Category: Basketball

Warriors sign star Steph Curry to reported two-year, $116M contract extension originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Warriors might not have made many moves this offseason, but they made the most important one on Friday evening.

Golden State signed superstar point guard Steph Curry agreed to a contract extension, the team announced.

The new deal is for two years, $116 million and includes a player option for the 2028-29 NBA season, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Friday, citing sources.

Curry became eligible for an extension of up to two years and $136.7 million on Aug. 29 coming off his current one-year, $62.6 million expiring deal. But he took $20 million less to continue his career in the Bay.

After the Warriors missed the playoffs following an up-and-down 2025-26 season, there was speculation, as there always is, that Curry could look elsewhere and be more competitive as he reaches the tail end of his career.

But the speculation was just that, as the two-time NBA MVP will continue in Year 18 with the only NBA team he’s known.

And, like the rest of the team, he could return with a vengeance.

Curry missed nearly 30 games over two months dealing with runner’s knee. His co-star, Jimmy Butler, also dealt with his own injury, although it was a season-ending ACL injury in January.

There is strong belief within the organization that had Curry and Butler not been injured, the Warriors’ 2025-26 season would have ended much differently.

But the past is the past. Curry and his Dubs now are focused on the present and getting back to the top of the West.

Last season, Curry averaged 26.6 points on 46.8-percent shooting from the field and 39.3 percent from 3-point range, with 3.6 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.1 steals in 34 minutes through 43 games.

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Lakers fans are still reckoning with LeBron James joining the 76ers this past offseason, ending an eight-year run in Los Angeles.

While LeBron’s Lakers tenure didn’t end in the way fans had imagined, he still brought the franchise a championship.

But Los Angeles didn’t get to celebrate that championship in the way teams and cities get to every other season. James revealed he’s still upset about this during an episode of his “Mind the Game” podcast that was released on Friday.

“I still think about like not being able to do the parade. That bothers me,” James said when reflecting on the championship he won in 2020. Los Angeles wasn’t able to have a championship parade due to the COVID pandemic.

“Like, [on a scale of] 1 to 10 [on how much it bothers me]: 20… It would have been super duper dope, man,” James added.

James spoke glowingly of his time with the Lakers and the franchise during the podcast. At one point, he said, “When I came to the Lakers, [a lot of people said] I was just coming to be in Hollywood and do movies. But I’ve always loved a huge challenge, and to come to a historical franchise that has some of the greatest basketball players that we’ve ever seen in the history of sports. To be a part of that one was like a super duper big thing to me. It was super cool and humbling at the same time.”

He later added, “The expectations around here in Los Angeles when it comes to the Lakers is like, ‘Let’s win championships.’ And I heard that, and I understood that. And for us to be able to win one, that was something I would never forget. [To win] with that group, with that team, for this city.”

Regardless of how fans feel about James taking his talents to Philadelphia, he did more than enough to earn a standing ovation from his former franchise and fan base when the 76ers come to Crypto.com Arena on Christmas Day.

I felt it for the first time when I went outside last night to play with the dog. For the first time in months, I could walk outside without getting blasted in the face by the oven-like air that the Phoenix metropolitan area has to offer. Yes, for the first time, it felt like fall. And that means Phoenix Suns basketball is right around the corner.

With Media Day this upcoming Monday and training camp starting Tuesday, we’re about to rev up the engine and start getting answers to the questions we’ve been asking ourselves all summer long about this team.

Which brings me to another Bright Side Roundtable opportunity for our writers to answer a simple question: What is the biggest question you need answered during the first 10 games of the Suns’ season?

Of course, we’re not going to get answers to everything. The season is 82 games long, and thinking that the first 10 games will tell us everything we need to know about this team is somewhat obtuse. Still, those first 10 games will provide insight into what we can expect, whether that’s schematically, how the rotations take shape, or how the new pieces fit into the puzzle.

And for me, that’s what I primarily want to see. How does this puzzle fit together from a rotational standpoint? Rotations will continue to evolve throughout the season. Injuries will present themselves, players will exceed expectations, others will fall short, and adjustments will be made based on opponents and production. 

But those first 10 games should begin answering one question I desperately want answered: How does this organization perceive the progress Rasheer Fleming made this offseason?

Sure, he was a second-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, but he’s somebody the Suns moved up to acquire. They spent assets to get him because they believed in what he could become. And in his limited opportunities last season, Fleming flashed the potential to provide size, athleticism, defense, and three-point shooting off the bench. For a team that has desperately needed a quality power forward since Amar’e Stoudemire played for the organization, Fleming could begin filling that role this season. That’s why I want to see how and when he’s utilized throughout the first 10 games.

