Cavaliers prank rookie Jaylon Tyson for failure to deliver doughnuts
When NBA rookies are given a task from the veterans, it is crucial for them to deliver.
After the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 109-104 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night, rookie forward Jaylon Tyson was greeted with a surprise in the team parking garage.
Tyson had been tasked with bringing his Cleveland teammates doughnuts, but he didn’t deliver.
As the former California standout shamefully approached his car with his head down, Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, who sat out against Brooklyn with a groin injury, told Tyson to “Take that walk.”
Tyson opened the driver’s door of his blacked-out four-door coupe to find it filled with popcorn.
“Bring the doughnuts,” the team hilariously shouted as Tyson opened the door, cackling.
Mitchell even took a handful of popcorn from the vehicle and ate it: “S— good, too,” he said.
Mitchell seemed to hint at the prank during the Cavaliers’ win as he sat on the bench eating a box of popcorn.
Cleveland clinched their first division title since the 2017-18 season in their Tuesday win, marking their first title without LeBron James since the 1975-76 season, according to ESPN Research.
Tyson, the No. 20 pick of the 2024 NBA draft, is averaging 3.1 points, two rebounds and one assist per game for Cleveland.
Fantasy basketball waiver wire pickups: Go get Naji Marshall, Stephon Castle
Working the waiver wire is pivotal to succeeding in fantasy basketball. With so many games, injuries and endless shifts in rotations throughout the marathon campaign, we’ll need to source stats from free agency to maximize imaginary rosters.
A willingness to entertain competition for the last few spots on your fantasy hoops roster can prove rewarding. When curating this fluid collective of statistical contributors, it helps to consider your end-of-bench players in direct competition with the talent floating in free agency.
The goal of this weekly series is to identify players at each position widely available in free agency in ESPN leagues. Some nominations are specialists capable of helping in one or two categories, while others deliver more diverse and important statistical offerings. In the breakdowns below, I’ve ordered players at each position with the priority of acquisition in mind, rather than roster percentage in ESPN men’s basketball leagues.
Point Guard
Stephon Castle, SG, San Antonio Spurs (rostered in 46.0% of ESPN leagues): The Spurs have some capable veteran creators in Chris Paul and De’Aaron Fox, but the team is clearly giving this Rookie of the Year favorite a valuable runway. In statistical terms, Castle has consumed a 30.8% usage rate over his past 10 games, compared to a rate of 24% in the prior 50 appearances. Can Castle be an offensive engine at times? The Spurs are growing confident in this answer.
Brandon Williams, Dallas Mavericks (8.4%): Desperation is a massive motivator. The Mavericks have somehow gone from being a team overloaded with creation to truly craving any sort of altruism. Williams went off a on Friday against Memphis with a career-high scoring showing (31 points), and he is likely going to be an important part of this new-look rotation until the finish.
Andrew Nembhard, SG, Indiana Pacers (15.6%): The Pacers need growth from their younger core to really ascend to contention. Is Nembhard’s recent rise in passing and scoring indicative of a deeper rotation? Well, yes. It’s rare that a system has this many assists to go around, but Rick Carlisle has engineered such an offense for two decades. Even when the roster is at full strength, Nembhard is intriguing.
