On Tuesday, the Portland Trail Blazers announced Micah Nori would be the franchise’s next head coach. A 17-year veteran NBA assistant coach, Micah is the father of Phillies outfield prospect Dante Nori, a 2024 first-round pick.
Micah Nori was the lead assistant coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves for the past five seasons, supporting the development of star guard Anthony Edwards. With head coach Chris Finch sidelined with a ruptured patellar tendon during the 2024 playoffs, Nori took over a majority of the game day operations that postseason. The Timberwolves went on to make the Western Conference finals.
Just over a month after the Timberwolves fell to the Dallas Mavericks in that series, Micah was with 19-year-old Dante when he was drafted by the Phillies with the 27th pick out of Northville (Mich.) High School.
Earlier this week, prior to the Blazers announcement, Dante appeared on The Show before The Show, Minor League Baseball’s official podcast. On the podcast, he talked about the various NBA players he grew up around due to his father’s profession. When Micah coached for the Toronto Raptors, Dante got to hang with Vince Carter. Then, when his father was hired by the Kings, he learned from DeMarcus “Boogie” Cousins.
More recently, he has taken inspiration from Edwards’ work ethic.
“I mean, [Edwards is] a freak,” Dante said. “The most explosive athlete I’ve ever seen in my entire life. You see the way he takes care of his business. Like, he’s one of the top five players in the NBA. And personally, I’d say he’s No. 1. You know how that goes.
“When I go [to the Timberwolves practice facility], I’m always in there like 5 a.m. lifting before they get in because I’m on their time. As soon as I’m done, [Edwards] is one of the first ones in. No matter what level you’re at, the work, he never stops. He always wants more.”
In March, Dante starred in the World Baseball Classic. In six games with Italy, the outfielder had a 1.185 OPS with two home runs and six RBIs in six games.
Prior to the WBC semifinal, Dante got a shoutout from Alex Rodríguez — who is also a co-owner of the Timberwolves.
“This is a future star,” Rodríguez said on the Fox pregame show. “Dante Nori. Do not forget the name.”
Rodríguez’s proximity to Dante’s father may have made him a bit biased.
“People were like, ‘Let’s take that with a grain of salt,’” Nori told the Inquirer. “You laugh. As soon as I saw that, I was like, ‘Oh, here we go. Someone’s typing [a message]. Someone’s typing.’ I laughed about it, though.”
Off the field, Dante is an avid baseball card collector. Micah, who played baseball at Indiana before finding a career in basketball, shares this interest with him. He even helped Dante track down some of his rookie cards on eBay.
“When I paid, I used my real name and address,” Micah told the Inquirer. “The guy was like, ‘Wait, are you related?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m his dad.’ It’s a cool little community. Because the people would be like, ‘Oh my gosh. I have a couple more right here. I’ll send them to you.’”
Micah inherits a Blazers team that finished 42-40 and is headlined by 25-year-old All-Star forward Deni Avdija and veteran Damian Lillard. Interim coach Tiago Splitter was hired by the Bulls after stepping in to lead the team after then-coach Chauncey Billups was arrested by the FBI following an investigation into illegal sports betting and rigged poker games.
Dante, 21, is batting .245 with 12 stolen bases in 52 games at double-A Reading this season.
Serving the community is an important mission for Philadelphia native Novar Gadson. After 14 years of playing professional basketball overseas, he is back home to bring his mission to life through the Invitational Clash Movement.
The invitational is a five-day initiative at Drexel from Thursday to Monday in which pro-am men’s and women’s basketball teams from as far away as London will compete in a bracket-style tournament.
The event will also feature other activities, including a youth basketball clinic and mental health workshops.
“The basketball is obviously at the centerpiece of it, but the vision behind it is community wellness, mental health, and youth development,” said Gadson, 36.
Eight men’s teams and four women’s teams will battle it out to decide the best pro-am leagues.
The men’s teams represent Philly’s Brotherly Love League; Drew League from Los Angeles, Rucker Park Streetball from New York; Ball Don’t Stop from Toronto; the Smith League from Cincinnati; Queen City from Charlotte, N.C.; Denard Brothers from Chicago; and Great Britain Select from London.
The four women’s teams represent Brotherly Love, Rucker Park, Queen City, and Swin City League from Dallas.
For Gadson, growing up in the city was not easy. His brother, Omari, was a victim of gun violence. He was 18 when he died in 2001.
“My family has still not recovered from my brother’s murder,” he said.
To stay out of trouble, Gadson said, he started playing basketball.
He attended John Bartram High School, where he broke Kobe Bryant’s father Joe’s scoring record. He played at Rider University before playing professionally in Europe, Asia, and South America.
“Basketball is what saved me from homelessness and sexual assault to everything that I was dealing with as a child,” he said. “I feel like it’s in my heart from Christ to serve people.”
In 2021, he began developing the vision for a Philadelphia-based event that would engage the community with sports and mental health advocacy.
Gadson is the chief executive officer of the Brotherly Love League Pro-Am Foundation, a nonprofit committed to increasing access to mental health resources for underserved communities in the area.
The invitational is an extension of the foundation, he said.
How the tournament works
The competition begins on Friday and follows a bracket-style format with the winning teams advancing to the next round.
The four women’s teams will open play on Saturday.
Attendees will have a wide variety of community-focused activities that are designed to engage and connect community members with mental health resources.
The event will also feature food trucks, gaming trucks where children can play in Madden 2K tournaments, hair-cut stations for children, face painting, crowd giveaways, and youth basketball clinics. The boys’ clinic is on Saturday and the girls’ is on Sunday. Participants in the clinics will receive meals and have access to mental health workshops.
More than 30 resource tables will be available throughout the event with panel discussions focused on mental health in partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness Philadelphia. Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with professionals and sign up for licensed therapy sessions after the tournament.
“People need help,” Gadson said. “I dealt with a lot of PTSD and anxiety from my experiences growing up, so I want to extend help and opportunities for therapy outside the event.”
He noted that increasing access to resources can create change in the city beyond the basketball court.
“If we give a lot of resources and access to kids outside of the basketball event, it will help the city as a whole and the violence go down,” he said.
, Gadson has struggled to revisit the trauma around Omari’s death. He said he has never celebrated his brother’s birthday. But on Monday, Omari’s birthday and the last day of the invitational, Gadson plans to honor his legacy. The foundation will recognize two families who have lost their loved ones to suicide or gun violence.
“The idea for me is to continue to bring light to his name,” Gadson said.
June has been a month of promotions for Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith.
After A.J. Brown was traded to the Patriots on June 1, Smith became the top receiver on the Eagles’ depth chart. Less than two weeks later, on June 13, Smith was promoted from fiancé to husband.
Smith married his childhood sweetheart Mya Danielle at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando in Walt Disney World Resort.
The all-black, black-tie affair reportedly hosted 135 guests, including Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and his wife Bryonna Rivera Burrows. Hurts was notably absent from Brown’s wedding in May, which caused a stir on social media.
I’m glad that we have proof that Jalen Hurts was at DeVonta Smith’s wedding and that we won’t have to deal with any nonsense over that. 😅 https://t.co/GVvQFWkin0
People Magazine, the first to report on the wedding, said that despite his recent trade, Brown was in attendance for Smith’s wedding, along with other former Eagles teammates like Nakobe Dean, Jahan Dotson, Isaiah Rodgers, and Parris Campbell. Smith was among the guests at Brown’s wedding last month.
Smith’s college teammates from Alabama were also in attendance, including Jaylen Waddle, Jerry Jeudy, Jordan Battle, Pat Surtain II, and Mack Wilson Sr.
From the looks of this photo Jalen Hurts was not a groomsmen in Devonta Smiths wedding.
The wedding weekend started by honoring the couple’s Louisiana roots with a “Dukes & Boots Welcome Rodeo” on June 12, that included a crawfish boil. Another nod to their home state included reception music from New Orleans DJ Mannie Fresh.
Danielle and Smith met in middle school and have two daughters together, 2-year-old Kyse and 1-year-old Kali. The couple got engaged on New Year’s Eve in 2024, just over a month before Smith and the Eagles won the Super Bowl.
Now with four rings in his collection — two College Football Playoff championship rings, a Super Bowl ring, and a wedding ring — Smith will be looking to add a fifth, a second Super Bowl title, this time as the Eagles’ top receiver.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Before we delve into his story, let’s set the record straight right away.
Yes, Jack Hextall is a distant cousin of former Flyers general manager and goalie Ron Hextall. No, according to Jack, they have never met. So while some may either embrace or bristle at the thought of another Hextall donning orange and black, their only connection is a shared last name.
For now. Because at the 2026 NHL draft, the center Jack Hextall may join the goalie Ron Hextall as a player drafted by the Flyers.
Beginnings
Jack Hextall grew up in the small northwest Chicago suburb of Rolling Meadows, Illinois, when his dad Cory — a native of Saskatchewan and Ron’s cousin — settled there after playing hockey at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
The father and son would shoot pucks together at a net in the garage. “We got to put some plywood up behind the net, because, actually, my dad shot a puck through the garage,” Jack said with a laugh, adding that the pair thought it was funny. His mom, Jennifer, however, did not agree.
