Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective - Kuminga BIG Help To Timberwolves? + NBA Awards Predictions

Episode Date: August 28, 2026

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN's Tim MacMahon to break down Jonathan Kuminga signing with the Timberwolves including if this is the right fit and what Minnesota will look like this season. Next, the guys tackle Ben Mathurin signing with the Pelicans before reacting to the Shaedon Sharpe injury update in Portland. Then, the guys go through the ESPN NBA Summer Forecast covering some major NBA Awards like MVP & Rookie of the Year plus the league scoring champion and most disappointing team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two and five Canadians will hear the words you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca. Hello, welcome to the Hoop Collective podcast. We talk about the NBA, which you're doing on Thursday afternoon here in this lovely late August time.

I'm really easing into the offseason now. I'm fully in it. Don't bother me. Don't ruin my flow. Joining me from Dallas, Texas, is Bad McMahon. Howdy, partner? Late August? My time of year?

If I didn't know any better, I would say that you are wearing some free gear on your shirt there. A Hawaiian high school, but I have a family connection. How do you say it? Moana Lua. Okay. And what's the other word? No, what's the word below? I don't know how to pronounce that one.

Menehune. There you go. So my cousin, Brandon, cousin via marriage, was the head coach there. He has now moved over to a private school. and is yet to send many free gear. So maybe this will spur delivery. I feel like that's the only one of those shirts walking around Dallas today.

I'd be willing to bet on that. What's our top story, McMahon? You're a guy. Jonathan Kaminga to the Minnesota Timberwolves. I mean, this is a marriage, perhaps a temporary marriage, of convenience. But look, man, say what you want to say. There is interest in Cominga.

There is interest in the Timberwolves. This is an interesting deal. It is an interesting deal. I'll give you that. He's getting a two-year. He's getting a one-year plus a player option, which is basically set up for, and like you said,

the wolves are in real need of a starter power forward. Cominga is in need of a team where he has a big role that he can go back to the market next year and try to get the contract that he's wanted. And this is, he has wanted a starting role for a long time. And that's what he's getting here from day one. And they needed it. And he actually is going to get more money than I thought he would get when he signed with the wolves.

The wolves are going to have to create a roster spot. They're going to have to figure out a way probably to dump Josh Green to be able to get to the taxpayer mid-level and standard of the second apron. Right. So they've only got about $3.5 million right now, I think. So they have to do that. And I guess they could, so Saturday is the day that they would have all. There's a couple of players who are looking at possibly being waived and stretched by Saturday. If you don't wave a player by Saturday, their contract can't be stretched.

So, for example, the Cavs recently traded for Cam Whitmore, and he's likely to be waived and stretched. But between now and Saturday, the Cavs will look for options there. That's why James Hardin hasn't signed his contract yet, as an example. But anyway, that's either here nor there. So the wolves are going to take, you know, bite the bullet on Josh Green, who, you know, is the rotation, edge rotation player. When he's healthy, he's a solid binge player. Somebody will, he will get another job. Yeah, for sure.

Is that what I will say. So they're, you know, they're taking a little bit of a of a bite on that to create some more money for Kaminga. But look, let's just be honest. Kamingo has been hoping for a couple of years that he could land. a big contract and it just hasn't happened. And we've gone over it. We've had his agent on. It's been a frustrating time for him.

It's been a frustrating time for you. Well, I just, my whole thing was, I, you know how I feel. You feel there's been too much spotlight on a guy who's not yet proven that he's a starting caliber player in the NBA. Correct. I wish him all the best. And I think if you look at the way the contracts went the last two years, I was not alone in thinking that. Sure.

But he made $20 million last year, and he'll make... Six and change. Six and change, yes. He'll make about $27 million over two years, which is about mid-level money, a little bit of a hair less. And he turned down a three-year deal from the Lakers, according to Shams. It would have paid about 12 per, and apparently the Lakers were recruiting him to be their starting power forward. Now, what he's saying is, I would rather have...

one year at six-ish, than three at 36, because he thinks he's going to make clearly more than mid-level money coming off of this deal. Right. The Lakers were interested in bringing him in via sign and trade. And all sign and trades have to be at least for three years, I believe. And they don't have to be guaranteed for three years. They have to be for three years. And so Cominga didn't want to be in a three-year deal. So this is one of those things where, yeah, he turned down more money, but he turned down more money understandably because even though he'd make more this year, he would want to set himself up. And so he's betting on himself. Listen, we praise guys like Fred Van Vleet for betting on themselves. He's betting on himself. And more importantly than the

Kaminga story, it's more of a story of the overall situation with the wolves. You know, they came into this summer pretty hamstrung in terms of what they could do in terms of adding to the team. And they recognized that they had to get Ant some help in the back court. They had to get him somebody to take some pressure off, you know, him when he was getting these double teams. And he's still going to get double teamed, I would imagine. But getting lamello, it's a gamble, but I'm not sure that Julius Randall LeMello Ball connection. I'm sorry, Julius Randall and Edwards Connection was taking the pressure off Ant.

It just wasn't. Well, yeah, and they needed to get Ant somebody who Ant looked at as a potential long-term co-star. And this, you know, this frees Ant up to play off the ball a lot, not to have to be the primary facilitator. And basically played out of position as a point guard of last season. Now, they paid a heavy price, not just in what they, forget the players like Julius Randall,

Nasreid, but in the pick that they gave up, it's a heavy price on a player who's not yet proven that he can drive winning on a consistent basis in the mellow, but that's the risk they took. And in doing so, they created a massive void at power forward that obviously was appealing for Jonathan Caminga to step into

because what does it to Camiga need? He needs opportunity. He needs minutes. And Minnesota is telling him, hey, you are starting power forward. You step into training campus are starting power forward. Yeah, and he needs opportunity. Ant played a significant role in recruiting comminga. You know, comminga was sitting on this decision for some time here, had these other options.

I think Shams mentioned the trailblazers and who else did he mention? Believe the Bulls. That's right, the Bulls. The Bulls were a team was mentioned to me. I think at one time the bucks were considering it. He dragged his feet long enough where he didn't get to go to Paris with the Timberwolves. That's the one thing Josh Green got out of getting traded in Minnesota was a free trip to Paris. Was it free?

Well, apparently Aunt Lamello cover the cost, so yeah. All right. Sounds great. Do you think he got to sit in business class or do you think it was premium economy for judgment? I have to check into that. You report back the next spot. You are our travel reporter. Yeah, well, you fly as a 6'4-guy with no extra legroom, so I can't help you. Once recently and not because I wanted to.

