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There’s beauty in the Pistons being a physical, gritty team in a city like Detroit, and I certainly have bias towards the modern game, but Trajan Langdon and JB Bickerstaff both have to create more opportunities for the long ball this summer.

The Concept of Spacing

To me, spacing is an unselfish act on the basketball court. It’s an attempt to keep distance from the ball or teammates in order to give them the best chance at creating a scoring opportunity. It can pull the help defender far enough away to create a driving lane for your teammate, or it can create an open catch-and-shoot look if the help defender drops into the paint – it’s a win-win situation.

It’s what makes a drive-and-kick offense look so pretty. Last night, Stephon Castle passed Alex Caruso on his way to the rim and drew the help of Chet Holmgren. He kicked it to Keldon Johnson in the corner who found De’Aaron Fox for the open three while the Thunder defense was left scrambling. That’s pretty spacing.

Players who know the value of spacing know the value of three-point shooting. It takes a confident player to prioritize scoring from behind the arc – see 2025 Malik Beasley. Detroit’s young core enjoys scoring at the rim (or has yet to develop a jump shot) and they need complementary players that want to create room for them. Look at the spacing Jared McCain provided on this made three last night:

He might’ve had a cut to the rim for a layup attempt, but McCain instead sticks to what he does best and knocks down an open corner three. He basically has his hands up and ready to shoot from the time he crosses halfcourt. Detroit needs more guys like this – guys that want to take the majority of their shots from deep.

Detroit’s Spacing

With two non-shooters in the starting lineup, Detroit doesn’t have the type of spacing that San Antonio or Oklahoma City does. The Pistons were one of the best teams at scoring inside this season, but they need to find a better balance on the court.

The paint was packed during the postseason. Against Cleveland, one of Cade’s many turnovers came on a possession where he didn’t have a shooter in the corner. With both Ausar and Duren collapsing for an offensive rebound chance, Cunningham didn’t have someone to kick it out to. Compare this to the Spurs clip above where they had a shooter in the corner.

Here’s another Cade TO and one that I wouldn’t put the blame on him. Caris LeVert walks from the corner to block to set an off-ball screen on his own man (?) and it just ends up putting an extra defender right in Cunningham’s way. LeVert had no understanding of spacing as he actively hurt the offense on this possession.

This last one humored me. Ron Holland puts his hands out towards Daniss Jenkins and Tobias Harris to ensured they’re spaced out, but things get cramped quick as Cade misses Ron on the 45 cut.

The Lack of Shooters

You can’t knock a player for playing towards his strengths. You can’t knock a coach for putting a player in a position to play towards his strengths. If you’re confident in scoring inside, you’re going to try to get to the rim – as you should!

However, this summer, Trajan Langdon needs to find guys that are confident in letting it fly.

The shot diet of the Pistons needs to have more balance. Detroit was 29/30 in three-point attempts in the regular season and 14/16 throughout the playoffs. They were 5/16 in percentage, however, and that felt like a surprise to me given their spacing struggles in the postseason. Halfcourt offense can become predictable when a shot from outside isn’t feared.

I looked at the top-10 guys in the rotation to see where they were getting majority of their attempts from. I wanted to know what percentage of their shots were two-pointers vs what percentage were three-pointers. To me, it helps give an idea on where a player prioritizes scoring on the court. Here’s what I found:

Only Duncan Robinson and Javonte Green attempted more threes than twos among guys in their main rotation. With Green being Detroit’s 10th-man, Robinson was the only real floor spacer and he was brought off the bench for the final two games. This can’t be the case next year.

This is also why Tobias Harris needs to move to a bench role as Detroit looks to move forward with their core of Cunningham, Thompson, and Duren. While they don’t need someone who shoots as many threes as Robinson, they do need a forward who’s a scoring threat from deep. Play finishers that can knock down a three after a Cade drive-and-kick need to be a priority this summer.

Compare the roster with potential offseason targets for Detroit:

I’m all game for adding two 50/50 scorers around the young core. We’ll get into offseason target previews later, but my personal favorites would be Jrue Holiday and Naz Reid.

