Summer League Debuts and Global Expansion

Coming up. I got eleven thoughts from the weekend in the NBA. It's the best time of the year in the NBA right now with the conference finals, then the finals, then the draft and suummer League. And on gameim, you get the advantage as a fan. It's the hack for unlocking amazing tickets and just a few taps. It's incredibly easy to use and the gameime guarantee means you can trust you'll get one hundred percent authentic tickets to no matter the event that you're trying to go to. pllus Fes are always included so you get to see what you pay. I'm very thankful to get credentials to these events in the basketball world. So I will be using the gameime app instead. for my summer concerts coming up. I'm very excited about it. One of the cooler features about the Gameime app is the seat views. You get to have a panoramic view. of your seat in the app before you buy And I've been using that when I've been looking for tickets at venues that I haven't been to before to get an idea of what it's going to look like when I decide or what seat I'm going to have at the concerts that I'm going to. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time Download the Gameime app, create an account and use code KOC For twenty dollars off your first purchase. terms do apply. againg Create an account and Rdeem code KOC for twenty dollars off. Download the Gameime app today I guess some thoughts from the weekend starting with free agency and then later summer League. numberum one, the cavaliers are increasingly becoming the LeBron James favorite, but is this to be believed. If you look at poly market and the prediction markets out there, Cleveland right now is at fifty nine percent to sign LeBron James. The wararriors after becoming the favorites one week ago today are now to eighteen percent. The heat are at nine percent and I think this makes sense considering everything that we've been hearing, everything we've been seeing with our own eyes past week, LeBron James has been in Cleveland. He's going to old places. He's golfing. He's doing his thing out there in Cleveland All signs do seem to be pointing to the Cavaliers today But a week ago, all signs were pointing to the warriors. We'll see how things are going to change. Of course, we talked recently about the Rich Paul whiteboard thing he did on his podcast with tenen teams on there. The warriors weren't in the inner circle. the cavaliers were. they got a lot of time, the heatware as well. I just think with LeBron, it is complepletely understandable If he goes back to Cleveland if it is purely for the full circle moment of his career, right? If this is what it's all about, ending where it began At the same time, I think if there's hopes of winning a championship, a fifth ring And he still in my opinion, should still be thinking about getting that fifth ring. Who knows if he could be in a position to get that still, even though it's so late in his career at forty two years old This Cleveland roster, I know they were in the final four. I know they made it to the final four they got through a Raptors team that's young with a crappy offense. It took seven games. It took seven games to get through the pistons, a poorly constructed roster built only for the regular season, not for the playoffs. And then they just got completely blasted by New York with a historic blown game one lead team quit on each other in game three. The coach, they won the series analytically, but the coach was really bad. Kenny Atkinson was really bad in that series really throughout the entire postseason as well. So this Cavaliers roster for LeBron James, what's good with Mitchell and Hart and as you have other ball handlers that alleviate the workload off you, what's good is you are an upgrade over Dean Wade. L you're going from Dean Wade to LeBron James. Obviously he helps the team. I'm not saying that But I just think with Mitchell and Harden Pardon if he returns, Rich Paul said it himself on the whiteboard thing. LeBron loved Darious Garland didnidn't really say much about James Harden. Harden doesn't move off ball He's not as much of an offball player. What's How's that going to look with LeBron? Could there be some overlap, some friction between those two on the court. Mitchell As much as I really like Donovan Mitchell Not much of a passer he's not. And so I think with LeBron, there's some issues with those guys in the back court. neverever mind in the front court with Mobbley and Allen with neither of those guys being effective floor spacers, Allen as a non shooter and Moby as a shaky shooter That team also needs a backup big. So I think the calves There's a lot of appeal because it's home. At the same time that roster needs tweaks to it just like a lot of these other teams do, to be fair, the warriors need tweaks. I think you look at other teams on that board as well. like Dallas is on the board. off course they need tweaks. A lot of those teams that were on the rich Paul board need tweaks. Clevel on specifically, if it's home. I would hope going home also comes with roster changes to