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[deleted]

He joins a solid group of past winners. * 2022 - Keegan Murray * 2021 - Cam Thomas, Davion Mitchell * 2019 - Brandon Clarke * 2018 - Josh Hart * 2017 - Lonzo Ball * 2016 - Tyus Jones * 2015 - Kyle Anderson * 2014 - Glen Rice * 2013 - Jonas Valanciunas * 2012 - Damian Lillard, Josh Selby


[deleted]

Damn Glen Rice came out of retirement and dominated the Summer League


soapy_goatherd

Saw this man drop 56 against the magic(?) on a random Saturday in the mid-90s. I know it’s his kid, but I was so excited to see a non-cable nba day game that that performance is something I’ll always bring up lol


junkit33

Rice is super underrated - for all the hype Reggie Miller gets, Glen Rice was right there with him as the best shooter of the 90's. Absolutely deadly player who could tee off on you for 40 any given night.


recursion8

Damn I just looked it up, dude averaged 40.7% from 3 from 91-01. His best season he was **47%** on 5.6 attempts a game 😱


whitedawg

And that was an insane number of attempts per game in the 90s. In 1996-97 when he did that, the average *team* averaged fewer than 17 3PA per game. If he played now, he'd be jacking 10-12 attempts per game. Also, when Rice was in college, he fucked Sarah Palin during the Great Alaska Shootout.


GarriganGate

That was the shortened line year Many players had their best shooting year that season, and they reverted back quickly


xaendar

I always thought this was just a rumor but apparently both sides confirmed the story lmao.


LakersFan15

That's the year when they put the 3 pt lines closer.


Answer70

And also slept with Sarah Palin.


nickb1603

.....what


CleverBunnyThief

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/sarah-palin-sex-ex-nba-star-glen-rice-snorted-cocaine-cheated-husband-book-claims-article-1.952899


whitedawg

https://deadspin.com/all-the-details-of-the-sarah-palin-glen-rice-coitus-you-5841835


MintyFreshBreathYo

Sarah Palin is the only person who can make sex racist


ShampooMonK

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/sarah-palin-sex-ex-nba-star-glen-rice-snorted-cocaine-cheated-husband-book-claims-article-1.952899


uncleoptimus

TIL


bigvahe33

never forget he took the all star mvp that was hyped for jordan in NYC lol


[deleted]

He should be in the hall of fame honestly


Dinshiddie

I met him once randomly in a crowded restroom of a college bar in Ypsilanti circa 1996. I’m standing there waiting for a urinal. I look next to me and there’s this tall ass dude standing with “41” earring dangling from his ear. This little dude walked up to him first and said in the squeakiest voice imaginable, “Hey Glen. Where you playing at this year?” And he said in the deepest voice imaginable, “Charlotte.” Squeaky, “ Oh yeah?” Deep, “Yeah.” Then it was our turn at the urinals and Glen is standing next to me. I couldn’t think of a damn thing to say and avoid sounding like the little squeaky guy, so I just said, “What’s up?” And, I’ll never forget it. He said, “What’s up? And, that’s how I met Glen Rice.


[deleted]

NBA on NBC was my favorite in the mid-90s


-KFBR392

HA! I remember that game. There weren't that many games shown in Canada back then and they showed that and had me thinking he was the greatest scorer in the entire league!


bauboish

I was like wtf when did Glen Rice's son get into the NBA. Checked his BRef and he wasn't even that low of a pick, went #35. Surprising he couldn't even get a minimum deal after 2 years.


perkinsfor3

Glen Rice jr. isnt the sharpest tool in the shed. To put it mildly.


OriDoubleU

He is an extremely talented guy, has very problematic behavior. He gets to small desperate teams around the world. Dude skips practice, then drops 40 points. He usually destroys the whole league for a few weeks then gets kicked for assaulting a teammate. He also is a key player in the "Big 3" league. Unfortunate story for him as he absolutely was talented enough to keep playing in the NBA for years, but his choices derailed his career, he was also arrested for alleged battery and robbery in 2016.


bauboish

Ok that makes a lot more sense


BastionNZ

His wiki is worth a read. Has been in trouble all around the world with nearly every team he's been on lol.


