Category: Basketball

Footage has emerged of Isaiah Stewart, then of the Detroit Pistons, punching Drew Eubanks prior to a Feb. 14, 2024 game between Detroit and the Phoenix Suns.

Stewart was arrested for assault at the arena in Phoenix hours before the game. He was issued a citation and released, while Eubanks played in the game, which was won by Phoenix.

The video, obtained by Fox 10 in Phoenix, shows Stewart walking through a hall in the arena, while Eubanks waits for him.

Video has surfaced of a 2024 altercation between Isaiah Stewart and Drew Eubanks, now a Knick. Eubanks said Stewart “sucker-punched” him. Stewart was arrested for assault and suspended 3 games.

Fox 10 Phoenix pic.twitter.com/jn7SuvBQB5

— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) September 27, 2026

Eubanks then puts his shoulder into Stewart’s chest and the two appear to have words before Stewart punches Eubanks.

Stewart follows by pushing Eubanks, who comes back at Stewart.

Stewart looks ready to hit Eubanks again before the two are separated and walk away from each other.

“The attack on Drew Eubanks was unprovoked, and acts of violence such as this are unacceptable,” the Suns said in a 2024 statement after the incident. “We unequivocally support Drew, and will continue to work with local law enforcement and the NBA.”

Monty Williams, the head coach of the Pistons at the time — who had previously coached the Suns — disapproved of Phoenix’s statement.

“The thing is to get all of the information,’’ Williams said. “The NBA will do an investigation. For me to come here and make a statement would be a bit irresponsible. I know the Suns said it was unprovoked; I think that is irresponsible for sure. You really don’t know.’’

Stewart, a 6-foot-8 former first-round pick by the Pistons, was suspended by the NBA for three games following the incident.

He was sent to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of a six-team trade in July.

The 6-foot-10 Eubanks was signed to a non-guaranteed contract by the Knicks this offseason. He figures to be in a roster battle with fellow veteran players Bruce Brown, John Konchar, James Wiseman and Ochai Agbaji.

Eubanks has played for six teams in his eight-year NBA career after going undrafted out of Oregon State.

He played 42 games with the Sacramento Kings last season and averaged 5.2 points and 3 rebounds per game. Eubanks has also played for the San Antonio Spurs, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers.

With training camp beginning this week, the Phoenix Suns are filling out their roster, which can carry a maximum of 21 players during camp. That number will need to be trimmed to 15 standard roster spots before the regular season, but the expanded roster allows Phoenix to create competition for the remaining spots.

We already knew Duop Reath would be making an appearance, as it was reported earlier this month that he would be joining the team on a training camp invitation. He’ll have an opportunity to compete for a spot on the regular season roster or potentially secure one of the team’s two-way contracts.

Today, the Suns made his signing official while also announcing the addition of Kennedy Chandler.

OFFICIAL: The Phoenix Suns have announced the signings of center Duop Reath and guard Kennedy Chandler.

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) September 27, 2026

In a release from the organization:

Chandler (6’-0”, 170 pounds) appeared in 11 games with the Utah Jazz last season, averaging 15.0 points, 6.7 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.0 steals. He scored a career-high 31 points on April 7 at New Orleans and posted his first career double-double with 26 points and 10 assists vs. Memphis on April 10. Holding two years of NBA experience, Chandler also appeared in 36 games with the Grizzlies during the 2022-23 season. Originally the 38th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft out of the University of Tennessee, Chandler has totaled 153 career appearances over four seasons in the NBA G League, averaging 14.7 points and 6.1 assists.

The signings bring the Suns to 21 players under contract heading into training camp, as Spotrac also lists second-year power forward Philip Wheeler on the roster. That totals 15 guaranteed contracts (although Heywood Highsmith and Jamaree Bouyea are not officially guaranteed until January 2027), three two-way contracts, and 3 Exhibit 10 training camp invites.

Phoenix Suns Media Day is tomorrow, and training camp begins the following day.

Sixers pre-camp questions: Will this be the year Embiid breaks through in playoffs?  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Sixers’ new era is on deck.

With LeBron James and Jaylen Brown on board and training camp set to begin Tuesday, we’ve taken a look at key questions for the 2026-27 Sixers. 

We’ve asked: 

• Just how dramatic of an impact will James make?
• What role will Brown play on his new team?
• Will the Sixers be healthy when it matters most? 
• Who will the Sixers run their late-game offense through?
• Can the Sixers’ retooled second unit get the job done in the playoffs?
• How will the Sixers’ backup center situation shake out?
• What’s the next step for VJ Edgecombe?
• How many young players will earn minutes? 
• Will the Sixers fix their defensive rebounding problem?

