FULL NBA TODAY | Celtics trade Brown to Warriors for Kuminga? Lakers sign Reaves? LeBron to Mavs?

FULL NBA TODAY | Celtics trade Brown to Warriors for Kuminga? Lakers sign Reaves? LeBron to Mavs?

All right, welcome in to NBA today. I’m Amina Smith filling in for Malikica Andrews. I’m joined by Anscape senior writer David Dennis Jr. and our NBA champ Kendrick Perkins joining us right now. And guys, let’s just get right into it. This past weekend, Luca decided to close things off with the Lakers and stay on the Villa with his new booth. That is a Love Island reference for everyone who doesn’t know. LA inked him to a three-year $165 million extension that ties him to Tinsel Town through 2028. That leaves the Lakers with plenty of future flexibility to build the roster around Luca going forward. Here was president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka on the moves made by the Lakers this off season. We like the upgrades we’re able to make to the roster. Um but by no means are we going to be satisfied. Uh I think every year uh we’re on a infinite cycle to try to improve this team and win championships and we’ll stay committed to that work. All right, we now welcome in our front office insider Bobby Marks and senior writer Tim Bonteps. And you guys put out a great piece on ESPN.com on what’s next for the Lakers after Luca’s extension. So Tim, I want to start with you. Now that they have clarity on Luca’s future, what are the Lakers looking forward to right now? Well, as Rob Pelinka just said in that clip there, I mean, the goal for the Lakers every year is to try to win a title. Last year they obviously lost in the first round in five games to the Minnesota Timberwolves who went on to lose in five games in the Western Conference Finals to the Oklahoma City Thunder who went on to win the title. So to get to be a championship team, the Lakers have a lot of work to do. Now if you want to look at how are you going to build around Luca Donic, go look at what Dallas did, right? You had a bunch of big two-way wings, some rim running rim running centers with him. That is a formula that’s led to a lot of wins for Luca Dotic in the past. However, every team in the league is looking for two-way big wings that can shoot. So getting them with limited draft picks going forward and sire cast space going forward is going to be a problem. We obviously have the LeBron James question that’s hanging over the Lakers. We’ll see what happens with him over the next year. He could obviously be an unrestricted free agent next summer. And another fascinating unrestricted free agent next summer is Austin Reeves who’s on a below market contract right now that the Lakers cannot extend him on. People I talked to around the league for this story thought he’d be making $30 million or more next year. That’s a huge race from where he’s at now. And if you pay Austin Reeves that kind of number, you’re signing him up to be the Jaylen Brunson or the Kyrie Irving alongside Luca Dantric going forward, which is a big question the Lakers are going to have to answer. Is he the right guy to pair with Luca Dodric going forward? So, a lot of questions for this roster, one that obviously has some work to do to get where they want to go. And Rob Pelinka has his hands full trying to get this Lakers roster to a championship caliber uh level in a Western Conference led by the Thunder and the Rockets and all these other contenders up and down the lineup. Yeah, we’ll keep an eye on the Reeves situation also. But what everyone wants to know is what’s next for LeBron James. Burke, I see you right there. Would you got something for me? I do. I do because yes, yes, Luca signed the extension, right? and he’s going to be there for a while. But he also expressed that he wants to win a championship with the Lakers organization. And the key word that he put in there is that he wants to win now. So I’m going to talk about the now. And when you talk about this Laker team, their biggest issue last year and why they had a first round exit is one guys were playing out of position. So you had a LeBron James playing the center. They addressed that issue with a young DeAndre Aton who showed us when he competing and playing for something under the right leadership, he could help be a center that go to the NBA finals. He done it with the Suns. Two, can Austin Reeds be a third option uh offensive player on a championship contender? Absolutely he can. When you look at his numbers that he put up last year, 20 points, almost six assists, four and a half rebounds, it was damn near similar to John Mor. And so when you think about Austin Reeds and what he could do and didn’t address the position of the perimeter defender, perimeter defense and add Marcus Smart