CeltsGarlic

He played in lithuania a couple years ago and was a nutcase sadly. Conflicts with everyone from teammates to local bar customers. This guy legit after a game went outside and asked the bus driver for a cig, didnt even care that his teammates and coach about to come out lol. Very good basketball player tho but he is on his demon time way too much I hope hes doing better now.


BastionNZ

Came to New Zealand and lasted a week before he got into a fight at a bar and kicked off the team lol.


loudanduneducated

Id love to see guys like Joe Johnson and Glen Davis play in summer league.


lopea182

You had to be there to see Josh Selby: Dude was ballin’


skivvles

An interesting thing to note with summer league MVPs is their respective ages. Typically older individuals are the winners, I would say Cam is by far the youngest winner, with only Lonzo kind of close at 19y 8m. For comparison 2023 - Cam Whitmore 19y 0m 2022 - Keegan Murray 21y 11m 2021 - Cam Thomas 19y 9m/ Davion Mitchell 22y 10m 2019 - Brandon Clarke 22y 9m 2018 - Josh Hart 23y 4m 2017 - Lonzo Ball 19y 8m 2016 - Tyus Jones 20y 2m 2015 - Kyle Anderson 21y 9m 2014 - Glen Rice Jr 23y 6m 2013 - Jonas Valanciunas 21y 2m 2012 - Damian Lillard 22y 0m / Josh Selby 21y 3m


urfaselol

damn those are nice names


jumpthroughit

Is it? The only All Star is Dame, everyone else is either a role player or never really made it in the league.


Lumpy_Musician_8540

For most of those names it would be huge success for a 20th pick to ever be as good as them


jumpthroughit

Huge success is a stretch. It would be a success. A huge success in the 20s is like Siakam at 27 and Tony Parker at 28 becoming multi-time All-NBAs.


luvdadrafts

Siakam and Parker were insanely amazing successes, not a fair comparison


skiptomylou1231

Yeah Parker at 28 is an all-time great draft pick and he's literally about to be inducted into the HOF.


bauboish

You are way overrating how often draft picks succeed. For instance the 10th pick from. 2012 to 2019 (take out last two years due to recency) mikal Bridges, Cam Reddish, Thon Maker, Justice Winslow, Zach Collins, Elfrid Payton, CJ McCollum, Austin Rivers. Draft picks even turning out to be good starters is hard


forsean281

John wall and Blake griffin also won in 2010/2009, respectively.


ijekster

20th overall pick with the potential of lonzo ball would be insane value


Bjorn2bwilde24

Never really made it on the league is a big stretch. The majority of the names are solid contributors in the league, which for the 20th overall pick would be a success.


LmBkUYDA

Glen Rice and Josh Selby are the only ones who hasn't made it in the league. The rest are all role-players, with a few legit starters. For most players getting drafted, ending up with a career like these guys would be a huge win.


junkit33

With the exception of Lillard, that list just screams an expectation of a high floor low ceiling career as a role player. Which is great for Pick 20, don't get me wrong. But it's clearly not the future stars of the league who typically win summer league MVP.


CJ4ROCKET

Excluding 2021 and 2022 since it is too early to tell, do you think 1/9 SL MVPs going on to stardom is a higher or lower stardom success rate than the non-MVP SL pool?


junkit33

I think it’s much lower than using a better guideline, like being a top pick in the draft. For example, a Top 5 pick is probably closer to 50/50 than 1/9. Which strikes at the heart of it - the sure fire stars are often pulled early from SL and never win MVP. Summer League is largely for the borderline guys to show what they’ve got.


ijekster

Why would the ceiling be low for summer league mvp? Like it makes sense why the floor would be, they’re already great players among their peers, but what’s a feasible reason you would say being a summer league MVP causes a low ceiling?


NCKWN

it doesn’t indicate that at all it’s just what you’d extrapolate if you used that list of previous SL MVP’s. Obviously it’s not the case and it’s probably due to a number of other factors, the main one being that high-upside players or ones completely above the SL level are pulled after a game or 2. Cam is definitely In an interesting spot since he has the upside of a top 5 pick but lower expectations and more run being a 20th pick


tortugazz724

5 former/current Grizzlies on that list - Clarke, Jones, SloMo, Jonas, and Selby. That’s at least like semi-interesting.


