Big Moves in the NBA

Howdy and good morning! It’s one of the best weeks of the year for our US based readers…. it’s 4th of July week! We love our mashup of freedom, fireworks, family, and food!

Anyways, speaking of freedom, we have a bunch of free agency news in the NBA. We’ll also take a quick look at some olympic qualifiers and finish with a quick golf update.

FYI, you might only hear from us about once a week until the olympics start. We’ll be taking some time off as sports have really slowed down with the NBA and NHL completing their seasons. .

NBA Free Agency

🏀 The LA Clippers kicked off free agency by not being able to get a deal done with Paul George, but they resigned James Harden. Harden agreed to a two-year, $70 million deal with the Clippers, but LA couldn’t settle on a number with PG. George and the Philadelphia 76ers found a number that worked for both parties and the number is four years and $212 million. George will join up with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey as they try to dethrone the Celtics.

🏀 The Clippers are also looking to trade Russell Westbrook and they are also singing Kevin Porter Jr. to a 2-year deal.

🏀 Victor Wembanyama is going to get a facilitator added to the roster in San Antonio, as it’s expected that Chris Paul will be making his way back to Texas

🏀 The Detroit Pistons and Cade Cunningham have agreed to a 5-year, $226 million extension

🏀 The Orlando Magic are a young and hungry team. They can be pretty exciting, too, and can lock it down on defense too. They’ve improved their defense even more with the signing of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on a year three year, $66 million deal.

🏀 It looks like Klay Thompson won’t be staying with the Golden State Warriors, and it seems like the Clippers, Lakers, and Mavericks are all possible suitors.

⁉️ You know what’s crazy about the NBA? The fact that Paul George gets top tier NFL QB money and so does Cade Cunningham. Even James Harden is practically making top tier QB money. We know there are just less guys in the NBA and there’s almost as much money to go around the league but it’s just insane to think a washed up Harden makes more money than Josh Allen.

Olympics

We’ve had a few weeks of Olympic Trials going down all over the US, and here are some notable performances by athletes who are seriously earning their chance to represent their country.

🤸‍♀️ The US Women’s Gymnastic team is nothing short of amazing. This impressive squad will have Simone Biles on it for her third Olympics. Biles completed a phenomenal floor routine yesterday. Biles is the fourth American to make 3 Olympic teams.

🏃‍♀️ SYDNEY MCLAUGHLIN-LEVEONE BROKE THE 400M HURDLES WORLD RECORD IN 50.65 TO WIN THE U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS. This girl finished about 10 yards in front of all the other competitors.

🏃 The US 4×400m relay team will have a 16-year-old running. Quincy Wilson qualified for the team and set a World record for the under-18 division with a 44.59 400-meter run. That’s wild.

There are 25 days until the Olympics. If you want to learn more about Team USA, click here.

Rocket Mortgage Classic

Ashkay Bhatia practically led the field at the Detroit Golf Club the entire weekend until he stopped leading on the final hole. Before we explain what happened, we’ll tell you who won for thier 2nd time on tour.

Cam Davis. Where was his first win on tour? The same exact place. He won the 2021 Rocket Mortgage Classic and did it again yesterday when Bhatia 3 putted on the 18th green and missed a putt in a very similar fashion to what Rory missed at the US Open. (This was Bhatia’s only 3 putt of the weekend)

Remember, golf is hard, and even the best of the best three putts. Bhatia went from being able to win the tournament on a long birdie putt, to then having a decent length putt to force a playoff, and shortly after that, he was tapping it for a 2nd place finish.

Congrats to Cam Davis for keeping his composure yesterday and firing a 2-under round.

Is your QB allowed to do this?

In case you were wondering, the Indianapolis Colts’ second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson seems to be doing just fine after having season-ending shoulder surgery during his rookie season. While we all saw his highlights from Florida, where he constantly displayed his freakish athletic abilities, and we’re not surprised that he’s doing what he’s doing in this clip below, the question is, SHOULD HE BE DOING THIS? It’s just a little close to football season to be throwing down dunks.

p.s. I might just be jealous I don’t have these types of hops! And those throws are pretty crisp for a guy who had surgery less than a year ago.

USA Looks to Avoid Copa Elimination

The USMNT is playing in their final game of the group stage of Copa America, and they need a win against Uruguay.

Gametime is 9 pm ET tonight, and you can watch it on FS1.

The US will be without Tim Weah after he was suspended 2 games for throwing a punch the other day in a matchup against Panama.

Here’s how the US can advance to the knockout round. 

The US will advance if it does better against Uruguay than Panama does against Bolívia. This can happen in a few ways.

• The US wins while Panama ties or loses.

• The US wins or ties while Panama loses.

If the US and Panama get the same result, it will come down to goal differential, in which the US currently has a 2-goal edge.

• If the US and Panama tie, the US would go through based on the better goal differential.

• If the US and Panama both win, then there will be three teams on six points, and goal differential will factor in. The US will need to make sure its margin of victory is enough that Panama doesn't make up the difference.

It’s a little confusing, but don’t let that bog you down. Just turn the TV on and root for USA!

That’s going to be all for today. Remember, you’re going to hear a little less from us over the next 3 weeks but we’ll still be in touch.

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to share with your friends using the link below.

Cheers!

-The DB