Biggest Stories of the Week

NBA — Trade Season Is Undefeated
We're a little over two weeks into the offseason, and this past week was just absurd. Portland landed Ja Morant in one of the most stunning trades of the summer, pairing him with Damian Lillard. Philly made the loudest statement by landing Jaylen Brown, and to top it all off, Kawhi Leonard is headed back to Canada.

CBB — The Offseason Grind
Summer workouts are underway, and the blue bloods aren't taking it lightly. Kentucky, Kansas, and Dan Hurley's Huskies all look locked in early. But the player flying under the radar is Duke's Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, who just set the Team USA single-game blocks record at the U17 World Cup before dropping 31 points and 16 rebounds on 11-of-13 shooting against Puerto Rico—all while buried in one of the nation's best freshman classes.

In today’s issue:

👀 The Read — Chicago hoops look a lot different

🔥 Clutch or Cap — Are the Sixers Eastern Conference Favorites?

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Ja X Dame Before GTA 6

Bulls
Chicago hasn't mattered in years, but this front office is quietly building something real. Hiring Tiago Splitter is the tell, a defensive-minded coach who should've kept the Blazers job, and he brings an identity to a team that already has key pieces. The draft landed two studs in Caleb Wilson, who put up 19.8 PPG and 9.4 RPG on 58% before a hand injury ended his UNC year, and Dailyn Swain, a 17 PPG bucket out of Texas.

The starting five looks nice on paper: Josh Giddey stuffing the sheet at the point, first-time All-Star Norman Powell at the two, year-three Matas Buzelis, Wilson at the four, and rim-protector Nic Claxton anchoring the middle at 57% from the floor. Depth will be the Achilles heel, especially guard play, and the East is a gauntlet, but with a real coach and vets around this young core, the Bulls are trending up. Needless to say, Windy City has something to look forward to.

Blazers
Portland's in solid shape after Deni Avdija's breakout carried them to the playoffs, capped by a 41-7-12 masterpiece in the play-in win over Phoenix before the Spurs bounced them 4-1. Then they took a swing, flipping Jerami Grant and Kris Murray for Ja Morant without giving up a single pick, a low-risk buy-low on a proven star. The logic tracks: with Dame turning 36 and coming off an Achilles injury on an uncertain timeline, Ja gives them a star now while they figure out whether Scoot Henderson or Shaedon Sharpe is the PG of the future, since neither fully seized it last year.

So it appears the Blazers are keeping the "guard room," and honestly, Scoot and Sharpe coming off the bench behind Lillard, Morant, and Holiday might be the best backup guard tandem in the league. Scoot flashed real upside in the playoffs and could be in for a leap, but health is the swing factor for both him and Sharpe, which makes this a big year for Portland's young guards. Sitting ~$31M under the tax with almost nothing locked past 2028, this is a "take a swing, commit to nothing" move that holds flexibility for the February trade deadline, and it makes them better and locks up a playoff push, though the real question now is what they actually get from that crowded backcourt.

Wizards
Washington was such a laughingstock last year that they let Bam Adebayo drop 83 on them, the second-most points in NBA history, passing Kobe Bryant. But the 17-65 disaster is officially getting a reset: they landed AJ Dybantsa with the No. 1 pick, re-signed Trae Young, kept Anthony Davis, and expect a leap year from Alex Sarr (16 PPG and 2 blocks a night) with young flashes from Tre Johnson and Kyshawn George. They even brought in Patrick Ewing and Steve Clifford to help develop the kids, so the front office is clearly making the right calls.

On paper that's a solid core, with AD at the four next to Sarr at the five and Dybantsa on the wing being exactly the kind of star every franchise needs. The one catch: AD has been noncommittal about actually being in D.C., and honestly, who's dying to play there right now, though maybe if LeBron reunites with him in a Trae-Bron-AJ-AD-Sarr lineup that could change things. Either way, the East is a gauntlet and they've still got a long way to go, but write this down: the Wizards will not be finishing last again.

