Atlantic Notes: Murray-Boyles, Wade, Hukporti, Nets
While rookie forward Collin Murray-Boyles had a promising regular season for the Raptors, he solidified his place at the heart of the team’s long-term plans with his performance in the playoffs, where he averaged 14.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.1 blocks while helping the Raptors push the eventual Eastern Conference finalist Cavaliers to seven games.
Murray-Boyles’ offense, which is further along than expected, is a big part of why the team trusted him to play such a significant role in that series, and that trust will be critical as he adjusts to whatever role comes next, Eric Koreen writes for The Athletic.
“One of the biggest compliments you can have as a rookie is to get recognition for contributing in a playoff series,” Murray-Boyles said. “A lot of rookies don’t get a chance to feel what it’s like to play in playoff games early on. Me being able to do that and also create an impact is just proof of the work I put in.”
Murray-Boyles said he has studied the game tape of teammate Scottie Barnes, whose limitations as a shooter don’t prevent him from acting as a dangerous play-maker on offense — that’s similar to how the team envisions the second-year big man functioning in the offensive scheme.
While Murray-Boyles was expected to be a key part of the Raptors’ Summer League squad, a hand injury caused him to miss the event, but he’s excited for the season to come.
We have more from around the Atlantic Division:
- When free agency opened, the Sixers’ first priority was bringing in Dean Wade, a player who has never averaged more than six points in a season, Adam Aaronson writes for the Philly Voice. For a team suddenly loaded with shot creators and limited on the other end, Wade’s defensive versatility at 6’9″ is more important than ever. His offensive rebounding and ability to space the floor – he’s a career 36.7% shooter from deep – without requiring many touches are also going to be very valuable for the team as it looks to regain its contender status.
- The Sixers switched out their experienced backup center, Andre Drummond, for a much less proven choice in Ariel Hukporti. While his strengths and weaknesses overlap with many of Adem Bona‘s, Hukporti is a much bigger and stronger player, Aaronson writes, giving the team a shot at having a real rim protector off the bench. However, he’ll have to get his issues with fouling under control if he wants a chance at carving out a major role for himself this season.
- General manager Sean Marks believes it’s important not to use up all your potential flexibility in the offseason, especially when you have a roster as in flux as the Nets‘ is, Erik Slater writes for Clutch Points. “When you’re rebuilding a team like we have been the last couple of years, that’s important,” Marks said. “You just never know what’s going to come your way. So for us to have that optionality will be really important. But at the same time, I like the roster we have.” That could mean that Brooklyn – the only team with real cap room remaining – is done making moves for the time being, but it’s safe to assume the front office will continue assessing its options in the coming weeks and months.
Latest On LeBron James
LeBron James talked about the considerations that will go into choosing his next team during a taping of “The Shop Live” at Fanatics Fest on Friday, but he didn’t drop any clues on which way he’s leaning, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes in a subscriber-only article. However, James indicated that the chance to win a fifth championship ring will be a major factor in his decision.
“I want to compete at a high level,” he said. “I want to join a franchise that shares the same model as myself. That’s like practicing championship habits every day. But trust in the process more than anything. I think you trust the process of actually getting to that point.”
Chiang notes that the “trust the process” comment drew a reaction from the crowd because of its connections to the Sixers, who are one of the teams in pursuit of James. They’re expected to be among the favorites in the East after adding Jaylen Brown to a star-filled roster, but James made it clear that he wasn’t hinting at playing in Philadelphia, saying he’s been using that phrase since he entered the league in 2003.
“The process is what’s most important,” James said. “Because if you just fully immerse yourself in that, then the outcome will take care of itself. If you’re already worried about the championship, or you’re already worried about the playoffs, already worried about what lies ahead, then you will skip steps along that journey. So, being with a franchise, being with a group of guys that kind of has the same model.”
