Cote’s Hot Button Special: Will LeBron join Giannis?, World Cup, Tkachuk X2, more
Note to readers: I’ve been away on a (spectacularly ill-timed) holiday the past few days and wasn’t going to have a new Hot Button Top 10 this Sunday, but, “No,” I said to myself, “too big a week!” So here’s a streamlined, special-edition Hot Button Top 5.
GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 5 (JUNE 28): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US THIS WEEK: Welcome to 155th edition of HB10, bringing you what’s on our minds through a Miami lens and accentuating stuff that’s big, weird, damnable, funny or worth needling as the sports week past pivots to the week ahead:
1. HEAT: After Miami’s seismic trade for Giannis ... is a LeBron reunion next?: The Heat rocketed from middling long odds to the fifth favorite for the next NBA championship with the seismic trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo from Milwaukee. Only San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Boston and champ New York have better odds. After taking a lot of heat (lower case) over the years for failed attempts on big signings, Pat Riley finally landed another whale in Giannis. Not since signing LeBron James in 2010 have the Heat made a move this big and bold. Speaking of LeBron ... lots of speculation that King James, a free agent, may be enticed by the Giannis signing to have a South Beach reunion. Too much to expect? Not anymore. Though the odds still feel a bit long, I hope it happens, and give it a shot. Giannis is a giant magnet.
2. SOCCER: U.S., Messi and Argentina lead round-of-32 as World Cup knockout stage begins: Forget the meaningless group-stage loss to Turkiye by an already-advanced U.S. side. Now begins the heart of the World Cup with the 32-team knockout round beginning today/Sunday. Key opening must-win matches include: Cote d’Ivoire vs. Norway on Tuesday in Dallas -- a difficult draw for both; the first U.S. must-win Wednesday vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina in Santa Clara, Cal. -- a should-be winnable draw for the Americans; and Miami’s round-of-32 game this coming Friday with Lionel Messi and Argentina a big favorite over Cape Verde. This thing cuts from 32 to 16 fast now. World Cup’s been great so far -- and it’s just gettin’ good!
▪ The Greg Cote Show podcast has a live World Cup contest among myself, Chris and Yeti with results based upon teams each of us drafted. Go here to track continuous live updates: cotecup.thegregcoteshow.com
3. PANTHERS: It’s Tkachuk X2 as Florida pulls off major trade: Brady Tkachuk was introduced as the newest Florida Panther on Tuesday as South Florida sports was dominated by the Giannis/Heat news. Tkachuk’s arrival in a trade with Ottawa for two first-round picks got thoroughly overshadowed -- but that doesn’t make it less important for the Cats as the two-time champs try to rebound from a (lately) rare non-playoff year. Brady joins bro Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe and of course the return of Aleksander Barkov to lead what should be an awesome offense.
4. MARLINS: Fish red-hot ... and why isn’t in Max Meyer in Cy Young race!?: The Marlins are 44-39, on a four-game win streak, on a 10-1 run at home, an MLB-best 18-5 in June -- and now tied for the top in the crazy-tight NL wild-card playoff chase entering today’s game in St. Louis. Meanwhile Max Meyer is now 9-0 after winning Friday’s 4-0 shutout of the Cards -- yet still nowhere to be found among leaders in NL Cy Young betting odds. That needs to change. He’s Maximum Meyer!
5. TENNIS: Eyes on Serena’s return as Wimbledon begins: Wimbledon starts Monday, and the 13-time champion Williams sisters’ doubles team reuniting in London is big news as 44-year-old Serena and Venus at 46 are a tandem once again. But dwarfing that news is Serena’s return in singles in a major for the first time since the 2022 U.S. Open. Her first opponent, less than half her age, is 20-year-old Aussie Maya Joint, No. 53 in the WTA rankings. Not expecting a ton from Serena at this point, although at least one singles win (maybe two?) would not surprise.
Other select most recent stuff from me:
