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Two days after the start of free agency, the landscape of the NBA already looks very different.

The Miami Heat found their new starting point guard in Kyle Lowry via a sign-and-trade with the Toronto Raptors. The Chicago Bulls continued to revamp their roster with the acquisitions of DeMar DeRozan and Lonzo Ball. The Los Angeles Lakers added seven free agents to the roster in less than two days, including future Hall of Famers Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard.

What were the most surprising moves? Did the Bulls and New York Knicks do enough to join the upper echelon in the Eastern Conference? Our NBA Insiders answer the big offseason questions and share what moves could still be made to help a contending team get over the top.


1. Which move was most surprising over the first two days?

Tim Bontemps: Nicolas Batum going back to the LA Clippers for only the non-Bird raise off his minimum contract last year. Batum had several teams interested in offering him more than that but chose to stay with the Clippers instead. Given Kawhi Leonard could very well miss the entire season, I thought he might be gettable by other contenders trying to make a push next season. Instead, he chose to remain part of the Clipper program — potentially setting himself up to get a healthy raise next summer, when the Clippers will hold his early Bird rights as they did with Reggie Jackson this summer.

Kirk Goldsberry: Patty Mills to Brooklyn. A lot of teams could have used Mills, who provides elite shooting and a great spark off the bench, but the Nets, who might already possess the best shooting team in the league, just added him anyway. Mills, who is currently leading Australia in the Tokyo Olympics, provides Brooklyn with yet another way to score efficiently from 3.

Andrew Lopez: The Bulls acquired DeRozan a day after landing Ball. DeRozan thrived last year with the ball in his hands for the San Antonio Spurs while racking up a career-high 6.9 assists. In his three seasons with San Antonio, DeRozan doubled his assists production from his first nine seasons in Toronto on a per-game basis: 6.2 to 3.1. Now he heads to a Chicago team where Ball is being brought in as the point guard and Zach LaVine will also command his fair share of the ballhandling duties. And to boot, Chicago is paying DeRozan $85 million over three years and had to ship out Thaddeus Young and multiple picks to do so.

Jorge Sedano: Lonzo Ball to the Chicago Bulls. Honestly, this is more about the New Orleans Pelicans letting him go for a package that was underwhelming. Ball had career highs in points, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage and free throw percentage. Not to mention that he made more 3s than Trae Young and Bradley Beal last season. He and Zion Williamson​​ had nice chemistry together as well. I like Nickeil Alexander-Walker, but he better be ready.

Ohm Youngmisuk: Andre Drummond to the Philadelphia 76ers. It’s understandable that Drummond’s value plummeted after last season’s Lakers experience, but now Drummond is a backup to Joel Embiid? The one good thing is Drummond should see some starts because of Embiid’s health. But if the Sixers keep Ben Simmons, Drummond only adds another non-perimeter shooter. For the Sixers, getting Drummond at this price is no risk. But you have to wonder how much Drummond will be able to increase his value in Philadelphia.


2. After their moves the past two days, the Bulls are a top-____ team in the East.

Goldsberry: Top eight. The East is loaded, so this is not an insult, but with teams like Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Miami contending for the Eastern crown, the Bulls should be happy with any playoff seed this upcoming season. The East is now chock full of legitimate two-way squads fighting for supremacy, but I’m just not sure Chicago will be able to keep up, especially on defense.

Lopez: Top eight? They aren’t in the top class with Brooklyn or Milwaukee (or Philadelphia depending on your taste). Miami made a huge jump. New York and Atlanta are still there. Boston should be better. That leaves Chicago at the top of the middling part of the conference ahead of the Indianas and Charlottes of the world.

Sedano: Top seven. I love what the Bulls did at the trade deadline last season and what they’ve done in free agency. They are going to be a pest all season. A starting five of Ball, LaVine, DeRozan, Patrick Williams (or Lauri Markkanen) and Nikola Vucevic is definitely formidable. However, let’s not get too carried away just yet. The top of the East is still some combination of Brooklyn, Milwaukee, Miami, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Boston. The Knicks will be in the playoff picture, too. The East is no longer the “Leastern Conference.”

Youngmisuk: After their moves the past two days, the Bulls are a top-six team in the East. The addition of Ball alone was a huge boost for the Bulls. But adding DeRozan gives the Bulls a trio of scoring options with LaVine and Vucevic. It remains to be seen how DeRozan fits in with LaVine, but the Bulls will be competitive. Welcome back to playoff basketball, Chicago.

