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👟 Which NBA Teams Are All-In Next Season?

👟 Which NBA Teams Are All-In Next Season?

Chris Lesiak
August 18, 2022

Breaking down the NBA's all-in teams, Ben Simmons and the Sixers reach a confidential settlement, and the NBA takes off Election Day!

Finish the week off strong!

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Breaking Down the NBA's All-In Teams

Two top analysts from ESPN recently put together a list of “All-In” Teams for this upcoming season. The criteria were a realistic “dream” of a 2022-23 NBA championship, but also that their title window has a short shelf life. These teams are the Brooklyn Nets, LA Clippers, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, and Phoenix Suns.

Obviously, the situation in Brooklyn is fraught, and if and when KD and Kyrie depart, they will no longer be included on this list, but like the Clippers, they mortgaged significant future assets to assemble superstar talent. In LA, PG13 and Kawhi Leonard aren’t getting any younger and have plenty of injury worries, but if healthy, it’s hard not to see them as genuine contenders.

While the Heat, Bucks, and 76ers all have young talented players in Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, and Bam Adebayo, they also have key supporting staff who are not so young. Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday are in their early thirties, while James Harden and Jimmy Butler are both in their mid-30s.

As for Phoenix, they have the oldest top player in this crop with 37-year-old Chris Paul. They also have spent quite a bit of draft capital to contend right now, which further limits their long-term outlook.

BEN SIMMONS

Ben Simmons and The Sixers Reach Confidential Agreement

The Ben Simmons and Philadelphia 76ers drama is finally over as the two sides have agreed to a settlement regarding Simmons’s holdout. The news was first reported by Woj, although the terms of the settlement are undisclosed.

As a refresher, when Ben Simmons refused to suit up for the 76ers to force a trade, the team withheld a portion of his salary for each game missed. Each game was worth $360,000and for every paycheck Simmons received, the 76ers withheld $1.3M, which quickly added up to nearly $20M.

After the trade was complete, and Ben Simmons was a Brooklyn Net, he filed a grievance with the Sixers, looking to recoup a portion of those lost wages. Simmons argued that his refusal to play wasn’t a breach of contract because he was dealing with mental health issues. There was no shortage of public opinions on this complicated and sensitive topic, but hopefully, with this news, everyone can move on.

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The NBA Takes Off Election Day

The NBA schedule was released yesterday, and there’s no shortage of interesting takeaways, but one of the most noteworthy was having no games on Election Day.

The NBA doesn’t take many nights off, but speaking about the decision the league said the following: “The scheduling decision came out of the NBA family’s focus on promoting nonpartisan civic engagement and encouraging fans to make a plan to vote during midterm elections.”

All thirty teams will play the night before, on November 7th, clearing the way for fans to get out and vote. In addition to not scheduling any games, NBA teams are being encouraged by the league to share election information with their fan bases in the weeks leading up to Election Day.

In recent years NBA players and other key personalities have been particularly vocal about the importance of voting. Players like LeBron James have been involved in get-out-the-vote initiatives and multiple teams have used their arenas as registration or voting centers.