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Anthony Edwards has a show on Amazon Prime called “Serious Business.” Ant is one of the best personalities in sports, and showcasing that even more in this show is a brilliant idea. Remember when he thought he could score on an Olympic table tennis player? He gets his chance in the first episode after he plays Marshawn Lynch. If this doesn’t excite you, check to see if you have a pulse.
NBA Cupdate!
We’re halfway to Vegas, baby!
Elimination games began in the 2025 NBA Cup last night, and we now have our Eastern Conference representatives. Let’s tell you how New York and Orlando booked their flights to Las Vegas before we preview tonight’s Western Conference action.
Knicks 117, Raptors 101: Sometimes, all that matters is who has the best player. And in the case of this matchup north of the border, that was the Knicks with Jalen Brunson. He scored 20 of his 35 points in the first quarter to keep pace with a Toronto team that was on fire (39 points). Then his teammates joined him in the second quarter to get the advantage.
It was enough to withstand 31 points from Brandon Ingram. New York held the Raptors to 11-of-38 from deep, and Josh Hart had 21 points. This is the Knicks’ second time going to Vegas for Cup semis.
Magic 117, Heat 108: The Heat started the night cooking. They were up 13-0 in the blink of an eye. Their pace and outside shooting were too much for Orlando. Paolo Banchero couldn’t score. Jalen Suggs was limping. And the Heat looked like they’d beat the Magic at their own game.
Then Desmond Bane decided to cook, and he made a feast of the Heat’s defense. He scored 10 in the second quarter, 10 in the third quarter and 15 in the fourth. That accounted for almost all of his 37 points.
Miami shot itself out of the game from 3, going 2-of-16 in the second half. This is the Magic’s first time in the NBA Cup semis, which will be played Saturday.
One note: If you have a friend whose predictions are always the kiss of death, make sure you find out their selections before you put yours in a newsletter. I did not yesterday, and it cost me. 😚 of 💀!
OK, now let’s preview tonight’s West elimination games!
Suns at Thunder. 7:30 p.m. ET on Prime Video: These two teams already squared off in group play, which led to a funny moment when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams tried to figure out why they were playing again. Phoenix’s four-point loss is one of seven single-digit wins for the 23-1 Thunder and the second-closest margin of victory for OKC.
Who should carry the Suns? Dillon Brooks. Without Devin Booker (groin) and Jalen Green (hamstring) healthy, it’s all on Brooks to get the job started and finished. He’ll have to play great defense on SGA and probably drop 30 or more points.
Who should carry the Thunder? The reigning MVP. Shai getting the aggressive Suns defense into foul trouble will be key to putting this one away early. And it could keep him from playing the fourth quarter. He’s only played in 11 fourth quarters this season.
Who is the X-Factor for both teams? Mark Williams is huge for the Suns. They need his size on the boards. That makes Chet Holmgren the guy for OKC here. With no Isaiah Hartenstein (ankle), the Thunder need some rebounding against a great offensive rebounding team.
Who needs this trip to Vegas more? Oklahoma City. This is the only thing it hasn’t won in the last year and a half.
Who wins? I’ll take the Thunder and their dominant defenseextending their win streak to 16 games.
Spurs at Lakers. 10 p.m. ET on Prime Video: We’re all hoping for a surprise return by Victor Wembanyama; more realistically, he might have a chance to play in Vegas, if San Antonio gets there. The Lakers have done this before and would love to add more prize money.
Who should carry the Spurs? De’Aaron Fox. His second-highest career scoring average (24.4) is against the Lakers. He’ll need to start the attack to get himself going and set up teammates.
Who should carry the Lakers? Luka Dončić. He could set the tone early with a 20-point first quarter and leave the Spurs’ perimeter defense scrambling as Austin Reaves gets going later.
Who is the X-Factor for both teams? Let’s go with Stephon Castle. His activity on both ends needs to disrupt the Lakers’ perimeter attack. And then LeBron James for the Lakers. If he looks like his old self, that’s too much for a Wemby-less Spurs team.