In Year 1, he was a rookie learning to adjust to the speed of the NBA while developing his basketball IQ. Year 2 should be about building upon that foundation and demonstrating whether he’s made the developmental leaps we all hope he has. How much does the coaching staff trust him? Where does he fit into the rotation? And how much opportunity will he receive to showcase that growth? We should know quite a bit more after those first 10 games.

So what does the rest of our Bright Side Roundtable panel have to say about it? Let’s get into their answers.

Kevin Humphreys: Will we get to see the Suns’ core four players play together to begin the season?

Last season, we only got to see the Big 3 play 10 regular-season games together, and now Miles Bridges is getting thrown into the mix. If we can just get all four of those guys healthy through 10 games, that will be a huge win. If that happens, then what kind of hierarchy, if any at all, is developing between Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, and Miles Bridges?

Bruce Veliz: The biggest question I need answered in the first ten games is how Jordan Ott’s play style will evolve into year two?

Last season, they were a scrappy and physical team that never gave up on the defensive end, and on offense, it was mainly three-point centered, focused on the drive and kick. Without Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale, the team has lost part of that identity, so how will he adjust and benefit that to fit this team? Will there be any changes, or will they stick with what worked last season?

Holden Sherman: At least two wins against one of the Thunder, Nuggets, Spurs, or Rockets. Phoenix went 4-12 against these teams last year, including going 0-7 against Houston and Denver. These teams were four of the five top seeds in the West and are ones the Suns will have to compete with if they are serious about being top-six in the Conference. The team needs to finish games against these teams stronger; it’s not just about playing them close. All of these teams Phoenix suffered close losses to, and Denver should be worse this year, considering they traded Peyton Watson, a main contributor from a season ago, and only received draft compensation in return. The Suns need to play their best against the best.

SoSaysJ: How much are the Suns going to take the kid gloves off Khaman Maluach? During the first five months of last season, Maluach averaged 5.5 MPG. That ticked up to 13.9 MPG over the last two months of the season. During NBA Summer League, he (not surprisingly) played 27.4 MPG – and thrived, averaging 19.5 PPG, 12.8 RPG, and 2.0 BPG, while shooting 40.0% from three and 53.2% overall.

Considering his production during Summer League, the fact that he has one year in the NBA under his belt, and the injury to Mark Williams, extended minutes certainly seem warranted during the regular season, but to what degree? Will he start? Will he play 20+ minutes? 25+ minutes? Regardless of whether Khaman or Oso is the starting center when the regular season begins, I will be particularly interested in Maluach’s playing time during those first 10 games and the game situations in which he is on the floor.

For the Suns to enjoy any near-term success beyond what we saw last season, Maluach will have to develop and play a significant role on both sides of the ball. I think the first 10 games of the season should give us an idea as to how ready the coaching staff thinks he is to step into that role.

Brandon Duenas: The first 10 games are all about experimentation and seeing what you have as a group. That being said, I am looking forward to seeing how each individual player, especially those in the starting lineup, adjusts their game to this group. The potential glaring issue with this team is the lack of playmaking/floor spacing in the starting unit. I will be paying very close attention to the shot distribution and the roles that Green, Brooks, and Bridges naturally take.

I excluded Booker because I believe he can fit in any environment, so I’m more curious as to how those other three play off each other (and Book) and if there’s more “team ball” than “me ball.” Will Brooks and Bridges sacrifice shot attempts and make quick reads? Does Jalen Green take on more of a downhill playmaking threat this year? There are plenty of solutions to mix and match the right units on the Suns’ bench, so it will be an interesting dynamic to follow. Green and Brooks didn’t share the court a ton last year, and Bridges is the newcomer. This is why they pay Jordan Ott the big bucks.

Mark Bowser: I agree with Brandon’s specific dynamics above and how that results in the flow of the overall offense. My main question is in the intangibles category. Last year, the Suns were gritty more often than not. They dove for loose balls, scrapped on defense, and crashed the offensive glass. With new parts added and several high-effort players signing new contracts, will the effort dip? Or will it go up a notch? The extended players (Brooks, Goodwin, Gillespie) all have this in their DNA. The new acquisition, Miles Bridges, is the wildcard. Reviews of his effort fluctuate, generally positive when his team is doing well. Can he enhance the Suns’ reputation in this regard, or will his addition disrupt the chemistry?

Tom Mildenberger: In the 2024-25 season, the Suns started 8-2 before Budenholtzering their way to a 36-win season, so I’m not getting caught up in wins and losses. The Suns will bring the same coach back for a (gasp) second year in a row, so despite swapping Allen and Royce for Bridges, I think we mostly know how the team will look, stylistically and culturally.