because we saw what Anthony Edwards did to them last year in the first round. The Lakers are right in the thick of things. And last but not least, they’re finally going into training camp healthy. Jared Vanderbilt healthy, right? Gabe Vincent healthy under JJ Reic in his second year coaching with a hell of a coaching staff. The Lakers are a legit title contender right now. I’m not picking them, but they definitely a right uh a a real title contender. And perk, those are all valid points right there. Let’s switch back to LeBron James. Everybody wants to know what the future of LeBron James is with this Lakers scene. So, Bobby, what are the options here for LeBron with one year left on his contract? Amina, this is an unprecedented situation here and I’ll kind of set the stage for you. Here we have a 40-year-old LeBron James who continues to play at an allNBA level and the only thing that’s guaranteed is that he’s going to be an unrestricted free agent next year and that’s because he opted into that contract here. I think when you look at it from the Lakers perspective, it’s ironic. They’re a team that’s going to have $50 million in cap space next offseason. But guess what? The two best free agents out there are LeBron James and certainly Austin Reeves here. So, it’s certainly going to be a situation that we continue to monitor as this situation goes throughout the year. I think the big question for me is what happens if this Lakers team struggles during the course of this year and if they fall out of the top six of the Western Conference, would they ever entertain moving off LeBron James? It does become complicated certainly from a trade shooter standpoint, but I think we know for one thing if when LeBron James does become a free agent next off season, there’s going to be a line of teams out there willing to sign him if he wants to continue playing basketball. Yeah, a lot of different X factors with this Lakers team. But David, I want to ask you, what chances do you give the Lakers as they’re constructed right now to win a championship with Luca? Oh, well, uh, unlike what Perk said, I don’t think they’re going to win a championship this year. I don’t see them as contenders this year. I mean, they you can talk about all the things they’ve added. You can talk about the Aiden. You can talk about the Marcus Smart. They still got bounced in five games pretty handily by Minnesota Timberwolves team that’s not better than OKC. That’s not better than Houston. That’s not better than Denver. I don’t see the Lakers entering into the top four with what they have. You could talk about Reeves and and Luca and LeBron. Somebody’s got to play defense back there. And Luca can, you know, looks great and all that stuff, but I that doesn’t mean anything in terms of how he’s going to look defensively. There’s a lot of stuff I need to see from this Lakers team to believe they’re contenders this year. I just don’t see it. Now, going forward, Bobby brings up a good point. The way that you build teams that for the Lakers traditionally has been pretty simple. You get a star, Kobe, Shaq, uh even Magic, you or LeBron, you get one of those guys, they come to the team, and then you build around them. You get your stars later. You get an Anthony Davis, you get a Pal Gasol, you get a Meta World Peace, you get that. The NBA doesn’t work like that anymore. You have your big star in Luca, but who are you going to build around him after LeBron James is gone? Because we’re assuming that at this after this year, he may be gone, but definitely in a couple years, LeBron will not be there. So now you have to build a roster around Luca that is going to compete with an OKC. And it’s a lot more difficult to do now than it has been traditionally for the Lakers. I just do not see a lock down championship for them in the next three years. Perk, I see you giving the meme mug. I know you want to see. What I do this time, perk, what I do? What I do this time, perk? Because because I’m I’m asking like go and get a former number one pick who’s just knocking at the door of his prime and DeAndre Aiden is not adding a piece that values that that fits around Luca. A guy that could be a live threat, a guy that could be a pick and pop guy, a rim runner that they need. Go and get a a Marcus Smart who I believe is 31 years of age. adding him to the roster. A defensive guy that Luca actually made phone calls to cuz he wanted them on the roster and know what Marcus Smart brings to the table is not building and going in the direction of adding pieces. That is adding pieces that they did an exceptional job especially at the number that they got those two guys at. Yeah, look, I feel like we can go on and on about this, but Vontes, I want to get you in here as