Last up: Will this be the season Joel Embiid breaks through in the playoffs? 

Embiid is accustomed to being at the center of the Sixers’ universe.

That won’t be the case at media day Monday. The Sixers’ other projected starters are now three All-Stars (James, Brown and Tyrese Maxey) along with last year’s Rising Stars MVP (Edgecombe).

The team’s vision of playoff success still features Embiid. The 32-year-old big man was mostly excellent when available last regular season, averaging 26.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.2 blocks. He was also vital to the Sixers’ seven-game first-round series win over the Celtics, delivering gritty, skillful performances after returning from a late-season emergency appendectomy.

Physical problems continued to plague Embiid in Round 2 and the Sixers were swept by the Knicks. Embiid has 66 playoff games, six second-round eliminations and two first-round exits in his career. The Sixers haven’t reached the conference finals since 2001. There’s a vast list of reasons for that, many of which are strange and unfortunate. The bottom line is Embiid wants better and the 2026-27 Sixers will plan to push for a championship. 

What will the Sixers need from Embiid?

Improved health is first and foremost. Embiid has played just 96 regular-season games over the last three years. However, he ended last season believing that he was trending up. 

“I came into this year not knowing where I was going to be, how long I was going to play, if I was even going to play based on how the knee was the last two years,” Embiid said at his exit interview in May. “I came in just hoping for the best and I feel like we’re in a position where we’ve figured out the knee. It hasn’t been an issue. If it weren’t for the oblique or some of the other stuff I had, it could’ve been different as far as how many games I would’ve played. 

“We came into this season thinking there was not much left based on the last two years. Now I’m sitting here not even worried about my knee even after all the stuff that’s happened, people falling on me. You’re obviously going to have setbacks as you go along, but those setbacks have been so much different than in the past.

“So I hate losing, but … I thought I was done. That’s the best way to put it. And then we found something as a group … to figure out how we’re quite frankly in a better position next year to play a lot of games.”

We’ll see whether Embiid’s body cooperates with those intentions. If he hits some speed bumps throughout the season, the Sixers’ hope would be that none are too serious, he’s able to build chemistry with his new star teammates, and all is relatively well for the playoffs. 

By all accounts, Embiid’s had a positive offseason. Sixers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey raved about the 2022-23 MVP in August after Brown’s introductory press conference. 

“I remember when I got the job, I went over there and he was like, ‘I want to have a great year. I want to play a lot of games. I want to be All-NBA Joel.’ He’s talked the talk and now he’s walking the walk,” Gansey said. “He’s lost some weight; you saw the pictures. He’s been in the gym.  He’s doing all the right things and he’s super motivated.”

Though the Sixers are now brimming with offensive talent, it’s hard to imagine Embiid becoming peripheral. He should often be valuable as a post-up force, mid-range shooter, and intelligent partner in a variety of two-man actions with his fellow stars. 

A return to his peak beyond the arc also wouldn’t hurt, especially since Embiid may turn to his three-point shot a bit more as he ages and his game becomes less about physical dominance. He shot a career-high 4.2 threes per game last season and hit 33.3 percent. Embiid’s best mark was 38.8 percent back in the 2023-24 season. 

Both logic and most of the popular numbers would suggest that Embiid’s best days are behind him as a defender and rebounder. (His estimated defensive plus-minus last year was plus-0.6and Victor Wembanyama topped the NBA at plus-4.4, as one example.) 

The Sixers shouldn’t require Embiid to play brilliant, nimble defense every game, but it would be a massive help if he could do solid work in the pick-and-roll, deter drives all the way to the rim, and grab a good chunk of rebounds in his area.

Across the board, head coach Nick Nurse will ask his stars to commit to all the ways they can contribute outside of scoring. 

Embiid will surely be happy with any brand of basketball that leads to the Sixers playing deep in the postseason. Perhaps this will be the year. 

It’s been discussed all offseason, but a transformative era for the Los Angeles Lakers finally starts this week with training camp.

Head coach JJ Redick and President of Basketball Operations Rob Pelinka brought in the Luka Dončić era with a joint press conference on Thursday and answered many of the questions we’ve grappled with all summer. This week, though, we get to hear from the players, ask them questions and see the effects of a transitional offseason bear out on the court.

