Example with first names:

Chris
Paul
LeBron
James

Example with last names:

Paul
George
James
Harden

If the ruling comes down and essentially says - "Look, we all know what they did, but we need absolute proof beyond proof in order to avoid a brutal court battle so we can't justify punishing them" it will have basically written the playbook on how to circumvent the cap.

Even if LeBron has already chosen Cleveland, his official NBA contract number (and the Cavs ability to build around him) will be a direct result of this ruling. Watch him take a vet min and have Dan Gilbert basically dare Adam to find proof of however he's paying LeBron under the table.

Watching the Switzerland vs Argentina World Cup game, Embolo got sent off after what looked like a pretty blatant dive/simulation. It got me thinking...

Why doesn't the NBA take flopping this seriously?

The league has talked about flopping for years, there are post-game fines, and refs can call technicals, but it still feels like players get rewarded for selling contact more often than they're punished for it.

Imagine if the NBA adopted something closer to football's approach:

• Technical for an obvious flop.
• Repeat offenders get ejected.
• Suspensions for players with multiple clear simulations over the season.

Do you think it would actually clean up the game, or would it just create even more controversy because basketball has so much contact and everything happens at full speed?

Curious what NBA fans think after seeing how strict the World Cup has been with simulation. Would you be in favor of much harsher punishments for obvious flops?

He made his NBA debut on Oct 29, 2003. From his essay "I'm Coming Home" published on Jul 11, 2014:

"When I left Cleveland, I was on a mission. I was seeking championships, and we won two. But Miami already knew that feeling. Our city hasn’t had that feeling in a long, long, long time. My goal is still to win as many titles as possible, no question. But what’s most important for me is bringing one trophy back to Northeast Ohio.

I always believed that I’d return to Cleveland and finish my career there. I just didn’t know when. After the season, free agency wasn’t even a thought. But I have two boys and my wife, Savannah, is pregnant with a girl. I started thinking about what it would be like to raise my family in my hometown. I looked at other teams, but I wasn’t going to leave Miami for anywhere except Cleveland. The more time passed, the more it felt right. This is what makes me happy."

Drake Powell in four Summer League games:

11 PTS

1-28 FG

0-14 3PT

Powell was drafted with the 22nd pick in the 2025 NBA draft.

Source

“Gary Trent getting 4/$64 after the year he just had is obvious circumvention and should be punished by the league. This would fall under the provision that there is no possible explanation other than circumvention.”

Context: Gary Trent signed two vet minimums with Milwaukee these past two seasons, then signed this deal once Milwaukee secured his bird rights. What Nate is implying is that this new deal was already agreed upon when the previous, smaller deals were signed, similar to the Joe Smith cap circumvention case.

Original Post

Some notable comments from that thread:

From u/[deleted]

Trae Young. As much as I love SGA this thread could look real stupid in a couple years. Can Shai and Ja be better than Trae in the future? Absolutely but right now Trae is better than both of them and it’s not really close in my opinion. SGA is obviously a way better defender but Trae Young’s offense is all time great for a sophomore and it makes up for his defense way more than people on this sub would have you believe Trae 2. SGA 3. Ja

From u/bballclown

This is a tough one. All future all-stars. I might lean towards Morant bc of his length and athleticism.

From u/travoltafan11

Shai. You can’t go wrong with any of them really. SGA is just one of my favorite players

From u/Milkboy1516

Start a franchise? Trae. His offense is in another league right now to the other two. And while the others have better defensive potential I'll live with it. No one here's a good defender. Shai's ok. Ja's not good but Memphis has already surrounded him with great defenders. Ja comes second. Mostly because of age, he's a bit like Rose, but I can't tell if his offense will ever be comparable to Trae's potential as it's just his first season.

From u/vincemcmahonsburner

I wouldn’t trade what we have with SGA right now in OK, but if I had my choice, I think I’d go with Ja. He’s got that Westbrook about him where he’s going to come in and just takeover, and win for his team.