Get more shooting, Trajan!

Go Stones.

I still cannot believe that the following sentence is reality.

We are two days away from the New York Knicks playing in the NBA Finals.

Despite how dominant they’ve been in the postseason, the Knicks are considerable underdogs to Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, but this isn’t some David vs. Goliath story despite the very clear similarities with the statures of the two stars.

There is a clear path to the Knicks pulling off the upset and ending their 53-year title drought, but there’s also a lot that can go wrong. Here are five keys to the Knicks shocking the NBA world and becoming champions:

Defend the Perimeter

The biggest thing that can swing an NBA game in 2026 is three-point shooting. It’s extremely hard to overcome any big shooting disparity from the perimeter, and no lead is safe when one team gets red hot from outside.

The Knicks learned that the hard way on New Year’s Eve, when Julian Champagnie buried 11 triples to pull the Spurs back from a 17-point deficit in a game where Wembanyama left with an injury. If you leave a shooter open, he will make you pay.

The Spurs aren’t the best shooting team, but they have the ability to get hot and come in clutch. We saw guys like Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, and Dylan Harper hit some massive shots in Game 7 to quiet a lively OKC crowd, so it wouldn’t be wise to give these guys space.

At their worst, the Knicks have overhelped and been vulnerable to the drive-and-kick. At their best, they’ve done their best to disrupt guys like Sam Merrill and Max Strus by keeping them out of true catch-and-shoot scenarios and running them off the line. With no true alpha guard in this series like Tyrese Maxey and Donovan Mitchell, it should be easier to stay disciplined on shooters.

Josh Hart’s aggressiveness

The most likely defensive scheme that Mitch Johnson will employ to begin the series on Wednesday will have unanimous Defensive Player of the Year Victor Wembanyama “guarding” Josh Hart.

This move makes sense for multiple reasons. You wouldn’t want Wembanyama forced out of the paint with the way that Karl-Anthony Towns plays, and Hart’s relative passivity when he has the ball on the perimeter allows Wemby to sag off and effectively play zone in the paint, where he can disrupt the entire Knicks’ offense. Couple that with the fact you won’t see much of the “pump fake and hard drive” when there’s a 7’5” alien protecting the rim, and it seems to work perfectly for San Antonio.

There is no other way. Hart has to be willing to shoot early and often. If he’s hesitating or misfiring, the offense will grind to a halt, and the Spurs will have their way with the Knicks. We saw what happens when Hart’s able to beat the ghost coverage in Game 2 against Cleveland. It forces the defense to respect him and opens everything up.

If he can drag Wemby out of the paint, or force a complete switch in defensive coverage, he will have done his job in the series regardless of what else he does.

Dominate the non-Wemby minutes

The Spurs have a lot of quality players, but they all revolve around Wemby. When he’s on the bench, they suffer. After all, he’s only been a negative plus-minus four times since February 1, and only three in games that he actually finished. One of those games was against the Knicks on March 1, but we can’t rely on doing that four times in a row.

Here’s how the Knicks played in Wemby and non-Wemby minutes in the three meetings this year:

Wemby on the court: +16 in 83 minutes
Wemby off the court: +18 in 61 minutes

The only one of the three meetings where Wemby won his minutes was on New Year’s Eve, and the team still trailed by double digits when he left with an injury in the fourth quarter. The lineups without him are a lot easier to score on, as, despite his best LeBron impression in Game 7, Luke Kornet is a whole tier down defensively.

One of Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns will always be on the court. It’s most likely that those KAT+Bench lineups will be playing the non-Wemby minutes, so it’s all on the likes of Jose Alvarado, Jordan Clarkson, Landry Shamet, and Deuce McBride to go to work.

These minutes will be, by far, the team’s best opportunity to continue dominating in the paint. Over their last 11 games, the Knicks are shooting a blisteringly 62% from 2.

Steal one of the first two in San Antonio

The Knicks have only played two playoff series without home-court advantage in the last 12 years. They’ve won both of them.