well before we wrap things up. What are your thoughts on the Lakers in that championship window? I mean, the championship window probably starts after this season and what the what the runway that the Lakers have been given by Luca Donuch with him signing this three-year extension to give them the opportunity to be patient and build this team out around him. But as Bobby laid out, the challenges in doing that are that it is not going to be as simple as, oh, let’s have a bunch of cap space next summer. Let’s sign the best players available to build a super team. That’s not really an option. Guys are extending now. As Bobby said, the two best free agents next summer might be LeBron James and Austin Reeves. And for a team that’s only got a couple of first round picks to trade and has a lot of holes to fill. We will see if they’re going to be good enough. And one thing about this year’s team, one thing to watch, there’s seven or eight guys that are playing for contracts on this team, including Austin Ree, including LeBron James, including Marcus Smart, including DeAndre Aton. That is going to be an interesting dynamic for JJ Reic to monitor in his second year with the Lakers and to see how he can balance all that out. It’s going to be a fascinating season. and always in LA and we’ll see how it shakes out. Yeah, I’m not going to lie, y’all. I got to see it to believe it. I’m with you, David. I really don’t think that it’s a championship year. I think it’s maybe like a year or two away, but I mean, they had the right pieces right now. Sorry, Perk. I see you right there. All right, let’s get to some action with today’s WNBA Big Three. The best plays of the night. And let’s take a look at number three right here. Shakira Austin from the Mystics visiting the sky last night putting on a little bit of a show. Austin drives from the wing, post up Camila Cardoso. Oh my gosh. And it hits a dream shake, too. Goes under for the finish. Gives Cardosa the two small. I mean, come on. You know what? And I know Camila didn’t like that. I know she had some words for her after that play right there. Let’s take a look at number two. We got Kelsey Plum across the street taking on the Fever. Take you right to the action right on the court. Plum drives, drops Lexi Hall on the Euroep finish, taking her overseas. Look at the bench. They absolutely love it, David. I mean, come on. The girls, they’re balling. Yeah, absolutely. I love the spark scene. Not the two. We got two two smalls in a row. Two two smalls in a row. That’s how you know they were going crazy in the W just last night. And take a look at this one right here. Number one WNBA play of the night. Paige get buckets. Beckers taking on the Liberty. She steps back. hesitate. Go behind the back. Oh my goodness. Stephanie Dal, you can’t do anything with that. I know. You just got to You got to walk off the court. You just got to walk off the court. Get in her bag. You really can’t do anything with that. I mean, coach absolutely loves it. We love it. Look at the smiles. Like, yeah, you just got to take that. You know what? I’m going to just sneak down. Chatting with Carmelo Anthony on the 700 p.m. in Brooklyn pod about his first meeting with new head coach Mike Brown. Take a listen. I just came from having a two-hour dinner with Mike Brown to here. So, this was the first time we actually met. We actually got to speak, talk about the team, get to actually know each other. We have a chance to win a championship. And it’s only going to really happen if everyone’s connected and everyone has to be fully invested into each other and to our goals. So, kind of just really getting to know him, you know, the way he likes to play basketball, the way he wants to coach, the way he wants to operate practices and everything. All right, DDJ, you heard Cat. Uh, what’s going to be the biggest difference that Mike Brown brings to this Knicks team? Yeah, I think Mike Brown gets talked about a lot for his defense as a coach, but you got to remember he was the head coach against the Sacramento Kings. Had a tremendous offense. The guy can be really creative, especially when you’re talking about different ways to use a pick and roll. I’m really excited to see what him and Cat and Brunson work out for their offense, especially these guys second year. I think he can do some really great stuff offensively with them. Yeah, Nick’s fans really happy about that hire. So, next up though, we’ve got Miami Heat Hz. He was on camera and brings Pod straight to Cam. He had an interesting story about his draft night in 2023. Uh, check this out. I met her in New York on draft night and I bump into her and like literally bump in like straight out of a movie and we start talking and chatting. Um, and then, you