🏀 Cleeeeveland! This is for you!

Today, we’ll discuss whether Isaiah Mobley is the best Mobley brother, the best young prospect in the league, and the best Finals MVP in Cleveland Cavaliers history.

Just kidding. We’re not that type of reactionary media outlet. But we do love to celebrate the little positive things! Especially during the offseason, when games are played in the golden snitch from Harry Potter:

Today’s Lineup

This Is For You! 🏆: Mobley brings Cleveland their first (Summer League) title!

LOL 😂: Jeff Teague tells a hilarious Kevin Garnett story.

Dual Threat 🏈: These hoopers were nasty at a second sport…

But before we get into the nitty-gritty, here’s some decade-long trivia for ya:

Summer League Final

Evan Mobley got Tim Duncan comparisons at USC, but it’s his brother Isaiah who lifted the duo’s first Finals MVP Trophy.

Okay fine, it was the FMVP of Summer League. But still! Mobley led the Cavaliers to their first Summer League Championship with 28 points and 11 rebounds.

Emoni Bates, an All-Summer League 2nd Team recipient, added 19 points for Cleveland and took some cold flicks holding the trophy. After a high-profile tumble from the Sports Illustrated cover (at age 15) to playing for Penny Hardaway at Memphis to transferring to Eastern Michigan last year, Bates has shown some real promise as a scorer over the past couple weeks.

Meanwhile, the “Regular Season” Summer League MVP Award went to Cam Whitmore! He spun his way to some crazy buckets and averaged 20.4 PPG for the runner-up Houston Rockets. While SL doesn’t reallllly matter, the last two wings to win SL MVP were Keegan Murray and Josh Hart—two guys every team in the league would love on their squad!

That’s wraps on the 2023 Summer League! With NBA die-hard fans in attendance watching fringe G League players dropping 25 a night, Summer League is an upside-down place. But hey! So is Las Vegas. It’s important to remember that some legends 💩 the bed in SL, while some guys drop 20 and never see an NBA minute. Still, fun is fun is fun, right? Check out our favorite moments from it here:

Dual Threats

Steph Curry gave the term “Curry Range” a whole new meaning this week at the American Century Championship, where he sank a hole-in-one from 152 yards out. Inspired by Chef Curry hitting the links, we wanted to make a list of some more NBA players who excelled at other sports.

Allen Iverson - Football 🏈 

The Answer was, well, the answer at every position for his high school football program. In addition to winning state titles and awards in basketball, Iverson also played quarterback, cornerback, saftey, and wide receiver on the gridiron. He even returned punts! Iverson eventually suited up for the Georgetown Hoyas for hoops, but could probably have played for their football team too!

Kris Humphries - Swimming 🏊‍♂️

What comes to mind when we say “Kris Humphries?” Brooklyn Nets big man? Maybe. Kim Kardashian’s brief husband? Probably. But little did you know that this man was a swimming DEMON back in the day. At 10 years old, Humphries was a top-ranked swimmer in his age group. Even more insane is that he actually beat Ryan Lockte and Michael Phelps in a race… like, that Michael Phelps. What a life.

Pat Connaughton - Baseball ⚾️

You know Pat Connaughton. He’s the bouncy white dude on the Bucks, and would you be surprised if we told you he went to Notre Dame? But when he wasn’t throwing down gravity-defying dunks for the Irish, he was a baseball stud—he even got selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2014 MLB Draft. Connaughton threw heat as a pitcher on the mound and now throws down thunderous dunks with a championship ring on his finger!

Wilt Chamberlain - Volleyball 🏐 

Wilt The Stilt doesn’t seem like a real human. The stats, the records, the stories… the volleyball? After walking away from basketball, Wilt fell in love with the relatively new sport at the time. He eventually joined the International Volleyball Association, became the league president, and was even inducted into its Hall of Fame! We’re quaking just thinking of facing a spike from the 7’2” Goliath, and we’re sure the “plumbers” he played against were too. Check out this 3-minute minidocumentary to learn more about Wilt’s insane volleyball life:

Tim Duncan - Swimming 🏊‍♂️

You may have heard this before, but Tim Duncan was on track to become an Olympic swimmer. Growing up, Duncan swam between 5000 and 8000 meters a day until Hurricane Hugo hit the U.S. Virgin Islands and destroyed the only Olympic-sized swimming pool on his island. Forced to adapt, the Big Fundamental pivoted to basketball and the rest, as they say, is history. But imagine how big of a splash a cannonball from 6’11” Timmy D would be!

Danny Ainge - Baseball ⚾️

Danny Ainge hasn’t only been the genius GM in two of the most lopsided trades in history—he was also a hooper for the Celtics back in the 1980’s. But did you also know that, once upon a time, he hit dingers? Ainge was a baseball sensation during his college years at Brigham Young University, and he even earned the John R. Wooden College Player of the Year in Baseball award in 1981. Seriously, is this man bad at anything?

Frozen Moments

• Jeff Teague told a hilarious story about posterizing Ray Allen and then getting chewed out by Kevin Garnett for… this 😂 

• Inter Miami formally presented Leo Messi to the fans and it was epic.

• Too young to have witnessed Hornets Chris Paul? Take a look.

What We’re Enjoying

Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan gave us The Dark Knight exactly 15 years ago today. The opening 4-minute sequence introducing Heath Ledger as The Joker still makes our heart speed up:

Signing Off

Heath Ledger gave us one of the greatest supervillain performances of all time, and if The Dark Night taught us anything, it’s that you either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain. So we’ll head out before we begin our villain arc. Peace!

-Conor Geelan

Trivia Answer: Excluding LeBron, James Harden led the 2010s in total minutes! We need to fully appreciate The Beard’s durability!

Before you go…