What was the key? They got on the offensive and stole Game 1 on the road. They outexecuted the 2023 Cavaliers and 2025 Celtics in the fourth quarter and came out victorious to set the tone. While the Cavs punched back in Game 2 in 2023, they were on the back foot from there after the Knicks dominated at MSG. Boston never recovered after choking two 20-point leads at home.

Beating the Spurs on the road isn’t easy, but it’s also not impossible. They lost games to Portland*, Minnesota, and Oklahoma City inside the Frost Bank Center, and the Knicks are 6-1 on the road in the postseason thus far and 13-3 over the last three postseasons outside of Indiana (where they’re 1-5).

*Portland won Game 2 in San Antonio after Wembanyama left with a concussion in the second quarter.

This team knows how to win on the road, and in a series where you only get to play three games at most at the World’s Most Famous Arena, you need at least one to come out on top.

Embrace adversity

By the time Game 1 starts on Wednesday night, the Knicks will have not lost a basketball game in six weeks.

April 23 against Atlanta in Game 3 of the first round was the last time the Knicks felt true adversity. Since then, they’ve won 11 consecutive games, won multiple games by TKO, and have only played in two close games. The closest thing that they’ve felt to adversity since was the 22-point deficit in Game 1 against Cleveland, but they finished the game on a 44-11 run to prevail.

Does that give the team plenty of confidence going forward? Absolutely, but the odds they can keep this ridiculous winning streak going all the way to lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy on June 10 are extremely small for multiple reasons. At some point, they will lose a game.

They let Game 2’s loss against Atlanta bleed into Game 3, which required a monumental effort to get back into it before falling short. Not all losses are created equal, but they’ll eventually have a game where not everything goes right and their opponents can properly exploit one or two weaknesses that the team will need to seriously adjust on.

Have they encountered enough adversity in this postseason, or has the smooth sailing made them vulnerable to potentially unraveling if they lose a game or two early in the series? How they respond to their first loss, whenever it occurs, will be potentially the biggest key to truly finding out just how formidable this team is.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is maybe, possibly, conceivably getting traded from the Milwaukee Bucks this summer. Bucks ownership has indicated that it will trade the 31-year-old superstar before entering the final year of his contract if he does not sign an extension this summer. There are a number of potential landing spots for Antetokounmpo, but two teams are emerging as the most aggressive suitors according to long-time NBA insider Marc Stein.

Stein reports that the Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat are the two teams pushing the hardest for Antetokounmpo behind the scenes. Stein also mentioned the Orlando Magic as a potential fit after the team hired Sean Sweeney as head coach last week. Sweeney comes over from the San Antonio Spurs, but also spent time in Milwaukee, where he grew extremely close with Giannis.

The Heat and Trail Blazers both always made sense as teams that could want to swing a bold trade for Antetokounmpo. Miami has been tied to the Greek Freak for years as a preferred destination. The Heat always chase stars under Pat Riley, and at 81 years old it makes sense that he would want to try for one more big fish. The Heat can offer a package including Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Kasparas Jakucionis, the No. 13 overall pick in 2026 NBA Draft, a 2030 first-rounder, and a 2032 first-rounder.

The Trail Blazers made their first playoff appearance in five years this season before getting knocked out in the first-round by the Spurs. Portland has a new owner in Tom Dundon, and while his cost-cutting measures have been getting all the attention, he’s also hinted that he might be more inclined to approve big trades than the previous owners.

The Blazers are natural trade partners for Giannis because they own first-round swap rights with the Bucks in 2028 and 2030 from Milwaukee’s failed trade for Damian Lillard. It’s fair to wonder if those picks are more valuable or less valuable under the NBA’s new lottery reform, and it’s worth noting that we could have a completely different system by 2030. Portland’s package could start with returning the pick swaps, adding Jerami Grant for matching salary, then sending a talented young player like Scoot Henderson or Shaedon Sharpe in the deal. Since Grant is widely considered a bad contract at this point with two years, $70.6 remaining on his deal, the Blazers also might need to add their unprotected 2032 first-round pick.

