New Lakers center Walker Kessler, left, proposed to 2025 Miss America Abbie Stockard on July 4. (Getty Images)
Once again, Walker Kessler sat hunched forward, ears and eyes intently locked onto the person whose words would change his life.
This wasn’t his bewildering 2022 NBA draft day experience captured on video that began with him hearing commissioner Adam Silver announce he had been chosen by the Memphis Grizzlies only to learn moments later that he had been traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves, only to learn two weeks after that he’d been dealt to the Utah Jazz.
No, this time it was about the love of his life, Abbie Stockard. Glued to a screen, Kessler reacted to the words, “Your new Miss America is ... Alabama!” as if he’d been electrocuted. He jumped from his chair and put his hands over his mouth, speechless as Stockard was crowned.
Nineteen months later, Kessler — now the Lakers center — found his voice while on a Fourth of July outing at Lake Martin, Ala., and asked Stockard to marry him. She said yes.
The Lakers obtained the 7-foot-2 Kessler from the Jazz on July 1 in exchange for 2031 and 2033 first-round picks and 2028 and 2030 pick swaps, bringing to L.A. a strong defensive presence to accompany offensive-first star guards Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
Kessler, 24, agreed to a four-year, $130 million contract, not a bad nest egg for newlyweds. The Instagram story of the two sharing their engagement was captioned: “The future Kessler’s. Let’s get y’all married!!!”
Kessler’s mother, Andrea, played matchmaker two years ago, taking a photo of Stockard during an Auburn basketball game and sending it to her son. He messaged her on Instagram.
Stockard was on the dance team at Auburn, where she studied pediatric nursing. Now she is a former Miss America engaged to the Lakers’ newest star.
“I get to marry Walker Kessler — my best friend!,” she wrote on social media. “Our story is truly one that only the Lord could have written. So many things I once thought were coincidences were really His perfect plan unfolding, and our story is greater than anything I could have imagined.
“There’s no one else I’d rather spend the rest of my life with, doing life together and cheering each other on!”
In 201 games with the Jazz, Kessler averaged 9.5 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.4 blocks across 25.3 minutes. He played only five games last season while recovering from a shoulder injury.
From the moment LeBron James confirmed he would not be returning to the Los Angeles Lakers, the entire NBA ecosystem lost its collective mind.
This is what happens when the league’s all-time leading scorer, even at this stage of his career, suddenly becomes available. It doesn’t matter that he is no longer 28-year-old LeBron. It doesn’t matter that he is not going to spend 82 games dragging a flawed roster uphill with one hand while solving everyone’s spacing problems with the other. It doesn’t even matter that the league has changed around him or that the next generation has already started taking over the room. LeBron is still LeBron, which means the second he hit the open market, every contender, near-contender, dreamer, faker, and front office with a pulse started asking the same question.
Could we talk ourselves into this?
LeBron leaving Los Angeles did not exactly come out of nowhere. The writing was on the wall the moment Rob Pelinka completed the Luka Doncic trade in 2025. That move effectively marked the beginning of the next Lakers era, and no matter how much everyone tried to dress it up with polite quotes and organizational fluff, the truth was obvious. Once Luka arrived, the Lakers stopped being LeBron’s team. Austin Reaves inking a massive $185 million deal only reinforced the point. The franchise had picked its future. LeBron was still great, still marketable, still one of the smartest basketball players who has ever lived, but he was no longer the center of gravity in Los Angeles.
For most of the season, the conventional wisdom was that if LeBron left the Lakers, two destinations made the most sense. Golden State had the bromance angle: LeBron and Steph Curry, the two defining players of the 2010s, finally joining forces for one last ride in California. It would have been shamelessly sentimental and probably irresistible from a ratings standpoint, the NBA equivalent of getting Pacino and De Niro back together. The other obvious option was Cleveland, the full-circle ending, the place where it began and the place where LeBron could close the book in front of the fans who have lived every chapter of his career more intensely than anyone else.
But the NBA moves fast, and this offseason turned into a blender. Giannis Antetokounmpo landing in Miami suddenly made South Beach more than just a nostalgia trip. Boston’s head-scratching decision to ship Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia transformed the Sixers into a fascinating, dangerous, high-volatility contender. The landscape shifted so dramatically that what once looked like a simple retirement-tour decision became a full-blown feeding frenzy. Suddenly this was no longer just about where LeBron wanted to say goodbye. This became about which team could convince him that he still had one more meaningful title chase left.
Then Rich Paul grabbed a whiteboard.
On his Game Over podcast with Max Kellerman, Paul sent the speculation machine into hyperdrive by openly breaking down potential LeBron destinations, and while there were plenty of names scattered across the board, five teams found themselves in the center of the conversation: Cleveland, Miami, Denver, Philadelphia… and Minnesota.
Yes, Minnesota.
Cleveland has to be treated seriously because it is Cleveland. We do not need to rehash the entire quarter-century relationship between LeBron and the Cavaliers. Everyone knows the story. The hometown kid. The impossible expectations. The departure. The return. The 2016 title. The block. The parade. If LeBron wants the cleanest storybook ending, Cleveland is sitting there with the lights already dimmed and the montage music cued up. But before anyone files the Cavaliers away as the inevitable choice, it is worth paying close attention to what Paul said about the Knicks. He suggested that if New York had not just won the NBA title, LeBron becoming a Knick would have been a lock.
That is revealing. If the emotional pull of Cleveland were truly the priority, the Knicks would not have been framed that way. If this were only about sentimentality, the Cavaliers would already have the contract inked. Instead, Paul’s comments make it clear that LeBron is still thinking about basketball stakes, competitive opportunity, and legacy architecture. Cleveland can offer a beautiful ending, but the roster fit is not nearly as clean. The Cavaliers are talented, but they needed seven games to survive Toronto, a team that has only become more dangerous after adding Kawhi Leonard. Then Cleveland got absolutely trounced by the Knicks. Adding LeBron would make them better, obviously, but would it really put them over New York, Philadelphia, Miami, Detroit, Boston, Toronto, and whoever comes out of the West? That is much less clear.
