An All-Ball day today. Schools out and it’s the first day of basketball camp. Tensions are HIGH! Who are these coaches? What group am I in? Am I warmed up? How hot is it gunna get? A lot of 12 year olds shakin in their Jordans out on the blacktop today.

Luckily, we have no such worries, but plenty of NBA to catch-up on. The PGA is headed to inland Connecticut (to play a TPC course). Baseball feels salty with the Devers fall out. The NHL could crown a Stanley Cup champion tonight, but we’ll save all that for another day. Let’s Roundball Rock our through some hoops.

Obviously despite a week in Scotland, amazing summer weather, and a three year old, I’ve watched every minute of the NBA Finals. Obviously. Obviously you too have seen every Obi Toppin three.

For those just tuning in, OKC pulled off a Game 5 win last night despite Indy’s best efforts to pick up a limping Tyrese Haliburton (0pts, calf tightness, MRI pending). Jalen Williams dropped 40. SGA added 31 and 10 assists. Ain’t nobody taking down OKC when that happens. Indy cut the lead to 95-93 with 8 minutes left in the fourth, but it was all downhill from there. Same script for OKC. They forced 22 turnovers, limited the Pacers to 11 threes, completely shut out Haliburton, and rode their two stars on offense to a home win. One more victory seals the Title.

Jalen Williams

How many times does this man need to show up after a down game before everyone believes in him? Williams put up a dud in Game 1 of these finals (17pts, 6-19 shooting), but he’s rebounded with 40, 27, and 26pt efforts in the last 3. If anyone had concerns early in the series, they need only to look at rounds 2 and 3 to know this man would show up. The 12th overall pick of the 2022 draft, Williams played his college ball at Santa Clara. He started 72 games over three years and saw his 3pt shooting percentage climb from 25% his sophomore year to 40% as a junior. Not every NBA star is a one-and-done lottery pick! Shout it from the goddamn rooftops. Draft next week.

Desmond Bane

The NBA has a policy (apparently loose) to discourage teams from major transactions that distract from the Finals. They’d prefer these deals to go down next week. Orlando and Memphis could give a shit. Probably because a Desmond Bane trade is the biggest news those two towns have had all year. Bane moves to Orlando in exchange for 4 first round picks plus talented vets Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Cole Anthony.

Collectively, both teams received major kuddos. Memphis had an underachieving team that now needs to pay Jaren Jackson, Jr. Bumping their way into the Second Apron, they ship out Bane who earns $30m a year until 2029. In return, they can reinvest around Ja Morant and JJ, Jr. Memphis now owns 6 future first rounders.

Orlando has a similarly expensive team. Paolo Banchero is nearing his max extension. Franz Wagner already has his. In the East, Orlando clearly sees an opportunity to reach the Finals next season. Bane’s three point shooting and defensive presence are a perfect fit.

Three things stick out with this trade:

1. Memphis should be an Eastern Conference team. We won’t get into this, but when the NBA expands (even though Adam Silver threw cold water on this) Memphis will move East and the NBA will add a Western Conference team (Seattle or Vegas).

2. It’s weird to see two small market teams this expensive. The second apron is the biggest (only?) motivation for Memphis to trade Bane. The second apron wasn’t supposed to prohibit the smaller markets from fielding competitive teams, but this move makes the Grizz worse. Having good players requires paying them a ton of money. Orlando seems happy to do so (at least for now). Here’s my prediction: teams will become increasingly wary of handing out max contracts. They will try to shave $5-10m off their young stars annual salaries. Gone are the days when teams would have to offer a max deal to their best player solely because someone else would. The second apron is a tax on teams, but that tax will start to show up in player wages.

3. I’m going to zag a bit on the Orlando side. Yes, they can win the East next year. Boston is done. The Knicks don’t have a coach. No one saw Indiana coming. As we’ve talked about before, the NBA playoffs are becoming more and more like the MLB. The goal could be get to the Dance and hope to get hot (and healthy). That’s not a good or bad thing. The Dodgers overarching team building philosophy has been get to the playoffs as many times as possible, but they’ve won only two titles despite 12 straight trips to October. The Mariners perhaps represent the flip side. Invest in the team just enough to give you a shot at the wild card, but never anymore. Arizona could be considered the middle ground. They consistently field a competitive team and reached the World Series in 2023 despite only 84 wins. For a Magic team that struck gold with Banchero and Wagner (both under 23), I think they should’ve kept the 4 first rounders with hopes of being a 2-5 seed for the next decade. That’s 10 cracks at the Finals. They felt differently and now have until 2028 before things get very, very expensive (then they get to be the Grizzlies).

Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant is not going to win another title before he retires and any team acquiring him should have no expectation that he pushes them over the top (except Minnesota). Durant narrowed his preferred list of teams to only those in states with no income tax. He’s looking for a 2yr/$120m extension with whatever team he moves to next. This situation is a joke. PHX is throwing the towel in for next year. They won’t get any meaningful return that pushes them into the playoffs. Durant is going to play out his days cashing the check. His defense will fall off a cliff next year. His offense is easily replaced by two players earning half what he makes. An asset rich team like the Rockets makes the most sense. Everyone else should stop wasting their time.