Will the Thunder get involved for Giannis after their Western Conference Finals flameout? Probably not. Sam Presti usually takes the longview, and his team wasn’t at full strength this year without injured stars Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell for most of the series. The Thunder need to cut money for next season, not add an older player on a max contract.

I wouldn’t be shocked if this ends with Antetokounmpo accepting a max extension to end the trade speculation once and for all. It just feels more likely that he finally gets traded given how far away the Bucks are from contention.

Stein reports that an Antetokounmpo trade could happen within the next three weeks. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst once termed that “the deal zone.” It sure seems like the deal zone for a Giannis trade has fully arrived. Stay tuned.

In a little over a calendar year, Cleveland Browns DE Myles Garrettrequested a trade, signed a contract extension, broke the single-season sack record, adjusted his contract in a way that allowed for a trade, and was traded to the Los Angeles Rams. For the Browns, the future is the focus, including talented NFL draft classes in 2025 and 2026.

Cleveland GM Andrew Berry has 11 draft picks to work with in what is expected to be an uber-talented NFL draft class in 2027. Our Browns mock draft saw QB Arch Manning turning in one orange uniform for another.

Shortly after 4 PM, the team announced the Garrett trade, making it official. The timing is vital as the trade will technically process on June 2nd for salary cap purposes. In a lengthy statement, Berry made it clear the type of back and forth the team had in making the decision to move on from Garrett:

“We have long taken the stance that our goal was for Myles Garrett to be a one-helmet player for his entire career,” Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager Andrew Berry said in a statement. “After rewriting the record books and representing our organization with excellence, we were sincere in that desire as we entered this offseason and did not envision a world where Myles was not a Cleveland Brown.

“When the Rams first approached us with the possibility of trading Myles, we remained convicted in our position, but as discussions intensified we were stuck at a legitimate crossroads: do we hold on to a truly generational player who has become the identity of our team, or do we make the difficult decision that we think is best for the organization over the long run?

“In that framework, the decision became clear, although our emotions were muddled. We, and more importantly, our fans, have grown up with Myles, and he’s an enormous source of pride for our team. However, as we embark on a new era of Browns football with a young core and a replenished asset base, we felt this move was important to our transition.

“Chief among the considerations to make the decision was the inclusion of Jared Verse – a player our fan base will love. At 25 years old with two Pro Bowls and a Defensive Rookie of the Year award under his belt, we receive a young, elite player at a premium position who will only continue to improve in his third NFL season. Jared’s passion and relentless style of play will be embraced by our fans. He will fit right in with the established identity of our defense. We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome him to the Dawg Pound!

“We recognize the unexpected nature of this trade, but it opens up great opportunities for our franchise. We are excited to welcome Jared into the organization, along with the cap flexibility and draft pick resources to deploy to the rest of the roster that will allow us to add to our budding core on both sides of the ball.”

Owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam also shared their thoughts on the trade:

“Myles Garrett has been the best player on our team and one of the best defensive players in the history of the game, since we drafted him in 2017,” Managing and Principal Partners Dee and Jimmy Haslam said in a statement. “His legacy is immense and we could never adequately articulate our appreciation for how he played the game and for being the best player he could be for the Cleveland Browns over the last nine years. He has left a deep imprint on our franchise, with our fans and with the Dawg Pound.

“Clearly this was not an easy decision, particularly with Myles because we’ve watched him come into our organization and grow like a member of our family. Trading Myles was never our intent, but we also recognize that certain opportunities demand serious consideration, and we believe this is the right move for our team. Adding a young defensive star like Jared Verse, along with valuable draft assets, are necessary to strengthen a talented young core and align with the youth of our team. Our goal continues to be building a consistently winning franchise that our fans and this region deserve, and we believe this move creates the best path towards that.

“We met with Myles on Saturday and told him we are extremely grateful for all that he contributed to our team and to our community and that he will always be a Cleveland Brown. We look forward to welcoming him back at the appropriate time and wish him and his family only the best.”

What do you think of Berry’s explanation for the tradeand the Haslams’ thoughts?