Who needs this trip to Vegas more? San Antonio could use this as a young core to keep momentum going.
Who wins? I’ll take the Lakers in their quest for a second Cup.
The last 24
Lue says he was talking to CP3
🗣️ Communication confirmed? There were reports that Ty Lue didn’t speak to Chris Paul for weeks. He says they were talking.
🦖 Say everything. Raptors coach Darko Rajaković is honest with his team. They love it.
🎧 New broadcaster. The Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton promises to “focus on positivity” in his new role as a player contributor for Amazon Prime.
🌍 European expansion. Well, OK, not expansion, but NBA Europe has a realistic target date. It’s October 2027.
⚒️ Damage done. The Magic played on their regular court last night. Why? The NBA Cup court was damaged in storage.
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.
Say what?
LeBron’s agent says Lakers aren’t contenders
When I saw there was a new podcast with Max Kellerman and super agent Rich Paul discussing topics from the sports world, I was not interested. There are a lot of sports podcasts, and not many of them include anything new. No offense to Max and Rich, who are smart, intriguing guys. But I always fear the paranoia of making waves might stymie actual discussion. Or it might end up forcing attempts to go viral.
Well, they managed to grab my attention with the clip that went out on social media yesterday, when they discussed whether the Lakers are title contenders.
“I, personally, don’t think the Lakers are good enough to be contenders right now. Not right now,” Paul said on the podcast. “I don’t think they have enough to get to the Western Conference final. I don’t think they have enough to really contend from that perspective right now.”
I’ll remind you the Lakers are currently second in the West at 17-6, and that’s been with LeBron, Dončić and Reaves only playing 108 minutes together. Paul is one of the best agents, if not the best agent, in sports. He also represents four current Lakers, including LeBron.
It’s one thing for someone like me to share this opinion, and I agree with Paul. I think this is a good regular-season team that will struggle to defend in the postseason. A conference finals appearance would be shocking with the current roster construction. But Paul coming out with this, given his ties to the team, says a lot about the state of the Lakers.
Paul also shut down any idea that LeBron might play for a different team this season. LeBron has a no-trade clause, and it doesn’t sound like his agent will even entertain the thought of him leaving before the summer.
Big rankings
Is any front office close to how good OKC’s is?
Top executives around the league ranked their fellow front-office peersfor The Athletic for the second straight year. The only rule was that they couldn’t vote for themselves. Thirty-six executives (presidents, GMs, VPs and assistant GMS) participated, and they named a front office on the rise in addition to their votes.
I don’t think it’s a spoiler to tell you Sam Presti and the Thunder ran away with this thing. Their ability to build a roster is unmatched. Although interestingly enough, they did not receive every first-place vote and were even left off one ballot (that was not their own). I know we granted anonymity, but I need to know who it was!
Four other teams received the remaining first-place votes, including the Houston Rockets, who ranked third. Executives lauded the Rockets’ ability to be bold, aggressive and draft really well. Think about their picks in the post-James Harden era. They got Alperen Şengün at No. 16 in 2021, Jabari Smith Jr. at No. 3 and Tari Eason at No. 17 in 2022, Amen Thompson at No. 4 in 2023 and Reed Sheppard at No. 3 in 2024. Then they traded for Kevin Durant this summer and are still under the first apron, for now.
As for a front office on the rise, I liked that the Washington Wizards were acknowledged. I’ve made plenty of jokes about the Wizards over the years. I got so sick of writing about how bad they were on a weekly basis in the Power Rankings one year that I started talking about magician failures instead.
The Wizards under Michael Winger have become a smart rebuilding team. They’ve brought in a lot of good, young talent to build upon, and they set themselves up for cap flexibility to be major players in upcoming trades to acquire more assets while taking on discarded contracts. It’s a bad product on the court, but there’s legitimate hope on the horizon. The rankings are fascinating top to bottom. Make sure you check them out.