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From 2015-18, the rivalry between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers was at its peak.

LeBron James and the Cavaliers historically pulled off a incredible comeback in the 2016 NBA Finals after facing a 3-1 series deficit, ultimately winning the title in a Game 7 thriller.

Throughout that period of Warriors and Cleveland basketball for four straight postseasons, Bob Myers was the general manager of Golden State.

Myers was the architect behind the Warriors dynasty, drafting players like Draymond Green and recruiting superstars like Kevin Durant. He also hired head coach Steve Kerr, who remains in the position to this day.

In 2026, Myers oversees operations for the Philadelphia 76ers.

After facing James as an opponent for years, Myers has made a pitch to welcome him to Philadelphia.

“If he was here, I’d say I honestly believe this is your best chance to win. You have to decide all the other things that are equally important,” Myers said on the Game Over podcast with Rich Paul and Max Kellerman.

“What I would just say is, if it’s about winning, let’s talk about this team. Because you can win here in Philadelphia.”

Just about every team in the league would welcome James with open arms, including the Sixers. The organization is considered a favorite to land the veteran, but his free agency remains the biggest mystery of the summer.

At 41 years old, the four-time NBA champions remains a hot commodity on the free agent market.

Ultimately, James will make the final decision on where he goes next, but that won’t stop teams from making public pitches for the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

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After their free-agent spending spree, the Lakers are effectively out of spending power.

They’re currently projected to be only $1.9 million below the cap before re-signing Austin Reaves, signing Collin Sexton with the room mid-level exception and signing Kevon Looney to a veteran-minimum deal. That’s not even enough for a minimum contract.

That hasn’t stopped the Lakers from pursuing Jonathan Kuminga in free agency, according to Anthony Slater of ESPN.

Slater reported that the Lakers have been “subtly improving their offer in recent days while reiterating to Kuminga his importance to what the Lakers are building around [Luka] Dončić, a likely starting role and what the opportunity could do for his career.” However, Kuminga and his agent believe “there are still avenues to better deals as the offseason dominoes continue to fall.

Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Timeslater reported that the Lakers have offered Kuminga a two-year, $20 million deal. That allows us to connect some dots.

How the Lakers can create more cap space

The Lakers’ easiest path to creating more cap space would be salary-dumping Jarred Vanderbilt or waiving him and stretching the dead cap hit from his remaining contract over the next half-decade.

If the Lakers managed to dump Vanderbilt’s $12.4 million contract into another team’s cap space or a salary-cap exception, they’d have plenty of spending power to offer Kuminga a $10 million annual salary.

A waive-and-stretch would get them in that ballpark as well.

Vanderbilt has a $13.3 million player option next year, so the Lakers would have to stretch the remaining $25.7 million on his contract on their books evenly over the next five years. That comes out to a dead cap hit of roughly $5.1 million, giving the Lakers another $7.3 million in spending power this offseason.

Combine that with the $1.9 million that they currently project to have, and they’d be up to nearly $9.2 million in cap space. That would allow them to offer Kuminga a two-year, $18.8 million deal.

The Lakers could create even more cap space by dumping Dalton Knecht for a minimum contract, or moving the recently acquired Jaden Hardy for someone earning less. If they need to manufacture a bit more cap space for Kuminga or another free agent, President of Basketball Operation Rob Pelinka has outs.

The question is how he can sweeten any offer.

The Lakers have already traded away all of their first-round draft capital through 2033 aside from a 2032 pick swap and all of but one of their own second-rounders. They did acquire two second-rounders from the Washington Wizards (2031 and 2032) in the Deandre Ayton trade, but those three picks are the only tradable picks that they have in either round.

Perhaps a team would be willing to take a free flier on Knecht, whom the Lakers selected with the 17th overall pick two years ago. He hit 37.6% of his three-point attempts as a rookie, but his shooting percentage plunged last year, and his playing time went right along with it.

There’s always a chance that the Lakers have slightly more cap space than estimated, too. They haven’t made any of their signings official yet, and contract reports tend to round up generously in favor of agents at this time of year.

But after sign-and-trading for Walker Kessler and signing Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Collin Sexton, the Lakers are more or less out of cap space and exceptions. With only one open roster spot left, the Lakers will need to create more spending power to entice Kuminga or another free-agent target.

The Lakers’ lack of tradable draft picks could impact their ability to outright salary-dump Vanderbilt. They’d have to determine whether signing Kuminga would justify giving up the 2032 first-round swap rights or any of their tradable second-round picks. If not, a waive-and-stretch would be their most likely path forward.

