-5 stretch got them back in it, and for a moment, it seemed like they’d pass the Yankees during the summer as the Celtics did.
Core Of Guys Believed To Be Incapable Of Winning It All
While there are plenty of good comparisons in here, what ultimately binds these two teams together is the fact that neither enters the postseason with many believers, albeit for different reasons.
The Knicks entered the playoffs fourth in their own conference in betting odds, with the overwhelming belief among fans and the media that their core was just not able to go all the way. As much talent as they had, they didn’t have a 1A dude, dealt with their two star players being defensive liabilities, and lacked the impact depth to make up for any starting lineup underperformance. As we soon found out, none of that mattered, and the Knicks proved to be significantly tougher than anyone would’ve thought.
The 2026 Yankees are considered the co-favorite to represent the AL in the World Series, so the skepticism is more on the fanbase’s part. They don’t believe this team has the fortitude to do it. They see the flaws and believe that, when push comes to shove, they will wilt when the moment is brightest. Many believe Aaron Boone, like some believed with Mike Brown, is not a championship-caliber coach. After years of coming up short, it’s a fanbase that has relatively low energy for a playoff run, something that wasn’t quite experienced on the other side, but both shared a distinct similarity.
Sometimes, when vibes are low, crazy things can happen. It was hard to find a Knicks fan who fully believed in the team’s ability to do what they did back in April. Perhaps most jarring is that there might be more belief in the Yankees’ ability to go on a deep run than the most beloved team in recent New York history in Manhattan. If anything, that shows that there’s reason to believe this year can be different, because the Knicks showed that sometimes, for no rhyme or reason, it can be.
CLEVELAND, OH - OCTOBER 27: JR Smith #5 of the Cleveland Cavaliers looks on against the Indiana Pacers on October 27, 2018 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
J.R. Smith was arrested for assault in Texas on Tuesday. The former NBA veteran played five seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers and contributed to their 2016 championship.
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Former NBA champion J.R. Smith arrested for assault in Texas.
TMZ reports that Smith was arrested by Hunt County police for family violence. He was booked on a charge of assault involving family bodily injury.
No bond has been set as of reporting on Tuesday.
Smith, 41, played 16 years in the NBA. He won the league’s Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2013 and officially retired in 2020, following the Los Angeles Lakers’ championship run in the bubble.
After basketball, Smith completed his education at North Caroline A&T University. He graduated in May of 2026.
This story will be updated as more information is reported.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - SEPTEMBER 28: Jayson Tatum #0 and Paul George #13 of the Boston Celtics pose for photos during Boston Celtics Media Day at Auerbach Center on September 28, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) | Getty Images
BOSTON — Laughter reverberated across the Auerbach Center as the Celtics opened training camp on Tuesday morning.
For the first time since May, when the Celtics’ season abruptly ended at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers, beat reporters returned to the parquet to film the players’ on-court work and ask a litany of questions.
But though Tuesday marked the first official day of camp, it quickly became clear it was far from the players’ first day working together, as evidenced by Baylor Scheierman playfully shoving Mike Conley as if they were longtime teammates.
Jayson Tatum invited the team to come out to Los Angeles, where he spends a portion of his offseason, for offseason workouts, and a critical mass took up the offer, including Paul George, Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Sam Hauser, Jordan Walsh, Mike Conley, and rookies Chris Cenac Jr. and Dillon Mitchell, among others.
“JT hit the group chat, invited us all out, and most of us were able to make it work with our schedule,” Hauser said. “So it was cool to get a bunch of guys out there earlier and get acclimated and get used to being around each other.”
Jayson Tatum shared a peek into some Celtics offseason workouts.
First one had at least Tatum, Paul George, Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Sam Hauser, Jordan Walsh and Mike Conley in attendance.
While in LA, players spent time together both on and off the floor.
“We did a lot of work on the court, played some golf, had some dinners,” Hauser said. “It was a lot of fun.”