What I’m going to be watching for in the first ten games is which Devin Booker we get. Are we going to get the make-the-right-play, Devin Booker? Or are we going to get the flame-throwing Booker who sets arena points records? There are reasons to think that the former version of the Book might be better suited for the Suns’ current roster than the latter, but if I’m being honest, I don’t want to see Devin Booker pile up hockey assists or get to the free-throw line thirty times a game this season. I want to see the Booker that the defense knows is going to shoot, but still can’t do anything to stop. Can he still be that Booker? I’m not sure, but I think we’ll know in the first ten games.

There’s no shortage of things to watch when the Suns finally take the floor, which is exactly what makes those first 10 games so valuable. We won’t have the answers yet, but we should have enough evidence to start forming better questions. How much has the roster evolved? Who has earned trust? Which combinations work? And perhaps most importantly, what does this team look like when the experimentation begins to give way to an identity? After spending the summer imagining the possibilities, we’ll finally get to see which ones survive contact with actual basketball.

LeBron James will officially speak for the first time as a Sixer on Monday at media day. But on Friday, he sat down with Steve Nash for the season premiere of his Mind the Game podcast to discuss what caused him to sign with the Sixers this summer.

The main takeaway? The Sixers need to build Mike Muscala a statue.

It would be an understatement to say that LeBron gushed about Tyrese Maxey. It’s clear that Maxey was influential in his decision to come to Philadelphia, no matter how much Maxey might try to downplay it.

“I just love everything about Tyrese Maxey, man,” LeBron said. “Every day, you get the same person. And that is very rare in sports and obviously super rare in life. And I’ve always talked about how great of a person that he is. Obviously, we know what he brings to the basketball court.

“When I became a free agent and we decided to let the Lakers know that I wouldn’t be returning, he was one of the first people that was on my line, calling me, ‘Yo, what we doing? What’s up, OG? What’s up, Old Head? Come on down here, we could use you down here.” And our relationship, a lot of times, I don’t answer the phone for a lot of phone calls. ‘Cause I don’t even want to be swayed in one way. I already know what you’re calling about. But he’s such a great person that I can’t not talk to him.”

However, Maxey wasn’t the only thing that lured him. LeBron also made it clear how much he respects Jaylen Brown.

“I love the way he approaches the game, too,” he said. “Both sides of the floor, what he brings to the game. His insight on the game. I’ve watched him. Kind of misunderstood. And that is absolutely OK. I think we are all individuals for a reason. Everyone’s always trying to put everybody in the same box. And I love what he stands for and what he brings to the table in that fashion.”

LeBron later added that he and Brown worked out “three or four times this offseason” and have “been in communication.” Since they and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are the only members of this year’s Sixers who have already won an NBA title, they appear to be taking it upon themselves to demonstrate what championship habits look like from day one.

“We’re two of the guys on the team that’s been through the foxhole and been through the wringer of what it takes from the moment we step on the court for training camp to the moment we raise that Larry O’Brien Trophy,” LeBron said. “We know what it takes. Just trying to make sure we’re on the same page and have everybody else on the same page.”

Joel Embiid, who teamed up with LeBron on Team USA in the 2024 Olympics—and was a main reason why they got past Nikola Jokić and Serbia in the semifinals—was also a major draw.

“One of the most important, to be honest, is the big fella,” LeBron said. “He’s done everything in our league. The only thing he has not done is win a championship. I want to try to help him get that first one.

“He’s been the MVP of our league, has a gold medal, All-Stars, signature shoes, bunch of money, beautiful family, he has everything. He has the city on his back. He’s been the Process, 10 years, 12 years, however long he’s been there. But I think it’s time now that we dig even deeper into the process, and I hope that I can be that final little piece that can get him over the hump, and maybe just see it a little bit differently than he’s seen it in his career as far as the day-to-day process, the day-to-day what it takes to get there.”

LeBron also expressed his admiration for VJ Edgecombe, whom he called “a flat-out player.”

“The intel that I’ve got from everyone is that this kid is beyond his year,” he said. “They say he was actually one of the leaders of the team as a 20-year-old rookie. And not in a disrespectful manner, it’s not like he was speaking just to be speaking or thinking he’s better than this guy. No. They say he speaks with an intelligent, confidence, natural. Works extremely hard.”

While the Sixers might not have Simone Fontecchio, the prospect of their star-studded starting five was enough to convince LeBron to take a veteran-minimum contract in Philadelphia. When training camp officially kicks off Tuesday, it’ll be on him, Brown, KCP and head coach Nick Nurse to set the tone for what they hope to be a championship season.

When the Los Angeles Lakers were presented the opportunity to acquire Luka Dončić — a perennial First Team All-NBA player entering his prime — 19 months ago for a staggeringly low cost, they had to seize the moment.

In doing so, though, they left themselves thin at center, with Anthony Davis as the focal point of the Dallas Mavericks’ return package, and provided Dončić a roster built in Davis and LeBron James’ image.