Either way, the Lakers do have a feasible path to offering Kuminga or another free agent somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 million per season. Anything beyond that would likely require moving one or both of Hardy and Knecht. And anything north of $20 million is a pipe dream.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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The Celtics have finalized their Summer League roster, and it’s loaded with young talent. Here’s the full list of 16 players that will appear on the team:

1. Hugo Gonzalez (SG/SF)
2. Chris Cenac (C/PF)
3. Dillon Mitchell (SF)
4. Amari Williams (C)
5. John Tonje (SG/SF)
6. Curtis Jones (SG)
7. Tucker DeVries (SF)
8. Milos Uzan (PG)
9. Alondes Williams (SG/PG)
10. Caleb Grill (SG)
11. Kyle Mangas (SG)
12. Hank Morgan (SG)
13. Mo Amini (SF)
14. Nick Pringle (PF/C)
15. Day Day Thomas (PG)
16. Chauncey Wiggins (SF/PF)

7 notable Summer League Celtics players to watch

All 16 rostered players will get at least some run at Summer League, but there are 7 players I’m most eager to watch.

Hugo Gonzalez: Hugo Gonzalez is, to me, the most notable player in the field. The 20-year-old had a good rookie season with the Celtics, and he’s looked really solid playing with the Spanish national team this month. Gonzalez averaged 3.9 points and 3.3 rebounds in 14.6 minutes per game as a rookie, and was one of the NBA’s plus-minus darlings. Gonzalez never spent a second in the G-League.

Everybody knows that the Celtics did not want to trade Gonzalez this offseason to acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo. How that decision ages remains to be seen, but every scout I’ve talked to around the NBA has gushed about what they’ve seen from Gonzalez so far. I’m excited to see how he looks at Summer League, especially when compared to last summer.

Chris Cenac: Chris Cenac is the Celtics’ highest-profile rookie; the 19-year-old forward is coming off of his freshman year at Houston and was selected 27th in the draft last month. He’s a highly-recruited 7-foot center who was one of the top interior prospects in his recruiting class, and he’ll take one of the Celtics 15 roster spots this year.

While Brad Stevens indicated he did not necessarily expect Cenac to play much next season, we’ve already seen his last two first-round picks (Gonzalez and Baylor Scheierman) become impactful rotation players in their first two seasons. Just how raw is Cenac? And how does he hold up defensively? Summer league should shed some light on where he’s at in his career.

Dillon Mitchell: Dillon Mitchell is the Celtics’ other drafted rookie; the 22-year-old, drafted 40th overall, is coming off of a standout season at St. John’s. Mitchell is a super-athlete who is a good finisher, rebounder, and defender, though his inconsistent shot hurt his draft stock.

My big question is: just how good of a defender is he in this context? And, how can he fit in offensively despite effectively being unable to shoot? Mitchell is likely to end up on a two-way contract with the Celtics this season, so he’s one of the players I’m most interested in

Amari Williams: Williams was the Celtics’ 46th overall pick last season and was on a two-way contract for most of the year. He finished the year on a standard deal (mostly due to the Celtics working to stay under the luxury tax line) but did have some stellar moments with the parent club.

Williams will again be on a two-way contract with the Celtics this season, as the Celtics look to continue developing him into a center of the future. He’s currently behind Neemias Queta, Mitchell Robinson, and Luka Garza in the depth chart, but showed he could be impactful in spots last year.

John Tonje: John Tonje was on a two-way contract with the Celtics last year (acquired in the midseason trade that sent Chris Boucher to the Utah Jazz). While he hasn’t agreed to a two-way contract with Boston next season, he remains in the mix and could return in the same role. Tonje is a bucket-getter who looks to carve out a role in the NBA after an elite season at Wisconsin. He didn’t get much run in Boston, but scored a career-high 13 points in the season finale last year.

Tucker DeVries: Tucker DeVries is on an Exhibit 10 contract, so he’ll be joining the Celtics for training camp (and potentially competing for a two-way contract). DeVries is an undrafted rookie out of West Virginia who is 24 years old and a proven sharpshooter. He’s a polished offensive player with a high basketball IQ that could ultimately (one day) end up being a Sam Hauser replacement.

Milos Uzan: Milos Uzan is also on an Exhibit 10 contract, so, like DeVries, he’ll be joining the Celtics for training camp when Summer League is over. Uzan is a 22-year-old point guard out of Houston, where he was teammates with Cenac. He’s a poised point guard who is known for steady decision-making and veteran leadership.

Another Summer League note: Hank Morgan returns for his second consecutive Summer League with the Celtics. Morgan, who laced up for the Maine Celtics, was the G-League’s only former Division III player last year.

Jaylen Brown is here, the splashiest acquisition in a very splashy Sixers offseason orchestrated by new personnel chief Mike Gansey.

Anfernee Simons, a willing and much-needed bench scorer, is also here. Same for Ariel Hukporti, an intriguing big man coming off a title run with the Knicks.

Hey, and LeBron James might end up here, too. Never say never, right?

Against that backdrop, Dean Wade has fairly tiptoed into town, lunchpail in hand and valuable toolkit in his back pocket. 