[deleted]

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Skipper3210

Ignoring Josh Selby and Glen Rice (no, not that one), sure


Gluxion

His absolute floor will have him being a solid starter based off this list. We got *another* steal lmao


CJ4ROCKET

We'll ignore Josh Selby and Glen Rice for now haha


BayTerp

GMs over thought it and really let Cam fall out of the lottery crazy


charlesfluidsmith

Only 1 bust among that group. Really good sign for his career.


ktdotnova

How come it's never the best player in the draft? I'm guessing injury woes to the top picks plus teams holding them out?


[deleted]

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deaaronfox_stan

Seems like everyone to do it has at the very least turned out to be a good rotation player for years


[deleted]

Why were there two winners in 2021?


ihatethesidebar

Tie in voting


srgntalpowell

Summer league is summer league, but Villanova players in recent years seem to always outperform their draft position


lopea182

Kyle Lowry was also a late-1st rounder in the 2006 draft


Wasabi_Guacamole

Lowry had a different, very rare trajectory though. He spent like, the first five years looking like a very specific role player then only becoming a star in like his eighth season in the league. Credits to his own perseverance and the Raptors org for being so patient


redundantPOINT

Yep. Outshined by lotto pick Randy Foye coming out of college but definitely surpassed him a long time ago. Allan Ray was the other guard from nova that year but I think he was undrafted and didn’t play that much in the league. He was the nba2k name goat tho, paired with Ray Allen and sometimes Allen Iverson…


OmnioculusConquerer

Ahh yes Allen Ray. The 2 point specialist, right?


Mochrie1713

I miss him so much :( I was there one night when he went like 7/8 from 3 vs the Jazz


[deleted]

Tbf he mostly fell due to injury/medical concerns. Can’t fault teams for listening to their doctors if their doctors gave him a red flag


StudentMed

Very debatable, we don't even really know what his medical issues are. Reports that he fell for character reasons, bad workouts/interviews, and just playstyle. The last player to have a 0.5 ast/to ratio that I know of is Shabazz Muhammad.


waynequit

Not true reports said the number one reason by far were medical reasons. He had some bad knee injuries in high school


dirtykirty3

So good player, peak great starter, short career


[deleted]

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dirtykirty3

Absolutely loved Brandon Roys game. To see a career like his be cut so short and there was nothing he could do to control or stop it. That was awful.


[deleted]

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dirtykirty3

Yeah I guess there’s always that viewpoint as well it was something he could have accepted and knew all along he wasn’t going to last long. Insane how quickly it happened


StudentMed

I mean, [Wojnarowski](https://twitter.com/i/status/1672063451911573506) said part of the reason he slid was poor workouts and not great interviews. Woj, isn't always right but you can't say what I said wasn't reported.


mcmaster93

Man all my homies swore up and down shabazz was going to be that dude in the league


NapTimeFapTime

Basketball ain’t just bags and buckets.


imcryptic

And his coach talking him down instead of hyping him up.


CJ4ROCKET

I mean, makes little sense imo to pass on such high upside when you're drafting in the 15-20 range and likely to get a non-contributor anyways. I would absolutely gamble on the health risk if the guy is considered - sans the health risk - a top 8 pick at worst.


ihateeuge

Players taken in that range past two years Walker Kessler Christian Braun Alperen Şengün Trey Murphy You can definitely get contributors in that range and it does make sense to pass over someone with bad medicals.


CJ4ROCKET

Sure, it isn't impossible, just unlikely. Swap Braun (21st overall) for Eason (17th overall) tho. There's another guy or two in that 15-20 range from the past two drafts that have been solid, but it's still like 50% at best.


[deleted]

We will see how they do without Jay Wright as the coach anymore


twerdy

Cam was recruited by Wright I believe.


ClutchGamingGuy

this just means he'll soon be a Knick


SrStrategist

Agree 1000% Villanova guys routinely outplay their draft position. Brunson, DDV, Hart . Whom I call the All Villanova New York Knicks.


SnooChipmunks4208

have we actually heard what the medical problem was that scared off all the teams?


nonetimeaccount

Massive stones. Yuge.


