“This stuff is hard. And you got to stay together, if you’ve got the guts. And you don’t find the first door and run out of it.” — Pat Riley, June 19, 2014

LAS VEGAS — We’re here again, just like 16 and 12 years ago, respectively. The whole NBA is once again awaiting LeBron James to decide where he wants to play basketball next season.

James has multiple good options for, what should be, the last stop in his career tour.

But … James should take his talents to Minneapolis.

The land of KG and ‘Sota, and Prince, and Kirby Puckett, and Mary Richards.

Go to the Land of 10,000 Lakes, LeBron. It’s the best basketball move, and I’m not just taking the Wolves’ word for it.

It’s not important to James, I’m guessing, that there hasn’t been a men’s team champion in Minnesota among the four major sports since 1991. His legacy is bringing a title to Cleveland in 2016, breaking that city’s streak of 52 years since a team in one of the major sports leagues won a chip. That’s what he would like to be remembered most for — and he’s correct.

But, this time around, Minnesota is the best fit. Even though there are easier paths upon which James can finish his career.

No one would begrudge James taking a third and final trip home to Cleveland, 45 minutes north of his beloved Akron, Ohio. Despite being immolated by the Knicks in a four-game sweep that will be best remembered for Kenny Atkinson’s … unfortunate phrasing, the Cavaliers remain a contender, albeit one that hasn’t been able to break through in the Eastern Conference with their core group of Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. They swapped young for old last season by trading point guard Darius Garland to the Clippers for James Harden, then reached the conference finals for the first time since 2018, when James last led them there. But this year’s run went south against New York, quickly.

Philadelphia, invigorated by the acquisition of an in-his-prime Jaylen Brown, to go along with Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and V.J. Edgecombe? That, too, would make sense for James. The 76ers’ window has been reopened with Brown; adding James would provide additional scaffolding.

And, even though both sides were tired of one another by the time James left Miami to return to Cleveland in 2014, hey … Dan Gllbert Comic Sansed James out of town in ’10, then welcomed him back with open arms four years later. James with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo would obviously be scary good.

Of course, it’s a longshot. But in a perfect world, James would be a Timberwolf, coming out on opening night with Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, LaMelo Ball and Jaden McDaniels as the old nWo Wolfpac theme blares on the sound system at Target Center.

Why?

Minnesota’s behind San Antonio and Oklahoma City in the West right now, but it’s not an insurmountable deficit. The Timberwolves were in back-to-back conference finals in 2024 and 2025. Edwards is in his prime as an all-NBA-level guard. Ball, acquired from Charlotte last month, is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, a key force in the Hornets’ 25-game improvement. In Minnesota, he should help everyone get easier looks because of his own substantial shot diet. (It’s not my favorite shot diet, but no one asked me.) Gobert remains a defense system onto himself, still among the top five in most of the advanced defensive numbers favored by teams around the league.

Power forward is the position Minnesota has available for James. What does James play in Miami? Point forward? (It’s not a crazy idea.) He would likely play the four in Philly, but that would leave the Sixers without a knock-down perimeter threat in a potential frontcourt of James, Brown and Embiid; the spacing in Philly would be something Nick Nurse would need to contemplate. The Cavs have Mobley at the four. Of course, James could play the three for Cleveland. But James has rarely been a 3-point threat, and he wasn’t last season, shooting just 31.7 percent from deep.

And after shooting 37 percent on 3s in his previous two seasons, Mobley cratered last year, falling to 29 percent from long range. In the regular season, that probably wouldn’t matter most nights. In the playoffs, it would.

By contrast, the Wolves have plenty of shooting to surround James. McDaniels shot a career-best 41.2 percent from deep last season. Edwards is a career 36.9 percent shooter on triples but made a career-best 39.9 percent of them last season. Ball shot 37 percent on 3s last season. Ayo Dosunmu shot 41 percent behind the arc in his 24 games in Minnesota after being acquired from Chicago.

Gobert’s presence in the middle continues to keep Minnesota among the league leaders defensively, year after year. McDaniels remains a terrific individual defender, who helped take the Nuggets out in the first round with his hounding of Jamal Murray. The Ball-Edwards backcourt isn’t likely to shut opponents down, and Dosunmu isn’t a stopper, either. But with Gobert behind him, James wouldn’t have to get in a defensive stance and lock down opponents. He’ll just have to body up opposing players and get on the glass. Everyone in Minny feasts on Gobert’s defensive gravity.

It remains remarkable that we’re even having this discussion. James is 41 years old. Next season will be his 24th in the Association, two more than Vince Carter’s once-record-breaking 22 (1998-2020). With Chris Paul’s retirement this past season, the closest active players to James’ streak are Mike Conley, Jr. and Al Horford, who will each hit Year 20 next season with the Celtics and Warriors, respectively. It is very hard to see them getting to 24.

What gives James’ streak so much heft, and weight, is that he’s still a pretty damned good player. He’s not hanging on, scuffling to hit .220, or losing fights to guys he would have mopped the floor with a decade earlier. James’ numbers for the Lakers last season were remarkable for someone his age: 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game. His PER of 20.85 was 40th in the league last season among qualified players, but he’s still fourth in career PER at 26.69.

