Six early NBA Summer League storylines, plus Kevin Durant trade notes
On this date, in 2010, LeBron James announced on live television he was taking his talents to South Beach to join the Heat. It resulted in sports fans losing their minds, basketball vitriol mutating amid the ascension of social media and Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert making the comic sans font a meme, as he wrote a ridiculous letter about the moment that stayed on the team's website for four years, until James came back to the organization. Fifteen years later, James claims you're bored if you notice he still works out there. Time (and a championship) really does heal all wounds.
What to watch for at Summer League!
Thursday! Thursday! Thursday! Until … like July 20! That's the Las Vegas Summer League schedule. It's 11 days of the NBA being in Vegas, and that doesn't even count the staff there to set things up before packing it away. That's a really long time to be in Vegas, but that's where the NBA loves to be this time of year. Vegas Summer League is all about showing you the stars of tomorrow and the moments that will also uncover some hidden gems.
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I still remember being in the Cox Pavilion to watch John Wall dominate as a rookie, and this no-named kid holding his own against him in this random showdown in Vegas back in 2010. It turns out that no-name player was Jeremy Lin. You never know who is going to kick the door open a little bit to start finding their way into an NBA spotlight – even if it takes a while.
There is a smorgasbord of things to keep an eye on in the first few days of summer league, and, if we're lucky, it will last for at least a week. We just never know when NBA executives will pull the ripcord on their prospects to protect them from injury. So, I've decided to throw in some games and names for you to keep an eye on (various ESPN channels and NBA TV, beginning Thursday) during the first weekend in Sin City.
Mavericks vs. Lakers on Thursday
The NBA almost always gives us the No. 1 pick against the No. 2 pick as the big showdown on the first day of action. That's not happening here. We have to wait until Saturday for Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper to go against each other. Instead, the NBA knows exactly what it's doing by putting Flagg up against — you guessed it … Frank Stallone — Bronny James. If you think the NBA isn't looking for social media clicks with this one, you don't understand its interests. I'd be shocked if Kai Cenat and Mr. Beast aren't courtside for this one.
Spurs vs. 76ers afterward
Speaking of top rookie matchups, I'm ready for Harper (drafted second overall by San Antonio) and VJ Edgecombe (taken third by Philly) to battle it out. So far, we've seen Edgecombe put on a show in the Salt Lake City Summer League.
Yang Hansen
Color me Badd intrigued! This year, the Trail Blazers shocked everybody by grabbing someone projected to go in the mid-to-late second round with the 16th pick. Yang was getting called the Chinese Nikola Jokić based on his game. Now, we get to see him up close and personal. He makes his debut Friday night, and I'm ready for it.
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Jazz vs. Hornets on Friday
It doesn't sound like Ace Bailey (taken fifth overall) wanted to go to the Hornets, but it definitely didn't seem like he wanted to go to the Jazz, either. The Hornets passed him up for Kon Knueppel with the No. 4 pick. They also passed up on trades with other teams because they were worried the Jazz would then take Knueppel just to spite them? Possibly? I love draft retaliation rumors! Let's see how this one plays out.
The Wizards
This team is loaded with seven first-round picks from the last two drafts: Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George, AJ Johnson, Dillon Jones, Tre Johnson and Will Riley. Some of these guys might get shut down early, but I want to see how Johnson and Carrington play alongside each other.
Brooklyn's First-Round Five
I have no idea how this will look. I wasn't big on any of these selections for the Nets, but I'm ready to be wrong. I'm sure we'll see all five on the court together at some point.
Picking peas can turn you into a No. 1 pick?
🏀 Competitive drive. You'll never guess why Flagg became so competitive.
🤝 A mere three-team trade. The Clippers sent Norman Powell to the Heat for John Collins from the Jazz. My trade grades are confused by the Clippers.
📈 Rank 'em! Did anybody have the Dallas Wings looking this good this early? Paige Bueckers' team is moving up the power rankings.
🏀 Go to work. Ace Bailey has only had one goal in his life: Basketball being his job.
