Kentavious Caldwell-Pope says Donovan Mitchell, Tyrese Haliburton not superstars

“You got so many kids, man. You might lose count. He going for one more!” Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: “You should see me when all of them are sitting in one spot and I’m trying to talk to just one of them. I end up calling them every other name except the one I meant. It’s crazy. I’ll be like, ‘Kendrick… Kenzo…’—but I’m trying to talk to KJ. Tristan Da Silva: And they all start with a K too. Every one of them. My daughter’s name starts with a K. All of them: Kenzo, KJavius Jr., Kendrick, Kindle, Knowledge. -via YouTube / July 3, 2025

Former Magic wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said in the latest episode of his Dawg Talk Podcast (YouTube link) that he got a heads-up he would be traded to the Grizzlies before the agreement was reported last Sunday, so he wasn’t caught off guard when the news broke on social media. And while it took him a little time to wrap his head around the idea of changing teams again just one year after signing with Orlando, the 32-year-old is enthusiastic about what he’ll be able to bring to his new club in Memphis. “The more I talked about it, the more I got excited,” Caldwell-Pope said, singling out Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Zach Edey as new teammates he’s looking forward to playing with. “A lot of the guys over there I know and I’m going to enjoy playing with. Seeing them, playing against them and the style that they have, I think it fits right into my game.” -via Hoops Rumors / June 21, 2025

The best thing about the Desmond Bane trade is that it came out of nowhere. There were no leaks. No rumors. I simply woke up and found out that Bane now played for the Orlando Magic. That’s the way it should be. I wanted to get a sense for how out of the blue this trade was so I reached out to Zach Rodriguez, the founder of Fanspo, which hosts one of the most popular NBA trade machines on the internet. In the last year alone, Fanspo users created more than 120,000 fake trades, according to Rodriguez. I asked Rodriguez, of those 120,000+ fake trades, how many of them featured Bane being sent to Orlando in exchange for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Cole Anthony. Rodriguez queried his database and wrote back, “After some digging, I was only able to find two trades that involved these three players and only those two teams.” -via Substack / June 18, 2025

Donovan Mitchell: “I always say it — Evan doesn’t even know what he is yet. I’ve seen it in flashes. The Boston series, when I was out — he was him. Defensive Player of the Year at 23. First-Team All-Defense. But offensively? He’s just scratching the surface. He has it. Now, it’s about aggression, consistency, demanding the ball. That’s what I keep telling him: ‘No, we need more. Demand it. If I don’t pass you the vote, get on my ass. If DJ don’t give you the vote, get on his ass. If Ty don’t get it to you, get on his ass.’ And be okay with that. You know what I mean? And um I think that’s something that he’s continuing and he’s ready for it. I have no doubt.” -via YouTube / July 2, 2025

Donovan Mitchell: “I tell people all the time that was the first year in about five years where there was not a question of where is Donovan Mitchell going next. You know what I mean? Like and I was in Utah it was like where’s he going next? When I was in Cleveland he wasn’t. I was like I’m not staying. Oh, I’m not staying. He’s not staying. And then it became like after every win, after every loss, we go on a losing streak. It’s like oh this is why he’s leaving. You know what I mean? And I think it became it just became a lot. And I didn’t realize it in the moment. when you’re in it, you don’t really notice how much that really like, you know, stresses you in life. And not necessarily always in a bad way, but it’s just like it’s always on your mind. It’s on your teammates’s mind. That teammates got to answer these questions. My coach has got to answer these questions. You know, GM, everybody’s got to answer the question of like, where’s he going? What’s he doing? Um, even though I knew I was staying, even though they knew I was staying, it’s just still a topic of conversation. You know what I mean? I think for me, just being able to call a place home and be there and want to be there and be like, ‘All right, cool. This is this is where I’m at.’” -via YouTube / July 2, 2025

Donovan Mitchell: “Everybody wants to sacrifice until it’s their turn. I think that’s the one thing I learned and it’s like what are you willing to do to win? You know what I mean? And I think there’s growing pains in that, you know what I mean? I think this was a growing pain, you know, losing the way we we did. But looking at the season as a whole, you know, there was a lot of progression in a lot of fronts by a lot of people in our group, you know, and I think and that’s something for me and even myself, you know what I mean? I think it’s something that, you know, I’m not going to say I, oh, because of me, Evan did this or DG did that. Like, no, they they worked their tails off in their own right to be who they are. But I think for them, for me, them allowing me to lead in that way, I think, was was special, you know what I mean? I think for for me, um, as a leader, you can only lead if guys allow you to, you know what I mean? They could easily just be like, ‘No, you’re not listening to what you got to say, whatever.’ So, I I have the utmost respect for for my teammates in that regard for allowing me to do that.” -via YouTube / July 2, 2025

Once Tyrese Haliburton went down, however, Indy became vulnerable. “It changed everything,” one league source said Tuesday. Until that moment, ownership was willing to pay luxury tax for the first time in 20 years. -via New York Times / July 2, 2025

Shams Charania: Myles Turner, the longest tenured Pacer, made it known he wished to remain in Indiana. Since the Game 7 exit, Turner’s reps pushed to get a deal done. Ultimately, Indiana’s aversion to the tax, which grew after Tyrese Haliburton’s injury, allowed Bucks to get the new franchise center. -via x.com / July 1, 2025

“We had already convened a panel of experts before Tyrese’s most recent Achilles rupture,” Adam Silver said on the telecast. “We had seven this year. We had zero last year under the exact same circumstances. The most we’ve ever had in a season is four.” -via ESPN / June 26, 2025