But now that her son is about to be drafted into the NHL, and has a chance of eclipsing his uncle, Donevan Hextall, who was drafted 33rd overall in the second round of the 1991 NHL draft by the New Jersey Devils, maybe she’ll be OK with it. After all, it was all those pucks that have led to this point.
Jack is days away from hearing his name called.
“This opportunity is so exciting, and it’s a really cool opportunity,” Hextall told The Inquirer. “It only happens once, so just trying to do the best I can and enjoy it.”
When asked what animal he would be on the ice, a question usually posed by the Montreal Canadiens at the scouting combine, Jack Hextall said he would have responded: “A wolf. I feel like it kind of resembles me, smart, plays with a bite.”
Hextall interviewed with 25 teams at the NHL scouting combine, including the Flyers, before finishing in the top-25 of five fitness tests — including the right and left-handed grip tests, which have become a staple for Flyers draft picks of late. It’s a hefty number of teams for Hextall, but it makes sense as the 6-foot-½ inch, 195-pound right-shot centerman has built his game into that of a late first or early second-round pick.
And while they do have centers in the prospect pool, the Flyers do not shy away from drafting them. Flyers general manager Danny Brière has said: “I don’t feel like you can have too many centers, because it’s much easier to move a center to the wing.” But unlike some other centers in this draft class, and while he has played center and wing, Hextall’s ceiling is as a middle-six center at the NHL level.
“Just reliable in that 200-foot game,” he said, when asked what he brings down the middle. “Not every center is 200-foot, and takes pride in the defensive side of the puck, and it’s something I’ve always done. I think high hockey IQ as well, not a lot of people have that high hockey IQ, and I think I bring that, and I think that’s special.”
Hextall thinks he reads the game well and pays attention to the little details, which has caught others’ eye.
“I think he’s one of the guys that you look at and you think that’s a center in terms of the details,” The Athletic’s NHL draft and prospects reporter Scott Wheeler told The Inquirer. “His bread and butter is how well-rounded he is. The details off the puck, up-and-under sticks, retrievals, board battles, he’s got pro habits.
“If you talk to the guys in Youngstown [where Hextall played for the Phantoms of the United States Hockey League], the first thing they say about him is that he’s a pro; this isn’t a junior hockey player, like a lot of these kids are. [He] does everything the right way, no selfishness to his game and he doesn’t cheat for offense.”
Although he said it would be funny to go from the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League — as a pit stop to the NHL, of course — he is off to Michigan State this fall. Yes, it’s the same school Porter Martone attended, and the one Brière has continually, and perhaps notably, praised. Hextall’s pro days will have to wait.
But it is what he did this past year that has eyes on him right now.
Feelin’ Stronger Every Day
Ryan Ward has known Hextall since he was 13 years old. The two met when the now Youngstown coach was on the bench for the Windy City Storm, a program that has developed several NHLers, including fellow Illinois native and Flyers assistant coach Todd Reirden.
Skating for the Storm’s 13U AAA team, a Tier I program, Hextall notched 39 goals and 103 points in 58 games.
“I could have told you back then, and I think I’ve told him and his family this, but I could see right away when he played for me, I was like, this kid’s special,” Ward told The Inquirer.
“He was very serious; he wanted to know why we do things, he wanted to learn, he wanted to understand systems, he wanted to watch video, and a lot of 13-year-olds, they’re not interested in that, they play the game or whatever, and then they go home and eat McDonald’s,” Ward added.
“But Jack, he was always interested in watching his shifts with me, or watching film. You couldn’t give him enough, and he’s the same way now, like after every game we sit down and we watch clips, and that’s just who he is.”
Jack Hextall poses with the puck that gave him 100 points for the Windy City Storm in the 2021-22 season.
It was a no-brainer for Ward when the option came to snag Hextall for the USHL. In his first season as a 16-year-old in a league that has an age range of 16-20, Hextall dropped eight goals and 34 points in 53 games. This past season, across 59 games, he more than doubled his goals (20) with 38 assists.
That came after he finished with seven points in five games, including three in the championship game against Sweden, for the gold-medal-winning U.S. side at the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. It was the first time the U.S. won the tournament since 2003.
“He’s a super smart player. He’s obviously a 200-foot center [which is] pretty hard to find nowadays,” said his linemate, Blake Zielinski, a Berlin, N.J., native who is expected to be drafted on Saturday.
“He just played the game so smart and so dynamically, and I think we just worked well together, being that I can shoot the puck, he can pass the puck. He sees the ice very well, and I think I see the guys pretty well, and so we connected a lot.”
Although some believe Hextall’s pace and speed need work — Martone did improve this at Michigan State — to drive plays and forecheck, he is considered a good skater. A self-proclaimed “railroad skater” when he was younger, he has worked on bringing his legs more underneath him, spending time each week in Youngstown with a power skating coach. It is that growth and development that pops for Ward, who sees a player who not only wants to get better and better but is getting better and better.
The Athletic’s senior NHL prospects writer Corey Pronman told The Inquirer that Hextall was one of the best players in the USHL this season and was arguably USA Hockey’s best forward at the Hlinka. He likes his competitiveness, his attention to detail, and his ability to win battles and make plays. Ward calls him a blue-collar player and likes that his “brain is off the charts.”
Guess who else likes these attributes in a player? The Flyers.
“Every time, if his team would lose a small area game, like, he’d be screaming at me that I was cheating for the other team,” said Ward. “He’s just so competitive, he hates to lose. … He’s a leader the moment he steps in the room. He’s going to do his thing, and he’s going to work hard, and he’s going to push people to get better, and that’s ultimately like you’re talking about the Philadelphia Flyers. That’s the type of person you want in the locker room.”
Sixers take Labaron Philon Jr. from Alabama with the No. 22 pick
Alabama guard Labaron Philon Jr. is heading to Philly.
NEW YORK – The 76ers have selected Alabama guard Labaron Philon with the 22nd overall pick in Tuesday’s NBA draft.
This is the first draft pick for new Sixers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey, who was hired earlier this month to replace Daryl Morey. And they use it on a player that could be one of the draft’s biggest sleepers.
Philon declared for the draft after his freshman season last year, but returned to college to use the feedback he received from teams to become a player who shot 39.9% from three-point range and averaged five assists per game. He also upped his scoring average to 22 points per game and is regarded as a strong defensive player.
In a draft analyst panel Monday afternoon, ESPN’s Bobby Marks, Jay Bilas, and Fran Fraschilla all said he could be one of the more impactful players selected later in the first round.
“He could end up being the best point guard in this draft,” Fraschilla said.
With the pick, the Sixers will continue to lean on young (and smaller-statured) guards. The 6-foot-4, 185-pound Philon adds to a backcourt already featuring All-NBA third-teamer Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, who finished third in the NBA Rookie of the Year voting after going third overall last year.
Philon joins a Sixers team in an interesting spot under Gansey, who ran the draft in his previous job as the Cleveland Cavaliers’ general manager. He also kept intact the bulk of the Sixers’ front office that has made strong selections in recent drafts, including Tyrese Maxey at 21 in 2020 and Edgecombe third overall last year.
The Sixers finished seventh in the Eastern Conference standings during the regular season. They then rallied from down three games to one to beat the Boston Celtics in the playoffs’ first round, before getting swept by the eventual NBA-champion New York Knicks.
They boast a dynamic young backcourt in All-NBA guard Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, who finished third on a terrific Rookie of the Year ballot. Former perennial All-Stars Joel Embiid and Paul George are still effective – even fantastic – when available, but have struggled mightily to stay on the floor in recent seasons due to injury or, in George’s case, a 50-game suspension for violating the league’s anti-drug policy.
The Sixers acquired the 22nd pick in the controversial Jared McCain trade at the February deadline. As of Tuesday night, they do not have a selection in Wednesday’s second round.
Philon selection will help dictate how the Sixers approach free agency. Starting wing Kelly Oubre Jr., sixth man Quentin Grimes, and reserve big man Andre Drummond are all unrestricted free agents. And the Sixers have limited financial flexibility with Maxey, Embiid, and George still on max contracts for multiple seasons.
Bennett Stirtz joining Jared McCain, not replacing him in Philly
Bennett Stirtz is heading to Oklahoma City.
At media availability for the 2026 NBA Draft, The Inquirer talked to Bennett Stirtz about potentially joining the 76ers and replacing what the franchise lost when it traded Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Well, he’ll join him instead of replacing him. Stirtz was selected at No. 16 by the Memphis Grizzlies and will be traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a pick swap. That will make him a teammate of McCain in a backcourt full of talent with MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Alex Caruso, Lu Dort and former Sixer Isaiah Joe.
While Stirtz was excited about the idea of providing space on the court for Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, he’ll surely excited to land at No. 16 and join a franchise one season removed from winning the NBA title.
