MEM Season Outlook 2026-27 with Chris Herrington + Friday Daily Duncs (10/9/26)

These are the Thursday, October 8th, 2026 Daily Dunks.

Mike Breen on reporting LeBron James let Joel Embiid hear about it when Embiid was late to practice, which LeBron denied via Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

Quote, I don't know why the person who told me the story would make it up, but if LeBron says it never happened, then I believe him and apologize for putting it out there.

End quote.

I don't know what happened.

Breen called a source someone I trust.

In McMenamin's article, Breen sounded more bothered by how the story was interpreted than whether it was true.

Breen said he intended to praise LeBron's leadership, not a call to attention to Embiid's tardiness.

It's easy to see Breen falling on his sword rather than amplify a report that reflected poorly on Embiid.

But LeBron denies the report and not even Breen is standing by it.

There's no reasonable way to trust it.

Bruce Brown said the new CBA is good for only max players, top free agents, and maybe rookie extension players via SNY.

Quote, other than that, the middle guys, it kind of sucks for us.

And you see there's not a lot of people getting that full mid-level anymore, even the tax mid-level.

So it's tough.

End quote.

That's rich coming from Bruce Brown.

Bruce Brown.

Bruce Brown got a two-year $45 million contract under this CBA.

Granted, that was the first offseason of the new CBA, 2023.

Some of the restrictions didn't get implemented until the following summer.

There was no cumulative effect of the CBA being in place.

But Brown also had his $23 million team option exercised in 2024.

By that point, the CBA had taken greater hold.

Brown is on a minimum salary training camp contract with the Knicks, not because of the second apron, but because he has played near replacement level the last few years.