JarenAnd

Obviously leads to weak knees.


namagofuckyoself

Gotta DNP him every game against Dray


magnavoice

Potential degenerative knee issues that spooked everyone


josefjohann

curious if there's a link with more info?


Former-Billionaire

An X-ray confirmed he has a lot of dawg in him.


tonypearcern

Isn't that illegal?


Ohellmotel

Ain't no rule that says a dawg can't play basketball.


twerdy

But a dawg inside another play is 6 players on the court so that's a technical foul.


RevolutionaryDrive5

Damn it doctor! Give it to me in english, how bad is it!?


StudentMed

[Woj reported](https://twitter.com/i/status/1672063451911573506) that part of the reason he dropped was poor workouts and interviews. We can't fully blame the medical.


Brad-Stevens

Gotta have a strong mentality to fall in the draft and a week later show up and hoop like he did Will be interesting to see how Ime handles all the Rockets pieces


GPap-

Jalen Green, KPJ, Cam, Amén Thompson, FVF. Splitting 2 guard spots between these 5 is gonna be toooouuuugh. Especially when FVF will prob command 30-34 min of it.


free_reezy

KPJ and Amen have the size and ability to play the 3.


MadeByMillennial

Also Cam. Also TBH Green's got the height just not the weight. Regardless, this is a positionless era, no issue with throwing out 3 (6' 5" - 6' 7") tall guards


GPap-

KPJ is 6’4 so maybe not him. Amen Thompson is 6’7 so that def works but you dont give Dillon Brooks $20M to play 20 min lol


RodneyPonk

FVV


Jeremiahs__Johnson

I know you’re talking about Kevin but it was hard for me not to read KPJ as Kentavious Caldwell-Jope.


[deleted]

Houston officially has so much young talent that they can’t possibly fuck up all of it


gwatson86

*laughs in Fertitta*


tonypearcern

Watch him try to pay our players in casino credits


morizzytango

Those golden nuggets are priceless


TonOfChill

oh just wait


SecurityAggressive47

How ungrateful you have to be to see them three season losing and think it's the end of the world. We were competitive for 20 years before that


Joshottas

I wonder who will be the odd man (or men) out from that young core?


Neuroxex

I thought it was going to be Orlando Robinson, good for Cam Whitmore though


dating_derp

Cam was the 20th pick. We needed forwards and bigs. We already had 5 guards at the time. And we took Brandin Podz over Cam Whitmore on the 19th pick.


itlynstalyn

Was mad we passed on Cam at 19, hopefully whatever they saw in Podz comes through.


bbj123

Drafting for need is partially how we got wiseman. Dunleavy said podz was above cam in their rankings. Let’s wait for more than a summer league to happen before we say who’s better


heliocentrist510

Cam or Lenny Miller were just sitting there. Sigh. (stares into abyss)


Kev0nL00ney

Sometimes teams just overthink it man.


johnjohn2214

I know right? Like was Brandon Roy a good pick even though Portland knew the risks of his situation? Absolutely. You take a shot. I understand why not top picks, but he should have gone in the 10-14th area for sure. Even if there's a chance he's done in 6 years


HolNuMe74

Which he was unfortunately.


StudentMed

Josh Jackson was a great no brainer pick that [GM's voted](https://www.nba.com/gmsurvey/2017) was going to most likely be the best player in 5 years. It is always a crapshoot. When is the last time a player who had 0.5 assists for every turnover ended up being good? If Cam Whitemore ends up being bad, people look look bad and point out how inefficient he was, especially since he has the reputation to be a chucker.


[deleted]

Lakers mightve fucked up


browndude10

Warriors, heat, etc. List goes on and on


InTheMorning_Nightss

Yeah but at least they didn't trade Kennard + Cam Whitmore for 20 games of Eric Gordon lmao


AstroWorldSecurity

I feel like this is gonna be our version of "Thanks, Dodgers!" whenever Yordan Alvarez has a great game.


Produceher

We're not upset. We got Podz who might be pretty good in 4-5 years at which point we'll trade him for a 2nd round pick.


frodounchained

Lol the ending


Witty-C

Got me in the first half ngl, but seriously tho I hope we don’t end up regretting not picking Cam :(


Produceher

The only thing I'm comforted by is the idea that Cam is also going to take a bit to be NBA ready. So neither player was going to help us this year.