It’s been quite the journey for Stirtz so it’s no surprise that his move to the Thunder came with an additional move. He started his career at Division II Northwest Missouri State before standout seasons with Drake and Iowa cemented his status as an NBA draft pick.
Pennsauken product Yaxel Lendeborg heading to the Warriors
Yaxel Lendeborg was selected with the No. 11 pick by the Golden State Warriors.
Yaxel Lendeborg went from playing one varsity season at Pennsauken High School to an NBA draftee.
The 23-year-old forward, who starred at Michigan this past season, was picked No. 11 overall by the Golden State Warriors in the first round Tuesday night.
Lendeborg had an untraditional path to the draft.
He thought his basketball career was over, until an opportunity arose — thanks to his mother Yissel — at the junior college level with Arizona Western College.
He spent three seasons at Arizona Western, where he emerged as a star in his third year, averaging 17.2 points and 13 rebounds. In 2023, he transferred to Alabama-Birmingham and played two seasons with the Blazers.
In his final season, he averaged 17.7 points and 11.4 rebounds. He also named the American Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year and an all-conference selection twice.
The 6-foot-9 Lendeborg graduated from UAB in 2025 and entered the transfer portal for his final year of of eligibility, which brought him to Michigan, where he won Big Ten Player of the Year and an NCAA title.
He also averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds in 40 games for the Wolverines under Dusty May, who recently took the head coaching job with the Dallas Mavericks.
Michigan’s Morez Johnson Jr. is heading to Dallas to play for his former coach, Dusty May.
The Dusty May move from Michigan to Dallas has made its first imprint on the 2026 NBA Draft.
The Mavericks elected to select Morez Johnson Jr. after he averaged 13.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists for the 2026 National Champions.
Morez Jr., was asked multiple times at Monday’s draft availability if he was aware of his coach’s move and consistently said he was surprised and didn’t have any inside information.
Previously slotted around No. 15 in the draft, he interviewed and worked out well and moved up draft boards in recent weeks. And, of course, no one had more of a window into Morez’s skills than May.
That Michigan squad has drawn comparisons to the ‘Nova Knicks, who entered the NBA in droves after playing for head coach Jay Wright and recently reconnected with the New York Knicks to win the 2026 NBA title.
Arkansas guard Darius Acuff Jr. has drawn on-court comparisons to Hall of Famer Allen Iverson.
Another Philly connection comes off the board at No. 7 as Darius Acuff Jr., goes to the Sacramento Kings.
Acuff Jr., won MVP at the Allen Iverson Roundball Classic in 2025 and signed a Reebok deal during his lone season at Arkansas, taking pictures with Iverson to celebrate the moment.
He’s receive on-court comparisons to Iverson as well because of his explosiveness in the paint and ability to finish around the rim. Both were also extremely productive in their brief college careers, as Acuff averaged 23.5 points and 6.4 assists as he led his team to the Sweet 16.
The early picks of the 2026 NBA Draft went exactly as expected with AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cam Boozer and Celeb Wilson occupying the top four spots.
And from there we will have an entirely open night before the Sixers finally make the first selection of the Mike Gansey era at No. 22.
There are a lot of options available for them, with holes on the perimeter and in the paint. The Sixers need shooting and rebounding so they will wait as names fly off the board and try to pick the best player available.
They could also make a move and try to move up the board to land a forward to complete their starting lineup or a shooter off the bench. Another approach is to find a big to take the backup spot behind Joel Embiid, who played only 38 games this past season and missed portions of the postseason.
AJ Dybantsa is headed to Washington as the No. 1 pick.
A Philly connection to top overall pick AJ Dybantsa: He played at BYU for former Sixers assistant coach Kevin Young.
At last year’s NCAA Tournament in Newark, Young called that stretch “the most important time of my life as a young coach.”
Young had been in the running for multiple NBA head-coaching jobs in recent years, before opting to take the job at BYU backed by lucrative NIL money and the resources to build a pro-style program. Last season, Young coached Egor Demin, who then was drafted eighth overall by the Brooklyn Nets.
Read more about Young’s tenure with the Sixers (and Delaware 87ers!) and its impact here:
Adam Silver bullish on new anti-tanking rules that begin next season
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver ahead of the 2026 NBA draft speaks with Michael Rubin (left) and the Knicks’ Jose Alvarado.
Appearing on ESPN less than an hour before the start of the 2026 NBA draft, Commissioner Adam Silver appeared bullish on new rules intended to prevent teams from tanking for a better shot at the No. 1 pick.
“We will not be returning to a system where there’s an incentive to be bad,” Silver told ESPN’s Malika Andrews. “I think it just caught up with us over the years. It was a practice by a very few teams over time.”
Silver didn’t mention the Sixers, who famously tanked for three straight seasons in the mid-2010s. Several teams were accused of tanking this season heading into a draft filled with a talented group of prospects, including the Indiana Pacers, Utah Jazz, Memphis Grizzlies, and Washington Wizards, who landed the No. 1 pick.
The new “3-2-1 Lottery” rules, which will be implemented next season, expand the lottery to 16 teams but flatten the odds. The three worst teams will be “draft relegated” and their odds of winning the lottery will actually decrease.
Had those rules been in place this season, it would’ve been harder for the Wizards, Jazz, and Grizzlies to land top lottery picks.
Silver said the new rules offer “an actual incentive not to be really bad,” and will be in effect for at least the next three seasons.
“In essence, it’s grandfathered,” Silver said. “We all agree it would give us an opportunity to assess how this is working, and also look at some other approaches.”
Watch the First Round of the 2026 NBA Draft tonight at 8:00pm/et on ABC & ESPN! pic.twitter.com/MTBtMtK1ix
— NBA Future Starts Now (@nbafuturenow) June 23, 2026
// Timestamp 06/23/26 3:43pm
New Blazers coach is the father of a Phillies prospect
Micah Nori is the father of Phillies prospect Dante Nori.
Happy belated Father’s Day, Micah Nori.
On Tuesday, the Portland Trail Blazers announced that Micah Nori will become the franchise’s next head coach. Micah is the father of Phillies outfield prospect Dante Nori, a 2024 first-round pick.
Nori previously served as the lead assistant coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves, supporting the development of star shooting guard Anthony Edwards. Notably, with head coach Chris Finch sidelined with a ruptured patellar tendon during the 2024 playoffs, Micah took over a majority of the game-day operations that postseason. The Timberwolves would go on to make the Western Conference final.
Just over a month after the Timberwolves fell to the Dallas Mavericks in that series, Nori was beside his son as Dante was drafted to the Phillies with the 27th pick. Dante, selected out of Northville (Mich.) High School, was just 19 at the time.
Earlier this week, prior to the Blazers announcement, Dante appeared on The Show before The Show, Minor League Baseball’s official podcast. On the podcast, he talked about the various NBA players he grew up around due to his father’s profession. When Nori coached for the Toronto Raptors, Dante got to hang out with Vince Carter. Then, when his father was hired by the Kings, he learned from DeMarcus “Boogie” Cousins.
More recently, he has taken inspiration from Anthony Edwards’ work ethic.
“I mean, [Edwards is] a freak,” Dante said. “The most explosive athlete I’ve ever seen in my entire life. You see the way he takes care of his business. …
“When I go [to the Timberwolves practice facility], I’m always in there [at] like 5:00 a.m. lifting before they get in because I’m on their time. As soon as I’m done, [Edwards] is one of the first ones in. No matter what level you’re at, the work, he never stops. He always wants more.”
Nori inherits a Blazers team that finished 42-40 and is headlined by 25-year-old All-Star forward Deni Avdija and returning star Damiam Lillard. Portland found themselves in need of a coach after interim Tiago Splitter was hired by the Chicago Bulls. Last season, Splitter was elevated to lead the franchise after then-coach Chauncey Billups was arrested by the FBI following an investigation into illegal sports betting and rigged poker games.
Meanwhile, across the country, Dante is 52 games into his season with the double-A Reading Fightin Phil. Dante is batting .245 and has registered 53 total hits and 20 RBI.
Duke guard Isaiah Evans shoots over Siena guard Gavin Doty during the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
NEW YORK – One of the prospects who visited the Sixers last week was Isaiah Evans, a sharpshooting wing from Duke.
Sound familiar?
It would be some strange symmetry if the pick the Sixers acquired in the controversial Jared McCain deadline trade was used on Evans. But Evans shot 36.1% on 100 three-point attempts last season, and excelled at on-the-move looks. That would boost a Sixers team that struggled from beyond the arc last season, ranking in the NBA’s bottom third in attempts and makes.
Evans was a complementary player on two star-studded Duke teams, first with Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel and then with Cameron Boozer. He believes that college environment will ease his transition to the NBA because, he said, “minutes are tight, so you’ve got to scratch and claw for everything.”
“The bar was really high for competitiveness and how to think [about] the game,” Evans added.
Evans, who has a wiry 6-foot-6, 180-pound frame, likely will need to develop defensively and as a playmaker at the next level. But he has a bona fide skill that some draft evaluators also compare to Isaiah Joe, the former Sixers’ second-round pick who has since carved out a rotation role for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Can’t make this stuff up.
