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Come Fan with UsSaturday, June 20, 2026

Has J.R. Smith found a shirt yet?

Good morning. We have that and more in Tuesday’s NBA newsletter.

Good morning. Are we all still here? Good. Let’s basketball.

AFTERGLOW: Joe Posnanski, a Cleveland native, on the championship drought finally ending.

Lee Jenkins on LeBron’s dream series.

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Jason Lloyd on the Cavaliers’ dream come true.

Photo evidence of pure joy in Cleveland.

Photo evidence of Moondog relishing the moment.

How working class Cleveland celebrated.

How the Cavs celebrated.

Rodger Sherman on the finals as the best movie of the year.

Zito Madu on LeBron’s block.

Dan Devine on Kevin Love getting his stop.

LeBron + The O’Brien Trophy on the Kiss Cam at the Cleveland baseball game.

LeBron sipped tea right in front of the haters and pointed out that he was doing so.

A timeline of a shirtless J.R. Smith celebrating the championship.

Great Rachel Nichols interview with LeBron.

LZ Granderson on the end of acceptable LeBron hate.

AFTERMATH: Five ways the Warriors angered the Basketball Gods.

Marcus Thompson on the Warriors getting humbled.

Howard Beck on the limits to the Warriors’ magic brand of basketball.

Draymond Green on how it feels and why he sought out every Cav to congratulate them. (Draymond is so great.)

The stats from before and after the unveiling of Steph Curry’s new shoes.

LeBron wore an Ultimate Warrior t-shirt for the plane ride home.

A Cavs fan dabbed on poor Dell Curry after the game, and it was caught on camera.

Tim Kawakami reports the Warriors will chase Kevin Durant and ... Dirk Nowitzki.

Video essay by Marc Stein on the Warriors’ ultimate collapse.

THEY’LL BE BACK: I wrote about how well the Warriors are set up to return to the winners’ circle next year and every year after that so long as Steph Curry is young.

INTERESTING: Derek Thompson (who I quite enjoy on a variety of topics) explores why sports in Europe embrace capitalistic systems while major American sports leagues prefer socialistic economic structures. Something to keep in mind as $1 billion in cap space is doled out in the NBA this summer, with guys like LeBron and Durant having artificial limits on their earnings.

THE ANNUAL SB NATION NBA BLOGGER MOCK DRAFT!

THE EARTHQUAKE: Skal Labissiere will be a first-round pick on Thursday. This is his story of how he came to embrace basketball before the devastating Haitian earthquake of 2010, how he almost lost his life during it and how he made it to the United States. A gripping read and a helluva life story.

THE STRUGGLE: Taurean Prince will become an NBA player this week, too. Jessica Camerato on Prince’s horribly difficult path to this point.

OH BOY: The Vertical is doing a live draft show, and Adrian Wojnarowski promises to reveal and discuss news as it occurs.

JUST 3 DAYS LEFT: Help Game Point, a quarterly basketball magazine, get off the ground!

WHAT’S NEXT: The draft is Thursday and free agency begins eight days later. Longtime subscribers to GMIB know that there is no offseason -- we’ll be with you until next season tips off, albeit with shorter emails and some weekdays off during the doldrums. Party on, dudes.

See you next time.