Yeah, no kidding. Anyway, so the Timberwolves, so Ant was, from what I understand, Ant played a significant role in talking to Kamanga, as did Chris Finch. Chris Finch had to present a vision to Kamanga. I think he talked about this. I'm not sure if it was a Lamello press conference or whenever he was doing a press conference this summer. But you know how Bob Myers came on to Rich Paul's podcast

and made that pitch to LeBron? Like, your best opportunity is with the Sixers, LeBron. Chris Finch essentially did that. I'm sure he said it to him privately, but Chris Finch essentially did that, talking about how, Jonathan, your best opportunity is here. Like, we're going to do things for you. And I'm sure he said some of the same things directly.

to him, or at least to his agent. And so Finch definitely played a role, obviously. I'm sure there were other wolves that were involved as well. But obviously, Ant, and from what I understand, Aunt was very excited. Ant, from what I am told, is very pleased by the wolves off season, going to get Lamello, making this deal happen for Cominga. But, you know, Ann has been, you know, I don't think Ant's a guy who is like Stu's and is angry. Like, you know, it's just the last time we saw Anne, he was congratulating the other team with five men. it's on the clock or whatever it was. I don't think he was thrilled with that situation.

I think that's true. You know, look, there was a significant roster shakeup since then, you know, and has been on board and I would say even involved with every move that they've made. And now you've got a team, you know, one of the few teams that has advanced in the playoffs in each of the last few seasons, including a couple of Western Conference Finals' appearance. but I feel like Minnesota's got this like wide range of potential outcomes to next season. I mean, there is definitely upside bringing in Lamello and Cominga. And there's also the potential for things to go completely haywire.

So, you know, it's going to be a fascinating deal. And I think a lot of this, for Coming in particular, it's like if he arrives in Minnesota feeling like I've got to prove that I'm a star, this could get real messy real quick. They're not bringing him there to be a star. Well, that's supposedly what you talk about before you do this. Right. You know, what's your role is going to be. They need him to be a high quality, complimentary starter, which, by the way, is what Steve Kerr was trying to get him to embrace being a complimentary player. And obviously, that relationship didn't exactly bear fruit. Right.

Well, look, here's the thing. I remember being around Ant three summers ago, and he was touting how excited he was about the signing Shake Milton. So, and no offense is shake. But, you know, like, he's excited about it now. When he needs to be excited as a year from now. Right. When he signed the extension.

And listen, if the extension was now, maybe he would sign it. Maybe he would be excited about this enough to sign it, you know, And maybe he thought that, thinks that Lamello was, is going to be a perfect fit. And maybe he will be a perfect fit. It's just not trying to be a jerk. I'm just trying to be honest. The time where Aunt has to feel really good about the wolves is a year from now. And also, if we're being honest, there's more optimism, I think, from fans about Lamello going to Minnesota than there is from like other front offices around the league.

Like, this was not looked at. This was looked at as a significant gamble by Tim Connolly, who is known as a Riverboat gambler. He is for sure. And look, all that matters is the way Anne feels about it. So if Aunt is excited about it and is excited in a year, they will have done their job. Well, let's just talk about Cominga's fit, though. I mean, they needed the starting power forward. They don't have to play Jane McDaniels out of place.

They can bring DeSumu off the bench now, which is like, he's a hell of a six man. That's a great role for him. You know, so not only does this fill the void in the starter lineup, but it does. you know, help the depth just because you've got like a six man of the year candidate, I believe. But again, I think a lot of this comes down to Cominga's willingness to adapt his game to try to be a complimentary player, to try to fit in. There's going to be space and concerns. He's not a great shooter. Jay McDaniels' three-point shot has kind of been up and down over the years.

I think that's going to be critical now. Ants a hell of a shooter. The mellow ball is a, you know, you're going to guard him and you're going to guard him out to 30 plus feet because he'll launch it and, you know, the percentages aren't awesome, but he's a threat for sure. But with Gobert and Cominga,

you know, Finch is going to have to figure out some spacing issues, but Caminga's got to be a finisher. He's got to get off this idea that he's a ball and hand creator. And, you know, Kerr tried to talk him into being a Sean Mary type of player, you know, an Aaron Gordon type of player. The Sean Marion thing's funny because Steve Kerr traded him for a washed up shack when he was his son's GM.

Actually got death threats for doing so. But, you know, that's like, there's room to really have a breakout type of season in that role. You're not going to get a max type of contract off of that, but to get a nice contract off of that. But again, I just think if he wants to believe, hey, I'm a primary creator. It's going to be a mess because they've got two guys who are much better suited to that role. And he's never proven to be efficient as that type of player.

Well, in terms of spacing, Julius Randall had a horrible three-point shooting season last year. So Comingo wasn't great. He shot 35% on three a game. But, you know, he would probably say if he had played more minutes, he would have gotten better percentages, which may be true. But he hasn't historically been a great three-point shooter, great spacer. but the sub for Randall there, they're not going to get worse on that front. Right, but they lost Steven Chinzo.

I mean, to bring in Nello, lost Steven Chinzo. In talking to people in Minnesota, now here's the thing about a torn Achilles. I'm having conversations just this week with some people about expectations, something we're going to talk about later in the pop, but I was having some conversations about expectations for some teams,

and we were talking about Dame Lillard and talking about Tyrese Halliburton. And they're like, you know, just what happened with Jason Tatum last year? You know, he had a re-injury. Like, you just can't assume anything with this. And so they're talking about this with Damon and Tyrese and warning me about this. And those guys are 16, 17 months off their injuries. And so the idea that you could count on Dante for anything this year, I just, I mean, I don't think that they are.

Having said that, I think they harbor a hope that Dante could return before the of the season. But I feel like this is my 24th NBA year covering the league. I feel like I've said that about guys with Torn Achilles before. But I've just been to report back that they're not going to put any expectation, but they are quietly hopeful that they do get something from Dante this year. And they're, you know, they're not planning on trading them. Okay. But for the time being in for at least the first half plus of the season, they lose that volume three plus? And then Nasreid was a volume three point shooter, who obviously he's gone as part of a little metal of the trade. So they, you know, they've got some. For a team that's right right up against

the apron or the hard cap, because in that trade, they hard cap themselves. For a team is right up against a hard cap, having guy like DiVincenzo, who's on their books and doesn't play, you know, it's, it's tough. So more hoop collective podcast after this. Two and five Canadians will hear the words you have cancer. That's why every single step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer.