// Timestamp 06/23/26 1:18pm
Sixers could find rebounding help in first round
Washington forward Hannes Steinbach could be an option for the Sixers if they look add rebounding help.
The 76ers found a few gems at the forward position when they signed Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker to two-way deals and locked them in with standard contracts.
That said, the Sixers could still use top-end talent at the position. While Barlow and Walker filled a void, more help is needed for a Sixers team that struggled to rebound all season.
That became even more of an issue in the playoffs, where the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks dominated the boards. The Sixers also often opted for four-out lineup with Joel Embiid accompanied by Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Kelly Oubre, and Paul George.
This is a deep draft with a number of players at the forward position who could help the Sixers if they fall to No. 22 — or if new president of basketball operations Mike Gansey values the position enough to move up. Houston’s Chris Cenac Jr., Washington’s Hannes Steinbach, Santa Clara’s Allen Graves, and Arizona’s Koa Peat are all players could potentially land within the Sixers’ range in the draft.
Steinbach believes he could be an option to play forward and fill in when Embiid goes to the bench or misses games, the latter of which has also become an important spot with the limitations of Adem Bona and Andre Drummond, who is set to enter free agency.
“Me being able to play the four and the five and multiple positions definitely allows me to fit in with many teams,” Steinbach said. “It’s important to have a big that puts pressure on the rim and outside and being able to stretch the floor.”
Steinbach could be gone as soon as pick No. 14, but he has credentials to match this description. The Washington big man averaged 18.5 points and 11.8 rebounds, and knocked down 34% of his threes at 6-foot-10.
Sixers center Joel Embiid has been with the Sixers since 2014.
With Giannis Antetokounmpo heading to Miami, Joel Embiid has a new title.
The Sixers center, who was drafted by the franchise in 2014, is now the longest tenured player with a single team in the Eastern Conference. Antetokounmpo, the previous title holder, was selected by the Bucks a year prior. Just two players have been with a team longer than Embiid in the entire NBA: Stephen Curry (2009) and Draymond Green (2012) of the Golden State Warriors.
Led by Embiid, the Sixers have made the playoffs in eight of the last nine seasons. However, come playoff time, Embiid has been repeatedly sidelined by injuries. This year, after returning from an appendectomy to help defeat the Boston Celtics in seven games, Embiid missed Game 2 of the Sixers’ second-round series against the New York Knicks. The Sixers went on to lose the series in four.
During his introductory press conference on June 8, new Sixers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey was asked if the franchise was committed to sticking with Embiid long-term under his leadership.
“Obviously we have Joel,” Gansey responded. “I’ve had a lot of good conversations with him so far. Excited to meet with him this week. But with him and the roster we have, that’s who we have. We got to get those guys on the floor. We got to create an identity and just get them to play basketball.”
“Paul [George] and Joel can still play at a high level,” Gansey added later. “We were 24-14 when Joel played and obviously in the playoffs, coming back from Boston.”
— Conor Smith
// Timestamp 06/23/26 12:05pm
Allen Graves is an ‘analytics darling’ and a Renaissance man
Santa Clara’s Allen Graves (right) battles for a loose ball with Kentucky’s Mouhamed Dioubate (left).
NEW YORK — Allen Graves chuckled when asked about the “analytics darling” descriptor that is consistently attached to him in draft scouting reports.
“I’ll take the title,” Graves said during Monday’s media availability. “I love it. … That’s just how I played my whole life. I pride myself on playing basketball, and if it shows up analytically, I guess that’s what it does.
“But I’m definitely grateful to have it, because it’s gotten me this far and I know how big of an impact it’s had on NBA scouts.
So impactful that the 6-foot-9, 225-pound Graves is one of this draft class’ more fascinating prospects — on and off the floor.
He reshirted his 2024-25 season at Santa Clara and did not start this past season. Yet he has become a rapid riser up draft boards because of his efficiency, basketball IQ, and old-school style that could make him a complementary fit on playoff teams deeper in the first round. He averaged 11.8 points on 51.2% shooting, and added 6.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
Graves said Monday that natural feel for the game comes from his older brother, Marshall, who played at LSU, and sister, Amoura, who played at Auburn. Allen recalled tagging along to LSU practices, which at the time featured future NBA Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid.
“My brother and I, we butted heads a lot,” Graves said, “because he’d come home and make me do LSU’s boot camp [workouts] and everything. But [those] definitely prepared me for who I am today and prepared me for my game today.”
Graves also has eclectic non-basketball interests. He has a collection of around 30 backpacks with cartoon designs, ranging from Anime to Rugrats. He grew up fixing cars with his father, also named Marshall, at the family automotive shop in Ponchatoula, La. His current project? A 1994 Ford F150 he has named Gloria.
“Fixed her up,” Graves said. “ … Trying to get her back running and in perfect condition.”
And perhaps Graves’ ability to process quickly showed up in a game an unnamed NBA team asked him to play during his interview circuit at last month’s combine in Chicago. He said it involved taking one or two sugar packets out of a group, and whoever was left with the last one was the loser.
“I figured out the person that goes first wins every time,” Graves said. “So I told them that.”
Arkansas guard Darius Acuff Jr. has been compared to Allen Iverson.
While the 76ers won’t be selecting in the lottery this year, there is a Philly connection at the top of the draft.
Arkansas star Darius Acuff Jr., who is expected to be a top-10 pick, has been linked to Allen Iverson, drawing on-court comparisons to the Hall of Famer after winning MVP at the Allen Iverson Roundball Classic and putting together a stellar freshman season. He also sports braids like Iverson famously has for the better part of 30 years and signed a deal with Reebok before finishing his one season in college.
And while Acuff doesn’t speak to Iverson often, he did receive valuable advice from the Sixers legend.
“The first time I ever met him he just told me play every game like it’s your last,” Acuff said. “I definitely take that with me. It’s great to see him. He always shows love to everybody, not just me.”
He must’ve took that to heart. Acuff did just that as he averaged 23.5 points, 6.4 assists and 3.1 rebounds for Arkansas as he carried them to an appearance in the Sweet 16. And he did that with a little bit of Iverson in his game.
Asked what he took most from the legendary guard, Acuff said, “I like his midrange scoring, the way he can touch the paint and how he can do different things once he gets two feet in the paint. So just taking different floaters, different fadeaways from him for sure.
Sixers could add another explosive perimeter player in Dailyn Swain
Texas wing Dailyn Swain could be a fit for the Sixers at No. 22.
NEW YORK — Could the Sixers use the draft to continue adding to an explosive young perimeter group already spearheaded by Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe?
Dailyn Swain would fit the bill, and is projected to the Sixers at No. 22 in ESPN’s most recent mock draft released Tuesday morning. The 6-foot-6, 211-pound attacking wing from Texas averaged 17.3 points on 54% shooting — primarily as an isolation scorer and finisher — along with 7.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists. Swain also has flashed the defensive playmaking that could excel in Sixers coach Nick Nurse’s aggressive scheme.
Swain, who turns 21 next month, also would provide some insurance if the Sixers lose starter Kelly Oubre Jr. or sixth man Quentin Grimes in free agency, which begins June 30.
The biggest question surrounding Swain is his shooting, though that did improve during his college career that began at Xavier before following coach Sean Miller to Texas. Swain shot 34.4% on 93 attempts last season, but still has a slower release. Swain said Monday that, during workouts, he has aimed to prove he can shoot efficiently while tired after a long segment.
“It’s just confidence and shooting it the same every time,” Swain said from Monday’s media availability.
Swain had an in-person workout with the Sixers last week, posting a photo on his Instagram of the Philly skyline. He added he has tried to demonstrate his vocal leadership and competitiveness by being “the loudest guy” in those sessions.
Could the ‘Michigan Mavs’ be the next ‘Nova Knicks?
Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg (23) gives a high-five to Wolverines coach Dusty May, who is now the coach of the Dallas Mavericks.
NEW YORK – After the ‘Nova Knicks won the NBA title, could the “Michigan Mavs” be next?
That was a popular topic during Monday’s draft prospect media session, which occurred just after news broke that Michigan coach Dusty May had been hired by the Dallas Mavericks.
After leading the Wolverines to the national championship in March, Yaxel Lendeborg, Morez Johnson, and Aday Mara are all projected to go in Tuesday’s first round. When asked about following in the footsteps of former Villanova standouts Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart — who ended the Knicks’ 53-year title drought less than two weeks ago — Lendeborg grinned and laughed.
“If we all get to go to the Mavs and we get to do that,” he said through the chuckles, “we’re definitely going to turn the city up, just like they did here. I would love to do that.”
The Mavericks entered Tuesday with the ninth overall pick. Lendeborg joked that he planned to tell May that “he better pick me up. If he doesn’t, I’m going to be mad. I might block him.” Then Lendeborg’s tone turned sincere, saying “it would be amazing being able to stick with [May].”