Last summer, they made a few notable moves by signing Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia to be rotation mainstays but the roster still felt in flux as the Lakers navigated old and new identities after such a dramatic trade. This summer, though, once James made clear he’d be heading elsewhere as a free agent, Los Angeles mashed the accelerator and sprinted into the Dončić Era. The Lakers added seven players via free agency and re-signed Austin Reaves to a four-year, $184 million deal.

Now, the Dončić-Reaves Era has unambiguously arrived and head coach JJ Redick believes this is the most cohesive roster-building he’s had since being hired two summers ago.

“I think we’ve always tried to give our players clearly defined roles. I think with this group, probably the first time in my three years here that I feel like the pieces actually fit together. So those roles probably get even more crystallized,” Redick told reporters Thursday. “I’ll give you the wing thing, like, there’s a very clear ask for you to be able to play. And if you don’t do those things, then you’re not gonna play. That’s just the reality. We’ve already had some of those conversations this week with our players.

“We have high, high confidence in these guys that they’re going to buy into that. So, it’s going to naturally create a lot of healthy competition. Everybody at some point, inevitably, will get a chance to impact our team and impact winning.”

The Lakers won plenty of games the past two seasons because Dončić, James and Reaves is a damn good trio and Redick has proven himself a pretty shrewd head coach thus far. But the roster certainly didn’t always mesh and there felt like plenty of stretches in which everyone was just trying to get on the same page while also attempting to win basketball games.

A bunch of new faces playing together will still require an assimilation period. If Redick’s assessment is correct, though, a sensible identity has been established and that should be an advantage moving forward over the past two seasons.

You can follow Jackson on Twitter at @jackfrank_jjf.

Imagine paying $515 to get in on some card pack breaks at a local sports card shop and having that investment return more than $8 million.

That’s how it happened for South Carolina machine shop owner Jason Williams, 50. He, like many sports fans and collectors, reportedly started participating in online live sales of unopened packs of cards, which were then broken open on the stream so that everyone watching could see what was pulled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, Williams ought to be glad he stuck with it, as his Cooper Flagg 1-of-1 Topps Chrome Update NBA Debut Patch Autograph card, sold at auction for just over $8,040,000. The auction closed early Friday morning. Williams was identified as the lucky SOB who pulled the card last month. The pull came on a live stream hosted by Rhody Breakers, a collecting streamer associated with Baseball Cards of Rhode Island, a local shop eight states away from Williams’ living room.

“They slid that card over and I just slid to the floor crying,” Williams told ESPN at the time. “… It took me about five seconds to realize what I was looking at on that screen.”

In the run-up to the auction, most of the speculation was that the card may fetch “over $1,000,000.” It’s hard to predict what the market will do in a one-of-one situation like this, but a similar Paul Skenes 1-of-1 rookie autograph patch card sold for just over $1.1 million in 2025.

According to The Athletic, the sale of just over $8,040,000 makes this Flagg rookie card the fifth-most expensive trading card purchase of all time, topping a $7.25 million sale of the famed Honus Wagner 1909 Sweet Caporal T206 in 2022. That Wagner card has traditionally been viewed as the “Holy Grail” of card collecting through the years.

The 1-of-1 card features the NBA Debut patch Flagg wore during his first NBA game, along with the Mavericks star’s autograph. The rookie patch was removed from Flagg’s jersey following his Oct. 22, 2025 debut against the San Antonio Spurs and was later embedded into the Topps Chrome Update card.

Flagg scored just 10 points in that game before going on to win NBA Rookie of the Year over his college roommate and Charlotte Hornets forward Kon Knueppel. The Dylan Harper NBA Debut Patch rookie card sold for $2.88 million. Harper was selected by the Spurs second overall in 2025. Knueppel’s went for just over $2.3 million. Both were sold as part of the same Fanatics auction.

Flagg signed the card at FanaticsFest in July and joked in an interview with ESPN that he’s only be able to afford to buy the card after signing his second NBA contract.

At the time that interview segment aired, the highest bid for the autographed Flagg rookie card and patch was just over $3.2 million. That means the bidding ramped up by nearly $5 million in less than 24 hours at the end of the auction.

Flagg, 19, was ​the ⁠No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and earned 2025-26 NBA Rookie ⁠of ​the Year honors after ​averaging 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists in ​70 games for the Mavericks.

The winning bidder has not been named publicly.

At long last, Dallas Mavericks Media Day arrived on Friday, meaning that training camp will begin soon after, and the NBA preseason and regular season are officially right around the corner as well.

One key storyline for the Mavs this season is the return of Kyrie Irving, who missed the entire 2025-26 season with a torn ACL. During that missed season, Irving took on more of a player-coach role, and he spoke about that experience on Friday morning.