Register today at pmcf walk.ca.ca. At Desjardin Insurance, we know that when you own a nail salon, everything needs to be perfect from tip to tell. That's why our agents go the extra mile to understand your business and provide tailored solutions for all its unique needs. You put your heart into your company, so we put our heart into making sure it's protected. Get insurance that's really big on care. Find an agent today at Dejardin.com slash business coverage. But all right, I had another free agency situation get settled since we last spoke, and that was Benedict Matherin doing a deal to go to.

to New Orleans. New Orleans's first significant move of the offseason signing him to a one plus one. Now, this deal is not done. It's not going to be a sign and trade because, again, it's a one plus one. You can't do that in a sign and trade. But the pelicans are only about $3 million below the tax. And signing him to this would put them into the tax, which they don't want to do. So there's going to be a corresponding move that you're going to see beforehand.

The Clippers have come to terms that they're not going to match anything and they're going to let Matherin go. There may be a trade that ends up happening, but we'll see what goes on there. Again, I don't think they can sign and trade them, and I learn something new every day. The interesting thing about this McMahon is it's essentially a one-year contract. He's got the second-year player option to protect himself. And it's essentially what his qualifying offer was for, maybe even slightly less when the numbers come in. this was despite him being in that trade for Zubotch like I think both sides were moving on from each other here well and you know he was in that trade for Zubots I mean he you know he got shot and scores and points for the clippers

but he was in that trade because of you know the salary filler and because the Pacers were ready to move on from him uh you know this guy was the sixth pick in the draft in 2022 two teams now have have willingly moved on from and it's not that he lacks talent. I mean, this is a guy who, like, he absolutely looks the part of a big-time wing score. Six-five, like, muscular, explosive, can get his own shot seemingly at will.

But, and by the way, he's had some, like, big-time playoff performances. I mean, he had a game in the finals, I believe, I think a 30-point game, I'm not mistaken. Yeah, I think it was sort of the Benedict Madden experience. I'm going to look and see what he scored the next game because it was the roller coaster. And that's kind of been who he is. It's been a roller coaster. And again, it's one thing to say, hey, this dude can score.

This dude can get his own shot, whatever. It's another thing to be able to do that and contribute to winning. I mean, for his career, he's under 50%, just a tick under, but under 50% effective field low percentage, which is really inefficient. You know, last year he shot at 43 from the floor, I believe. 32, uh, from three point range. Um, here was his finals games, two years ago in the 25 finals. And, and look, his, his minutes and opportunity, like there were some games when he got two shots and some games when he got 11. So I'm not, but, you know, but this is, this is kind of the,

when you're looking to make a major investment in a player, when you see the sort of output. So game one, he had five points. Game two, 14. Game three, which was, uh, the big win that the Pacers had to take a two one lead where we were like, whoa. Because, you know, they kind of stole game one. And then OKC came back and sort of, you know, pounded them in game two. And like game three was like, is this real or not? And they had that he had 27 in that game. And then he scored 17 the next three games combined.

And then in game seven, he had 24. I think he kind of had a big second half. He played 33 minutes in that game. But even in the Eastern Conference finals, when they beat. the Knicks. He had one game where he scored no points, one game where he scored two, one game where he scored four, and then in game four he had 20, and in game five, he had 23. So obviously they're very talented, but how do you judge? Well, and at this point last year, Rick Carlisle was publicly declaring, hey, Benedict Mathyrne's going to be our starting small forward this year.

And we're hoping that. Like, he's going to, like, we're going to give him a chance. We're going to give him that opportunity and they gave him that opportunity and then they moved him before the deadline. So, um, again, he, he's young and talented, but it's, he's, there are a lot of similarities to, to comminga just in the sense of like, you don't doubt the athleticism, the size, like, you can see why he was a, you know, relatively high lottery pick, but you, you question whether any of that's going to translate to him being able to be a consistent contributor to a winning team. Right. And so they obviously drafted, you know, combo guard and Keaton Wogler, a two guard who kind of plays the same position. So I'm not sure that that, you know, getting him with the number five pick altered the way they were thinking here.

But I'm sure it played a role, especially if, you know, had Matherin, let's say Matherin came back on a similar deal. in L.A. 1 plus 1. You know, he's basically playing in a make-good contract situation, and you're trying to, you know, you're trying to bring along your high lottery pick. So that's a factor. But I know that, you know,

they obviously ended up giving him the qualifying offer, but there was word going around the NBA in June that the clippers might not even make the qualifying offer and just be okay with letting Matherin walk, which I was like, wow, really? because I thought he was a significant piece of that trade. And they obviously ended up doing that. They're going to end up, I think, pulling the qualifying offer.

So it is what it is. One other piece of NBA news that came out in the last 24 hours, and the Trailblazers just officially announced that Shaden Sharp tore his meniscus last week in a workout and had surgery this week. And he will be reevaluated in six months, re-evaluated. So maybe not season ending, but major season impacting him, McMahon. And he missed half of last season with the leg injury and had a good year. He averaged 21 points for them. You know, Portland obviously finished pretty strong. He was playing off Deniaiaia

and, you know, had a season where he was sort of taking a step forward. And they signed him to a pretty significant contract extension. And this is obviously a setback for the Blazers. Yeah, the extension was in place before last season. But, yeah, he put up some numbers. And again, you know, another guy, this is the same theme as Cominga and as Matherin. Like, what was he? He was the seventh overall pick.

in 2022, 23 years old. Like, the athleticism absolutely just jumps off. Like, he's one of the highest flyers in the NBA.

Um, you know, he scored last year and then come playoff time. You know his playoff numbers? I didn't look him up. I don't remember him doing anything. Well, yeah,

well, you remember accurately. He averaged 7.2 points, uh, 41% shooting in 13.4 minutes. I mean, as his first playoffs. Yeah, and, and they were out,

they were overmatched. I mean, they were overmatched. The question with him, and by the way, this is true, it's not just about what's he doing on the offensive end, but obviously the defensive end. And honestly,

this is a unfortunate way to alleviate a little bit of the log jam that the Blazers had in the, in the back court. But they, you know, they still, like, Like, they've still got to figure out, okay, you've got the Jai, Dame, Drew Holiday, Scoot Henderson. Like, those are four guys who all probably expect to play a lot of minutes.