Chiang notes that the Heat seem to be a good fit for James’ desires, as they have a coach in Erik Spoelstra who understands “championship habits,” along with the talent to compete for a title after trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Miami also offers a year-round golf climate that should appeal to James’ well-known love for the game. However, James downplayed that as a factor during Fanatics Fest, saying he can always find a golf simulator if he goes to a colder city and that he prefers to concentrate on basketball during the season.
James, of course, has plenty of history in Miami, playing there from 2010-2014 and winning two titles. Familiarity is one of the reasons the Heat, along with the Cavaliers, are considered to be the favorites to land James, although he has been very guarded about releasing any information since free agency began.
Chiang points out that Miami can currently only offer James about $6.5MM of its mid-level exception due to a hard cap at the first apron that was created by the Antetokounmpo trade. The Heat have $8.5MM left on their MLE and could increase their offer by parting with salary elsewhere.
“We only have a couple of rosters spots left, so we do what we can do from that standpoint,” team president Pat Riley said Thursday. “But, yeah, we’re waiting like you guys are waiting and then things could fill up really quick.”
Here’s more on James’ looming free agency decision:
- Anthony Edwards expressed pessimism about the Timberwolves‘ chances of signing James during a brief interview at Fanatics Fest (Twitter video link from Kyle Ingram). “I have nothing to say about it because I’ve seen his top three teams. We’re not in it,” Edwards said.
- Also at Fanatics Fest, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin said he’s hearing that James is likely to head east and sign with the Heat, Cavaliers or Sixers (Twitter video link). “In the conversations that I’ve had in the last 24 hours in New York City,” he said, “it seems like an Eastern Conference team will win the LeBron James sweepstakes.” McMenamin stressed that the Wolves and Warriors haven’t been told that they’re out of consideration, but noted that the East offers an easier path to the NBA Finals without having to face San Antonio and Oklahoma City along the way. McMenamin adds that James is “truly getting much closer to a decision.”
- Anthony Pendone of SI examines James’ numerous business ventures in Northeast Ohio and suggests they may be enough to lure him back to Cleveland.
LeBron On FA Decision: ‘I Won’t Hold You Guys Up Too Much Longer’
For the first time since his free agency began, LeBron James made a pair of public appearances on Thursday in New York, taking part in a live taping of his Mind The Game podcast with Tyrese Haliburton at Fanatics Fest, then speaking to Boardroom co-founder Rich Kleiman at the CNBC and Boardroom Game Plan Summit later in the day.
As Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes, James wasn’t ready to announce his free agency decision at either event, playfully rebuffing Haliburton when the Pacers guard tried to bring up the subject, but he did confirm that he expects to choose a team relatively soon.
“I won’t hold you guys up too much longer,” LeBron said at the CNBC/Boardroom event.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday (YouTube link), ESPN’s Shams Charania said, “I don’t know if I’m holding my breath for announcement this week,” but suggested James may reveal his choice next week, reiterating that the star forward and agent Rich Paul have received all the information they need to make a decision.
James, who is believed to be considering the Cavaliers, Heat, Sixers, Warriors, Timberwolves, and possibly the Nuggets, didn’t provide any real hints on Thursday about which way he’s leaning, but said he’s looking for the team that feels right “as a player” and “as a person,” as well as the one that is the best fit for his happiness and his family.
“It’s a big decision for not only myself, but for my family as well,” James said when asked by an 11-year-old audience member at the Mind The Game taping about his decision, per Stephen Whyno and Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. “Just for the last part of my career and where I want to spend the last few years or the last year or the last two years of my NBA career … I’m going to try to fit into whatever team I’m going into — but also give them all the tools and give them all the knowledge that I’ve been able to grasp over the last 23 years. I know the game. I know the ins and outs of the game of basketball.”
We have more on LeBron:
- Haliburton said on Thursday that he texted James in June, before he had decided to leave the Lakers, to try to recruit him to the Pacers, per McMenamin. “And he texted me back two laughing/crying faces and that’s all I got,” Haliburton said with a laugh (Twitter video link via Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files). “So, I decided from then on that I’m done pursuing him in free agency. I don’t know if it’s going to happen with Indiana.”
