Category: Basketball

Now we come to the part of the Rockets that I think needed to change at the end of the previous playoffs: coaching. This isn’t because I dislike Ime Udoka on a personal level (as much as a stranger to the man can), although I do. It’s because he’s given everyone plenty of evidence that he’s simply not up to the job of taking the Rockets to the next phase of their (hoped for!) ascent to the upper echelons of the NBA. I’d like to say “return to the upper echelons” but it’s been a while since the Rockets were there. We’re long past the “going out for a six pack, back soon” stage of things, I’m afraid.

Unfortunately the coach that management extended for big money last season isn’t the guy to lead that ascent. If you read my article on The Players, asking if they were suited to running the systems they are required to run by their coach, you’ll know where I’m coming from on that score.

Here’s the problem: Udoka’s lack of recognition that the team he actually has isn’t capable of running the offensive scheme he insists upon. You may be a defense first coach, but if you can’t score (or stop opponent scoring, or let’s be honest, coach) when the chips are down and a Godawful (and historic for a winning team!) 19 blown fourth quarter or OT leads says you can’t (this isn’t new, it happened in Boston, btw), you’d better pay more attention to offense. Or maybe you’re not really fit to be a top level NBA head coach. 19 blown leads for a 52 win team isn’t some weird randomness in my view (as there’s not previous example of such that I’ve been able to find – only truly terrible teams blow that many leads normally), it’s a deep flaw in coaching.

It’s one thing to run an incompatible offense for a season, but we now have a three year sample. At no point in those three years has a James Harden Tribute Band level initiator played for the Rockets. The closest the Rockets have come to that are: Jalen Green and Fred VanVleet. There’s a real problem with each, as you probably have noticed.

In Green’s case, he’s simply a terribly inefficient offensive player, despite occasional outbursts of All NBA level offense. If he’s consuming a ton of shots, your offense has a serious problem. On the other hand, at least he COULD get to the rim off the dribble. Fred VanVleet can’t do that. I’m sorry, but it’s true. I love Fred VanVleet as a player. I think almost no other player that I’ve seen in the NBA (except maybe Jalen Brunson) has maximized the talent and body he was given more than FVV. While Fred is a steady and low risk passer, and a great floor general, he’s not really much of an offensive threat, especially if you look at his last season.

Isn’t three years of running a scheme without the key player necessary for that scheme enough of a sample? What more do you need to see? If the most stubborn, unreflective, coach I’ve ever seen with the Rockets will change his tune?

And yet, the Rockets have been a good team anyway! The talent on the team, in my opinion, is essentially masking Udoka’s incompetence to a great degree. Except when the playoffs come. Then the mask comes off, and Udoka’s lack of any sort of adaptability very evidently dooms them. If you don’t think it did against Golden State, I can almost see it, but what the hell was that against the shell of a Lakers team with a rookie head coach?

If you look at the Rockets lineup and think you can run a James Harden style, heliocentric attack without James Harden, but also without a center who is either a rim runner or a 3pt shooter, and with another almost total non 3pt shooter on the court to go with your non 3pt shooting center (though it would have been better to put Alpie in the corner than Amen Thompson) then you are simply not fit for your job.

If a coach can, or will, only run one system, no matter his personnel, despite the terrible fits almost across the board for that system, that coach is honestly not fit to be an NBA head coach in the modern game. The competition is too good, too versatile, too swift to punish mistakes. If a coach can’t change what isn’t working, despite ample evidence, what chance does he have against the upper echelons of NBA coaching? As the playoffs have demonstrated: not much.

Maybe Ime Udoka, like Mike Brown, will learn from his mistake, and build a title winner. I can’t imagine that happening in Houston, and I can’t imagine it happening while he’s still a head coach. If I’m honest, I don’t see that happening at all. I expect Ime Udoka to get fired in season, or after another humiliating playoff loss. I expect he will either vanish without a trace, or become an assistant somewhere. If you were a GM, seeing this, would you hire him?

If you were a GM, would you keep a coach who never, at any point, takes responsibility for anything? I’ve watched nearly three years of Udoka post game pressers. He’s got a linguistic tell that indicates to me that he never believes he’s responsible for anything bad. It’s pretty simple. When he’s talking about a Rockets game “We” win, and “They” lose. Listen and you’ll hear it, unless someone’s told him about it, and he stops, I guess.

I have come to believe the Rockets in Rafael Stone and Ime Udoka are an NBA basketball example of The Peter Principle, which (briefly) states that people in a hierarchical system rise to the level of their incompetence. Stone might have an excuse, to some degree, in terms ownership wishes leading to decisions he wouldn’t have chosen. It’s impossible for the likes of me to know for sure, but it’s easy to see other mistakes outside of that anyhow. Also it makes me question how much Stone actually knows about NBA basketball, instead of lawyering and contract negotiation? What does he think he’s seeing out there? This isn’t some subtle thing that only the most experienced basketball minds can understand, a tiny but dangerous flaw in approach, this is obvious stuff.

Ime Udoka, though? It’s straight up incompetence at this point. Whatever got Boston to the Finals with him is looking more and more like a one off event. It’s nice that he got the Rockets to take a level of responsibility for their play, and it’s great he got them to try much harder than they had been trying. On the other hand, the Rockets also got an infusion of sound veterans to provide a leadership backbone on the court, and the slip in in defensive intensity without Dillon Brooks was evident last year.

I wish I had any hope, any positivity about Ime Udoka and His Black Clad Cultists (hear about any head coach interviews for any of them this off season?) but I simply don’t. Ime Udoka has shown what he’s capable of doing, and it’s not good enough for a team that wants, well I was going to say contend, but I’ll go with “win a playoff series” until proven otherwise.