How's that all going to work? And again, if you had Sharp, you know, Sharp can play some three. But it's a, there's going to be a big-time log gym. There's still a bit is to a certain degree. But it's concerning also a guy whose game is based so much on being just an absolute elite athlete to start having leg injuries stack up. I will best to him. The Blazers guard situation continues to evolve. Is that appropriately, is that said gently enough?

It is. And listen, Scoot Henderson's role is a pretty significant curiosity. Agree. As is whether he gets a contract extension. You know, we've only had one of the rookies,

rookie extensions get done, and that's Victor Wimbunyama. So I was just talking to an executive yesterday about that. It was like, what have you heard on rookie extensions? And I was like, when I say rookie, I mean, guys in their rookie contracts.

Yeah, guys, going in the last year of the rookie deal, yeah. I was like, I have heard nothing. Look, I know both of Thompson twins, their teams would definitely love to get them signed to an extension, but if it was easy, it'd be done. And as you said, the Fun Max is

not a thing anymore. These negotiations are, there's much more tough negotiating going on than there was in the previous CBA just because these teams I was talking to a decision maker for a team yesterday. And basically was like, it's all about room to the apron.

Like if you've got room under the apron, you can make trades happen. But with these aprons, like teams are terrified of putting handcuffs on themselves who are trying to build and maintain rosters. By the way, speaking of that, did you see the statement that the NBA put out on their communication? Yeah, there was a little bit of sensitivity about the, I didn't know what they were reacting to. I guess there was some reporting on restricted free agency situations. Well, I just think in general, there's been a lot of criticism of the, you know, just of the CBA. And, you know, Jeff Schwartz, the veteran agent coming out a couple weeks ago, making

this statement, you know, saying, thanks, union, and all this stuff. And so they came out with the statement a couple of days ago, and I'll just read it. I don't think we need to talk about this a long time. I'll just read it so that you can know. But they're basically defending the idea that restricted free agency is, you know, kills players. So here's the quote from the NBA League office, which they don't make quotes like this very often. Regarding recent media reports discussing the impact of CBA rules on team bids for restricted free agents. In other words, you know, restricted free agents not getting, they all. offers that they got because of the CBA.

Of this year's 12 restricted free agents, two change teams via sign and trade, the most since 2021, two signed offer sheets with new teams, tied for the most since 2018, and six agreed to multi-year deals with their current teams. It is not unusual at this point in the off season that a couple of negotiations remain ongoing. This is before Matherin and obviously, Cominga. did this. And so what I think their point is, not that there's been like this bevy of restricted free agent deals. It's not like they're saying, boy, what a great summer for restricted

free agents. What they're saying is restricted for agency is always hard. Like there's been two, you know, sign and trades this year. That's like the most in five years. It's not like there's usually, it's not like there used to be eight or 12. And now it's down to two. And oh my gosh, the new CBA has crushed it. It's always been hard to do signings. in trades with restricted free agents. And two offer sheets. I think last year there was one offer sheet, and it was for a guy who had now,

who was like undrafted. And one of the offer sheets this year was Musa Sisei, which, by the way, I was talking to an executive this week, McMahon, and he was saying that the, that the Mavericks did that buyout for Clay. You know, basically, you know, they got 10 million off their books, but basically, you know, gave, you know, or eating at least half the contract.

this year. A little less than half, but yeah. And they kept C-Says is an indication that they're, you know, C-Saysay is a big, that they are a little bit worried about lively and Gafford to a lesser extent, but they're still worried about lively. How could you not be? No, I agree. Just look at the games played, unfortunately. No, right. And look, the one restricted free agency situation that remains unresolved is a big one. It's Jalen Duren, who the Pistons absolutely positively 100% in tend to keep and made it clear to anybody pursuing them and sign and trade possibilities like you're wasting your time. And we'll get into that, I think, later. There's still a gap. I would just say that, you know, to back up the league office for this, I covered multiple

restricted free agencies that ended in November and December, one like 18 years ago and one like 10 years ago. So the idea of a restricted free agency dragging on in the late summer is, no, is not new and is not unique to the CBA. There are other things with this CBA that have irritated people, but I don't think restricted free agency is at the top of the list. I do think this CBA does factor into the difficulty of the discussion. I think it factors into just the general difficulty of teams investing in long-term contracts. You know, I think that it's a big umbrella. All right. This week at ESPN, we did our annual summer forecast where we make predictions, which is why I don't take part in the McMahon. Because, you know, I never, not once, not once a year. Do I ever make a prediction?

But we have been releasing them all week, the projected standings. My story that I wrote. You didn't even participate in the defense player the year? predictions like come on. Victor is slated to is the projected winner of the defensive player of the year. Yeah, there's one stat that will determine that. Did he play

65 games or not? Probably. Probably. But anyway, we had a lot of that. And so I think the one, and I have a piece running on Friday where I talk to a bunch of executives and coaches, and this is something that Bontemps used to do and they've sloughed off on me. I was like, how many other of

his, you know, projects am I going to inherit? I'm getting a few of them. Now, the straw poll thing I'm curious about, I don't like enough people to talk to 100 different people about who they would vote for. We'll see. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Okay, so the thing that got, it always gets a lot of attention is when the awards are projected, and that came out a couple of days ago. More Hoop Collective Podcast after this. will hear the words you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk.

Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca. And so the two this year that are most interesting, they're interested in a lot of years, but are our MVP and rookie of the year. And so the way we do this internally at ESPN, we have a whole bunch of people whose job it is, believe it or not, like dozens of people whose job all year long, all day long, all year long is to completely immerse themselves in the NBA. I know we got a scam going. And we talked to all those folks and we get their projections. And the MVP, I wouldn't say that the MVP, the way it shook out McMahon was a surprise,

but I was kind of surprised at what happened afterwards. The projected MVP by ESPN's Never Wrong Panel is Victor Wimbonyama. Yeah. Is that who you voted for? I believe I did. It's reasonable. I can't, I don't have a fault with that. Now, I don't think that's really that controversial.

Obviously, the way he played in the playoffs last year. And, you know, he's going to come back with some measure of vengeance, I guess. I don't know. Well, and also, I just think he's an ascending talent who's going to continue to get stronger and more skilled and savier and better. Yeah, I think that he, the challenges for him, I think as we watched in the playoffs last year, is what is his best strategy that he employs during a playoff game in a playoff series? because we saw him at times struggle with stamina, for example, and we saw his impact on games sort of waver a little bit. I have no doubt he's going to figure it out,

but in the finals, there were times when the end of the game came and he wasn't able to dominate games as we know he can't. Well, and there was a time when they lost a 29-point lead when they left him on the floor too long, and then in hindsight admitted they put him in a position where he was going to run out of gas. And by the way, the minutes was the biggest knock on his MVP candidacy when he campaigned hard last year.