Miami has the glamour and the history, and the Giannis acquisition certainly changes the equation. LeBron returning to South Beach with Giannis already in place would be a headline factory. But the Heat gutted so much of the roster to land Antetokounmpo that the depth question becomes impossible to ignore. In today’s NBA, depth is not a luxury. It is oxygen. You cannot survive four rounds with two stars and a rotating cast of guys you hope can hit corner threes every other night. The Knicks are still the Knicks. Philadelphia is suddenly loaded. Detroit remains formidable. Toronto got better. Boston, even weakened, is not disappearing. Miami with Giannis and LeBron would be fascinating, but it is not hard to imagine that roster running out of bodies before it ever gets close to the finish line.
Denver is the basketball nerd answer if you want to create the highest-IQ frontcourt pairing in league history. LeBron next to Nikola Jokic would be absurd from a passing and processing standpoint. Every possession would feel like two grandmasters playing chess while everyone else is still trying to remember how the horsey moves. But the fit has one glaring problem: Denver’s biggest weakness is defense, and defense is no longer LeBron’s calling card at this stage of his career. The Nuggets would score, but could they stop anyone? This is still the same Denver team that was embarrassingly bounced in the first round by a battered Minnesota squad missing Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo. In a West that still includes San Antonio and Oklahoma City, it is hard to view Denver as the best path to another title, even with LeBron.
That leaves the two teams that make the most basketball sense if LeBron wants to compete without simply jumping onto the easiest possible bandwagon. The first is Philadelphia. The Sixers became instantly more dangerous by adding Jaylen Brown, and a lineup featuring Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Brown, LeBron, and Joel Embiid looks terrifying on a graphic. The East is also the easier road, which matters when you are trying to reach the Finals for an 11th time and your odometer has more miles on it than any player in history. But every Philadelphia argument eventually reaches the same uncomfortable checkpoint: Joel Embiid’s health. Do you really want to pin the final chapter of LeBron’s career on Embiid being upright, mobile, and available for two straight months of playoff basketball? That is a massive gamble. Without Embiid anchoring the middle, that roster becomes much easier to question against New York, let alone against Wembanyama or an Oklahoma City front line featuring Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein. And Philadelphia fans, passionate as they are, can turn on a bad situation faster than almost any fan base in sports. We saw how quickly the mood shifted from the joy of beating Boston to the wreckage of getting demolished by New York. That is not exactly a soft landing for the grand finale.
Which brings us to the Timberwolves.
The basketball fit is almost too obvious, which is probably why people are having such a hard time taking it seriously. We are conditioned not to put LeBron James and Minnesota in the same sentence unless the sentence is, “LeBron James is not going to Minnesota.” The franchise does not have the cachet of the Lakers, Celtics, Knicks, Bulls, or Heat. It does not have the warm-weather advantage. It does not have the glamour. It does not have the institutional championship pedigree of San Antonio. The Wolves are an expansion franchise that spent most of its existence wandering through the NBA’s basement with a flashlight and a half-eaten granola bar.
But if you strip away the brand name and actually look at the basketball, the Wolves are tailor-made for LeBron.
They have Anthony Edwards, a top-five player with everything you could want from a modern superstar other than the fully hardened championship killer instinct that comes only from time, scars, and being around people who know exactly what that climb requires. LeBron could help teach him that. The two became fast friends during the 2024 Paris Olympics, and if LeBron wants a young running mate who can keep the basketball world engaged and give the documentary crew more material than they know what to do with, it does not get much better than Ant. Edwards is charismatic, fearless, hilarious, explosive, and still young enough to absorb lessons from someone who has lived every possible version of NBA pressure.
They have LaMelo Ball, newly acquired and wildly talented, a gifted passer who spent years in a losing environment in Charlotte and could benefit enormously from LeBron’s knowledge. LaMelo’s creativity is undeniable, but he has never been in a situation where winning was the daily expectation. LeBron could help shepherd him into that world. He could show him what matters, what does not, when to take risks, when to control the game, and how to translate flash into winning. That kind of mentorship is not some throwaway subplot. It could be franchise-altering.
They have Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert, which matters because LeBron’s defense has slipped with age and Minnesota is better equipped than almost anyone to cover that up. McDaniels can take the toughest perimeter assignment. Gobert can clean up the paint. The Wolves would not need LeBron to be 2013 LeBron defensively. They would need him to be smart, positioned correctly, engaged when it matters, and surrounded by elite defensive infrastructure. That is a much more realistic ask.
A starting five of LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, LeBron James, and Rudy Gobert would be the best starting five in the league. It has creation, size, defense, playmaking, athleticism, experience, and multiple ways to win. LeBron would not be asked to carry the offense every night. He would not be asked to save the franchise by himself. Edwards would remain the alpha dog. Ball would handle a major share of the playmaking. McDaniels and Gobert would provide the defensive backbone. LeBron would be the championship brain, the stabilizer, the veteran leader, the guy who walks into the huddle during a 12-2 run and stops everyone from lighting themselves on fire.
That is exactly what Minnesota has been missing.
And the beauty of this scenario is that it would not be ring chasing in the cheap sense. Joining Oklahoma City, New York, or San Antonio would feel like attaching himself to a finished product. Joining Minnesota would be different. The Wolves are talented enough to win, but they have not won. They have come close, they have made deep runs, and they have repeatedly been just flawed enough to fall short. LeBron would not be coasting into a dynasty. He would be trying to finish the job for a franchise that has never finished it before.
The situation would be akin to Tom Brady going to Tampa Bay. At the time, it felt strange. The greatest quarterback ever leaving the most finely tuned NFL machine of the century to join the Buccaneers, a historically strange franchise wearing digital-clock-number uniforms, seemed off. But Brady looked at the football situation and saw what everyone else took too long to appreciate. Tampa Bay had the receivers, the defense, the coach, and the infrastructure. It simply needed the right quarterback to turn a talented roster into a champion. Brady took the risk, went to a franchise without the same pedigree, and immediately changed its history.
