We’ve talked about the down and then down and then up and then down and then up again relationship between Dario Saric and T.J. McConnell on a couple of different occasions. I even made this terrible video:

But in the Ringer today, Dario told Ben Detrick something that just breaks our hearts:

“Sometimes in the games, he got one opinion and I got another opinion,” said Saric. “And we just talk about it. But that’s brother love. I love him so much. He’s got his fiancée, he getting married this September. He called me and said, ‘Can you come? Can you come, please?’ But I have a national team [obligation] in that time. Probably, I will not come.”

The very first thing we learned about Dario is that he sticks to his word. It’s important to him. He gave his word to his national team, and he’ll be with them in the 40th FIBA EuroBasket Tournament starting on August 31st. I understand that Dario is committed to the Croatian national team, and he’s been Croatian a lot longer than he’s known T.J. McConnell, but part of me wants him to just show up at the wedding after getting off the plane to Europe.

Later in the piece, Dario says he thinks he’s doing better because while he’s playing more minutes, “I have more balls in my hand.” We all do better with more balls in our hand. But The Homie did clarify one thing: He’s not exactly sure what “The Homie” means.

Fans have embraced “The Homie,” a handle that, like everything else joyful in Philly, emanated from Embiid’s Twitter account. Saric doesn’t quite get it, but the best sobriquets aren’t self-selected anyway. “I don’t know how I get the nickname,” he said. “I think it’s some kind of friendly neighbor, something like that. I like Super Dario more, but Homie is OK. It means they love you.”

“The Homie” is dead. Long live Dario “Friendly Neighbor” Saric.