{"id":2059851,"date":"2026-07-24T14:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T11:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2059851"},"modified":"2026-07-24T14:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T11:05:08","slug":"the-bounce-why-lebron-james-should-choose-all-30-nba-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2059851","title":{"rendered":"The Bounce: Why LeBron James should choose all 30 NBA teams"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"Article_ContentContainer__jBNW3 article-content-container bodytext1\">\n<p><b data-stringify-type=\"bold\">The Bounce Newslette<\/b><strong>r<\/strong>\u00a0<span class=\"c-emoji c-emoji__medium c-emoji--inline\" data-qa=\"emoji\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class src=\"https:\/\/a.slack-edge.com\/production-standard-emoji-assets\/14.0\/apple-medium\/1f3c0@2x.png\" alt=\":basketball:\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" aria-label=\"basketball emoji\" data-stringify-type=\"emoji\" data-stringify-emoji=\":basketball:\"><\/span>\u00a0| This is <em>The Athletic\u2019s<\/em> daily NBA newsletter.\u00a0<a class=\"c-link c-link--underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/newsletters\/the-bounce\/?source=pulsenewsletter&amp;campaign=9178780&amp;userId=10748855\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/newsletters\/the-bounce\/?source=pulsenewsletter&amp;campaign=9178780&amp;userId=10748855\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>Rafer Alston turns 50 today! You may look at him as an 11-year veteran NBA point guard, who saw most of his action with the Houston Rockets. But for those of us obsessed with And1 Mixtapes and the streetball movement in the late \u201890s and early \u201800s, <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/z\/c\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/7cb29f6e47fe47f689aea6eec5b0f2b6\">Skip 2 My Lou was one of the most influential basketball figures of that era<\/a>. I watched him in the NBA. I watched him on VHS tapes given out for trying on And1 shoes at a Footaction store. I had every shoe And1 put out for him in every color. Rafer, aka Skip, was one of the greatest shows on a basketball court. Happy birthday to a legend.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid1\" data-position=\"mid1\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr>\n<h3>What\u2019s LeHoldup?<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Maybe LeBron should expand his options<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As we exist inside the fourth week of LeBron James not deciding\/announcing where he intends to play next season, I\u2019ve had a hairbrained theory manifest itself. That\u2019s what happens when you\u2019re just waiting without any real updates and you live in a world in which you\u2019re forced to pontificate. Well \u2026 forced might be dramatic. Highly urged to pontificate!<\/p>\n<p>As I\u2019ve tried to put myself in LeBron\u2019s shoes in this decision and pretend to know who he is or what\u2019s actually important to him, I\u2019ve increasingly found myself poking holes in every organization he could join. This is supposed to be his final spot \u2026 we think? And he\u2019s going to want to nail that decision. I understand people think he\u2019s drawing this out for attention. Maybe he is on some level.<\/p>\n<p><strong>He also might not be sure about the six options we think he\u2019s deciding among.<\/strong> The Warriors are old. The Cavaliers probably aren\u2019t good enough and might be a mess. The 76ers are still dependent on Joel Embiid for a title run. The Heat really don\u2019t have much outside of Giannis and Bam. The Nuggets are not as solid as we thought before the playoffs. And the Timberwolves may not have the goods to get past the Thunder and Spurs.<\/p>\n<p>However, as LeBron continues to <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/281fce5caeb94873b933be1b84b116ea\">figure out where he might want to be next<\/a>, we don\u2019t want to be totally negative. I also didn\u2019t want to limit LeBron to the six reported options. Let\u2019s be positive and give LeBron a reason to sign with any of the 30 teams:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7467739 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/07\/24081531\/lebronoptions.jpg\" alt width=\"500\" height=\"512\"><\/p>\n<p>Some really good options for LeBron here. Golden State and Cleveland have mostly been the betting favorites for his services. However, Miami recently pulled ahead of everybody after <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/0f0be367d9184a758c8bf49200041dd5\">the team accidentally published a news conference link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Does this mean anything? Not really. I believe Rich Paul when he says LeBron won\u2019t be rushed in this decision. And I believe he hasn\u2019t made up his mind, nor do I think anybody has true insight into what he\u2019ll choose.<\/p>\n<p>But \u2026 he has to sign some day soon, right?<\/p>\n<div data-ath-video-stream=\"8ecZjMg9IgMnWo6\">\n<div class=\"VideoHost_Root__QeM_i\">\n<div class=\"VideoHost_VideoWidth__XjNKI VideoHost_Portrait__XBaJC\">\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_Root__AGckL\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_Title__npf3B\">Where will LeBron James end up?