Racers

Many people were pleasantly surprised to hear the news that Michael Jordan opened his fourth free health clinic in his home state of North Carolina. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/in-this-trump-era-michael-jordans-free-health-clinics-are-very-much-needed-">This new clinic, established in collaboration with Novant Health, focuses on providing care to uninsured and underinsured patients.</a>&nbsp;
This is a stark contrast to the overall perception of Michael Jordan as the athlete who doesn&rsquo;t care about his community or anything outside of himself.&nbsp;
I figured it was a good time to revisit an interview i conducted with Athlete Activist Legend Craig Hodges for <a href="https://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/police-brutality-and-white-supremacy-the-fight-against-american-traditions/">my book Police Brutality And White Supremacy &ldquo;The Fight Against American Traditions."</a>
Here is an excerpt of our interview in which Craig Hodges goes back to 1991 when the Rodney King beating happened and he was frustrated that Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson in particular were reluctant to make a public statement during the NBA Finals.&nbsp;
During the interview, I made the correlation to the movie &ldquo;One Night In Miami&rdquo; in which Malcolm X was frustrated with Sam Cooke, but was proud to see the eventual maturation and realization of the power of his voice. This was really a powerful discussion. I condensed the interview for the purposes of this article.
Etan: What were your thoughts after you first saw the Rodney King beating ?&nbsp;
Craig Hodges: The biggest part was just the shock. Seeing four or five policemen pummeling the brother mercilessly with their night sticks. And the manner in which they did it was just left me speechless. It was beyond brutality. I looked at it and said regardless to what the Brotha did, no human being deserves to be beaten like that. You had 4 or 5 cops surrounding him, he was on the ground, there are measures you can take to subdue him without beating him like that. But unfortunately, this has been the mentality of policing in America for generations and nothing has changed but with Rodney King that was one of the first times everyone could see it happening in real time. And the fact that someone was smart enough to tape it brought it to America.
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Etan: I remember being in middle school and the first thing I thought was they wouldn&rsquo;t treat a dog like this.
Craig Hodges: Exactly, and this happened right at the beginning of the NBA Finals and some athletes were speaking about it others weren&rsquo;t but I was like, any and everybody should be able to speak to this because this could be your brother this could be your father or your uncle. And it was just too obvious and blatant what was going on as far as the racism and the evil of police brutality right there for all of America to see&nbsp;
Etan: It was really horrifying like traumatizing for me seeing that as a kid.
Craig Hodges: It was traumatizing for me as an adult. Things like this is what made me feel the need to have to be vocal while I was playing in the league. I was an athlete but this goes for everyone no matter what your occupation is, you have to be able to stand on truth and for what is right and to call out what&rsquo;s wrong. We as a society have been collectively letting so much slide and we just can&rsquo;t allow it anymore. And we have left a lot on the table for the next generation to fight for, and they are fighting for now. &nbsp;
Etan: The frustrating part is the bar is set so low. We&rsquo;re starting the discussion just fighting for our humanity.
Craig Hodges: We get caught up so much of our differences whether we&rsquo;re Republican, Democrat, Christian, Muslim, all of these different labels that divides us. Yes we are all humans and that&rsquo;s the basis that we should be unified on. Kwame Ture told us it&rsquo;s all about organization and we have to all bring what we can to the table and we all have different strengths and attributes and we have to use all of them for this fight.
Etan Thomas: It&rsquo;s interesting you say that, there is this movie One night in Miami, fantastic movie, that depicts a night in Miami with Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke. There is a part where Malcolm X and Sam Cooke are having a back and forth and Malcolm X is challenging him, and you&rsquo;re the first person I thought of when I saw this, he&rsquo;s telling Sam Cooke listen, you&rsquo;re the most talented Brotha on earth, your voice can captivate audiences both Black and white, you have all this power, you can play in white venues and be accepted, other musicians can&rsquo;t do that. And then he told him, you&rsquo;re not using the power for good. You&rsquo;re not challenging what is happening to us in society. Malcolm X said to him Black People are dying in the streets and we cannot afford to straddle the fence anymore. We have to pick a side, either you&rsquo;re on the side with us or you&rsquo;re on the side with them. And it was this intense discussion with them. And you know where I&rsquo;m going with this. Did you ever feel that level or frustration in relation to what we&rsquo;re talking about now with Rodney King and everything that was happening to us at that time. And you want to do that recruiting that Kwame Toure was talking about and that unification and strength in numbers but you see some people just not on board with it and thus the frustration.
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Craig Hodges: Yes I know exactly where you&rsquo;re going with this and to answer your question yes I did. And trying to get someone to see it is one hurdle, but to get someone to feel it is a whole nother mountain to climb. I feel blessed that i was raised the way I was raised so a lot of things, I didn&rsquo;t have to figure out. We&rsquo;re at that point now where there is enough information out for people to be able to easily educate themselves as to what&rsquo;s going on. There&rsquo;s really no excuse right now. You can&rsquo;t say, I didn&rsquo;t know about this anymore because it&rsquo;s everywhere. During the 90s when Rodney King happened, we had great athletes who were similar to Sam Cooke as far as their leverage in white communities and not nation wide but world wide, and the option was, do I make a stand or do I get paid ? And that&rsquo;s what it boiled down to and people were hesitant because they were afraid that it would hamper their ability to earn. And that has been the common denominator in us coming up short. Those who have been in position to really make a difference don&rsquo;t. And what I saw from a lot of athletes was I&rsquo;ll play my career and then come back after and revisit Black people and Black Issues after. And from my standpoint, during the time where you are making the wealth and you have the bully pulpit to speak from, utilize that. You may not be able to be all out Malcolm X with it, but you can definitely have impact. The Rodney King incident really brought to life what Black People have been facing for centuries and that&rsquo;s something that not just athletes, but everyone should be able to speak on.&nbsp;
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Etan Thomas: And one thing that was great about the movie One Night In Miami was at the end it showed Malcolm&rsquo;s impact on Sam Cooke. He was on this program, and was singing the songs that they liked, and then he said he wanted to sing a song that hadn&rsquo;t been released yet and it was A Change Is Gonna Come. And it was passionate and moving and Sam Cooke dropped a tear at the end and they showed Malcolm X looking and he was smiling and it was beautiful to see because even though they were arguing and they were really arguing like almost came to blows arguing, but you saw that he heard Malcolm X. Now, I want to make this correlation to you and Michael Jordan because people still write it now and say Craig Hodges was talking bad about Michael Jordan and no it wasn&rsquo;t that and it wasn&rsquo;t personal but you saw MJ and the impact he could have had the same way Malcolm X saw the impact Sam Cooke could have had in particular after Rodney King happened.
Craig Hodges: When Rodney King happened it was a galvanizing time. Right before the 91 NBA Finals with Michael and Magic and we can have an impact, we have the whole world watching, all eyes are on us.&nbsp;
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And to think about how my Mom was organizing in the early 60&rsquo;s, she was having this tremendous impact with no resources, and here we are with all of the resources of the NBA Finals with the two biggest athletes in the game and the impact you can make just from your voice would be amazing. And that&rsquo;s what I was trying to talk to Magic and MJ about especially after Rodney King. And here&rsquo;s the thing, in private, we all were having discussions about what was going on, but then in public, we went quiet and we simply can&rsquo;t be private anymore. And now we&rsquo;re at the point where people outside of our community are feeling our pain. And that&rsquo;s what Malcolm was telling Sam Cooke, hey to talk to them white folks at their clubs and that was my position with MJ on a lot of things. I would say hey, you have the ear of a lot of people that I can&rsquo;t reach. So yea that&rsquo;s a very good comparison.
Etan Thomas: Now I&rsquo;mma make one last correlation, I said how Malcolm X watched Sam Cooke on the program singing A Change Is Gonna Come and he was smiling, did you ever feel that after watching Michael Jordan in the last 10 years or so as MJ has become more vocal, spoken out against police brutality on numerous occasions, he even put together a whole fundraiser for Obama and brought 50 different NBA athletes to join him. That&rsquo;s a long way from &ldquo;Republicans Buy Shoes Too."
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Craig Hodges: Oh yes. I love it. People have to understand that everyone grows at different points in their lives and I definitely feel like that (proud) every time I see not only MJ and Magic but all the young athletes like Lebron and this current generation of athletes, it&rsquo;s great to see.