Going to the Wolves is not nearly as sexy a story as a Last Dance for LeBron in Cleveland. Or a second stint on South Beach. Or giving the Sixers hope they could make magic in the Illadelph. I get it. I wanted James to finish with the Warriors, just because it would be fun for him to play with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, and for Steve Kerr — all people he knows and likes.

But in the absence of that, the best spot is Minnesota.

LAS VEGAS — It counted as only one sequence in a 40-minute NBA Summer League exhibition, but sometimes a single moment can reveal a larger truth about a young player’s potential.

In the middle of the first quarter late Sunday afternoon, with the Washington Wizards on defense, 6-foot-9 wing AJ Dybantsa switched onto the Sacramento Kings’ 6-foot-2 rookie point guard, Darius Acuff Jr.

Normally, that would be a mismatch in favor of a small, fleet-footed guard as talented as Acuff is. Not in this case, though.

Acuff elevated for a pop-up 3-point jumper at the top of the arc. Dybantsa jumped, too, raising his left arm into the air, and swatted the ball, with one of his Wizards teammates collecting the rebound.

The block demonstrated one of the reasons the Wizards selected Dybantsa with the top pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Although Dybantsa has a well-earned reputation as a lethal scorer, team officials believe he can develop into an upper-level defender in time.

“I think he should be All-Defense,” Wizards summer-league coach T.J. Sorrentine said. “He’s one of those … two-way players. You just see the size and the length and the way he moves. Once he nails down the way the NBA is played — he’s a sponge, so it’s going to happen quick — the sky’s the limit.”

Dybantsa and second-year wing Will Riley led the Wizards to a 104-85 victory over the Kings at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center, with Dybantsa doing a bit of everything and Riley scoring a game-high 32 points.

Washington’s performance was impressive because it operated at an experience disadvantage. Sacramento already had played four summer-league games entering Sunday, posting a 3-0 record earlier this month in the California Classic and winning its NBA Summer League opener. Washington, on the other hand, had played only one summer-league game.

The Kings also started three players who logged heavy minutes during the 2025-26 regular season: Maxime Raynaud, Dylan Cardwell and Nique Clifford. The edge should have belonged to them, but the Wizards controlled the second and fourth quarters, with Dybantsa and Riley leading the way.

Dybantsa finished with 23 points, seven rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocks, a stat-stuffing performance. He was far from perfect, shooting only 6 of 15 from the field and forcing too many shots.

His potential, though, is undeniable. He scored the Wizards’ opening points of the night on a pull-up 3 in transition. He continued to reach the free-throw line at a high rate, drawing six shooting fouls, including two when the Kings were in the penalty. He and Riley ran the Wizards offense at times, and those on-ball reps should help with their long-term development.

AJ Dybantsa did a little bit of everything in the Wizards’ summer-league win over the Kings, including scoring 23 points. (Ian Maule / Getty Images)

In his summer-league debut Thursday, a victory over the Utah Jazz, Dybantsa tallied 27 points, but after that game, he noted he wanted to improve on his two steals and one block.

Mission accomplished.

Early in the second quarter, after a Wizards shot was blocked out of bounds, Dybantsa hounded Clifford as the second-year King attempted to dribble the ball upcourt. Before Clifford reached the midcourt line, Dybantsa poked the ball away once, then did it again, knocking it out of bounds after Clifford recovered it. Dybantsa clapped repeatedly after nearly causing Clifford to commit an eight-second violation.

“I think I can be a first-team All-Defensive team guy,” Dybantsa said later. “That’s just where I’m trying to make an impact, on the defensive end. In college, I was being a lot lazy on the defense end, just letting guys blow by me, not being a help-side (defender). But I definitely want to bring it to the next level.”

Sunday’s exhibition was only the second competitive game Dybantsa has played since March 19, when BYU was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. He looked fatigued against the Kings.

“I think he got tired, right?” Sorrentine said. “He’s running around, doing all types of stuff, and that’s part of being ‘The Guy’ and the No. 1 pick. So I thought he got a little tired, and the ball got a little sticky. But you look at the stat sheet, and he ends up with 23 (points). He’s a heck of a player.”

The Wizards will play their next game Tuesday against the Chicago Bulls. It’s unclear whether Dybantsa, Riley or Tre Johnson will be held out for the remainder of the team’s summer-league schedule. Johnson did not play Sunday after his 26-point performance several days earlier.

If Sunday was Dybantsa’s final summer-league game, he left a strong impression during the fourth quarter.

With Sacramento trailing 75-65, Clifford caught the ball near the 3-point line on the right side of the floor and dribbled toward the lane. Dybantsa matched him step-for-step. With no clear path to the basket, Clifford defaulted to a fadeaway jumper from 12 feet. Dybantsa blocked the shot.