Walsh, fresh off his fourth summer as a Celtic — and the signing of a 3-year extension — said the intensity of this summer’s workouts stood out.
“It’s been really, really competitive,” Walsh said. “I would say it’s one of our better summers for sure. There’s a lot of guys that came to compete every day.”
Scrimmaging took center stage: “We played 7-game series in a day, or 8-game series, 9, whatever it is, in a day. So every guy [was] showing up for every single game and playing as hard as you can, and really respecting the game in a way, and I think that kind of is a statement to the staff as well.”
Joe Mazzulla takes a backseat during offseason training
Joe Mazzulla prioritized spending time with almost every player on the roster in their hometowns, visiting Mitchell Robinson in Nashville, Luka Garza in Iowa, Hugo Gonzalez in Spain, Neemias Queta in Portugal, Jordan Walsh in Texas, and Baylor Scheierman in Nebraska, among others.
But Mazzulla is not actually responsible for spearheading offseason workouts — that’s his coaching staff’s job. Most of the offseason training is orchestrated by head of player development Craig Luschenat, along with the rest of the Celtics player development staff, which includes DaSean Butler, God Shammgod Jr., Steve Tchiegang, and Nana Foulland, among others.
This year, Amile Jefferson also took on significant responsibilities as the team’s Summer League head coach in Las Vegas. The coaching staff is the same as last season’s.
“We have one of the best staffs in the league, so I’m really as hands-off as possible, allowing them to do everything,” Mazzulla said. “Craig, our head of player development, and our PD guys do a great job. The Summer League head coach does a great job of setting that tone. So, I try to stay out of it as much as I can, and just give the guys the empowerment and the responsibility to grow.”
Players have increasingly spent their offseasons in Boston
The fact that some Celtics have made Boston their year-round home makes it even easier to facilitate offseason workouts. Payton Pritchard, now the team’s second-longest-tenured player, lives in Massachusetts year-round.
“I stay in Boston for the summer,” Pritchard said. “It’s kind of home now, so when the first guys, the young ones, come into the gym in mid-August, I’m in there playing with them… I’ve been in here scrimmaging, working out, trying to set the tone.”
Ron Harper Jr., who signed a 4-year extension this offseason, similarly spent most of the summer in Boston.
“Y’all know I’m from Jersey, so going home is nothing but a car ride to me,” Harper Jr. said. “So I can always just hop in the car and go over there. But I tried to stay around here in the summer, with my PD [player development coach] DaSean Butler, and just keep continuing to work on my game.”
Walsh explained that everything is optional, but that you’d never know: “You don’t gotta be here until Media Day if you don’t want to be. It’s just the standard that everybody set for themselves.”
Luka Garza smiled when asked who participated in offseason workouts.
“Everybody,” Garza said. “Everybody was here at some point.”
As the summer progressed, more and more players arrived in Boston, and consequently, the intensity only increased.
“The last few weeks have been great,” Harper Jr. said. “We’ve been to the gym, playing pickup, working out, lifting together, just getting to know each other; you get to learn somebody best through competition. So the pickup sessions have been great. They’ve been really competitive. They’ve been really fun, and we’re gonna have a great year. And we’re all looking forward to getting on there and sharing the court together, as opposed to playing against each other.”
For Paul George, who has 16 years of NBA experience, the energy has felt different.
“Since I’ve been here, it’s one of those things where, man, I wish I was here a lot sooner,” George said. ”Not to discredit anywhere I’ve been, but since I’ve been here, it’s just been nothing but happiness, greatness. It’s just a great energy in this building, in this facility.“
CAMDEN, NJ - SEPTEMBER 28: Jaylen Brown #7, Joel Embiid #21, LeBron James #23, Tyrese Maxey #0, and VJ Edgecombe #77 of the Philadelphia 76ers pose for a portrait on NBA media day on September 28, 2026 at the Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex in Camden, New Jersey. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Media Day is behind us for the Philadelphia 76ers, and it was a more eventful one than usual given the new high-profile names arriving on the roster. Now it’s time to put the work in to get 1 percent better every day, as Tyrese Maxey (and now LeBron James) says.