Bontemps: Top 12. I see the East being broken up into three tiers. The top features five teams, in some order: Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Miami, Philadelphia and Atlanta. The bottom features three more, again in some order: Cleveland, Detroit and Orlando. That leaves seven more — Chicago, Boston, New York, Indiana, Toronto, Washington and Charlotte — fighting for three playoff spots, plus two more play-in tournament spots. Given Chicago is going to have a truly horrid defense — it’ll be hard not to when playing DeRozan, Vucevic and LaVine — not only could I see them not making the playoffs, I think there’s a chance they miss the play-in tournament altogether. That, to be clear, is not what Chicago was counting on in making this trade.


3. What one word would you use to describe the Knicks’ moves?

Lopez: Uptosomething. OK, so I cheated a little bit. Replacing Bullock with Fournier was the only real move New York made outside of keeping its talent together. In the short term, the Knicks seem like they are betting on themselves to continue the growth the group made under coach Tom Thibodeau last season. But while their cap space in future years seems to have dried up, they have the right capital to make a move if a star becomes available.

Sedano: Typical. There is always a lot of fanfare surrounding the Knicks when they have money to spend. Usually, it’s uneventful. This was no different. Fournier is a good player, and they did a nice job keeping the band mostly intact. But, I do think teams will have a better read on them this upcoming season. They won’t surprise anyone this time around. They’re a legitimate playoff team, but nothing more than that. By the way, that should be fine after what Knicks fans have had to endure for the past decade or so. They should enjoy their (mostly) young and fun team.

Youngmisuk: Vanilla. And to be honest, vanilla isn’t a bad flavor, especially when it comes to the Knicks. Too often, the Knicks have poured too much money or assets into doomed mirages. After making the playoffs, the Knicks brought back several of their free agents and added Fournier. That doesn’t guarantee the Knicks another postseason berth. But as long as these contracts don’t cost them a shot at adding a legitimate star, should one become available in the trade market this season or next, Knicks fans will have to trust the current regime that it has a plan and be patient.

Bontemps: Puzzling. New York has spent the past couple of years painstakingly maintaining flexibility and cap space. Then, this offseason, they’ve turned around and given out long-term deals to Derrick Rose, Nerlens Noel, Alec Burks and Fournier, locking New York into a team that wasn’t good enough to get out of the first round last season, and doesn’t appear to have any path to being a top-four team in the East the next three years. I guess the Knicks will just be happy to try to make the playoffs again the next couple of years? But after their patient approach had paid nice dividends for them, it was odd to see them so rapidly change course like this.

Goldsberry: Random. The Knicks were rightfully the toast of the East last year, but they needed to make a splash this offseason to continue their ascendant trajectory in a suddenly deep conference. Instead, they lost Reggie Bullock and added Evan Fournier, while re-signing Noel, Rose and Burks. It’s not that they got worse — they didn’t — it’s that they failed to add a signature player who can move them up the East standings.

Pelton: A better Knicks team on paper might not translate into more wins


4. Fact or fiction: The Lakers put the right pieces around their new Big Three?

Sedano: Fact. They certainly got the right type of players to play around their new Big Three of James, Davis and Westbrook. There is a lot of shooting on the roster now. However, the new additions also add plenty of mileage to Frank Vogel’s rotation, something he’ll have to manage on a nightly basis. I feel confident that Anthony and Howard will get minutes. I would expect the same for Kent Bazemore, too. Vogel is a defensive-minded coach and of the perimeter scoring threats they added, Bazemore is the best on that end. If other perimeter players like Wayne Ellington, Kendrick Nunn and Talen Horton-Tucker can find a way to survive on the defensive end, the Lakers will have successfully solidified their rotation.

Youngmisuk: Fact. General manager Pelinka went out and revamped this roster by adding an intriguing blend of veterans and young players with potential. Vets like Anthony, Trevor Ariza, Ellington and Bazemore should improve the perimeter shooting. And the Monk and Nunn signings are steals. The downside? The Lakers might have defensive issues, which isn’t good for a Frank Vogel team. The bigger question might be: Is the Lakers’ Big Three the right fit?