“It was quite interesting coming into practice and not being able to raise the level of the intensity or just the competitive drive [with my play]. I feel like whenever I walk into a gym, not only do I feel like I’m one of the best to be out there, but I also feel like I can raise the level of play and just bring out the best in people. If I’m playing with kids or if I’m playing with adults, it’s just a joy,” Irving said.

“Sometimes that could look like aggression or competitive drive. So the coaching came naturally to me this year or last year, just being able to be on the sidelines, coming to games a little bit later rather than coming to games four and a half hours or three and a half hours early. See it from different vantage points, get an appreciation for guys’ tangibles and their skill sets, and learn how to bring out the best in them.”

Last season was a tough one for both Irving individually and the Mavs as a whole. The team finished 26-56 and ended up in the NBA Draft Lottery (ultimately drafting national champion Michigan big man Morez Johnson Jr. with the No. 9 pick), and there wasn’t much Irving could do to help aside from keeping the guys focused on the long-term big picture going forward.

“Last year was tough. It was a tough season, just record-wise, just emotionally,” Irving said. “And I’m not just only going to speak for myself, but just walking around the building, you can tell we have a lot of winners here, and no one likes losing. … I think you want to see guys that are putting in their best work, and they’re putting their best foot forward in practice and in games. … That’s what I was here to do, just to reiterate the culture we’re building here, and also the trust that we have to have for one another.

“I think the biggest learning takeaway that I had, or the biggest learning lesson was, what does patience look like when you really want something? I really wanted to be on the court, but I still had to learn what patience felt like and giving my teammates grace.”

Although last season was a lost one as far as competing for a playoff spot goes, it was an effective year due to the development of 2025 No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg, who ended up winning Rookie of the Year and is now looking to take a big leap into year two. Irving having to sit out last season helped him spend more time guiding Flagg through his first NBA season.

“We had a lot of young guys, including Cooper, that have a world of talent but need that guidance, need that leadership, and I feel like I tried to fill in that void as much as possible,” Irving said. “But now, as we sit here and we have our team set, we have our coaching staff set, really confident that we’re going to be able to do great things and looking forward to continuing to bring the best out of each other. So that player-coach role was fun. I enjoyed it, but I think I’m ready to go out there and kick some butt.”

On paper, Irving and Flagg appear to be a perfect on-court fit with each other, despite the 15-year age gap. We’ll get our first look at what that dynamic duo can do during the Mavs’ first preseason game against the Houston Rockets at The Venetian Arena in Cotai, Macao on Oct. 9.

The Sixers’ Blue X White Scrimmage has become a fun annual tradition for fans.

While the intimacy of the Chase Fieldhouse in Delaware, the home of the G League affiliate Blue Coats, was a nice treat, the obvious demand with the new-look Sixers has forced the team to move the event to South Philly. This year’s scrimmage will take place at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Oct. 3.

Your first chance to see LeBron James and Jaylen Brown in Sixers uniforms will happen then, though player participation in the event is always an unknown until the day comes. Barring injuries, you’ll likely see all the players doing on-court work in some capacity, even if they don’t take part in the scrimmage itself.

Those looking to get tickets can do so this coming Monday, Sept. 28. If you’re a Society 76 Member, you can take part in a special presale at 1 p.m. The rest of the tickets will be released to the general public. They’ll cost $10 a ticket with 100% of that money being donated to the the Sixers Youth Foundation. (For what it’s worth, because the donation is required in order to receive admission to the event, no portion of this donation is tax deductible.) Parking will be complimentary.

Sixers media day will take place on Monday as well. Training camp, which will be held at the team’s practice facility in Camden this year, will begin the next day. The Sixers’ first preseason game will take place on Oct. 5 when they host the New York Knicks. They’ll open the regular season against the defending champs at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 20.

I have a confession to make. 

In 2024, a time that feels like a lifetime ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves were in Sacramento for Game 2 of the new season. With 3:29 left in the first quarter, Keegan Murray was subbed out for Trey Lyles, a player I mostly remembered from his one year in college with the Kentucky Wildcats. That was all the way back in 2014-15, or roughly six lifetimes ago.

Lyles was part of the Fab Freshmen team, featuring longtime Wolf nemesis Devin Booker and former (and current, let’s be honest) Wolf beloved Karl-Anthony Towns. Those Wildcats would go on a historic 38-0 run before falling to none other than – checks notes – Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker in the 2015 Final Four.

Upon first seeing Lyles enter this Wolves-Kings game, I did a bit of a double-take, because, and here’s the confession…

I had completely forgotten that he was still in the league.