He declared himself. I think we don't have his official vote, but I think we could project his official vote on himself. Yeah, for the next 20 years. Maybe. The second place in our poll was Yokic, which is interesting because I think, think what the voters are saying here is they think that with what's going to be required of him

this year that, and by the way, I've, he was having, he was my, my MVP, at the first draw poll last year, I voted for him for MVP, I'm pretty sure. He was having an unbelievable last year, an MVP season last year before he got hurt. But I think this is a, this is a commentary not as much on Yokic and the other candidates, but on what's going to be needed to carry the nuggets. But the other thing you've got here is Wembe was the clear-cut front-runner, you know, 102 points in the voting. And then two through four, you've got Joker at 31 points, Luca at 28 points, and Shea at 26 points. So what you're basically saying is there's a clear front-runner, and then three guys that we anticipate will be in the mix. And then there's a significant drop-off, Janus is fifth at eight points.

you know, I don't know where K ended up, but like, to me, that's, that's right. There's four bona fide, real deal MVP candidates, and Wimby's the Cricket Frontrunner of that four. Right. Well, here's the thing. You know, I think the headline is that Shea is listed as fourth here. Yeah, I think there's just, every time you win it, the bar gets higher. Exactly. So if you look at the list of.

MVP award winners. And this is, this is indicative. Here we have, we're only in August, but there's something that happens. You can win two, two MVPs in a row, but for some reason, the standard for winning the third MVP in a row, it just gets very, very high. So the last guy to win three MVPs in a row, do you know it? Is it a bird? It was bird in 84 to 86. In that, time, let's see. Like, and by the way, some of the more, what's the word? Some of the more contested

or hot button MVPs were when guys were trying to win their third. So for example, Jordan won in 91 and 92, and then Barclay won in 93, which that is a debated for years MVP, right?

LeBron won two in a row twice. And the one time in between, he lost out to Derek Rose, which I think Rose was amazing that year, but a lot of people think that that was a flaw. That was also the year he went to Miami, and he sort of faced that issue. You know, when Joker won two in a row and then Embed won his,

that led to the big jackass moment. It did. No, I know it didn't. Oh, was the jackass the year before? No, I think it was the first year Yokic won it. Oh, wow. The jackass moment was a straw poll came, out and I felt that Embed, this was before the 65 game rule, and I felt Embedd had played enough

games to have a representative season to be an MVP. And Embed was like way behind Yokic in the last straw poll. And I just didn't like it. I felt that it was unfair and I felt Embed had played enough games. And we got arguing about it and Bontem's called me a jackass. And you plotted to run him off this pod ever since that's exactly right it was a five-year plan but it finally came together and then by the way and then imb like went out like within a few days got injured and missed like the most of the best of the season and yokic was awesome down the stretch and won it and i voted for yokech totally undercutting my argument and so whatever my point is now it's moot because you got to have 65 games and that's the standard but that was the thing but yonis won two in a row yokitch won two in a row

LeBron won two in a row two different times. Nash won two in a row. Duncan won two in a row. Like I mentioned, Jordan won two in a row. Getting to that third for various reasons. And sometimes it's just been like Curry won two in a row. And then he was unanimous the second year. But then they lost as a 73 win team.

And the bar became ridiculous. And Westbrook had the triple double year. It's just, it's hard to sell people. It's hard to sell the voters on three years in a row. Yeah, Curry, I'm trying to think. Curry was, he's been a six in the next year. That was Hardin was second and Kauai was third and that was really kind of the debate in the year that Russ won it.

And like Shay last year, again, the bar gets higher even after your first one, but then they were the, you know, had the best record in the league despite the fact that they were missing a guy who had been all-MBA previous year for vast majority of the season and as well as a bunch of other injuries. and all the other primary competitors just barely hit the 65 game limit or in Wemby's case, needed the NBA Cup final boost to get to 65 games.

And Shea ended up winning MVP running away at 83 first place votes last year. Which I think the straw poll pretty much projected. Yeah. Look, I'm just saying that history shows us, and by the way, here we have a situation where even though it wasn't on Shea, the Thunder win,

favor to win again and they fall short of expectations. And you could already see it. Even in this non-scientific little poll that comes out here, you're already seeing Shea slip because there's something about that third year. I'm just, as you say, the bar, fairly or not, will be higher. Yes. All right. You know what?

I think it's pretty well set up for Luca to potentially win his first. Well, just like with Westbrook, the year after Durant left, it helps to have a narrative, and we have a narrative here for Luca. And a narrative where the expectations for the Lakers are as low as they've been since LeBron arrived. Do you think so? I mean, it's funny that you say that because my non-scientific examination of what you see with their fans is they love the off-season moves. They love Kessler. Fans don't vote. What's their over-under? Their over-under is in the mid-40s.

I understand, but you're saying that, well, that's true. That's a fair point. I think fans actually, no, that's all start with him. No, that doesn't happen. Yes, you're correct. Their over-under is indicative of this. It's not like they're over-under is 37, though. No, but my point is if the Lakers, you know, which,

look, if they win 53 games, which isn't out of the realm of possibility, if Luca stays healthy and has, like, you don't wonder if he's going to have numbers. If the guy plays, he'll put up MVP numbers. If they win 53 games and he's putting up those kind of numbers, I think he's going to have a hell of the case. And by the way, the one, like, dude, Lucas is as lean as he's been since his rookie year. Like if you look at some of the footage that came out of the Slovenia trip that he organized and funded for that whole team, dude, he looks like he is in rate shape.

Yeah, well, that's the thing. He was able to do that last year. And so the question is, can he commit to it? And he is. And is, is he playing for Slovenia in this window? I can't remember. No, he, and he's not, he, this is the first summer that he has not played for Slovenia. He announced that at the end of the year.

And, you know, it's because he wants to spend as much time as possible with his daughters while he goes through that situation. That makes a turpter for total sense. By the way, speaking of Slovenia, recently, um, I will probably butcher the name. So I apologize, but there's a 17-year-old. I believe he's right about to turn 18. Stefan Yoakimovich, Yokish, Yosimovich. I totally botched that. Yokesimovic.