A few seconds later, Dybantsa scooped up a loose ball Clifford had fumbled away. Dybantsa threw a left-handed behind-the-back pass to Juju Reese as Reese barreled down the lane. Reese caught the ball and dunked it.

It was another moment that might have revealed a larger truth: Dybantsa can develop into the top-tier two-way player the Wizards have longed for.

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Good morning! Watch your swings today. Coming up: 

Old, But New: Tonight, we go back in time

The Home Run Derby returns tonight from Philadelphia, where All-Star festivities are happening this week. It will be a radically different experience than what we’ve seen in recent memory. But that doesn’t mean it’s new. 

Quick catch-up before we get to opinions: 

• Instead of outs, hitters will get a limited number of swings per round. That means no 40-homer rounds anymore, which we’ve seen twice since 2019. Hitters will get 20 swings in the first round, then 15 for the second and third rounds.
  
• That means no timed rounds, either, which did produce some drama since the clock-based format emerged in 2015. That was also the last time the Derby featured swings instead of outs, and had been so since the Derby was born in 1985.
  
• Why? The reason is twofold: One, to protect hitters. So much of the conversation around the modern derby focuses on All-Star sluggers tiring out by swinging 200 times, as hard as possible, in the Derby. Two, this Derby is on Netflix, which is trying to streamline the experience as much as possible. Read more on that here. 

I’m bullish on this, and that’s coming from someone who’s soured on most All-Star games in the last few years. The 40-homer rounds almost felt gratuitous, and the Derby dragged longer than it should’ve. 

An easy-to-follow setup should do wonders for general interest. And the hitters will be good, too, as Eno Sarris wrote in his full breakdown today. It’s worth a read. 

Let’s keep moving:

News to Know

Clive Brunskill / Getty Images

Sinner, again
Jannik Sinner came back from a set down to beat Alexander Zverev yesterday to win his second straight Wimbledon title, his fifth Grand Slam championship. Zverev played nearly perfect tennis throughout the first set and onward, but as he admitted afterward, it would take actual perfect tennis to beat Sinner. The Italian’s serve was too mighty at the All England Club.

Ryu wins another major
Haeran Ryu won the Amundi Evian Championship yesterday in a playoff, which means she’s now won two majors in the span of two weeks. She was even wearing the same yellow shirt she wore 14 days ago at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. After the win, she sounded pretty incredulous at the entire thing, which is quite understandable.

Cease, Sanchez to start ASG
Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez will take the mound first in a home All-Star Game tomorrow night, which was an easy call. Not so easy was Blue Jays manager John Schneider’s selection of Dylan Cease, Toronto’s ace, to start over Yankees star Cam Schlittler. Both are elite, and objectively the decision is tight. But Schlittler has since opted out of pitching in the game at all. Read that full update here.

More news:

📰 Find more news here 24/7.

Expectations: What’s next for the American golden boy?

Maja Hitij – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Image

There is one USMNT player I cannot stop thinking about in the days since America’s untimely exit from this World Cup: Christian Pulisic. The 27-year-old has been groomed for this moment — a home World Cup, featuring a good American team — for what feels like a decade now. It ended meekly, with a hobbled Pulisic facing critics, despite his very real injury. 

Is that fair? The soccer (and marketing) star has been the face of the entire program for most of his adult life. To fail now deserves some feedback. But were these expectations unjust in the first place? And more importantly: Where does Pulisic go from here? 

It’s the subject of a fascinating column by James Horncastle from yesterday. Two quick points I want to highlight: 

• For all the bluster, Pulisic is not the superstar the outward appearance would have you think. That’s not completely his fault — Pulisic is a prolific and successful player in Serie A, one of the best soccer leagues in the world — but to equate him with Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Eriling Haaland is folly.
  
• Maybe that betrays him. He will be 31 by the time another World Cup rolls around. Do the next four years free him to be the player he wants to be, free of American World Cup expectations? Or does he regress into a fine player who doesn’t make a huge impact? 

Read James’ full column here. Much to think about. Let’s keep moving:

Watch Guide

📺 MLB: Home Run Derby
8 p.m. ET on Netflix
As we discussed above, it should be an interesting experience tonight. And it’s on a streamer. Fascinating. 

📺 WNBA: Mercury at Lynx
9 p.m. ET on Peacock and NBC Sports Network
Phoenix isn’t great this year, but I’m going to recommend watching Minnesota any chance you get.

Pulse Picks

Kenneth Richmond / Getty Images

David Aldridge makes an interesting plea to LeBron James: Choose the Timberwolves.

Argentina hasn’t had an easy road to the World Cup semifinals. Lionel Messi doesn’t care much. 

Who was the biggest NBA name moved this offseason: Giannis Antetokounmpo? Jaylen Brown? Ja Morant? Our writers debated in a roundtable discussion. 

The Tigers have been one of MLB’s best teams this summer. It might not be enough to avoid a fire sale. 

Have any NHL hot takes? Our fan survey went live this morning. Make your voice known here. 

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The recipe for strawberry-lemon loaf cake, a recommendation from Torrey Hart. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: World Cup semifinals predictions.