Not to defend my very wrong thought as reasonable, but Lyles is exactly the type of player to go unnoticed and eventually be forgotten. A player who already has a decent amount of miles on him, now somewhere in the middle of the pecking order on a middling team and one of the least nationally recognized franchises?

That sounds like a recipe for obscurity. Almost like a ghost, but not the scary kind that causes one to let out a shriek. Instead, just an “Oh, huh. It’s that guy,” followed by the I-guess shoulder shrug.

A ghost would be insulted by such a response, and honestly, so should Lyles.

The thing is, I actually really like the idea of Lyles. Specifically, on this Wolves team.

Based on what Will Griffith of The King’s Herald had to say in a fun Q&A with our very own Leo Sun, Kings fans not only liked the idea of Lyles. They straight up liked him, for real. By all accounts, he’s a pretty cool dude.

Griffith: In the Mike Brown years, the Kings would hand out a Defensive Player of the Game chain and crown, and the whole team would take a picture, and Trey, no matter where he was in the picture, flashed fours on his hands. It took all of like 3 games into the gimmick where the entire team was hitting this pose, holding four fingers out on each hand, and despite a lot of bad times in the seasons that followed, he was well regarded enough that players still held up fours out of love for him. On the off chance that the Wolves suddenly have a gimmick like that, or start popping locker room pictures after the game, Trey will throw up those fours, and you will ask yourself, what the hell does that even mean?

It means “4 Life”. It was just a thing he started in high school and has kept it going ever since.

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It would seem that Lyles is a likable enough person and capable enough player, or at least a player with certain capabilities – he can shoot the three well enough and drive the ball well enough and rebound well enough. I loath to turn this into a positive affirmation piece all of a sudden, but I don’t care; Trey Lyles is clearly enough! 

Whilst on the Kings, his own teammates liked him, and the fanbase seemed to have nothing outright bad to say about his game, though you would be hard-pressed to find any superlative-adorned comments on his list of competencies (but there is a list).

So, if you’re not a Kings fan, it wouldn’t have been egregious to be like me and think twice about Lyles’ existence in the league, but he did exist. He was very much an NBA player. A professionally employable, consistently fine, effectively visible NBA player.

Last year, however, Lyles shed the last remaining threads of his visibility cloak. He was no longer in the NBA. He didn’t retire. He wasn’t exiled. Adam Silver didn’t disappear him. Instead, Lyles made a voluntary decision to leave. He also left the country entirely, marking his foray into La Villa y Corte. Madrid, Spain. 

Was he looking for a clean slate? A fresh start? To watch the running of the bulls in Pamplona? To become the bull himself and stampede back to the NBA with horns painted in blood spelling out “SEE ME NOW”? Metaphorically speaking, it’s possible.

Expedition “Bring Back Swagger”

Playing for Real Madrid, one of the most prominent teams in European history, Lyles came on strong right away and never really let up. He was able to leverage his 6’9” and 234-pound frame, slow-cooking on post-ups, using his lower body to seal away smaller players, and utilizing his 7’2” wingspan to steal boards and flourish above the rim. All that combined with what he was predominantly known for: a steady hand from deep.

The EuroLeague final four championship game was Lyles’ curtain call, where he came out like a bat out of hell, punishing the Olympiacos defense for 21 first-half points. Though he would slow down considerably in the second half and Madrid would bow out in defeat, Lyles’ 24-point, eight-rebound performance was a nice capper to a year that reminded everyone what he’s capable of.

By season’s end, Lyles would average 13.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in just over 21 minutes of play, while shooting a staggering 45.9% on threes. It would appear Lyles had gotten his swagger back.

It remains to be seen how much of that swagger found in Europe carries over to the NBA and actually manages to manifest results. The EuroLeague and NBA are not the same league, and it would be fanciful to expect a one-to-one translation in performance.

In Madrid, only 40% of Lyles’ shot attempts were from three. Compare that to his previous two seasons in the NBA that saw his shot distribution largely favor shots from deep – 66% of his diet, to be exact.

Here, the role is going to be different, the spacing different, the competition different, and with that perhaps a little less comfort and a slight slippage of swagger. It’s an adverse league, the NBA, and to survive it and truly succeed, it pays to either be blind to its punches or just straight-up frothing mad.

But the idea of Lyles on the Wolves remains an exciting thought, and one worth exercising. He is the perfect tweener archetype for this team. With the downhill proclivities of both Ayo and TJ, and Beringer poised to mostly occupy space down low, Lyles has a real opportunity to provide second unit lineups with inverted potency. He’s not going to backfill the Naz Reid-shaped hole – and, to be fair, no one can – but with his particular skill sets and this team’s dearth of power forwards, there is an opening for a player of his kind to thrive. It’s up to him, though, to seize the moment. 