- James made a point during the Mind The Game podcast taping to thank the Lakers for how the franchise treated him over the course of his eight years in Los Angeles, as McMenamin relays. “Shout-out my former team, I spent eight great years with the Los Angeles Lakers,” James said. “One of the most historical franchises in the world. Shout-out (governor) Jeanie Buss, the whole Buss family. (President of basketball operations) Rob Pelinka. Everybody. All the coaches that I played for there. All my teammates. S–t, I am going to miss them all, obviously. So, that was an unbelievable ride and I’m just looking forward to what holds next as I wind down the final stages of my journey.”
- Appearing at a press conference in Miami on Thursday to introduce Giannis Antetokounmpo, Heat president Pat Riley admitted he’s not sure exactly where his team stands in the LeBron sweepstakes, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “I don’t know, I’ll be honest with you,” Riley told ESPN. “Obviously, we’ve had conversations with Rich and they were very good. So if that happens and he wants to come to the ‘305,’ we got a golf course. The weather’s nice. Steve Kerr, same thing down here. And there’s no state tax. So that’s a little better than California.” Antetokounmpo also told Youngmisuk that he’d be “very, very excited” to team up with James in Miami. “He’s one of the best players to ever play this game, if not the best,” Giannis said. “(I’d) be able to learn so much from him.”
- In his own appearance at the Game Plan Summit, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league’s schedule-makers for the 2026/27 season are waiting to see where James ends up. “We have to finish up the schedule and where LeBron plays will affect the schedule,” Silver said, according to Whyno and Reynolds. “So, I would like him to make his announcement already so we can finish the schedule. As you can imagine, the teams are calling us, the networks are calling us, and everybody wants to lock in the schedule. It will influence how we set the schedule, how we set opening week, Christmas Day, etc. I need him to make a decision. But the direct answer is I have no inside information.”
And-Ones: Kokoskov, Second-Year Players, EuroLeague, Duarte
Former NBA head coach and longtime assistant Igor Kokoskov has been hired by Project B as the startup basketball league’s head of player development, writes Alanis Thames of The Associated Press.
Kokoskov, who spent last season as head coach of Turkish powerhouse Anadolu Efes, has more than two decades of NBA experience, primarily as an assistant, though he did have a one-year stint as the head coach in Phoenix. The 54-year-old Serbian, who has coached his home country’s national team, also guided Slovenia to a EuroBasket title in 2017. Kokoskov’s most recent NBA stop was with Atlanta in 2024/25.
Kokoskov is the second major recent addition for Project B, which recently hired his former colleague, ex-Hawks GM Landry Fields, to run its men’s basketball division. As previously reported, the league – which has secured commitments from several notable WNBA players – wants to bring in current and former NBA players, as well as top young prospects from outside the NBA for its developmental program.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Ben Golliver of ESPN lists his 10 most interesting second-year players to watch in 2026/27. Two Spurs — Dylan Harper (No. 1) and Carter Bryant (No. 10) — bookend the list, with Joan Beringer of the Timberwolves (No. 4) and the top-three finishers for 2025/26 Rookie of the Year — Cooper Flagg (Mavericks), Kon Knueppel (Hornets) and VJ Edgecombe (Sixers) — rounding out the top five.
- Several longtime NBA veterans are headed to the EuroLeague in 2026/27, with Jonas Valanciunas (Zalgiris Kaunas) representing the most impactful move, per Pijus Sapetka of BasketNews. Other significant NBA-to-EuroLeague moves include Guerschon Yabusele (Panathinaikos) and Dario Saric (Anadolu Efes), Sapetka notes.
- Unicaja and former NBA lottery pick Chris Duarte have mutually decided to part ways, according to a press release from the Spanish team (hat tip to Nikola Miloradovic of Eurohoops). Duarte, 29, was an All-Rookie selection with Indiana in 2021/22, but his role decreased in each of his four seasons, the last of which came with Chicago in ’24/25. Duarte, who starred in college for Oregon, is expected to sign with EuroLeague club Baskonia, per Juan Calderon of Spanish outlet Diario Sur.