Stefan Yokesomovych. Just Stefan. And I can't tell you exactly how to pronounce the last name, but I can tell you you ain't doing it right. You are correct. By the way, there's a stud. I don't have the name right in front of me. but there's a stud who was dominant

in the under 16 Euro championships for Latvia who is actually from the Dallas area his mom is a Latvian played in Latvian anyways

Well I can't I can't be focusing on under 16. We'll leave Jonathan Gavoni and Jeremy Wood would do that It caught my interest because of his because of his local ties

Okay, yeah. Anyway, so he was The MVP of the Eurobasket U18, which just was in Italy a couple of weeks ago, average 23.7 rebounds and four assists a game. Remember, those are 40-minute games. So, and he is, even though he's only 17 or maybe he's 18 now, or he's turning 18, Yokesimovich, Stefan Yokesimovich.

Are you looking at the pronunciation guide? Yes, of course. Well, I'm not denying that. I just had to look it up. Yokesimovich. Stefan Yokesimovich. Jackson, do your editing stuff where you make me sound not so bad. Don't do that, Jackson.

You don't want to work hard anyway. That's a lot of work to make Wendy look good. Jackson, by the way, did look up that the Lakers over under was 45 and a half. By the way, I'm going to just tell you, your pronunciation of foreign names ranks right up there with snake drafts among your biggest weaknesses. That's fine. But at least I'm out there trying to learn. learn these guys. And I'm bringing them to you. He's a discovery. But no, Jeremy, he's a Jeremy Wu discovery, though.

Okay. I'm not arguing. I discovered him. I'm just telling you about him. Why do I have to be accused of discovery when I'm telling you? My bad. Discovery died with Bon Tim's head to Atlanta. You're right. Yeah. All right. Anyway, he's going to be draft eligible next year. He's going to be in the draft next year. And I believe it will be a high lottery pick. There's a lot of it excited about. And like Luca, it took the route of going to Spain

playing professionally. Is it Basconi? Is that how you say that? Yes. Yes. Yeah. He plays, at least for now,

is playing for Basconia and the Spanish League. But Spanish League is one of the best things in the world outside the NBA. So, so they help with the Okic. All right.

The other awards we wanted to take a look at when the forecast was rookie of the year. Now, When I wrote this piece where I talked to executives, this is the award that got the most talking. And this one was not like MVP where it was a, you know, Victor and then a golf. This one was very close.

Cameron Boozer was selected as the pick by the ESPN panel with 61 points, however, we came to that term. Darren Peterson was second at 56, A.J. DeBanza, third at 54. very tight. And Caleb Wilson fourth at 32. Right. Reasonable. Yeah. This one generated a lot of a lot, you know, so and it's funny, I talk to

some people, like multiple people who were like, this is going to be Cam Brewers Award. Like, he's going to be, everything's going to be built around him in Memphis. They're going to, you know, he's been, he's been the leader of every team he's ever been on. He's achieved with every

team he's ever been on. I realized Duke did not the title. But, you know, he's been a champion up and down. He's, you know, he's won all these MVPs. He's won all these honors. His situation is totally set up to be featured him. They're like, it's boozer and why are you debating it? You know, if he's healthy, he's going to win it. And then I've got other people who are like, yes, opportunity is very important. Like, for example, one of the reasons you would argue, because Darren Peterson looked pretty damn good in the summer leagues. Certainly. It's all I've said anyone. Your case against Peterson's, you know, winning it is an opportunity case because you need to have opportunity to win rookie of the year.

It's not an award that's predicated. Number one, you don't got to play 65 games. And number two, you don't necessarily have to be on a winning team. And so it really comes down to your opportunity. And they're like, you know, with Lowry Markinen and with Jared Jackson and with Kiante George and with Ace Bailey, how much is he going to have an opportunity? He'll get plenty of shots. I can assure you that. Well, I agree with you, but I'm just telling you what people said. He will be their starting two guard.

and, you know, I think an argument can be made that it's a better situation for him because he doesn't have the burden of having to carry the offense like Boozer has in Memphis. You know, and you could argue the same about DeBonse in Washington. I'm skeptical. And I talk to somebody else who I really trust, and he's like, look, DeBanza is the best equipped player to do this.

He goes, last year, Con Canup. had great opportunity. He had, you know, they really, as the season went along, more and more and more. I mean, he took 10-3s a game. Is Peterson going to get to shoot 10-3s a game in Utah, you know? You know, and he almost won the award because he had great opportunity.

But he said Cooper Flagg was the most equipped, and he ended up winning it. And so he's like, he's like, don't overthink it. Don't give me reasons. Just who's the most equipped? The answer is to Bonza. He went number one. But it was close. And honestly, it took Cooper Flagg when he came back from his injury.

having a hell of a finishing kick, you know, like that included a 50-point game. And, I mean, he went on a tear to flip it. Because remember, Bontems did the bonus rookie the year straw pole at the whatever was two-third point of the season. And Kinnipple was ahead then. And like Kinnipple had the, you know, the horns were one of the darlings of the lead, the biggest surprise of the league at that point, certainly. They were winning.

He was impacting winning. like the, you know, the advanced numbers were all shining for him. And it took, again, it took Cooper really having a hell of a kick to finish the year to edge because it was, it came down. First place of votes was 56 to 44. And it is a case where like Cooper flag had to be the eye for a bad Maverick's team. I lead him in everything, had the ball on his hands, all that kind of stuff. And Cinnipple was a hell of a number three option for the Charlotte Hornets, where he was playing with the playmaker who, you know, got him a lot of great looks at those three-pointers in the mellow ball. What you're basically saying is Cooper had a hell of an opportunity to, especially because Kyrie was out.

And that's reasonable. I am compelled by Caleb Wilson. I think the Bulls are going to invest everything into him. and, you know, he doesn't have to stay healthy. He's had some injury issues, but I would be fascinated. I don't get into betting here, but like that may be the efficient pick. Now, I talked to some scouts, and, you know, they were like, look, you know, the thing about Caleb is that there are guys in Chicago who are going to want to put it up.

Like, this is going to be a potential really big year for Mattis Bezellis, because this is a year where if you're Boozellis, you're trying to prove you're the franchise. player or a franchise player because next year is when you get paid. And, you know, Bezellis is a guy who he's not confident in a way that detracts from the team, but he's confident. I mean, this guy believes in himself and, you know, not afraid to go up, go head to head and, you know, take a, take it on the chin. He comes right back up. But, you know, Bezellas is going to be a guy. And like, you know, Tiago Splitter should. Like, Splitter should be focused heavily on what he can get from Bezellis and Wilson together. And then, you know, Josh

Giddy is a high usage player. You think Norm Powell went to Chicago on a short-term deal? Well, that's launch. That's another one. I didn't even think about that. But yeah, the guy didn't mention that, but that's exactly correct. So this guy was basically making the case for, you know, basically this is a question about opportunity. And that's what we're really debating here is what the opportunity would be picking up.