I figured it was a good time to revisit an interview i conducted with Athlete Activist Legend Craig Hodges for my book Police Brutality And White Supremacy “The Fight Against American Traditions."

Craig Hodges discusses the  maturation of Michael Jordan

The Emirates NBA Cup Quarterfinals commences today as the Knockout Rounds promises high drama with eight teams battling for a coveted trip to Las Vegas. With a mix of rising stars, proven veterans, and compelling narratives, let&rsquo;s dive into tomorrow&rsquo;s matchups and the key storylines shaping each game.
<h3>Orlando Magic vs. Milwaukee Bucks: Can the Magic Shock the Bucks Without Their Stars?</h3>
Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET (TNT)
The Orlando Magic find themselves as massive underdogs against the Milwaukee Bucks. Already without Paolo Banchero due to an oblique injury, the Magic were dealt another blow when Franz Wagner was ruled out for the game for the same type of injury. Without their two best players, Orlando must find a way to compete against one of the league&rsquo;s most potent offenses.
Milwaukee enters the matchup undefeated in the Cup, powered by the dynamic duo of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, both averaging 29.3 points in tournament play. Adding to their arsenal, Khris Middleton is back in action, making the Bucks even more formidable.
Orlando&rsquo;s defense, which allows the fewest three-point attempts in the league, will need to be at its sharpest to contain Milwaukee&rsquo;s long-range attack, especially on the Bucks&rsquo; home court, where they shoot nearly 40% from deep. The Magic&rsquo;s hopes may hinge on unheralded players stepping up to fill the offensive void. Can their grit and defensive discipline pull off one of the season&rsquo;s biggest upsets?
<h3>Dallas Mavericks vs. Oklahoma City Thunder: A Playoff Rematch with High Stakes</h3>
Tuesday, 9:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
The Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder meet in what feels like a continuation of their Western Conference semifinals battle from last season. The Mavericks got the upper hand then, dominating OKC on the boards and exploiting key weaknesses. This time, the Thunder are better prepared but still face significant challenges.
Oklahoma City has bolstered its frontcourt with the addition of Isaiah Hartenstein, a player who has already made an impact since returning from a hand injury. Hartenstein&rsquo;s presence addresses a glaring issue from last year&rsquo;s series, where Dallas, led by Dereck Lively and Daniel Gafford, overpowered OKC on the glass.
However, the Thunder will be without Josh Giddey, whose absence alters both the offensive and defensive dynamics. Giddey struggled mightily against Dallas last year, with the Mavericks daring him to shoot and taking advantage of his defensive lapses. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading the way, OKC will have no void on both ends of the floor as they try to compete with Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving.
For Dallas, this game is about reasserting their dominance. Luka&rsquo;s return from injury gives the Mavericks a significant boost, while P.J. Washington has proven to be a capable scorer against the Thunder&rsquo;s defense. The question remains: will OKC&rsquo;s defensive adjustments and rebounding improvements be enough to turn the tide? Or does Dallas still have their number?
<h3>Atlanta Hawks vs. New York Knicks: Trae Young Returns to MSG</h3>
Wednesday, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Trae Young&rsquo;s return to Madison Square Garden adds a layer of intrigue to the Atlanta Hawks&rsquo; quarterfinal matchup against the New York Knicks. Young, once the ultimate MSG villain, famously thrived under the Garden&rsquo;s bright lights during the 2021 playoffs. While the stakes may differ this time, the tension and energy will be electric.
The Knicks boast the league&rsquo;s top-ranked offense, anchored by Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. Brunson&rsquo;s playmaking and Towns&rsquo; versatility make them a nightmare to defend, especially at home, where the Knicks have outscored opponents by an average of 17.2 points per game. New York&rsquo;s balanced attack also includes contributions from OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, giving them multiple weapons to exploit Atlanta&rsquo;s defense.
The Hawks, meanwhile, lean heavily on their wing depth, with players like Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels emerging as key contributors. Young&rsquo;s scoring numbers may be down, but his league-leading 12 assists per game demonstrate his ability to set the table for Atlanta&rsquo;s offense. The Hawks defeated the Knicks earlier this season in Atlanta, but doing so on the road in a hostile MSG environment is a different challenge altogether.
<h3>Golden State Warriors vs. Houston Rockets: Defense Takes Center Stage</h3>
Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
The Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets face off in a rematch that could showcase playoff-level intensity. Just last week, the Warriors edged out the Rockets in a 99-93 defensive slugfest, but circumstances have changed since then.
Golden State leaned on Jonathan Kuminga&rsquo;s career-high 33 points to secure that win while missing key players Steph Curry and Draymond Green. Their availability for this game could significantly alter the dynamic. Despite recent struggles, the Warriors remain one of the league&rsquo;s top defensive teams, forcing opponents into low-percentage shots and limiting their efficiency from beyond the arc.
Houston, under coach Ime Udoka, has emerged as a defensive powerhouse in its own right, ranking second in the league. The Rockets are also formidable at home, boasting a 9-3 record and averaging 11 more points per game at the Toyota Center than on the road. Young stars like Alperen Şeng&uuml;n and Jalen Green have embraced Udoka&rsquo;s system, making Houston one of the most surprising teams of the season.
This matchup could hinge on which team better executes its defensive schemes while finding enough offense to tip the scales. Kuminga&rsquo;s scoring, Curry&rsquo;s return, and Houston&rsquo;s energy at home make this a must-watch game.
&ndash; &ndash; &ndash;&nbsp;
The Emirates NBA Cup has already delivered plenty of excitement in the group stages and tomorrow&rsquo;s quarterfinals are set to continue the trend. With storylines ranging from underdog narratives to playoff rematches and personal rivalries, who will rise to the occasion and earn their slot in Las Vegas?

