Biggest Stories of the Week

NBA — 2026 Summer League Champs
The 2026 NBA Summer League has concluded with the Golden State Warriors beating the Memphis Grizzlies 94-90 to hoist the trophy. Yaxel Lendeborg (21 PTS, 10 REB), including 9 points in the 4th quarter alone, and Cameron Boozer (19 PTS, 8 REB) both put on a show. Lendeborg was named Summer League MVP.

CBB — Players Era Schedule Drop
Players Era dropped the schedules for both its Vegas showcases, the eight-team field tipping Nov. 17 and the 16-team bracket on Nov. 24. The slates are stacked—Florida-Notre Dame and Kansas-UNLV in the Eight, Tennessee-Maryland and Louisville-Texas Tech in the Sixteen—with Houston, Auburn, Oregon, St. John's and Iowa State all in the mix.

In today’s issue:

👀 The Read — Three teams in the running for LeBron James

🔥 Clutch or Cap — Where we think LeBron Will Go

The Bid for LeBron James

Warriors
Steph Curry is chasing ring No. 5, and Golden State spent the offseason trying to build the best roster it can around him while there's time. A year after reaching the second round, they dropped to 37-45 and lost in the play-in. Once Jimmy Butler tore his ACL in January, Curry had no second guy who could create. Recently they re-signed Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis, brought back Steve Kerr, and drafted Yaxel Lendeborg, who looked like a swiss army knife during Summer League, while they wait on Butler (ACL) around December and Moses Moody coming back from a ruptured patellar tendon, estimated to return after the New Year.

With the 3rd-highest-scoring bench in the league and real depth, all they're missing is a second star to pull defenses off Curry. Adding LeBron wouldn't make them better than OKC or San Antonio, but Curry already proved he can hang with anybody by dropping 46 and 49 on the Spurs in back-to-back wins, and giving the greatest shooter of all-time the best second option alive gives these Warriors a strong fighting chance.

Timberwolves
Minnesota keeps knocking on the door but can never get through it, and this year they took a major swing by trading for LaMelo Ball to fix the one thing holding them back. They had the 8th-ranked defense last season but just a 12th-ranked offense, so they bet on LaMelo to be the creator who takes the ball out of Anthony Edwards' hands and lets him focus on scoring. But they gave up Julius Randle and Naz Reid, two top-5 leading scorers and a big chunk of their frontcourt size. Now they're thin up front with a bench that ranked 21st in scoring.

They've still got scoring in the starting five—Ant, McDaniels at 41% from three, Dosunmu also 41%—but LaMelo isn't a consistent scorer himself, and in Charlotte he had shooters everywhere while here he's asked to lift a group that's now smaller and shorter on depth. They already made the second round as a 6-seed, and with almost no bigs left on the market, they're betting a lot on LaMelo—a big swing that could just as easily leave them worse than they were before.

Heat
After getting bounced in the play-in by Charlotte, Miami made one of the biggest moves of the offseason, landing Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis for a massive package: Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Kasparas Jakucionis, Jaime Jaquez, and picks. But that deal hard-capped them, and the fallout cost them All-Star Norman Powell, their 21 PPG scorer and the only real shot creation they had outside of Bam, who walked to the Bulls. The guards left on the market are projects and role players—an aging Bradley Beal, Russell Westbrook, Gabe Vincent—none of whom replace what Powell gave them. Insert the King.

Miami has always been built on defense, and adding LeBron alongside Giannis, Portis, Bam, Wiggins, and Davion Mitchell would make them downright suffocating on that end. They've got the room to sign him—around $10-12 million with three open roster spots—but being hard-capped at the first apron means they can't add much else, so the shooting and depth would still be a problem even with Tim Hardaway Jr. South Beach checks every box LeBron's camp says they want—lifestyle, family, weather—but even with him, the champion Knicks, a Jaylen Brown-led Sixers, a hungry Cavs, and Boston are all real threats in a deep East. So with or without LeBron, Miami makes the playoffs, but how far they go comes down to how far Giannis can carry them.