We all think that they're all good enough to do it. The one that we did this year, we haven't done in the past, is we picked scoring champ. And Luca, with that one, that one kind of favor. Oh, by the way, betting odds, just to kind of emphasize how tight this is. Jackson just in his draft kings, Boozer plus 300, Darren Peterson plus 330, Caleb Wilson plus 350, AJ DeBonsa plus 425. So that's as close to four co-favorists as you can get. That's true.

That's not exactly. I was hoping for a bigger number for Caleb Wilson. Apparently, I'm not alone. Yeah. Anyway, the one thing we did this year that we hadn't done in the past is picking the scoring champ. You know, Shea has won it the last, I think he went the last two years. Uh-uh. No, Luca won it last year.

Oh, Luca won it last year. And Shea won it the year before? That is accurate. Okay. So Lucas won it twice. Luca won it in 24 and again. He won at two of the last three years, 24 and 26. And I think the idea that with LeBroad not there this year, that, you know, Luca will,

be scoring again like he did when he was in Dallas, which is, I don't think, the worst. He did that last year. Luke averaged 33 and a half points per game last year. I know, was LeBron took a step back a little bit. LeBron also, early in the season, missed a bunch of games and everything as he was ramping up. So, but, yeah, I don't, I mean,

picking Luca certainly makes a lot of sense. Shea was second, Ann Edwards was third in this poll. Yeah, Shea, the year before, Ivers 32.7 last year, slipped all the way to 30. 1.1. Well, that's the thing. Shea falls out of bed and puts up 30. The question is, like, you know, his over-under is like, is he going to score 33 or 40 or 28? Like, he's, he scores 30 every game. Yeah, he doesn't, he doesn't have a lot of the 50s. You know, he's had a few, but where Luca, he might score 73. Actually, they tightened up, they let people be a little bit more

physical after Luca's 73. That's true. That was, and was that the game where he like, literally well he's done it a bunch of times so he's just like thrown in sidearm shots like i mean he scored every which way you could that was against the hawks and it was right on the heels of cat had 70 uh somebody else had i think imbid had 70 it was like boom boom boom and then suddenly like all right maybe we need to let and then the call came from olympic tower like maybe we should let people play a little physical defense this is getting out of hand but yeah no luca when luca is hitting his step back three, there's not an answer. And the answer then is try to get the ball out of his hands. And obviously, we all know he's one of, if not the best pass or Lee as well.

And I'm just telling you, man, the condition that Luca appears to be in, like, it's got a chance to be pretty scary. Well, the thing that Luca does so incredibly well is change speed. He goes fast, if he goes faster and you think he's going to go fast and when he has the ability to slow down in ways that he takes advantage of his opponents. His ability to- Huca has as good or breaks as anybody in the league. And it's a combination of like literally, like the P3 testing, you know, the peak performance, what's that the P?

You know, the place in Santa Barbara where these guys go get tested. When he came in the league, you could put the grass. his graphs over the top of James Hardin's graphs. Because that was also like Hardin. That's the whole stepback thing is the threat of the drive and then the ability to create a ton of space. They both do that. But then Luca has that, like lean Luca still weighs probably 240.

You know, he has that. And the ability just too cold. He's not skinny. He's just skinny from. Yeah. Yeah, he's still like just a powerhouse who has the ability to, bully people when he gets in the paint and unbelievable touch and creativity in there. There was one little thing that I'll throw in there. We asked a bunch of questions, and I

stayed away from this and asking the executives when I did my piece because a lot of them are hypotheticals, you know, and I just, I think that just puts everybody in a bad position when you're asking those folks. But we asked which team we thought would be the most disappointing team, which is something we do every year. And the Lakers, finish at the top of that, which was, I guess it all depends because if they're over under is 45, the standard is, you know, more reasonable. If the standard is the low 50s like they did the last two years, you know, that's the same because, you know, the over under implies that they will take a step back. But there's a lot of excitement about Kessler and the other guys

that they sign. So, you know what, I want an over under on Lucas. dunks this season. How many do you think he had last year? Okay, I remember he, him and Reeves, I got to look up Reeves number. Him and Reeves had the bet. I think the better question is how many dunks is Walker Kessler going to have? Well, I mean, Kessler will have a ton. Kessler will have maybe 200. How many do you have last year? Last year he played five games. I know. Well, that's the thing. You got to be healthy to dunk. Okay, good point. How many do you have four dunks last year? Wow. How many do you have like five years ago? Didn't she give us that stat?

I'll give you by season for Luca in reverse order. Four, one, oh, he begs, he, oh, 12, 7, 11, 11, 14, and as a rookie 25. Okay. I just told you, I think he's as lean as he's been since his rookie year. So I'm curious to see how many times he dunks. What set set the over under? Set it. I'm going to put it at seven and a half.

And which are you taking? I'll take the under. I'll take over seven and a half. You take an under? I'll take under. Not because I think he's going to, you know. A dinner bet? A dinner bet?

I mean, I don't really feel, we'll find something else to bet on. I don't really feel like defending this one all year long. You just made the bed. Now we just have to decide what the terms are. Fine. I'll buy you dinner. But it's not,

I don't like. wanted to be brought up to me like in April and you're like, I told you he's got 14 and you thought he wasn't going to be able to jump. I just, I just think it's not part of his game. I would never be unethical in rubbing something in your face. Well, if Bon Temps is here, he would say, well, make sure you write that down in ink because he'll probably try to change the terms. If Luca has like no dunks. Bont Temps, who owes me two different bet settlements? Yeah, he probably would. Does he owe you two? Two. The Spurs and Peyton Watson's contract. Peyton Watson.

By the way, Peyton Watson, a guy who did pretty well as a restricted free agent. Yeah, not included on the, that was part of the sign and trade, but he got sign and traded. So the NBA could have used that. The two sign and trades, both guys did well. Like Walker Kessler is the, I believe, seventh highest paid center right now. Is that right? If you don't count Chet as a center. There are seven centers making more than 30 this year, Kessler being the seventh.

and gets to run pick and roll with Lucas. That's not a bad situation. And then Peyton Watson got 22 a year going to a team in Cleveland that believes it's a contender. They both did pretty damn well. As I was talking to executives this week on, you know, doing our awards thing, I just had this guy throw in there. I didn't even ask about it. He was like, by the way, I love this Peyton Watson move. I go, really, he goes, I think he's poised for a breakout.