The Emirates NBA Cup Quarterfinals commences today with eight teams battling for a coveted trip to Las Vegas.

NBA Cup Quarterfinals Preview: Storylines to Watch in Each Matchup

Views are the author&rsquo;s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the website.
The 2023-2024 NBA season has wrapped up and the race for the league&rsquo;s annual awards has officially ended. Here&rsquo;s a look at my picks of the NBA's award winners.
Most Improved Player: Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers
(Runner-ups: Coby White, Jalen Johnson)
Notes: In the end, Tyrese Maxey takes the award with the amount of burden and responsibility in a Philadelphia team reeling from the loss of James Harden to become a true No. 2 option behind reigning MVP Joel Embiid. White improved a lot this year, increasing his averages both numbers and his shooting percentages. Johnson, like White, has also increased his usage and averages by a lot, featuring as the third option behind DeJounte Murray and Trae Young, or even as the second option without one of those two. A jumbo playmaking forward, Johnson showed improvements in his playmaking as well as his ability to score and had increased numbers in shooting as well. Ultimately, Maxey wins this award out because he was a guy who increased his usage and his role while playing most of the season without Embiid.
Sixth Man of the Year: Naz Reid, Minnesota Timberwolves
(Runner-ups: Malik Monk, Bobby Portis)
Notes: Naz Reid has been the best player off the bench this season with the way he has been an offensive spark plug for the Timberwolves this season. He&rsquo;s had a phenomenal season, and he had to start and fill in for Karl-Anthony Towns when he went down while still being an efficient scorer as he is. If you factor in all the stuff for these awards, you could actually make a case for Monk, for Portis, maybe even guys like Norman Powell for the Clippers and Bogdan Bogdanovic for the Hawks. But with Minnesota going 56-26 and having the second most wins in franchise history &ndash; ultimately ending up atop the three best teams in the West, this gives a little bit of boost to Naz Reid due to his importance to the team.
Defensive Player of the Year: Rudy Gobert, Minnesota Timberwolves
(Runner-ups: Victor Wembanyama, Anthony Davis; Honorable mention: Bam Adebayo)
Notes: One of the hardest awards to figure out. Minnesota had the best defense in the league for a reason, and based on that Rudy Gobert would be a deserving winner of the award. When he&rsquo;s off the floor, the team does not perform defensively the way it does when Gobert is on the floor. This was hard because Wembanyama had a legitimate case, being the generational defender that he was. Davis also had a strong case with how he carried single-handedly the Lakers&rsquo; defense, while Adebayo had the immense burden of playing all the defensive schemes in Miami. Ultimately, it ended up with Gobert with the way he lifted a good defensive team to the best in the league, manning that paint and being that anchor that holds all of the pieces together.
All-Defensive Team:
1st Team - Rudy Gobert, Victor Wembanyama, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, Herb Jones
2nd Team - Derrick White, Jalen Suggs, Jaden McDaniels, Alex Caruso, Jonathan Isaac
Notes: Starting this year, the NBA&rsquo;s All-NBA teams and defensive teams were positionless so I had to cheat a little bit here, putting 4 bigs in the 1st team. Gobert, Wembanyama, Davis, and Adebayo are no-brainers considering their defensive impact for each of their teams, while Jones takes the last spot in the 1st team for his ability to disrupt offenses as well as guarding each team&rsquo;s best player night in and night out for the Pelicans.&nbsp;
The second team features White (most blocks for a guard), Suggs and Isaac (best defensive players for the 4th best defense in the league, helping to lead the Magic back to the playoffs), McDaniels (best wing defender for the best defense in the league), and the perennial all-defense player Caruso who brings it in defensively every game.
Rookie of the Year: Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
(Runner-up: Chet Holmgren)
Notes: Despite Holmgren having far and away the better team success, there&rsquo;s no denying Wembanyama&rsquo;s greatness in his rookie year. The French phenom has transcended the game both figuratively and on the eye test &ndash; he is simply a generational talent who is going to take over the league soon. Holmgren got off to a hot start in the first two months of the season but since January, Wembanyama has locked up the award for himself with out-of-the-world numbers for a rookie. He was dubbed as the best prospect since LeBron James and now he is well on his way to being one of the greatest of all time if he remains healthy after a historic rookie season.
All-Rookie Team:
1st Team - Victor Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren, Brandon Miller, Jaime Jaquez Jr., GG Jackson
2nd Team - Ausar Thompson, Amen Thompson, Keyonte George, Brandin Podziemski, Trayce Jackson-Davis