With that in mind, questions remain before preseason play commences in Sacramento on Oct. 5. Let’s hash a few out.

Just how complementary is this roster to Luka?

Pelinka laid out his plan ahead of the offseason, keying in on three pillars of what success in building a team around Dončić looked like to him and Redick once it became evident that LeBron James was not returning, saying, “Re-signing Austin, putting together a trade to acquire Walker Kessler and then building out our team with young players that could dribble pass, shoot and have brought the average age of our roster to around 26 or 27, which lines up so perfectly with Luka and building a team around Luka Dončić.”

Archetypally, he did it. Pelinka ensured Dončić had a dynamic shot creator in Reaves and a defensive stalwart in Kessler alongside him and surrounded the three with athleticism, defense, (some) shooting and youth. But are they talented enough?

The 2023-24 Dallas Mavericks not only laid out the blueprint of a Luka-led Finals team, but they also formed a roster loaded with talent through to the bench. It was a process that hadn’t been idealized until they traded for Daniel Gafford ahead of the season’s trade deadline.

The Lakers still don’t have a fifth starter. Perhaps a similar midseason trade will jolt the team to the next level. But for now, we have to see if the pieces Dončić has around him are complementary enough to warrant that.

Is Redick’s shift to drop coverage exclusive to Kessler-featured lineups?

Los Angeles has been one of the league’smost switch-dependent teams through Redick’s tenure. In turn, the Lakers have sat around the bottom of the league in rim defense. Though up until now, given his personnel, Redick hasn’t had much of a choice.

Kessler changes that.

“I know that we have switched a lot, one through five, over the last two years,” Redick said. “That has been by necessity. We look at him as someone we want close to the basket, protecting the rim. … You guys watched the playoffs, you probably have a basic idea of how San Antonio used [Victor Wembanyama] and kept him low and kept him by the basket.”

Is this schematic shift exclusive to Kessler? Which other centers on the roster are capable of protecting the rim to his degree?

As it stands, Kevon Looney is slated to back up Kessler, but I’d expect Sandro Mamukelashvili to split time at the four and the five to limit the extent in which the Lakers have to rely on a degraded Looney down low.

Although the 6-foot-9 Mamukelashvili spent over 40% of last season guarding centers with Toronto, according to BBall Index, he was below average in rim protection (43rd percentile) and among the worst in the league in rim disruption (15th percentile) and rim deterrence (21st percentile).

A savvy way Redick could counteract this is by playing Mamukelashvili alongside Jarred Vanderbilt, who has shown a propensity to guard centers at an effective rate, but only if Redick trusts him enough to give him some burn.

Will the off-court chemistry translate on the court?

Dončić blessed fans with an inside look of the team’s five-day trip to Slovenia over the summer in a vlog posted to his YouTube channel — something Lakers fans haven’t really had since Javale McGee’s vlogs throughout the 2019-20 season and in the bubble (those were some good times).

My biggest takeaway from the video: the type of dynamic shown throughout the roster perhaps would not have been the same had there been a subset of players who were much older than the rest of the group. I mean, could you imagine Marcus Smart trying to engage in the type of Gen-Z banter being tossed around the entire trip? What are the odds LeBron ever had an inside joke with Adou Thiero or Dalton Knecht?

What the Slovenia trip really did was set the standard for the kind of connectivity the team will need moving forward. Anything less shines a bigger spotlight on the fact that, on paper, this Lakers roster isn’t as talented as the behemoths that run the West. That’s why chemistry is so important. And that’s why we all need to see if it’ll translate to a more connected team on the court.

Which role player is more inclined to pop?

Redick tossed out a few names that have stood out unprovoked during his presser, namely Ziaire Williams, Matisse Thybulle and Adou Thiero, each of whom is in contention for the fifth starting spot. He also mentioned in passing that everyone is competing for playing time in training camp.

The Lakers are a deeper team than they were entering the offseason. That Thiero and Cameron Carr have the same opportunity for real rotational minutes as the likes of Collin Sexton, Williams and Thybulle is a testament to that depth. But who has the best chance to pop?

Thiero and Carr come in the prospect of Los Angeles being a significantly better team if even one of them pops. Quentin Grimes, Mamukelasvili and (to an extent) Sexton come in with the comfort of substantial contracts. Williams, Thybulle and Kevon Looney come in trying to prove they’re worth more than a minimum deal. Jake LaRavia, Vanderbilt and Knecht come in with at least a season of experience in Redick’s system.

There are plenty of options, and the Lakers can benefit greatly from a few of their role players outperforming their projections.

