A solid weekend of depth, intrigue, and results:

Wolves - ripping the teeth out of Lakers fans (me), the Wolves take a 3-1 lead. This is the best series. A possession by possession brawl. Minnesota continues to do what they do best. They guard 94 feet, turn you over, and play athletically on offense. They’ll meet the Thunder in the West Finals.

Knicks - KAT saves the day. And he should. With all the attention on Brunson, KAT should be getting even better looks than the shots he made down the stretch. Josh Hart didn’t foul Tim Hardaway, but the physicality in all these series have tipped the scales into not knowing what’s a foul and what isn’t.

Thunder - Train.

Warriors - Vets.

Cavs - teaching the Heat. This is the end of Heat Culture. Tyler Herro is a 6th man on a good team. Bam Adebayo is future Al Horford, but not a title team’s best (or even third best) player. What is Miami building? D-Wade is a part owner of the Jazz. Jimmy Butler is a Warrior. This iteration of the Heat is wildly irrelevant.

Clippers - I don’t get it. Kawhi is healthy. The advanced metrics love this team. And yet, they’re locked up 2-2 against a limping Denver team that fired their coach three weeks ago. Denver isn’t as broken as they seemed when Mike Malone got canned, but the Clippers aren’t as good as advertised. Either of these teams will get wiped by the Thunder.

PGA - Team golf - Jazz Fest and the Zurich Classic. Not the most competitive field, but $1.3m and exemptions to the winners (Andrew Novak, Ben Griffin). Novak, fresh off a loss in a playoff to Justin Thomas, locks up his first career victory alongside fellow Sea Island Boi Griffin.

Baseball - the Angels are very much not back. The Orioles are weeks away from a new manager. The Rockies are the new White Sox. And the Cubs need two arms, but are stacked offensively, have a sharp manager (Craig Counsell), and could runaway with the Central (it stinks).

Trade season? Now? Oh, yeah. We are very much laying the groundwork for a wild summer. Rumors gotta start somewhere! With every crash and burn in the playoffs comes a new star added to the Trade Block.

The league is balanced right now. Teams will convince themselves they’re a player or two away. Others could blow things up but remain competitive (looking at you Memphis). Let’s get into 4 dudes that should stay close to their phones, not sign a new lease, and keep one bag packed at all times.

Ja Morant - aaaaaaaand this version of the Grizzlies is cooked. A second place regular season team in 2022, but that was the apex. Memphis won’t love what they get back in return and it’ll take time to find another superstar. That’s the risk. Memphis will never sign a superstar. They have to make them. They did with Morant, but this team has firmly hit a wall. This draft’s is deep, but the teams not picking Cooper Flagg will consider Morant.

Kevin Durant - Mat Ishbia came right and said they’re trading him. PHX wants to build around Devin Booker (again), and they think Durant returns enough assets to reset their flexibility. But this team is miles behind everyone in the West. They have no coach. They’re rumored to be in the Bob Myers business, but he’s not taking this mess over unless he’s the highest paid executive in the league. Where does Durant go? Knicks? Wolves? Rockets? Who cares? Hopefully one of those teams doesn’t cash in too many chips. Note - Rockets own PHX lottery pick this year.

Joel Embiid - Please trade Paul George while you’re at it. Embiid is sitting on the worst contract in basketball (for the Sixers, A very, very awesome contract for Big J). Still, similar to Ja, the East is littered with teams that would take a chance on a superstar because they’ve been so pitiful in developing their own (Wizards, Bulls, Raptors, Charlotte). Embiid with LaMelo? Suuuuuuuure. What else is happening in Charlotte.

Giannis - one big fish looking for a new pool. GM Jon Horst just received an extension from the Bucks to keep basketball opsing. Perhaps ownership knows this team is being torn down and feel comfortable with their guy doing the tearing. Dame’s injury is a disaster, but this team wasn’t competitive even with him. Giannis would likely need to ask out of Milwaukee to precipitate a trade. His prime years are being spoiled, the Bucks have no flexibility to improve the roster, and the Heat need a superstar in the worst way.