<\/div>\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_Authors__jxyYV\">The Athletic NBA Staff and Jeshua Kidd<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_VideoWrapper__Xgp47\">{&#8220;@context&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/schema.org&#8221;,&#8221;@type&#8221;:&#8221;VideoObject&#8221;,&#8221;@id&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/8ecZjMg9IgMnWo6\/&#8221;,&#8221;url&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/8ecZjMg9IgMnWo6\/&#8221;,&#8221;name&#8221;:&#8221;Where will LeBron James end up?&#8221;,&#8221;description&#8221;:&#8221;With his free agency decision still looming, we asked our reporters where they think LeBron James will play next.&#8221;,&#8221;uploadDate&#8221;:&#8221;2026-07-17T15:20:39.563Z&#8221;,&#8221;duration&#8221;:&#8221;PT52S&#8221;,&#8221;thumbnailUrl&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/cdn-media.theathletic.com\/video-stream\/auto-thumbnail\/8ecZjMg9IgMnWo6\/MJrJogZd5Z6K.0000000.jpg&#8221;,&#8221;contentUrl&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/8ecZjMg9IgMnWo6\/MJrJogZd5Z6K\/MJrJogZd5Z6K.m3u8&#8243;,&#8221;transcript&#8221;:&#8221;We asked our reporters, where will LeBron James end up? pretty far wherever I land. I&#8217;m gonna go do what I do best. I think he&#8217;s going to Cleveland. Cleveland, Cleveland, Cleveland, because he misses me. Uh, he&#8217;s definitely not going to Dallas for the oil, Gulf, Macau in Africa. So I, I think he&#8217;s gonna end up Cleveland back home. I think the draw of playing at home makes the most sense. It&#8217;s gonna be either Cleveland or Golden State. Play with Stephen Curry. If happiness is what it is, then it&#8217;s gotta either be going back home or going upstate Miami because he is a man who loves golf and he already did the Cavs rerun. I feel like if Giannis is really trying to talk me into starting this thing again in Miami, how could you say no to that? I would love to see him go to Philly. Philly makes a ton of sense, but I think he ends up in Cleveland. And then like my favorite fit is Minnesota. Like I&#8217;d love to see him play with and, and LaMelo. Like let&#8217;s, let&#8217;s get crazy.&#8221;,&#8221;ineligibleRegion&#8221;:[&#8220;BI&#8221;,&#8221;BY&#8221;,&#8221;CD&#8221;,&#8221;CF&#8221;,&#8221;CU&#8221;,&#8221;IQ&#8221;,&#8221;IR&#8221;,&#8221;KP&#8221;,&#8221;LB&#8221;,&#8221;LY&#8221;,&#8221;ML&#8221;,&#8221;NI&#8221;,&#8221;RU&#8221;,&#8221;SD&#8221;,&#8221;SO&#8221;,&#8221;SS&#8221;,&#8221;SY&#8221;,&#8221;UA&#8221;,&#8221;VE&#8221;,&#8221;YE&#8221;,&#8221;ZW&#8221;],&#8221;publisher&#8221;:{&#8220;@type&#8221;:&#8221;NewsMediaOrganization&#8221;,&#8221;@id&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/#publisher&#8221;,&#8221;name&#8221;:&#8221;The Athletic&#8221;,&#8221;url&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/&#8221;,&#8221;foundingDate&#8221;:&#8221;2016-01-25&#8243;,&#8221;logo&#8221;:{&#8220;@type&#8221;:&#8221;ImageObject&#8221;,&#8221;@id&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png&#8221;,&#8221;url&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png&#8221;,&#8221;contentUrl&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png&#8221;,&#8221;creditText&#8221;:&#8221;The Athletic&#8221;,&#8221;height&#8221;:&#8221;60&#8243;,&#8221;width&#8221;:&#8221;435&#8243;},&#8221;publishingPrinciples&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/edit-guidelines\/&#8221;,&#8221;sameAs&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Athletic&#8221;},&#8221;author&#8221;:[{&#8220;@type&#8221;:&#8221;Person&#8221;,&#8221;name&#8221;:&#8221;The Athletic NBA Staff and Jeshua Kidd&#8221;}]}<\/p>\n<div class=\"AspectRatioBox_root__AKv5b\" style=\"aspect-ratio:9 \/ 16;max-height:min(100%)\">\n<div class=\"AspectRatioBox_inner__86C_2\" style=\"aspect-ratio:9 \/ 16\">\n<div class=\"VideoStreamPlayer_GridStack__2H0p2\"><video preload=\"metadata\"><\/video><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr>\n<h3>The last 24<\/h3>\n<p>\ud83d\ude1e <strong>Not so good? <\/strong>Our John Hollinger has his list of biggest disappointments from Summer League. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/549a74ea84c6437187900452d2196791\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">They include Dailyn Swain and \u2026 Darryn Peterson<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid2\" data-position=\"mid2\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\ud83d\udcb0 <strong>Budget conscious. <\/strong>The Thunder have shed some good players this offseason, including Lu Dort. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/a0c18557014c44f29db1c2e9df221352\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">They\u2019re in cost-cutting mode, Fred Katz writes<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\ud83c\udfaf Improvement coming? <\/strong>The Rockets have been held back by outside shooting. <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/f864e60440214b38b04fa387b2cc75ef\"><strong>They just hired the best shooting coach ever<\/strong><\/a><strong>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\ude4c What an honor! <\/strong>The Basketball Hall of Fame is honoring an active player for the first time with <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/6695975c3bce469daeeb6ce24ebd35ed\"><strong>the \u201cStephen Curry: Beyond the Arc\u201d gallery<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Stream the NBA on Fubo (<\/em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/z\/c\/5037\/f176198b067c4c109759ae9c2f39475e\/7f874aa396a346ddb11f3f90abea1104\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">try it for free!