Atlantic Notes: Brown, Brunson, Knicks, Nets
Sometimes an executive who takes over a team’s front office has to wait until the right moment to reshape his roster. That wasn’t the case for Mike Gansey, who took a big swing in his first offseason on the job with the Sixers by trading for Jaylen Brown.
Gansey said that he would have “never envisioned” that his first months as the president of basketball operations in Philadelphia would play out this way, Gina Mizell writes for the Philly Inquirer. He decided to lean into a simple principle he learned during his time with the Cavaliers: just make the call and see what happens.
“It’s kind of like, ‘Let’s check in with Boston and see if there’s anything there,’” Gansey said. “Maybe there isn’t. But you just make that call, and they don’t say no. … It just kept going on, and they would call us, we would call them. You just keep having conversations. Next thing you know, we’re in L.A. [for free agency], and it was getting close and [feeling like] this might actually happen … That’s why, this business, you can plan all you want and prepare, but you just don’t know. Things happen.”
The Sixers now have three high-level offensive weapons in Brown, Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid, all of whom will need to sacrifice some of the usage they enjoyed last year in order to accommodate each other, Tony Jones and Jay King write for The Athletic.
Their ceiling still depends on Embiid’s ability to stay healthy deep into the playoffs, which has historically been tough to bet on, but if everything goes right, the Sixers have a real chance to be a contender in 2026/27, according to Jones and King.
Here’s more news and notes from around the Atlantic Division:
- Word broke recently that Jalen Brunson had undergone a procedure to address a wrist injury that had bothered him throughout the Knicks‘ championship run. On Wednesday, Brunson stated during an ESPN Radio appearance that the injury occurred during the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cavaliers, Zach Braziller relays for the New York Post. “There wasn’t a play I remember it happening,” Brunson said. “I just remember being at the free throw line in the third or fourth quarter of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. My wrist was starting to feel weak. I was like, ‘Where is this coming from?’ From that point on, I was trying to figure out what was going on, and how I can push through, because I wasn’t going to get anything done during that time.” He said that the realization that he’d need surgery put a slight damper on the magic of the championship summer, but it was a small price to pay.
- The league is still waiting to see where LeBron James will end up, with a decision said to be coming in the near future. The Knicks aren’t believed to be in the running for James, but they could still be significantly impacted by his choice, according to Kristian Winfield of the Daily News. Three of the teams still reportedly in the mix are the Cavaliers, Sixers, and Heat, all of whom are jockeying to take New York down from within the Eastern Conference. While Winfield notes that both Cleveland and Philadelphia would be dangerous if they were to add the four-time MVP, he believes that if James goes to Miami, it could significantly shift the dynamics of the East and give the Heat a leg up on the Knicks in the conference’s power rankings.
- Tuesday’s Summer League win over Sacramento provided a glimpse of the identity the Nets are trying to form, C.J. Holmes writes for the New York Daily News. “I think the big difference was our energy and effort defensively,” Summer League coach Dutch Gaitley said. “I mean, we forced 28 turnovers. They weren’t able to get — we had 30 fast-break points. They weren’t able to get anything going to start the game.” Mikel Brown Jr. and Egor Demin gave an intriguing preview of the future of Brooklyn’s backcourt, and Brown impressed Gaitley by requesting the defensive assignment on fellow rookie guard Darius Acuff Jr. Acuff was able to score 26 points, but Brown’s mentality in wanting the challenge still stood out to his coach.
Atlantic Notes: Porter, Powell, Simons, Maxey, Sellers
The Nets are still relatively early in the process of shaping their roster into what they want it to be moving forward, and one of their key decisions will revolve around Michael Porter Jr.‘s long-term status with the team. When asked about Porter’s current extension eligibility, general manager Sean Marks suggested that no decision would be made in the immediate future.
