Category: Basketball

Tyrese Maxey was asked to wait. Be patient, and the millions will come.

Maybe an NBA championship, too.

Maxey had some doubts a year ago when the Philadelphia 76ers asked their guard — who was not yet an All-Star, who had not yet dropped 50 points in a game three times — to hold off on signing a contract extension until this summer.

The 76ers’ reasoning was solid: Maxey would open the offseason with a salary cap hold of $13 million, a low figure by NBA standards which allowed the Sixers to enter free agency with roughly $65 million to splurge on building out the roster, notably adding a potential superstar to join him and 2023 NBA MVP and current Team USA Olympian Joel Embiid.

Paul George.

With money to burn, the 76ers enticed George to leave the Los Angeles Clippers and sign a four-year, $212 million contract. The 76ers and team president Daryl Morey didn’t forget about Maxey, either. The NBA’s Most Improved Player, Maxey was rewarded for his wait with a five-year, $204 million extension. The 76ers committed more than $400 million in salary to two players they believe position them as the top contender to dethrone the NBA champion Boston Celtics.

The 76ers gave Maxey his due for the biggest assist of his career.

“By being patient, he allowed us to put this offseason together, to really put us in position to be one of the very few legitimate contenders in the league this year,” Morey said.

The 76ers have believed they were legitimate contenders for years, only for a flurry of second-fiddles to pass through town without much to show beyond postseason busts for their time here. Philly fans can reel off the list of lemons with ease, from Ben Simmons to Tobias Harris; from Jimmy Butler to Al Horford; from Markelle Fultz to James Harden.

The 34-year-old George and 23-year-old Maxey both held their first formal press conferences on Tuesday at the 76ers’ New Jersey complex, complete with ownership, the front office and even the All-Star duo, insisting this time — for real now! — this season could be as good as it gets in Philly.

“I think we are set up,” team owner Josh Harris said. “It’s hard not to be excited about this team. I’ve been here for the last 10 years, 12 years, and this is among, if not the best team we’ve had since I’ve been here.”

Maxey took a leap of faith the money would still be there for him a year later and the 21st overall pick in the 2020 draft has found a home in Philadelphia.

“I understood what the end goal was,” Maxey said. “Sometimes you have to realize that.”

George, who has averaged 20.8 points over a 14-year career, wanted to move on from the Clippers and declined a player option in his contract for $48.8 million in 2024-25 that ended a five-year stretch with the team in which he averaged at least 21.5 points each season.

George said “Philly was No. 1″ for his top choice in free agency because the 76ers “kind of fit my game and fit where I was at in my career.”

Perhaps.

The 76ers, though, rose to the top spot more because they offered about $60 million more than the Clippers’ offer, one George called “disrespectful.”

George said earlier this month on his podcast that he “never wanted to leave LA” and would have signed with the Clippers had they offered the three-year, $150-million extension they gave Kawhi Leonard. George also wanted a no-trade clause. George said the Clippers wouldn’t give him a

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A 1992 Olympic gold medal from Clyde Drexler hit the auction block earlier this week. Drexler is the first player to have their medal hit the auction block and it will be auctioned off by Goldin.

The bidding started at $250,000, but is expected to go a whole lot higher. In 2023, a duplicate gold medal consigned by “Dream Team” member Karl Malone sold for over $74,000.

Drexler’s gold medal includes a letter of authenticity, which was signed back in April.

The veteran wing was playing for the Portland Trail Blazers at the time, but he wasn’t included on the initial 10-player roster. Drexler and Christian Laettner, who was playing for Duke at the the time, were chosen as the final two members by the USA Basketball selection committee.

Drexler averaged 10.5 points, 3.6 assists, and 3.0 rebounds

USATSI

Evan Mobley has re-signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team announced on Tuesday. It’s a five-year contract extension, Mobley’s agents told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, and it’s a max deal worth a projected $224 million, but it could be worth up to $269 million if he meets the 30% max criteria.

This deal is structured similarly to the contract extensions signed this offseason by Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes and Orlando Magic forward Franz Wagner, all of whom, along with Mobley, are members of the 2021 draft class. Each of them will make a projected $52 million in Year 5 (2029-30).  

Per 36 minutes, Mobley averaged 18.4 points (on 62.5% true shooting), 11.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.8 combined blocks and steals last season, all of which were career highs. He has been an

USATSI

The Las Vegas Summer League concluded on Monday with a thrilling title game finish between the final two unbeaten teams at the event. The Miami Heat knocked off the Memphis Grizzlies 120-118 to claim their first summer league title behind a game-winning floater by rookie second-round pick Pelle Larsson.

The summer league overtime rules were different from a traditional NBA game, as there was a target score of 120 with an untimed clock to reach that mark. After Memphis Grizzlies forward Jake LaRavia knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the game at 118-118, Larsson converted on the other end to help the Heat finish the event with a perfect 6-0 mark.

Larsson scored 16 points for Miami, while Josh Christopher (who was picked 24th overall by the Rockets in 2021) scored a team-high 24 points and earned MVP honors

South Sudan is the 33rd-ranked team in the FIBA world rankings, by far the lowest of the 12 nations that will be vying for men’s basketball gold in the Paris Olympics that start this week.

The United States is ranked No. 1.

South Sudan nearly beat the Americans anyway.

The every-four-years wake-up call for the U.S. Olympic team seems to have arrived. A 101-100 win over South Sudan on Saturday in London came on a day when plenty went wrong for the Americans — traffic getting to the arena was brutal and Anthony Davis said arriving late threw off players’ routines, South Sudan shot lights-out from 3-point range and outscored the U.S. 42-21 from deep and the U.S. struggled in plenty of aspects.

LeBron James the ball and set up what became the winning, embarrassment-saving basket for the one-point win against South Sudan — a nation that gained its independence only 13 years ago — is set to make its Olympic debut and doesn’t have a suitable indoor facility for national team-level basketball training.

“A lot of these teams we’re playing have been practicing either one month or months in advance,” James said. “We’re like maybe two weeks into it, together. So, every game, every film session, every opportunity we have to try to make the most of it.”

The last tuneup, the last pre-Olympic test, the last measuring stick of sorts for the U.S., comes Monday in London, where the Americans take on Germany. The U.S. is favored by 15.5 points, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, over the reigning World Cup champions and the team that beat the Americans in that tournament’s semifinals a year ago in Manila. That was of no relevance Saturday, when the U.S. was 43.5-point favorites against South Sudan.

But if all the warmup games around the world this summer have been any indication, then this whole Olympic tournament could be wide open.

South Sudan lost to Argentina and barely beat Britain, two teams that didn’t even qualify for the Olympics — then nearly knocked off the U.S. The Americans beat Australia, which beat Serbia, which beat France, which went 1-1 against Germany; the French win came with the Germans playing without brothers Franz and Moritz Wagner and the French loss came without Victor Wembanyama in the lineup.

“We’ve got a great 12 guys,” U.S. guard Stephen Curry said. “Basketball is such an interesting sport that if you don’t play the right way, if