Notes: There were several names to choose from here, and it felt hard to cut some of them here. Jordan Hawkins of the Pelicans has had a good start to the year when the team had all those injuries paving the way for him to play early into the season but has seen the bench since as NOLA got healthier and players came back; Cason Wallace had such a good shooting year off the bench for the No.1 seeded Thunder despite shooting being labeled by scouts as his biggest weakness coming into the NBA; Dereck Lively II being center that Luka Doncic needed and fit well with by catching all those lobs and helping the Mavs&rsquo; defense this season big time; No.2 overall pick Scoot Henderson had a good close to his rookie year.
All in all, these 10 rookies have felt like the best rookies in terms of production, opportunity, and narratives surrounding them. Of course, Wembanyama and Holmgren are automatic locks; Miller has been the best player in Charlotte without LaMelo Ball and Mark Williams; Jaquez is a vital piece off the bench for Erik Spoelstra&rsquo;s playoff-bound Heat team; and GG Jackson becoming a legit NBA scorer despite being the youngest player in the league to round out the first team.
The Thompson twins have just been defensive monsters ever since stepping foot in the league; George playing point guard at Utah has turned some heads and he has stepped up with the opportunity given to him; while Podziemski and Jackson-Davis have arguably been rotational pieces to the Warriors despite being rookies and has contributed a lot to them finding a way to fit in a complex team.
Coach of the Year: Mark Daigneault, Oklahoma City Thunder
(Runner-ups: Chris Finch, Jamahl Mosley)
Notes: There have been so many good coaches this season that have elevated their teams to good records, say Ime Udoka of the Houston Rockets and Tom Thibodeau from the New York Knicks. But my Coach of the Year pick goes to Mark Daigneault of the OKC Thunder because this award tends to favor the expectations set for a team before the start of the season. The Thunder weren&rsquo;t supposed to be this good this season, but Daigneault catapulted them into one of the best teams not just in the West but the entire NBA. The evidence is written on the wall: No.1 in the West despite being the second youngest team in the league; having a top 5 ranking on both offense and defense and no.2 overall net rating. Finch and Mosley take the runner-up spots with the work they had to lift both the Timberwolves and the Magic to being top 4 seeds in their conferences as well as having top-rated defenses in the league.
Clutch Player of the Year: Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
(Runner-ups: DeMar DeRozan, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander)
Notes: Another tough and close race, but ultimately it goes to Curry. Despite the Warriors&rsquo; so-so record, Curry had the most clutch time points, shot 50% from the field, and 46% from three in clutch time. Curry had the most threes than anyone in crunch time &ndash; being just the incredible clutch-time performer that he is &ndash; and always been.
All-NBA Team:
1st Team - Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum
2nd Team - Jalen Brunson, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards, LeBron James
3rd Team - Stephen Curry, Domantas Sabonis, Kawhi Leonard, Devin Booker, Tyrese Haliburton
Notes: With Jalen Brunson carrying the Knicks to a second seed in the East playing without Julius Randle since January, it was incredibly hard to leave him off the 1st team. However, by the slightest of margins, I gave the nod to Tatum for being the best player on the best team in the league by a wide margin.
All the other picks were pretty explanatory, with the top 4 in the MVP race in Jokic, Doncic, SGA, and Giannis all expected to be first-teamers. The second team kind of got tougher besides Brunson, with legends Durant and James making the list because of the seasons they had leading their team as well as playing their most regular season game in years. Rounding out the second team were Edwards and Davis, two stars with the biggest impacts on their teams in the tough Western Conference.
The third team is actually a toss-up with a lot of good cases from the league all around, but ultimately I went with Curry, Sabonis, Leonard, Booker, and Haliburton.
Most Valuable Player: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander&nbsp;
(Runners-up: Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic; Honorable mention: Giannis Antetokounmpo)
Perhaps the closest race out of all the awards, all three players here are each deserving with their narratives and the numbers that support each of their cases. You can never go wrong picking one over the other, so it came down to personal opinion on who I thought had the strongest case this season. His case?
-Leading the second youngest team in the league to No.1 in the West
-3-1 series vs Denver
-3-1 series vs Dallas
-First player since Steph and MJ to average 30/5/5 in a season with 2+ steals
-Second in defensive net rating for guards
One could make the argument for Nikola Jokic being the best player in the world having better numbers than his two MVP seasons while Luka Doncic had one of the best seasons statistically in all facets of the game, but there&rsquo;s no denying SGA&rsquo;s strong case as well given the expectations for this young Thunder team.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is my MVP.