Bontemps: Fiction, but not because of the moves the Lakers made. Instead, it’s a simple acceptance of the reality Los Angeles finds itself faced with a roster that is going to be more than half filled with minimum contracts. The minimums the Lakers have landed have largely been fine. That being said, they are minimum contracts for a reason — all of them are flawed players. Getting Nunn for the tax mid-level was a nice move, too. But the defense has suffered a massive downgrade, the fit issues with Russell Westbrook and LeBron James are real, and this team currently has more players 35 and over than under 30. That’s not a recipe for success.

Goldsberry: Fiction. I don’t like the spacing in Lakerland. While James, Anthony Davis and Westbrook are all awesome, they all need to pressure the rim to truly thrive as scorers. None of them are great off-ball perimeter threats, which means the Lakers need to surround this trio with loads of shooting talent, and they just haven’t done that. Make no mistake, they have some shooting talent with Carmelo Anthony, Ariza and Ellington on board, but their inability to fill it up from 3 could be a big concern in the 2021-22 season.

Lopez: Fact. The Lakers desperately needed shooting after going with a Russ-LeBron-AD trio. And they did just that. Wayne Ellington (42.2%), Carmelo Anthony (40.9%), Kent Bazemore (40.8%), Malik Monk (40.1%) and Kendrick Nunn (38.1%) all shot above 38% from 3 last year. The depth of the additions will go a long way with the Lakers’ older core.


5. What’s one move that could still help a contender?

Youngmisuk: Any contender still looking for a point guard could check in with Oklahoma City on Kemba Walker. If, and it’s a big if, Walker’s knee is healthy and checks out, the former All-Star could provide a contender with a scoring punch of 20 or more points per game. That contender, though, better come armed with draft picks.

Bontemps: Even just a couple of days in, the free-agent marketplace is already running out of interesting options. Still, there are four interesting players still sitting there to be had: Dennis Schroder, Danny Green, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Reggie Jackson. If any of the contending teams can find a way to land one of them, it’s a win. Otherwise? We’re at the point in free agency when much of this is simply rearranging the furniture for the sake of doing so.

Goldsberry: The Bucks need to replace P.J. Tucker, and Green is just the guy to do it. Green is a champion who provides excellent corner 3-point shooting and solid perimeter defense. Tucker is a big loss for the champs, but Green could be a perfect replacement.

Lopez: Philadelphia could make that Ben Simmons trade. Depending on the return, it could shake things up in the Eastern Conference and give the Sixers the push they need to make it over the top.

Sedano: Schroder. I know the season didn’t end great for him. He’s still a viable Sixth Man of the Year candidate on the right team. He will likely have to alter his contract demands, but he can certainly help a contender.

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Buffs coach: Stars ‘should be going 1-2’ in draft

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Buffs coach: Stars 'should be going 1-2' in draft

BOULDER, Colo. — For the horde of NFL talent evaluators and some bleachers full of fans, Colorado coach Deion Sanders said Friday that they all got to see the top two players available in this year’s NFL draft.

Quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter were among the 16 Colorado players who took part in the school’s showcase event for scouts, coaches and personnel executives from every NFL team. And Deion Sanders said the two marquee players confirmed what he has known for a long time.

“It’s tremendous,” Sanders said. “… They should be going 1-2 [in the draft], that’s the way I feel about it. They are the two best players in this draft. … The surest bets in this draft are those two young men, and I didn’t stutter or stammer when I said that.”

Neither Shedeur Sanders nor Hunter took part in most of the position drills or physical testing, but Sanders had a throwing session for just under an hour and Hunter was one of the wide receivers who participated. Neither player worked out at the scouting combine earlier this year, so it was the first time Sanders had thrown in such a setting since the end of the season. He showed some full seven-step drops and play-action from the shotgun and under center.

“I think I did pretty good, to my expectations,” said Sanders, who set the career FBS accuracy mark in his two years at Colorado (71.8%) to go with his 4,134 passing yards and 37 touchdowns last season. “I know I did the best in college football right now, for sure.”

Asked after the throwing session whether he believed he was the best quarterback in the draft, Sanders said: “I feel like I’m the No. 1 quarterback, and that’s what I know. But at the end of the day, I’m not stuck on that because it’s about the situation, so whatever situation, whatever franchise believes in me, I’m excited to go. … I’m comfortable in any situation.”

