So we spoke a couple of weeks ago about the importance and the excitement of this summer.
Of the pro am.
You've got the Crossover, You've got Drulie, You've got Peach Jam.
I know that's high school, but doesn't matter.
You've got a bunch of these popping up all over the country. And he brings together all these elite NBA players and it gives local communities a chance to see these players up close and personal when they probably would never see them in an NBA game, and if they did, they'd be in the nosebley because of how expensive these tickets cost, which is why this news sucks so bad.
Chet Holmgren looks like he might have some ligament damage to his foot.
In the first quarter of the crossover game in Seattle, with a bevy of NBA stars including Lebron, Jason Tatum, de Jonte, Murray Pallo, BN Caero and Chet Holmgren, braun to outlet pass came barreling down the court as he does, like a train, and Chet Holmgren stood in his way. Good for Chet, by the way, just getting in the way of Lebron James nineteen years old, as big as a stick literally like a twig going up against the freight train. Anyway, he decides to put his body between
Lebron and the basket. He made a nice little defensive play, made Lebron James miss and then landed awkwardly on his ankle and poof night.
Over didn't look like it was too bad.
Turns out though, news comes out today and the reports are that he has quote potential torn ligaments in his foot. The timetable is now being developed to further evaluate the injury. That is terrible, terrible for Chet, worse for the Prorams. Prorams are now under attack. People are coming out of the woodworks being like, yes, we should never let these guys play in these unsanctioned tournaments of the games that
they already play for a living. So the same game had issues from the beginning with humidity, possibly from so many people jamming the inside of the gym, had to be stopped multiple times because the court was too slippery. Play was ultimately suspended in the second quarter. They basically canceled it because of quote unsafe conditions stemming from the condensation on the floorboards. What a janky ass seattle Jim
like this is why we hate Seattle. I don't really, but as a Portland person, you just hate everything about him and my worst fears, like I said, already being realized. The tweet from Charles Robinson, senior reporter from Yahoo Sports, the warning shot quote after this chet Hoolmegren injury diagnosis, hashtag NBA hate teams, he's.
Hashtagging the NBA, Charles, Charles, let's start again after this chet Holmegreen injury diagnosis hashtag NBA teams would be insane to let any.
Player screw around and participating in the program. I don't understand how this wasn't already a given, Charles. These grown men make their own decisions in the summer, so I don't know if you can necessarily try to say this should have already been sanctioned. The true League's been going on since the nineteen seventies, folks, like this has been you're just now aware of the prorams. Like I said,
the programs are incredible. They make superstars from Kevin Durant to Lebron to DeRozan accessible to communities, mostly inner city communities that simply cannot afford and will not ever pay to see them in person and if they do, it's
an event. This was what I thought was the beginning of something really special, which is the summer of the program where maybe in the off season we'll have people go around like the Harlem Globetrotters from city to city, playing in elite prorams and seeing guys for five dollars right,
get your gatorade. You go and sit in an over undersized, over sweaty jim and you watch Lebron James give chat home brin buckets, and now people think that we should be banning players from playing in them due to injury risk.
This is the player empowerment era.
This is not something that I think is gonna go anywhere, but I think it's something at least to note. If Demarta Rosen wants to play in the Drew League, He's playing in the Drew League. He's played every single year during his career. He's going to play unless he is
contractually forbidden to do it. And that would also then mean okay, well, what about all these little lifetime fitness pickup games that we see with pure sweat and you know, Drew Hanlin and all these things that we see on Instagram where it's like, oh, Carmelo and his hoodie was given so and so the business.
Like then that couldn't happen either, right.
Those games also not able because they are also have the same height heightened amount of injury risk. Every scrimmage would be off, every single one. Don't think it would be very easy to enforce, truthfully. This would be like the prohibition.
Era where there was like speak easies.
They're like pro ams speak easies, like hey, Lebron's coming through tomorrow at the YMCA and Columbus, Ohio like be there be square, like you have to have the password to get in. There's no phones allowed. It's like Dave Chappelle show, or you put them in a little like envelope and at lock shut to avoid that. And then it's like, oh de Jonte Murray towards MCL how do you do that?
Uh walk into the store. It's like, oh, okay, yeah.
So I think that's probably impossible to litigate, but it is gonna put the pro am under a microscope. And I think anytime we get to a point where players at some point are gonna make eighty ninety maybe one hundred million dollars a year, NBA teams are gonna find a way.
Are gonna try to find a way.
To preserve their golden goose, to put it in a little glass case until they can bring it out and show their friends. You can't play in any programs. You can only play for me. Hopefully Chet will be fine. Nothing's gonna come of this, But the fact that that's where the journalist's minds immediately went, it's troubling. Charles Robinson, allow the fun to go down. Programs are lit. We need more of them, not more scrutiny.