How much does the ownership debacle trickle down?

In retrospect, it’s ironic that Pelinka and Redick preached continuity when the franchise is in the middle of one of the messiest sales in recent sports history. Pelinka, acknowledging multiple times that he’s not at liberty to discuss many aspects of the sale, did mention that there have been initial meetings with the group led by Bob Iger and Josh Kushner.

With all the dysfunction at the top of the brand, how does it not trickle down to the roster? Is it even as important to the actual play? We’ve already seen cases where the Buss family infighting found its way to LeBron in the middle of last season. Will it be any different with Jeanie Buss being dragged out as the last link to the family and the franchise?

Redick mentioned that some of the league’s most successful teams are the ones most connected. It’s not delusional as a fan to believe that also includes ownership.

A great deal of the Luka-era Lakers’ future rides both on the outcome of the pending sale and how functional the team can perform during and on the other side of it. Players can save face throughout training camp by saying the situation doesn’t affect them (which isn’t a difficult conclusion to come to). But the Lakers have historically been a franchise with steady ownership. It’s been a core foundation of the exceptionalism.

Soon there will be answers to all these questions. But in the meantime, it’s time to get the season officially started with Monday’s media day.

You can follow Connor on Twitter at @cmorenoNBA.

The Washington Wizards have signed four players to Exhibit 10 contracts, the team announced Sunday.

• Reece Beekman
• Trevor Keels
• Chris Livingston
• Steve Settle III

The Washington Wizards have signed G Reece Beekman, G Trevor Keels, F Chris Livingston, and F Steve Settle III to Exhibit 10 contracts.

In a related move, the team has waived F KeShawn Murphy.

— Wizards PR (@WizPRStats) September 27, 2026

The team also announced it waived KeShawn Murphy, who recently signed an Exhibit 10 deal. He’s a candidate to sign back with the Capital City Go-Go.

Beekman, 24, spent four seasons at Virginia before going undrafted in 2024. He spent his rookie season with the Golden State Warriors and later the Brooklyn Nets. The 6-foot-3 guard played last season with the Osceola Magic — the Orlando Magic’s G League affiliate. He averaged 8.8 points, 4.6 assists and 1.9 steals per game.

Beekman and Livingston excelled with Washington’s Summer League team in July. Beekman capped his showing with a 13-point, 15-assist performance against the Atlanta Hawks’ Summer League squad.

Keels, 23, will spend training camp with the Wizards and likely join the Capital City Go-Go following the preseason. It’s a homecoming for the Duke product, who is from Clinton, Maryland, and played high school basketball at Paul VI Catholic.

The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 15.6 PPG on 40.4% 3PT in the G League last year. His best showing was a 46-point outburst in which he made all 12 of his 3-point attempts with the Sioux Falls Skyforce — the Miami Heat’s G-League affiliate.

Settle played five collegiate seasons, his first three at Howard before transferring to Temple for the final two. He spent last season in the G League with the Skyforce, averaging 8.2 points across 14 games.

Teams can offer an ~$85k bonus to players who sign an Exhibit-10 contract and spend at least 60 days with their G League affiliate. It’s essentially an incentive for the players to sign with the Go-Go, which these players could likely do following training camp and preseason.

Training camp is nearly upon us. Now is the time for Mitch Johnson and the rest of the San Antonio Spurs coaching staff to see how roster plans will come to life. That means experimenting with lineups in practice and the preseason before the season starts on October 20th.

This season should be a lot of fun from a lineup-combination perspective. San Antonio has a lot of diverse talent, giving them versatility and depth they can lean on. The team will eventually settle into the rotation and lineup that will lead to the most success in a postseason run, but to start the season, there should be some tinkering here and there that will lead to some interesting 5-man groups.

Guessing what those lineups will be is easier for San Antonio than for many other teams. The Spurs have more roster continuity than most of the league. We should expect to see a lot of the same units as last year, but with Tobias Harris and Tarris Reed Jr. sprinkled in. It’s just enough of a change to look forward to the lineups that will define San Antonio’s 2026-27 season.

Starters and finishers?

De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Tobias Harris, Victor Wembanyama

I have banged the drum all offseason that Julian Champagnie should keep his starting spot heading into the regular season, despite the signing of Harris. However, the writing seems to be on the wall for Harris to take the four-man spot for San Antonio this season.