“We’ll have those discussions. We’ve got time. There’s no immediate hurry right now. We value him a lot. He had a terrific year,” Marks said, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). “I love Mike, the guy, the person, the player, and I hope he is part of this team.”
Porter had the most productive season of his career during his first year in Brooklyn in 2025/26, averaging 24.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game, though he only made 52 appearances due to injuries and the Nets’ decision to prioritize draft position.
Still, there has been some speculation around the league that the 28-year-old forward might not fit the Nets’ timeline as the club embraces a youth movement, having drafted seven players in the first round over the last two seasons.
We have more news and notes from the Atlantic Division:
- Drake Powell was one of the players drafted by the Nets in the 2025 first round. He was hoping to use Summer League to make his case for a larger role next season, but his performance coming into Tuesday was a cause for concern — he entered that contest having scored 11 points through four games while shooting 1-for-28 from the field and 0-for-14 on three-pointers. Rather than giving in to panic or despair, the cold stretch offered a good chance to push him to be better, C.J. Holmes wrote for The New York Daily News prior to the game. That seemed to be the case, as Powell had by far his best Summer League performance on Tuesday, scoring 18 points on six shots and hitting four of his seven threes in a 32-point victory over the Kings.
- After reshaping their roster with the Jaylen Brown trade, the Sixers added a valuable bench scorer in Anfernee Simons to help fortify their backcourt depth. Head coach Nick Nurse is excited to get to work figuring out how best to utilize him, Tony Jones writes for The Athletic. “I really like Anfernee a lot,” Nurse said. “Obviously, he can really score. He shoots it easy, and he shoots it off the bounce. I think he’s a heck of a talent.” He added that he views Simons and rookie Labaron Philon Jr. as important parts of the team’s offense off the bench and envisions them playing together.
- Nurse also says it’s a crucial season for Sixers star Tyrese Maxey, who will have to balance searching for his own shot and organizing the offense alongside two high-volume scorers in Brown and Joel Embiid. “He can go and play one on one from all three levels and get a shot off and nail it. He’s got that in his game,” Nurse said. “He’s just so good at the other stuff. I just want him to keep it simple and keep doing what he’s doing. I want him to continue to grow as a leader and to continue to get better defensively. He’s made great strides at that over the last two years. I just want him to continue to grow and keep having fun out there and bring that energy for the rest of the group.”
- Former St. John’s guard Oziyah Sellers is trying to use Summer League to prove what he already believes: that he’s a “perfect fit” for the Knicks, Zach Braziller writes for the New York Post. “I feel like I’ve played with a chip on my shoulder pretty much my whole life. But now it’s a little elevated,” Sellers said. “That’s why every chance I get, every opportunity I get, I try to make the most of it. Regardless if I’m making shots, missing shots, just try to bring energy, play hard and let the rest take care of itself.” Through three games, Sellers has averaged 5.0 points and 2.7 rebounds in 14.7 minutes per contest. He has yet to hit a three-pointer, though he shot over 40% from deep in each of two of his last three seasons in college.
Sixers Stars Leading Recruitment of LeBron James
Where LeBron James will end up in free agency remains one of the last remaining major questions of the offseason. There have been reports that the 22-time All-Star is nearing his decision, with five or six teams still in play.
One of those teams, the Sixers, appears to be utilizing its on-court star power to attempt to lure the superstar to Philadelphia. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reports that the Sixers’ three stars – Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown, and Joel Embiid – have been in touch with James, with Maxey serving as the primary recruiter.
Maxey, like James, is represented by Klutch Sports, and he and James have had offseason workouts together multiple times over the last few years. Maxey has even gone so far as to refer to James as a “big brother.”
James and Embiid won a gold medal together playing with Team USA, while Brown and James have a long history of competing against one another in the playoffs.
Bob Myers, president of the Sixers’ parent company, recently went on Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul‘s podcast in order to pitch Philadelphia as a landing spot, while new team president Mike Gansey said that the team has been in touch with Paul throughout the offseason.