Gonzaga
Mark Few just reloaded the way Gonzaga always does: dominant up front, questionable in the backcourt. They survived Kennesaw State in the first round before Texas bounced them in the Round of 32, a loss where the story was no secondary scoring once the bigs got walled off. That won't be the issue up front again, with Braden Huff back for his senior year after a knee injury cut short a 17 PPG junior season, now paired with 7'1" Arizona State transfer Massamba Diop, an elite shot-blocker and one of the best bigs in the country.

The concern is the same as always, the guard play. They're betting on sophomore jumps from Mario Saint-Supery and Davis Fogle plus Houston transfer Isiah Harwell, none of whom have proven they can fully orchestrate an offense, and the bench is so green that not a single projected reserve has played a minute of D1 ball. In the new-look Pac-12 that hardly matters since Gonzaga's the clear favorite, but nationally it's the same script every year, the bigs will be elite, and how far they go rides entirely on whether the guards show up.

Houston
Losing Emanuel Sharp and Milos Uzan to eligibility and first-rounders Kingston Flemings and Chris Cenac Jr. to the draft is no easy workaround. What's left is, on paper, one of the thinnest Houston rosters I've seen in years: lone returning starter Joseph Tugler anchors the paint as an elite defender with a 7'6" wingspan, but the scoring punch is all imported. LSU transfer Dedan Thomas Jr. (15.3 and 6.5 assists before an injury cut his year short) steps in at the point, Kent State's Delreeco Gillespie brings a high-level motor up front, and five-star freshman Arafan Diane adds depth to the frontcourt.

None of these guys move the needle the way last year's core did, and this looks like a step back for a program used to Final Four expectations. But the Big 12 is wide open this year, and Sampson wins with what he has every single season. So although Houston doesn't have that same old star power, a top-three finish is very much on the table and likely.

Indiana
Year two of the Darian DeVries era comes with one of the best transfer classes in the country, ranked top-5 nationally, and it's built the right way, from the frontcourt out. They landed a genuine modern big-man tandem in Alabama's Aiden Sherrell (2.2 blocks a night as one of the SEC's best rim protectors) at the four and 7'2" SMU Samet Yigitoglu at the five, the kind of size the best teams stack up on.

The backcourt is where the questions live: Markus Burton is a legit lead guard who's averaged 19 PPG for his career, but he's undersized, so they'll need Jaeden Mustaf and streaky scorer Bryce Lindsay to deliver too. The biggest bet is Duke transfer Darren Harris, a supposed knockdown shooter who barely played in Durham, so no telling what he can fully bring to this roster. Depth is the only real caveat, but on paper this is a massive leap for a team that finished 10th in the Big Ten last year. Behind Michigan, Illinois, and Michigan State, I've got Indiana finishing top-5 in the conference.

The Debates Driving Basketball

Let me say up front, I love this trade. The Sixers stunned the Celtics in a 7-game first-round series, fired Daryl Morey, and new president Mike Gansey immediately fleeced Boston to land a 28 PPG All-NBA wing in Jaylen Brown. They lost sixth man Quentin Grimes but replaced the scoring with Anfernee Simons off the bench, and on paper a trio of Tyrese Maxey, Brown, and a healthy Joel Embiid is terrifying, enough to put Philly in the East favorite conversation. But I'm not sure the fit is as clean as everyone thinks. Brown dominates the ball, he's an iso-heavy midrange guy, and now he's sharing it with another ball-dominant guard in Maxey and a young VJ Edgecombe who isn't a knockdown shooter yet.

To make things more difficult, shooting is what killed this team, because when the Knicks swept them, New York dropped a record-tying 25 threes in the closeout while Philly went 8-for-35, one of the most lopsided three-point gaps in playoff history. Philly’s defense was mid last year, so when the offense goes ghost like that, it can get ugly, and now they've swapped out their main floor-spacer in Paul George for another star who doesn't stretch it at high volume. That's exactly why the Anfernee Simons pickup was smart, they know they need spacers to survive in a league where 3PT shooting is critical.

This is a contender on paper, but a lot of dominoes have to fall for it to actually work. Embiid has to stay healthy and motivated, the spacing has to click, Brown's three-ball has to fall, and the fit has to gel. If all of that lines up, this is the best team in the East. But that's a lot of ifs, and if even one of these goes wrong, it's just another expensive Sixers squad that looks better in July than it does in May.

