The Opening Tip

• Giannis playing against non-NBAers is something
• An in-season tournament could be coming to the NBA
• The 2022-23 season is creeping closer

1. There is good basketball on right now

The Donovan Mitchell trade last month unofficially capped last season. We are now deep into offseason mode, sans forced Westbrook-Beverley handshakes.

But EuroBasket, the hoops version of the Euros, is a perfect lil’ basketball fix.

The big picture, in five bullets:

• The group stage and the Round of 16 are done. The quarterfinals begins tomorrow. Here's the schedule.
• At one point we looked headed for a Luka (Slovenia) vs. Jokic (Serbia) semifinal matchup, but Italy upset tourney favorite Serbia in the Round of 16 this weekend.
• Still, it's Slovenia vs. Poland and France vs. Italy on the same bracket, which means we could get a rematch of Luka vs. Rudy Gobert and France from group play, when Luka dropped 47 on France and Rudy Gobert did this to Luka.
• Giannis -- and his brothers -- are playing for Greece, which is playing Germany tomorrow in the QFs. 
• So ... we're two more Slovenian wins and two more Greek wins from a Luka vs. Giannis EuroBasket Final next Sunday. 

2. Daily GIF: Giannis vs. Czech Republic

At least No. 12 tried(?!). 

3. Trivia time

The Cavaliers haven’t made the playoffs without LeBron since the 1997-98 season. Who was the leading scorer on that team?

Answer at the bottom.

4. A mid-season tournament, or something, is coming

Adam Silver’s long-threatened ‘mid-season tournament’ appears to be coming in 2023-24.

‘Details’ on the tourney were revealed a few days ago via The Athletic’s Shams Charania, who attempted to explain what it might look like: 

• ‘Cup games (will run) through November’ 
• ‘8 teams advance to single-elimination Final in December; other 22 continue with regular season’
• ‘All games part of normal 82-game schedule; one extra for two Final teams’ 

First of all … try to read all that without giving yourself a migraine.

Second, third, and fourthly: How are they going to flex in and out games without annoying arena owners? Will the games be at neutral sites? What are the players playing for?

• If it’s money, the best players are already wealthy, not rich, and if it’s draft compensation, what is a players’ motivation to win his team a chance to draft more competition for his spot?

There’s upside somewhere in there, but it’s initial run is going to be full of memes and ‘injured’ stars.

5. By the numbers

36 days

The 2022-23 season begins in 36 days with an Oct. 18 doubleheader: 76ers at Celtics and Lakers at Warriors.

.549, 0 rings

Del Harris, longtime decent NBA coach who won an uninspiring .549 percent of his games and never led any of his teams to a title, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend, which is reason No. 5,987,937 why the BBHOF is a pointless joke.
 

2026

LeBron gave an interview to SI two weeks ago for its cover story, at one point claiming his plan is to stick around the league long enough to play with his youngest son, Bryce.

Assuming Bryce (or Bronny) is actually good enough to make the NBA, that would mean the 2026-27 season, at which point LeBron would be 42.

6.  Quick Hits

• NBA writer Jonathan Tjarks, who was great at his job and seemed like a good person, died on Saturday night of cancer. 
• His piece for The Ringer below is devastatingly sad but great. 
• Goran Dragic made fun of Gilbert Arenas this weekend for his truly heinous takes on Giannis. 
• New Utah Jazz Lauri Markkanen has been going off at EuroBasket for Finland. 
• Steph says he would have welcomed Kevin Durant back.

7.  Reads + Podcasts

• Does my son know you? [The Ringer]
• Manu Ginobili colored outside the lines [SI]
• Steph Curry is putting it all on the line [Rolling Stone]

Trivia answer: Shawn Kemp