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win” — Sun Tzu

When the season began, I fully expected the Knicks to represent the Eastern conference in the NBA Finals. The West? Different story.

If the defending champions opening their title defense with a 24-1 start was in any way typical, then Oklahoma City would’ve been the clear-cut faves. But it isn’t; these days, neither is repeating as conference champs, much less going the full Monty in June. The main reason to pick against the Thunder was as simple as “the last seven champs didn’t repeat, either.” Still, back in October I would have picked the Thunder, the Nuggets, the Timberwolves to meet the Knicks in the Finals. Could’ve squinted my way to the Lakers or Rockets, even. But the Spurs? Who even are these people?

ORIGIN STORY

For their first six years, the San Antonio Spurs were the ABA’s Dallas Chaparrals. I assumed that’s short for “chaps,” and was briefly excited at the prospect of two teams named after pants battling it out for the Larry O’Brien Trophy. There was a racing team called Chaparral Cars back in the day, named after the chaparral bird (i.e. the roadrunner), but no, that ain’t it, either. A chaparral is basically a bunch of shrubs in a climate that’s mild and wet in the winter, then hot and dry in the summer. Fires in these regions are uncommon, and uncommonly intense.

The Chaps were led by Hall of Famer Cliff “Lil’ Abner” Hagan, their 36-year-old player-coach. A Hall of Fame player, Hagan was Josh Hart before Josh Hart: a 6-foot-4 do-it-all maestro who piled up points, rebounds and assists. In 1974 the Chaparrals became the San Antonio Spurs, ditching their red, white and blue uniforms for the silver and black better known today. The owners decided to sell the team, either to San Antonio or El Paso. Spoiler: El Paso lost. Originally they were to be called the “San Antonio Gunslingers,” but somehow ended up the Spurs instead.

On the last day of 1978 season, Denver’s David Thompson scored 73 points to pass George Gervin as the league’s leading scorer. The Iceman needed 58 that night to win the scoring title. He put up 63. Gunslinger.

MODERN-ER HISTORY

For 14 of their first 16 seasons in the Association, San Antonio finished .500 or better. Of the four former ABA sides to switch leagues (Indiana, Denver and New Jersey the other three), the Spurs were the most successful at first. Playing in the Eastern conference back then, they nearly reached the Finals a couple of times in the 1970s, only to be thwarted by the then-Washington Bullets. Imagine the Bullets and Gunslingers fighting it out to the bitter end.

The mid-1980s were a low point, including a six-year run without a winning record, but when it comes to the Spurs low points are often where bouncebacks begin. When the 1986-87 season ended, the 12-win Clippers were far and away the league’s worst team, followed by the Knicks and Nets (24 each). Lottery luck was lacking: the Nets picked Dennis Hopson third, the Clippers chose Reggie Williams fourth and the Knicks didn’t draft until 18th, thanks to them having shipped Chicago that year’s first and the following year’s second for Jawaan Oldham. Oldham played 44 games for New York that year, then 64 the rest of his career. The Bulls turned those picks into Scottie Pippen and B.J. Armstrong.

The Spurs waited two years for their draft pick to join them, but once David Robinson did they joined the NBA’s glitterati and they haven’t really looked back. Over his first seven seasons, the Admiral’s crew won between 47 and 62 games, even seemed a legit title contender in some. But a house built on the likes of Larry Brown and Dennis Rodman cannot stand standing still for long, and in 1996, after Robinson suffered from a back injury and then a broken foot, the Spurs sunk to a franchise-worst 20-62. But remember: when these cats fall, they bounce.

In the ’97 draft, a loving God kept the tanking Celtics from Tim Duncan, instead sending the swimming Virgin Islander to the Alamo (skip to 11:27 in the video if you want the money shot). By the time Bob Pettit2.0’s playing days were finished, San Antonio had lapped the field.

The Spurs won 50-plus games a record 18 years in a row, had a winning record 22 years straight and tied another record with 22 consecutive playoff appearances. Did you know the Spurs once won a playoff series eight straight seasons? Pretty good, right? Doesn’t match the Knicks’ best mark (nine straight from 1992-2000), but still. Not bad. The Spurs have almost always been above-average, and on the few occasions they’ve stumbled they turned that loss of balance into a leap of brilliance.