Players Hunter, who did not speak to the media after the workout, and Sanders met with the Cleveland Browns contingent, including team co-owner Jimmy Haslam, on Thursday night in Boulder.

“They got me really full,” Sanders said. “I definitely needed to go to the sauna after that. … It was a good vibe.”

Said Deion Sanders said: “[I] spoke to the owner, truly delightful. He was engaging. … I think one of those guys is going to be there [at No. 2].”

Hunter, the No. 1 player on Mel Kiper Jr.’s Big Board, did not do any defensive drills Friday, but he ran a full assortment of routes.

Colorado safety Shilo Sanders, Shedeur’s brother, offered plenty of encouragement, shouting commentary and clapping after each throw, including “not a lot of quarterbacks can make that throw” after one deep completion.

The highly attended event — by NFL representatives as well as fans packing small bleachers — had a festive atmosphere. Deion Sanders named it the “We Ain’t Hard 2 Find Showcase,” complete with a large lighted “The Showcase” sign next to the drills.

Hunter, who has said he wants to play offense and defense in the NFL, won the Chuck Bednarik (top defensive player) and Fred Biletnikoff (top receiver) awards in addition to the Heisman. He said whether he will primarily be a wide receiver or a cornerback in the NFL depends “on the team that picks me.”

On Friday, Deion Sanders said “ain’t nobody like Travis.”

Hunter had 96 catches for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns as a receiver last season to go with 35 tackles, 11 pass breakups and 4 interceptions at cornerback. In the Buffaloes’ regular-season finale against Oklahoma State, he became the only FBS player in the past 25 years with three scrimmage touchdowns on offense and an interception in the same game, according to ESPN Research.

He played 1,380 total snaps in Colorado’s 12 regular-season games: 670 on offense, 686 on defense and 24 on special teams. He played 1,007 total snaps in 2023.

Shilo Sanders, who hoped to show teams more speed than expected, ran a 4.52 40-yard dash after he measured in at 5-foot-11⅞, 196 pounds. He did not participate in the jumps or bench press that opened the workout, citing a right shoulder injury.

With all NFL eyes on the Colorado campus to see Shedeur Sanders throw, one player who made the most of it was wide receiver Will Sheppard. Sheppard, who measured 6-2¼, 196 pounds, ran the 40 in 4.56 and 4.54 to go with a 40½-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot-11 broad jump.

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O’s Henderson off IL; will make ’25 debut vs. KC

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O's Henderson off IL; will make '25 debut vs. KC

Baltimore Orioles All-Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson was activated from the 10-day injured list and will make his season debut Friday night against the Kansas City Royals.

Henderson has been sidelined with a right intercostal strain and missed the first seven games of the big league campaign.

The 23-year-old Henderson will lead off and play shortstop against the host Royals.

Henderson was injured during a spring training game Feb. 27. He was fourth in American League MVP voting last season when he batted .281 and racked up career bests of 37 homers and 92 RBIs.

Henderson completed a five-game rehab stint at Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday. He batted .263 (5-for-19) with two homers and four RBIs and played four games at shortstop and one as the designated hitter. He did commit three errors.

“I think everybody’s looking forward to having Gunnar back on the team,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said Thursday. “The rehab went really, really well. I talked to him a couple days ago, he feels great swinging the bat. The timing came, especially the last few days. He just had to get out there and get some reps defensively and get some games in, and it all went well.”

Baltimore optioned outfielder Dylan Carlson to Triple-A Norfolk to open up a roster spot. The 26-year-old was 0-for-4 with a run and RBI in two games this season.

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Life after OMG: Can 2025 Mets replicate their 2024 vibes?

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Life after OMG: Can 2025 Mets replicate their 2024 vibes?

When New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns attempted to assemble the best possible roster for the 2025 season this winter, the top priority was signing outfielder Juan Soto. Next was the need to replenish the starting rotation and bolster the bullpen. Then, days before pitchers and catchers reported for spring training, the lineup received one final significant reinforcement when first baseman Pete Alonso re-signed.

Acquiring a player with a singing career on the side didn’t make the cut.

“No, that is not on the list,” Stearns said with a smile.