It makes sense; Harris is a veteran with a skill set the Spurs desperately needed last year. He’s a true forward with a big body who can defend decently well, hit threes (shot 36.8% from deep last year), and create his own shot when the offense stalls. He’s not quite the sharpshooter that Champagnie is, but makes up for it with those other skills

The rest of the group is exactly what you’d expect. This group (with Champagnie) had a +17.3 net rating last season and was San Antonio’s most effective lineup. A healthy and motivated De’Aaron Fox and a year-three leap from Stephon Castle could take this group to an even greater level.

We’ll see if this is indeed the closing group. If Champagnie is hot, it will be hard to keep him off the floor. If Dylan Harper takes another leap in year two, he will almost certainly need to be on the floor when the game is on the line.

Wemby-less group

Dylan Harper, Julian Champagnie, Keldon Johnson, Carter Bryant, Luke Kornet

Go figure: San Antonio was at its worst last season when Victor Wembanyama was on the bench. That was especially noticeable in the playoffs, where teams picked on Luke Kornet when Wembanyama went to the bench. That is now an established strategy this team will have to deal with. They can make Kornet’s life easier by improving the rest of the defense around him.

Harper and Bryant are two of the Spurs’ best perimeter defenders, and Champagnie has shown the ability to play in passing lanes and hold his own on defense. This bench lineup is much better defensively, which should help them maintain leads when the starters exit.

This group should have some offensive juice, too. Harper is one of the best sixth men in the NBA, Keldon Johnson is the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, Champagnie was a starter during the finals, and Bryant could make a leap.

Three-guard lineup

De’Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, Tobias Harris, Victor Wembanyama

This is the group the Spurs have to make work. Fox, Harper, and Castle are too good to not find a way to play them all together. Those three only played 25 minutes together in the regular season, with a net rating of -26.9. Not great. San Antonio just never found a way to make the offense click with the three of them together.

Finding a way to make this work had to have been one of the coaching staff’s top priorities this offseason. This unit probably needs two major things to work: continued improvement in shooting from Castle and Harper, and more time on the court together. Harper shot 47.9% from three after the All-Star break last season, while Castle hit 41.7% of his threes in the same time frame. If that improvement carries over into the regular season, this lineup could sing. More than anything, this group just needs time to play together and figure out how to coexist.

Harris is a great add for this group, too. He helps them maintain size on the interior while not sacrificing shooting and playmaking. With Wembanyama on the floor, the team can maintain defensive dominance while maximizing playmaking and perimeter speed. On paper, it’s a lineup that makes a lot of sense; it just needs time to become one of the team’s go-to groups.

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For the first time in his NBA career, Joel Embiid is far down in the pecking order in terms of interesting narratives for this Sixers franchise.

You have LeBron James taking a minimum deal to seek a ring in Philadelphia of all places, where we haven’t hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy since 1983. Jaylen Brown has arrived via trade from the Sixers’ arch-rival to go on a scorched-earth, “Analytics are whack” campaign for the next eight months or so. We could even turn next to Tyrese Maxey’s continued ascension up the All-NBA ladder or VJ Edgecombe building on a stellar rookie campaign before arriving at Embiid.

Yet while the Sixers are better equipped than ever to go forward without Joel on a given night in November or February, he remains the lynchpin in this franchise’s championship aspirations. When available last season, he still played at an All-Star level, with averages of 26.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.2 blocks. It’s maybe 75-80 percent of his past MVP-level production, but still something only a dozen or so players in the league can replicate. While Philadelphia has any number of ball handlers and guys to score the basketball, they don’t have anyone else capable of being a two-way presence on the interior. Adem Bona and Ariel Hukporti are not starters on a championship team, so Joel needs to be able to wade through two months of postseason action if this organization is going to reach its goal. The upside is the roster around him is better equipped than ever to get him to the postseason; the downside is everything else, which means at this point, we must bring up the criticisms from the haters…

They imagine he was a hurdle to overcome in LeBron coming to Philadelphia, but then James speaks glowingly about him. They fabricate some feud between him and Jaylen Brown because Joel isn’t all over social media welcoming Brown post-trade, but then it comes out that he was part of the group in constant communications with his new teammate. They bring up dietary stuff from ages ago, even though he’s in the best shape in years. They mention old maturity concerns that are basically a thing of the past now that Joel has found happiness in a family of his own and taken proactive steps to be in a better place mentally to sort through past traumas and setbacks. And yet, the “he’s never available” criticism does have some ring of truth to it, because…

It does feel like it’s always “something” with Joel. It doesn’t matter that he works his tail off to return and play with a facemask or a huge brace or whatever. Or that there are sometimes things entirely outside of his control, like his appendix bursting or coming down with a temporary neurological condition like Bell’s palsy. Any time there’s a prolonged period of things going well for Embiid, it seems like something is bound to pop up to ruin it. It’s frustrating. I guarantee he’s more frustrated about it than anyone. But to say you feel secure about his health or that you’re not worried about his body breaking down over the course of the season would be insane to me. Sometimes people’s bodies just do not cooperate and, unfortunately, we have years and years of evidence of that being the case for Joel.

