NBA 2025-26 Season Thread: THE NY KNICKS ARE CHAMPIONS! BING BONG!

the year is 2028, Scottie Barnes is an absolute monster in his prime, Murray-Boyles is an ascending stud but the Raptors are stuck with 120 million of their cap allocated to Quickley, Poeltl & Kahwi who has been resting for the last 8 months

Da king in da norf

yeah horrible trade, lol raptorbs

so are the clips gonna get punished at all for all the cap circumvention stuff or nah? i'm guessing no. silver is legitimately destroying the league...

Come on over to the NHL thread tomorrow for more Toronto signings of old people! Lebron is old so maybe Raps on him as well.:p

You have to judge each team according to what is realistic for them to accomplish in the off season. Toronto's chances of adding a player better than Kawhi were near zero. That said, if Kawhi decides to leave after a year, which is entirely possible, then this deal will prove to be an utter disaster for the Raptors.

I heard he’s a really FUN GUY.

Chilltown you have my full permission to flex on people itt, circumvent the profanity filter if you wish!

Ingram, Dick, the pick swap and the 2nds are whatever.

But those unprotected picks could be pain.

it's just obviously pointless to trade a bunch of stuff for kiwi because he's a billion years old and never healthy. he has like no chance to make it through a successful playoff run. better to hedge their bets trying to accumulate quality depth than putting all their eggs in that old gimp. oh well, not my problem

Kawhi Leonard signing will destroy what is left of the Toronto Raptors.

The guy won't play 50 games a year, nevermind that Kawhi is also washed.

I can’t wait for the Captain Le’America / Human Torch team up!!!

Fun Guy gonna get Fun Paid too.

Always go Fun Paid if you can.

Kawhi is the only person from the 2019 team still on the Raps.

IT WAS DESTINY

Yeah 3 picks is pretty rough BUT HES HOME

I feel good about it.

Ingram was pretty boring as a player to watch. Kawhi is exciting and was 2nd team all nba this year.

ok, to be more fair:

- i didn't realize how bad ingram is
- let's assume kiwi will be a positive influence on barnes, barrett, etc (they should know as they had him before)
- the nostalgia factor
- it makes them a million times more interesting next year = $$$

kiwi's coming off his best season since 2020-21, so they'll probably get something more like the previous 3. unless the fit is great, which seems possible. he should take some offensive load off of barnes (when he's in the lineup anyway), who is mostly just good on the other end. it'll be fun anyway...

Tim Hardaway Jr. signs with Heat 1 year 6.5M

He can start and put up 15 threes a night.

I’m McLovin’ it!

I think a big factor for the Raptors is winning continuity. Ie just stay a winning team and figure out the rest from there.

Lowry/Derozan made the 2nd round a bunch of times. Redeemed us from the Bosh/Bargnani days where we were a joke.

Shows the rest of the league that you are a winning franchise.

Raptors haven't made the 2nd round since the year after Kawhi left. Losing all the time gives you a bad rep as in you are the Kings and no one decent is gonna consider coming.

Kawhi apparently wants to be a Raptor, so that message was sent to the league that the most serious player desires to be here, and if he can get us back to the conf finals then it's a huge win.

Great post chilly. 👍

AD to the Warriors is "dead on the vine" supposedly.
Wiz do NOT want to trade him.
Warriors have told Butler they will NOT trade him.
Porzingis wouldn't have been signed if they knew they were getting AD.

Which got me thinking..

LeBron would probably be smart to choose Miami.

At this stage of his career, he'd have four elite defenders covering for him: Bam, Giannis, Wiggins, and Mitchell. That lets him conserve energy and pick his spots while still competing for a title. He'd have the sharpshooting Hardaway Jr. to dish to.

Golden State with Curry and Draymond is intriguing, but it's still the Western Conference. You'd have to battle through OKC, the Spurs, and the rest of that loaded conference just to reach the Finals.

Miami checks every box: warm weather for those aging knees, golf courses everywhere, and Coach Spo leading the way. IMHO, Spo is in a tier all by himself as an NBA coach (of current coaches).

If winning and extending his career are the priorities, Miami makes the most sense.

Jaylen Brown to Cavs for Mobley, could make LeBron sign in CLE.

doesn't lebron dislike brown cause he said bronny isnt an nba player? guess that is the past as mark mcgwire once said

No, LeBron James doesn't dislike Jaylen Brown. While there has been some visible, lighthearted tension between them, their actual relationship is built on mutual respect.
The rumor of "beef" stems from two distinct situations:
1. The Bronny James Hot-Mic Comment

During the 2024 NBA Summer League, a courtside camera caught Jaylen Brown talking to his girlfriend, Kysre Gondrezick, and Angel Reese. Lip-readers caught Brown saying he didn't think Bronny James "was a pro" yet.
Brown immediately went on social media to clarify and praise LeBron's longevity. LeBron addressed the viral moment with a laugh, saying:

"Our relationship has been pretty respectful... besides the **** he said about Bronny in Summer League. But other than that, we've been alright."

Fans also speculated about tension because of Nike. LeBron has a historic, lifetime contract with Nike, whereas Jaylen Brown has been highly critical of the brand—especially after he was left off the 2024 Team USA Olympic roster (which is heavily sponsored by Nike). This sparked rumors of a proxy war, which was fueled when a video went viral of LeBron giving everyone big hugs in an All-Star locker room but giving Brown a quick, formal handshake.
Mutual Respect Wins Out

Despite fans trying to manufacture drama, the two players are on great terms. LeBron highly respects Brown's game. LeBron went out of his way to praise Brown publicly, stating it was crazy that Brown wasn't being seriously discussed in the regular-season MVP conversation after carrying a heavily depleted Celtics team.
Brown later shared a moment they had at the All-Star game where they reminisced about LeBron predicting Brown would be a star all the way back during his 2016 rookie season. Brown expressed gratitude for LeBron's support, proving that whatever minor awkwardness existed is firmly in the rearview mirror.

I can't really blame the Raptors for dealing for Kawhi.

All they had to give up was Dick Picks and Ingram.

Nice post!

While I do opine that the draft picks were a bit deep and risky moving forward, this upcoming season will be that much more exponentially exciting!!!

Marc Gasol averaged like 9/6/3 during the title run and he was super effective.

Be that Jakob Poeltl!

if the Warriors can't acquire AD (I personally think the Wizards GM is just posturing and trying to extract an additional asset out of the Warriors. Like does he really want to give AD a fat extension???? I don't think so.) then they could trade Butler + Picks for Durant.

Now that would be a fun team
Steph/LeBron/Durant/Draymond