optimize his chances of hoisting a fifth Larry O'Brien trophy That's what I want to see. So I think with the Braon, We assume Cleveland because it seems like people think This is going to be his final year But I don't think we should make that assumption necessarily. LeBron could easily play play two or three more years. He could go somewhere else and then have his second homecoming Please Now We'll see, right? like what happens. I feel like the longer this drags on, the more I'm thinking it's Cleveland. likeike he's not going to disappoint them again Who knows, right? I mean, the july eighth anniversary is coming up this Wednesday of the decision that happened in twenty ten, of course as he SSBN interview appearance that he did and It would be kind of like a full circle moment for him to decide to go back to Cleveland on that date if he does it on july eighth. And I think if you're considering when is the wrong going to make his choice, Today's Monday. we're recording this at eleven thirty eight AM Eastern on Monday morning. The World Cup is tonight I can't imagine he's gonna want to share the spotlight with the World Cup tonight. I don't think it's going to come today Tomorrow morning, it's all going to be about whatever happens in tonight's game with Team USA. I can't imagine it's going to happen then, but late Tuesday Wednesday Early Thursday Maybe if it's this week, that's somewhat around the time when we could expect, but I don't know, Rich Paul said it's going to be a while. So who knows maybe this drags on pass this week, but we'll find out whenever it happens, we'll be live here on Yahoo Sports NBA. So be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and also follow my podcast. of course, we'll have an emergency show up ASAP. after LeBron does make his decision. All right, number two thought Draymond Green. This is just pure speculation on my part, but I think it's worth wondering if Draymond Green could follow LebBron wherever he goes. And I mean, I feel like a lot of people point to him opting out purely. about golden state having flexibility to sign LeBron. give him more money, alsoso bring back Dray on on a discount deal and that might be all it is and that if LeBron doesn't go to goolden State, Dreamon resigns in Golden State And that's that Teams back up with Stehan Curry and Steve Cur and they roll the ball out again next season with whatever roster they have. Playority left. Who's to say Draymond wouldn't leave either Draymond who he knows this business. He has talked openly about how he's understanding about how in this league Anybody can be traded. He understands why the warriors shopped him around for Janasan Npo earlier in the year He said he gets that. He talked about that on his podcast back in February when that was a very real possibility of the warriors trading Draymon in a deal for Janis. It didn't happen But you're telling me Dreamon Green is going to sign a two or three year deal with Gold State with no trade Cause And then six months from now possibly be moved somewhere that he doesn't want to go because the warriors don't want to trade Jimmy Butler. They'd rather just deal Dreamon instead I feel like there's a possibility Draymon could decide to go wherever LeBron goes becausecause I think you look at a lot a lot of the teams on that list for LeBron, a lot of them could use a Dream on Green. Like we just talked about Cleveland. Can you imagine the front court with Evan Mbley plus Jared Allen Pos Stray Mongreen The ability to play with Mobli and Draymon or Allen and Draymon, like just different lineup combinations. you could play with all three of them as well. There's just He just adds so much to any contending team and I just think the warriors, if they don't get LeBron, there's no path to any more rings. these next couple years. They are not a contender If they don't get LeBron and if they don't flip butler to go get Anthony Davis, they're not a content. So would Dreaymon really go back there just to, you know, finish it out possibly Very well could be what happens At the same time, I don't feel like anybody's talking about Dreamon leaving. And that's why I just wanted to raise that thought here. Number three The nuggets are open to sign and trades for Peyton Watson, according to Sam Anmk over at the athletic. Watson Watts are twenty five plus million dollar deal and Amk said in his story that posted Sunday night that the nuggets are open to matching any offer, but they're also open to sign and trades. And with the conversations I've had with executives around the league, not just about Watson, but just in general with the sign and trade stuff. It's like these restricted free agents, it's sort of a stalemate because there's not much of a market out there as we'll talk about in a second with Jayen Duran. but there's also just the fact that some of these teams saw what the jazz got for Walker Kesso and they're like whoa, two first Swaps Sine us up Yeah, S a later. Peton Watson, Sal later, Jayalen Durn. so I think some of these teams right now are waiting to see if there's a team that goes over the top