Texas Tech
Texas Tech lost four of its five starters from last year. First-round pick Christian Anderson, senior scorer Donovan Atwell, starting guard Jaylen Petty to UCLA, and starting forward LeJuan Watts to Washington. The one thing that saves them is JT Toppin coming back—a consensus All-American who put up 21 PPG and 10 RPG before a torn ACL in February, and a Player of the Year candidate, though his return could stretch toward January.

To refill the roster they hit the portal for Cruz Davis from Hofstra, who dropped 20 a game last year and is the clear prize, plus UNLV's Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn and Wyoming's Damarion Dennis, while leaning on returning big Josiah Moseley up front. But they're still undersized with no true center. The Big 12 doesn’t look as star powered this year outside of Kansas, Houston, and Arizona, so if this is the roster as it stands, Grant McCasland has his work cut out for him—they could arguably finish top-5 again, but being a real tournament threat hinges entirely on what those guards give them.

Wisconsin
The Badgers went out with one of the ugliest first-round exits in recent memory, blowing a chance against High Point (83-82) as 10.5-point favorites. The collapse was bad enough that Greg Gard's seat heated up, but he's back, and now he's tasked with rebuilding a roster that lost its two best players: star guard John Blackwell (19.1 PPG) to Duke and lead guard Nick Boyd to graduation. That's huge for a team replacing most of its offensive production.

The good news is Nolan Winter is back to anchor the frontcourt, but the portal class—Eian Elmer from Miami, Victory Onuetu from Hofstra, and Trey Autry from George Washington—is solid but a fraction of what Boyd and Blackwell provided. This was a team that beat No. 2 Michigan on the road as 19-point underdogs and knocked off Illinois last year, so the ceiling is there, but in a top heavy Big Ten with Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, and a possible Dent-led UCLA, Gard also has his work cut out for him if this is the roster.

Georgia
Georgia's season ended in humiliation—a 102-77 blowout to Saint Louis in the first round, the worst NCAA tournament loss by an SEC team since 2011, down 40 before garbage time. That put Mike White firmly on the hot seat, but he's back, and he's trying to rebuild after losing his two most important players: leading scorer Jeremiah Wilkinson to Arkansas and rim-protecting center Somto Cyril to Miami. The good news is he kept four starters, headlined by Blue Cain (13.1 PPG), and reloaded through the portal with Penn State's leading scorer Freddie Dilione and Ole Miss center James Scott.

The issue is play-style: Georgia runs one of the fastest, highest-scoring offenses in the country with no defense to match, so when the shots stop falling they can't get stops and the game snowballs—exactly what happened against Saint Louis. They finished 7th in the SEC last year, and the teams right behind them all got better—Missouri brings in a top-15 portal class, Texas added Punch, Isaiah Johnson, and the reclassified 2027 No. 1 recruit. The Bulldogs looks like a team fighting not just for a tournament bid, but to stay in the top half of a stacked SEC.

Summer Standouts & Sleepers

Burries Balling
Bucks rookie Brayden Burries averaged 22.3 PPG on 50/44 shooting in Summer League—posting a 12-assist, 1-turnover game.

Boozer's Debut
Grizzlies rookie Cameron Boozer was named ESPN's No. 2 rookie of Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 18.5 PPG and 8.0 REB on the lowest usage of the top-five picks.

Microwave in Vegas
Pistons guard Chaz Lanier, 2.4 PPG as a rookie, lit up Summer League for 17.4 points on 51% from three, making more threes in Vegas than he did all of last season.

Fears the Favorite
Michigan State's Jeremy Fears Jr. opened as the betting favorite for National Player of the Year.

101 Buckets
BYU's Rob Wright III dropped a league-record 101 points in a Utah pro-am game.

Georgia's Flaw
Georgia played at the country's 12th-fastest tempo with a top-20 offense—but ranked 89th on defense, the recipe that got them blown out by Saint Louis.

The Debates Driving Basketball

The whole basketball universe is waiting on one man—Adam Silver admitted he can't finalize opening week or Christmas until LeBron decides, which tells you everything about the King's pull at 41. He's said this is about happiness, family, and lifestyle over chasing a fifth ring, so I debunked the options. I don't see Bron retiring in Minnesota. The lifestyle just isn't it, regardless of the idea of playing with Ant, especially since LeBron plans on golfing. Philly? Solid but also doubtful. They'd have the best five on paper, but there's only one ball and he's reportedly spooked by Embiid's health.