know, as the night progresses, we’re having a good time. We’re talking, getting to know each other, and I’m like, you know, let’s get out of here. Like, let’s go get some pizza or something. She’s like, okay, let’s go. And as soon as I got in the Uber and the loud music and the lights stopped going, I realized, oh wow, like I can’t go get a pizza. I need to go home. So, she ends up taking me to my hotel and I make a beline straight to the bathroom and you guys can put the story together from there. I ended up dying. Uh I’m laying on the floor like um it was a good night. I had a great time. But that’s how we ended up the first time we met. So Justin ended up getting her number. He’s like I got to she’s like I got to leave. Like I don’t know who this guy is. Like thanks but no thanks. I’m like all right cool. I got to bring it to you. That’s a heck of a story. And I know your draft night story was not like that because you have a lovely wife of, you know, however many years. Yeah, it it wasn’t like that. But look, to each his own. But one thing he did realized that since he went to the bathroom and he was dying and she actually stood there and still embraced him after smelling all that, he thought she was a keeper. Look, she said, “I’mma stick beside him.” Okay. Next up, we got Jimmy Butler. He’s amongst the many NBA stars touring China this summer. Now, if Steph and Jimmy are the new Batman and Robin, what does that make Draymond? Jimmy, explain it. I’m on my way to being great, man. Robin, he going to robbing the out of this this year. Batman going to do his job. Draymond is uh Draymond the Batmobile, you know. He like the one that got to get us where we need to go. can do a little bit of everything. Shoot them thing. Somebody shooting at us, rolling over, protecting us. You know what I’m saying? Uh, who else we got? I don’t know. Photo State though. We on the way. We on the way. I’ll tell you that. Look, explain it the only way that Jimmy Butler can explain it. However, David, is this the right analogy though? Look, I mean, I know I don’t I know I don’t look like it, but I can be kind of a nerd sometimes and and Jimmy Butler just needs to step his Batman lore up right now. There’s like four Robins, there’s Nightwing, there’s the Red Hood, there’s Azriel. There’s so many other Batman characters that you can pull from. You ain’t got to go to the Batmobile. Jimmy Butler, we can send you some Batman comic books to help you step it up so you can get some more analogies for more of these players. The Batmobile just isn’t going to cut it. You can’t call a human being the Batmobile. I was just about to say you can search for some more characters, but hey, do what you want. Today is the one-year anniversary of KD becoming the all-time leading scoreer for Team USA at the Paris Olympics. As for the upcoming LA Olympics in 2028, check out what our teammate Richard Jefferson said on road tripping. The US will not win gold in Los Angeles, California. Boom. I’m sorry. Say what? Hold on now. What did you say? Wait, wait, wait, wait. First of all, trying to piss people off. I’m not trying to piss people off. Did you see it took a herculean effort for us? It took our greatest basketball players for us to beat a team that had one allstar in Serbia and had no allstars in France. Look, I’m sorry. What did you say? Uh, we’re still three years away. However, Perk, what kind of chances are you giving Team USA to take gold in 2028? Amina, you know, it makes my damn skin crawl to have to agree with Richard Jefferson, right? And I agree with him. Look, I give them a 50% chance. I’m not going to disrespect them and say that they don’t have a shot because we do have some great young athletes on the rise. But I will say this, if I was a betting man, I wouldn’t bet my money on that because they’re going to be missing a LeBron James. They’re going to be missing the all-time leading score in the Kevin Durant and a Steph Curry. And Richard was right. It took some all-time great performances for them to come back home this past Olympics with a gold medal. And we look at what KD had to do in 2024. How he had to rise to the occasion and take his game to a different level. So if you ask me, do I have belief and trust that they could get it done in 2028 without a LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant? I don’t. Yeah, David, I think there’s so many different factors and Perk touched on it right there. We don’t know who’s going to be on that team. Also, I think it lends to the conversation that the rest of the world is catching up with Team USA. Look, I got to agree with Perk and Richard Jefferson here. If I’m having to pick between Team USA in the field, I’m picking the field for the first time in the history