“I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team and I am so excited to energize a new fan base and start this incredible journey one last time” - Lebron
🎙️ Leading Off
Is there anything to actually analyze about Lebron moving to Philly? In theory, he chose the best team, as per his desires to continue competing, chase a ring, and be surrounded with talent. Why was San Antonio not considered? The Spurs inked Tobias Harris to a 2yr/$30m deal. Uh….should they have at least called LBJ? I don’t care. Bron moves east to live in NYC (very Taylor Swift), duck the Thunder, and play next to Tyrese Maxey. Amazing what accepting the vet minimum will do for your options. I’m genuinely without an angle for this and I haven’t seen/heard anyone else have one either. Philly has a deep, talented roster, a rabid fanbase, and incredible proximity to NYC. Expect Lebron to shop for a Tribeca penthouse with underground parking and a heli-pad within 15 minutes. THAT’S A GOOD LIFE. Don’t listen to anyone trying to tell you LA has good food. It’s entirely derivative of the eastern seaboard. Every Big Scene LA restaurant lacks any originality that hasn’t been performed 10 times in NY. And this groveling, performative attempt at execution. Please. Save it. Stick to Wolfgang makin salmon pizza. Bron’s gone. Hoagies all around. Except for Joel. He needs to keep the weight off for this team to have a chance against Wemby.
🏈 Hard In The Paint
(USA Today)
Extension Season. If you’re Baker Mayfield, you’re suffering from Extension Tension. Bake will head into the last year of his contract without any guaranteed seasons beyond this one. He’s set to be an unrestricted QB free agent because he and the Bucs couldn’t agree on a Big Number.
Pause - Football is back.
Resume - I know Jalen Carter just inked the largest contract ever for an interior defensive lineman, but his exact contract details aren’t public yet. Instead, let’s look at DPOY rival Will Anderson of the Texans. Anderson re-upped in Houston earlier this summer.
Headlines: three-year, $150 million extension averaging $50 million per year, with a $32 million signing bonus and $134.064 million in total guarantees.
Not Jaylen Brown money, but not bad I guess. You’re probably wondering: gosh, doesn’t the NFL have a salary cap, how can they afford this? Well, the NFL salary cap is fake. Anderson’s extension breaks down into a $1m salary in 2026 bolstered by a $32m signing bonus. That signing bonus is typically wired the minute the ink dries. For cap purposes though, the value of the signing bonus is spread across the duration of the contract. That’s the genesis of NFL deals. Players capture the bulk of their guarantees when the contract is signed, base salaries exist and grow incrementally, and the cap damage is manipulated across the duration of an extension. Houston structured Anderson’s deal to payout the signing bonus in 2026, roll existing seasons into the extension, and spread the bonus across a total of 5(!) seasons. $12m of the signing bonus counts in 2026 and therefore, the Texans are banking Will’s services for an on-cap amount of $13m (or 4.8% of the total cap).
Anderson’s base salaries never actually eclipse $50m per year. That’s right. An as reported $50m per year extension is comprised of annual salaries that don’t technically ever exceed $50m. Instead, Will’s base salary climbs to a max of $39m. Only by including the lower salary years on his existing deal can Anderson actually earn $150m over the life of his Texans career. And even then, he needs to play 5 full season in Houston (not 3). At no point will this contract ever exceed 13% of the cap, and it’s most likely destined to be ripped up after year 4. At that point, expect a new deal to reset Anderson’s cap hit to a smaller portion, and this game gets played all over again.
I can’t even say I’m describing this well, but I don’t think any NFL reporter is either when they announce a new contract. Here’s the point: expect to see big numbers, big headlines, and happy agents over the next couple of weeks. But remember, none of these players ever actually see the total figure reported. Football players are radically underpaid relative to Walker Kessler. More to the point, you’re favorite football team will never have to trade it’s second best player in a salary dump to a division rival just because of some pesky salary cap.
📻 Over The Air
📡 JumboTron: Wednesday’s Must Watch
All times PST
Yankees vs White Sox, 4:40pm Prime, Sox are kinda good this year?
MLS All-Stars vs Liga MX All-Stars, 5:00pm Apple TV, I signed up for the MLS but I didn’t know I signed up for this
☎️ The Phone Line
Best thing on the timeline today:
— (@)
— (@)
— (@)
Walkup Song
Walkup Song
311
For Jalen Carter in Philly:
Spotify