<\/a>)<\/em><em>\u00a0and catch out-of-market games on\u00a0<\/em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/z\/c\/5037\/f176198b067c4c109759ae9c2f39475e\/d9caa22d5d77406d8a3bc006ed089ab3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">League Pass<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"top-league-content-root\"><\/div>\n<p>    {&#8220;endpoint&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql&#8221;}<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h3>Investigation station<\/h3>\n<p><strong>We\u2019re nowhere near a Clippers resolution<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When Adam Silver stated that he was hopeful the <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/033cce1686a0459ba3ff3b2f40faf768\">LA Clippers cap circumvention investigation<\/a> would wrap up this summer, so many of us scoffed at the notion. This thing has been going on since September. Of course, <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/0b93fc2f6b424880ab6d9b5fc254d8a8\">this should be wrapped up by the end of summer<\/a>, right? There have even been comments by Silver that this needs to be done by the start of next season.<\/p>\n<p>Uh \u2026 what? How could this be? Of course the investigation should be decided and ruled upon by next season! I don\u2019t think anybody believed it wouldn\u2019t until Silver made those comments. The Raptors and Clippers even agreed to a deal sending Kawhi Leonard back to Canada for a season or three with the assumption that this thing would be decided eventually. And of course, the decision would not be so severe <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/395814f1d0cd4893a20e13f61d9f5b98\">that Leonard\u2019s deal would be voided<\/a>, right?<\/p>\n<p id=\"article-pickem\">\n<p>Well, the venerable John Hollinger reminded everybody the other day of <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/4dd70513812843c5a45b5ee3a3882a6a\">just how long this investigation is from being over<\/a>, even after the investigation is concluded. Even if it ended today, we could be months away from a resolution.<\/p>\n<p><em>Remember, the investigation isn\u2019t the end of the process as much as the beginning of the next process. The NBA\u2019s collective bargaining agreement specifies that a cap-circumvention case must be tried before a system arbitrator and then potentially go through an appeals process before any penalty can be handed down by the commissioner. Are we sure this is all getting done in two and a half months?<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid3\" data-position=\"mid3\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>All of the jokes about <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/ca3d3da87b13474a858dc9661c7371ad\">the investigating law firm<\/a> grabbing billable hours during this whole ordeal have been grossly understated. What\u2019s interesting is, the bylaws of the NBA don\u2019t require a smoking gun in these types of allegations for full punishment. Circumstantial evidence can be enough. This isn\u2019t a true court-of-law situation of \u201cinnocent until proven guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The question is whether the NBA wants to eventually get into a legal battle with Steve Ballmer and the Clippers. Because once a decision has been made, it will become an arbitration case, and that\u2019s where Ballmer and his unlimited wealth could try to drag this out in a legal type of setting. Or \u2026 as Hollinger wrote, maybe there\u2019s a \u201cplea bargain\u201d of sorts?<\/p>\n<p><em>Seemingly, the only pathways to an expeditious resolution are if the investigation produces no evidence of wrongdoing \u2014 can you imagine if, after all this time, Wachtell comes back and says, \u201cWe got nothing?\u201d \u2014 or if Steve Ballmer and the Clippers basically \u201cplea bargain\u201d to certain penalties and don\u2019t go through the remaining steps of the process.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This feels like the most likely scenario to me, based on absolutely zero of my own reporting. This is just me thinking at some point the NBA will want to get this decided. Maybe it\u2019s agreeing to certain suspensions that don\u2019t involve Kawhi? Maybe Leonard goes unscathed? Maybe a future pick is taken or multiple picks are taken but some are eventually given back? Then the trade between the Clippers and Raptors can go through. Or maybe there\u2019s a breaking point \u2026 oh, I don\u2019t know \u2026 like the start of the 2026-27 season \u2026 at which Toronto just decides to throw a \u201cmy bad\u201d at Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick for the trade attempt?<\/p>\n<p>This may never end. As of right now, this investigation has been long enough for 4 1\/2 marriages between former Nets big man Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian (72 days) and roughly 6,146 stints with Chris Paul on the Lakers before the deal was vetoed by the NBA (<a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/z\/c\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/f2548fa27a294404a5ff3ddfc1de5472\">76 minutes<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Are either of those good units of measurement? No, but it\u2019s still not as ridiculous as this investigation being far from over.