like the Lakers did with Utah go out and get Kessler. And so for Denver, I'd imagine that's part of the appeal here. Is there anything out there for them? That is more appealing than signing Pyton Watson or matching an offer sheet for him, assuming an offer sheet even comes. I think for Denver, the worst case scenario. is that he just signs the qualifying offer. And that one year from now He can become an unrestricted free agent and he can't be traded over the next year. That's a real possibility paid and wants and would he pass up all this long term money Maybe not, but do see players threaten to sign the qualifying offer. And I think that's a possibility think about Denver and part of the fear if he doesn't decide to do that because we already saw what happened this year with Payton Watson Once he got that hamstring injury, he basically shut it down He didn't come back. because he didn't want to ruin his market. And so if he were to sign the qualifying offer, you think he's going to go full throttles next year? I think so. Number four The Jalen Dern free agent market just seems absolutely dead There's nobody out there that has money that wants dn And so I think for him, he's in a position now where the pistons are not giving him a deal that he wants There's also not a deal out there for him in free agency to sign and actually force the pistons to match. And I think that kind of really cleared up after the Lakers traded for Walker Kessler So I think for Dern, he's in a really tough spot here And again, like I just said with Peyton Watson He is trying to figure out, is there a team out there to sign and trade for him Is there' something out there that would work I'm doubtful. I've said all along ever since this stuff first started, you know brewing about Durn possibly going somewhere else. That's a bonus for Durn stuff. I've consistently said, I think he'll be back in Detroit next year. I'll continue to say that But ultimately for this pistons team I got a message on Instagram. I asked for some mail bag questions and a guy who goes by Ravioli asked me, Detroit still hasn't addressed their second initiator problem. If it's not hero Who else could they target? Beats me Like it's not there's not much out there with the free agent market. There's not much out there that makes sense in the trade market either. for Detroit So they're in a really, really strange spot right now because I think with Jayen Duran Like you you want to bring him back considering what he did during the regular season. You get John Colls in the front court replacing Isaiah Stewart. You did draft Abuka Okori, mayaybe he is the answer Maybe O'Corey's going to be one of the rookies who comes in and does a stellar job right away I think the jump from Stanford to Detroit is pretty massive and it'd be unfair to place those expectations on him. We'll see what happens how he looks in Summer League and how Detroit might feel about him entering his rooie year. But I think Hiro does make a lot of sense because he offers that offball shooting ability. He offers the onball creation that can help alleviate that workload off of Kade Cunningham. Hero makes a lot of sense for the pistons and salary wise he could work for them as well But ultimately, They got to do something Piston's got to do something all off season long, Piston spans have been just on me because I criticize their GM for not making a move at the deadline. like Traj and Langin said, we're going to wait till the summer. We wanted to evaluate after the post season. Yeah, but we already knew the problems. probleblems where Tobias Harris isn't very good And you guys needed more shooting, you guys needed more creation and Harris with his expiring salary was the easily upgradeable spot didnn't cash that in And now they're in a position where Harris Watts San Antonio, they traded Isaiah Stewart, They signed John Collins. they drafted abuca O Corey. What else going to happen here to actually fix the problems on the team with the shooting Isaiah Joe alone isn't enough. Bringing back Duncan Robinson alone isn't enough. This team needs more bodies, more quality talent and more creators. And so I'm a little worried about what the pistons have done was' still early. It's only july sixth. so We'll find out what happens in the coming week or so Number five, we did get some news this morning Rui Hach Aamura has signed with the Los Angeles Cppers for two years twenty eight million dollars. Solid signing for them. I'm not going to go crazy here with Ry. He's a solid player offer some scoring can pull up a little bit, three point shooting. the most impactful defender, not the most impactful passer at all or reboundounder for that matter, Ruby's just solid. He's a solid player U So I think for the clippers it's nice to kind of steal him away. from the Los Angeles Lakers but I've never been personally the biggest ruby fan until He got to LA I think when he got to LA and started playing with LeBron and then with Lua Daurich H numbers just skyrocketed from three point range. Is that because of some development that he experienced? Perhaps, maybe. it