So that’s where we are with Joel Embiid, a complicated situation as always. He’s somehow both far down on the list of importance for this Sixers roster, and maybe the most important. I would love, love, love for him to get his One Shining Moment, but like with his availability, I can’t say I’m counting on it. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

The Knicks filled out their training camp roster with familiar and expected names. 

Tyler Nickel, a second-round pick this year, and Kevin McCullar Jr., a second-round pick in 2024, were both officially signed Sunday to two-way contracts, the team announced. 

The moves pushed the Knicks to 20 bodies for training camp this week, one short of the maximum. 

Nickel, 23, who was drafted 47th overall in June, impressed in Summer League as a tall 3-point specialist at 6-foot-7.

The Vanderbilt product shot 41.3 percent on treys in five Summer League games in Vegas. 

Recent history suggests Nickel has a chance to make an impact. Three Knicks former second-round picks – Miles McBride, Tyler Kolek and Mohamed Diawara – are all on standard contracts this season. Nickel was also reportedly mulling a return to college to capitalize on an NIL payday. But, as The Post reported in August, he long ago decided to play this season with the Knicks. 

McCullar Jr., a 25-year-old guard, played the last two seasons with the Knicks, making a combined 25 appearances while averaging 2.2 points in 7.4 minutes on 40.7 percent shooting.

He had a breakthrough game in late December last season, helping the Knicks to victory in Atlanta with 13 points and eight boards. But McCullar Jr. failed to crack the rotation thereafter, and again couldn’t secure a standard contract. 

This will be the third season McCullar Jr. operates on a two-way contract, which allows a player to split time in the NBA and G League. With the signings of McCullar Jr. and Nickel, the Knicks have used two of their three two-way contracts. 

The Knicks will host Media Day on Monday, followed by the start of training camp in Tarrytown on Tuesday. Their preseason opener is Oct. 5 at Philadelphia.

WE ARE SO BACK! Almost, at least… The Utah Jazz will begin preparations for the highly anticipated 2026-27 season this week, starting Monday, September 28th, with media day. It feels like years ago that we sat in our living rooms together on Mother’s Day and watched as the Utah Jazz won the second overall pick in the NBA draft. Somehow it feels even longer ago that the Jazz used that second overall pick to select the highly touted guard from Kansas, Darryn Peterson. After watching Summer League and analyzing every workout video the Jazz and various player development coaches posted on socials, we finally reached the eve of the 2026-27 season, which is finally getting underway.

So now that we’re here, here are the most intriguing storylines to watch as training camp unfolds.

The Keyonte, Lauri, JJJ Connection

Keyonte George, Lauri Markkanen, and Jaren Jackson Jr. are the unquestioned three best players on this Jazz roster. All three are locked in with long-term contracts, and all three seem to have something to prove to the NBA ecosystem. Lauri has never made the playoffs and, in fact, is the most experienced active NBA player who has never done so. Jaren Jackson Jr. has had some amazing years in the league. He has accolades like All-Star appearances and a Defensive Player of the Year award. But after some rough years in Memphis, riddled with injury, team-wide underperformance, and well… The Ja Morant stuff… JJJ is looking to bounce back in a big way and remind the league who he is. The Utah Jazz front office just rewarded Keyonte George with a brand-new 5-year contract for his hard work and production. His year on a tanking team was impressive, no doubt, but he is out to prove he can bring that same production to a team looking to make real noise in a crowded Western Conference. The one thing that you can count on this season is that these three guys will be in the starting lineup on opening night. As exciting as Darryn Peterson and Ace Bailey are, these three need to rise to the top and be the all-star-caliber players they are if this team wants to compete for the playoffs this year. They haven’t played much together at all, but their chemistry and connection will be vital, ESPECIALLY early this year, as the pieces fall into place around them.

Who Fills Out the Rotation?