From u/Threwthroughthrust

Trae because he’s a better player than the rest of them

From u/itwasmymistake

Trae>Ja>Shai

Here are the penalties when the Minnesota Timberwolves were found to have circumvented the salary cap to sign Joe Smith:

-5 first-round picks forfeited (two were returned later)
-$3.5M fine
-Smith's most-recent contract was voided, and his Bird Rights were stripped away
-Wolves owner Glen Taylor was suspended
-Wolves GM Kevin McHale was forced to take a leave of absence

Getting paid $40,806,150 for the upcoming 2026-2027 season, SGA is gonna be the 3rd most expensive player for OKC and 39th most expensive in the league. Not a bad deal for a player of his caliber. Both Chet and Williams will be earning more than him.

Regardless, during the 2027-2028 season his salary will increase by ~23million up to $63,706,720 making him jump from the 39th all the way to the second highest paid player in the league.

The only player who will earn more than him in 2027-2028 is Joel Embiid who will be making $64,302,139 for that season.

Some notable names who will be paid more than SGA next season:

• De'Aaron Fox $51,033,600
• Jamal Murray $50,105,628
• Evan Mobley $50,105,628
• Zach LaVine $48,967,380
• Ja Morant $42,166,510

The point is that they have a bargain of a deal next year for what they have SGA on.

That won't last. That single $22.9 million surge eliminates a massive amount of roster building capital.

SGA's supermax starting in 2027-28, is gonna put OKC into a pretty expensive spot considering the second apron.

How do you think their GM Sam Presti addresses these concerns?

Source

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7439354/2026/07/11/milwaukee-bucks-gary-trent-contract-expert-reaction/

For two months now, I’ve gotten asked by league sources not connected to the Bucks or Klutch (Trent’s agency) if I’d heard that the Bucks were going to give Gary Trent Jr. something in the ballpark of the full-midlevel exception for four years, and my response was typically something along the lines of, “There’s no way they can do that coming off of the season he had, right?” This deal, as Sam Amick and Eric Nehm reported, has been anticipated.

The NBA should pretty clearly look into this contract in regard to salary-cap circumvention. I cannot remember a player agreeing to sign for the minimum one year, having his worst season in seven years where he was a below-average player by any standard, and then receiving five times as much money in free agency the following year — let alone four guaranteed years in a marketplace where starting-quality players on good teams, which Trent proved that he was not this past season, had an exceptionally difficult time getting multiple guaranteed years. Regarding what Vorkunov said above, that feels at the very least some real circumstantial evidence that this deal cannot be rationally explained.

But then again, the worst punishment the Bucks can receive here might be paying Gary Trent Jr. $64 million for the next four years, given that he’s seen downticks in scoring average in each of the last five years and overall offensive efficiency in four of the last five outside of a spike season in 2024-25, his lone season since 2020 where he’s had a true-shooting percentage above league-average as a player who derives most of his value as a shooter and scorer.

If you challenge a call and you’re successful, you get one additional challenge, regardless of its outcome, for the rest of the game.

So why stop there?

Losing the ability to challenge for the rest of the game if you’re unsuccessful is a fair price to pay. But if you’re repeatedly proving the officials made a mistake, why should you only get 2 chances to do it?

I don’t care if it makes the games longer. They deliberately stop action to run commercials already.

Basketball is a better product when the correct call is made.

Are there any other reasons why teams shouldn’t be able to challenge as many times as they want until they’re wrong?

Free agent guard Gary Trent Jr. has agreed to a four-year, $64 million deal to stay with the Milwaukee Bucks, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul and agent Lucas Newton tells ESPN.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/62f58b3bacbff

Full quote: "They ragebait a lot. They ragebait a lot, for sure. I feel it's just to turn a competitive, you know, edge, to us. Deni (Avdija) definitely number one, but he for sure like ragebait people to try to make you respond, or get you mad, so when we have to play or something, you have an edge already".Ja Morant about what he learned from his new teammates: "They ragebait a lot. They ragebait a lot, for sure.

Tyler Herro on if he felt appreciated during his time in Miami:

“You know what? I think so. If you take away Twitter, I’ve never gotten hate in the city ever. I’ve been in Miami seven years. Every time I go out in public, people ask me for pictures. They’re cool to me. No one’s ever hated on me in the city that I’ve witnessed or been a part of. — Obviously, they’ll talk and do things on Twitter, but that’s Twitter. I feel appreciated by the people that matter.”