Minnesota’s situation is not identical, but the parallel is sitting right there. The Wolves have the talent. They have the superstar. They have the defense. They have the playmaker. They have the front office. They have an ownership group that includes Alex Rodriguez, a fellow athlete-turned-billionaire who gives LeBron at least one familiar type of power-broker in the room. They have a title-hungry market in the Twin Cities, a place carrying the longest championship drought in North American sports among cities with four major men’s teams. What they do not have is pedigree. What they do not have is the final piece of belief, poise, and championship authority.
LeBron could be that.
Would he actually choose Minnesota? Probably not. Even writing it still feels strange. There are decades of NBA logic telling us that players like LeBron do not pick franchises like the Timberwolves unless something has gone wrong in the simulation. But if LeBron truly means what he says, if the contract is secondary, if weather and market size are secondary, if this is really about basketball fit, meaningful competition, and one last chance to chase a championship the right way, then there is not a better option on the board.
Not Cleveland, if sentimentality is not the top priority.
Not Miami, if depth matters.
Not Denver, if defense matters.
Not Philadelphia, if Embiid’s health is the deciding variable.
Minnesota has the cleanest fit, the clearest role, the highest upside without pure coattail riding, and the most legacy-enhancing challenge available.
You can write on the whiteboard all day. You can circle teams, draw arrows, make columns, debate history, market size, weather, branding, and legacy. But if LeBron James is asking the right basketball questions, the math is pretty clear.
The answer is the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Now we wait to see whether common sense actually wins.
However, any teams involved in the highly-touted sweepstakes for James have reportedly been kept “in the dark” and haven’t heard from the superstar or his camp, according to ESPN insider Brian Windhorst.
James’ free agency has dominated the news of the offseason ever since he informed the Lakers he would be leaving the franchise after eight seasons, the longest consecutive tenure of his NBA career.
LeBron James is testing the free agent market this summer and his decision will have league-altering implications. Corey Sipkin for NY Post
Rich Paul, his agent, revealed James is open to joining a contender on the league minimum salary as he searches for happiness in the twilight of his career.
James’ next destination could be the place where he retires — making the free agency decision all the more crucial.
There are reportedly six teams around the league that believe they are in the running to land James, but based on the latest report, there hasn’t been any communication with any finalists.
As six teams are preparing to make final pitches to LeBron James, it appears James has gone silent on the matter. Getty Images
The Philadelphia Sixers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves appear to be the superstar’s suitors.
The free agency process for James has been a mysterious and thrilling one. Last week, Paul discussed the contenders in the James sweepstakes on his podcast “Game Over” with Max Kellerman, which included a total of 10 teams written on a whiteboard.
Rui Hachimura, one of the top free agents still available, was hoping for a raise from the $18.3 million he made last season, coming off an impressive playoff run with the Lakers (17.5 points per game, shooting 56.9% from 3). That market was not out there, and with the Lakers’ rash of moves this offseason, he was the man standing without a chair when the music stopped.
So he is jumping across town. Hachimura has agreed to a two-year, $28 million deal with the LA Clippers, a move broken by Shams Charania of ESPN. The Clippers have a team option on the second year, reports Law Murray of The Athletic. The Clippers and Hachimura's agent (Darren Matsubara of THE•TEAM) reached a deal early in free agency and had hoped to work out a sign-and-trade with the Lakers, but no deal could be agreed to, Charania added.
Hachimura is a solid pickup for the Clippers, adding a 6'8" forward who scored 11.5 points a game and shot 44.7% from 3-point range last season and has shown the last couple of years that he can step up in the playoffs.
With Kawhi Leonard headed to Toronto, Hachimura could start next to Brandon Ingram as the forwards, with Darius Garland and No. 5 pick Keaton Wagler as the guards.
The Clippers can make this signing with the non-taxpayer midlevel exception, which will hard-cap them at the first apron of the luxury tax, or they can just use cap space. Either way, it likely limits what the Clippers could offer to someone like Peyton Watson, if they wanted to go after the Nuggets' restricted free agent.
Lakers starting forward Rui Hachimura has signed a 2-year, $28M deal with the LA Clippers.
The Lakers are losing one of their main forwards to their crosstown rival.
Rui Hachimura will sign with the Clippers in free agency, adding to the long list of players who have departed the Lakers as part of their roster reconstruction.
Hachimura agreed to a two-year, $28 million deal with the Clippers, ESPN first reported.
Lakers starting forward Rui Hachimura has signed a 2-year, $28M deal with the LA Clippers. Getty Images
There’s a team option for the second year.
The report added that Hachimira and camp came to an understanding with the Clippers early in free agency and waited for the Lakers’ offseason moves to take place before pursuing a sign-and-trade, but that didn’t come to fruition, with Hachimura agreeing to a deal without the Lakers’ involvement.
Hachimura addressed his departure from the Lakers on social media.
“Thank you Lakers Nation for the past three years,” he said. “We had some great moments and I will always remember the memories we made together.”
Hachimura is expected to fill the starting power forward spot for the Clippers after they traded Kawhi Leonard to Toronto. Getty Images
The Lakers relinquished Hachimura’s cap hold and the free agency rights that would’ve allowed them to go over the salary cap to resign him to make their additions.
Hachimura’s return to the Lakers after 3 ½ seasons with the franchise was viewed as “unlikely,” a source told The California Post over the weekend, though it wasn’t clear where he would play next.
But the 6-foot-8 forward will get to stay in his preferred destination of LA with the move to the Clippers.
Hachimura was a key part of Los Angeles’ success in the postseason when they upset the Rockets in 6 games. Anadolu via Getty Images
Hachimura averaged 12.3 points (51.6% shooting) and 4.3 rebounds in his 228 regular season games (146 starts) with the Lakers after they acquired him from the Wizards in February 2023 for Kendrick Nunn and three second-round picks.
The Lakers re-signed Hachimura to a three-year, $51 million deal when he was a free agent during the 2023 offseason.