The Jazz have around 7-8 pretty surefire rotational players, depending on who you ask. One of the bigger storylines to watch as preseason and training camp progress is which players rise above the rest to solidify regular minutes once the regular season starts. Names to watch for those final few rotation spots include Brice Sensabaugh, Svi Mykhailiuk, Josh Green, and Josh Okogie. That doesn’t even include other guys like Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski. Those minutes will likely come down to who can play defense, since the Jazz already have plenty of shots, but if a guy like Brice Sensabaugh improves his defense by any meaningful amount, he will be hard to keep off the floor given his nuclear shooting.

The Ceiling Raisers

It is no secret who the most important players are on the Utah Jazz. If the Jazz want to get to where they have their sights set, Darryn Peterson and Ace Bailey need to be NBA stars. The only short-term issue is that Darryn is 19 years old, and Ace just turned 20 in August. Their talent is undeniable, but they’re very young, and players that young rarely help you win much. That being said, there are always outliers. We all saw Donovan Mitchell take the NBA world by storm in his rookie year, ultimately leading the Jazz to a playoff series win. I am personally endlessly intrigued and excited to watch both Darryn and Ace learn and grow under Will Hardy. Darryn is one of the best guard prospects that we have seen in the last 10 years. Ace is an absolute monster who can get a bucket from anywhere on the floor. What if those two just pop? What if training camp starts and they look like budding superstars ready to be unleashed? I am not saying that it is likely or that you should even count on it, but I will be watching very carefully how those two look together because if they look ready? The league better watch out…

Looking to shore up their roster ahead of Monday’s training camp, the Knicks have signed rookie Tyler Nickel and returning forward Kevin McCullar Jr. to two-way contracts. 

Nickel landed with the Knicks as the 47th overall pick in this year’s draft, and he was one of their biggest standouts during Summer League play.

The sharpshooting forward averaged 12.2 points over the five exhibition games, including a stellar showing in which he knocked down six threes off the bench against the Nets. 

That continued the success Nickel enjoyed throughout his collegiate career, including a stellar senior season in which he knocked down 110 three-pointers, good enough for second in the SEC. 

Nickel had reportedly been weighing whether he'd want to attempt a return to school, but he opted to begin his professional career with the Knicks instead. 

McCullar has spent the past two seasons with New York on two-way deals. 

He first landed with the club as the 56th pick in the 2024 Draft, and slowly but surely began working his way into the bottom of the rotation. 

The 6-foot-6 wing showed positives in spurts last season but only appeared in 21 games at the NBA-level, averaging just 2.4 points across 7.4 minutes per game. 

McCullar also produced 16.8 points, 6.2 assists, and 5.4 rebounds over 14 G League games. 

The Knicks have been carrying three open two-way slots all offseason, so after inking these two deals they have one more remaining on the eve of training camp.

Entering Sunday morning, the Knicks were the only team in basketball that had not filled one of their three two-way spots. Hell, they were the only team to have more than one open two-way spot, having all three of them open.

There’s no method or reason why it took this long, but the Knicks finally did it. They’ve filled two of their two-way spots by signing Tyler Nickel and Kevin McCullar Jr. on Sunday morning.

.@nyknicks Sign Kevin McCullar Jr. to a Two-Way Contract pic.twitter.com/8uOl28Sm6q

— NY Knicks PR (@NY_KnicksPR) September 27, 2026

.@nyknicks Sign Tyler Nickel to a Two-Way Contract pic.twitter.com/gDbxe6rzpM

— NY Knicks PR (@NY_KnicksPR) September 27, 2026

Nickel, selected No. 47 overall in this June’s draft, has been in a weird limbo all summer where nobody really knew what was going on.

Drafted out of Vanderbilt after previous stops at UNC and Virginia Tech, Nickel is a 6’8” three-point specialist who was one of college basketball’s best shooters in each of the last two seasons, shooting an even 40% on nearly seven attempts per game in his two years as a starter at Vandy. He showed that much with his electric play in Summer League.

It has been a question of what his role would be as a rookie. The Knicks’ second apron aversion made it impossible to realistically sign him to a standard contract, so it’s been assumed for several months that he would eventually ink a two-way contract, but that wasn’t always set in stone. The brief 5-in-5 injunction would’ve given Nickel a chance to return to college and cash in on bigger NIL checks, but that window closed after a few weeks due to the NCAA’s appeal.

With Nickel on a two-way, expect him to spend a lot of the year in Westchester, but also get a chance to show he can hoop at this level during the dog days of January and February, when the defending champs will be shorthanded for games and stretches.

While Nickel is an unknown in a Knicks uniform so far, we’ve seen McCullar plenty over the last two years.

