Good morning. Shout-out to Mike Prada for handling the newsletter again. He's a pro. Let's basketball.
BE MY VALENTINE: Denzel Valentine hit a pretty crazy buzzer beater to win the Summer League crown for the Bulls. And then the man dropped the hottest line of the summer. (Be right back, going to go buy a Denzel Valentine jersey.)
THE PLOT THICKENS: Word is the Thunder want to spend some of their remaining cap space on massive raise for Russell Westbrook. The upside is that he could get that by signing an extension that includes a renegotiated 2016-17 salary, a la James Harden. To keep that option alive, the Thunder rescinded their quality offer on Dion Waiters, making him an unrestricted free agent. And the Kings weep for having blown their space on Arron Afflalo, Garrett Temple and Matt Barnes ...
SPEAKING OF OKC: Kevin Durant spoke at Team USA practice in Vegas. Sam Amick has a nice roundup of KD's continued response to the backlash and the posturing out of OKC over his flight to Golden State this summer.
AND 1: Nice Anthony Slater dive into the Westbrook stakes for OKC.
BUDDY REFLECTS: Buddy Hield tells Tim Cato how he plans to use a dicey Summer League performance as motivation for his rookie campaign.
THE NEW PROCESS: Nice Chris Mannix column on how Philadelphia plans to build around Ben Simmons, who looks like some amazing fun at the very least.
THE WORST? Todd Whitehead at VICE Sports asks whether this is the worst incarnation of Team USA in the NBA/Olympic era. The piece includes a thorough head-to-head breakdown comparing the 2004 and 2016 editions, a breakdown which a) makes clear the 2016 edition has much more top-line veteran talent and b) doesn't mention that Larry Brown turned in one of the all-time worst coaching performances ever in '04.
THE BLOCK: Jason Concepcion waxes on LeBron's The Block.
IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING: It sounds like Kevin Garnett might not make it back into playing condition for yet another NBA season, as NBA.com's Steve Aschburner writes. It'd be something to see KG, Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant -- three of the six players who defined their generation -- retire in the same summer. (The other three: A.I., Dirk and Shaq.)
LEGACY: David Aldridge on Tim Duncan's legacy is a must-read.
TO LIVE AND FEAR TO DIE IN L.A.: David Fizdale is fascinating as a person, and this Marc Spears story on his childhood is riveting.
SURE: Miles Plumlee gets $52 million over four years from the Bucks. More signings.
[SPITS COFFEE ON THE SCREEN] The Warriors' supposed asking price for a six-and-a-quarter square-inch sponsor patch on their jerseys in 2017-18 is $15-20 million. Reminder: the Sixers got $5 million from StubHub.
SUMMER READING: HP's big summer group read of Ball Don't Lie is here.
Be excellent to each other. See you next time.