He significantly improved his 3-point shooting after coming to L.A., making 41.5% of his 3s during his Lakers tenure after shooting 35.6% on 3s with the Wizards.
Hachimura, who was the No. 9 pick in the 2019 draft, shot 44.3% on 3s during 2025–26, which was the league’s fifth-best mark.
He consistently stepped up during the postseason, averaging 13.4 points on 52.6% shooting (50.7% on 3s) in 36 playoff games with the Lakers.
Hachimura averaged a career-high 17.5 points (54.9% shooting, 56.9% on 3s) and four rebounds in the Lakers’ 10 playoff games this past spring.
With Hachimura’s departure, the Lakers will lose every starter who helped them take a 3–0 lead in their first round playoff series against the Rockets: James, Ayton, Smart, Kennard and Hachimura.
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MAY 09: Rui Hachimura #28 of the Los Angeles Lakers drives to the basket against Luguentz Dort #5 and Chet Holmgren #7 of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the first quarter in Game Three of the Second Round of the NBA Western Conference Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena on May 09, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. 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 Harry How/Getty Images) | Getty Images
While the Lakers are trying to build their roster into a championship contender, they’ve just lost a big piece of their team via free agency.
Rui Hachimura has reportedly agreed to sign with the Clippers on a two-year, $28 million deal, as first reported by Shams Charania of ESPN.
Just in: Free agent Rui Hachimura has agreed to a two-year, $28 million deal to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/Cixx1ZGPV3
According to Charania, the Clippers and Hachimura agreed on a deal fairly early in free agency and waited to see if the Lakers were open to a sign-and-trade. However, the purple and gold were unwilling to work out a trade, likely due to the cap gymnastics they were already doing.
Realistically, a sign-and-trade would have never happened after the Lakers made their signings, so this feels like some agent posturing.
Hachimira and his agent Darren Matsubara of THE•TEAM came to an understanding with the Clippers early in free agency on finding a deal together. The sides waited for the Lakers to complete their offseason business to pursue a sign-and-trade, but the Lakers didn’t cooperate on an… https://t.co/3v2hzswKm6
Rui shared a message to Lakers fans on his Instagram following the report from Shams.
Rui Hachimura on Instagram: "Thank you Lakers Nation for the past three years. We had some great moments and I will always remember the memories we made together." pic.twitter.com/AfVLbIEAGs
Multiple reports in the aftermath of the signing indicated that Rui wanted to remain in Los Angeles but the Lakers did not prioritize him similarly, so he chose to sign with the Clippers over other teams.
Source says Rui, who wanted to stay in LA, prioritized Clippers over interest from Brooklyn, San Antonio, Golden State, Minnesota, and Portland. https://t.co/ydWzicpRy1
The Mavericks, who still possess the full $15 million midlevel, emerged as a suitor for Rui Hachimura along with the Clippers on top of Brooklyn's long-held interest … but Hachimura had a clear intention to stay in LA after 3 1/2 seasons as a Laker. https://t.co/PqxJ18SDF0
This past season, Hachimura carved out a solid role for himself as an elite shooter coming off the bench for head coach JJ Redick. He averaged 11.3 points and shot 44.3% from 3-point range in the 68 regular-season games he participated in.
In his 10 postseason games, all of his numbers improved as he averaged 17.5 points and shot a whopping 56.9% from 3-point range. Hachimura also averaged 4.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.
His best game of the playoffs was arguably his Game 6 performance against the Rockets. He scored 21 points and went 5-7 from deep, helping LA eliminate Houston.
While he was a player whose flaws were oft-discussed, he was also someone who developed into a valuable role player during his time with the Lakers. Between that and becoming a fan favorite off the court, it’ll be tough to see him don a Clippers jersey next season.
Philadelphia stunned the NBA by trading Paul George for Jaylen Brown last week. Here's why Mike Gansey's blockbuster deal could reshape the franchise's championship window.
Full stop, I was not excited about this upcoming Philadelphia 76ers season. Not even a little bit.
The Sixers had just been swept out of the playoffs by the Knicks in the second round -- a team that went on to win the whole thing -- and the offseason was shaping up to be exactly the kind of quiet, underwhelming stretch that Philadelphia fans have become all too familiar with. Kelly Oubre and Quentin Grimes walked. Dean Wade got signed, which is fine -- Wade is a perfectly solid rotation player -- but he is not the kind of move that makes you look up from your phone. And then there's the whole Paul George situation, which was still hanging over everything like a storm cloud that refused to move.
It was looking, frankly, like another season of managed expectations and carefully worded press releases about culture and development. Then, new president of basketball operations, Mike Gansey picked up the phone. And everything changed.
The trade is stunning by any measure. The 76ers are sending George, two first-round picks in 2028 and 2031, and two second-rounders to Boston in exchange for Jaylen Brown, the 2024 Finals MVP, a five-time All-Star, and one of the most productive players in the Eastern Conference over the last decade. Philadelphia doesn't just shed the most albatross of a contract in the league in one clean motion. They replace it with one of the best wings in the game, coming off the best season of his career.
That's not a good trade. That's a franchise-altering trade, and it was made by a first-time front office decision-maker in his first major move on the job. Gansey, the former college basketball grinder who worked his way up through Cleveland's scouting department, just did something in his first week that Daryl Morey -- one of the most celebrated executives in the history of the sport -- never managed to do in his entire tenure in Philadelphia: He fixed the PG problem.
Let's talk about what getting out of that contract actually means, because it's hard to overstate. George was owed $54.1 million this season and had a $56.6 million player option for 2027-28, a total of over $110 million for a 36-year-old who averaged 17.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in his second season with the Sixers and spent a quarter of the year serving a suspension. In any other trade scenario, the 76ers would have had to attach significant draft capital just to get another team to take that deal off their hands. Instead, they got Brown for it. As one league executive put it this week, you could make the case that Philadelphia essentially got Jaylen Brown for free. That is not hyperbole; that is just the math.
