🏀 Too Early For 2024 MVP Talk?

The NBA regular season ended about a month ago, and since then we’ve had the draft, free agency, and Summer League. But after tonight, we’ll be without NBA basketball for about three months…

You’ll never be without the Enjoy Basketball newsletter, though! No offseason over here, folks. Let’s get into it! 💪

Today’s Lineup

Summer League Wrap-Up 👀: The championship is slated for Monday night!

EB Roundtable ✍️: Sneaky MVP candidates? You all supplied some good ones…

W Descends On Vegas🗽: All-Star Weekend came with an unbelievable 3PT barrage.

But first, some trivia:

Vegas SL Championship!

We’re about to go without NBA basketball for more than three full months, but before that happens, we’ll be treated to a Summer League championship between two young, energized teams. Cam Whitmore (the 20th pick in the draft… which is still wild to us) had 25 in the Rockets’ semifinal win over Utah:

Houston will face the Cleveland Cavaliers, who benefitted from a balanced attack in their own semifinal matchup against Brooklyn.

EB Roundtable

With Summer League wrapping up, we’re about to be a few months away from any more NBA basketball. And unfortunately, we’re not allowed to talk about basketball until then either.

Just kidding. Can you imagine? Sounds awful.

In actuality, it’s never too early to look ahead to next season. We wanted to get a sense from y’all about who you think is going to make the big leap next season. Like, the biggest leap that can be made.

To no one’s surprise, you all came through with the thought-provoking answers we were looking for. Let’s get into them.

At first glance, Hali for MVP may seem like too big of a stretch. But if you dive into his first three seasons, you’ll see just how much better he’s gotten each year. If he improves next season at the same rate he’s improved each season prior… he should be an MVP-caliber player.

Obviously, a big if. But Dawsen is right, because the revamped Lakers roster is about to get their first full year together. With a majority of the lineup that made a WCF run still intact, a big AD season could be on deck.

It’s easy to forget how good a player is when they miss so much time in their first few seasons, but Zion Williamson is still really, really, really good. And everything breaking right for New Orleans could reinforce Zion’s case even more. It might not be a bad time to buy low in Zion MVP stock!

Referral Program

Remember when Lance Stephenson and LeBron James had a hilarious interaction during Game 5 of the 2014 ECF? Here's the actual exchange that took place…

Lance: Aye Bron, did you know that less than 1% of Enjoy Basketball newsletter readers have referred the newsletter to their friends?

LeBron: Did you just feel that breeze? Did you just blow in my ear?

Lance: I had to get your attention. After all, this is the number one newsletter you need to keep up with NBA news.

LeBron: Did you say 1%? We gotta change that ASAP. Man, if the newsletter was around in 2010 I would have announced The Decision on there.

Lance: Appreciate you, King! When you share your link, you'll get some free swag too. I’ll even throw in a personal serenade on my air guitar. Ready for some "Lance-a-licious" tunes?

All you have to do is share the custom link at the bottom of your email with someone who would Enjoy it, and you’ll get rewarded! Track your progress by signing into your account and navigating to “Referrals”—it’s really that simple.

Ionescu Wows At WNBA All-Star

As if Las Vegas hasn’t been basketball-crazy enough over the last few weeks, WNBA All-Star Weekend took over Sin City this weekend. We got to see one of the most impressive shooting displays in recent memory when New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu shot 25 for 27 (!!!!!) to win the three-point shootout.

But Ionescu’s scorching weekend was far from over… she was in Vegas, after all. The 2K24 cover athlete stayed hot at the WNBA All-Star Game on Saturday night, where she hit three straight FOUR-pointers en route to a 143-127 Team Stewart win!

Frozen Moments

• Isaiah Mobley activated clutch mode…

• Marcus Sasser is a bucket-getter, and bucket-getters get buckets.

• Jewell Loyd AKA The Gold Mamba shined in the WNBA ASG

What We’re Enjoying

EB x Alerts Daily: You know we have love for our sneakerhead Enjoyers, so we teamed up with Alerts Daily to ask you the all-important question… how are you building your closet?

And we have to share a few of our favorite responses…

Talk about bang for your buck. Smart spender!

Classy! We respect it.

Snagging a pair from each row? Very nice.

Signing Off

And we’re out of here! One day, we’re going to meet each and every one of you and give you a hug for supporting us so consistently. Until then, take care of yourself, take care of those around you, and try to do one kind thing a day. Talk soon!

-Quinn Everts

Trivia Answer: The first ever WNBA 3PT shootout was in 2006, and South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley captured the W!

Before you go…