I think it's a great move for Cleveland. Like he was just, you know, effusive over the top. That's interesting. I've heard mixed reviews on it. Yeah. Well, this is the thing, like these people that we're talking to, like, these are all like lifetime, like, these guys are all have been in the league, like, not all of them, but a lot of them. 20 plus years and like seen so much and evaluated so many players. And it's, it's fascinating when you, it's fascinating when you like will talk about the same topic to two different people and two people are like, you know, a lot of times are sort of in the middle. But, you know, like one guy going, oh, man, I cannot believe the Cavs gave Watson $90 million based on one month, you know. And then I got this other guy who does player personnel. His job for his team is to do pro personnel.

And by the way, I would say his team has done pretty well. And like, you know, pro personnel like, you know, margin moves in the last couple years. I would just say is, you know, I respect him. And he's like, I love it. I love it. So that's the NBA, man. I mean, that's the NBA. So, all right, we love our producers.

Today, Mark, Tucker, and Jackson are on with us, but we got more people behind the scenes. Miles is back there. Devon was on a little earlier. Thank you all of them. Thank you to all of you. Actually, I want to say one thing before we go. Oh, great.

I want a soapbox. Love a good windy soapbox. Let's go. Yeah. So what LeBron... We should do more of these and get a like a... A sponsorship. Yeah.

Yeah. Like we have with SOFi. I just want to say, LeBron and the PGA tour made an agreement and announcement this week. First off, is still jaw dropping to me that LeBron is this into golf. I mean, talk about something I would never believe, you know, 15 years ago. A, that LeBron would still be playing. And B, that he would be like crazy into golf.

But LeBron has done so many things for his hometown of Akron that has influenced kids. And like even now, like school just started. And like because his I promise school, you know, is now is not brand new. Like it's easy to, it's easy to forget. It's still, you know, impacting so many kids every single day. And like I remember Literally hundreds. I remember back in 2015

going to Cedar Point, which is a famous amusement park in Ohio. And LeBron made this announcement to like a thousand of his kids that he brought there and paid for them to go in and everything for the day. And he's like,

I'm giving you all college scholarships. So I made a deal with the University of Akron and you guys are all going to get to go to college four years for free. And most of the kids were like in third. to seventh grade and they didn't like I think they were like I thought we might be getting free bikes and like that okay that was and he ended up doing the deal with Kent State University and the

University of Akron and I don't know I don't have the I'm sure the foundation could provide with me in in 90 seconds how many kids took up on that but that was 11 years ago and some of those kids went to college for free because of it I don't know if it was 50 or or 200 but like that was 11 years ago those kids were like 12, 13 years old. Those kids are, some of those kids are out of college, went to school because of that. So my point is, like, he has dramatically done things to impact the people of his community.

So let me just say, and you can say that I'm talking about this because it's golf. And yes, the answer is yes. And because it's Akron. Firestone Country Club is a, it's a country club. I mean, what am I going to talk about a country club? But this course. How many times you played there?

Twice. Only twice? That shocks me. Probably three times. LeBron has probably played there more this week than I've ever played there. He's a member. It's not about helping the country club, but Akron for decades, like since dating back to like the 50s,

had a PGA or senior PGA event every year. And it was a cornerstone when I was a kid. And by the way, I got the last two years of my college tuition at Ken State paid for by a scholarship that was paid for by the charities that came out of the Bridgestone Invitational or was, you know, whatever it was, it had a couple of different names. So I directly benefited from this, from the charities that came out of that event. And look, in like the 90s and 2000s, Tiger won it, I think, seven or eight

times. And every year you would go there and it was this giant event and Tiger was winning it. It was like a who's, I mean, Nicholas won it. You know, it was a huge who's for, for years. And unfortunately, LeBron's hometown and my hometown has been in basically a large decay over the last like 30, 50 years or whatever. And it went from the PGA event down to the senior event. And then it was sort of withering and people weren't supporting it and it lost its sponsors. And this year was the last time the PGA tour was there. That was it. It was going to, the senior tour was saying goodbye.

It's moving away. And then for LeBron, he made a deal with the PGA tour. PGA tour, they're partnering. And starting next year, they're going to have a tournament there, which is sort of like a minor league tournament that's part of the PGA tour. And look, it's not going to be Tiger playing there. Is LeBron going to play in it? Maybe by then.

Maybe he'll be trashy. I mean, if you want to get attention, if he plays in it, and I promise you there will be TV cameras. I promise you, you're right. The point is, is that Firestone lost its tournament. And LeBron makes, does something with a P. tour and bring something right back to Firestone that a bunch of people can be a part of and can be a part of his foundation. And so I just want to acknowledge that he's still doing things for his hometown. He didn't sign with the Cavs this summer, but he's still doing things for his hometown.

And yes, teaching underprivileged kids and giving them a place to call is a higher calling than making sure there's a local golf tournament. I understand that. I'm acknowledging that. It's not like what I haven't talked about and written about. the but this is something he did to help Akron out when it was about to lose something like altogether so i just thought i would say something right here at the end to acknowledge that so and i think it's really cool that all these that all these pga guys this is my world i'm the ven diagram mcmand golf and basketball that's me and for years there was no connection like when they

had the bubble the only people playing golf there was like three players all the referees and coaches There was no players. Yeah, Steph Curry, you know, played a lot. But now all these guys playing golf? Dude, they should get Steph to playing it too. He was born in Akron. Absolutely. I mean, Steph might be able to win it.

If they get LeBron, Steph, and you, the three biggest names ever born in Akron? Like, this thing could be huge. Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly how they look at. Anyway, awesome stuff by the PGA tour and LeBron to do that. And I love the fact that there's so much golf being. LeBron's like driving it. But like, I was talking to Kevin Love last week. And like Kevin Love is like totally into it.

He was the guy who organized where they were going to play golf. And they went up to like Inverness. Anyway, I'm not going to go off on a tangent. This is a different podcast. Thank you to our producers. Thank you to McMahon. Thank you for listening and watching The Hoop Collective. Thank you to LeBron, the PGA tour for doing something for Firestone under this situation.

We will talk to you next week. I really just enjoy how we started with your least favorite topic. Jonathan Kamenga and finish with your favorite golf. Adios me, yes. Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research.

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