😱 This looks rough. The Malik Beasley gambling investigation has brought something to light: He apparently has real money issues.
📝 Old stomping grounds. DeWanna Bonner has agreed to a new contract with her original WNBA team.
Seven-team KD deal is largest in NBA history
Remember last summer when Klay Thompson left the Warriors? It wasn't just a major change for the Warriors and Thompson. Their time together and four championships became just memories. It also led to the biggest trade in league history, with a six-team sign-and-trade deal to land Thompson on the Mavericks. This was back when Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison was pretending he still wanted Luka Dončić leading that franchise and claimed the Mavericks were 'just a Klay away' from a championship.
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(He actually meant 'a Klay away as long as I can throw Dončić to the Lakers for Anthony Davis at some point in the near future' or something to that effect, I believe.)
It took exactly a year for that six-team trade record to fall. On Sunday, when the NBA's free-agency moratorium was lifted and deals could actually be finalized, we saw a seven-team trade become official. Thompson and the Mavericks were not involved this time, but the Warriors were. The crux of this deal was to get Kevin Durant to the Rockets, a trade we knew had been happening for weeks.
The Suns (obviously), Lakers, Hawks, Timberwolves and Nets joined in to complete some draft-night deals and another sign-and-trade to get it all wrapped up into one giant transaction. Here's our handy deal graphic below — steal it and share it with your friends.
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The fun thing about such a massive deal is figuring out how many of these teams actually needed to be involved, which is exactly what we're going to do. Every year after the trade deadline, I do a rewind in which we look at the previous year, reassess how the deals look and judge if a team had trade-deadline FOMO and just wanted to see its name on the ticker, or if that team actually needed to make that trade. We're going to adopt the same FOMO scale (1-10, 1 needing to be in the deal, 10 just wanting to be part of something) for participants in this trade.
🚀 More: The Rockets have added Durant and Dorian Finney-Smith. Are their spacing issues solved? And here's John Hollinger on how — and why — the whole seven-team thing happened.
Should Bradley Beal give into Suns?
Here's a fun thought exercise – and, by fun, I mean this was discussed a little in a group chat of mine, so I decided it was worth translating here. Our Fred Katz reported on a potential buyout between the Suns and Bradley Beal. You may remember Beal from such NBA moments as 'the Wizards are paying him what?' and 'I can't believe he and LeBron are the only players with no-trade clauses.'
Beal is owed $53.6 million this upcoming season and has a player option for $57.1 million for 2026-27. I feel like he's probably going to pick up that option, but I guess you never know. The Suns are in a financial crisis with their cap flexibility. They are in the second apron and still have multiple roster spots to fill. They also don't appear to want Beal to be on this team anymore. Not only do they have a bevy of shooting guards under contract, but Beal hasn't exactly lit the world on fire during his brief tenure there … merely their salary cap.
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The Bucks were just in a similar money situation with Damian Lillard, and shockingly waived and stretched the remainder of his deal. That turned a cap hit over $50 million each of the next two seasons into a $22.5 million cap hit over the next five. The Suns can't outright do that with Beal because they've already stretched Nassir Little and EJ Liddell. You can only stretch so much of the salary cap.
In order to waive and stretch Beal, he'd have to give up roughly $13.8 million of his remaining $110.7 million in a buyout first. Is his freedom worth that? He already reportedly was 'blocking potential deals' at the trade deadline with his aforementioned no-trade clause. You could quite easily say that amassing $415 million in career earnings instead of $428.8 million is reason enough to sacrifice that money to become a free agent and sign elsewhere, perhaps even with a contender. You wouldn't be wrong.
However, Beal will never have this position of power again. Once this contract ends, he becomes a regular player in the ecosystem again. As a free agent, Beal would have plenty of suitors, possibly the Warriors, Clippers, Lakers, Heat, Bucks and others. He just has to decide if that's worth $13.8 million to be somewhere he's completely wanted.
Streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
( Photo: Chris Gardner / Getty Images )
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