A reason for optimism, and a reason for grace

Every team is a puzzle where certain ancillary pieces might not fit, while others do so perfectly. It can take years, several even, for those connections to click, but when they do, it can define careers.

Journeymen are finally able to make their names known. Think Shane Battier and Mike Miller, whose sharp-shooting prowess helped the Miami Heat win back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. Or Boris Diaw, Danny Green, and Patty Mills, vital pieces of the “Beautiful Game” San Antonio Spurs and their unconscious 2014 title run. There’s Shaun Livingston on the Golden State Warriors dynasty. Or most recently, Jordan Clarkson and Landry Shamet on last season’s NBA champion New York Knicks.

Not all roles are created equal, but if you can complement your team and help contribute to winning possessions, games, and beyond, then you’ve exceeded your expected value and proven that you are more than enough in this league. 

When you consider the 450 active players, with 100 or so more waiting in the wings, from a relative small number of bonafide star players to the many key rotation pieces to the more populous distribution of playable and passable bodies whose job for a majority of the season is just to keep the bench warm, it is clear that every team is in fact greater than the sum of its parts. And to be a part of that sum is a privilege. 

To be a part of something special is an honor.

Lyles once again finds himself somewhere in the middle of that large, expansive sea of NBA contracts, and because of that, I guarantee he isn’t the only player that people forget about from time to time. And hey, no matter how his career rounds out, at least he can say he made it longer than Frank “the Tank” Kaminsky.

Time will tell whether Lyles can play his part well enough to be remembered outside of the Wolves fandom. Maybe he becomes a de facto glue guy. Or he has to settle as an emergency fill-in, to find contentment in being the new team sage, a steady voice if not a steady hand, riding the pine like the owl in the tree. Sometimes, that alone is enough.

Truth is, if an organization wants you here and your teammates are happy that you are, then in a way you’ve made it. And so Lyles isn’t alone. Everyone in this league is necessary. If you’re here, clearly you’re doing something right.

On July 11, 2026, Lyles signed a one-year deal with the Wolves. I don’t know if he’s in Minneapolis at the time of this writing – that’s not important. For a while he was somewhere else, and now he’s here. To be here is to be present is to have value is to be enough. Only time will tell if he can be anything more than that, but for now, it’s good to have him here.

Although the Los Angeles Lakers signed a slew of wings this summer — Quentin Grimes, Ziaire Williams, Matisse Thybulle — to pair with incumbents such as Jake LaRavia and Jarred Vanderbilt, it doesn’t feel like most of the minutes are spoken for yet. There should be an opportunity for plenty of candidates to stake their claim and bolster Los Angeles’ rotation.

Among those hoping to do so is second-year forward Adou Thiero. Selected 36th overall in the 2025 NBA Draft, Thiero played sparingly as a rookie, logging just 183 minutes across the regular season and playoffs. He did, however, flash imposing athleticism and dominant interior scoring during his South Bay Lakers stint.

In seven regular season G League games, he averaged 15.4 points on 74.6 percent true shooting (62 percent on 2-pointers). In three Tip-Off Tournament games, he averaged 15.0 points on 73.7 percent true shooting (66.7 percent on 2-pointers).

Thiero hardly played in year one partly due to separate knee injuries. Swelling in his left knee caused him to miss all of preseason and the first 13 games of the regular season while a sprained MCL in his right knee sidelined him for six weeks from late December to mid-February. But Thiero is healthy now and head coach JJ Redick said this prolonged stretch of availability this summer has done wonders.

“Adou has had an unbelievable last two months of development,” Redick told reporters Thursday. “It’s the first stretch he’s had since we’ve drafted him where he’s had uninterrupted time in the gym and his body’s been in great shape and he’s just gotten better.”

Much of the Lakers’ projected rotation isn’t particularly athletic, so if Thiero can break through, he’d provide a welcomed, novel dynamic with his speed, strength and above-the-rim finishing.

We’ll have a better idea of just how much his healthy summer might pay off when the Lakers begin their preseason slate Oct. 5 against the Sacramento Kings.

You can follow Jackson on Twitter at @jackfrank_jjf.

The Atlanta Hawks were one of the better stories in the East last season. They won 46 games, finished sixth, and finally started to look like a team with a clear direction.

The case for Atlanta is difficult because I genuinely like what the Hawks did this offseason.

This is not a team I think is bad. I don’t even expect them to take a step backward.

The argument is simply that 44 wins in this version of the Eastern Conference might require more things to go right than people realize.

Atlanta Hawks: Over/Under 44.5

Last Season: 46-36

Over: -105
Under: -125
To Win NBA Championship: +4000
To Win Eastern Conference: +2200
To Win Southeast Division: +250

Additions: Lu Dort, Dorian Finney-Smith, Aaron Wiggins, Kingston Flemings, Zuby Ejiofor

Losses: Zaccharie Risacher, Jonathan Kuminga, Buddy Hield

Atlanta has almost everything I want in a modern roster.