definitely could be that. He mayaybe he figured out how to become a more consistent three point shooter. I would hope that sustains with the cllippers, but att the same time, sometimes these guys that have two, three years where they shoot the ball well, then they fall backack just to becoming super inconsistent like they were earlier in their careers as he was in Washington. So we'll see with Ruby. But for two years, twenty eight million is certainly worth the money this point And we'll be right back after this break Number six, back to the Lakers here. The Lakers are focused on Jonathan Caminga according to Steinline. And a lot of Lakers fans over recent days have been asking, why are we just not interested in Ruby Catchamura Why not just bring back Ry? And I think the answer to that simply because you guys sign Mamu Mamu offers the shooting that is lost by Ruy Hachamura at the for position with better size. and better handling. and better creation. Mamu was just straight up the better player than Rui Hachimura And I know he's not a big name. He came off the bench for the Raptors. Not a lot of people are watching Toronto But ultimately I think Mava was very clearly going to prove to be an upgrade. And as for Kaminga, I don't think he's very good He has not proven a lot. He has not shown a lot, but ultimately what he has shown here and there are some flashes. And in the same way Ruy Haamura was sort of a, you know, semi buyow for the Lakers. You got Ruy from Washington when he was only at the time twenty four years old Kaminga is still young and he's coming off a rocky start of his career with the wararriors. It was a poor fit And then he goes to the hawks and he was, you know, up and down, he had some moments Maybe in L.A. playing next to Luca, he could bring them to life And they need some athleticism in that front court as well. So I like the Lakers focusing on Kaminga personally. I think it's a solid bet for them, especially after losing Rui and gaining Mamu as the replacement there. All right, so we got a couple mail bag questions here. O related to the Lakers from Daniel to follow up on this thought with come going after Kaminga, Daniel said, The Lakers underwhelming off season has the Luca MVP and championship window I think it's probably a bit premature to say that the window has passed But I would say it is certainly shut a little bit. and that's the scary part here for Luca when you're talking about he's going to turn twenty eight next season He's had some injuries in recent years But we also saw him Possibly at his peak in terms of regular season abilities and production before he got hurt to end the year this season. And so I think with Luca, it would be kind of foolish to say it's passast for a player who can Any day wake up and be the best player in the world I mean the the version of Luca we saw in the middle of March was truly extraordinary He got it anywhere he wanted on the floor. He was efficient from three point range, knocked down from mid range, could get to the basket. He looked spry defensively. He looked he was in the best shape of his life And I thought he was more impactful on the defensive end of the floor as well. So if he's able to be even better T way guy In addition to constantly just putting up numbers offensively and continues becoming even more efficient offensively, you can't rule that guy out. dragging his team to the NBA finals. We saw him do that in Dallas before I think the concern with the Lagers though is as you said, Daniele, this underwhelming offseason They just The Lakers have not had a great summer so far, but ultimately You know, Colin Sexton and Mamu and Grimes and Kessler Maybe these guys will work out Mbe maybe they all look way better playing alongside Luca and so I wouldn't I would not say it's passed. I think that's a bit too extreme. but Without a doubt, the pressure is on the Lakers. And I think adding some more guys with upside like a coming tight I mean, why not take a shot and see what happens there Bruno on Instagram asked me What is your first impression on the first games of this draft class? So we'll pivot here to Summer League here and we'll stay with the Lakers. Cameron Carr had his debut over the weekend in the California class. A Cameron Carr had twenty six, eight and four dominant in the same way that he did during the NBA draft comombines Kirmerage back in May. I thought the Diversity of the ways in which he scored was everything that you could have dreamed of if you were a Lakress fan. And in the first half alone, his first shot, he had a floater for midrange, a spot up three, a movement three coming off a screen. He had a contested pull up all on the first half And then he had his big dunk attacking a close out in the second half as well as well as a few more jumpers as well. Cameron Car out of Baylor is the type of guy. You know he's a bucket getter You know we can offer some secondary creation And so it's just one summer League game, and I'm not going to go crazy overreacting to any of these. It would be ridiculous to do so You have to like what