Zach Lowe’s Wild Week: A Mets First Pitch, Croatia’s World Cup Must-Win — and a Giannis Trade He Still Bets Beats the Draft

NBA insider Zach Lowe spent the top of his latest podcast mapping out a three-day stretch that doubles as a sportswriter’s fever dream — and buried a small scoop inside it.

On the newest episode of The Ringer’s Zach Lowe Show, recorded with draft analyst Jonathan Givony, Lowe teed it up as “a scoop on the Zach Lowe show.” Months ago, he said, the Mets “approached me about a number of things” — and one of them was the ask: “would you want to throw out the first pitch on June 22nd?” His answer was immediate: “Hell yeah.” That puts him on the Citi Field grass the night before the NBA Draft, with an overnight in Queens, then a flight to Toronto on June 23 to catch Croatia at the World Cup.

The catch? June 23 is also draft day — the unofficial deadline for the offseason’s biggest domino.

Lowe is one of the most recognizable analytical voices in basketball, now housed at The Ringer, the media company founded by Bill Simmons. The invite itself, though, is pure baseball: he runs a recurring “Mets corner” on the show, and the team took notice. By his own cheerful admission, he’s “just a crazy fan” — which is exactly how this came together.

How to watch the Mets this weekend — and Monday

The Mets are on national TV all weekend, which means SNY and the MLB app are blacked out — here’s where to actually find them, right through Lowe’s big night:

• Sat, June 20 — Mets at Phillies, 7:15 p.m. ET: FOX (national); stream on Fubo or any service carrying your local FOX
• Sun, June 21 — Mets at Phillies, 7:20 p.m. ET: NBC (national), streaming exclusive on Peacock
• Mon, June 22 — Cubs at Mets, Citi Field, 7:10 p.m. ET: SNY — this is the one, with Lowe’s ceremonial first pitch pregame (weather permitting)

Radio all three nights: Audacy Mets Radio, WHSQ 880 AM / 92.3 HD2.

Lowe still bets Giannis moves before the draft

His read on Giannis Antetokounmpo hasn’t budged: Lowe said he’d “still bet on it happening before the draft.” The logic tracks with what’s been widely reported — Miami is the frontrunner, but Milwaukee isn’t sold on the Heat’s offer, which Lowe noted is hardly a revelation, since a deal the Bucks loved would have closed months ago. Boston is in it to some degree, and he wouldn’t rule out a mystery team still lurking. Most of it hinges on Antetokounmpo signaling he’ll sign an extension in October.

The clock is the story. Bucks ownership has treated draft night as a soft deadline, and Milwaukee badly wants a first-round pick in a class teams covet. Givony added a lesson from February’s deadline, when the Bucks made every suitor feel a deal was seconds away to extract their best offers — then walked.

The Toronto twist: a Croatia must-win

Here’s what makes the day cruel for Lowe. Croatia opened Group L with a 4-2 loss to England on June 17, turning their second match — against Panama at Toronto’s BMO Field, 7 p.m. ET on June 23 — into a near must-win. That’s the same evening Antetokounmpo could be dealt.

The nightmare scenario: Lowe screaming through a World Cup elimination scare in Toronto while his phone lights up with the trade he’s chased for weeks. His verdict on all of it? Nothing he can do. Giannis either gets moved or he doesn’t.

Source: The Ringer’s Zach Lowe Show — https://www.theringer.com/podcasts/the-zach-lowe-show