The Power of Friendship

In the same week of the draft, buddies were the storyline

With free agency around the corner, it felt more appropriate to address something that can cross time and space: The Power of Friendship.

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College teammates, career-long buddies, podcast partners, family members, and fellow countrymen got to celebrate together this week in the great National Basketball Association. Truly, this is what the hoop sport is all about: the friends we make along the way.

The Villanova Knicks

As most people know, the Knicks sent Bojan Bogdanovic, 5 first round picks, and a second round pick for Mikal Bridges. He joins his buddies—Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo, and Jalen Brunson—who he won 2 national championships with at Villanova.

Mikal Bridges fits onto this team in a way that enforces their identity, and also enhances the vibes they already had. He hasn’t missed a game since high school, can play any style, and will likely be their starting shooting guard (presenting a daunting task for opposing offenses, since he’ll be next to OG Anunoby, who just a few years ago was his “best young defensive wing” rival).

There’s more to say about the Knicks and where they stack in the Eastern Conference, but for now, they get to live the dream many of us only can dream of: making millions of dollars playing a sport with your best friends.

The (former) Suns’ Twins

On the other end of this, teammates who spent more seasons together than the Nova guys did are RIPPED apart. Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson have played together for five seasons, and were endearingly known as the “Twins” by Suns fans (no idea what the Nets fans called them).

As a suns fan, these two represented the joy of basketball fandom. Seasoned college players who came in to selflessly play hard, loved the team, and were just happy to be there. They even made Devin Booker a little bit more easy-going (helped that Cam Johnson’s arrival coincided with Monty Williams’s arrival and the uptick in wins season-over-season).

There’s still a feeling of regret over the KD trade, knowing that these guys could have been around in Phoenix for a long time. But now that they’re officially separating for the first time in their pro careers (again, Cam Johnson has never played a professional game without Mikal Bridges), it’s just a little sad! Bring Cam home!

Mindin’ the Game

When I’ve had a friend interested in working at the business I’m currently employed by, I do my best to provide a referral for them. For me, though, it’s been at big corporations, and I have zero influence on hiring decisions. However, at a small family business like the Los Angeles Lakers, the star employee can sometimes make demands.

I think JJ Redick—if you haven’t heard, the new Lakers coach—will do a fine job. He’ll have a modern approach to the game, he’ll work hard, and he will find a way to get the guys to respect him. The question is, for every coach, whether he’ll make the right split-second decisions in the moments in the game. We shall see!

But what we do know now is that real friends help friends become the head coach of the most influential basketball team in the NBA.

Savannah James’s Guys

Bronny James was selected 55th overall to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. It’s funny to mock the process they went through (first, he was fine with wherever, then only worked out for two teams—one of which was the Lakers, and the other team’s GM, James Jones, has been very close with the James family for 14 years—then, yesterday, his agent told everyone to not draft him or he’d go to Australia). But, at the end of the day, Jalen Brunson’s dad was hired by the Knicks 6 months before Jalen went to NY in free agency (not the only example of nepotism in the NBA, but probably the most consequential in recent memory), and this was the 55th overall pick.

LeBron’s family story is nothing short of admirable (didn’t have a dad growing up, committed to being the dad he never had, always proud of their accomplishments, etc.), and we get to witness a committed Dad fulfill a career-long dream of sharing the court with his son. Bronny, for those who don’t recall, suffered a cardiac arrest before the USC season began, and his basketball future was in real jeopardy. He deserves a shot in the NBA, and it happens to be with his dad. I hope the Lakers lose every game, but good for the James family. Maybe Bryce will join in 3 years.

Family can be friends too!

C’est la France frère

In the first round of the draft, the first two picks were frenchmen, as was the 6th pick and the 25th pick. The biggest contributor to this french revolution was Victor Wembanyama’s arrival into the NBA, but also, Joel Embiid becoming a French citizen to play for the French national team.

But in all seriousness, it was endearing to see Risacher and Salaun figure out how to simply state how excited they were to be in the NBA with their limited English. The sport is growing globally, inviting all large, coordinated humans to come and participate.

The Power of Friendship

These are fun storylines for the offseason. Perhaps the Knicks win the championship, JJ Redick is the next Steve Kerr, Bronny starts (and deserves to) for the Lakers, and Cameron Johnson gets to find a new twin. Maybe, even, the 32nd team in the NBA’s expansion is based in French-speaking Montreal (since they aren’t adding a team to Paris lol).

But for now, we can only imagine. And it’s kind of fun that we can relish in these heartwarming storylines before reality hits.

FTI

Including the already-agreed upon Kings/Raptors trade for the salaries to work.

For the Kings: Does Julius Randle fit well with the Kings, other than his lefty genetics? Not especially. But he’s a talent upgrade at the 4, has improved on defense in the last few seasons, and adds needed size (not just in height but in the way he actually plays, unlike Barnes) to the Kings’ core.

For the Knicks: In order to afford their team, they may need to shed some salary. They also could use some more 4/5 depth with these guys. Also, they just traded almost all of their picks! But, something like this would only happen if Julius hinted at wanting to head out.