Flemings gives them a young backcourt piece with real upside. Johnson and Alexander-Walker already give them a strong foundation. Dort, Finney-Smith, Daniels, and Wiggins give them wing depth rivaling almost anyone in the league.

The problem is that I still do not fully trust what is happening at center.

Okongwu is talented, but at his size, asking him to anchor the position all season is a lot. Against bigger, more physical teams, Atlanta could run into real problems on the glass and around the rim. Ejiofor is intriguing, but he is still a rookie, and Veesaar’s injury removes another option they hoped to develop.

That weakness matters even more because the East is crowded.

Philadelphia loaded up. New York is still elite. Cleveland, Detroit, Orlando, Boston, and Miami all have legitimate reasons to believe they can win a lot of games. There will be very few easy nights at the top of the conference.

The Hawks can be really good and still finish around 42 or 43 wins simply because the margin for error is small.

If Okongwu holds up and the young bigs develop faster than expected, I think Atlanta clears this number. If the center spot becomes a real issue, the under becomes very live.

Prediction: Under 44.5 wins

A Friday morning rush hour of intense bidding sent the one-of-one Cooper Flagg Topps Rookie Debut Patch Card skyrocketing at auction, selling for a record-setting $8.04 million. The price more than doubled during the feverish close of the auction presented by Fanatics Collect.

The card of the Dallas Mavericks star forward became the third-most expensive NBA card ever, trailing only the dual Kobe Bryant–Michael Jordan and Jordan–LeBron James cards that each sold for more than $10 million last year.

It also ranks as the fifth highest sports card sale, according to Card Ladder. A Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps card sold for $12.6 million at a Heritage auction in 2022, and an ungraded Shohei Ohtani 2026 Topps Chrome Gold Logoman patch autograph card fetched $11 million July 30 in a private sale.

Flagg, the first pick in the 2025 NBA draft out of Duke, was Rookie of the Year at age 19 and set an NBA record for teenagers by scoring 40 or more points four times, breaking the record of three set by James in the 2003-2004 season.

At a Fanatics Fest in New York in July, Flagg signed the Rookie Debut Patch Autographed (RDPA) card then took the stage with ESPN’s Kevin Negandhi.

“I was a little nervous,” Flagg told Negandhi. “I’ve signed a lot of cards, but that one was a little nerve-wracking.”

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Why? The card features a patch that Flagg wore on his Mavericks jersey during his first NBA game. Pairing the game-used memorabilia with a rookie’s signature has almost overnight made the RPDA cards the most sought after by collectors on the market.

The previous high paid for a Flagg card was $366,000 — a mere 4.55 percent of $8.04 million.

Two RPDA cards besides Flagg’s also sold for millions at Friday’s auction: San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper‘s card went for $2.88 million, and Charlotte Hornets forward Kon Knueppel’s card fetched $2.34 million.

RPDA cards are the latest brainstorm from Fanatics, which acquired the Topps sports and entertainment trading cards and collectibles business for approximately $500 million in January 2022.

The company leveraged partnerships with the NBA, MLB, NFL and Union of European Football Associations by announcing in 2023 that MLB rookies would wear a Debut Patch on their jersey sleeve during their first game. The patch is removed, authenticated and packaged with a trading card autographed by the player.

Read more:https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2026-09-23/chris-spatola-espn-college-basketball-analyst-duke-coach-mike-krzyzewski-son-in-law-dies-at-47

The existence of the Debut Patch cards spurred immediate excitement from the NBA when Topps resumed printing licensed cards for the NBA in October 2025 for the first time since 2010. Introducing Debut Patches to rookies and producing RPDA cards was a no-brainer.

“You know it’s such a simple idea, but fits perfectly into sort of like the ethos of the trading card world,” Matt Holt, NBA vice president of merchandising partnerships Matt Holt told the Athletic.

Rather than risking damage to the cards, a redemption card bearing a code serves as a placeholder in the pack. The result is that the Flagg card was graded a PSA Gem Mint 10 with a 10 autograph grade — as close to perfect as possible.

The Flagg card was randomly inserted in a pack of Topps 2026 Chrome Basketball Update Series and placed on the market Aug. 6. Jason Williams, 50, of Clover, S.C., acquired the card after spending $515 to land a spot on RhodyBreakers, a retail shop affiliate that opens boxes of trading cards on a livestream.

Williams was watching the stream on a television as his wife and son were getting ready for bed when a life-changing fortune became theirs.

“They slid that card over, and I just slid to the floor crying,” Williams told ESPN. “It took me about five seconds to realize what I was looking at on that screen.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.