The 2023-2024 NBA season has wrapped up and the race for the league’s annual awards has officially ended.

OPINION: Picking the 2023-2024 NBA Awards winners

Josh Childress is a retired American basketball player who played three years at Stanford University, where he became an AP first-team All-American, consensus second-team All-American, the Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year and Pac-10 Conference Tournament MVP as a junior in 2004.&nbsp;
He was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, becoming the highest Stanford player to be drafted in the NBA. While Childress played in the NBA for the Hawks (2004-2008), Phoenix Suns (2010-2012), Brooklyn Nets (2012) and New Orleans Pelicans (2013), he made a name for himself overseas when he moved to Greece to play for Olympiacos from 2008 to 2010.&nbsp;
Childress had a fruitful career overseas, playing in leagues like the NBL (with the Sydney Kings and Adelaide 36ers) in Australia and the B-League (with the San-en Neo Phoenix) in Japan. Over the course of his 15-year basketball career, Childress averaged 9.1 points and earned a number of honors including All-NBL first team, NBL top scorer, All-Euroleague second team, Greek League top scorer, Greek League best defender and NBA All-Rookie second team.
Now, the 40-year-old Childress is an investor in the East Asian Super League, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/east-asia-super-league-set-to-have-its-biggest-event-yet-in-cebu">a rapidly growing league across East Asia.</a> During the EASL's Final Four in the Philippines, Childress spoke with BasketballNews&rsquo; Mon Anthony L. Valmoria to share what he is up to nowadays, his venture with the EASL, his fond NBA memories, his journey playing overseas and more.
You are an investor in the EASL. When did this happen?&nbsp;
Josh Childress: &ldquo;I started as an investor last year, last summer. I talked about seeing the opportunity [to] kind of &lsquo;bridge&rsquo; the gap between the countries in Asian basketball and it's a fantastic opportunity to do that. So EASL did a great job here in its first year and we hope to build on this moving forward.&rdquo;
Why invest in the EASL? Why do you think it will be a successful league?
Childress: &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s bringing together a bunch of different countries and leagues that have all increasingly gotten better and I think if you can find a way to connect Asian basketball across the board, it will be a fantastic league. A fantastic opportunity for fans, media and the players. So, I&rsquo;m hopeful that when this tournament &ndash; this Final Four &ndash; has more traction, you get more countries involved in the league and have some great basketball.&rdquo;
After your 15-year playing career, what are you up to these days?
Childress: &ldquo;I have an investment company. I run investments; we do real estate, we do sports properties, we do stuff like this (the EASL). We invest in a bunch of different things and I run it full-time &ndash; that&rsquo;s what keeps me busy these days.&rdquo;
Watching the EASL games and seeing how basketball is played over here, how would you describe the brand of basketball that's played on this side of the world?
Childress: &ldquo;It is very physical and very fast-paced. We&rsquo;ve seen really exciting games here and I think players here are playing for pride. There&rsquo;s obviously a nice prize &ndash; a cash prize &ndash; at the end of it. But at this point, it&rsquo;s just pride and making sure that you win and you&rsquo;re the champion of Asia. So I think [basketball here] is really exciting.&rdquo;
Let's talk about your experiences as an NBA player. What are your fondest memories from your playing days?
Childress: &ldquo;Most of your memories are around your teammates, you know? Around the locker room like how fun that was, those plane rides, just the camaraderie you have with your team &ndash; that&rsquo;s the thing that I missed the most about playing. The friendships and the teammates that you have over the years.&rdquo;
Speaking of your teammates, you played with a lot of teams in the NBA &ndash; who was your favorite teammate?&nbsp;
Childress: &ldquo;They were all my favorites (smiles). But I&rsquo;d say between Marvin Williams, Zaza Pachulia, Josh Smith, Joe [Johnson], Tyronn Lue, Mike Bibby &ndash; all those guys were great teammates. I&rsquo;m very thankful that I had the opportunity to play with them.&rdquo;
What is your best NBA memory?
Childress: &ldquo;Getting drafted. I mean, that&rsquo;s a dream come true. It&rsquo;s something that, as a kid, you always see on TV. So, that was an amazing experience.&rdquo;
When it comes to American NBA players deciding to play overseas, you were one of the pioneers. What were the pros and cons?
Childress: &ldquo;It was something that has been done before, but it was a great experience. I loved playing in Greece &ndash; the fans were amazing. I got the chance to experience European basketball, which was different. The pros and the cons are that it sets you up in a situation where you&rsquo;re playing a different style of basketball and having to figure out how to play there. But that was so much fun, you&rsquo;re in very hostile environments playing against teams that you never knew existed and having the chance to compete at a high level. So, I loved my time in Europe. In the EuroLeague, basketball was fantastic; in the Greek league, it was fantastic. So hopefully we can mirror that EuroLeague style format here with the EASL.&rdquo;
Other than monetary considerations, what would you advise fellow Americans about the decision to play overseas? What other factors do you think are crucial in choosing where to play?
Childress: &ldquo;I think the biggest thing is playing style &ndash; you know, going somewhere your style of play fits [in with] where you&rsquo;re going &ndash; or having the opportunity of playing a lot of minutes. I know some guys that are going to certain countries that may pay a little bit less, but they know they&rsquo;re going to play a lot, they&rsquo;re going to play their game. And that will lead them to those opportunities for success with bigger contracts and moving the following year. So, always make sure you go somewhere where you can be the best version of yourself and play at a high level.&rdquo;

Josh Childress shares what he's up to nowadays, his EASL investment, his NBA memories and his journey playing overseas.

