The Bounce Newsletter 
| This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.
here is no better way to start your basketball-consuming day than to watch this Instagram video. Someone cut 130 pieces of paper and took them around New York City to recreate the OG Anunoby game-winning tip-in from Game 4 of the NBA Finals. This is creativity and execution beyond belief.
Knicks on parade!
NYC celebrates a title
The championship celebration began Saturday night when the New York Knicks closed out the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5. As Jalen Brunson lit up the Spurs for 45 points, the Knicks broke their 53-year title drought. From there, it’s been a lot of partying, TV appearances and even some first pitches thrown at Yankee Stadium. Yesterday, we finally got the Knicks parade in the city.
We had Knicks on buses, players jumping down to join the flood of people who mobbed the streets, fans being allowed to touch that once-elusive Larry O’Brien trophy and a whole lot of speeches at City Hall with local officials and Knicks brass. I was not in attendance, but I did watch the majority of it on the NBA app. Here are the highlights of the day:
Fun speeches!
NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani gave an impassioned speech about how long Knicks fans waited for this, and he even went through great moments in Knicks history, along with just randomly naming Knicks from the past. The more recent players he named? Carmelo Anthony (obviously), Amar’e Stoudemire (of course), Kristaps Porziņģis (naturally), Langston Galloway (impressive), Lance Thomas (you have my attention) and Toney Douglas (OK, maybe he’s really about this life).
Brunson gave his speech to the fans about essentially silencing the critics. His ability to lead a team to a championship at his size was questioned for a long time. This was the part that will get clipped, memed and passed around:
“There’s a lot of people who have a lot of negative stuff to say. There’s a lot of people who have their own opinions. But when you prove them wrong, you don’t have to say s— to them. They don’t deserve it.”
It came after Mike Brown gave his speech and started making people sing “Who Let The Dogs Out,” which has become a recurring bit. Brunson addressed that as well:
“I don’t know how many times I tell Mike to stop doing that s—.”
Jalen Brunson speaks at the Knicks championship parade
Awkward speeches!
Two awkward speech moments came to mind. None of them were from team president Leon Rose, who struggled to speak into the microphone at first. People on the stage were yelling at him to speak up and speak into the mic. He eventually did. It’s almost like he doesn’t address the media or public all that often? But that wasn’t the awkward part!
- Awkward moment 1: James Dolan tried to have some fun with the crowd, saying that a lot of people there didn’t look old enough to have waited 53 years for this championship. I think he was trying to make a joke, and it fell so flat. Finally, he said how happy he was to bring them the title and how proud he was of the team.
- Awkward moment 2: City comptroller Mark Levine decided to invoke these examples of New York comebacks to compare to what the Knicks did in each NBA Finals game.
“We do not back down, no matter how far behind we are. We were down on 9/11, and we came back. We were down in (Hurricane) Sandy, and we came back. We were down during COVID, and we came back. We were down against the Cavs, against the Spurs … and we came back. We are New York. We don’t stop fighting. You should be afraid of us. We are the champs because of the New York Knicks.”
Uh … let’s move on!
Things that made me have FOMO
The energy from the crowd. The pictures my friends shared. The videos that people there were posting online. Walt Frazier riding in this Chrysler from 1952.
Things that cured that FOMO
Some fans had to wait roughly 30 minutes just to exit the subway station. It was just a standstill there. This is my nightmare.
Funniest moment from the parade
Knicks reserve guard Tyler Kolek got off the buses and wanted to go have a moment with the fans standing at the barricades. One problem with that: A couple of law enforcement officers thought he was a fan who snuck into the action and was invading the celebration
Whoops! Thankfully, it got cleared up quickly. Next time, they’ll recognize him with his championship ring on
The last 24
👑 LeFuture? LeBron James has some options this summer at 41 years old. Could he really go to the Warriors?
1️⃣ Who’s on first? The Wizards have been debating between AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson with the first pick in the draft. Who will they take?
💸 Winged victory. Every team needs wings. David Aldridge has his latest draft confidential on Dybantsa and the other wings in this class.
🧙 Staying put? Trae Young is declining his $47.6 million player option to become a free agent. He’s expected to re-sign with the Wizards, though.
💰 Not yet. The Pistons have contract situations with Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson coming up. They haven’t been progressing just yet.
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.
Go big?
Where are the impact centers in this draft?
Dearth is a fun word to say. Say it out loud with me right now. Dearth.
Well, it’s not a fun word if you’re looking for big men from this 2026 draft class to populate your NBA roster. I would say there is a dearth of big men available. Teams will need to load up on big men in the immediate future. Having extra bodies to throw at Victor Wembanyama (yes, I know the Knicks just beat him, but they did it with … you guessed it … Frank Stallone two really good big men) is going to be a key to roster building.