Signed to a reported four-year, $39 million free-agent contract, Wade is the ultimate 3-and-D guy, a sturdily built 6-foot-9 forward who can make open triples and guard all five positions. Whether he starts, or (in the event of a LeBron signing) comes off the bench, those are two very useful skills to possess.

And two things that might escape notice, given everything else that is going on. Or might go on, in the weeks and months ahead.

During a Zoom call with reporters Tuesday, he called defense “a thankless job,” and that is inarguable. Nobody in the Association wants to crouch in a stance, hike up their shorts and joust with the breathtakingly skilled guys headed their way. But Wade, an undrafted free agent signed out of Kansas State by Cleveland in 2019 (where Gansey was an executive at the time), discovered early on that that was his ticket to playing time.

Never mind that Wade had been a scorer in college. Never mind, he said, that he was “never really known as a defender” at that point in his career. He learned to become one. And he has learned to like it.

“I think the most appealing part of defense is … when people iso one on one,” he said. “It is head-up – just who’s better, and I’ve got to play with that little chip on my shoulder. I love that competitive spirit, where it’s just whose will’s going to kind of outlast whose.”

By his second season he was getting regular time, and that remained the case during the duration of his seven-year stay in Cleveland. He averaged a modest 5.3 points and 3.6 rebounds over that time, but shot nearly 37 percent from three and just generally proved to be a useful piece to the puzzle.

Along the way he crossed paths with former Sixer Georges Niang, a Cavalier in 2023-24 and part of 2024-25. And Niang – “maybe the funniest human I’ve ever met,” Wade said – told him a little something about Philadelphia. How, yes, the town’s athletic supporters can be tough, but are ultimately, “the best fans in the world, as long as you’re playing the right way.”

Suffice it to say that Wade will endeavor to do just that, while continuing to keep a low profile – something that comes naturally to him.

He hails from the farming community of St. John, Kansas (pop. 1,200). His dad, Jay, played football at Kansas State and Western Illinois, while his mom, Trish, played basketball and volleyball at Barton Community College and Florida Southern.

She would later win three state championships in 17 seasons as the volleyball coach at St. John-Hudson, while coaching her daughter Teresa, among others. (Trish, who also coached track at her children’s alma mater, now heads the volleyball squad at Nickerson High School.)

So it’s not hard to see where Dean got his athletic ability. Also his competitiveness.

“When I was younger, I hated losing,” he said. “I was the worst loser – like, my parents would beat me in a card game, and I would lose my mind.”

One of the fringe benefits to having a mom in coaching is that she had the key to the high school gym, which according to Dean was just two doors down from the family home.

“I lived in the gym,” he said.

He would ultimately lead his school to three state championships. Still, pro basketball seemed a long way off.

“Even thinking about the NBA when I was growing up was never a real thought in my mind,” he said. “I was like, ‘Oh, that’s a cool dream, but I never really thought I would have the opportunity to play.’”

But he never felt overmatched in AAU competition, and his family fostered his dream.

“Especially my sister,” he said. “She kicked that self-doubt right out of me before I could.”

Kansas State would ultimately unearth him, and he became a two-time All-Big 12 performer while averaging 12 points a game on .498/.386/.711 shooting over four seasons. And before he knew it, the NBA became a distinct possibility.

“Even when I was (on) a two-way (contract as a rookie),” he said, “I was like, ‘Man, I feel like I could still play in this league – compete at the highest level in this league.’ I never had any doubt in my mind.”

Not by then. And not anymore. Now he comes sneaking into town, carrying a mindset and a skillset that could prove very useful. And never mind that nobody else might notice.

The most infamous moment in LeBron James’ career remains “The Decision,” in which the then-25-year-old turned picking a new team into an overblown one-hour TV special that will never be repeated. Now, we’re getting the modern equivalent of it — and it’s sad as hell.

Rather than just picking a team and moving on, the entire LeBron courtship has turned into fuel for Rich Paul’s podcast, and that fire was given more oxygen on Tuesday when Sixers president Bob Myers went on the show to make a public pitch to LeBron, rather than talking to him in private.

It’s one thing to watch the greatest basketball player on the planet self-produce his own free agency broadcast, but it’s on a whole other level to see an NBA executive fawn over LeBron like the contestant on a dating show. It’s all so sad, and so transparent — because Rob Myers doesn’t give a rat’s ass about Rich Paul’s podcast, but understands it’s the cost of doing business when it comes to trying to land LeBron.

Frustrating, execs like Myers understand that James legitimately does give them a better chance of winning. At this point in his career the 41-year-old has become the ultimate glue guy who can functionally fit into any lineup and be a factor, which is an incredible proposition for a team like the Sixers who now have Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey — but critically miss the connective piece that could really push them over the top.

Now we need to wait and see if any other NBA general managers follow suit. Will more line up to appear next to Rich Paul and make their pitch? I hope not, but in this era … yeah, it’s going to happen.