Training camp begins today for the Sixers, running through this Friday. Philadelphia 76ers Public Relations released an announcement, which is basically a bunch of names we already knew.
“ The Philadelphia 76ers announced today their training camp roster for the 2026-27 season.
Training camp will be held at The Penn Medicine Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex in Camden, New Jersey, beginning today, September 29, through Friday, October 2.
Philadelphia’s full training roster is below”:
Caleb Love and Rayan Rupert are the two-way contracts taking the floor this week. Philadelphia still has one two-way slot available to utilize. Tacko Fall, Dillon Jones, Duke Miles, Jameer Nelson Jr., and Saint Thomas are all on Exhibit 10 deals with the clubs, so we’ll likely see them all in Delaware Blue Coats uniforms soon.
Establishing chemistry with so many new faces will be one of the challenges facing this squad. This week is where that process begins in earnest.
I’m sure clips will come out and we’ll all get googly eyes over LeBron throwing an alley-oop to VJ Edgecombe or Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid running a dribble handoff. In reality, this week is vital for the pieces to start to fall into place, as the Sixers open up preseason play less than a week from now, next Monday against the Knicks.
The regular-season opener is exactly three weeks away. Just in time to make us all forget about the Phillies and Eagles.
"Clearly, new team, new players, and that's what we're going to talk about today," was the tone Rob Pelinka, the Lakers' head of basketball operations, tried to set for the franchise in a press conference last week. "We just, as an organization, are so grateful for the run that we had with [LeBron James] here... it was a great era, and we're grateful for it. So I just think it's important to say that at the onset as we turn into a new chapter."
The Los Angeles Lakers are ready to move on from the LeBron James era — an eight-season run that brought them a title and made them a perennial playoff team — to what comes next, a team better built to maximize Luka Doncic. Yet the ghost of LeBron still seemed to haunt Lakers media day despite the fact that he was 2,400 miles away in a different uniform.
"It was kind of sad. Playing with LeBron was amazing. There's a lot of things I learned from him... We all know who LeBron James is."
Doncic, for his part, spent much of the day trying to spin things forward, this was part of his ESPN interviews.
"I'm really excited about this team. I think we have a lot of underrated guys. There are some guys that came in that are not talked about a lot, but I really enjoy them and I really like what I see."
Nobody faced more of that than Bronny James, LeBron James' son, who remains in Los Angeles for his third season and should see more regular minutes this season, potentially even cracking the regular rotation.
"You guys know me as Bronny. My real name is LeBron," Bronny said from the podium. "I've been doing this for however long, so I think it's a motivating factor for me just getting up every day and trying to prove myself as Bronny instead of LeBron...
"That's my dad. I spent 22 years almost with him, so, just another experience that I'm going to be a part of. I'm excited for how it's going to feel during the season, too. Looking forward to it."
One void to fill without LeBron is leadership — he commanded the locker room and was the team's unquestioned leader. Now, Doncic and the newly signed Austin Reaves will fill that role together. Lakers forward Jake LaRavia said from the podium it would be no problem for Doncic and Reaves to share the role.
"They get along so well that it's kind of easy for them to co-lead this team. I think sometimes Luka leads by example and we watch him and we watch how he goes about himself. AR can sometimes be a bit more vocal. But I think they both do a great job at what they are good at it when it comes to being leaders for this team."
As long as Doncic stays healthy, the Lakers are going to be good. How good depends on how Walker Kessler steps up into the role of starting center on the Lakers, plus how well role players like Quentin Grimes, LaRavia, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Collin Sexton, Ziaire Williams and others can deliver on both ends of the court.
If they do, the questions about LeBron will stop. Or, at least, slow down.