Now consider what Brad Stevens had to do on the other side of this trade. Stevens has been one of the most respected executives in the NBA since transitioning from coaching, coming off winning Executive of the Year last season. He built one of the most consistently excellent teams of the last decade. He is calm, methodical, and almost never reactive. And yet here he is, trading his cornerstone wing -- who, by the way, never asked to leave -- in the immediate aftermath of getting eliminated by the 76ers in the first round, after failing to land Giannis in what would have been an earth-shattering blockbuster.
This is Stevens panicking. It might be the first time anyone has ever been able to say that sentence with a straight face. The Celtics missed on Giannis, turned around, and traded Brown to a division rival. Jaylen Brown called himself "excited and disappointed" in the same statement. That tells you everything about how this went down in Boston.
Which brings us to the motivation angle, and this is the part that should genuinely scare the rest of the Eastern Conference. Brown doesn't just arrive in Philadelphia as a consolation prize. He arrives as a player who finished sixth in MVP voting last season, who has played in more wins than any player in the league over the last 10 years, and whom his own organization tried to trade numerous times over the years, and when that didn't work, shipped him out of town anyway without a phone call. That's fuel. That is the specific kind of disrespect that turns good players into great ones and great players into something else entirely. If Jaylen Brown comes to Philadelphia with a chip on his shoulder the size of the Liberty Bell, the 76ers are the direct beneficiary of every slight Boston just handed him.
And the roster he's walking into is genuinely frightening. Tyrese Maxey was the league's fifth-leading scorer last season. Joel Embiid is a two-time scoring champion when healthy. VJ Edgecombe is a walking playoff moment — the kid hit big shot after big shot in his first postseason and didn't blink, just winked -- and is only getting better. Now add Brown, and that's four legitimate options on any given night, four players who can take over a game in different ways, and a coaching staff in Nick Nurse that knows exactly what to do with that kind of versatility.
The contract continuity is also worth noting. Brown is owed $57 million this season, $61 million next, and $64.9 million in 2028-29. Maxey's extension kicks in. Embiid is locked up. Edgecombe is on his rookie deal through this window, which means the Sixers have two clean seasons to compete before they have to address what paying Edgecombe looks like when his extension comes due. The window is real, the runway is defined, and for the first time in what feels like years, the variables are actually manageable.
Maddie Meyer / Getty Images
None of this is guaranteed, of course. We're talking about the 76ers, after all -- the franchise where the improbable somehow becomes routine. This is the team that watched rookie Zhaire Smith nearly lose his life because of an undiagnosed peanut allergy, saw Markelle Fultz seemingly forget how to shoot, endured Ben Simmons' confidence completely evaporate, had fans uncover the infamous BurnerGate scandal involving Bryan Colangelo's secret accounts, and even somehow traded away hometown kid Mikal Bridges -- whose mother WORKED FOR THE TEAM -- on draft night, only to watch him eventually celebrate a championship with the Knicks years later.
Simply put: Something always seems to go sideways in Philadelphia. And that's not to mention the annual collective holding of breath in Philadelphia any time Embiid hits the floor, though some of those fears are somewhat eased by Brown's arrival, bringing one of the league's most reliable iron men to a roster that has desperately needed one thing over the years -- health. On top of that, Brown and Embiid have history; Brown literally called Embiid a flopper on a livestream after their playoff series. Chemistry will need to be built. And the depth behind the starting five is still thin enough that injuries could unravel everything in a hurry.
But here's the bottom line. The 76ers just escaped one of the worst contracts in basketball and landed one of the best two-way players in the sport in the same transaction. Whether you think Brown is slightly overrated -- and there are many people who do, this writer included -- the relevant comparison isn't Brown against the ideal. It's Brown against what the 76ers had before. A focused, motivated Jaylen Brown coming off his best season is infinitely preferable to a suspended, declining Paul George at $110 million over two years. That's not even a debate.
Philadelphia fans were bracing for another quiet summer. They got a blockbuster instead. Credit where it's due; Mike Gansey walked in the door and immediately made the biggest and best move this franchise has made in years.
Memphis has Zach Edey at center and has agreed to trade for Isaiah Stewart as a backup big, but the team wanted a more traditional five and a big body behind Edey. So they went after a Golden State restricted free agent.
Warriors restricted free agent center Quinten Post will sign a three-year, $30 million offer sheet with the Grizzlies, reports Shams Charania of ESPN. That gives the Warriors 48 hours — until 11:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday to match the offer, or Post is headed to Memphis. That $10 million a year price tag may make it too pricy for the Warriors to match, reports Anthony Slater of ESPN. Especially if they are going to make an offer to LeBron James or others.
Post took a step forward in his second season, particularly on defense, and he averaged 7.7 points and four rebounds a night, averaging a little more than 17 minutes per game. In a Western Conference with Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic, Chet Holmgren, Walker Kessler and more, every team is looking for big bodies and ways to defend more inside.
A restricted free agent signing an offer sheet has become increasingly rare in recent years — the last player to sign an offer sheet without it being matched was Bogdan Bogdanovic in 2020, going from Sacramento to Atlanta. Usually, teams and players work out a number that suits both sides (although without much leverage, it is often a team-friendly deal), or they work out a sign-and-trade, as recently seen with Walker Kessler going from the Jazz to the Lakers.
This offer sheet also uses means some salary cap rules gymnasitcs for Memphis.
Quinten Post's offer sheet will come out of the Non-Taxpayer MLE for the Grizzlies, if the Warriors don't match.
That means that Memphis will likely tie the Isaiah Stewart acquisition into the Santi Aldama trade. Expect that one to ultimately be a four- or five-team deal.
The LeBron James sweepstakes swells to six teams as rumors swirl
When LeBron James informed the Los Angeles Lakers he would not be returning for the 2026–27 season, it was evident the decision was a league-altering one.
Now, James is testing the free agent market at 41 years old and his next destination will certain have implications for the rest of the NBA.
There are reportedly six teams that are operating under the belief that they’re in the running to sign James, per NBA insider Marc Stein. Those teams include the Philadelphia Sixers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors.
The LeBron James sweepstakes swells to six teams as rumors swirl.