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h3>Big W Weekend<\/h3>\n<p><strong>WNBA All-Star Q&amp;A with Sabreena Merchant<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Tonight and tomorrow are All-Star Weekend in the WNBA, as we celebrate the league and get ready for the stretch run. This has been a super dramatic season <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/561787ac47b0428b9f5e0d31fe7ff484\">so far with lots of chaos<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/947409917dda4459bd6c11f4c83113bd\">lots of hooping<\/a>. The Minnesota Lynx have been the best team and <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/6ddf130bf524498daf5b5977c6bd5691\">just this week got Napheesa Collier back from injury<\/a>. The Golden State Valkyries are in their second year, but they\u2019re second in the league standings. Of course, we\u2019ve had plenty of <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/cc3e02c5ea2544d38bd67275640a0880\">drama surrounding Caitlin Clark<\/a> and now she\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/3c3b2a33c9c94164a6b6fc1e82a8e5af\">one tech away from a suspension<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid4\" data-position=\"mid4\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the 3-point contest, <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/d64edd428d28453f83921c6adf2e24de\">rookie Azzi Fudd will try to take home the trophy<\/a>. It will be a little easier with Sabrina Ionescu not there, <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/491a2a9a2eab4b9abbf4017abf228cc0\/90bdc422d5cc4c1c8e4c860a993c4f33\">although she claims she was never invited<\/a>. As the celebration for the W begins, we have a lot of questions about what\u2019s happened so far and what\u2019s to expect the rest of the way. There\u2019s no better person to answer this than <em>The Athletic<\/em>\u2019s Sabreena Merchant, who was nice enough to drop some knowledge in our Q&amp;A.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>What\u2019s the best story in the WNBA as we get to the All-Star break?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sabreena: <\/strong>The Lynx. Olivia Miles has become your favorite player\u2019s favorite player, dazzling with her flair and command during a sensational first half of her rookie season and prompting some serious reconsideration of why she wasn\u2019t taken first in the 2026 WNBA Draft. Behind Miles and two other All-Stars, the Lynx are unexpectedly atop the WNBA standings, despite a huge offseason exodus, and now they welcome back the back-to-back MVP runner-up Collier, who casually dropped 24 and 10 in her first game of the season Wednesday. How Miles and Collier function together is what I\u2019m most looking forward to in the second half.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>On a scale of 1-10, how annoying is the conversation around Caitlin Clark right now?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sabreena: <\/strong>An 8. <strong>Every conversation about Caitlin, basketball or otherwise, turns into a Rorschach test about race and politics and is threatening the experience of watching Caitlin.<\/strong> And that\u2019s a real shame, because watching Caitlin from 2023-24 was some of the most fun I\u2019ve ever had as a sports fan. She isn\u2019t blameless \u2014 her flopping on the court is at Luka Don\u010di\u0107\u00a0 levels, and I say this as a Lakers fan \u2014 but she\u2019s been thrust into this role as the avatar of the sport, and it\u2019s a lot for anyone to handle.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Who do you think wins it all and who do you think disappoints in the playoffs the most?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sabreena: <\/strong>I\u2019m still riding with the Aces until someone dethrones them. Their defense is concerning, but we\u2019ve seen them level up when the situation demands it, and the experience\/talent of their core, plus the fact that A\u2019ja Wilson is the best player alive, makes it hard to pick against them. It would be disappointing if a team projected to contend lost in the first round, like New York and Atlanta last season. In that vein, I worry about the Fever if they get Dallas in the first round, which is the current 4\/5 matchup. One of those teams would have a very long offseason.<\/p>\n<p><em>The WNBA All-Star Game will be tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Bounce Newsletter\u00a0\u00a0| This is The Athletic\u2019s daily NBA newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here\u00a0to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. Rafer Alston turns 50 today! You may look at him as an 11-year veteran NBA point guard, who saw most of his action with the Houston Rockets. But for those of us obsessed with And1 Mixtapes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2059851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2059851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2059851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2059851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2059851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2059851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2059851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}