Miami is my No. 2 option. The sunshine, the second-home story, and a title window next to Giannis clearly make it worth it, but their depth is slim and the East is stacked. Cleveland is another solid option. The homecoming's romantic, but the Cavs just got swept 4-0 by the Knicks and Harden isn't necessarily the guy you trust, so why risk the perfect legacy he already left there? That leaves my No. 1 option, Golden State.

Curry proved he can still lead a team, they had the 3rd-best scoring bench last season, championship pedigree, and LeBron's wanted to play with Steph for years. James is best friends with Draymond, same agent in Rich Paul, coached by Kerr on Team USA, and GSW is in California near his family and his son's Lakers. When Silver himself was asked what would make LeBron happiest, he pointed straight at Golden State: "playing with Steph is wonderful… he should go somewhere there's going to be true joy." Needless to say, LeBron x Curry is about to feed generations.

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ESPN's way-too-early Top 25 has North Carolina at No. 25, and that's way too low—this team is a top-15 squad, easy. For starters UNC has the 7th-best transfer class in the country per 247Sports, ahead of blue-bloods and right behind Miami, and they replaced Henri Veesaar and Caleb Wilson with two highly-touted international prospects.

Ranked ahead of them on ESPN are teams like Iowa State at 24 and Nebraska at 22. UNC's roster stacks up better than both. USC at 12 is the wildest one—they were mediocre in the Big Ten last year and haven't proven a thing yet despite the returners and freshmen coming in. Arkansas at 11 is a team full of unproven freshmen—talented, sure, with five-star Jordan Smith likely a one-and-done stud, but that's a lot of "we'll see" to rank right outside the top 10.

And ESPN's got St. John's at 8, but that number should change—the Red Storm just lost prized transfer Donnie Freeman for the entire season to a torn Achilles. Point is, the middle of this Top 25 has some questionable selections, and UNC has more talent and a better portal haul than a handful of teams ahead of them. Slotting the Tar Heels at 25 is disrespectful—this is a top-15 team, and it won't take long for the rankings to catch up.

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The Biggest Headlines in Basketball

🔄 Dort Lands in Atlanta. The Thunder traded All-Defensive wing Lu Dort to the Hawks in a three-team deal, sending former No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher to Dallas, Ryan Nembhard to Atlanta, and three second-round picks to OKC. The move pairs Dort with Dyson Daniels for a nasty wing-defense duo, while OKC shed salary under the second apron.

🚨 Trent Under Investigation. The NBA is probing Gary Trent Jr.'s new four-year, $64M deal with the Bucks for possible salary-cap circumvention, the suspicion being a handshake agreement after Trent took two straight below-market deals.

✍️ Free Agency Leftovers. Ziaire Williams signed a one-year, $3M deal with the Lakers and Jordan McLaughlin returned to the Spurs on a one-year, $3.3M deal, while the Mavericks matched the Knicks' two-year, $4.7M offer sheet to keep center Moussa Cisse.

🇺🇸 Team USA Staff Set. USA Basketball named OKC's Mark Daigneault, Detroit's JB Bickerstaff, and Gonzaga's Mark Few as assistants under head coach Erik Spoelstra for the 2027 FIBA World Cup and 2028 Olympics.

🎓 Reclass Rush. Two highly-touted 2027 recruits reclassified to 2026: top-25 point guard Davion Thompson will enroll early at Arkansas, stacking Calipari's No. 1 class even higher, while top-20 wing Gabe Nesmith—Vanderbilt's highest-ranked commit in nearly a decade—will suit up for the Commodores this season.

〽️ Lone Wolverine Out. LJ Cason plans to enter the transfer portal following Dusty May's departure—the lone Michigan player to leave a title roster that otherwise stayed intact.

Moments, Memes, and Culture

To be fair the Warriors have the greatest PG of all-time, so that’s enticing enough:

That’s Volume 26.
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Catch you courtside. 🏀
—Hoopvalor