The sixth team is perhaps the most surprising candidate of the bunch with the Minnesota Timberwolves reportedly in the running. Unlike the other five finalists in the sweepstakes for James, Minnesota had never previously been linked to the four-time NBA champion.
But the Timberwolves’ reported interest in signing James points to the organization’s desire to get franchise superstar Anthony Edwards a championship caliber team.
There are still SIX teams who believe they are in the running to sign LeBron James, per @TheSteinLine
Cleveland and the Heat make sense for obvious reasons as James won titles with both teams, but the former would be storybook for the veteran as he began his career with the Cavaliers.
The Warriors also present an interesting option for James as the move would give him a chance to team up with Steph Curry and play for head coach Steve Kerr, both of whom won a medal with James at the Olympics in Paris.
The Nuggets and Sixers could use another star-studded name on the roster, thus landing James would certainly give both squads a better chance of contending for the 2026–27.
At this stage of his career, James is looking for complete basketball happiness. Only time will tell where the NBA’s all-time leading scorer believes he can find it.
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CAMDEN, NJ - JUNE 25: Labaron Philon Jr. #00 of the Philadelphia 76ers poses for a portrait during the Philadelphia 76ers press conference introducing Labaron Philon Jr. on June 25, 2026 at the Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex in Camden, NJ 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
For the first time in a long time, the Sixers will not participate in the Salt Lake City Summer League, and instead will open play in Vegas.
The Vegas Summer League tips off later this week and the Sixers on Monday announced their roster for the games.
It’s a rookie-heavy roster, with Johni Broome being the only player with NBA experience. The second-year big man is looking to bounce back after an underwhelming rookie campaign which saw him miss time with a torn meniscus late in the regular season.
The headliner of the roster is the 22nd overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, Labaron Philon Jr. The rookie out of Alabama will likely factor into the team’s rotation this season, even with the signing of veteran guard Anferenee Simons.
There are a couple names that might like familiar to you true Sixers sickos. Forward Saint Thomas and big man Drew Cisse both spent time with the Delaware Blue Coats last season.
Meanwhile, Duke Miles, a bulldog guard who played his final collegiate season at Vanderbilt, was reportedly signed to an Exhibit 10 contract. That means Miles will be in camp with the Sixers, but will be financially-incentivized to join the Blue Coats over another G League affiliate.
The Sixers begin play this Thursday, July 9, as they go up against the Detroit Pistons at 5:30 p.m. on Amazon Prime. They then play Saturday, July 11, against the Indiana Pacers at 5:30 p.m., and Tuesday, July 14, vs. the Houston Rockets at 4 p.m. Those games will also be in Prime. They’ll close out the slate on Wednesday, July 15, against the Orlando Magic at 4 p.m. on ESPNU.
There will be more games after that. The top-four teams will participate in a playoff. The other 26 teams will play one additional game.
The LeBron James sweepstakes appear to be at a standstill, which could be a bad sign for the Warriors.
Golden State, who is pursuing the 41-year-old superstar this offseason, and initially was believed to be the favorite to sign the unrestricted free agent, does not feel confident that it will be the team to land the 22-time All-Star, ESPN’s Anthony Slater reported in a story published Monday, citing sources.
“On the James front, Warriors sources continue to express a low level of optimism that James will ultimately pick them as his next team, but they intend to keep roster space open for James until he ultimately declares his choice,” Slater wrote.
When James informed the Los Angeles Lakers on June 30 of his decision to play elsewhere in the 2026-27 NBA season, a decision that came one day after Warriors forward Draymond Green strategically declined his player option in order to free up salary cap space, many, understandably, viewed Golden State as the frontrunner to land James.
However, after the Philadelphia 76ers made a seismic trade for star forward Jaylen Brown, and other teams, like the Cleveland Cavaliers, James’ hometown team that he has had two separate stints with, and the Miami Heat, another one of James, former teams, among others, became heavily involved, Golden State has faced much steeper competition for his services.
And now, almost one week into NBA free agency, the Warriors soon might need to pivot to other options to replenish their roster.
FIFA’s suspension of the red card USMNT’s Folarin Balogun received in the team’s round-of-32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina has been making headlines across the sports world.
The decision essentially will make the 25-year-old striker available for USA’s round-of-16 matchup Monday against Belgium.
Amid the social media storm following FIFA’s announcement, Warriors star Draymond Green shared his thoughts on the controversial move, relating it to a previous experience of his during the 2016 NBA Finals.
With Golden State leading the Cleveland Cavaliers 3-1 in the 2016 NBA Finals, Green was suspended for Game 5 of the series after being assessed a Flagrant 1 foul in Game 4. The foul call came with less than three minutes left in the game when LeBron James stepped over Green, who fell to the court and swung his arm in retaliation.
The Cavaliers won the next three games of the series and claimed their first NBA championship in franchise history, ending the Warriors’ magical run that included an NBA record-setting 73 wins during the 2015-16 regular season.
Meanwhile, Balogun received a straight red card on July 1 for a foul on Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic, which automatically suspends the USA forward by one game.
Balogun scored one of USA’s two goals against Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as two goals against Paraguay in the group stage, making him an important piece to the team’s offensive attack.
FIFA’s reversal of Balogun’s red card has resulted in an abundance of mixed reactions, including the Belgian Federation, which was looking to appeal the decision ahead of USA and Belgium’s round-of-16 matchup. FIFA dismissed Belgium’s appeal, keeping Balogun available to play in the upcoming match.
Green certainly would have appreciated a reversal of his suspension 10 years ago, but for now, the 2016 NBA Finals will continue to be the one moment in Golden State’s dynastic run that many Warriors fans try to erase from their memories.
LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 19: Alijah Martin #55 of the Toronto Raptors dribbles the ball during the game against the Sacramento Kings during the 2025 NBA Summer League game on July 19, 2025 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. 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 2025 NBAE (Photo by Candice Ward/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Las Vegas Summer League is only days away and suspense is starting to build as rosters, schedules, and media continues to be released.