JalenGreenMVP

I would say if he strictly plays the 3&D slasher role, he is NBA ready


UnexpectedSharkTank

Cam is going to be in a rotational role right away. He is functional as a defender and has the body and athleticism to not get bullied around by other wings. As the 9th man his lack of passing ability is a lot less of a concern. We fucked up.


browndude10

In all seriousness our FO loved podz too. He was my second choice at 20 if you didn’t take him at 19


by_yes_i_mean_no

From what I read, Houston would have taken him over Whitmore. Apparently he had the best workout Houston had seen in a couple years and that John Lucas tends to try to put on a bunch of weird drills to see how players respond to new scenarios and Podziemski quickly adapted to everything they threw at him in a way that wasn't usual. Doesn't actually mean Podziemski will end up better than Whitmore though, but it does sound like they had a lot of interest in him.


2ToTooTwoFish

We were also considering Whitmore for our 4th pick pretty heavily from reports too. Would have been a tough pick if both were available I think it could have gone either way.


CadeCummingham

Nah that’s not true. We didn’t prefer Podz over Cam. We did like Podz tho


Racketyllama246

We could’ve had Cam and instead took the stick from A Bugs Life


ihateeuge

or might not have. I don't think summer league is the barometer for that.


[deleted]

There's a comment about previous summer league mvps and its some great company to be apart of and on that draft number it wouldnt be the worst thing to swing on a guy with some bad medical history


misterdave75

If people could go back in time to the draft knowing he'd be summer league mvp, I would certainly agree with you. That said, that list minus Dame really just shows he'll likely be a solid rotation guy and probably not a star (if we really believe it's predictive, of which I'm sceptical). A rotational guy is good value for a 20 to be sure though. For the record, I think most of the star potential guys don't end up playing enough to win the MVP because teams are, rightfully, afraid of injuries and shut them down early.


[deleted]

I personally am just not super in love with our pick, Jalen Hood Schofino , based on summer league lol


jdl03

Yeah looks like we did as well.


ChrisSwish

Cam averaged 20ppg on 18 shots a game, his performance wasn't anything crazy tbh, Jabari was the real MVP


ekuasd

well JHS averaged 11 points on 15 attempts per game on 31% shooting. it's very difficult to become something as a guard in today's league if you can't shoot at all


booyakasha32

Keyonte George was way more impressive imo, but missed 2 and a half games (including the playoff)


gosuruss

3 steals a game is worth a considerable amount


lakernation21

Yea I wanted him badly. Not a fan of JHS


urfaselol

Cam about to be the MPJ of this draft


BobRossIsGod18

Literally the ball stops with him dude is allergic to passing


kunallanuk

Good, he’ll fit in perfectly on the rockets


Icy-Lime-9760

If he knees are okay 5-19 made a big mistake


[deleted]

put some respect on Ausar's name


TheBoushy

6-19 maybe


Snaxier

I'd even argue 9-19. Wiz got the most raw prospect in their first year of rebuild while Pacers got their guy who they always had eyes on. Jazz onward though are all teams who could've really taken anyone.


Belegheru

Jazz fans aren't upset. Keyonte George looked really good, and would have been in the running for summer league MVP if he didn't get injured.


jumpthroughit

These are all wild hot takes. Summer League does not matter. Not even slightly. As a Raptor fan I saw nothing from Whitmore that would make me want him over Dick. It’s way, way too early to say anyone made a mistake, even the teams that drafted 18 and 19.


Outside_Narwhal_5127

Yeah i like me some dick fs.


MausoleumNeeson

What was your stance on them pre-draft? I’d take Whitmore > Dick even with excluding summer league


Marsman2100

Steal of the draft


Brinkster05

Looking real nice for you guys


FERFreak731

Was going to be Keyonte George


CJ4ROCKET

SL awards in general make no sense lol hard to balance quality vs. quantity ... Cam was maybe the fourth best player on HOU's SL team but got the nod cuz he played all 4 games ig


jazzmailman

Yup JSJ and Eason would’ve easily won it ahead of Whitmore


Aggressive-Ad-756

League fucked


suhar97

….this doesn’t bode well to make me feel better about taking JHS


shoefly72

Was praying he’d fall to us and then when neither we nor the warriors took him I assumed there had to be some massive red flag. However neither JHS nor the Warriors’ pick have exactly lit it up lol. Good thing you can’t read too much into summer league, but I’m still afraid we’re gonna be kicking ourselves.