since we’ve had the dream team in 1992. I don’t think we’re going to have a top five player in the Olympics. You got Wimby, you got Luca, you got Jokic, you got SGA, um, and you got Giannis. So you the best players are on other countries and you add in the fact that our best player Jason Tatum probably will be our best player in 2028. He didn’t have that great of an experience when he played there in 2024. So you got to think about what that effect has on the team and the uh you know the morale and the want to be on Team USA in 2028. I’m I’m sorry. Much as I would love to cheer for for Team USA and want them to win, I find it hard to believe there’s going to be an easy way an easy path for them to get a gold medal. Yeah. And I think the the also the buy in too is really important. I think that with this past Olympics, you had LeBron James have everyone buy in. You don’t know if you’re going to have that same product. Well, look at this. A Jason Tatum sighting at Patriots training camp this morning. Look to be walking around with no limp right there. While the Patriots are working their way out of a rebuild, the Celtics look to start one. And with their moves this off season, it would signal a change in direction. First dealing Drew Holiday to the Blazers for Anthony Simons. Simons is on an expiring contract and helped them get under the second apron. The moves didn’t stop there. They dealt Chris Porzingis to the Hawks in a package that included George Nyang and second round picks. Porzingis was the third leading scoreer for Boston last season. And how about this one? All that led to the Celtics slashing their salary and tax bill by $300 million. That’s a lot of money. Prior to the moves, the Celtics were expected to have the highest salary and tax bill in the NBA. Well, all these moves may be hard to stomach for Celtics fans. I’ll tell you that. But Bobby Marks, how can these changes that Boston has made maybe help them find success down the road? Yeah, this is the ultimate reset here. And I I kind of equate it back to 2023. I know situation is a little bit different and Jason Tatum is out for this year, but that’s the off seasonason when they went out and got Christophs Porzingis and Drew Holiday here, but they were coming off a conference finals as far as when they went out and made those moves here. And I think if if you’re Boston, I think the goal is to remain competitive this year, but also try to grab one of those top lottery positions almost similar to what Dallas went through uh a year ago here. Because you remember, you’ve got Jason Tatum, you’ve got Jaylen Brown, and you’ve got Derek White all under contract. Three players that are set to make 130 $130 million next year. So, it’s a reset for this year, but it’s also an eye on how you can add talent around them, similar to how they added Porzingis and Holiday two years ago. So, with no Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown is going to get more and more reps with the A1 and perk. We’ve watched plenty of plenty of games of the Celtics. What does this gap year mean for Jaylen Brown? I mean, it means that he can enter the conversation. We could start talking about him when you talk about a Jason Tatum, a job man, and show that he can be a number one option. I believe this is a moment for JB to go out there and show that he could be a 28 per uh 20 point per game score, 28 per point per game score to 30 point per game score. And I believe he’s ready for the mission. We know vocally he’s a leader, but go out there this season in the full 82 games and display it on the floor. Also, look, I wouldn’t just count this Celtic team out and think that they’re going to be in the lottery. I believe this team is going to make the playoffs in through the playin tournament. We have to remember over the last three seasons, their home record, which has been the best in the NBA, has been 97 and 23 over the last. So you take a Payton Pritchard, Sam Hower, a Joe Mazula who who feeds off adversity and you get this Celtic ball club that’s going to be hungry and doubted. They’re going to be right there in the thick of things in the Eastern Conference. Yeah, Perk makes some good points right there. But with Jaylen Brown on the floor, David, all eyes are going to be on him offensively. What do you expect to see from him in this gap year? Yeah, I think this can be a real star making year uh for Jaylen Brown. we talk about in the way uh similar to a few years ago if you recall with the Pacers uh with Paul George when Danny Granger went out Paul George really made that leap to be a star we even go back further than that Tracy McGrady with the Magic Grant Hill was out and he became a star Jaylen Brown of course we already know as a finals MVP but