THE SPURS TODAY

How young are the Spurs? Mason Plumlee and Kelly Olynyk are their only players old enough to remember life the last time they met New York in the Finals in 1999.

In this postseason the Spurs play six dudes 25-plus minutes a game; all five starters average over 30. Three Spur reserves have suited up in every one of their playoff games: Keldon Johnson, Luke Kornet and Harrison Barnes.

Don’t waste your breath getting into any big- vs. small-market beefs this series. San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States, with a bigger population than Dallas, San Francisco or Boston.

There is a sizable, risible percentage of people who believe that Jalen Brunson can’t possibly have success in these Finals against the Spurs defense, because of how much Shai Gilgeous-Alexander struggled against it. Certainly Brunson has his work cut out for him, between unanimous Defensive Player of the Year Victor Wembanyama and the size, strength and defensive tenacity of Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell and Dylan Harper. Relatedly, the premiere scorers the Spurs have dealt with this postseason have been Deni Avdija, hobbled Anthony Edwards and shorthanded Shai. He may not go for 61 again, but JB’s not just some guy.

There’s plenty to be concerned about from a Knick perspective, duh. The Spurs killing off the Thunder is good news, given the Knicks have struggled more with OKC than anyone else the past few seasons. Every player the Thunder have is seemingly between 6-foot-6 and 7-foot-Holmgren, which figured to wear on Brunson over a seven-game series, especially with OKC’s defense something straight outta ICE training. At least the Spurs feature De’Aaron Fox mightily, leaving one defender Brunson is bigger and stronger than.

But Spiderman can’t breathe easy when Venom is dead, not when he has to deal with the monster still breathing. Wemby is Carnage. It’s hard to imagine the Spurs not hacking the ever-living s#$% outta Mitchell Robinson and his bum right hand all series. And unless Mitch gets over some of his male insecurities and starts shooting free throws underhanded, he could become downright unplayable — not what you want when he’s literally one of like four people alive who can credibly guard Wembanyama. If Mitch is compromised in any way, the Knick title hopes could boil down to whether Karl-Anthony Towns can play 40-plus minutes a night and staying outta foul trouble.

In addition, the Spurs are just way more talented, particularly in two-way players, than anyone the Knicks have seen in these playoffs. If Castle weren’t such an incredibly accomplished and ahead-of-his-time second-year star, Harper could start his own Netherlands with all the flowers he’d be (rightfully) getting. Fox is a two-time All-Star, still closer to 28 than 29. Justin Champagnie made as many 3s as Brunson and more than any other Knick. And you just know Harrison Barnes is gonna come off the bench and somehow give KAT all kinds of problems on defense. Maybe both ends.

But here’s the thing: the Knicks present the Spurs with questions they have yet to be asked in the playoffs. For starters: Wembanyama’s defensive domination has — in part — benefited from all three of his playoff opponents being unable to play five-out offense. In the first round, Portland’s Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III combined to shoot 8-of-34 from deep; in the second, Naz Reid, more a hybrid bench big, drilled 15-of-33; and in the Western finals, Chet Holmgren was 3-of-12. Rudy Gobert and Isaiah Hartenstein both missed their one and only 3-pointers.

With respect to Reid, he’s nowhere near the offensive package or fulcrum Towns is; whatever 3s he took were likely the result of his teammates’ dribble penetration and Reid himself attacking or side-stepping closeouts. Even if we include Reid’s production with the other centers the Spurs have faced, that lot combined to go 26-of-90 (29%) from distance over three rounds. KAT’s made nearly as many by himself, on half the attempts (22-of-45, 49%). If Wemby guards him, he won’t be as free to help his teammates; if Wemby’s on Hart or somebody else and tries to close-out on KAT, the 7-foot Towns is one of the few players in the league who won’t feel like it’s an eclipse.