Q&A: Josh Childress on NBA journey, EASL investment, overseas hoops

As we <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/big3-sees-surge-in-tv-ratings-attendance-to-start-sixth-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">covered recently</a>, the BIG3 basketball league has experienced significant viewership growth in its sixth season, seeing both year-over-year as well as week-over-week increases through the first few weeks of play.&nbsp;
The three-on-three league just completed its sixth week of games, and once again saw viewership and attendance numbers increase.
Viewership is up almost 10% compared to the same period in 2022. After starting the season with 483,000 viewers on CBS in Week 1, numbers have climbed each week, hitting 560,000 viewers and a .4 rating this past weekend in the 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET time slot on CBS. Through six weeks, the BIG3 is currently averaging 530,000 viewers per broadcast on CBS with a .33 average rating.
For comparison, the BIG3 beat out Premier League Soccer, which had 546,000 fans tuning in to NBC during the 2:30 p.m. ET time slot. The WNBA on ESPN in the 4 p.m. EST time slot had 272,000 viewers (.2), and the Premier Lacrosse League on ABC had 247,000 viewers (.2) at 3 p.m. EST.&nbsp;
"We're thrilled with the continued growth and excitement for BIG3 action this summer," said Ice Cube. "The fast-paced games and star players really resonate with fans looking for top-level sports entertainment."
Last weekend's games were played at TD Garden in Boston, with 11,255 fans in attendance. Fan turnout continues to climb each week, and Boston is the biggest crowd so far in 2023. The crowd erupted when Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown entered the arena to take his seat courtside.
On the court, Trilogy's Ryan "Hezi God" Carter broke the league's single-game scoring record, pouring in 35 points to lead his squad over 3's Company. The record was previously held by Triplet's star Joe Johnson (34). Aliens and 3 Headed Monsters were eliminated after finishing in the bottom two places in the standings.
The BIG3 continues this Saturday, August 5, at 1 p.m. ET at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC. After Saturday's games, two more teams will be eliminated based on the standings. BIG3 games can be found on CBS, Paramount+ and <a href="http://tv.big3.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://TV.BIG3.COM&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1691016313730000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2aqSDKE04Cw9n7DE-X7XC8">TV.BIG3.COM</a>

The three-on-three league just completed its sixth week of games, and once again saw viewership and attendance numbers increase.

BIG3 basketball viewership keeps growing as sixth season continues

Throughout NBA history, there have been plenty of supremely talented teams. However, only a select few managed to string together multiple championships, revolutionize how the game is played and dominate to the point that they defined their era.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s extremely difficult to create a dynasty, but these six teams earned that distinction.
Boston Celtics (1957-1969)
While it&rsquo;s difficult for today&rsquo;s NBA fans to fathom, the Boston Celtics managed to win 11 championships in just 13 seasons. Celtics head coach and general manager Red Auerbach pulled off a draft-day trade in 1956 that changed the franchise forever, with Boston acquiring No. 2 overall pick Bill Russell in exchange for Cliff Hagan and Ed Macauley. Russell would become one of the most dominant defenders and rebounders of all-time, and when paired with Bob Cousy, John Havlicek and Sam Jones among others, the Celtics became an unstoppable force.&nbsp;
Today, winning three-straight championships is considered an astonishing feat, yet these Celtics managed to win eight consecutive titles from 1959 to 1966 &ndash; a record that is virtually impossible to break. While it was certainly a very different era of basketball, Boston deserves a ton of credit for revolutionizing the game and sustaining that level of dominance for more than a decade.
Los Angeles Lakers (1980s)
The 1980s belonged to the "Showtime" Lakers, a dynamic and star-studded team led by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Under head coach Pat Riley's leadership, the Lakers thrilled fans with their fast-paced style of play. From 1980 through 1991, the Lakers won five championships and made nine NBA Finals appearances.
Magic&rsquo;s unparalleled playmaking abilities and Kareem&rsquo;s automatic skyhook made these Lakers nearly unstoppable on the court. The Lakers&rsquo; rivalry with the Celtics (and Magic Johnson&rsquo;s personal rivalry with Larry Bird) added another layer of excitement to the NBA, culminating in memorable NBA Finals matchups and moving NBA playoff games to live broadcasts rather than being on tape delay.&nbsp;HBO&rsquo;s show &ldquo;Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty&rdquo; has introduced the Showtime era to a new generation of fans.&nbsp;
Chicago Bulls (1991-1998)
On June 19, 1984, the Chicago Bulls selected Michael Jordan with the No. 3 overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft. It didn&rsquo;t take long for Jordan to make his mark on the league, as he won Rookie of the Year and became a household name. Jordan was the lynchpin of the Bulls&rsquo; dynasty and became the biggest sports star that the world had ever seen. Coached by Phil Jackson, MJ and Scottie Pippen led the Bulls to six championships in eight years, thanks to two different three-peats. In the 1995-1996 season, the Bulls amassed a record-setting 72 wins, solidifying their status as one of the greatest teams in NBA history (although the record would later be broken by another team featured on this list).&nbsp;
These Bulls teams captured the imagination of fans worldwide. The Bulls&rsquo; dynasty and Team USA's "Dream Team" (which featured Jordan and Pippen alongside other NBA superstars like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone and Charles Barkley) deserve a lot of credit for making basketball popular across the globe. Just as &ldquo;Winning Time&rdquo; is bringing the Showtime Lakers back into the spotlight, ESPN&rsquo;s docuseries &ldquo;The Last Dance&rdquo; became a huge hit and showcased Jordan&rsquo;s dominance and popularity to younger fans who never got a chance to watch him play live.
San Antonio Spurs (1999-2014)
The San Antonio Spurs, guided by the steady hand of coach Gregg Popovich, enjoyed an extended period of excellence. By now, you&rsquo;re probably realizing that dynasties tend to start when a team drafts a special player. For the Spurs, that player was Tim Duncan, who is often regarded as the greatest power forward in NBA history. While Duncan wasn&rsquo;t a flashy player, he was incredibly consistent and capable of taking over games offensively and defensively.&nbsp;
Duncan and Popovich captured five NBA championships between 1999 and 2014. They managed to win across different eras, first with David Robinson, Avery Johnson and Sean Elliot, then with Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Bruce Bowen, and later with Kawhi Leonard, Parker and Ginobili among others. The Spurs' success was built on fundamentals, exceptional team chemistry and a selfless approach to the game. Their sustained success over more than a decade solidified them as a modern NBA dynasty.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/200413-shaquille-oneal-kobe-bryant-cs-1211p.jpg" alt="" width="683" height="458" />
Los Angeles Lakers (2000-2002)
The Lakers of the early 2000s were an unstoppable force, combining the dominant inside presence of Shaquille O'Neal and the scoring prowess of Kobe Bryant. Coached by the legendary Phil Jackson, this superstar tandem led Los Angeles to three consecutive NBA championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Teams had to pick their poison against these Lakers, as Shaq and Kobe were nearly impossible to defend one-on-one. Shaq dominated with his imposing size and physicality in the paint, while Kobe made teams pay with his unmatched scoring ability and constantly evolving skill-set. Together, they formed one of the most formidable duos in NBA history, complementing each other's strengths on the court (while often butting heads off the court). Who knows how many more championships the Lakers would have won if Shaq and Kobe managed to get along and make things work in L.A.&nbsp;
Golden State Warriors (2014-2022)
The Golden State Warriors' dynasty has been a breathtaking display of offensive brilliance and finesse. Led by Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, the Warriors revolutionized the game with their three-point shooting, fast-paced style of play and small-ball lineups. Head coach Steve Kerr, who won five championships as a player with the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs dynasties, helped the Warriors capture four NBA championships in eight years (2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022).&nbsp;
The Warriors won 73 games in 2016, breaking the previous record set by the Bulls. And as if this team wasn&rsquo;t already scary enough, Golden State signed Kevin Durant and became even more unstoppable. Even after Durant left in 2019, the Warriors managed to win another championship, beating the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals last year. The Warriors revolutionized the modern NBA, and their dynastic run may not even be over. After all, Curry, Thompson, Green and Kerr are still around and the team recently added veterans Chris Paul, Cory Joseph and Dario Saric in hopes of chasing a fifth ring.