“We’ve had conversations with Rich, really, since the Jaylen trade,” Gansey told Tony Jones of The Athletic. “LeBron and his camp have kept quiet, and there has been speculation for different teams. But we’d obviously love to have LeBron.
“… I think his decision is dragging out because he has a lot of good options and he wants to figure it out. He would obviously add a lot to our team. But at the end of the day, I know he’s going to make the right decision for him and his family.”
Gansey has a longstanding relationship with the four-time champion. Not only was he a fixture of the Cavaliers front office when James led them to a championship in 2016, but he also played with James on an all-state team in Ohio over two decades ago.
James has previously indicated that his decision will come down to a combination of on-court fit, winning situation, and quality of life.
And-Ones: Team USA Assistants, NBPA, Expansion, More
Mark Daigneault of the Thunder, J.B. Bickerstaff of the Pistons, and Gonzaga’s Mark Few are expected to be named Team USA men’s basketball assistants under head coach Erik Spoelstra, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
USA Basketball announced last October that Spoelstra was taking over for Steve Kerr as the head coach of the men’s basketball team in advance of the 2027 World Cup and 2028 Olympics. However, there was no information at the time about what his staff might look like.
Daigneault, the head coach in Oklahoma City since 2020, has an NBA Coach of the Year award and a championship under his belt, while Bickerstaff is coming off a 60-win season and currently serves as the president of the National Basketball Coaches Association. Few, meanwhile, has led the Zags to a pair of NCAA championship games and is a carryover from the 2024 Olympics — he was an assistant under Kerr in Paris alongside Spoelstra and Tyronn Lue.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- David Kelly, the new executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, hasn’t made much noise since taking over the role from Andre Iguodala in February, but he spoke out on Friday against the second tax apron rules in the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, arguing that the second-apron restrictions should be removed or at least “softened,” per Ben Golliver of ESPN. “We are not fans of the second apron,” Kelly said. “We did not propose the second apron. We should have done a better job of fighting back against the second apron. In the future, we will have a much more unified union, and we will do a better job of fighting back. … We’re seeing (the apron system) decimate teams and force decisions to be made that are not basketball decisions.”
- Kelly also spoke about the NBA’s investigation into the Clippers‘ and Kawhi Leonard‘s agreements with the now-bankrupt green banking company Aspiration, opining that the process shouldn’t have taken this long and suggesting that the players’ union doesn’t think “there’s a ‘there’ there” (Twitter links via Jake Fischer of The Stein Line).
- While Seattle has remained a “one-bid city” for NBA expansion, in the words of Tim Booth of The Seattle Times, it looks like there are four different groups vying to bring a team to Las Vegas, prompting Booth to wonder whether or not the league will be comfortable moving forward with both cities on the same timeline. One of the prospective owners hoping to land an expansion team in Las Vegas, Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, explained to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic that he believes his experience bringing the NHL to the city gives him a leg up on the competition. “We did a couple things really well. We’re going to do it on steroids with an NBA team,” Foley said. “… We’ve already brought a major-league franchise to Las Vegas. We’ve jumped through all the hoops. … I believe we’re in a really good spot to compete.”
- Appearing on the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast (YouTube link), new Sixers wing Jaylen Brown spoke about why he believes the NBA’s agency model is “broken” and explained why he found it useful to work with the players’ union instead of an agent when he first entered the league (Twitter video links).
LeBron James Nearing Decision On Next Team?
Appearing on NBA Today on Monday (Twitter video link), ESPN’s Shams Charania said free agent forward LeBron James is inching closer to choosing his next team. Charania reiterated that the Cavaliers, Heat, Warriors, Sixers and Timberwolves have been LeBron’s “leading suitors.”
“It’s decision time for LeBron James, because all of the information, for the most part, is in,” Charania said. “GMs, presidents, owners, they’ve all been heard from and they’re continuing to have conversations with agent Rich Paul. … Players have also reached out to LeBron James to recruit him.”