Let’s go down the list of big men (and I mean actual big men, not forwards you might play at the center for eight minutes a night) in this class and see which ones your team might want.
Aday Mara | Michigan | Height: 7-foot-3 | Wingspan: 7-6 | Age: 21
This might be a blind spot for me, but I just don’t get the Mara thing. He’s projected to go in the top 10, maybe even to Atlanta at No. 8. The height and length are obviously great. He can really pass the ball. He also doesn’t have great hands for catching, and we don’t know how much he can play or if he can keep up defensively.
Hannes Steinbach | Washington | Height: 6-11 | Wingspan: 7-2 | Age: 20
Maybe the best rebounder in the draft, but he also might not be able to defend the interior in the NBA. He’ll be great in the pick-and-roll, and he could project as a shooter. Probably the most intriguing big man, and he’s likely going late lottery.
Morez Johnson Jr. | Michigan | Height: 6-9 | Wingspan: 7-3.5 | Age: 20
He actually might be the best big man in this draft? Which is saying something, because he also might be a tweener as a four/five. He has to prove he can protect the rim, but he’s an excellent defensive prospect, he can finish around the rim and he’s a big-time rebounder.
Chris Cenac Jr. | Houston | Height: 6-11 | Wingspan: 7-5 | Age: 19
If you’re grabbing him in the late teens or 20s, I think Cenac will be a great value. He’s probably not playing much for a couple years. He’s a project. There are motor questions, but he should be a pretty skilled big man with a decent jumper in a couple years.
Jayden Quaintance | Kentucky | Height: 6-9 | Wingspan: 7-5 | Age: 19
He tore his right ACL in February 2025 and barely played last season, so we still need to see how he bounces back. But he’s a fun athlete with phenomenal defensive abilities when healthy. He really can’t shoot, though. He is a sub-50 percent free-throw shooter.
Tarris Reed Jr. | UConn | Height: 6-10 | Wingspan: 7-4 | Age: 23
He has great feet, but he’s not an explosive guy. He can really rebound and score around the rim. You’re definitely grabbing him as a second or third big man. Great value in the late first.
Zuby Ejiofor | St. John’s | Height: 6-8 | Wingspan: 7-2 | Age: 22
He has great length, but he’s an undersized big man. He can defend, but he might not contribute on offense. Think of middle-management Isaiah Stewart as a prototype.
Henri Veesaar | UNC | Height: 7-0 | Wingspan: 7-2 | Age: 22
Our Sam Vecenie has him projected toward the back end of the first round/early part of the second round. He’s a good rebounder, solid scorer and flashed a bit of a 3-point shot last year. Defending in the NBA will be a massive challenge for him.
For full scouting reports, don’t forget Sam’s NBA Draft Guide. And check out his latest mock draft.
Trey Murphy III might be on the trading block. (Jarren Yamashita / Imagn Images)
Eye-opening
Did the trade market just get a big addition?
For the last two years, we heard a lot about teams getting ready for the 2026 offseason. For a bit, there was a mild hope you could pry Luka Dončić away from Dallas. Then it turns out, the Mavericks just gave him away. After that, the Lakers focused on building their team around Luka, properly, in 2026 and other teams have armed themselves with cap space and flexibility to be a part of big trades. The free-agent class isn’t as exciting as we hoped, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be stunning transactions.
One of those transactions could potentially involve the New Orleans Pelicans and a player they deemed virtually untouchable at the trade deadline. Trey Murphy III was someone a dozen or more teams wanted to acquire. Word was, the haul to get Murphy from the Pelicans was unreasonable. According to our old friend Anthony Slater, that might not be the case anymore:
Murphy could be more obtainable in this transaction cycle, league sources said. Murphy is a player the Warriors front office has circled for years as a prime wing who fits a need, the Kerr system and, at 25, accomplishes the goal of getting younger.
The Pelicans have clung to him tightly, but league sources said New Orleans has been signaling a desire to jump into the first round of next week’s draft.
The Pelicans, you’ll remember, do not have a first-round pick in this draft. Why? Last year, they traded the draft rights to Asa Newell (23rd) and the better of their pick and Milwaukee’s pick to Atlanta for Derik Queen (13th). The Hawks ended up with New Orleans’ pick at No. 8 in this draft.
Making Murphy available — or more available than he was in February — could be huge. Over the last two seasons, he’s averaged 21.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists with 46.3/37.1/88.7 shooting splits. For his career, he has a 60.6 true shooting percentage and a 38.2 percent 3-point percentage. He’s also a good defender, and has the potential to score a lot more.
If he’s available, teams like the Warriors, the Lakers, the Pistons, the Celtics and many more should be vying for his services. Not only is he talented, but he’s signed for $87 million over the next three seasons. That’s a bargain for what he does