he’s always been seen as the second guy to Jason Tatum I think success for the Celtics in terms of Jaylen Brown is concerned is you come at the end of this season and you look at a guy as Perk said who puts up 28 points who shows a ton of leadership and does actually get this team in that playin and you can say we have a one and a one because Jaylen Brown has made a true ascension to that next level by being the guy with Boston. I think that can be a net positive for them. Yeah, there’s plenty of room for Jaylen Brown to really show the rest of the league who he is. And the one thing that stands out to me though is even though that this is going to be labeled as a quote unquote gap year for the Celtics, the East is still wide open as you could see right there. So Parker, if Cleveland and New York are shoe wins for the top two seeds, who do you think is the third best team in the East? It’s the Atlanta Hawks, the team that, you know, stay getting disrespected. Or should I say the superstar type player that gets disrespected and Trey Young. I’m looking at the pieces that they added around him. He already had elite wing defenders, but you go get Alexander Walker in free agency from Minnesota. You pick up Chris Pzingis who I believe is going to complement Trey Young well especially in the pick and roll. Jaylen Johnson is going to be back. We forget before Jaylen Johnson got injured one could argue that he was in a conversation of possibly getting a n of being in the allstar game like being a firsttime allstar. So when I look at this Hawks team that is coached by Quinn Snider I’m looking at them to make some real noise and be a real threat in the Eastern Conference this year. I I do like the Hawks. I think they have Pacers potential in terms of a team that can get hot come playoff time. There’s a clear top four in the East with Cavs, Knicks, Hawks. But for me, the third best team is the Orlando Magic. That team to me was derailed by injury last year. I thought they were one of the four best teams in the East if they could all be healthy. That offense fell off a cliff uh in part because of those injuries. But Paulo Ben Carroll is the real deal. This is all NBA talent. He’s coming off of averaging 29 points against the Boston Celtics in the first round gave Tatum and Brown all that they can handle. I think adding Desmond Bane to that offense and the defense they already have. If they can get that offense humming, I think they are a clear third team in the East. Yeah, look, the East is wide open and plenty of storylines. I see Park doing a little side by side right there. There’s a lot happening in the East as we go into this season. Bobby, thanks so much for the insight and joining the conversation as well. And we’re talking about the East being open. Albert no one brought and we call her Paige get buckets Beckets bet buckets Beckers for a reason. Second quarter Wings trailing by four. Beckers hits Stephanie Talbet with a series of crossover before nailing this jumper right here. Check out Paige showing off all the handles and the moves. Jumping to the fourth. Sabrina catches it off the screen. Nails the jumper right here. Gets it to go. Liberty rolling in this one. John Quel Jones plus the foul. She’s like, “Yeah, get it to me.” Leon Feebish catches the pass, knocks down the three. Liberty go on to win 85-76 in this one. And then how about DJ Carrington making her Lynx debut placing NECA and the Storm taking the action in this one. DJ Carrington ready for battle. Tiffany Mitchell goes up for the layup, but Carrington with the big time block right here. Yeah, this is what she does. Big defensive play. Carrington again gets the ball on the wing. Knocks down the three. That’s good. What a sequence from Carrington turning defense into offense. Tie the game at 66. Under four minutes to play. Courtney Williams looks ahead to Carrington. Carrington gets inside and scores. Carrington with 13 points off of the bench. Erica Wheeler passes to NECA Gumay who does this. Storm now down by six. Little over a minute to go. Storm now down by seven. Gabby Williams with a pass to NECA with the catch and shoot three. It’s good. 23 points and six rebounds for her in this one. Under one minute to play. Courtney Williams drives inside. Gets the tough layup to go. Lynx now up by six. Next Lynx possession. Courtney Williams gets the shooters on the roll. Does this in her bag? Courtney Williams with 20 points and four assists. The Lynx go on to win 91 to 87. Before the game, the Storm did acquire Britney Sykes from the Washington Mystics for Alicia Clark. And Seattle’s 2026 first round pick. Sykes is having one of the best seasons of her 9-year WNBA career, averaging about 15 points, four assists, and one steal per game. The