Maybe he’ll surprise me. Stranger things have happened.

PS – You want some positive Rockets coaching news? The Houston Rockets have disbanded their Shooting Coach Committee and hired the consensus best shooting coach in the NBA, Chip Engelland. This might be due mostly to pressing need for Amen Thompson to shoot better, but it should help the entire team. In a summer of Mr. Adequate moves from Rafael Stone, this was a great one.

PPS – Ok, so what should the Rockets be doing on offense? Lots of teams are running some version of the heliocentric Hardenesque offense, what happens if you don’t have that guy? That will be coming up in September.

Domino effects are meant to start relatively small. The first two editions of the series, I feel like, encompassed that. We got really niche with the Mike Brown Kings saga and less niche with Julius Randle’s injury, but both of them required a lot of outside-the-box thinking to see directly what a reversal would’ve caused to the Knicks’ long-term hopes.

This one is anything but niche.

To wrap up this mini-series I’ve had fun with over the dog days of the summer, we’re going to look at possibly the biggest domino effect of them all, one that was scarily realistic and only didn’t occur because of the hubris of a certain front office that later made one of the worst trades in NBA history.

You saw the title. This is a scenario that Jalen Brunson, the birthday boy and the man who has exceeded every expectation and has spearheaded a revival of Knicks basketball so grand that all of us have spent way too much money on championship merch, never puts on the orange and blue.

Following his third season in Dallas, Brunson and his agents at CAA wanted to negotiate a contract extension with the Mavericks’ brass. The number that they decided on was more than reasonable for a player of his current production: four years and $55 million. After all, he was coming off finishing fourth in Sixth Man of the Year voting with plausible upward mobility.

Dallas said no. Fast forward a few months: as Brunson began what turned out to be a breakout campaign, he and his agent approached the Mavs again about the same framework and were again told no.

Brunson kept working and gradually improving to the point where the Mavs themselves approached him about the $55 million deal after the trade deadline, but at that point, he had outgrown that offer as he was barreling towards free agency. Four months later, he landed in New York on a four-year, $104 million pact.

But what if Dallas realized what they had in Brunson at either one of those points, particularly the in-season extension? What if they took a guy that the Knicks had long been looking at off the market? Such a deal would’ve been more than reasonable for their current cap structure as a sixth man or starter next to Luka Doncic, even if the fit was potentially difficult due to both of their defensive shortcomings. Frankly, it was nonsensical for them to be that blind. This was a good player.

December 1, 2021. Jalen Brunson and the Dallas Mavericks announce a four-year, $55 million extension that will begin the following season. Let’s see where the dominoes fall.

Nothing changes from this point forward on any side for the rest of the 2021-22 season. Brunson still balls out and gets on the national radar with his incredible performance in the postseason; the Knicks still miss the playoffs, etc. Instead of the media clowning the Knicks for giving Brunson a nine-figure deal in June, the offseason is spent lauding Nico Harrison and company for their wherewithal to lock down this impact player for cheap.

Of course, this creates a gigantic path of divergence for the Knicks, who were always infatuated with Brunson because of his family connections. I still think Rick Brunson gets hired onto Tom Thibodeau’s staff to replace the outgoing Kenny Payne (who had a truly disastrous tenure at Louisville). The hiring was definitely motivated by his son’s free agency, but he had also served as an assistant under Thibs in Chicago and Minnesota, so it still happens.

The real question, though, is what happens in that offseason. Our first major question revolves around the strategy for the 2022 NBA Draft, particularly with the No. 11 overall pick.

2022 NBA Draft

For those who don’t remember, the Knicks selected Ousmane Dieng, traded him to the Thunder in exchange for three first-round picks, traded up to No. 13 in exchange for two picks, selected Jalen Duren, and shipped him to Detroit alongside Kemba Walker in an effective salary dump. The team came out with solid assets and cleared up some cash.

The motivation behind punting a lottery pick? Signing Jalen Brunson. A later trade with Detroit shipped Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel to the Motor City and cleared up just enough space for the Villanova alum and Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency. It’s why I never cared about people saying “the Knicks traded Jalen Duren for nothing” because it’s false. You don’t get Brunson (most likely) without trading Duren, his cap hit, and the salary attached.

But with Brunson off the table and no clear reason to use cap space, the Knicks are dead set on picking in the lottery. You might think it’s as simple as drafting Dieng or Duren, but the Knicks almost certainly made both selections on behalf of the teams they were actively negotiating with. After all, if they wanted them, they wouldn’t trade them.

There were a few plans for this draft leading up to it. After the Knicks were once again denied a chance at lottery luck, they constantly rang the phones to try to trade up for Jaden Ivey. They may get over the line for this. After all, with no Brunson on the way, there are no schematic issues.

It would still be a very difficult trade to make, so I lean toward it not happening. After Ivey, they seemed quite enamored with Wisconsin guard Johnny Davis, but the Wizards took him 10th overall. That’s two major bullets dodged, but who’s on the clock at No. 11?

The available players who had a pre-draft workout in New York were AJ Griffin, Tari Eason, MarJon Beauchamp, and Mark Williams. I would think it would be one of these guys, even if the extremely talented Jalen Williams and Duren were on the board. In typical Leon Rose fashion, he probably does the first two trades of the night, where he trades out and comes back in, ultimately scooping up two conditional firsts from Detroit and Washington while trading four seconds.

With the 13th pick, they select Duke wing AJ Griffin.

2022 Offseason

With no Brunson and an unsuccessful pursuit of both Davis and Ivey in the draft, the Knicks badly need a point guard. I’d assume they still look to offload salary, particularly with Kemba, to open cap space, but the extent of this is unclear due to the lack of a clear alternative in free agency. There’s restricted free agent Collin Sexton, of course, but the direction that needs to be taken appears to be in the trade market.

Fortunately, there are two lead guards available.

Dejounte Murray is on the block in San Antonio and could be had for a reasonable package. His defensive fortitude makes him a welcome fit for a team that has major defensive questions, and his offense has also proven capable of a leap forward. There’s also that New York native out in Utah who could be of use…

For Murray, the Knicks never seemed that motivated to make that move, even if he would’ve been a decent fit next to Brunson in real life. They were always more focused on adding Donovan Mitchell and figuring it out later. In this timeline, Murray still goes to Atlanta, but it’s a full-court press on bringing Spida home.

With no Brunson, there’s nothing holding them back from adding a small guard into the fray. The fit concerns aren’t there. When Danny Ainge and the Jazz ask for a ridiculous package, it’s eventually negotiated down into something the team can agree on.

In mid-August 2022, Mitchell comes home for a package centered around RJ Barrett and Quentin Grimes, depleting the team’s draft capital to keep further players out of the deal. As much as fans want to play the kids, the Knicks see an opportunity to compete and take it.

Thus, here’s the rotation we have heading into the 2022-23 season:

Donovan Mitchell – Derrick Rose
Evan Fournier – Immanuel Quickley
Alec Burks – Cam Reddish/AJ Griffin
Julius Randle – Obi Toppin
Mitchell Robinson – Isaiah Hartenstein

Yes, in this reality, we assume that the Knicks still find a way to get off Noel’s contract but keep Burks as wing depth after trading Barrett and Grimes. Hartenstein was always a target for the front office and still comes to New York.

The Future

This lineup, as you might imagine, would’ve been rather erratic. You have some brilliant shotmakers in there, but not enough defenders. Tom Thibodeau’s seat gets hot again; he’s forced to bench some players permanently, and the mini-revival still happens… to an extent.

Quickley gets a chance to start with Spida, Deuce McBride’s emergence happens a year sooner, Randle enjoys his bounce-back season. The foundation of the start of the Brunson era would’ve likely been similar, but the real repercussions come later.

At the deadline, the team needs wing depth, having iced Reddish out of the rotation. With Brunson no longer on the team, I can’t imagine the interest in Josh Hart is any more pronounced. It’s still possible that the trade happens. I’m instead going to involve the Knicks in the multi-team trade with the Warriors and Pistons that got Gary Payton II back to the Bay. The Knicks send a bucket of seconds and Cam Reddish to Detroit for Saddiq Bey.

With Mitchell, the Knicks win 48 games and slide into the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, where they host a Cavs team that never got the New York native and instead had to continue building around Darius Garland, Sexton, and Evan Mobley. The Knicks still win in five.

In the second round, the Bucks still get slayed by the wrath of Jimmy Butler and the Heat, and although many fans are optimistic about the prospects of facing the No. 8 seed, Butler waxes the Knicks in a six-game defeat.

Heading into the following season, the Knicks are content with what they got, planning to use it as a building year. Burks never being traded means there’s not enough space to sign Donte DiVincenzo, who was also likely going to be someone Brunson pitched signing. There’s no big move to be made here, so we keep going into a shaky start to the 2023-24 season, which leaves them at an inflection point around the New Year.

As you might recall, OG Anunoby was acquired in real life on December 30, 2023, for RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and a second-round pick. In this reality, Barrett is already gone, but Quickley is becoming a foundational piece after being started out of necessity midway through the prior season. The financials still work if the Knicks add Burks to the trade, but with Barrett not included, the rest of the team’s excess draft capital goes with it.

The Big 3 of Spida-Anunoby-Randle destroy the competition in January 2024 until injuries take out both Randle and Anunoby. Mitchell does his best to imitate 2024 Brunson and gets First-Team All-NBA for his troubles, but it’s certainly an uphill climb. Without DiVincenzo to help with off-ball scoring, the Knicks only win 46 games, dropping them to the play-in tournament. Remember, the No. 2 and No. 7 seeds were just three games apart that year.

The Knicks get revenge on the Heat in the 7-8 game, but have to fare with a road series against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks in the first round, one that just doesn’t go well. With no Randle to physically match up, Toppin (who I believe doesn’t get traded with the team’s worst depth the prior season) and Precious Achiuwa are overwhelmed in a six-game defeat. The front office blames injuries and doesn’t make any drastic moves… yet.

The Mikal Bridges trade never happens. They had to use a boatload of draft assets to get Anunoby and Mitchell, so the Nets aren’t interested. Anunoby extends, Spida gets his three-year, $150 million extension, and the Knicks seem prepared to run it back in 2024-25.

Now, you might wonder: what about KAT?

The Knicks badly wanted him, but they lacked a guy who Minnesota really valued in DiVincenzo to get it done. Further, the fact that Mitchell took a max extension puts the team eerily close to the second apron, something they avoided with Brunson’s pay cut. There’s a very realistic world that this trade doesn’t happen, but Leon Rose always gets his guy, so they trade Mitchell Robinson and the last bits of draft capital to get it done.

All-in.

It’s not worth prognosticating who fills the Hart and Bridges gaps in the lineup, but the Knicks are built around Mitchell, Anunoby, and Towns. That Big 3 would get two seasons to work everything out, going into the second apron in 2025-26 before James Dolan would order a restructuring. They had to win. They had no choice.

In the first year, they get bounced in the second round by the Celtics after a 52-win season. The poise of the Brunson-led Knicks was a big part of why they came back from all those deficits, plus the team would be utterly devoid of defensive length without Robinson or Bridges. This also means that the Knicks and Pacers never rekindle their rivalry in either season, which is fun to think about.

In 2025-26, the year we all rejoiced in real life, they had a real chance. They fortified the depth; they hired Mike Brown to replace Thibs; they waltzed into an extremely weak East and grabbed the bull by the horns.

50 wins in the regular season, enough for the No. 3 seed. They survived a seven-game war with Atlanta, took out Philadelphia in six games, and went face-to-face with the Pistons in the ECF. Remember, no Mitchell likely dooms the Cavs to mediocrity and no ECF berth.

It’s hard to say for sure if the Pistons give the Knicks the same fits they did in real life, but let’s look at the facts. The Knicks were still a major question mark defensively and had no answer for Cade Cunningham. Additionally, they lacked the presence of Robinson (even in a backup role) to fluster Duren. In a tense, seven-game series, the Pistons prevailed. It’s over.

Mitchell would not be extended again by the Knicks, as his playoff shortcomings would not be worth the $270 million extension he got in real life. I’d think the front office would side with the Big Bodega in this, and the team would be built around the fleeting prime of Towns from here.

Safe to say, no banners. Sad stuff. But how’s Jalen doing in Dallas?

Brunson’s New Life In Dallas

Dallas did basically nothing that offseason to replace Brunson, leaving them inherently weaker entering the 2022-23 season. They still acquire Christian Wood after retaining Brunson, but they feel pretty stagnant.

The big change in the 2022-23 season is that the Mavericks never traded for Kyrie Irving, as the fit with him, Brunson, and Luka would’ve been quite bizarre. They also wouldn’t feel the need to, as when Doncic goes down with injury right before the deadline, we see glimpses of Knicks Brunson in the emerging Villanova alum.

Dallas was quite bad this season, flaming out in the play-in tournament, but an interesting trickle-down effect from this is that they wouldn’t be able to properly tank to keep their draft pick, so a parting gift from Brunson would give the Knicks a lottery pick in 2023, which they’d use on a guy like Jordan Hawkins. Not a needle mover, so I didn’t feel the need to mention until now.

The reverb would be no Dereck Lively II in Dallas, but the supporting cast from guys like PJ Washington and eventually Daniel Gafford would provide enough for the Mavericks to still go deep in the postseason in 2024, maybe making the NBA Finals but still not coming that close to a title.

At the same time that all appears to be well in Dallas, Nico Harrison is stirring. He doesn’t like the frequent unavailability of Doncic, who still suffers a major hamstring injury on Christmas 2024. In his absence, unlike in real life where Kyrie suffered a multi-week injury as well, the Mavericks experience the joy of 2024 Jalen Brunson, who carries Dallas through January to the point where Harrison has an epiphany.

“What if I fortify my defense and Jalen can give me Luka-esque production?”

Brunson’s explosion dooms Doncic’s tenure, as the controversial trade with the Lakers still occurs. Anthony Davis would now be paired with a head of the snake in Brunson, a match seemingly made in heaven.

Except Davis is still injury-prone. Dallas never has the death spiral they had with Davis and Irving’s season-ending injuries because Brunson would be there trying to play hero ball. He does just enough to win them 45 games to take the No. 9 seed. After defeating Sacramento in the 9-10 game, a heroic 40-ball sees them stun the Grizzlies to steal a playoff spot, only to get eviscerated by the powerhouse Thunder.

This turns out to be an utter disaster, as Cooper Flagg will no longer become a Maverick. It was possible to have a core of Brunson, Davis, and Flagg, but now? Brunson hits his 30th birthday with Davis shipped to Washington and a band of merrymen around him.

That’s right. The real twist of all of this? Nobody wins.

The Knicks lose because they don’t have Brunson. They never sniff the NBA Finals.

The Mavericks lose because the domino effect takes two lottery picks away, and JB’s hyper-competitiveness doesn’t allow them to get younger.

Jalen Brunson loses. Instead of being the King of New York, he’s got a microscope on him in lowly Dallas as the guy Nico traded Luka to feature.

It’s a lose-lose situation. What a nightmare. I need my nightlight; someone turn on some highlights.

That’s better. Happy Birthday, Cap. We’re so glad this never happened.

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

It’s time for another poll. We trust you, Fear the Sword reader, to respond to our survey in the feed.

This week, we want to know how many All-Stars the Cleveland Cavaliers will have next season. To respond, simply make a free account and vote in our feed below.

For bonus points, leave a comment letting us know who on the roster will be an All-Star. (Note: all points, including bonus ones, are imaginary).

Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys:

The Cavs are one of the more interesting teams in the conference from this perspective. They have four players in their starting lineup who have all been All-Stars. Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, James Harden, and Donovan Mitchell are all capable of making it to the big game.

It isn’t far-fetched to say any of those four could deliver another All-Star caliber season. Mitchell is the most likely. But injuries to anyone would open the door for increased opportunities.

Would it be that surprising if Harden took on more usage and notched another All-Star appearance if Mitchell was hurt in December? Likewise for Allen, who has put up monster numbers in Mobley’s absence in years previous.

Of course, racking up multiple All-Stars on the same team requires regular season success. Two years ago, Mitchell and Mobley made it to All-Star weekend alongside Darius Garland. That was made possible by their 15-0 start to the year.

A lot has changed since then. The Cavs aren’t likely to win 64 games like they did that season. And the rest of the Eastern Conference has improved. I don’t know if Cleveland can garner enough regular-season success to net three (or more) All-Stars again.

Still, there’s a case to be made for multiple All-Stars in Cleveland again. In all honesty, Mitchell and Mobley should both be expected to make the game. From there, I wouldn’t hold anyone else to that standard.

Though even Peyton Watson could be a long-shot option as a 23-year-old wing ripe for a breakout.

Either way, let us know in the feed how many stars the Cavs will have, and who you believe will take the honors.

The Lakers may have come up short on signing Jonathan Kuminga, who’s joining the Timberwolves, and the opportunity to add a wing/forward who’d be a Day 1 starter. 

But the missed opportunity should create other opportunities for players already on the roster. 

With the Lakers unlikely to make a significant move before training camp starts at the end of September, the answer to the question of who will be the fifth starter alongside Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Walker Kessler and (presumably) Quentin Grimes is probably already on the roster. 

And the trickle-down effect of who’ll grab that final starting spot will be felt throughout the roster. 

Here are a few players who should directly benefit from the Lakers not adding Kuminga:

Jake LaRavia

LaRavia’s prominence on last season’s Lakers team shouldn’t be overlooked. 

He not only played in all 82 regular season games, but his 2,061 total regular-season minutes played ranked No. 2 among all Lakers for 2025-26 behind Doncic (2,289 minutes).

Among players Nos. 3-11, only Austin Reaves (1,762 minutes for No. 7) and Jarred Vanderbilt (1,128 minutes for No. 9) are still on the team after a summer of roster reconstruction.

LaRavia will be an important part of the Lakers’ 2026-27 season.

If Kumimga was in the fold, it would’ve been reasonable to expect LaRavia’s playing time (he averaged a career-high 25.1 minutes last season) to dip in 2026-27. 

But without Kuminga, the 6-foot-7 LaRavia should be a part of the competition to figure out the last starting spot, and have opportunities to build off last season. 

At 24 years old (he turns 25 in November) and entering his fifth season in the league, LaRavia should have room to grow in multiple areas.

And with the talented youngster on the final season of the two-year deal he signed with the Lakers last year, it’ll be a crucial season before he’s slated to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Adou Thiero

From a physical profile standpoint, Thiero (6-foot-8, 220 pounds) and Kuminga (6-foot-7, 225 pounds) have similarities.

Including elite athleticism and quickness for their size. 

But Kuminga is far ahead of Thiero when it comes to offensive skill and production. Without Kuminga though, there’s a pathway for Thiero to be on the fringes of the rotation. 

The second-year Lakers forward, who was sidelined for parts of last season because of lower-body injuries and spent most of 2025-26 in the G League, ended the year getting consistent minutes in the playoffs.

Thiero’s performances in July during summer league in San Francisco and Las Vegas showed he’s still pretty raw and has plenty of development ahead of him.

And that playing time should be easier to come by if the Lakers are looking for a bigger wing who can be a lob threat, strong rebounder and hold their own defensively against bigger forwards – all things that would’ve been asked of Kuminga that Thiero is equipped to handle.  

Jarred Vanderbilt  

If Thiero isn’t ready to handle a bigger role yet, Vanderbilt would be in line for more playing time opportunities.

The ninth-year forward wasn’t a consistent part of the rotation when the Lakers were healthy last season. 

But he still played 65 regular games in 2025-26, and was on the court for seven of the 10 playoff games. 

It’s assumed around the league that Vanderbilt will pick up his $13.3 million player option for 2027-28, so this upcoming season won’t be a make-or-break season. 

But potentially having more chances to contribute on the court will help him rebuild his value.

The 2026-27 season is a couple of months away from tip-off, yet striking parallels, sometimes uncanny, to the 2018-19 season are hard not to notice, even to the ‘casual’ eye. For one, LeBron James will be playing for a different team come October after spending the last eight years under the bright lights of LA, marking the end of his longest stint with a franchise. The Raptors, on the other hand, are still awaiting the conclusion of the league’s investigation regarding the trade that would reunite them with the 2019 Finals MVP, Kawhi Leonard.

As similar as the storylines are from seven years ago, context should be taken into consideration, given the drastic difference in the landscape of the league and the reality of aging. Leonard will be entering his 15th season in the league, joining a Raptors roster that has yet to hit their summit, as players and as a unit. 

That is not to say that these parallels are superficial, as there are some similarities worth noting for their relevance and substance. LeBron might have signed for a discounted veteran’s minimum, but the whole free-agency saga was built around his impending decision at that time because he’s still a high-end talent, and any team that gets him will automatically be tagged as championship contenders. 

The same goes for the Raptors. Kawhi raises expectations for Toronto, just as his arrival did eight years ago. One thing that flew under the radar for non-Raptors fans, however, was how the roster differed from the start of the season to its climactic conclusion in June that year. The Raptors traded for Memphis Grizzlies’ long-time centre, Marc Gasol, at the deadline.  

Insiders’ insights   

ESPN’s annual summer forecast allowed NBA insiders to weigh in on hypothetical scenarios and how likely they are to occur in this upcoming season. Such scenarios include teams that are likely to outperform expectations, or do the complete opposite and underachieve. Out of the bunch, the Raptors were listed in just one category — teams that will likely pursue a ‘big’ trade before the trade deadline.

Toronto placed fifth in a five-way tie, having received one vote among the panelists. Needless to say, teams like the Golden State Warriors, who ranked first league-wide, are expected to be major buyers come February, given their missed opportunities to add franchise-altering names like James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, who were said to have been pursued by the team to pair with Stephen Curry for one last-ditch effort at opening another contention window.

The Raptors are not expected to be at this level of conversation come February, but a vote indicates that there’s a real possibility they make a subtle yet impactful deal midseason. While Leonard was the driving force and the central piece of the 2019 championship, Gasol allowed them to realize their ceiling.

The last domino to fall for the 2019 Raptors

Gasol, at 34 years old, was still one of the league’s premier passing big men, with a newly developed three-point shot that commanded coverage, stretching defences in the process. Given his age, he was still an elite defender, an effective anchor in the paint and, at the same time, managed occasional switches with quicker perimeter players. Some, however, thought that the Raptors gave too much depth after trading away rotation pieces C.J. Miles and Delon Wright, and settling for an older big man than the one they had in Jonas Valanciunas. 

This move would eventually pay dividends for Toronto as Gasol’s passing ability provided another point of concern for opposing defences, as he threaded the needle to open teammates, seemingly operating as a point guard in a big man’s body. His defense, however, was the real game changer during their title run. Golden State’s depleted big-man rotation proved no match for Gasol, as he adjusted comfortably to any matchups he was put on. He also played a crucial role in limiting Curry’s attempts from beyond the arc through blitz coverages. Against the Bucks, Gasol was a key component of the Raptors’ ‘Wall’ that proved effective in deterring Antetokounmpo from taking shots within close range. His most notable contribution, however, came in the grueling seven-game series against the Philadelphia 76ers, where he was matched up with arguably the league’s best center at the time, Joel Embiid.

Gasol held Embiid to just 17.6 points a game, coupled with an inefficient 37.1% field goal percentage, as Toronto outlasted Philadelphia in a thrilling Game 7 buzzer-beater by Leonard over Embiid himself.

What could the 2026-27 Raptors learn from this trade?

Barring Kawhi’s second coming, the Raptors are not the same team they were seven years ago. The roster’s youth is a glaring distinction from the 2019 squad, composed mostly of seasoned veterans with playoff experience. Not to mention, the head coaches’ philosophies are opposites of each other: Nick Nurse had a heavy reliance on individual skills, while Darko Rajakovic’s takes a committee approach. 

Likewise, team needs vary in both iterations, considering the difference in player utilization and how they mesh with each other. Front-court depth and perimeter shooting emerge as the most concerning gaps for this year’s team. While hybrid centre-forwards like Collin Murray-Boyles emerged as effective small-ball options, it won’t be sustainable long-term given the increasing prevalence of skilled big men. While the Raptors could experiment more on recent acquisitions like Trayce Jackson-Davis and Trey Jamison III, a trade surrounding a center is something to keep an eye on, especially if rebounding deficits and interior mismatches persist. 

Rajakovic utilizes his wings as secondary playmakers, switchable defenders, and as floor-spacing and cutting options. With the impending departure of Gradey Dick, the minutes allocation will be distributed between two breakout rotation pieces from last season. Jamison Battle and Ja’Kobe Walter both received their fair share of playing time last year, as Dick and Ochai Agbaji gradually faded out of the picture. With Dick expected to be moved regardless of the trade’s completion, Battle and Walter are expected to fill in those minutes and provide a well-needed boost on three-point shooting and perimeter defence.

The potential acquisition of Kawhi does not mean the team figures out everything from the get-go. Compromises from the roster and coaching staff alike will have to be made as the season progresses and players settle into their roles. Take the 2019 squad for example, where players like Fred VanVleet spoke about uncertainty with fit, particularly Kawhi’s 60-game limit for the entire season, which he deemed insufficient for Leonard and his teammates to develop familiarity with each other’s play. 

However, the front office saw enough from that 60-game window that warranted them making a deal for the Grizzlies’ big man, given the team’s needs and his potential fit with the rest of the roster. If the trade for Gasol taught us anything, it’s that a team may take until the midseason to reveal its true identity. Toronto took 55 games into the regular season before eventually trading for their starting big man, as their real gaps began to show. The Raptors don’t necessarily need another Gasol; what it needs is a keen eye from the scouting department and front office to identify team flaws and search for personnel who solve those problems.   

Hey folks we’re back at it, going division by division figuring out just who the Golden State Warriors should be concerned about this season. And after the way things turned out last year when the wounded Dubs didn’t even make the postseason, that answer could easily be anybody. But one of the teams GSW had success against last year comes from the Southwest Division. I’m talking about the Dallas Mavericks, a team that floundered with the injury absence of Kyrie Irving, the rookie lessons of Cooper Flagg, and the inconsistent play of former Warrior Klay Thompson. The Warriors took two out of three from Dallas last season, including a big win on Christmas. Unfortunately one of those battles cost them the knee of Moses Moody.

Dallas spent this offseason trying to convince everybody it finally has its act together, and for about five minutes in the spring, I believed it. They fired Nico Harrison, allegedly the brains behind the PR disaster that was the Luka Doncic trade. They hired Masai Ujiri, the guy who built a championship team in Toronto, to run the whole operation. They brought in Dusty May off an NCAA title at Michigan to replace Bay Area legend Jason Kidd as head coach. On paper that’s the best offseason of competent decision-making this franchise has had in years, and it’s happening around Flagg who just won Rookie of the Year doing things nobody his age should be able to do.

When Cooper Flagg scored 49 points, the MOST ever by a teenager in NBA history last January 😳

The @dallasmavs' ascending star last season joined Michael Jordan as the only rookies since 1973-74 to lead their team in total points, rebounds, assists and steals! pic.twitter.com/V51svoK7ra

— NBA (@NBA) August 21, 2026

Then the actual roster-building started, and I need somebody in Dallas to explain something to me.

We already know what Flagg is. Nobody in the Bay needs a stat sheet to tell them he’s the problem. What Dallas doesn’t have is anybody to take some of that creation load off him, because right now the only reliable ballhandler on the roster is Kyrie Irving, who’s 34 and coming off a torn ACL that’s kept him out since March of last year. Everybody assumed Dallas would use the ninth pick on a guard. They took Morez Johnson Jr., a forward out of Michigan, where Dusty May coached him. I like the player but I don’t understand the team.

And then they waived Klay Thompson, ending a very bland first chapter of the ex-Splash Bro’s post-Dubs career.

Al Harrington doesn’t think Klay Thompson has much left 😬

“I’m a what have you done for me lately kind of guy. With that being said with Klay, watching him the last two years here in Dallas, it seems like he’s fell off a lot. Significantly. I watched him miss a lot of open… pic.twitter.com/HwWPJedjuY

— Heat Central (@TheHeatCentral) August 31, 2026

Our friends over at Mavs Money Ball were guardedly optimistic in their roundtable of the Mavericks’ offseason moves, but one quote stood out for me:

The problem is that Dallas chose to work around the margins instead of truly reforming the roster. The Mavericks still have too many overlapping forwards, not enough reliable ball-handling and several veterans who do not clearly fit Flagg’s timeline. Other young teams have been more aggressive in defining their direction, whether by collecting draft assets, clearing veterans or building a cleaner developmental roster. The individual moves mostly make sense, but they do not yet form a coherent plan.

My current Dallas Mavericks roster rankings pic.twitter.com/ovw37r7gSU

— ItsAllLove (@nbanerdd) August 30, 2026

What kinda team is this? Dallas’ answer at backup guard last season was Brandon Williams, who averaged 13 points and 4 assists for them and even dropped 26 off the bench in the Christmas game against Golden State. The Warriors just signed him though!

Cooper Flagg is a ridiculous young talent surrounded by a roster that has hella question marks. That young supertalent scares me. The Mavericks do not.

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Parting ways with every free agent not named Austin Reaves this summer opened up positions across the roster. Shot creation and guard threats were thin behind the backcourt, leading them to come to terms with Collin Sexton on a two-year, $19 million deal.

He brings a dynamic scoring punch and a much-needed on-ball operator off the bench when Luka Dončić or Reaves miss any time.

Roster-building decision-makers constantly wrestle with where to invest their resources. Under a capped salary, those choices and ramifications are even more magnified. With the money handed out, teams are letting you know which archetypes they deem replaceable.

​Sexton is a 6’3, 190-pound guard whose main value is on offense. These measurables aren’t particularly sought after in the modern game, which values versatility and switching on defense with an emphasis on size one through five.

​Those ideas can clash at the highest level of basketball, and fully dependent offensive players get played off the floor. Jalen Brunson of the Knicks is the extreme case of a short ball handler still bringing enormous value in winning time.

​Sexton is not Brunson by any means whatsoever, but to be effective at that size, you must be efficient. You need to be able to put pressure on the rim as a playmaker while hitting off-ball shots. He fits the bill, sitting just under the elusive 50-40-90 club.

​Splitting time with the Charlotte Hornets and the Chicago Bulls, Sexton averaged 15.4 points and 3.3 assists in just under 24 minutes per game. An efficient 49% from the field, 40% on 3-pointers, and 86% from the free-throw line.

​The typical offensive jitterbug, Sexton leverages quick downhill speed to be an offensive engine. He’s a high-volume pick-and-roll player, with 32.5% of his possessions involving a ball screen. Those numbers are up there with both Luka (34.7%) and Reaves (35.1%), who are among the league’s leaders.

​Any slip-up by the opposing screen defenders and Sexton gets to his elite first step. Watch below in semi-transition where he notices the opposing big in the wrong defensive position. A quick crossover gets him to the rim for the finish.

Sexton shows good patience at the top of the key. He’s defended by one of the best point-of-attack guards in Cason Wallace below. He methodically puts him in jail and uses the Gortat screen to finish the and-one.

He has all the passes in the toolbox you need from an on-ball guard. He reads skip passes well and a positive lob pairing with LA’s biggest add in Walker Kessler. The two played three seasons together on the Utah Jazz and over 2000 minutes on the court, bringing some instant chemistry to a new group.

​Sexton is a fearless driver to the rim at over 9.5 per game and will fit right next to the star backcourt’s propensity to put pressure on the basket. It’s a huge boost to a team that lacked any guard scoring juice off the bench last season. He pairs that attack with elite efficiency, finishing 64.5% in the restricted area.

When teams switch a screen or a big naturally ends up on the guard, he’s one of the best isolation scorers by efficiency with 1.19 points per possession, placing him in the 87th percentile league-wide.

​Watch below as he has one of the better switchable bigs in the league on him in Neemias Queta. After a couple of in-and-out dribbles, he gets to his spot and rises.

A concern is that the pull-up 3-point shooting is subpar for a player that handles the ball as much as he does. Sexton shot just 34% on his off-the-dribble attempts from behind the arc and 36% overall.

​That said, the guard should be paired with either Luka or Reaves at all times, letting him attack compromised defenses. Sexton worked off of both LaMelo Ball and Josh Giddey last season, and has turned himself into a more than useful off-ball player, hitting 44.5% of his catch-and-shoot 3-pointers.

​The concerns, as with much of this roster, are how he fares on defense. He’s a pit bull who brings a 6’7 wingspan, quick hands, and overall effort. Following his trade to the Bulls, Sexton averaged 1.5 steals per game, leading the team.