“[The Mavericks are] getting an awesome guy,” Lendeborg said. “A guy who cares about everybody else’s issues rather than themselves, in a way. Just super genuine, super humble, and a hardworking guy. He loves the game. He loves what he does, and I feel like he’s going to be a great team connector
Will ‘role player’ Zuby Ejiofor be available for the Sixers at 22?
St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino speaks with forward Zuby Ejiofor during the first half in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
NEW YORK — During a Monday gathering of basketball experts that also included ESPN’s Jay Bilas and Bobby Marks, Fran Fraschilla also was asked about St. John’s big man Zuby Ejiofor, who reportedly worked out for the Sixers last week. Fraschilla, a longtime coach, said Ejiofor has “all the attributes you want from a role player.”
“There’s only 25 stars in the league, and there’s 425 role players,” Fraschilla said. “And he’s the epitome of a guy that will defend, rebound, catch lobs, maybe make a jump shot here and there. But [he’s] a great teammate.
“I expect that there’s a possibility he could sneak into the end of the first round because he’s going to go to a playoff team more than likely there, where he fits the culture … When you get a kid from Rick Pitino’s program, you’re not worried about how hard he’s gonna work.”
Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz thinks he’s the sharpshooter the Sixers need
Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz (left) shoots during a game between against Rutgers.
The 76ers’ season ended with a four-game sweep against the eventual champion New York Knicks.
After the two teams had battled in a first-round series two years earlier, the expectation was that the Sixers would give the Knicks a tough test just like the Atlanta Hawks had in this year’s postseason.
Not quite. The Sixers looked like they gave all they had to comeback from a 3-1 deficit against the Boston Celtics, and the most obvious sign of that came at the three-point line.
The Sixers shot 31.3% for the series while New York knocked down a blistering 44.8% from deep. And the Sixers’ principal players — Tyrese Maxey (15.8%), VJ Edgecombe (26.1%), and Joel Embiid (25%) — struggled to find their legs. Only Kelly Oubre Jr., and Paul George consistently hit open looks.
Players in this year’s draft were at home watching the postseason and gathering where they might fit with NBA teams. And Iowa sharpshooter Bennett Stirtz saw a clear need for the Sixers, one previously filled by Jared McCain before he was traded at the previous deadline.
“With that series, kind of release pressure off Tyrese and VJ because I can play off the ball, I can play on the ball,” Stirtz said. “I create space out there on the floor. I just think every team needs another ballhandler and shooter.”
The interest is mutual as the Sixers interviewed Stirtz twice during the draft process. The Sixers pick at No. 22, however, and there’s a chance he could go sooner after averaging 19.8 points and shooting 35.8% from three in one season at Iowa. Prior to that, he similar success at Drake after transferring up from Division II Northwest Missouri State.
Alabama guard Labaron Philon Jr. could be the “best point guard in the draft” according to Fran Fraschilla.
NEW YORK – Who are some sleeper prospects who could be in the range for the Sixers to draft at 22?
That topic was posed to a panel of basketball experts — ESPN’s Jay Bilas and Bobby Marks, and Fran Fraschilla — on Monday afternoon at the Lotte New York Palace hotel.
Marks, the former general manager of the New Jersey Nets, first mentioned Alabama guard Labaron Philon. Marks said he appreciated that, after declaring for last year’s draft, Philon returned to college to use the feedback he had received from teams to become a player who shot 39.9% from three-point range and averaged five assists per game. Bilas and Fraschilla agreed with that choice, but noted Philon may still go off the board in the lottery.
“He could end up being the best point guard in this draft,” Fraschilla said of Philon.
Fraschilla also highlighted Baylor’s Cam Carr, whom he called “maybe the best athlete in the draft.” Bilas mentioned Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz’s shooting and ability to play in the pick and roll, comparing him to former Sixer Kyle Korver. NBC play-by-play broadcaster John Fanta, who hosted the panel, mentioned Houston big man Chris Cenac Jr., saying, “If he’s still there, man, snatch him. Upside is there.”
“Cenac has been an exceptionally difficult prospect to find a home for. The consensus seems to be that he’s going to go somewhere in the top 20, and he was among the second batch of players invited to the green room. However, the feedback I get from teams is that he’s more like a late first-rounder. He’s seen as a high-upside swing for teams that can afford to be patient and wait for him to improve his feel for the game.
The 76ers need another big, and Cenac could potentially slide to the four at times if his feel for the game improves. But he is more of a project than some of the other players the 76ers could take. This is a very difficult team to mock right now, as sources around the league are still trying to figure out what new head of basketball operations Mike Gansey’s type will be.
“Okorie has put himself firmly in the first round after going through a wide range of workouts, drawing looks as high as the teens and earning a green room invitation. Some teams love his elusiveness off the dribble and scoring ability, but there are concerns about his size. Whether he can jump Christian Anderson, Labaron Philon Jr. or Bennett Stirtz in the point guard hierarchy remains to be seen, but he’s in the conversation.
The 76ers brought in a range of candidates for this pick last week and can go best-available at this spot in new president Mike Gansey’s first draft at the helm. Finding an immediate contributor at this spot would be a win, with much of Philadelphia’s salary structure tied up in Joel Embiid and Paul George, and cultivating depth behind them is likely a priority.”
“The Sixers are in the unique situation of having a dominant center who likes to score near the rim sometimes and doesn’t have an appetite for the grittier work in the paint. So I get the sense that they are looking for a convergence of exceptional physicality, the ability to create offense in the paint and near the rim, and skill and versatility at the 4. Luckily, there are a number of candidates who can help them with that at this stage of the draft. Peat has an unusual cross section of lateral quickness and brute strength on the defensive end, and he’s also a pretty terrific passer once he’s caught the ball on the move inside the arc. “
North Carolina center Henri Veesaar
Henri Veesaar, center, North Carolina (Yahoo! Sports)
“Finding a center to play behind Joel Embiid needs to be prioritized. Embiid simply cannot be trusted to stay on the floor. Veesaar is an agile big with real shooting touch, connective playmaking, and baseline big skills with the ability to set screens and catch lobs. He also offers rim protection and is a locked-in help defender. He could even play next to Embiid. In all three of his collegiate seasons, he made a massive leap in production each year. The Sixers would need that ascent to continue.”
What can the Sixers expect with the No. 22 draft pick?
Sixers star Tyrese Maxey was selected with the No. 21 pick in the 2020 NBA draft.
Tyrese Maxey is a prime example of the caliber of player a team could snag in the early 20s of the NBA draft.
But Jameer Nelson, the 76ers’ newly promoted executive vice president of basketball operations, also was quick to note that Maxey is the exception, not the rule.
“We got lucky with the person,” Nelson recently said of Maxey, the All-NBA point guard whom the Sixers drafted 21st in 2020. “We got lucky with the player.”
The Sixers are in a similar spot this year, holding the No. 22 overall pick entering Tuesday’s first round. It has been a sped-up process for new president of basketball operations Mike Gansey, who was formally introduced last week after spearheading the draft in his previous job as the Cleveland Cavaliers’ general manager.
To further illustrate the uncertainty that comes with selecting at this point in the draft, here’s a look back at pick Nos. 21 through 23 the last five years. It offers a collection of success stories, and players who have since fallen out of the league.
Giannis Antetokounmpo wants more championships. So do the Miami Heat.
Their interests are officially aligned — and the Heat finally have another superstar.
Ending a marathon watch for the next great Miami get, the Heat landed Antetokounmpo — a two-time NBA MVP and 10-time All-Star — from the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night in exchange for a massive haul of players and draft picks.
The terms, according to a person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the move had yet to receive the required league approval: Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis are heading to Miami for Wisconsin native Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware and Kasparas Jakucionis.
Milwaukee also gets the No. 13 selection that will be made in Tuesday night’s NBA draft, along with a first-round pick swap in 2030, first-round picks in 2031 and 2033 and a second-rounder in 2033, the person said.
Antetokounmpo led Milwaukee to the 2021 NBA title, was on the NBA’s 75th anniversary list of its greatest players ever, is a nine-time All-NBA selection and is coming off an injury-shortened season in which he averaged 27.6 points per game.
— Associated Press
// Timestamp 06/23/26 7:47am
2026 NBA Draft: Start time, channel, how to watch and stream
Kevin Negandhi, a Phoenixville native, is back covering the NBA draft.
The NBA draft begins Wednesday, and for the third straight year it will be divided over two days.
The first round of the draft begins tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern, while the second round will take place on Thursday beginning at 8 p.m.
For the sixth straight year, fans will have their choice of watching the first round of draft on two different networks — ABC and ESPN.
Over on ESPN, Malika Andrews will host alongside analysts Jay Bilas, Tim Legler, Andraya Carter, and front office insider Bobby Marks. The broadcast will also feature news-breaker Shams Charania and King of Prussia native Lisa Salters reporting from the Barclay Center.
One name not mentioned in ESPN’s coverage plans? First Take host and former Inquirer columnist Stephen A. Smith, who was part of the network’s ABC broadcast with Negandhi last year.
Here’s everything you need to know to watch or stream the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft:
The Sixers enter Tuesday with the No. 22 pick in Tuesday night’s NBA draft, but no second-round pick.
