After being on opposite sides of an NBA Finals that ended just 3 1/2 months ago, New York guard Jalen Brunson and San Antonio center Victor Wembanyama found themselves with the exact same mindsets on Monday.
As proof, consider the descriptions offered about their summer vacations.
“It was short,” Wembanyama said.
"The longest, shortest summer ever,” Brunson said.
Short offseasons are the goal for every team in the NBA — because they want to play as long as possible, like the champion Knicks and runner-up Spurs did last season. And the journey toward potential title runs have now started in earnest around the league, with Media Days being held for most teams on Monday and practices for everybody happening on Tuesday.
“Right now, the best team in the NBA is the New York Knicks,” Miami forward Giannis Antetokounmpo said at Heat media day Monday, tipping his cap to the reigning champions. “And they have one of the best players, Jalen Brunson. ... But we’re going to do our job. We’ve got to do our job, man. If we do our job and we win games, then we’ll see.”
It's not an unheard-of approach, obviously, but it worked wonders for the Knicks last season when they ended a 53-year title drought for the franchise.
“Not being satisfied, I think, is the biggest takeaway moving forward,” Brunson said. “You still want to figure out how you can grow as a person and as a player.”
There is no shortage of teams in the league with confidence that they can contend, especially in this era of parity — with eight different franchises having won titles in the past eight seasons. Among the key moves from recent months: Philadelphia loaded up by adding LeBron James and Jaylen Brown, Miami added Antetokounmpo and Klay Thompson, the Toronto Raptors brought back Kawhi Leonard, LaMelo Ball headed to Minnesota and DeMar DeRozan is set to pair up with Nikola Jokic in Denver.
James — the NBA's all-time leading scorer, entering Year 24 of his career — was asked what he can do for the 76ers.
“Whatever the team needs for me to do,” James said, wearing his new 76ers uniform in public for the first time. “I think the luxury of my game is I can do everything. Literally, I can do everything.”
And while the Eastern Conference is loaded with depth, it's two Western Conference teams — the Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder — that are favorites to win the 2027 championship, according to most sportsbooks.
Wembanyama said the Spurs grew from the pain that came with losing to the Knicks.
“I’ve had a few sleepless nights; maybe not sleepless nights, but hard to find sleep sometimes or hard emotions. Haunting, sometimes,” Wembanyama said. "But there’s just a point where you accept that you have to go through it and you have to feel all of it.”
Some roster additions didn't even have to change addresses: Indiana, which lost Game 7 of the finals in 2025 to Oklahoma City, now has Tyrese Haliburton back after he missed all of last season with a torn Achilles, and that means the Pacers will also likely be among the many legit contenders in the East.
“I am healthy. I am 100%. There will be no restrictions,” Haliburton said. “That is not news. There is no source. I am the source. I’m good. I’m ready to go for the year.”
Leonard's return to the Raptors — he led Toronto to the 2019 NBA title — came after a year where the end of his tenure with the Los Angeles Clippers was overshadowed by a salary-cap-circumvention scandal that led to massive sanctions against his now-former team such as the forfeiture of five first-round picks, a $30 million fine and a one-year banishment of owner Steve Ballmer.
“I think the best decision is to move forward and focus on my time being a Toronto Raptor," Leonard said. "I already was a distraction for the past 70 days and wasn’t able to meet my teammates, do any of that minicamp stuff with them. Moving forward, I just want to talk about the Toronto Raptors. ... I just want to focus on basketball again.”
See AP’s full NBA coverage here
Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard speaks at the Raptors media day in Toronto on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 28, 2026--
U.S. Bank doubles down on its commitment to support small business owners with the launch of its U.S. Bank Business Essentials TM Visa® Card and U.S. Bank Business Essentials TM Plus Visa Signature® Card. The cards are designed for small business owners looking for straight-forward rewards on their everyday business purchases. Both offer unlimited 2% cash back on eligible purchases, plus the ability to earn higher cash back when paired with qualifying balances in a qualified business checking account. The card launch also debuts Jessica Alba, an experienced small business owner and actress, as the bank’s new small business spokesperson.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260927514978/en/
Business Essentials TM and Business Essentials TM Plus help small business owners increase their financial flexibility by offering expanded purchasing capacity to manage day-to-day expenses and improve cash flow management. Plus, by connecting their banking relationship, owners benefit from seamless cash back reward redemption into their qualifying business checking account or as a statement credit on their card. This allows owners to lower their operating costs by reinvesting back into their business.
Knowing small business owners want to spend more time growing their business than managing it, the cards allow them to centralize business expenses, protect against fraud and access spend management tools. The goal is to provide peace of mind when making business purchases and to make these purchases even more rewarding when owners manage both payments and banking with U.S. Bank.
“Small business owners employ over 61 million Americans and contribute to nearly half of our nation’s GDP; they deserve financial products that reward their ambition and empower them to succeed,” said Courtney Kelso, senior executive vice president of Payments, Consumer and Small Business. “Our new Business Essentials TM cards offer small business owners straightforward, easy-to-use benefits that help simplify their spending, banking and expense management.”
Key features include:
“Our goal is to build long-lasting relationships with small business owners through integrated solutions, not simply give them a card,” Kelso said. “The Business Essentials TM and Business Essentials TM Plus cards reward the strength of small businesses that build deeper connections with U.S. Bank.”
The cards also integrate key capabilities from U.S. Bank’s broader small-business banking services. The award-winning Spend Management platform comes with both the Business Essentials TM and Business Essentials TM Plus cards. With Spend Management, small business owners can easily capture receipts, track card spend, set card controls and integrate with existing accounting software. Also included is U.S. Bank Extend Pay, providing a convenient fixed-fee payment plan for large purchases.
Jessica Alba Campaign Launch
The Business Essentials TM cards launch includes a new advertising and marketing campaign featuring U.S. Bank’s new small business card spokesperson, Jessica Alba.
Alba rose to public prominence as an actress in the early 2000s, but she is equally famous for her work as an entrepreneur and philanthropist. She will appear in digital and television ads for U.S. Bank’s Business Essentials TM and Business Essentials TM Plus credit cards.
“Jessica is an ideal representative for our Business Essentials TM cardholders as she embodies many of the traits we celebrate among small business owners, including a tireless work ethic and the knowledge of what it takes to grow a business,” Kelso said.
About U.S. Bancorp
Headquartered in Minneapolis, U.S. Bancorp is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, the fifth-largest commercial bank in the United States. Our three major business lines serve 15 million clients throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe, and our team of nearly 70,000 people invest our hearts and minds to power human potential every day. Ranked 105th on the Fortune 500, we are deeply respected for our culture and long-term stewardship and admired for our diversified business mix and product capabilities.
Disclosures:
Deposit products are offered by U.S. Bank National Association. Member FDIC. The creditor and issuer of this card is U.S. Bank National Association, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc., and the card is available to United States residents only.
U.S. Bank Business Essentials Visa card.
U.S. Bank Business Essentials Plus Visa Signature credit card.