Alex Kennedy looks back on six of the most unstoppable dynasties throughout NBA history.

Exploring the most dominant dynasties throughout NBA history

Fred VanVleet bet on himself, and the Houston Rockets are the beneficiaries.
On an opening night of free agency where most big names &mdash; Kyrie Irving, Draymond Green, Khris Middleton, Kyle Kuzma and more &mdash; stayed put, VanVleet is headed to a new home. He agreed to a three-year deal Friday with the Rockets that&rsquo;ll pay him about $130 million, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press.
ESPN first reported the agreement between VanVleet and the Rockets.
VanVleet &mdash; who famously uses the phrase &ldquo;bet on yourself&rdquo; to describe his career trajectory from undrafted player to NBA champion with the Toronto Raptors &mdash; will make about $525,000 per game over the next three seasons.
That nearly matches what he made as a rookie in Toronto, total &mdash; about $550,000.
&ldquo;Love seeing guys getting paid,&rdquo; Boston star Jayson Tatum tweeted.
And a whole bunch of them did on Friday night &mdash; with more to come.
Irving and Luka Doncic are going to try again together in Dallas. Green is going to chase more championships with Stephen Curry in Golden State, just like Middleton is alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee.
And Jerami Grant is staying put in Portland, for serious money. All those decisions came quickly Friday night as free agency in the NBA got off to its traditional fast and free-spending start &mdash; with roughly $1.5 billion in deals getting struck in about the first three hours alone.
Irving agreed to a three-year, $126 million deal to remain with the Mavericks, who acquired him in a splashy move in February but sputtered down the stretch and missed the playoffs. A person with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed the agreement to The Associated Press, the deal taking quite possibly the biggest name in free agency off the board.
The Mavs had made clear that keeping Irving was their top priority &mdash; and got it done in the first hour of the NBA&rsquo;s free agency window that opened at 6 p.m. EDT.
&ldquo;DA11AS,&rdquo; Irving tweeted, using his traditional jersey number in there.
Grant is getting $160 million over the next five years, part of a plan that Portland hopes keeps Damian Lillard happy enough to not ask for a trade. Grant is staying put, as is Kuzma in Washington and Cam Johnson in Brooklyn.
Kuzma essentially doubled his annual salary, agreeing to a $102 million, four-year deal with the Wizards. Green got a new contract that&rsquo;ll pay him $100 million over four seasons with the Warriors. Both of those deals &mdash; first reported by ESPN and subsequently confirmed to AP by people with knowledge of the negotiations &mdash; got done very quickly once the offseason player movement window opened.
Kuzma had opted out of a contract that would have paid him $13 million in Washington this coming season; he&rsquo;ll now average $25.5 million over the next four years after scoring 21.2 points per game this past season.
Green staying put keeps him alongside Curry and Klay Thompson with the Warriors, where they have won four titles over the last decade. He opted out of a $27.6 million contract for this coming season, and now is under contract for more years.
Middleton also traded bigger salary in the short term for more years. He could have made $40 million this coming season; instead, he agreed to $102 million over three years to stay with Antetokounmpo and a Bucks team that&rsquo;s only two years removed from an NBA championship.
Johnson &mdash; who flourished and averaged 16.6 points in 25 games with Brooklyn after getting traded there this past season &mdash; is getting a four-year, $108 million deal from the Nets, agent Steve Heumann of CAA confirmed to AP. New Orleans also saw one of its key players stay put; defensive standout Herb Jones agreed to a four-year, $54 million contract.
The reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets lost a free agent they wanted to keep, with Bruce Brown agreeing to sign with Indiana, a person with knowledge told AP, on a two-year deal that could be worth $45 million. There is an option affecting the second year.
There was simply nothing the Nuggets could do to compete with that offer &mdash; they could only offer Brown $7.8 million for this season. Brown will average nearly three times that much over the next two years.
The team that Denver beat for that title, the Miami Heat, also lost a key player from their club. Gabe Vincent agreed to a three-year, $33 million deal to join LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers &mdash; who went to the Western Conference finals before falling to the Nuggets. The Lakers also kept Rui Hachimura on a three-year deal worth about $50 million.
The Eastern Conference champion Heat are retaining Kevin Love &mdash; who quickly became a locker room leader after arriving in Miami &mdash; and brought back former Miami guard Josh Richardson. Love is getting $3.7 million this season; both he and Richardson have an option for 2024-25 as well.
Meanwhile, Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero has a new veteran with him in Orlando; Joe Ingles agreed to a two-year, $22 million deal to join the Magic. And Tre Jones will sign a two-year, $20 million deal with the San Antonio Spurs to play alongside No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama, agent Kevin Bradbury said.
And once VanVleet picked Houston, the Raptors moved quickly to fill their point guard opening and agreed with Dennis Schroder on a two-year, $26 million deal, according to his representation at Priority Sports. Another point guard was on the move not long afterward; 2011 NBA MVP Derrick Rose agreed to a deal with Memphis &mdash; the city where he played his one season of college basketball &mdash; in a deal first reported by SNY.