Another ray of hope: Harper, Castle, Wembanyama, Champagnie and Vassell are 19, 21, 22, 24 and 25. This is the first playoff run for each of them. The Spurs enter the Finals having played 100 regular-season and playoff games so far (101 if you count the time the Knicks beat them that counts, but doesn’t). The Knicks are older, presumably stronger, and hopefully better conditioned for long playoff runs.

Until they take off for San Antonio, the Knicks haven’t flown anywhere but Atlanta since April Fool’s Day; in that same stretch the Spurs have taken 13 flights. The Spurs’ crowd will be the first hostile fans the Knicks have played in front of since March in Houston. And as distressingly and speciously corporate as the Garden crowd gets the higher the ticket prices go, I’m here to tell those of you who’ve never witnessed MSG in the Finals that it hits more than a little different than The Rose Garden, the House that A-Rod Will Ruin and Never Forget What We Did To Seattle Coliseum.

The Spurs are really, really quite good. They often are. The Knicks are really, really good too. They’re often not. Now that I’ve given you the background on both, forget all you’ve read. Don’t try to guess what will happen. Let it wash over you. Let it unfold. If the Knicks lose, trust me, that’s the easiest way to prep yourself for the fallout. And if the Knicks win . . . . . .

Welcome to our annual Lakers season in review series, where we’ll look back at each player on the team’s roster this season and evaluate if they should be part of the future of the franchise. Today, we take a look at Bronny James

While seemingly every sports fan across the globe was giving their unique and different take about Bronny James and his spot on the Lakers roster, Bronny was busy working quietly in the background.

Spending much of his first two seasons in the G League, Bronny had brief moments of flashes of his progress, typically coming in blowouts or on nights when most of the team was out. However, injuries late in the season forced him up the depth chart and into the rotation and, for the first time in his young career, he showed what he could do in meaningful minutes.

It was an encouraging look at a player the Lakers have invested in the last two seasons. The question is, did he show enough for the Lakers to count on him moving forward?

How did he play?

For good portions of the season, Bronny was in the G League and playing well. Across the first 73 games of the Lakers’ season, Bronny played 32 times and averaged only seven minutes per game. Only five of those games saw him play at least 10 minutes, showing how limited he was to garbage time or one rotation at most per game.

A better summary of his season would be his time with South Bay, where he played 14 games. He averaged 15.6 points per game, but shot 56.4% from the field and 45.6% from three. He found his groove over the course of the season and looked a lot like the prospect that had so many scouts excited when he was in high school.

Eventually, injuries in the final month of the season opened the door for him to play meaningful NBA minutes again. Bronny took that confidence he gained in the G League and looked like a different, improved player with the parent Lakers.

His improvements didn’t directly result in big stat lines, but the assuredness and comfort he played with were the most noticeable difference. After looking overwhelmed by the moment too often during his rookie year and the beginning of his second season, Bronny finally looked like he belonged.

That all became really important when Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves went down with injuries and it became an all-hands-on-deck approach entering the playoffs. That included Bronny, who played in the first four games against the Rockets, including a memorable moment with LeBron during Game 3.

Eventually, as the games got more intense and the margin for error slimmed, Bronny fell out of the rotation, but it was an encouraging sign that he could see the floor at all.

Bronny was always going to be a project and the team certainly had to spend quite a bit of time developing him. While the work isn’t done, that they finally started to reap some of those benefits was a great sign this season.

What is the contract situation moving forward?

After two seasons with a full-guaranteed contract, Bronny’s deal is only partially guaranteed for next season. However, it becomes fully guaranteed on June 29 and it seems unlikely the Lakers move him before then.

He’s only on the books for $2.3 million next season and has a fourth season with a team option with a decision not due until late June of 2027.

Should he be back?

It’s not a necessity for Bronny to return, but there are a lot of other players on the roster who should be replaced before him. Bronny is on an affordable deal and showed enough to warrant bringing him back.

No longer is he tied to his father and even if LeBron leaves the Lakers this summer, Bronny has done enough to warrant a spot on this roster next season and, after devoting so much to help him develop, the Lakers should keep him around to see the benefits of all of that.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.