The Washington Wizards have the No. 1 pick, and they’re expected to take either BYU forward AJ Dybantsa or Kansas guard Darryn Peterson.
The last time the Wizards has the top pick was 2010, when they took Kentucky’s John Wall, whose career was slowed by a series of injuries.
As for the No. 13 pick, it belongs to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade, but it will need to be made by the Miami Heat because the deal won’t be official until early July after the start of a new cap year. Ah, the NBA.
On Tuesday night, Yaxel Lendeborg will likely be a first-round pick in the NBA draft.
But the Pennsauken High graduate’s basketball career nearly ended after playing just 11 varsity games. If not for his mom, Yissel, Lendeborg might not ever have played Division I basketball, much less become a lottery pick.
“Seeing him, and seeing his mother, and how much she has [meant] to him, and how much work she’s done to be able to help guide him mentally, and obviously on the court, it’s been the honor of my coaching career,” Pennsauken coach Harrison Carsillo said.
Lendeborg wasn’t academically eligible to play basketball for a large portion of high school. He played on Pennsauken’s freshman team, but was held out for his sophomore and junior seasons, and most of senior year. He trained in the summer with coaches and friends from Pennsauken, but watched from the sidelines during the school year.
In a Players’ Tribune article, Lendeborg said that the turning point for him was during his senior year. One night, after staying out late with his friends playing video games, his mom confronted him and told him that he needed to focus to even graduate from Pennsauken, much less play basketball.
“This is no joke right now,” Lendeborg said in the article. “Nobody is smiling here. You have your mom up in this minivan crying her eyes out because you don’t know how to be a good son. Your own mom! Who does everything for you. Works two jobs. Shows you love no matter what. And this is how you’re being?!?!?!”
Yaxel Lendeborg averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds in 40 games for Michigan last season.
During that final year, Lendeborg improved his grades enough to play the final 11 games of the high school season, even competing in the NJSIAA playoffs. But he thought his basketball career was over, until his mom set him up to attend junior college at Arizona Western College. Lendeborg wrote that she planned the going-away party without even telling him he was going, because she knew he needed that push.
From there, Lendeborg had one of the most improbable rises to the draft, transferring to Alabama-Birmingham in 2023 and then Michigan before last season, where he won Big Ten Player of the Year and an NCAA title. Lendeborg, a 6-foot-9 forward, averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds in 40 games for the Wolverines.
Lendeborg was always talented, Carsillo said. His biggest problem was not believing in himself. Carsillo and Lendeborg’s mom forced him to pick up the phone after Division I schools started calling him about transferring, because he wasn’t sure if that was the right fit for him.
“He didn’t answer the phone, and I said to him, ‘If you don’t answer that phone call, I’m going to take your phone, and I’m going to smash it, or rip your sneakers.’ I [was] going to be so upset, because he didn’t believe in himself that he could actually do what we knew he could do, if he put his mind to it,” Carsillo said.
“It was a really funny moment. I obviously wasn’t going to rip his sneakers or smash his phone, but I was very upset, because it was almost just a mental thing going into it, because he had so much potential that he didn’t even see himself.”
After two years at UAB, Lendeborg was a fringe first-round prospect. He could have ended his college career there, but instead spent another year in college to develop further, and prove to himself and to NBA draft scouts that he could succeed at that highest level. Carsillo said that Lendeborg’s year at Michigan has him more confident and aware of his sky-high potential.
But what’s stood out the most to Carsillo over the years is Lendeborg’s selflessness, on and off the court. In the Final Four, Lendeborg suffered an MCL and ankle sprain. Some advised him not to play to protect his draft stock, but Lendeborg insisted on helping his teammates see it through and vowed, “I’m playing no matter what.”
At halftime of the national championship game on April 6, he said he felt “awful,” but still gritted out a 13-point, 36-minute performance in the 69-63 win over UConn.
Yaxel Lendeborg spent two seasons at UAB after attending Arizona Western College.
“That’s him,” Carsillo said. “He could have easily just said, ‘No, I’m good.’ He knows he’s going to get drafted. He knows he’s changed his family’s life. It’s amazing. That’s exactly who he is, 100%, and he was like that at Pennsauken, just much lower stakes.”
Lendeborg even has a chance to reunite with his college coach, Dusty May, who reportedly accepted the Dallas Mavericks’ head coaching job on Monday. The Mavericks hold the No. 9 pick in the draft, slightly above where Lendeborg has been projected, but Lendeborg joked Monday that he’s “going to tell him he better pick me up. If he doesn’t, I’m going to be mad. I might block him.”
The forward has grown up a lot since high school. He’s one of the oldest prospects in the draft, but he’s played only about six seasons of organized basketball. He grew up playing baseball, and told ESPN that he first learned how to play basketball through the NBA 2K video game.
“He still has so much room to grow, and he’s still learning how to become a better basketball player; it’s remarkable,” Carsillo said. “He has a little bit of self doubt, but not much anymore. This whole process with the NBA and Michigan turned his eye and turned his mindset around to be able to prove to himself, like, ‘I can do what my mother has always told me I could do.’”
Lendeborg’s mom can’t attend as many games as she used to. She’s currently nearing the end of her treatment cycle for appendix cancer, which she initially kept hidden from Lendeborg to keep him focused on his season at Michigan. But planned to be in Brooklyn on Tuesday to watch her son’s NBA journey begin — a journey he’d never have come close to if not for her pushing him every step of the way.
One of the more striking sports stories of the last few years has been the dramatic rise in popularity of the Savannah Bananas. Founded as a collegiate summer league team in 2016, the Bananas began playing exhibition games in 2018, when they debuted their signature “Banana Ball,” a fast-paced, acrobatic, comedic, participatory style of baseball. Since 2023 they have dedicated themselves entirely to traveling exhibition games against other “Banana Ball” teams, and their popularity has continued to grow. On May 2, as part of the ongoing Banana Ball World Tour, they played before their largest audience yet, a crowd of 102,000 at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas.
The Bananas and Banana Ball represent a compelling innovation in baseball and American sports—but at the same time, they’re building on one of the sport’s oldest and most enduring traditions: barnstorming, alternatives to professional and major leagues that have long brought community and inclusivity to baseball and America.
Most histories of baseball focus on its professional leagues: the U.S. Major Leagues and sometimes other prominent professional organizations such as the Negro Leagues and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. But starting in the mid-19th century, there was an equally popular alternative version of baseball that existed outside of those more established sites. Known as barnstorming, probably because many of its games took place in rural communities that might well have featured farm structures, the reference that also connected these baseball teams to other traveling performers who also used the term. This version of baseball saw touring collections of players—sometimes part of an established team, but just as often cobbled together from across multiple teams—visit communities and stage exhibition games. These games were played against local teams and players, fellow barnstorming teams, or as part of other unique entertainments.
In the first half of the 20th century barnstorming came to be especially associated with the Negro Leagues and represented a way both for those Black athletes to showcase their talents in front of more diverse and widespread audiences. It also allowed them to play against—and, even at times, alongside—white athletes during a time in which the Major Leagues excluded Black players. Building on the legacy of late 19th century, Black barnstorming teams like Bud Fowler’s All-American Black Tourists, legendary 20th-century players like the great Satchel Paige organized teams that toured constantly and brought baseball to every corner of the nation. It also inspired one of the great sports movies, 1976’s The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, with Billy Dee Williams’s Bingo a clear Satchel Paige type.
In the 1920s and 30s another American community that was excluded from the era’s professional leagues formed their own prominent barnstorming teams and leagues. Japanese baseball dated back to both Hawaii and Japan in the late 19th century, and the first Japanese American semi-pro clubs formed on the mainland United States in the early 1900s. But it was with the rise of barnstorming teams in the late 1920s that these Japanese American players gained truly national and international fame.
In 1935, the Japanese World Series prominently featured the Japanese American barnstorming team, the Los Angeles Nippons, in a best-of-three series against Japan’s famous Tokyo Giants. Although the Tokyo squad took two of the three games, at the end of their barnstorming tour of the U.S. a team spokesperson noted that “the Los Angeles Nippons were the best of the Japanese Nines.”
These early 20th century barnstorming teams and games also captured the attention of the sport’s biggest stars. In October 1927, just after winning the World Series and at the height of their success and fame with the New York Yankees, Babe Ruth and his teammate Lou Gehrig took part in a highly competitive barnstorming game in Fresno against Japanese American semi-pro stars, including the powerful slugger Johnny Nakagawa who was known as the “Nisei Babe Ruth.” With each captaining a different team, and as the only white players in the game, Ruth and Gehrig played both against and alongside the Japanese American players, a reflection of how much barnstorming could break down the period’s policies and practices of segregation.
The single most famous barnstorming baseball team, the House of David, broke down such barriers consistently and purposefully. Formed in the late 1910s by members of the Michigan religious commune of the same name, the House of David—famous for its long hair and equally impressive beards—gained a reputation for baseball prowess over the next four decades before it dissolved in 1955. It featured former Major Leaguers like Grover Cleveland Alexander, other famous athletes like Mildred “Babe” Didrickson and Satchel Paige, and rising stars like Jackie Mitchell, the teenage pitching phenom who was the first woman to play for a minor league team.
The House of David also partnered with Negro League teams and players: traveling together, playing exhibition games against each other, and challenging segregation policies inside and outside the stadium along the way. Before the House of David would take on the local team, they demanded a chance to play the Negro League team with whom they had arrived (a request smartly made after the audience was already in the stadium to watch the featured exhibition game). They then ate in the same restaurant and stayed at the same hotel with them as well, pushing the boundaries of racial segregation.
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The House of David ended its barnstorming tours in 1955 for the same reasons the practice largely faded out during that decade: the racial integration of the Major Leagues. Beginning with Jackie Robinson in 1947, integration meant that more of the best players had the chance to join the Majors; and the growing popularity of television allowed audiences around the country to see those players and games. Some Japanese American semi-pro teams did continue to barnstorm, as Japanese Americans didn’t join Major League teams until the late 1960s, a continued legacy of the earlier segregation policies. But by the late 20th century the practice was generally found only in historical depictions like Bingo Long.
Recently, the Savannah Bananas announced the reforming of a historic Negro Leagues team, the Indianapolis Clowns, against whom they’ll play barnstorming exhibition games. In that way, as in so many others, this 21st-century team builds on the legacies of barnstorming baseball, on the important role of athletes of color in making it more inclusive, and of the communal and inclusive sides of the sport and nation it represents.
Ben Railton is Professor of English and American Studies at Fitchburg State University, and the author of six books, two podcast seasons, and numerous columns on the worst and best of American history and identity.
Made by History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of The Inquirer.
Flyers chief Dan Hilferty and his wife, Joan, traveled to Italy during the Olympics to take in the Winter Games, especially the hockey games, since three Flyers and coach Rick Tocchet were involved. Star winger Travis Konecny did not make Team Canada, but he made the trip anyway. There, he ran into Hilferty.
After a little small talk, as they ended their conversation, Konecny grabbed Hilferty by the arm. He looked him dead in the eye and, quietly, told his boss’s boss:
At the time, the Flyers hadn’t made the playoffs in five years and, according to one prediction site, had just a 3.8% chance of making the postseason.
Three months later, they had surged into the playoffs, then they had beaten their archrival, in overtime, at home. Yet neither of these was Hilferty’s favorite moment of the season.
Hilferty stood on the heights of Citizens Bank Park, a spring wind ruffling the ever-immaculate lapels of his bespoke, dark-blue suit, strong and confident and, then, suddenly, verklempt at the memory of a moment shared with some of his favorite people, including his boss.
He’d been asked for his most memorable moments of the season his Flyers had just completed. His response was unexpected: The moments just after the team lost its fourth straight game and was swept out of the Stanley Cup playoffs, an overtime defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes in front of the home crowd at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Flyers fans cheered their team’s effort even after the season had ended.
This ignominious sweep, the first in 15 years — this was his finest moment?
“Yes,” he said.
Why?
“I go to the locker room after every game, win or lose. So, boom, [the Hurricanes] score, and I get up, go to the elevator, get off the elevator on the event level,“ Hilferty said. ”And I just see a sea of fans. A sea of fans on their feet. And then they start chanting, ‘Let’s go, Flyers!’ And you could see the players, like — their reaction is unreal.”
That’s where Hilferty’s voice breaks. He’s 69, and he’s been around, a Jersey Shore kid made good: CEO of two health benefits organizations, a midlevel cog in the Pennsylvania government, a candidate for governor in the 1994 Democratic primary, chief of the group that brought the World Cup to Philly, and, for the last three years, he’s held his dream job: governor of the Flyers.
The new Ed Snider. Connected to the club. Living and dying with every shift. Desperate for his hires to work out. Eager to see validated his oft-questioned decisions, from team president to GM to coach.
And so, just before 9 p.m. on May 9, Hilferty found validation with the only folks who mattered: Flyers fans. Folks like him.
Dan Hilferty (right), with team president Keith Jones in September, is part of a decision-making group that has pushed the right buttons of late.
The scene was as unreal as it was un-Philadelphian. After the teams exchanged handshakes, Flyers players remained on the ice to skate around and wave their appreciation to whoever remained. Usually, it’s a couple of thousand. That night, it was 10 times that much.
“I just felt — well, I never needed to feel vindicated,” Hilferty insisted. “But I was just so happy for the organization, so happy for the team, for Comcast Spectacor and Comcast.”
Spectacor is the sports wing of Comcast, and Hilferty is CEO of Spectacor. Brian Roberts is the CEO of it all, and, that night, he was at Hilferty’s elbow. They live and die with the Flyers.
“I mean, we talk every day,” Hilferty said. “He runs a huge company. He’s a huge fan.”
After six years of amorphous corporate management in the wake of Snider’s death in 2016, Hilferty’s hands-on approach during the past three seasons of a painful rebuild has borne fruit.
When he hired an inexperienced GM, Danny Brière, and his nonexperienced president, Keith Jones, it felt like the Flyers were in line for another generation of the nearsighted nepotism that has so badly hindered it so often in the 50 years since its run to three straight Stanley Cup Finals. That sense only increased with the hiring of coach Rick Tocchet, who, like Brière and Jones, is a revered Flyers alum.
Those decisions could hardly have looked worse as the Flyers entered the Olympic break in February. Tocchet and unmotivated second-year star Matvei Michkov had been feuding for months, and the team had won just three of its last 15 games.
But, during the 20-day break, Michkov got into shape, Tocchet changed coaching tack, some veterans got healthy and started playing better, goalie Dan Vladař caught fire, and the club added rookie winger Porter Martone, fresh off helping Michigan State reach the NCAA tournament. Not only did the Flyers make the playoffs, they upset the rival Penguins with a six-game, first-round win, in overtime, the sudden-death score coming from Cam York but set up by Michkov.
Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet (center) received up-and-down play from Matvei Michkov (right).
And yet this was not Hilferty’s favorite moment. The love after the loss was.
“I have to say, it was nice to have kind of a public showing of that positive feeling,” Hilferty said. “What I’ve learned, whether it was running a business or doing this now, is that nothing’s perfect, but when you put four people in the room and have a long-range vision of where you want to go — I feel validated in that we’re through a phase of this effort, and we feel like the pieces are starting to fall into place for a long-term sustainable period of excellence.”
That begins with Tocchet, a hard-nosed coach obsessed with teaching and largely uninterested in your feelings.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled about Rick Tocchet, the spirit he brings to it,” Hilferty said.
“Matvei needed a message,” Hilferty said. “Look, we’re behind him, but it takes two to tango. Everybody’s got to lean in. And although that was uncomfortable for Rick, and maybe uncomfortable for Matvei, I think it paid off in the end.”
Is this a sea change for a young player?
“My hope, and real belief, is that Matvei will come back as a different player next year,” Hilferty said.
Brière recently traded backup goalie Sam Ersson, smallish defenseman Emil Andrae, and a third-round pick to the Maple Leafs for backup goalie Joseph Woll and biggish defenseman Simon Benoît. The draft comes this weekend.
Since the Flyers’ decline, the Eagles have reached two Super Bowls, the Phillies have reached a World Series, and the Sixers consistently have made the playoffs with Hall of Fame-caliber players and coaches.
Now, however, there is a buzz in Philadelphia about the Flyers that has been absent for nearly half a decade. Hilferty feels it.
“We feel relevant again,” Hilferty said. “We feel really excited to be part of the winning ways of the city, but we’re not finished. I mean, our vision is to get to the top. I’m not going to hide from that.”
Despite a lengthy weather delay during Philadelphia’s World Cup match between France and Iraq on Monday, that didn’t stop folks from soaking in the festivities — even if it meant riding out the storm for about two hours.
And once the game resumed, the performance on the pitch didn’t disappoint. France dominated Iraq, 3-0, with French star Kylian Mbappé tallying two goals.
French supporters filled the area. Even though the rain washed out the FIFA Fan Festival, fans of Les Bleus spread out to different corners of the city to watch their side. Before the storm, Gov. Josh Shapiro checked out the sights and sounds at Lemon Hill Park.
The city has certainly become soccer-infused this summer.
Center City bars were packed Monday afternoon hours before the game, banners hung from City Hall, and the Broad Street Line carried fans to Philadelphia Stadium (aka Lincoln Financial Field). But 50 years ago, soccer was still finding its footing in Philadelphia. Now, the city’s World Cup love affair shows how far we’ve come.
Texas forward Dailyn Swain is among the long list of players who have worked out for the Sixers, who will select at No. 22 in the 2026 NBA draft.
Tonight is the first round of the NBA draft, and this year’s class is packed with top-level talent — AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cam Boozer are all worthy of the No. 1 pick — as well as depth throughout the first round.
The Sixers will start the Mike Gansey era with the 22nd pick, and the new president of basketball operations plans to make their selection based on a combination of best player available and fit.