The former No. 55 overall pick in 2024 out of Kansas, McCullar will be spending his third consecutive season on a two-way contract with the Knicks, hoping to show enough to earn a full-time roster spot by 2027-28.

Recurring knee injuries limited McCullar to four games as a rookie and just a few G League appearances, but he was healthy and effective when called upon in his second season, playing 21 games and putting together some strong individual performances, namely a 13-point masterpiece on December 27 in Atlanta.

He’s another guy who will get his ring in person on October 20, so that’s cool. He fits in a similar role to Nickel as a deep reserve wing who will compete with Pacome Dadiet to be the next man up if one of the key wings (starters + Mo Diawara) misses time.

This officially fills up the 21-man training camp roster, as big man N’Faly Dante (who’s recovering from an ACL tear) was signed to an Exhibit 10. Here’s the group:

Standard contracts (13):

Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, Deuce McBride, Jose Alvarado, Landry Shamet, Andre Drummond, Jordan Clarkson, Tyler Kolek, Pacome Dadiet, Mo Diawara

Exhibit 9/10 deals (6):

Drew Eubanks, John Konchar, Bruce Brown, Ochai Agbaji, James Wiseman, N’Faly Dante

Two-ways (2):

Tyler Nickel, Kevin McCullar Jr.

The Knicks will only be able to have 14 standard contracts if they want to stay below the second apron, barring a trade. They will also fill the two-way spot at some point.

Now that Kawhi Leonard is officially a Toronto Raptor, it’s time to safely look ahead to the 2026-27 season.

While the seven-time All-Star is entering his 15th season at 35-years-old, there’s reason to believe that Leonard could produce his greatest year as a professional. Here are three predictions that suggest the best is yet to come for the superstar. 

Leonard plays 60+ games for a second straight year

These days, it’s tough for a basketball fan to scroll through media without their algorithm pushing Leonard. Notoriously known for being the NBA’s resident hermit, Leonard is suddenly the most visible and talkative he has ever been. It’s easy to guess that part of the reason for this could be PR-driven. It’s unlikely that Leonard woke up one day and decided to be a social butterfly. There’s seemingly an intentional effort to both do and be more from a brand perspective. 

It’s not the boldest of predictions to assume that mindset carries over to the hardwood. 

Leonard hasn’t played in 60+ games in back-to-back seasons since 2015-17. Those were his first two All-Star seasons, declaring his official arrival as a dominant presence in the league. Last season, Leonard logged 65 games, the most since he played 68 (2023-24) and the third most of his career since 2016-17. 

With the intention of repairing his image across the league and with audiences, expect Leonard to crack the 60-game mark again.

Leonard averages two steals a game

As brilliant as Leonard is defensively, he has finished a season with at least two steals a game only twice in his storied career. The last time he accomplished this feat was in 2018-19. While defence is more nuanced than raw steal numbers, the stat is often an indicator of how much ball-handlers respect a particular defender. 

In his final season with the Los Angeles Clippers, Leonard finished just shy of the two-steal mark with 1.9 per game. At his advanced age, Leonard doesn’t typically prefer to guard the opposing player with the biggest threat level, at least for a majority of the game. However, this was also often the case during his short tenure with the Raptors. It wasn’t until Toronto was backed into a corner against the Milwaukee Bucks, that Leonard decided to take on more on-ball reps, and even then, Nick Nurse schemed up the “Giannis-wall”. 

In his second stint with the Raptors, expect Leonard to take a bit more of the on-ball responsibility as teams frantically try to switch off Scottie Barnes and Collin Murray-Boyles. But where Leonard will see the biggest increase in steals is as an off-ball hawk. Head Coach Darko Rajakovic is the perfect motivator to passionately empower The Klaw to shut down passing lanes like he used to in his 20s. Toronto finished fourth in deflections last season with 20.4 per game. 

Leonard averages 25+ points and 5+ assists

This would be uncharted territory for Leonard, who has never averaged at least 25 points and 5 assists in a single season. He has come close twice.

• 2019-20: 27.1 points, 4.9 assists
• 2020-21: 24.8 points, 5.2 assists 

Both campaigns occurred just before he missed the entirety of the 2021-22 season due to an ACL injury. The Raptors finished third in assists last year with 29.5 per game, despite making several attempts to accommodate Brandon Ingram’s style of play. While Leonard may not flirt with being a top five scorer, he should barely get past the 25-point mark while seeing a bump in his assist numbers.