Stearns’ decision not to re-sign Jose Iglesias, the infielder behind the mic for the viral 2024 Mets anthem “OMG,” was attributed to creating more roster flexibility. But it also hammered home a reality: The scrappy 2024 Mets, authors of a magical summer in Queens, are a thing of the past. The 2025 Mets, who will report to Citi Field for their home opener Friday, have much of the same core but also some prominent new faces — and the new, outsized expectations that come with falling two wins short of the World Series, then signing Soto to the richest contract in professional sports history.

But there’s a question surrounding this year’s team that you can’t put a price tag on: Can these Mets rekindle the magic — the vibes, the memes, the feel-good underdog story — that seemed to come out of nowhere to help carry them to Game 6 of the National League Championship Series last season?

“Last year the culture was created,” Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “It’s a matter of continuing it.”

For all the success Stearns has engineered — his small-market Milwaukee Brewers teams reached the postseason five times in eight seasons after he became the youngest general manager in history in 2015 — the 40-year-old Harvard grad, like the rest of his front office peers knows there’s no precise recipe for clubhouse chemistry. There is no culture projection system. No Vibes Above Replacement.

“Culture is very important,” Stearns said last weekend in the visiting dugout at Daikin Park before his club completed an opening-weekend series against the Houston Astros. “Culture is also very difficult to predict.”

Still, it seems the Mets’ 2024 season will be all but impossible to recreate.

There was Grimace, the purple McDonald’s blob who spontaneously became the franchise’s unofficial mascot after throwing out a first pitch in June. “OMG,” performed under Iglesias’ stage name, Candelita, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Latin Digital Songs chart, before a remix featuring Pitbull was released in October. Citi Field became a karaoke bar whenever Lindor stepped into the batter’s box with The Temptations’ “My Girl” as his walk-up song. Alonso unveiled a lucky pumpkin in October. They were gimmicks that might have felt forced if they hadn’t felt so right.

“I don’t know if what we did last year could be replicated because it was such a chaos-filled group,” Mets reliever Ryne Stanek said. “I don’t know if that’s replicable because there’s just too many things going on. I don’t know if that’s a sustainable model. But I think the expectation of winning is really important. I think establishing what we did last year and coming into this year where people are like, ‘Oh, no, that’s what we’re expecting to do,’ makes it different. It’s always a different vibe whenever you feel like you’re the hunter versus being the hunted.”

For the first two months last season, the Mets were terrible hunters. Lindor was relentlessly booed at Citi Field during another slow start. The bullpen got crushed. The losses piled up. The Mets began the season 0-5 and sunk to rock bottom on May 29 when reliever Jorge Lopez threw his glove into the stands during a 10-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers that dropped the team to 22-33.

That night, the Mets held a players-only meeting. From there, perhaps coincidentally, everything changed. The Mets won the next day, and 67 of their final 107 games.

This year, to avoid an early malaise and to better incorporate new faces like Soto and Opening Day starter Clay Holmes, players made it a point to hold meetings during spring training to lay a strong foundation.

“At the end of the day, we know who we are and that’s the beauty of our club,” Alonso said. “Not just who we are talent-wise, but who each individual is as a man and a personality. For us, our major, major strength is our collective identity as a unit.”

Organizationally, the Mets are attempting a dual-track makeover: Becoming perennial World Series contenders while not taking themselves too seriously.

The commemorative purple Grimace seat installed at Citi Field in September — Section 302, Row 6, Seat 12 in right field — remains there as part of a two-year contract. Last week, the franchise announced it will feature a New York-city themed “Five Borough” race at every home game — with a different mascot competing to represent each borough. For a third straight season, USA Today readers voted Citi Field — home of the rainbow cookie egg roll, among many other innovative treats — as having the best ballpark food in baseball.

In the clubhouse, their identity is evolving.

“I’m very much in the camp that you can’t force things,” Mets starter Sean Manaea said. “I mean, you can, but you don’t really end up with good results. And if you wait for things to happen organically, then sometimes it can take too long. So, there’s like a nudging of sorts. It’s like, ‘Let’s kind of come up with something, but not force it.’ So there’s a fine balance there and you just got to wait and see what happens.”

Stearns believes it starts with what the Mets can control: bringing positive energy every day and fostering a family atmosphere. It’s hard to quantify, but vibes undoubtedly helped fuel the Mets’ 2024 success. It’ll be a tough act to follow.

“It’s fluid,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I like where guys are at as far as the team chemistry goes and things like that and the connections and the relationships. But it’ll continue to take some time. And winning helps, clearly.”

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