Also, Pennsauken’s Yaxel Lendeborg will likely be a first-round selection. The Michigan star had one of the most improbable rises to the draft. If it wasn’t for his mom, Yissel, Lendeborg would have never played Division I basketball, much less become a potential lottery pick.
What we’re …
👀 Watching: The 14-year-old Phillies fan who grabbeda Mets home run ball on Sunday and went viral for making a crafty swap.
🏒 Learning: TheFlyers announced their 2026-27 preseason schedule. Let’s look at who they will play in the four-game slate.
🍻 Cheering: Jason Kelce’s sixth annual celebrity bartending fundraiser is returning to Ocean Drive in Sea Isle City this week.
📖 Reading: Alexander Command feels a connection with the Flyers. But will he be there at No. 21 on draft day?
⚽ Following: The next big question for the USMNT: Managing yellow cards in the World Cup group stage finale.
Jaxson Dart (left) did some good things as a rookie. Is he ready to take the next step and lead the Giants to consistent winning?
The Eagles have won two straight NFC East titles and five in the last 10 years. They have dominated the division in recent memory, and there’s no reason to think 2026 will be any different, right?
But things feel a little different. The Eagles had a transformative offseason, with the biggest change being that they no longer have their No. 1 weapon in wide receiver A.J. Brown.
All the while, almost all of their NFC East foes took steps forward, at least on paper.
Phillies general manager Preston Mattingly signs autographs for fans before a spring training game in March.
For years, Don and Preston Mattingly were “in the same industry, but you’re light years apart.”
So, they need not be reminded, especially on Father’s Day weekend, of the uniqueness as the first father-son manager-GM combination in baseball history.
Last week, Preston Mattingly joined Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast, to discuss what it’s like to work with his dad, Andrew Painter’s demotion, the state of the Phillies’ farm system, and preparing for the trade deadline.
Ahead of Monday’s game against the Nationals, the Phillies called up Alan Rangel from triple-A Lehigh Valley, as a way to address their fifth spot in the rotation for the time being.
Save for Brandon Marsh’s solo home run, the Phillies’ offense struggled in a rain-delayed 4-1 loss to the Nationals in Monday’s series opener in Washington.
Villanova coach Kevin Willard says this season’s roster will “have so much more flexibility.”
Villanova’s offseason had a clear objective: “We wanted to make sure that we just didn’t get manhandled the way we got manhandled last year against the top teams,” said Kevin Willard.
Now with the roster set, the second-year coach believes he’s done just that, and with the signing of 7-foot-3 center Luigi Suigo, it has done more than raise the program’s expectations in the 2026-27 season.
🧠 Trivia time
Which of these sporting events recorded the largest attendance at Lincoln Financial Field?
A) Temple vs. Notre Dame on Oct. 31, 2015
B) Flyers vs. Penguins on Feb. 23, 2019, in the NHL Stadium Series
C) Mexico vs. Jamaica on July 26, 2015, in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final
D) Brazil vs. Haiti on June 19, 2026, in the group stage of the World Cup
What you’re saying about Bryce Harper
Bryce Harper raises his fingers after hitting a solo homer against the Mets on Sunday.
We asked: Where does Bryce Harper rank in your eyes among all-time Phillies players? Among your responses:
Harper is probably still behind Schmidt, Carlton and Robin Roberts for me. Harper needs more consistency when counts, i.e. the playoffs. — Tom G.
Behind Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and Rich Ashburn. — Jim G.
I think Bryce ranks among the best Phillies of my time. Too bad he had to spend 7 years with Washington before joining the Phillies for the last 8 years. He came as a right fielder but then after suffering the arm injury he almost flawlessly moved to 1st base. He does not match up with Mike Schmidt stat wise nor have the power of Dick Allen or Ryan Howard but definitely one of our best ever. I have of course never been in the clubhouse with our guys, but I have a feeling that he is the Phillies leader who has that unique gift of leadership. Who can ever forget his “Lets give them something to remember” to Kevin Long and then went up and smashed a home run to beat the Padres that sent the Phils to the World Series. — Everett S.
In my mind, Bryce Harper is close to the top of the all time Phillies players. He has a .279 lifetime batting average, will eventually hit over 500 home runs (most likely), and is a two time MVP, hall of fame credentials. He is currently the face of the franchise and will be for a few years to come. His #3 will no doubt be added to the Phillies wall of fame in the future. — Tom E.
We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Ryan Novozinsky, Kerith Gabriel, Matt Breen, Gina Mizell, Jeff Neiburg, Ariel Simpson, Jackie Spiegel, Gabriela Carroll, Lochlahn March, Scott Lauber, Owen Hewitt, and Jonathan Tannenwald.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
Thanks for reading! Have yourself a wonderful Tuesday. Kerith will be back in your inbox tomorrow. — Bella
NEW YORK — Dailyn Swain posted a photo of the Philly skyline on his Instagram story last week.
The Texas wing was in town for a predraft workout with the Sixers and “the city was alive,” Swain recalled, because his visit coincided with Friday’s World Cup match between Brazil and Haiti at Lincoln Financial Field.
Swain has since joined several fellow first-round prospects at a luxury New York City hotel for the final stretch before being selected Tuesday night at Barclays Center. He is still among the possibilities to be chosen by the Sixers, who enter Tuesday with the 22nd overall pick in a loaded draft and new president of basketball operations Mike Gansey at the helm.
“I’m very emotional,” Swain said. “I know once I hear my name, it’s going to be a surreal feeling … I’m trying to enjoy the moment.”
This draft class is packed with top-level talent — AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cam Boozer are all worthy of the No. 1 pick, experts say — as well as depth throughout the first round. That means interesting options should be available, at all position groups, if the Sixers remain at 22.
It is the first roster-building move for Gansey, whom the Sixers hired earlier this month to oversee daily front-office operations for a team that finished seventh in the Eastern Conference standings, stormed back to upset the Boston Celtics in the playoffs’ first round, then were swept by the eventual NBA champion New York Knicks.
Though Gansey joined the Sixers’ draft preparation late, he ran that process in his previous job as general manager for a Cleveland Cavaliers franchise that was scouting for this year’s 29th pick. When asked during his introductory news conference about his overall draft philosophy, Gansey said the Sixers will make their selection based on a combination of best player available and fit.
Mike Gansey will handle his first big decisions as Sixers president of basketball operations during Tuesday’s draft.
The Sixers held in-person workouts in Philly last Tuesday and Friday. Versatile Santa Clara forward Allen Graves and Duke sharpshooter Isaiah Evans confirmed Monday that they were among the participants, while a source confirmed to The Inquirer that Houston big man Chris Cenac Jr., also was in attendance. Physical forwards Koa Peat of Arizona and Zuby Ejiofor of St. John’s also were reportedly part of those workouts. Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz said Monday that he has had two interviews with the Sixers.
So Monday became a quest to mine the tiniest tidbits from those prospects in media scrums. Evans said his workout with the Sixers was with Swain, and that current Sixers VJ Edgecombe and Justin Edwards also were in the gym. Graves praised the Sixers’ “amazing” facilities in Camden. Stirtz said that, while watching the playoffs, he recognized how he could “release pressure” off standout guards Tyrese Maxey and Edgecombe with his outside shooting.
“I create space out there on the floor,” said Stirtz, who is projected to go a bit higher than 22nd. “Every team needs another ballhandler and shooter.”
Gansey kept some continuity within the Sixers’ front office — including the recently promoted Jameer Nelson — that has executed successful recent drafts. It picked Maxey 21st in 2020, and Jared McCain 16th and Adem Bona in the second round in 2024. Even Paul Reed, Isaiah Joe, and Julian Champagne, who have gone on to succeed with other playoff teams, were either selected in the second round or signed as an undrafted free agent. In 2023, the Sixers traded the 23rd overall pick to the Memphis Grizzlies for guard DeAnthony Melton, a key role player for two seasons when healthy.
“I’m excited to learn from them,” Gansey said of the remaining front office, “and, obviously, put my vision and put my imprint on the draft. … and try to get the best person and player for the Sixers.”
As of Monday night, the Sixers do not have a pick in Wednesday’s second round. Yet what they do Tuesday will help dictate how they approach free agency, which begins the evening of June 30. Starting wing Kelly Oubre Jr., sixth man Quentin Grimes, and reserve big man Andre Drummond are all unrestricted free agents. And the Sixers have limited financial flexibility with Maxey, Joel Embiid, and Paul George on max contracts for multiple seasons.
Sixers guards Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe are among a long list of recent draft successes for a team that didn’t draft well historically.
For the prospects assembled Monday in New York City, however, the wait for their NBA destination is almost over. Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg, who spent his teenage years in Pennsauken and is projected to go somewhere in the middle of the first round, half-jokingly called these final hours “really, really awful.”
“I’m feeling emotion in the book,” he said Monday. “But I’m getting very impatient, in a way. I want to know where I’m going.”
The same likely could be said for the Sixers, now beginning the Gansey era with the 22nd overall pick.
