The Detroit Tigers took the first game of a critical home series against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night with a narrow 6-4 victory. The good guys got their first win against Tanner Bibee since July 2024 thanks to some well-timed offense, and somehow, Kenley Jansen did not blow the save despite feeding the batters meatballs in the ninth.
Taking the mound for the Motor City Kitties in Game 2 is left-hander Framber Valdez, who is coming off two straight seven-inning quality starts. Across those 14 frames of work, the 32-year-old veteran posted a 1.29 ERA and 2.38 FIP on 14 hits and four walks — good for a 1.29 WHIP — while striking out 11 en route to a pair of wins.
Valdez faced Cleveland once before this season on May 18 in Detroit, and it was not pretty, serving up four runs on five hits and four walks while striking out three over five innings of work to take the L in an 8-2 loss. However, that was during the heinous month of May, so it might not be wise to extrapolate much from those results.
For the visitors, fellow southpaw Foster Griffin will toe the rubber for the second time in a Guardians uniform after being traded from the Washington Nationals, who received four players for the 2026 All-Star. The 31-year-old was shellacked in his first start for Cleveland against the New York Mets, coughing up five runs on seven hits (two home runs) and two walks while striking out six over four frames to earn his fourth loss of the season in a 12-4 final.
Take a peek at how the two match up stats-wise with our data below.
Detroit Tigers (59-60) vs. Cleveland Guardians (58-62)
Time (ET): 6:40 p.m. Place: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan SB Nation Site:Covering the Corner Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Game 120: LHP Framber Valdez (7-7, 4.17 ERA) vs. LHP Foster Griffin (12-4, 3.31 ERA)
1876 – Chicago’s versatile Cal McVey has the unusual distinction of both pitching and catching in a 5-0 win over Cincinnati. The win goes to starter Al Spalding‚ his 10th straight win over the Reds
1930 – With 40‚000 fans on hand at Wrigley Field‚ Dazzy Vance gives up 14 hits and walks four but strands 16 Cubs runners. With the game tied 2-2 in the 11th, Riggs Stephenson bounces a single to drive in the winning run.
1934 – In St. Louis, the Cubs sweep the Deans‚ winning 7-2 against Paul‚ and 6-4 over Dizzy. Big Jim Weaver wins the opener and Pat Malone is the victor against Diz.
1951 – Roy Campanella breaks up a pitching duel between Don Newcombe and Boston’sJohnny Sain with a three-run homer‚ his second of the game‚ and the third time in nine games he’s collected a pair of homers. Campy’s five ribbies give the Dodgers a 7-2 win.
1953 – Brooklyn slugger Duke Snider hits his second grand slam in three days‚ accounting for all the runs in the Dodgers’ 4-0 win over the Giants. Carl Erskine allows New York just two hits.
1964 – Mickey Mantle sets a major league record when hits a home run from both sides of the plate for the tenth time in his career. Mantle hits a left-handed homer off Ray Herbert over the 461-foot marker in centerfield that lands 15 rows into the bleachers, 502 feet from the plate.
1492 – Christopher Columbus arrives in the Canary Islands on his first voyage to the New World,
1851 – American inventor Isaac Singer patents his famous sewing machine.
1877 – To his amazement, Thomas Edison records himself reciting “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on his newly completed cylinder phonograph, a device that records sound onto tinfoil cylinders.
1908 – Ford Motor Company builds its first Model T car, which Henry Ford himself tests on a hunting trip to Wisconsin and northern Michigan.
1958 – Art Kane photographs a group portrait of 57 leading jazz musicians assembled in front of a brownstone on 126th Street in NYC for Esquire magazine; originally titled “Harlem, 1958,” it appears as the centerfold of Esquire’s January 1959 issue celebrating the “Golden Age of Jazz”.
1966 – The Beatles hold a press conference at the Astor Tower Hotel, in Chicago, Illinois; John Lennon apologizes for his “more popular than Jesus” remark.
1966 – The last Beatles concert tour of North America begins with two shows at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois.
1978 – NFL New England Patriots wide receiver Darryl Stingley suffers a spinal cord injury, leaving him with incomplete quadriplegia after a hit by Oakland Raiders’ Jack Tatum in a preseason exhibition game.
1991 – Heavy metal band Metallica releases its fifth album, “Metallica,” which debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
2016 – American star swimmer Katie Ledecky sets a world record of 8:04.79 to dominate the women’s 800 m field at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics; a medal tally of four golds and onx silver makes her the most decorated US female athlete at one Olympics.
Philadelphia, PA - April 26: Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and guard Jaylen Brown high five in the third quarter. The Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers played in the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Xfinity Mobile Arena on April 26, 2026. (Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) | Boston Globe via Getty Images
Think about the best co-worker you’ve ever had.
They made your job easier. You trusted them when things got hectic, knew they would do their part, and probably got better at your own job because they pushed you. You celebrated the big wins together and complained to each other when you-know-what hit the fan.
Then five o’clock rolled around and you both went home.
Odds are, you weren’t grabbing dinner every Friday or planning vacations together. You worked well together, and that was enough.
For some reason, that standard has always felt insufficient when applied to NBA stars.
Last week, Jaylen Brown was asked during his introductory press conference in Philadelphia whether he had spoken to Jayson Tatum since the trade that ended one of the league’s longest-running star partnerships.
“Not really.”
Jaylen Brown, when asked if he has been able to talk to Jayson Tatum: "Not really"
"We won a championship together… Obviously there's ups and downs in any type of relationship. On my end, it's nothing but respect."
Two words were enough to reopen a conversation that followed Tatum and Brown for most of nine seasons. For some, Brown’s answer felt like confirmation. I’m sure plenty of people out there had a reaction in the vein of, “See, I told you they weren’t close!” For anyone who spent years questioning whether two ambitious stars could coexist, those two words probably tasted a lot like vindication.
The problem is that the basketball has always told us otherwise.
Boston spent years watching Tatum and Brown grow together, adjust to each other, endure playoff failures, survive roster turnover and eventually win a championship. Brown never publicly demanded his own team. Tatum never asked the Celtics to choose. Brown has since said he threw his phone across the room when he learned he had been traded, which is a pretty strange reaction for someone supposedly waiting nine years for his escape.
Brown’s latest comments tell us something about where their relationship stands now. How close they were throughout nine seasons together is harder to know.
That still leaves us with a much more interesting question: why did anyone need them to be?
In January 2022, with Boston sputtering through a frustrating season, Brown was asked directly about the idea that the Celtics might eventually need to choose between their two young stars.
“I disagree. I think we can play together,” he said. Brown acknowledged the team’s struggles, but his larger point was almost comically straightforward: they already had played well together for most of their careers.
He addressed the personal side, too.
“Me and J.T. talk,” Brown said. “As long as I’m on the same page with him and he’s on the same page with me, I think that’s what we’re most focused on.”
Sounds like a solid partnership, right? Still, the court of public opinion required further evidence.
Of course, there were real basketball issues worth discussing. Tatum and Brown occupied similar spaces on the floor, needed touches and were still learning how to create for one another instead of simply taking turns.
Even through all of that, the results were the results. Since Brown entered the league in 2016-17, no player has been part of more playoff wins than his 83. Tatum ranks second with 75. The partnership everyone kept trying to diagnose was quietly becoming one of the winningest duos of its era.
The legitimate basketball questions gradually got tangled up with speculation about what their relationship supposedly lacked. Body language became evidence. An offseason apart became suspicious. Any awkward quote could be stretched into another theory about whose team it really was or whether one of them would eventually demand something bigger for himself.
Then, Boston won the 2024 championship.
Brown took home Finals MVP and called Tatum his “partner in crime.” Tatum responded by saying, “We know we need each other.” Later that night, he explained that neither cared who received the individual trophy because the championship was what mattered.
Brown offered an even simpler summary afterward: “I trusted him. He trusted me.”
Maybe trust was always the more useful word with these two.
Chemistry doesn’t require friendship
The funny thing is, Tatum and Brown are hardly the first great teammates whose personal relationship was more complicated than the mythology surrounding them.
Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen became the obvious shorthand for superstar partnership. They won six championships together, and for years both spoke glowingly about what the other meant to those teams. Jordan thanked Pippen during his Hall of Fame speech and made clear that Pippen was beside him for every title. Pippen later called Jordan the best teammate he ever had.
Then the mythology started peeling away.
Pippen eventually acknowledged that their friendship was never as close as viewers assumed from watching them play together. In a sit-down with GMA’s Michael Strahan in 2021, Pippen said, “It wasn’t what you saw on the court,” explaining that the respect remained even if the personal relationship people assumed was there had been overstated.
Their relationship has become considerably messier since then. Yet none of that changes what happened on the court.
Nobody watches the ’90s Bulls and wonders whether Jordan and Pippen were capable of coexisting. Six banners have a way of quieting those conversations.
Scottie Pippen says he and Michael Jordan were never friends off the court and haven’t spoken since 2020:
Pippen: “Great teammate, but we were just never great friends.”
Tatum and Brown never reached anything close to that level of historical dominance, but the distinction still matters. Personal closeness and basketball chemistry are related only as much as the players involved need them to be.
What actually mattered in Boston was whether that trust translated to the court, and their championship run offered a pretty useful demonstration. Tatum scored 36 in Games 1 and 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Brown answered with 40 in Game 2 and a team-high 29 in the clincher. There was no nightly referendum on whose team it was. Boston needed one of them to take over, and usually one of them did.
By the end, I think they had figured that out. Mostly.
There is no reason to romanticize the relationship beyond what we know. Nine years together in that kind of pressure cooker surely presented challenges, just as any long partnership does. What we can say with certainty is that whatever their relationship looked like away from the court, it never prevented them from functioning at a championship level.
Two people can frustrate each other and still be excellent colleagues. Anyone who has held a job for longer than six months should understand this concept.
At some point, though, we started asking NBA partnerships to satisfy a more public standard. Fans started craving evidence of closeness that had very little to do with basketball. Workout videos together? Encouraging. Vacation photos during the offseason? Even better. Riding a tandem banana boat in the Bahamas? Well, that’s reserved for LeBron and his banana boat brethren.
Tatum and Brown rarely provided that kind of public proof. Instead, they gave Boston what it ultimately craves: winning.
Boston made the choice
That context matters when looking at how the partnership actually ended.
Brown didn’t force his way to Philadelphia. There was no public trade request or summer-long campaign about needing his own franchise. His reaction to the deal sounded much more like someone caught off guard.
“When I first got traded, I just threw my phone across the room,” Brown said during his Philadelphia introduction.
He later described the Celtics as having “packed” him up and admitted he was still processing everything.
None of that proves he was thrilled with every part of his life in Boston, but it does complicate the assumption that Tatum and Brown were inevitably headed toward some dramatic breakup because one of them couldn’t tolerate sharing the stage.
For years, people wondered when one of the players would make the choice for Boston.
Boston eventually made it for them.
Brown’s “not really” answer now gives everyone room to revisit the past and search for clues that were supposedly there all along. We may learn more once Celtics-Sixers games turn every spectator in the building into a relationship counselor.
Even then, the ending shouldn’t be allowed to rewrite the middle.
BOSTON, MA – JUNE 17: Jaylen Brown #7 and Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics pose for a photo in the locker room after winning Game 5 of the 2024 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks on June 17, 2024 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2024 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Tatum and Brown spent nine seasons together. They made repeated trips deep into the playoffs, recovered from some excruciating postseason losses and eventually won the title everyone said they needed to validate the experiment.
Whatever their friendship looked like, the partnership worked.
The partnership was enough
Maybe that’s the simplest way to understand Tatum and Brown.
We spent years looking for evidence that their relationship was warmer, closer or more obvious than what we could see from the outside. Maybe it was, or maybe it wasn’t. From where we sit, we can’t really know.
What we can judge is what happened when they shared a basketball court. There, they survived ugly seasons, brutal playoff exits, role changes and all the noise that followed them over nearly a decade. When the pressure was highest, they eventually figured out how to trust each other enough to deliver a championship.
Brown’s latest comments tell us something about how much they’ve communicated since the trade. How close they were throughout nine seasons together is harder to know. For nine seasons, Tatum and Brown kept answering the question that actually mattered. They trusted each other enough to grow together, lose together and eventually win together.
Personally, I’m taking Banner 18 over bestie behavior every day of the week.
The Los Angeles Lakers have been sold to Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger in a major shakeup for the 17-time NBA champions.
An agreement was reached to purchase the Lakers for a record $12.5 billion, ESPN reported.
“As lifelong NBA fans, we are deeply honored for the opportunity to become stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic sports franchises in the world,” a statement read. “We have immense respect for the leadership and vision of Jerry and Jeanie Buss. Our long-term commitment is to build on that foundation, compete at the highest level, and serve this extraordinary team, its fans, and the city of Los Angeles,” the statement continued.
Walter purchased the Lakers from the Buss family last year for a then-record franchise valuation of approximately $10 billion. He still owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Sparks and English Premiere League side Chelsea.
The deal requires the approval of the NBA’s board of governors. The panel is scheduled to meet in New York next month.
“Owning the Los Angeles Lakers has been one of the great honors of my life,” Walter said. “It has been an extraordinary investment, but what I will carry with me is the community, the fans, and a city that treats this team as family. I am grateful to Jeanie Buss, the Buss family, the players, and the staff for welcoming me into this chapter. The Lakers belong to Los Angeles, and I have every confidence the best is still ahead.”
Kushner, 41, founded venture capital firm Thrive Capital. The brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump, is a minority owner of the Miami Heat and previously had a stake in the Memphis Grizzlies.
Iger, 75, was Disney’s CEO before his term ended earlier this year. In 2024, he became the controlling owner of NWSL team Angel City FC in Los Angeles.
Word of the deal came as a surprise, given Walter’s purchase of the team just last year. Lakers Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, a former part-owner of the team and past president of basketball operations, referenced the fan base Wednesday in a social media post.
“I want to congratulate my good friend Bob Iger and Josh Kushner on their purchase of the Los Angeles Lakers!” Johnson wrote on X. “Laker fans, you couldn’t have two better owners. I’ve known Bob personally for over 40 years — he has always loved the Lakers and basketball and he will bring championships back to LA.”
Luka Doncic, who joined the Lakers in a surprise deal with Dallas, also shared his thoughts on social media.
“Being a Laker means everything to me, and I’m excited to get back on the court and bring a championship to LA,” Doncic said. “I’ve gotten used to big changes over these last few years, but I know that no matter what, there is no limit to the potential of this iconic franchise. I look forward to meeting with Josh and Bob so we can get to work building something special in LA together”
MILWAUKEE, WI - 1971: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar #33 of the Milwaukee Bucks and Wilt Chamberlain #13 of the Los Angeles Lakers look on during the game circa,1971 at the Milwaukee Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1971 NBAE (Photo by Vernon Biever/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain had a legendary rivalry in the late 1950s and through the 1960s.
But Russell retired in 1969, and you’d think Chamberlain would have reigned unchallenged as the league’s top big man.
That didn’t happen.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then still known as Lew Alcindor, entered the league after winning three straight NCAA championships, and was an immediate sensation.
When he joined the NBA for the 1969-70 season, Jabbar finished second in the league in scoring with 28.8 ppg, and third in rebounding, with 14.5 per game. Naturally, he was Rookie of the Year, and won his first championship in his second season.
When he entered the league, Chamberlain was 33, and his career was starting to wind down. He had had a knee injury in 1969 that was still an issue, and the coltish Jabbar was just getting started.
Nonetheless, Chamberlain had immense pride, and while he acknowledged that Jabbar was his greatest challenge ever as an NBA center, he always had something extra for him when they met.
As you’ll see in this video, these guys didn’t like each other when they played, but they had immense mutual respect.
It was a relatively brief rivalry, but in some ways more intense than the Chamberlain-Russell epic.
PORTLAND, ME - SEPTEMBER 06: Josue Briceño #43 celebrates as he rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the game between the Erie SeaWolves and the Portland Sea Dogs at Hadlock Field on Saturday, September 6, 2025 in Portland, Maine. (Photo by Ella Hannaford/Minor League Baseball via Getty Images)
With the MLB trade deadline behind us and a lot of players on the move around the league, Baseball America did a full re-rank of their top 100 prospects list last week, placing just three Detroit Tigers prospects on the list. With Kevin McGonigle long graduated, and Max Clark on his way to graduating from prospect status by season’s end, the system is bolstered with good depth after the deadline deals, but for the moment is a bit lacking in high end impact prospects. That’s not a problem to be worried about right now, because the Tigers already have one of the better young core position player groups in the game, while Jackson Jobe’s return to join Troy Melton and Keider Montero gives them a center piece group to build their rotation around for years to come. It just means that there may be fewer impact position players coming along in the next couple of years.
While FanGraphs still has 27-year-old right-hander River Ryan on their Board as a prospect, Baseball America regards him as graduated due to his age and service time, even if much of that time as a big leaguer has been spent recovering from 2024 Tommy John surgery. That categorization certainly makes the Tigers system weaker on Baseball America’s list, but remember that it’s overall organizational talent that matters in the end, not who has the best players still regarded strictly as prospects. In terms of high end, 25 and under talent in the organization, few teams can compete with the Tigers right now. Still, the Tigers will certainly need to see some of their players just outside of “top 100 status” to continue developing into prospects with higher levels of certainty to continue to flow talent into the major leagues in the years ahead.
The one huge whiff on Baseball America’s new top 100 list in regards to the Tigers is the exclusion of catcher/first baseman Josue Briceño. We can at least give them a point for consistency, as they didn’t rank Briceño in their 2025 post-draft top 100 rankings in August of 2025 either, but doubling down on a mistake does one no credit. At that point, fellow catcher-first baseman Thayron Liranzo was their 69th ranked prospect, but he’s now off the list entirely. Max Clark was ranked 22nd and Kevin McGonigle was 23rd. Obviously that doesn’t look too good in retrospect either, but at least they were both fairly highly ranked. SS Bryce Rainer was ranked 60th and is now their 73rd ranked prospect.
A wrist injury suffered in spring training back in March required surgery, and sidelined Briceño until July. The left-handed hitter hasn’t taken long to get back into form, and his combination of a plus hit tool and plus power locked in quickly to conquer the Double-A level. He has eight homers in just 17 games for the Erie SeaWolves, and after striking out a bit more than usual in his first series, he looks right back on track in that regard. As a result, the Tigers will promote Briceño to Triple-A Toledo starting on Tuesday.
There are ongoing concerns about Briceño’s ability to stick behind the plate, of course. Those concerns are largely mitigated by Dillon Dingler’s rise as one of the elite players in the game, but between Eduardo Valencia and . Briceño the Tigers have two decidedly bat first catchers that don’t really jibe with A.J. Hinch and his staffs’ philosophy of demanding excellence behind the plate from their catchers. Thayron Liranzo has a lot more questions about his bat, but has really separated himself as the most likely future backup catcher for Dingler.
Still, even as a first baseman, Briceño is comfortably a 50 FV prospect and should be on any top 100 list. There aren’t 10 better hitting prospects in baseball at the moment. The 21-year-old reached Double-A in early July of 2025 at age 20. He played 45 games there last year and hit five home runs, while his strikeout rate spiked from 16.4 percent at High-A to 23.7 percent at Double-A. Still, he barely had time to do much more than settle in at the level by season’s end, and he was 3-4 years younger than most players in the Eastern League at that point.
To miss the first half of the season with a wrist injury and then level up and conquer Double-A conclusively in a couple of weeks is extremely impressive. He’s trimmed his chase rate to well above average levels, and is running a swinging strike rate just under 11 percent combined at the level overall. He makes a lot of contact, and much of it is very hard contact. He’ll also take his walks. Briceño combines one of the better combinations of plate discipline, pure contact ability, and big time juice in all the minor leagues. He may just not provide all that much value defensively as a first baseman and designated hitter.
FanGraphs and MLB Pipeline are on the right side here, as both continue to put 50 FV grades on him, while acknowledging that he’s a bat first prospect that may not provide much value defensively. Ultimately, top 100 status at this site or that site doesn’t have any relevance to how a player’s career works out, but people often use top 100 players to judge farm systems. They’ll be missing part of the picture in Briceño’s case.
#17 CF Max Clark
Young Mr. Clark has made a very successful start to his big league career over the past week, and will be graduated off top 100 lists this offseason unless something goes very awry.
Clark entered the season needing to do a few things to get himself to the major leagues. The main thing was tackling a more advanced class of pitcher and getting acclimated to the more advanced and complicated sequencing he’s seeing in the major leagues. Next was to clean up his defensive game and base running a little further. Clark’s reads and route running improved quite a bit in 2025, and he was no longer relying on speed and closing ability to play a good center field. However, there were still finer points in his first step, reads, and body control as he pursued balls in the gaps and over his head that needed work this season, and his time with the Mud Hens was all about refining the details of playing the position, while improving his ability to get jumps on more experienced pitchers and steal bases.
All signs are positive. Clark combines a gritty, old school approach and a distaste for strikeouts with the ability to go the opposite way, draw his walks, bunt for hits, or turn and crush home runs. His first step has improved quite a bit, but his routes can still be a bit circuitous. His speed and closing ability has always made up for some of those deficiencies, and this season he made nice strides improving the finer points of his game and no longer relying so much on pure speed alone. There are still improvements to come, and at 21 years of age, a high likelihood that Clark will continue to develop into one of the better defensive center fielders in the game.
#39 OF Zyhir Hope
The Tigers next top prospect is their newest. The left-handed hitting outfielder is an athletic specimen with huge juice in his bat and good speed and defensive ability to boot. He moves up significantly in BA’s rankings after trimming his 2025 High-A strikeout rate down a little bit at the Double-A level, while handling high velocity much better and doing a ton of damage at the plate. Hope has 23 homers and 18 steals in 94 games for Double-A Tulsa this season.
His profile has always come with some swing and miss concerns, but Hope has proven both driven and coachable and his progress this season lends a lot more confidence that the swing and miss isn’t going to hold him back too much. He made some adjustments to his stance and bat path that alleviated some of the strikeout concerns and helped him cover more of the zone effectively against all pitch types. Hope might turn out to be a relatively low average slugger who mainly feasts on right-handed pitching at the major league level, but he’s handled left-handed pitching reasonably well this year, giving more confidence that he’ll break through as a full-time right-fielder who can play center on a part-time basis while contributing in all phases of the game with All-Star caliber upside if everything comes together.
#73 SS Bryce Rainer
The recently turned 21-year-old Rainer’s stock has slipped this season due to the high strikeout rates he’s posting at the High-A level. His double plus power and arm strength have returned intact after season ending shoulder surgery in early June of 2025, and his plate discipline remains excellent. However, Rainer only had 35 games of pro ball out of high school coming into this season and the Tigers moved him aggressively up to High-A West Michigan this spring after a brief stint at Low-A Lakeland to get his feet back under him.
Rainer’s development as a shortstop continues to go well, and he looks like a future above average defender whose outstanding arm strength enables him to throw out runners from deep in the hole and get plenty of gas even on off balance throws on choppers and slow rollers, or from awkward angles going up the middle.
The issue is still the strikeouts. As argued repeatedly, Rainer’s numbers early on this year were pretty irrelevant. He needed time and reps just to get back into the swing of things after 8 months without swinging a bat in game situations. And as expected, those extreme strikeout rates he ran in April and early May cooled down significantly as he settled in. Rainer then tore the Midwest League up in June, with a high percentage of his balls leaving the bat at 108 up to 114 mph. He posted a 1.140 OPS for the month with six home runs, most of them tape measure shots, but continued to strike out around 30 percent of the time. Those strikeout numbers got worse in July, and he stopped hitting the ball in the air as much as pitchers started trying to jam him and in general pitch around him a little more.
What’s really noticeable, however, is that the high strikeout rates come more from patience verging on passivity than from swing and miss. It bodes much better for his long-term potential that he’s just taking a lot of strike calls than if he were swinging and missing to extreme degrees. The former can be alleviated by alterations in his approach and simply building up reps, whereas bat to ball skill is more innate and hard to develop. Rainer’s long levers and stiff-legged swing remain highly effective at balls in the middle of the plate or away, and he takes the ball to left field with eye-popping authority. But those same traits sometimes get in the way of him pulling balls he should crush on the inner third, and rolling them over on the ground instead. His approach has generally been to avoid swinging even at strikes unless he can extend on them. His 12.7 swinging strike rate is a little on the high side, but for a very inexperienced hitter at the High-A level they’re very reasonable. His 20 percent called strike rate tells the tale, as he’s often rung up on edge pitches he just doesn’t think he can do much with anyway. The solution probably involves improving his lower half strength and flexibility, improving his platform to help him adjust to balls in flight more effectively.
Rainer deserves a lot of leash before people’s opinions about his future start to calcify. Right now, he looks like a future low average hitter who will walk a fair amount and hit for good power while playing average and likely above average shortstop. That easily makes him a viable top 100 candidate, but the kicker here is that the upside is enormous, because when he can extend his arms, he consistently drives balls harder than all but a few other prospects in baseball, all while rarely chasing pitches out of the zone. I think we can dispense with hopes of future Corey Seager comps, because Rainer just doesn’t have the adjustability in his swing to foul off a lot of tough edge pitches or serve them for softer hits. The risk/reward levels here are high, but the power, eye for the zone, defensive tools, along with some basestealing ability and overall speed, all give him a more stable floor than most hitters of this type.
Even now, Rainer only has 119 games out of high school and he’s hitting in the heart of a High-A batting order. Don’t expect him to run through Double-A in 2027. The development path is still going to be a few years, and it won’t be a surprise if adapting to the Eastern League will take a full season or more. How long it takes him to adapt and thrive at that level will tell us a lot more about his future outcomes than this season’s work, as he’s only really gotten back up to speed after the injury over the last two months. He’ll be 23 in July of 2029, and that’s probably when to expect him to be ready for a major league debut.
Best of the rest
Right now, the Detroit Tigers’ farm system is still top ten in baseball, but Clark’s graduation will send them back closer to the bottom third of teams. On the other hand, besides the Briceño oversight, the Tigers have added and developed several players to the tiers just below a 50 FV grade, and some, like 2026 first rounder RHP Cameron Flukey, RHP Kelvis Salcedo, LHP Ben Jacobs, and LHP Kash Mayfield, aren’t far from top 100 consideration. We need to see a bit more but RHP Lucas Elissalt is close to that tier of pitchers as well.
Flukey in particular will get top 100 consideration this offseason if he throws some innings at Lakeland as expected this year. Early reports on his bullpens and the development of a kick change have been glowing. Salcedo has arguably the best stuff in the system but threw 68.2 innings last year as a 19-year-old, and may not top that this season after missing some time with minor injuries this year. If he can prove his durability in 2027 and reach 100 innings in his age 21 season while maintaining the velocity and stuff he already displays, he too is going to get 50 FV grades and top 100 status next season.
Shortstop Jordan Yost has shown off pure hitting ability that should land him plus grades, and his high end defensive ability for his age and experience says he’s going to develop into a pretty good major league shortstop on his current trajectory. The question with Yost is how much power he’ll develop as he gets into his 20’s, but he’s already made strides in terms of batspeed and max exit velocities, and has a fairly projectible frame that should eventually get him to average raw power.
Beyond them the Tigers have a deep group of position players, including some young international standouts like Angel De Los Santos and Jesus Pinto in Lakeland. Brett Callahan and John Peck at the Triple-A level exemplify the Tigers philosophy of taking athletic players who can hit, even if their raw power and hitting pedigrees weren’t notable on draft day. They now have a wealth of talented but still flawed players, any of whom could potentially break out and become useful major league players in time.
The issue in the system has been on the pitching side the past few years, but the Skubal and Mize trades, along with more emphasis on pitching in the draft and the development of guys like Jacobs, Salcedo, and Elissalt, now have them in a much better place. This should be a relatively strong and well balanced player pipeline for years to come. Most likely, we’ll just have to wait quite a long while for a duo like McGonigle and Clark to come along again.
PensBurgh’s 2026 edition of the Top 25 Under 25 countdown rolls on with Avery Hayes, a young forward who emerged as a legitimate bottom-six option after making his NHL debut last season.
2025 Ranking:No. 18 Age: 23 (Oct. 10, 2002) Acquired Via: Signed with WB/S Penguins as undrafted free agent before 2023-24 season Height/Weight: 5-foot-10, 174 pounds
Working his way up from an undrafted forward in the American Hockey League, Hayes was called up for his NHL debut in February 2026, scoring two goals in his debut game against the Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 5.
Hayes’ two-goal first period put him in rare company, making him just the seventh player in NHL history to accomplish the feat in his debut.
“I can’t really put it into words,” said the 23-year-old forward after his debut. “I’m just excited to see my family after they were able to make the trip. So, I have no words right now, but it was a ton of fun.”
Hayes would then be re-assigned to the AHL during the Olympic break, where he notched a hat trick in his next AHL game back before recording another three-goal game 11 days later.
Hayes went from scoring twice in his NHL debut to struggling to consistently produce at the NHL level when games resumed after the Olympics, illustrating the challenge of making the jump to the world’s best league.
After that two-goal debut, Hayes went pointless between Feb. 26 and March 14. He would score his third career goal in an 8-3 win over the New York Islanders on March 30 before notching two more goals in the team’s regular-season finale, a 7-5 loss to the St. Louis Blues on April 14.
Hayes played 16 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins last season, deployed primarily as an “energy guy” in a bottom-six role, scoring five goals while averaging 11:10 of ice time per game.
Five goals in 16 NHL games isn’t a huge sample, but it does suggest Hayes has some finishing ability that could make him more than a purely energy-line player if he can maintain it over a larger sample.
Hayes finished the 2025-26 AHL season at a nearly point-per-game clip, registering 39 points over 42 games. He also recorded 48 regular-season penalty minutes. In the Calder Cup playoffs, Hayes added another three goals and 40 penalty minutes in 15 games as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins reached the Eastern Conference Finals.
The AHL production is what makes Hayes particularly intriguing. His 24 goals ranked first among Wilkes-Barre/Scranton forwards, despite Hayes missing time while in the NHL. His 39 points in 42 games also made him one of the team’s most productive offensive players.
Over 131 regular-season AHL games, Hayes has provided plenty of spark for the Baby Penguins, recording 53 goals and 90 points along with 112 penalty minutes.
There are higher-ceiling players elsewhere in the Penguins’ prospect pool, but few can match Hayes’ combination of NHL experience, AHL production and proximity to a regular NHL job.
He could be deployed in a bottom-six role given his speed, tenacity and finishing ability. Still, the challenge now is determining whether that offensive production can consistently translate to the NHL.
Hayes has the makings of a pest-like forward, able to get under an opponent’s skin while creating offense through his forechecking. He offers the coaching staff an always-valued “energizer” as a complementary piece.
His biggest obstacle may ultimately be opportunity. The Penguins’ forward depth chart is currently bursting at the seams, leaving Hayes with little margin for error as he tries to secure a regular NHL job.
At this juncture, Hayes looks less like a guaranteed NHL player and more like one of the Penguins’ most intriguing call-up options when injury or ineffective play from other forwards strikes.
After going undrafted and working his way to the NHL, though, that’s a pretty good place to be at 23 years old.
NBA history spans 80 seasons, and as CelticsBlog readers well know, the Boston Celtics have won a league-high 18 championships. This month, we are recapping each of those title years.
<p>Celtics’ owner Walter Brown helps Bill Russell with his new team jacket, after the center signed his rookie contract in 1956. Brown, who founded the franchise, passed away September 7, 1964. (Photo by UPI/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)</p> | Getty Images
The 1964-65 season began on a somber note: Walter Brown, the team’s legendary founder and owner, suffered a heart attack and died a few weeks before opening night. Brown was just 59 years old.
Brown helped found the Basketball Association of America, which merged with the National Basketball League to form the NBA. He was also instrumental in founding the Ice Capades; managed the Boston Garden; owned the Boston Bruins; was president of the International Ice Hockey Federation; and president of the Boston Athletic Association, which operates the Boston Marathon. Brown also won championships as a hockey coach.
The Boston Celtics showed no signs of slowing down as they began pursuit of their seventh straight banner. They posted a 62-18 record, the best in league history, while no other team reached 50 wins. Boston won the first 11 games on the schedule, then added win streaks of seven and 16 games.
Russell won the Most Valuable Player award for the fifth time. He averaged 14.1 points per game and led the NBA in rebounding average at 24.1. Unfortunately, Russell played before blocked shots were tracked as an official statistic and also before the introduction of the Defensive Player of the Year award. His overall status as arguably the greatest player in NBA history is shortchanged as a result.
Sam Jones (see below for more about him), Tommy Heinsohn and Russell all played in the All-Star game. This would be Heinsohn’s last hurrah, retiring after nine seasons.
Among those new to the team were draft picks Mel Counts, taken in the first round with overall pick no. 9, and in the third round with pick 27, John Thompson. Counts would play 12 seasons in the NBA, win two rings with the Celtics, then be traded in a significant deal (stay tuned for more), and cross paths again with Boston in the 1969 Finals. Thompson played just two seasons as a backup big, but also won two rings. He made the Hall of Fame too, in the role he’s most known for, coach of the Georgetown Hoyas.
The first all-black starting five
The Celtics also made on-court history once again in the realm of civil rights.
In the 1964 installment of this series, we reviewed how coach Red Auerbach and the Celtics ignored the unwritten “quota rule” and put five black players on the court at the same time. On December 27, 1964, they took it to the next step. Tommy Heinsohn was injured and Willie Naulls replaced him in the starting lineup, along with regulars Bill Russell, Satch Sanders, Sam Jones and K.C. Jones. The first all-black starting five.
It was a major breakthrough in professional sports at a contentious time and bleak period in American history. And there was more to come from the Celtics on that front because, as Auerbach always stated, he simply wanted to win. And he knew what he was talking about. Together, that lineup won 12 games in a row – 10 of them on the road.
Sam Jones, the forgotten superstar
<p>Sam Jones dribbles the ball upcourt against the Philadelphia 76ers circa 1965. In the background is Wilt Chamberlain, whom Jones was known to trash talk after Chamberlain failed to block his shot. “Too late,” Jones would say. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)</p> | Getty Images
Did you know that Sam Jones – no. 24 on the retired numbers banner – won 10 NBA championships, the second most behind Bill Russell? If not, then you probably are also unaware of his five All-Star game selections, three times voted to All-NBA, and induction into the Hall of Fame (inexplicably, he had to wait 15 years for the call).
Jones was, in today’s parlance, a bucket. His signature move was an outside bank shot off the dribble. His career high was 51 points for both regular season and postseason (at Madison Square Garden, winning a closeout game versus the Knicks). Most importantly, Jones was best known for being clutch. We’ve seen it already in this Banner Year series when he scored a series winner in 1962 and 47 points in a Game 7 in 1963.
Jones’ best season was this one, 1964-65, when he played all 80 games; averaged a career-high 25.9 points per game; scored 2,070 points, which at that time was a team record; earned All-NBA second team; and was fourth in MVP voting behind Russell, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West.
It’s safe to say that most of today’s NBA fans know of those three megastars, even if they never saw them play. But no one talks about Sam Jones, the forgotten superstar.
Russell called Jones the most skilled teammate he’d ever had. He added that Jones was called upon to take a do-or-die shot in the playoffs six times, and made all six. That’s a real Mr. Clutch.
Fun fact about Sam Jones’ draft position: Jones was eligible for the 1956 Draft and was selected in the eighth round as the 59th overall pick by the Minneapolis Lakers. However, Jones chose to return to North Carolina Central College to complete his degree following military service. By rule at that time, returning to school voided the Lakers’ exclusive claim to his player rights, leaving him available for a future draft. The next year, 1957, the Boston Celtics selected him in the first round with the eighth pick overall. If Jones had not returned to college, the Celtics would not have 18 banners, and you wouldn’t be reading this series right now.
Eastern playoffs
After their customary bye, the Celtics once again faced the dangerous Wilt Chamberlain, who’d gone west with the Warriors’ relocation to San Francisco, but was traded back to his hometown and the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers were born when the Syracuse Nationals relocated, to fill the void in Philly after the Warriors departed.
As seemed to be their habit, the first six games were won by the home team, neither being able to separate from the other. Only Game 3 was particularly close, and Philly needed it to avoid a 3-1 deficit. The Sixers dominated the first and third quarters, while the Celtics took the second and fourth. Boston was ahead by two with one second remaining. Sixers guard Hal Greer took the inbounds pass and hit a 35-footer as the buzzer sounded (for two points as the three-point shot wasn’t in use yet). The Celtics protested that the shot was too late, but lacking replay there was nothing left but to play overtime. Philly escaped, 134-131.
Of course, everything came down to the final five seconds of Game 7. It had been a back-and-forth battle for the first 47 minutes, but the Celtics led 110-103, thanks to Sam Jones’ 37 points and 26 from Havlicek. Trying not to foul, Boston backed off on defense, unwisely allowing six quick points by Chamberlain. Then Russell made the worst mistake of his career, losing the ball with five seconds left and a one-point lead feeling extremely vulnerable. But Russell was bailed out by the most memorable play in Celtics history.
The Sixers gave Hondo the opening by not running any sort of action. Watch again: Everyone stood around, no one cutting or setting screens. The heady Havlicek took his position and only had to wait for the ball to come. It was a hallmark of the dynasty, the Celtics executing on the most crucial play to secure the win. Bonus: Johnny Most’s call of the play became legendary and made him famous.
NBA Finals
Survive and move forward, that’s the playoffs in a nutshell, and the Celtics did that. The Finals versus Los Angeles had lost some luster because Elgin Baylor was out after tearing knee ligaments. Boston was an overwhelming favorite and they won without any anxiety.
The matchup
Game 1 was a blowout, Boston leading by 20 after three quarters and finishing 142-110. The Lakers were never in it. Game 2 on the parquet was more typical playoff basketball, hard-fought and close. Jerry West poured in 45 and Dick Barnett added 26, but the Celtics had five men with 20 or more points, winning 129-123.
In LA, Sam Jones dropped 35 in Game 3, but West remained on fire with 43 points in a 21-point Lakers victory to stay alive. However, Game 4 was a different story.
Turning point
Boston trailed by six at halftime of Game 4, but the defense clamped down, enabling the visitors to dominate the second half, 57-38. West was held to 6 of 27 shooting and only 22 points. Final, 112-99, the Celtics taking a 3-1 lead.
The hero we needed
The entire Celtics squad was heroic in Game 5. They were already ahead by 16 when they began the fourth quarter with a barrage of 20 consecutive points. Again and again, the Celtics would get a defensive stop, throw an outlet pass and race the other way for an easy bucket. The Garden crowd was ecstatic. Radio announcer Johnny Most was so delirious he’s lucky he didn’t fall out of his perch in the balcony.
The final score was 129-96, a 33-point destruction. We wouldn’t see something like that again until 2008.
It wasn’t over until…
The series was practically over before it began. Without Baylor, LA was helpless.
Notable facts and stats
Seven Celtics scored between 10 and 22 points in Game 4.
Sam Jones led the team in scoring for the series with 27.8 points per game.
Russell pulled down 25 rebounds per game in the Finals.
Jerry West topped the Lakers by averaging 33.8 points, but he came up empty in the Finals for the third time versus Boston.
Tommy Heinsohn retired after this series, scoring 6 points with 8 rebounds in his final game. He won eight championships, was four times All-NBA and a six-time All-Star, as well as Rookie of the Year. We would hear from him again.
Banner Years continues tomorrow with a review of the 1965-66 season and the road to winning Banner #9.
Send in your questions now for this week’s episode of The Pindown: A Detroit Pistons Podcast to discuss everything Pistons. Submit your question in the comments section here or on Twitter to @TheRealWesD3 and/or @RobbieBettelon. If you’re on BlueSky, you can also send to @RobbieBettelon.bksy.social.
Join us live on Friday with guests Harry Moroz and Mickey Jacobs from Order of the Blazing Horse. What questions do you have for the show?
Plus, The Pindown has a phone line where you can leave a message and hear your voice on the show. Call (313) 355-2717 and leave us a voicemail with your question. Please try to keep the message around 45 seconds or less so we can fit everyone into the show.
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HOUSTON, TX - APRIL 3: Alperen Sengun #28, Amen Thompson #1, Reed Sheppard #15, and Kevin Durant #7 of the Houston Rockets looks on during the game against the Utah Jazz on April 3, 2026 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Logan Riely/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Rockets fans and fans across the country.
This week’s question is asking you to name the most important Houston Rockets player. Is it Kevin Durant, the Houston leading scorer who hates his teammates? Is it All-Start center Alperen Sengun? How about young guard Reed Sheppard and his shooting? Or Fred VanVleet, who the organization prizes? How about Amen Thompson, who is rumored to be the Rockets’ only untouchable player? Or Steven Adams, who leads the offensive rebounding charge that is a key part of Houston’s offense?
Cast your vote, tell us in the comments, and we’ll be back soon with the results.
Mar 20, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton (27) runs around the bases after he hit a 2-run home run during the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: At this point in the 2026 season, Giancarlo Stanton has been out so long that he almost feels like an afterthought, as he last played on April 24th in Houston. The calf injury was said to be minor, but sadly nothing truly is with MLB’s active home run leader. If nothing else, Stanton at least hit a milestone in the rehab process yesterday, participating in on-field baserunning drills at Yankee Stadium for the first time since June (when his calf strain recurred). He had been working on his hitting, but he hadn’t previously done this during the process.
Stanton has avoided rehab appearances in recent years since as a DH, the Trajekt pitching machines do an excellent job of replicating game action. But manager Aaron Boone noted that rehabbing somewhere in the minors could be the next hurdle assuming Stanton’s calf is still OK, though it appears more likely that even if all goes well, Cody Bellinger will return to the Yankees sooner (with Aaron Judge after Stanton). The Yankees could use any boost they can find for their lineup, and despite the clunky roster fit at this point Luis García Jr., Ben Rice, Paul Goldschmidt, and Heliot Ramos also being varying degrees of DH types—to say nothing of Judge—they will gladly find a way to squeeze Stanton in if his body says he’s good to go.
The Athletic | Dan Barbarisi: A month ago, it was reported that the Yankees were close to receiving a boost from the firm Apollo Global Management. That has indeed to come pass, as a $2.6 billion financing agreement was announced on Tuesday, “a mix of debt and equity and will allow the Yankees to refinance or retire much of their existing debt, then pursue new ventures.”
Hal Steinbrenner’s not going anywhere as the Yankees’ managing general partner and we only know that the stake is not larger than 15 percent due to MLB rules about individual private equity investment, but Apollo Sports Capital CEO Al Tylis is joining the Yankees’ board (formally known as Yankee Global Enterprises).
MLB.com | Matthew Ritchie: An even more forgotten Yankee is on the rehab trail like Stanton. Yes, Luis Gil really did begin the 2026 season in the Yankees’ rotation. Well technically they skipped him the first time through, but Gil did make four starts in the season’s opening month. He looked too similar to the guy who the Yanks very reluctantly gave a (doomed) playoff start in 2025, and with better rotation depth this year, they optioned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
However, the oft-injured Gil quickly went down with right shoulder inflammation. The 2024 AL Rookie of the Year hadn’t pitched in a game since April 26th until making a rehab appearance at High-A Hudson Valley last night. Gil threw a good inning, throwing 12 of 13 pitches for strikes across five batters. Gil will probably eventually end up back at Triple-A if his body responds well, as again the depth is too deep for him in the Yankees’ rotation at this point — though Boone said that there could “potentially” be a bullpen role.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders: The Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate will remain in Northeast Pennsylvania next year, but they’ll have a identity. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre adopted the RailRiders moniker after massive renovations finished on PNC Field in 2013; the former Red Barons had simply been the Yankees for their first few years as a Yankee affiliate after moving on from the Phillies in 2007. Now, something new is on the horizon for Scranton’s name in 2027. It will not be revealed until November, but if recent minor-league team names around the industry are any trend, expect something quirky.
MLB Trade Rumors | Steve Adams: Former Astros foe Rafael Montero had joined the Yankees as Triple-A depth for much of the 2026 season, but that chapter has come to a close. Originally a Mets starter and now an 11-year MLB veteran, Montero never made it to The Show with the Yankees and is being released after recording a 5.67 ERA in 28 games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. I’d say that this might be the end of the line for him, but teams are so desperate for bullpen help these days that it would not shock me in the slightest to see him hook on elsewhere, especially if he’s willing to keep grinding it out at Triple-A.
Speaking of the bullpen, the Yankees made a slight tweak to the big-league club yesterday with Bradley Hanner coming up for what could be his MLB debut later in the week. Kervin Castro was placed on the IL with right elbow neuritis. Jeff had the story for us, so check out more here.
BOSTON, MA - MAY 9: Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics drives against Ben Simmons #25 of the Philadelphia 76ers during Game Five of the Eastern Conference Second Round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs at TD Garden on May 9, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Celtics fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
Sources: Several NBA teams have expressed interest to Simmons’ camp, including one West squad that offered a training camp invite. He is also open to signing a vet minimum contract. Simmons has dreams of playing for Australia during 2028 LA Olympics. Attending mini-camp aids hope
No, that’s not the son of Celtics superfan Bill Simmons. That’s the #1 pick of the 2016 NBA Draft Ben Simmons — and for what it’s worth, Jaylen Brown was selected by Boston at #3. Simmons was last seen with the Clippers after he was waived by the Nets in 2025. Now, here comes a series of big ifs: IF he’s truly healthy and IF he’s willing to play a role and IF everything goes well with his stint with the Australian national team, a Simmons comeback in the NBA could be possible.
It’s unknown if Brad Stevens and the front office are among those interested teams, but if he’s truly regained his athleticism — and maybe more importantly, his confidence — he might be worth a flyer with the team’s 15 roster spot still unfilled.
The 2026 Emirates NBA Cup will return for the 2026-27 NBA season, and if the Kings need any motivation to win it this year, look no further than the New York Knicks.
New York defeated the San Antonio Spurs in the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup last season, then six months later defeated the Spurs again in the NBA Finals to win their first championship in five decades.
Perhaps some extra fuel for teams?
Sacramento is a part of West Group C, and it will open group play on Nov. 6 against De’Aaron Fox and the reigning Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs at Golden 1 Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. PT.
Next, the Kings will host Ja Morant and the Portland Trail Blazers on Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. PT before concluding group play on the road.
Their first stop will be in Los Angeles against the Lakers on Nov. 20 at Crypto.com Arena. Finally, group play action will come to a close against the Golden State Warriors on Nov. 25 at Chase Center.
It shouldn’t take much for the Kings to fare better than their showing last season, given they had a 0-4 record in West Group A play and were eliminated from advancing before even completing group play.
The 2026 Emirates NBA Cup will return for the 2026-27 NBA season, and it’s starting with two thrilling matchups.
The Warriors will open up group play against Luka Dončić and the new-look Los Angeles Lakers on Oct. 30 at Chase Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. PT, following the LeBron James-led Philadelphia 76ers’ matchup with the reigning NBA champion New York Knicks.
Next, Golden State will face the defending Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs on Nov. 13 at Frost Bank Center.
A NorCal rivalry will ensue on Nov. 25 when Golden State hosts the Sacramento Kings at 7 p.m. PT at Chase Center.
Finally, two days later, the Warriors will conclude group play against Ja Morant and the Portland Trail Blazers on Nov. 27 at Moda Center.