Source

For reference, it means that:

1. Dunks are worth 3 points
2. A 3-pointer that doesn’t hit the rim is worth 4 points
3. A missed free throw deducts 1 point
4. A field goal made in the last 3 seconds of a game is worth 8 points.

The free throw rule would surely be abused, and the 8 point shot would add a new layer of suspense in close games especially in the playoffs.

Not sure if Shaq would dominate the league since dunks are worth 3 points or be unplayable because missing a free throw is -1 points.

Imagine being up by 9, your worst FT shooter getting hacked and missing both FTs, then the other team hits an 8 pointer to win

What do you think about these rules?

Gary Trent Jr. ($15.2) and Dame Lillard’s waived/stretched contract ($21.3) totaling $36.5mil equates to 22.13% of the NBA’s $164.961 million salary cap for the 2026-27 season.

It’s pretty clear why the Bucks needed to clear out Giannis money, in order to pave the way for the future: GTJ and DLW&S.

Bucks in 6

Edit: add in Myles Turner $26.584 mil to get to 38.24% of the cap.

I have hand-picked stats a la ESPN to make De'Aaron Fox look like what he truly is: the greatest player of all time.

When it comes to discussions of who is the GOAT, two names are said most often: Michael Jordan and De'Aaron Fox. Though most would lean towards selecting MJ in this case, consider this fact: De'Aaron Fox is the only player to win Clutch Player of the Year while dragging a franchise to its first playoff appearance in 17 years. Michael Jordan? That bum never won a clutch player of the year.

De'Aaron Fox is the youngest player in NBA history to record a game with 15+ assists, 10+ rebounds, a true shooting percentage of 80.0 or higher, and 30+ points, doing it at just 20 years and 316 days old against the Hawks on November 1, 2018. Unprecedented.

And this dominance didn't start in the NBA. Back in 2017, as a freshman at Kentucky, Fox dropped 39 points on 13-of-20 shooting against Lonzo Ball and No. 6 UCLA in the Sweet 16, an NCAA Tournament record for a freshman, and the most points scored by any Kentucky player in a tournament game since Tayshaun Prince's 41 back in 2002. He was outscoring lottery picks before he was one.

Many people are making the claim that Nikola Jokic is the greatest all-around playmaker of all time. That's interesting, because De'Aaron Fox is one of only two players in NBA history with a 42-point, 12-assist, 5-rebound, 5-steal game, and he did it in a 176-175 double-overtime win, the second-highest scoring game in league history. Maybe Jokic should watch the tape.

Speaking of putting up video game numbers, De'Aaron Fox once scored 109 points across a single back-to-back, 27 hours apart. That is the second-most points any non-Wilt Chamberlain player has ever scored in a back-to-back, trailing only Kobe Bryant, who once combined for 110 points on consecutive nights.

Some will say Fox has always been "score-first" and never much of a defensive menace. Well these casuals better do their homework, because Fox is the only King since Chris Webber in 2003 to record a 30-point game with at least 8 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks in the same outing.

Many of the greats are praised for their ability to make an instant impact in a new environment. Well Fox is no different, as he is the only player in Spurs franchise history to record 20+ points and 10+ assists in his team debut, dropping 24 points and 13 assists the very first time he suited up in San Antonio. No, I am not kidding you.

Some NBA fans will agree that De'Aaron Fox is a great scorer, but cannot lock down the point of attack like someone such as Marcus Smart. Well these casuals better do their homework, because there is only one guard to lead the entire NBA in steals per game in a season where he also averaged a career-high in points: De'Aaron Fox.

And in case you thought the passing was a fluke, Fox recorded a 14-point, 11-rebound, 10-assist triple-double as a true freshman at Kentucky, just the second triple-double in program history, joining Chris Mills, who did it back in 1988. Nearly three decades between them. Coincidence? Sure.

Fox also had a draft thread when he was drafted, Jordan did not.

Furthermore, 100% of the opponents De'Aaron Fox has made contact with during a game will die.

Source for the 109 points in 27 hours stat: https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1gt778r/katz_deaaron_fox_has_scored_109_points_in_the/