The Raptors first game will be against Boston this Friday at 9pm ET. Leading up to this, let’s take a look at five outcomes we’d like to see from this year’s roster:
1 – A Summer League championship
This one is obvious. Last year we were close, but eventually lost the semifinal game to Sacramento. The roster construction isn’t dissimilar, but had the benefit of a few more players with past NBA experience.
Like most Summer League Teams, Toronto has a combination of sophomore players, this year’s draft picks, undrafted players, and guys with previous NBA or G-League experience looking for a spot.
Collin Murray-Boyles, Alijah Martin, and Chucky Hepburn, last year’s rookies, will all make an appearance. How much they play is still up for debate, especially CMB, given his phenomenal playoff performance. This could also change based on whether or not they clinch a playoff spot. If they do, it wouldn’t surprise me to see them get extra time.
This year’s draft picks, Allen Graves and Jaden Bradley, should see significant minutes as they already have contracts worked out for next year and this will be their first chance to play against NBA guys.
Seth Lundy is the only other rostered player with previous NBA experience, who was drafted in the second round in 2023 by the Clippers. The remainder of the roster is composed of rookies: Brandon Angel (previous Summer League experience), Aziz Bandaogo (Raptors 905 G-League international draft pick), Nate Bittle, Nimari Burnett, Jalen Celestine, Tyson Degenhart (905 last year), AJ Hoggard (905 last season), Tyreke Key (905 for the last two seasons), Jamarion Sharp (prior G-League and professional experience), and Malik Thomas.
While a lot of those names may not be familiar to you or jump off the page, this roster has lots of potential. Solid guards, size, and enough experienced guys to keep them competitive.
2 – Promising back-up guard play
One of the obvious questions about the Raptors’ current construction is at the guard position. Shead is improving in leaps and bounds and hopefully Quickley will have fewer injuries this year. Even still, having another option to slot in behind those guys or in the event of injuries is a must. Alijah Martin is the most obvious choice, especially with his G-League performance last year.
This is the perfect opportunity to let some of these guys get some run against NBA competition. Decision making, distribution, and long range shooting will all be things Toronto can use this season, and any of the guards on this roster could make a case for being the next guy up.
It would also be awesome to see a little bit more of this:
The other obvious question about the Raptors’ current construction is centre depth. Losing Mamu is definitely a blow, meaning CMB who’s a bit undersized and Jackson-Davis who barely saw the floor last season. The League seems to be slowly shifting to requiring a 7-footer, in part to guard guys like Wemby, Holmgren, Kessler, and (when he’s healthy) Porzingis. The Raptors don’t have anyone to fit that bill right now, and while it may be a bit of a long shot, there is a trio of 7-footers on this roster that will be fun to watch and could, at a minimum, have potential to make a two-way spot or the 905 roster. This will be a great opportunity to see how these guys are able to
So far, Jamarion Sharp looks like the frontrunner right now (as you will see in a second), but Nate Bittle, and Aziz Bandaogo both have the height and build to fit the bill.
Nothing like seeing your first round draft pick suiting up to build suspense for the upcoming season. Plus, like most years, at least half of the fan base has questions about Toronto’s pick, so it would be nice for him to silence some of the doubters with a strong Summer League performance.
He’s shown a lot defensively, from long range, and operating off the catch from the point in college. Seeing how that could potentially work in our system is super exciting.
If there’s one thing Toronto hangs their hat on, it’s defence. Last year they started rough, but had the fifth-best defence by the end of the season. Martin, Hepburn, Murray-Boyles, and Sharp are among the players on this roster that prioritize and are known for their defensive prowess. Ultimately, everyone here is trying to prove they’re fit for this system and it would be nice to see the guys coming up the pipeline have the same mindset and ability at that end of the court.
It’s also the most fun part of Toronto’s game to watch.
DALLAS, TEXAS - JUNE 29: A detail view of a Dallas Mavericks logo before the introduction of Dallas Mavericks head coach Dusty May before a press conference at American Airlines Center on June 29, 2026 in Dallas, Texas. 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 Ron Jenkins/Getty Images) | Getty Images
I know things start to break, so here’s a new one.
As I’m publishing this, the NBA Free Agency moratorium is ending shortly. That means a lot of reported deals get signed, but perhaps there will be surprises too. Then later this week we’ll have NBA Summer League to cover. Dallas plays Thursday, Saturday, and Monday. A significant cohort of Mavs Moneyball staff is going, so if you’re going, let me know.
The Mavericks actually have a pretty good team, so expect decent enough basketball.
As usual, have fun within this space. Let me know if there are issues.
DENVER, COLORADO - APRIL 27: Kyle Anderson #12 of the Minnesota Timberwolves warms up before Game Five of the First Round of the NBA Western Conference Playoffs against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena on April 27, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. 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 Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) | Getty Images
There’s a specific kind of anxiety that lives in your phone now.
You’re at the grocery store or walking the dog or doing whatever normal people do in July when basketball isn’t happening, and a notification slides down from the top of the screen. Shams Charania, ESPN. You see a player’s name. Kyle Anderson. You see the years. You see the dollar figure. But you can’t see the team. Not until you tap it. Not until you open the app and let the full post load and your stomach does that little half-second gymnastics routine while your brain screams please don’t be Dallas, please don’t be Dallas, please don’t be…
Toronto Raptors.
Oh, thank the basketball gods.
This has happened to me at least five times in the last week. And every single time, the relief has been real, physical, almost spiritual. Because the Mavericks are having a quietly excellent offseason, and a huge part of what makes it excellent is what they haven’t done.
Masai Ujiri’s front office drafted Morez Johnson Jr. at nine. They grabbed Sergio de Larrea later in the first round via trade. They appear committed to holding onto Kyrie Irving as he returns to the floor this year. They traded a heavily protected first-round pick and two future seconds for Santi Aldama, a 25-year-old combo forward who averaged 14 points and nearly seven rebounds last year. They have a year-two Cooper Flagg who won’t turn 20 until December. Dereck Lively II is reportedly 7’3” now with a 7’9” wingspan. The positive ledger is long and it’s real.