you saw from Cameron Carr and his debut with the Lakers and you have to feel a little bit better about what some of these guys could offer the team if they hit. And so I like Cameron Carr's first first impression with the Los Angeles Lakers. Number eight here, Darren Peterson Darren Peterson was dude Sensational He looked unbelievable for the Utah jazz. I thought Darren Peterson looked like an absolute star. like he had the burst that he once had at the high school level. He had twenty eight points on eleven for twenty one. from the field, he got to the rim He hit some off foot layups from mid range from three clutch. Peterson just complete completely delivered throughout the entire game. and I know he had eight turnovers on that worried about eight turnovers. I thought he passed the ball well overall distributed as a secondary guy, but ultimately the clut shot making down the stretch of the game. I man It's just It's not often. this is why I in the end I ended up Boozer one, Peterson two Dbona three. I move Peterson ahead of ahead of Debana The final week is because you're justister of fluidity Peterson has to his game and ease in which he plays with. and I thought that was so clear at the high school level when you just put that on synergy and he watched all of his high school stuff It' like it's just such a cliche, but it's the truth. It just flows like water. It just looks easy for him, natural And at Kansas, it didn't look like that I think in the Utah Summer League, at least through the one game It looked like the high school Darren Peterson And so I'm very excited about what he's going to be moving forward and some Lan, I can't wait for Thursday Peterson versus the Bana I'm going to grab my tickets on the Gameime app to go to that summer League game on Thursday. I cannot wait I hope those guys are both playing and I hope they're both playing at a high level. I hope they're both playing in heavy minutes because it seems like Anytime AJ and DP go against at each other,'s it's theater. I think those guys could be kind of real vivaler in the NBA. And I hope I hope Thursday night in Las Vegas, Darren Peterson. versus AJD Batza is the first sign of that happening in the NBA. All right, number nine thought rom the weekend here Cameron Boozer his summer League debut with the Memphis Griz Lagies. He will play Friday against Kayleb Wilson as well over out there in Vegas if you're heading out Whoozer in his debut for the Grizzlies had fifteen, four and four and He looked like Cambooer I don't know what else there is to say. He He's directing his teammates. He's pointing around like hey, pass there greenike he just looked like a thirty five year old veteran out there. And what impressed me most, I thought in the game was the return of his mid range jumper You didn't take a lot of them Last year, Duke, it's not really part of their inalymics happppy offense pulled out a turnar around mid ranger in the first half. he had a baseline pull up in the second half. So in addition to quality passing in addition to the three he hit and the interior finishing, the patience he showed mid range making a bit of a return for Boozer. It's just an intriguing thing to monitor with him because I think with boozers so often people act like, oh, he's just a role player Boozer is a do it all stud on the offensive end of the floor And if the mid range is there, it changes I think the complexion of what's possible for him on the offensive end because we know how important the midrange is to star level talents. Additionally The Memphis Grizies made a pretty savvy signing. They signed Quintent Post to a three year thirty million dollars offer sheet. Post has spent the first two years of his NBA career with the Golden State Warriors He was okay as a rookie, shot well from three, but struggled defensively. and then year two with Golden State he was a bit better defensively and he struggled from three. but I was bullish on Quent Post. if you remember my draft guide twenty twenty four, I had him like top forty, top forty five or something like that. He ended up going undrafted to the wararriors no I'm sorry. He got he got drafted in the fifties if I remember correctly. did end up getting drafted fifty seconds golden state, but he fell a little bit and ultimately Toast has been a rotation guy twoo years under Steve Kerr, that's saying something And so I think Ker definitely has some trust in post. And I think for the warriors, they are suddenly in a tough spot because of this offer sheet. becausecause if posts is at ten mill annually It's going to be really, really hard for Golden State to match that offer sheet and stay under the second apron. So Golden State waiting on the Bron, waiting on clarity with Daymond Waiting on basically what's going to dictate what their team looks like next season post offer sheet puts them really under a lot of pressure over the next seventy two hours. And for Memphis, I think it's a smart move Zach Ey is the guy in Memphis at the five, but he does have some durability concerns. And if you have Quentin Post as a backup behind him as a guy