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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Bryan Kalbrosky

Scottie Barnes hilariously welcomes Juancho Hernangomez, aka Bo Cruz, to the Raptors

Welcome to Layup Lines, our daily NBA newsletter where we’ll prep you for a tip-off of tonight’s action, from what to watch to bets to make. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every afternoon.

The Toronto Raptors have reportedly signed Juancho Hernangomez to a one-year contract, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

It’s not a particularly earth-shattering move for the Raptors, who will give some minutes off the bench to the journeyman big who has yet to find his forever home in the NBA. This will be the sixth team for Hernangomez since the 2019-20 campaign.

This transaction is particularly exciting, though, because the 26-year-old forward starred as Bo Cruz in Adam Sandler’s recent basketball film, Hustle.

Toronto’s Scottie Barnes, who won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year last year, welcomed Hernangomez to the team via Instagram.

Barnes shared a still from the movie in which Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards was savagely talking trash to the character Hernangomez portrays.

If you will recall, Barnes made a checklist of goals he wanted to accomplish during his rookie season. One such aspiration was to win Rookie of the Year, and another was to “destroy everyone at practice” in the process.

Perhaps we see Barnes giving Hernangomez a similar treatment to what we saw from Edwards in Hustle.

The Tip-Off

Detroit Pistons

Mike Sykes is back, folks, and he’s got some spicy opinions about the new Pistons’ throwbacks:

“These are good. Really good.

But…not to trample on the fun here. I just can’t help but wonder when the next time we’re going to get a new jersey design is. Not just from these Pistons — but from anyone across the league.

As good as these are, they’re part of a problem that we, as fans, haven’t talked about too much. And that problem is this: The NBA’s jerseys are getting boring. Very boring.

Let’s talk about it.”

Read the rest of his thoughts on the jerseys, and where the league is at with Nike’s designs.

Shootaround

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

— Jaylen Brown appeared to have a three-letter response to Kevin Durant, Celtics trade rumors

— Kevin Durant would cement the Celtics’ status as title favorites, writes Prince Grimes

— Rookie Wire’s Cody Taylor revisits his 10 bold predictions from last offseason

— HoopsHype ranks the top 25 point guards for the upcoming season

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