But I want to talk about the negative space. The signings that didn’t happen. The alternate timeline.
The Darkest Timeline Has a Name
Because here’s the thing: as dark as the actual timeline got after the Dončić trade, we can imagine a darker one. A timeline where Nico Harrison and Jason Kidd are still running this franchise, scrolling through free agent lists with the same philosophical blinders that produced the worst trade in franchise history and perhaps in professional sports.
Harrison’s front office had a type. If you came up through the AAU circuit, if you were a sneaker-convention fixture, if you were a recognizable NBA name who could be acquired through a relationship rather than through rigorous evaluation, you were in the pipeline and on the dubious trade-target list, where Jrue was perilously close to the Joker. If you were a 20-year-old guard lighting up the ACB in Spain? Probably not on the radar.
The Harrison regime shed its European connective tissue and never replaced it with an overseas find of its own. There was no impactful effort to scout or recruit international talent from overseas that turned over a single gem during that era. The scouting lens was narrowed in its final analysis to who Nico knew or approved of in the abstract, and the results looked like it.
So let’s play a game. Let’s look at a few free agent moves from the last week, imagine how each one might have played out in the somehow-still-here Harrison timeline, and collectively exhale.
Kyle Anderson → Toronto Raptors (1 year, $3.9 million)
Anderson is 32, entering his 13th season, and has been traded to five different teams in the last two years. He’s a solid, unconventional player. In the Harrison timeline, Slow Mo might have been the starting small forward, with Nico calling it “veteran leadership.”
Have a nice season in Toronto, Kyle.
Mike Conley → Boston Celtics (1 year, minimum)
Conley is 38 years old and entering his 20th NBA season. He averaged a career-low 4.5 points in 18 minutes a game last year. He is, by all accounts, a wonderful human being and a respected locker room presence.
He is also the exact player Nico Harrison would have signed instead of trading for Marcus Sasser. I can see the press conference. I can hear the phrase “championship run.” I can feel my soul leaving my body.
Enjoy Boston, Mike.
Keon Ellis → Brooklyn Nets (2 years, $18 million)
Ellis is 26 and a perfectly useful 3-and-D wing who’s a little undersized at 6’4” and not much of a playmaker. He’s not a bad player. He may even be a helpful one in Brooklyn.
That’s the point. A disciplined front office can pass on a decent player because he doesn’t quite fit the build. The old Mavericks too often treated available and familiar as if they were synonyms for sensible. Sometimes the sign of a grown-up front office is not that it avoids obvious disasters. Sometimes it just declines the wrong perfectly fine player at the wrong perfectly fine price.
Good luck in Brooklyn, Keon.
Javonte Green → Detroit Pistons (1 year, $3.95 million)
Green re-signed with Detroit at 32, and this is the one that you can imagine easily in a post-Luka delusional Nico timeline. If he were still here, Harrison could easily be envisioned welcoming Javonte Green as the quintessential “win now charade” signing.
A 30-something journeyman role player who fills a roster spot and lets a GM gesture toward activity without actually building anything. In the Harrison timeline, Green is your sixth man and you’re being told to feel good about it.
Tobias Harris → San Antonio Spurs (2 years, $31 million)
Harris signed with a division rival for $31 million fully guaranteed, pushing his career earnings past $330 million. He’s turning 34 this month. He’s a fine player who will give San Antonio respectable minutes next to Wembanyama.
He’s also the kind of name and price tag that would have had Harrison feeling great about himself at the introductory press conference and Mavericks fans doing cap sheet math by December.
The Spurs can have him. Bon appétit.
Kyle Lowry → Retired
And then there’s Kyle Lowry, who announced his retirement this week. He’s 40 years old. He played 14 games last season as a locker room mentor in Philadelphia. The Raptors are signing him to a one-day contract on Monday so he can retire in Toronto, where he belongs.
In the Harrison timeline, Nico is on the phone before Kyle even gets the chance to schedule that ceremony. He’s pitching a championship run. He’s talking about those 40-year-old knees having one more season in them. He’s describing a veteran mentorship role that somehow also involves 22 minutes a game.
The Raptors are trying to set up a podium, and Nico Harrison would be trying to talk Kyle Lowry out of using it.
What the Negative Space Tells You
None of this is meant to disrespect any of those players. They’ve all had real careers and earned their money. The point is about organizational philosophy, and what it reveals when a front office consistently declines to do the thing that the previous regime would have done reflexively.
The Ujiri front office didn’t sign a single one of those players. They drafted a dynamic frontcourt player from Michigan, whose coach they just hired. They drafted a guard from the top Spanish league who’s drawing blatantly unfair early comparisons to another nifty passer with a Euro league past. They traded for a young combo forward on a team-friendly deal. Everything they’ve done has felt intentional. Even the things that haven’t worked out feel like they came from a plan rather than from panic.
The Mavericks are rebuilding. You don’t pass on Morez Johnson Jr. at nine because Daniel Gafford is still on the roster. You don’t decline to trade for a 25-year-old combo forward at Aldama’s price because PJ Washington is still here. Those are veteran contracts, and veteran contracts move. There are months between now and the start of the regular season, and there is at least another year before genuine playoff aspirations should extend beyond a first-round exit at best.
Ujiri has been in the job for five proverbial minutes. The roster has open surgery scheduled. Diagnosing the patient mid-procedure and calling it a failure is the kind of analysis that sounds smart in a column and evaporates the moment a single trade clears the logjam that everyone, including the front office, already knows is there.
I’d love to be proven wrong on the timeline and see meaningful basketball deep into the playoffs out of nowhere. But calling this offseason a loss because the rebuild isn’t finished in week one? Bleak and dour stuff from a guy who should know better.
The Mavericks aren’t done building. The offseason still has moves to make and questions to answer. But right now, every time a Shams notification slides down your screen and the team turns out to be someone else, you can exhale.
The adults are running this.
Have a nice season, gentlemen. Genuinely. Just not here.