you can play with Boozer too me, I think, I think it's a really, really smart smart, smart signing for Memphis that they end up getting him. Speaking of the warriors Yaxel Lndenborg. Oh my goodness. likeike he looks so good for Golden state. nineteen points in his first game, eleven points in his second game just basically one hundred percent from three He has not missed from three point range so far for goolden State I've been impressed by Axle I think he's showing exactly what you want to see from this guy. He's a good quote or a bad quote, mayaybe if you're Steve Kurt, that's how you might feel. but I think with post possibly leaving, this front court could be completely reshaped and Jaksel Lnderborg get six foot nine, two hundred fifty pounds. He's not going to play five necessarily pinch as we saw at Michigan, he can play a little bit of small f for you. And so I think with him with his three point shooting ability, his handling ability. You're going see Steve Curry use him as a hub sometimes. Imagine him. with Stehan Curry two man actions operating out of the post or operating out of the elbow and wing areas with his ability to score. He can drive on guys, he can turn around and hit threes. he can pull up a little bit. Yaxel is just So versatile as a player on the offensive end of the floor. That's how Michigan used him last year in different roles, depending on different situations and already, I think we're seeing little glimmers of that So we'll see how that continues for him in Summer League He still needs to get better defensively. I thought he really struggled We'll see if that everort continues to improve. But that's what stood out to me in suummer League One of the thing that's interesting from this past week was The NBA released their NBA cup . on like Wednesday or Thursday, like during the World Cup and it's like, huh, this is suspicious timing. Like why would they drop this now? We don't know the schedule yet. It's just a little silly they would drop us now. and it made me think Over the weekend of my interview with Evan Wash Evan Wash Wors for the NBA. He basically is one of the lead creators of the NBA cup one of the guys who is one of the creators with the NBA draft lottery reform as well. and Towards the end of our conversation during the NBA finals, we talked about the cup, how The Kicks and Spurs was the first rematch. the NBA Cup and I asked Evan about potential expansion of the cup. And what he said to me is Could we bring in the champions of other leagues around the world? Could we have, for example, the Euro League champion and the CBA champion Join and have a thirty two team cup The challenge, of course, is what we end up creating was built into the regular season schedule. So it gets a little complex, but it could change As we look at expansion, as we look at NBA Europe, there's tremendous opportunity As we look at expansion, as we look at NBA Europe, there's tremendous opportunity to build out things like the Cup and create new properties that will add more and more meaning to the calendar And Watching the World Cup this weekend. there is No replicating countountry versus country in basketball. USA is just far too dominant and soccer is more of a global sport today Ben. basketball is However You're having Real Madrid. P Custs and you're having these overseas teams from different leagues different countries facing off against each other when they ordinarily might not And they're facing off against NBA teams with a lot of former NBA guys who've gone overseas and played I think once every four years The NBA could definitely have the NBA cu Global edition whereere you have teams from around the world playing like a sixty four team tournament with a group stage and this and that. I think that would be pretty awesome If the leeague were to do something like that. and it's just the thought that's crossed my mind naturally after watching the World Cup because the World Cup is awesome. it's every four years It's not every year, it's every four years. So every time it happens, it feels Incredibly important. And so I think for the NBA as they build out NBA Europe We should find out over the next couple of months, who's going to own those teams Um that that's going to really help dictate Is there former NBA owners that are going to buy overseas? Are players going to be able to own teams or own equity in teams? There's a lot of questions lingering about how the NBA Europe is going to look on tracks are going to look like overseas, It could it be enough for certain NBA players to jump over. play in Europe. Rather than playing on a middle in contract here, what's a max look like overseas A lot of questions there, but ultimately I think for the NBA They clearly want to grow globally. And I think with the NBA Cup, that is one of the paths towards continuing to do that and just on my mind Watching the World Cup It's been a lot of fun the last couple days, subtagging along late for the World Cup I'm very late here I wasn't watching much, much of him from the during the first two rounds, but u USA versus Belgium tonight wait