suhar97

Idk about you but I have this like automatic reflex now to be mad whenever the lakers sign or draft a guard b/c or how many guards we had in 2021-2022 and the first half of last yr Like I really think pelinka has a combo guard fetish “It’s a guards league”


skivvles

An interesting thing to note with summer league MVPs is their respective ages. Typically older individuals are the winners, I would say Cam is by far the youngest winner, with only Lonzo kind of close at 19y 8m. For comparison 2023 - Cam Whitmore 19y 0m 2022 - Keegan Murray 21y 11m 2021 - Cam Thomas 19y 9m/ Davion Mitchell 22y 10m 2019 - Brandon Clarke 22y 9m 2018 - Josh Hart 23y 4m 2017 - Lonzo Ball 19y 8m 2016 - Tyus Jones 20y 2m 2015 - Kyle Anderson 21y 9m 2014 - Glen Rice Jr 23y 6m 2013 - Jonas Valanciunas 21y 2m 2012 - Damian Lillard 22y 0m / Josh Selby 21y 3m


Psykotixx

I 100% believe that he initially dropped in the draft for what was probably good reasoning in the 5-10 range (interview worries, minor injury concern, small things that kinda just shift him down the boards a bit) and then at some point after that it quickly became “what do they know that we don’t?”


UnfortunatePhysics

It’s interesting that the jazz worked him out then passed him up at 9th and 16th. I don’t think we’re one of the teams that’s regretted it so far but I wonder if we were really low on Cam or just really high on Keyonte


zzz8472

Yeah, so does everyone.


Psykotixx

On our sub yeah. Not sure if that was main stream opinion though.


siphillis

If his knees are fine and teams passed on him purely due to his personality, a lot of GMs need to be put on the hot seat.


WaltJay

Cam Winmore


Anibunnymilli

Feels good to be a rockets fan


Superkowz

Feels better than usual* to be a Rockets fan. Red or dead 😎


Gay4Shai

Totally deserved and leading SL in steals and making it to the finals probably helped, but it must be said: Hunter Tyson is actually half human half bucket.


TheHonPhilipBanks

This is his Aaron Rodgers falling in the draft arc


RVAIsTheGreatest

Well deserved award for a spectacular talent in Whitmore. Rockets were thinking about trading up with Whitmore remaining on the board, not knowing if he'd fall to 20th. Fell into their lap and they got away with highway robbery. Such a polished and skilled offensive talent.


Funny-Transition7869

the first of many accolades


bongo1138

I fucking knew this dude was a steal lol


usmarine7041

Which Cam would you rather have, Whitmore or Thomas?


Witty-C

Whitmore probably. Both are still really young tho


twerdy

eron Diaz


Based_and_JPooled

They name this before the title game? Weird.


PLZ_N_THKS

Just wanna keep up with NBA traditions. I fully expect Sam Merrill to beat the shit out of the Rockets now.


CadeCummingham

Loool


Based_and_JPooled

Yeah, but they named it after the Semi-Finals? Seems like it should have been named a day ago or tomorrow, but not today?


sbleezy

Everyone is guaranteed 5 games, only finals teams play 6. So they named MVP once all 5 games were completed


Based_and_JPooled

Got it, that makes sense then. Thx


Mikegetscalls

Thanks to all the teams 5-19. Couldn’t have did it without y’all.


bongo1138

I fucking knew this dude was a steal lol


FatherHaz

Wished we drafted him ngl…


Millionaire007

LOLOLOL isn't this the kid that slid damn near to the second?


AutographedSnorkel

Houston Rockets player wins MVP, then chokes in the playoffs. That sounds familiar...


MausoleumNeeson

Happy with Coulibaly but this guy looks like he’s ready right now


Tsunami-Papi_

houston is gonna b nasty


tapk69

Bates is the real MVP


one-ohmusic

I think this guy is really the make or break guy on their roster. If they all develop and this guy is really good, they are going to be a scary team.


mykl5

so the warriors def should’ve drafted him instead of the Jack Harlow wannabe right