​Luka and Austin already need defensive protection, and Sexton is another player who will be picked on with his size. How the Lakers manage the lineups will be crucial, along with whether they can add another defensive backup center or forward to fill out the rotation.

​At 27, Sexton continues the summer theme of getting younger at all positions. Concerns remain, as Sexton has never played in the playoffs, but he should bring instant scoring punch and playmaking to a team that desperately needs to lessen the load on its star guards.

​You can follow Raj on X at @RajChipalu.

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

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You can feel it, can’t you? That little tinge of excitement is creeping in as we inch closer to another season of NBA basketball.

The NBA Draft was more than 2 months ago. Summer League is nearly 2 months in the rearview mirror. We are now less than a month away from Phoenix Suns Media Day. Yes, we have officially entered that awkward portion of the calendar where you desperately want to get excited, but you know better. There is still some road left to travel before basketball actually returns.

Still, when you look back at what we thought the Suns needed to accomplish this offseason, it feels like quite a few boxes were checked.

They needed to bring back Collin Gillespie, Jordan Goodwin, and Mark Williams. Done. Dillon Brooks needed an extension. Done. A team that entered the offseason without a first-round draft pick somehow ended up making one. And for a fan base that spent plenty of time talking about moving off the contracts of Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale, well, that happened too.

Whether you agree with all of those moves is entirely up to you. Maybe you loved them. Maybe you hated them. Maybe you are somewhere in the middle, staring at the roster like a man examining a suspicious stain on the carpet and wondering how exactly it got there.

Either way, your opinion on those decisions is probably going to determine how you grade the Suns’ offseason. And that is the subject of this week’s Bright Side Reacts survey.

If you were standing at the front of the classroom with a red pen in your hand, what grade would you give the Phoenix Suns for the way they operated this offseason? What moves made sense? Which ones left you scratching your head? Cast your vote, then let us know in the comments why you landed where you did.

Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys:

Surrounded by thousands at Boston Common, Jaylen Brown took his final bow in the city he’s called home for the last decade Sunday afternoon.

Brown held his “741 Frequency Fest” block party in downtown Boston to celebrate his 10 seasons with the Boston Celtics. It was his last chance to say goodbye before officially embarking on his debut season alongside Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers following this offseason’s blockbuster trade.

“Listen, I’m at a loss for words,” Brown told a sea of Bostonians. “When I got to this city, I said I’m going to go to war for this city. I met so many great people here. People that helped me in the community, that motivated me on my journey. People that have supported me even when I didn’t support myself at times.”

Brown continued: “I just want to say thank you to Boston, thank you to the city, and I love you.”

The entire time, he sported his 2024 Celtics championship ring.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and rappers A$AP Ferg, Joyner Lucas and Lil Baby were among those in attendance for the emotional gathering. Wu presented Brown with a “Jaylen Brown Way” Boston street sign, while Ferg joined him on stage to perform his debut single, “Just Do It,” which the two released in 2024.

Boston honors @FCHWPO with the Key to the City 🗝️ pic.twitter.com/XLWCeuPGDn

— 741Performance (@741Performance) August 30, 2026

There were food trucks, a 741 Performance pop-up shop set up, and a large sign that read “Thank You, Jaylen,” which hundreds of fans plastered with messages of gratitude for the 2024 NBA Finals MVP. It was as sentimental as it was a difficult day for the city, which has embraced Brown as one of its own, to reflect on everything he’s meant since becoming a Celtic over 10 years ago.

Brown went from a split reception filled with both cheers and boos on draft night to undergoing 119 playoff battles before helping Boston raise its record 18th championship banner. He began his career as a rookie rummaging for minutes off the bench to signing a historic $304 million contract extension in 2023 — all while remaining committed to his promise to impact the community through various initiatives aimed at leaving Boston a little bit better than when he arrived.

That he did.

Not only did Brown help the Celtics reclaim their place as the most winning franchise in league history, but he also became Boston’s most authentic athlete. He was as visible on the court as he was in classrooms across Boston’s inner-city neighborhoods, stopping by schools in Dorchester and Roxbury to connect with kids who rarely got the chance to watch their heroes perform live.

God is crazy ❤️

— Jaylen Brown (@FCHWPO) August 30, 2026

Brown went the extra mile, even when it wasn’t required to, making it his own obligation as someone who never forgot where he came from. From draft night to his farewell, Brown always carried the lessons taught by his mother, Mechalle Brown, and his late grandmother, Dianne Varnado, who passed away in 2023.

Few athletes succeed in Boston, whether homegrown or acquired through trade or free agency. Fewer earn the kind of respect fans across New England will forever hold for Brown. Plenty make their stop here, win a title, take their duckboat ride across the city and go about their business at the end of the pit stop. But that isn’t the case with Brown. He became much more than an honorary Bostonian. He wasn’t born here, but in a matter of a few years, it was as if he’d been here from the very beginning of his journey.

That’s rare.

There aren’t many whose impact spanned so far it could rally an entire army at Boston Common for one final goodbye.

Brown is now in Philadelphia, playing for one of Boston’s most historic rivals and joining forces with one of its most hated villains in James. Still, it doesn’t matter. When the time comes, and the tribute video draws the attention of 19,000-plus people inside TD Garden, that respect will once again become apparent.

As deserved, Brown will receive his flowers, his applause, and the unwavering love he secured through a decade of living up to the standard of the Celtics uniform. That’ll always be here waiting for him, regardless of however many trips he makes back to Boston or what uniform he’s wearing.

That’s the bond he forged, and it will live on long beyond his departure from Boston.