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Duke's season ended in the cruelest way possible, blowing a 19-point lead to UConn in the Elite Eight and losing on a 35-foot Braylon Mullins buzzer-beater, a collapse so rare that No. 1 seeds had been 134-0 when leading by 15 at halftime. They lose National Player of the Year Cam Boozer and sharpshooter Isaiah Evans, but this is Duke, so of course they reloaded. The recruiting class is the nation's second best, headlined by projected lottery pick Cameron Williams and top-ranked point guard Deron Rippey Jr., with five-star wing Bryson Howard and overseas riser Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje rounding it out. Then they hit the portal for the No. 1 guard available in Wisconsin's John Blackwell, a 19 PPG bucket, plus Belmont big man Drew Scharnowski for physicality and passing.

The crazy part is they brought back key players, retaining Cayden Boozer, Caleb Foster, Dame Sarr, and Patrick Ngongba, for what could be the best perimeter group in the country. Last year they swept both the ACC regular season and tournament titles, and I was wrong when I said the conference was back, but this year I mean it. Louisville, UNC, Miami, and Virginia all got better and form a legit top-five tier, so the ACC is top-heavy again and those teams will give the Blue Devils a real run.

But make no mistake, this is Duke's league to lose, because nobody in the conference is as deep, as star-studded, or has a better coach than Jon Scheyer. They come in preseason No. 2 behind reigning champion Michigan with arguably the toughest schedule in the country, including a Prime Video rematch with the Wolverines. So the returners and transfers guarantee they'll be elite, but how far they go in March comes down to what these freshmen give them, because we all know Duke loves to choke when it matters most.

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LA Pays the Price

All In
The Lakers have $475M committed to Luka, Reaves, and Kessler and no tradable first-round picks over the next 7 years.

Rookie Shooting Slumps
VJ Edgecombe went 0-for-16 from three in Philly's three playoff losses to Boston, and 15-of-43 in their wins.

Simons to the Rescue
Anfernee Simons finished last season in the 96th percentile in catch-and-shoot three-point efficiency, exactly what Philly lacked at 23rd in three-point frequency.

Cougars Lose Top Scorers
Houston lost its entire top four scorers to the draft and eligibility: Flemings (16.1), Sharp (15.5), Uzan (11.1), and Cenac (9.5).

Zags’ Shooting Struggles
Gonzaga ranked 348th in the country in three-point rate last season.

Scheyer Does it Again
Jon Scheyer has signed a top-three recruiting class in all 12 of his seasons on Duke's staff, with seven No. 1 classes.

The Biggest Headlines in Basketball

📝 Free Agency Frenzy. The biggest names came off the board as the Lakers landed Quentin Grimes (4yr/$69M), Walker Kessler (4yr/$130M), and Collin Sexton (2yr/$19M), while Tobias Harris is headed to San Antonio, Marcus Smart signed with Houston, and John Collins joined Detroit.

🏀 More Moves Around the League. Portland locked up Robert Williams III, Golden State brought back Kristaps Porzingis, Boston extended Neemias Queta and added Mitchell Robinson, while veterans including Mike Conley, Norman Powell, Luke Kennard, Nikola Vučević, Tyus Jones, Kyle Anderson, and Andre Drummond all found new homes.

🎓 St. John's Takes A Huge Hit. Projected starter Donnie Freeman suffered a torn Achilles and is expected to miss the season, dealing Rick Pitino's squad one of the biggest blows of the college basketball offseason.

👔 Coaching Carousel. Billy Donovan joined San Antonio as an assistant head coach, while Patrick Ewing returned to the NBA by joining Washington's coaching staff.

🧪 NBA Testing New Rules. Summer League will feature an experimental one-free-throw system—worth two or three points depending on the foul—and the league will also test a sensor-equipped basketball designed to improve officiating and player tracking.

Moments, Memes, and Culture

Well, Stephen A. doesn't like the new roster... all jokes aside, L.A., how are we feeling about the acquisitions:

That’s Volume 24.
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