🏀 WHO just dropped 39??

Hey, fancy seeing you here! Come on in and grab a drink from the fridge, there’s basketball to watch.

The FIBA World Cup is in full swing, and as total hoops fiends, we’re absolutely loving it. We like delivering fire offseason content, but it just hits different when there are fresh highlights to Enjoy, don’t ya think? And boy, do we have a lot of them for you today. Let’s dive in.

Today’s Lineup

Jordanian Buckets 🇯🇴 You won’t believe who gave us an A+ Kobe impression

Reaves on a Roll 🔥 AR balled out in a win over Greece

Far Far Away 🌴 How a player from an island of 7,000 people made the NBA

World Cup-dates

We just got the call, Austin Reaves has officially been confirmed as that dude.

On a US team loaded with star power, Reaves has surprisingly taken over as the go-to guy. He scored with confidence, passed the rock unselfishly, and just generally looked like a really good basketball player in the Americans’ 28-point W over Greece. When you’re doing stuff that hasn’t been done since LeBron, you’re usually doing something right. Oh, and this Euro Step wasn’t too bad either.

And it wouldn’t be an international hoops check-in without seeing what ridiculous stuff Luka Doncic is up to. No-look hook passes? Check. Absolutely cooking a trash-talker? Check. Dropping 34 in a 21-point dub over Georgia? You bet.

Hey, look who it is, everyone! It’s Rondae Hollis-Jefferson playing for…the Jordanian national team? You heard that right: RHJ became a naturalized Jordanian citizen just weeks before the World Cup. Who cares that he’s from Chester, Pennsylvania? Let the man hoop!

And thank god he did, because Hollis-Jefferson absolutely went OFF over the first two games, earning Kobe comparisons after his 24-point outburst against Greece and following it up with an absolute masterpiece in an OT loss to New Zealand. This game-tying shot should be enough to get him back in the NBA ASAP.

Elsewhere, Germany’s offense was firing on all cylinders (even on accident) in their 101-75 victory over Finland, and the Australians cruised past Japan in a must-win game behind a certified Josh Giddey cook sesh.

And PS, Canada is scary. Like, really scary. They got themselves into an early ten-point hole against Latvia (shout-out Arturs Zagars for this great Magic Johnson impression that even had the admin shook) and STILL won by 26. It definitely helps when you have Shai taking ankles for fun.

Where in the World 🌍

Welcome back to Where in the World! If you need a refresher, this is a new bi-weekly offseason segment where we highlight countries that have only ever sent a single player to the NBA. Today, we’re going to the west coast of Africa to find a DPOY in the unlikeliest of places.

Cape Verde: Edy Tavares

We highlighted Cape Verde last week in our World Cup Underdogs section, but now it’s time to shine the spotlight on the 7’3” behemoth who helped get them there.

Edy Tavares is a name that might not ring many bells for NBA fans, but if you’ve watched even a minute of European hoops over the past few years, you know who this man is. Winner of three of the last five EuroLeague DPOYs, Tavares is one of the best interior defenders in any league and has the highlight tape to back it up.

But how did a kid growing up on a soccer-loving island with a population of fewer than 7,000 people even make it here in the first place? Well, it all started with a chance run-in at a convenience store with a car salesman named Joaquin.

Joaquin lived on the Canary Islands but often visited Cape Verde on vacation, including the small island of Maio where Tavares grew up. On one of these trips, he walked into a store and saw an absolutely gigantic teenager behind the counter. And we’re not talking 6’4” or 6’5”, we‘re talking so tall that Joaquin’s immediate reaction was to tell his friend who worked for Spanish team CB Gran Canaria and set up a meeting with Youth Director Raúl Rodriguez.

Despite Tavares never having played basketball before, Rodriguez was intrigued. After receiving photo evidence of just how tall Edy was, he and a team of colleagues went down to Cape Verde to check out the phenom for themselves. And, at 7’1”, he was just as large in person. So large, in fact, that they didn’t have basketball shoes that even remotely fit him.

But, even with size 13.5 shoes on his size 17 feet, Tavares did enough to impress the group in a quick workout. With a massive frame, incredible hands, and a willingness to learn, Rodriguez signed the future DPOY to Gran Canaria’s academy.

In Spain, he slowly worked his way up the ladder. After a few years, a successful loan spell at UB La Palma earned him a call-up to the first team, and he never looked back from there. Now 7’3”, Tavares was starting to show serious potential in the highest league in Spain, finishing top ten in rebounds and blocked shots.

It was enough to catch multiple NBA scout’s attention, with the young center eventually going to the Atlanta Hawks with the 43rd overall pick.

His NBA career never really panned out from there, but honestly—that’s okay! Tavares is the prime example of why we shouldn’t judge basketball players just on their NBA success. Besides, that first World Cup win for Cape Verde must have felt as good as any championship.

Frozen Moments

• Paul George's impression game is on point 👌😂

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander breaks the press by himself 🥶

• Anthony Edwards shouts back at a heckler (literally) 💀

What We’re Enjoying

The Ultimate NBA Comparison Tool: The team over at CraftedNBA has done it again. Their historical comparison finder has been a go-to boredom killer for us this offseason and is a great way to check out some potential career trajectories for your favorite team’s young players.

Signing Off

That’s all we got for today! No matter how busy your week is, remember to keep everything in perspective and take a little time for yourself. Life isn’t a sprint; it’s more of a light jog.

Until next time,

-Spencer Poole

Trivia Answer: The answer to today’s trivia is Brazillian legend Oscar Schmidt. The ultimate “the streets won’t forget” player, Schmidt is the all-time leading scorer in Olympics AND FIBA World Cup history.

Before you go…help us answer a debate that’s been rocking Twitter the past few days.