There IS August activity in the NBA … if you know where to look
Allow us to show you the way
LONDON — Completely get it. Totally feel you.
NBA lovers are missing their passion with the intensity of the summer sun right now … with reports of 90-degree weather even infiltrating parts of England on this Newsletter Tuesday.
Training camps are still nearly 50 days away. Unless something drastic happens in, say, Milwaukee, we've probably seen our last significant trade until the season actually starts. These are realities we have to accept while temperatures soar and NBA restricted free agency plays out oh-so-slowly (as covered below):
Jake Fischer Latest: Lots of fresh Intel on Trae Young’s Atlanta future and several restricted free agency updates
Ready for some Sunday Best around-the-league NBA notes from my notebook?
That said …
August is not quite as bereft of legitimate pro basketball business as advertised. The NBA will release its full 2025-26 schedule on Thursday and first formally announced a handful of next season's games on Tuesday as the enclosed graphics summarize:
Also Tuesday: FIBA AfroBasket began.
My pal Tom Ziller did a very thorough piece earlier this week lamenting the lack of NBA participation in AfroBasket, as well as the FIBA AmeriCup and the FIBA Asia Cup, because all of these tournaments count for pretty much nil in terms of World Cup qualification. The consolation: EuroBasket is starting on Aug. 27.
And that's a tournament which still seems to matter to Europe's foremost names and thus will be starring Serbia's Nikola Jokić, Slovenia's Luka Dončić, Greece's Giannis Antetokounmpo, Germany's Franz Wagner, Türkiye's Alperen Şengün and Finland's rampaging Lauri Markkanen.
See? Things really could be worse.
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AfroBasket Storylines
Me being stubborn me, I'm naturally going to serve up a handful of items that I imagine will matter to many readers … even when there is no getting around the fact that there are only two* players currently on NBA rosters who are confirmed participants.
🏀 Asterisk explained: Please let me know if I've missed any current NBAers in my manual scanning through the AfroBasket rosters, but I’ve only got the twosome of Cameroon's Yves Missi (New Orleans) and Nigeria's Josh Okogie (Houston).
🏀 Joel Embiid now represents the United States internationally and Pascal Siakam has yet to play for Cameroon at senior level, but Missi is making his senior national team debut at 21, announcing recently that he hopes to "inspire young people [by] showing them that anything is possible no matter where they come from."
🏀 One year removed from a memorable trip to the Olympics, South Sudan is now being coached by the program's driving force: Luol Deng. The former Bulls All-Star has succeeded Houston Rockets assistant coach Royal Ivey on the bench.
🏀 Wenyen Gabriel, who has had stints in the NBA with the Kings, Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Nets, Clippers, Lakers and Grizzlies, is on Deng's roster.
🏀 Senegal is coached by former No. 8 overall draft pick DeSegana Diop (who has coached the G League's Westchester Knicks for the past three seasons) … with Amadou Mbodji from the Windy City Bulls assisting him. Dallas Mavericks director of pro personnel and international scouting Makhtar Ndiaye — who was Senegal's first NBA player — is Senegal's GM.
🏀 Libya, meanwhile, is coached by former No. 20 overall pick Sam Vincent.
🏀 Warriors restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga was on the Democratic Republic of Congo's preliminary roster for the tournament but, as I reported on multiple occasions recently, was never really a candidate to play for his national team this summer given the ongoing uncertainty he faces stemming from Kuminga’s contract stalemate with Golden State.
(Substack) Note(s) of the Week
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And to close from Londres:
There is domestic professional basketball in August, easily accessible online and on TV - the WNBA is having an amazing season. I know you wouldn't cover it like the international men's tournaments since there's no NBA overlap (and I can appreciate how all-consuming the NBA has to be for your level of expertise), but it'd be nice to recognize there is an option for fans.