fourtime alldefensive selection was named her first all-star team this summer as the injury replacement for Caitlyn Clark. We now bring in our WNBA insider Alexa Philippu. And Alexa, what does this acquisition of Britney Sykes mean for the Seattle Storm? Yeah, Amina. Well, the Storm are thinking that hey, this is not this is a rare opportunity to add an all-star mid-season and they wanted to take advantage. Sykes is a player, like you said, she’s having the best year of her career, and they think that she’ll be able to really help them on the offensive end, add a little bit more pop to their offense, giving them one of arguably the most athletic, dynamic, and versatile backourts in the league. But it’s also about what she brings on the defensive end, too. going up against a a a Storm backourt, a Storm perimeter group of defenders that’s going to include Sykes and a four-time alldefensive team pick as well as Skyler Diggins, Erica Wheeler, Gabby Williams. I mean, that’s going to be a really tough thing for opponents to go up against. They’re hoping too that for her to be able to play alongside other really strong players will maybe unlock an even greater level to her play. So, you have to remember too, the Storm, they’re trying to make a push. They’re trying to win now and they haven’t won a playoff series since 2022. They’re hoping Sykes can help change that. And now Alexa, we have something we need you to shed a little bit of light on. Rumors about this video coming out of Seattle and the relationship status of Megan Rapino and Sue Bird. Take a look at this right here. I need you to explain what’s happening. Okay. What’s happening in Seattle? You know, we we’ve had the whole Coldplay concert, the situation that’s going on. Break this down for me, Alexa. I know. I mean, seeing this video, I was thinking, is there some trouble in paradise between the most iconic sports couple, right? And not only are we seeing, you know, Sue Bird and Doppler, the mascot, having that kind of canoodling moment and and Megan Rapino looking caught off guard, but I’m sitting there thinking, you know, Sue Bird has been tied to this franchise since she was drafted in 2022 or 2002. How long has this been going on for? What has Megan known? But in all seriousness, a really fun, cute moment. And I saw a storm staffer tweet that actually it was Megan and Sue’s idea to do this whole little bit. And I really hope we get the full breakdown of how it all came together on a touch more when their next podcast episode goes. Look, I absolutely love it. Canoodling also not a word that I had on my bingo card today, but Alexa with the latest. Thanks so much. Let’s get to some more action in the W. Last night, Kelsey Mitchell faced off against Kelsey Plum last night here in LA. Caitlyn Clark sitting out her fifth straight game as the Sparks take on the Fever. There’s a look at Kelsey Plum right there. She drives to the basket going through Lexi Hall and finishes the layup. Plum with the two small celebration after it also jumping to the third. Rakia Jackson driving to the basket. Finishes with a left hand layup through contact. Sparks now go up by 11. And then how about this? Cameron Brink back in action. Come on. Big defensive play. spring finish with five blocks on the night. Next Sparks possession, Jackson nails the jumper right there. And then look at this. Catches it on the wing, nails the three. Jackson finished with 25 points as the Sparks go on to win 100- 91. And Plum Dog was ballin last night and made some personal history, notching her first career game with 25 points and 10 assists. Kelsey became the second player in Sparks history to reach the mark in a game joining Odyssey Sims on the feet. And then how about Alyssa Thomas? She continued her impressive season last night against the Sun. Take a look at the action between these two. There’s at right there. Take it to the first quarter. Alyssa Thomas finds Sachu Sabi cutting to the basket for the layup plus the foul. Mercury now up by two. Sabi from beyond the arc. The three is good. Mercury now up by 20. Jumping to the second, Joanna Bonner to the basket for the layup. Mercury going into the half leading by 16. Satu Sagi drives to the basket, finishes with the layup. She finished with 23 points in her return to action. Thomas getting the rebound off the miss. Takes it coast to coast. She finished with 13 points, 12 assists, and 12 rebounds as the Mercury go on to win 82-6. Alyssa Thomas is a triple double queen of the WNBA and has a league record 14 in her career. In fact, the only player to ever have consecutive triple doubles is Thomas doing it on three separate occasions.

FULL NBA TODAY | Celtics trade Brown to Warriors for Kuminga? Lakers sign Reaves? LeBron to Mavs?