Charania also said James’ choice won’t be “financially driven,” as previously reported.
“LeBron James has made it clear privately that he wants to go somewhere where he can compete for a championship,” Charania said. “Somewhere where he feels like he finds that happiness from a team environment and culture that he feels he can uplift.”
Chris Haynes of NBA on Prime (Twitter video link) essentially confirmed Charania’s report, though he added the Nuggets to the list of teams still in the mix for the league’s all-time leading scorer.
“I’ve talked to LeBron James’ agent Rich Paul and he said [LeBron] has all the information needed. So now it’s all up to LeBron James to make a decision,” Haynes reported.
Rival teams reportedly view Cleveland, the team that selected James first overall in 2003, as the frontrunner to sign the Akron native.
Here’s more on LeBron:
- ESPN’s Anthony Slater, who’s very plugged-in with the Warriors, said on SportsCenter that Golden State’s brass has been fairly pessimistic about its chances of signing James (Twitter video link). Still, he noted that Draymond Green and Stephen Curry have been attempting to lure the 22-time All-Star to the Bay Area. “Not many people in this process can reach LeBron James directly, but the Warriors players can,” said Slater.
- Slater added that the Warriors’ decision to hire Frank Vogel as their top assistant coach had little — if anything — to do with the four-time Finals MVP. James and Vogel won a championship together with the Lakers in 2020. “They wanted somebody next to Steve Kerr on the bench who has head coaching experience — obviously Vogel has that,” Slater said. “And also they needed somebody to lead the defense. Vogel, historically, has been a great defensive coach. … And maybe that helps a little bit in the LeBron pitch, but generally they just want Frank Vogel next to Steve Kerr.”
- According to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints, Green’s pitch to LeBron may have given the Warriors a better shot at landing the 41-year-old, but executives at Summer League still widely consider the Cavs to be in the pole position. League personnel are skeptical that James will sign with the Wolves or Nuggets, Siegel adds.
Eastern Notes: Ware, Okorie, Hepburn, Broome
Kel’el Ware admits that getting traded to the Bucks may boost his career. He was plagued by inconsistency and fluctuating playing time during his two seasons with the Heat before he was included in the blockbuster Giannis Antetokounmpo trade.
“A fresh start, getting more minutes with that,” Ware told Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “Being able to go out there and just work on my game more, and game situation things.”
Ware nearly averaged a double-double (11.1 points, 9.0 rebounds) in 77 games last season despite his ups and downs.
“I feel like even after my first year, I developed in my second year,” he said. “And even after my second year, I feel like I developed. And I’ll develop going in my third year. So I feel like it was good. I was able to, I guess, grow up more mentally in Miami.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- The Pistons believe they got a draft-day steal in Ebuka Okorie, according to Hunter Patterson of The Athletic. They traded up to the No. 17 spot to nab the Stanford guard, who has averaged 17.0 PPG in two Summer League games. “My superpower is my IQ,” Okorie said. “Yeah, I have a good handle. But there are a bunch of people who have a good handle. It’s just knowing what moves to do, how to manipulate defenses and make the right read.”
- Due to future salary cap concerns, the Raptors could benefit from the development of two-way guard Chucky Hepburn, Michael Grange of Sportsnet writes. Toronto may eventually be in the market for a low-cost replacement at the point guard spot and Hepburn could fill that role. The former Louisville standout scored just two points but had eight assists and two steals against Houston in a Vegas Summer League contest on Saturday. He’s still trying to find his rhythm after undergoing knee surgery in January.
- Sixers second-year big man Johni Broome underwent knee surgery in late February but is showing in Summer League action that he’s ready to contribute, according to Gina Mizell of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Broome has averaged 21 points and 12 rebounds in Philadelphia’s last two games. “My first season wasn’t the best,” Broome said. “I can see that myself. That’s why I put in a lot of work to have a better second year. Obviously, I want to make a better impression and I’ve got more to do. I just want to keep proving myself each and every day, for Philly.”