Day 1 of the 2023 NBA free-agency period is in the books. Here's a look at the big moves from Friday.

Fred VanVleet to Houston; many big names stay put early in NBA free agency

DENVER (AP) &mdash; For the Miami Heat, shooting at Denver&rsquo;s 5,280 feet of mile-high altitude during Game 1 of the NBA Finals wasn&rsquo;t a problem.
Not shooting from 15 feet &mdash; the distance from the basket to the foul line &mdash; was.
The Heat made NBA history, and not the good kind, by shooting only two free throws in Game 1 as Denver struck first in the title series with a 104-93 win. It was the fewest free throw attempts ever by a team in a playoff game and makes one of the adjustments for Game 2 on Sunday simple to forecast: Expect Miami to go into attack mode.
&ldquo;The attacks, we didn&rsquo;t have enough of them,&rdquo; said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, whose team sent Denver to the line for 20 free throws in Game 1. &ldquo;I thought the free throw disparity was appropriate. Maybe we could have got two, four, six more based on a call here or a call there. But overall our attack numbers were lower, and that usually translates into lower free throw attempts.&rdquo;
Adjustments at playoff time are considered some mystical thing, as if a team is going to completely reinvent itself during the day or two between games. They&rsquo;re usually nothing more than minor tweaks, maybe a lineup change, a slight shift in how a pick-and-roll is defended.
The Nuggets are used to this by now. They are 4-0 in Game 1s in these playoffs &mdash; having led them by 32, 25, 21 and 24 points, respectively. And the teams that lost those games, obviously, had the infamous adjustments to make going into Game 2.
They worked. Sort of. Denver&rsquo;s biggest leads in the three Game 2s it has played so far are 21, 12 and 12 points. That&rsquo;s less than the Game 1 margins, but not enough to affect the outcome. The Nuggets are 3-0 in those games, too.
And if you think that has Nuggets coach Michael Malone at ease, well, think again.
&ldquo;I told our players today, don&rsquo;t read the paper, don&rsquo;t listen to the folks on the radio and TV saying that this series is over and that we&rsquo;ve done something, because we haven&rsquo;t done a damn thing,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;We won Game 1. The reason I told our players I was excited this morning is because we won Game 1 and we didn&rsquo;t play well, and there&rsquo;s so many things we can do better. If we do those things at a better level, we&rsquo;ll have a chance to win Game 2.&rdquo;
There&rsquo;s always things to do better. Even for Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, believe it or not.
They joined Magic Johnson and James Worthy, in 1987, as the only teammates to have at least 25 points and 10 assists in the same finals game &mdash; and the Nuggets&rsquo; duo did it in their finals debut. Jokic had a 27-point triple-double, Murray finished with 26, and the stage was clearly not too big for Denver&rsquo;s two best players.
Denver is also trying to be the first team to start a postseason 10-0 at home since Boston in 2018.
&ldquo;You just try to win every game. It&rsquo;s first to four, no matter how you get it done,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;Obviously, you want to take advantage of being at home. Love playing at home. But any game you can win, you take. So, yeah, we&rsquo;re looking forward to just winning every single game that we play.&rdquo;
This is Miami&rsquo;s first 1-0 deficit of the postseason. The Heat won Game 1s on the road in Milwaukee, New York and Boston on their way to the finals; no team had ever won four Game 1s away from home in the same postseason.
And while the Nuggets are saying &mdash; correctly, too &mdash; that they missed plenty of open shots, the Heat can absolutely point to that as a way they&rsquo;ll improve in Game 2. Max Strus (0 for 10), Caleb Martin (1 for 7) and Duncan Robinson (1 for 6) were a combined 2 for 23 from the floor in Game 1, 2 for 16 from 3-point range.
That would be the simplest and most effective adjustment Miami could make for Sunday &mdash; make shots.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to continue play the right way. I&rsquo;m going to pass the ball to my shooters the way I have been playing the entire playoffs, the entire year,&rdquo; said Heat forward Jimmy Butler, who scored 13 in Game 1, his lowest-scoring game so far in these playoffs.
&ldquo;But I think I&rsquo;ve got to be more aggressive putting pressure on the rim,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think that makes everybody&rsquo;s job a lot easier. They definitely follow suit whenever I&rsquo;m aggressive on both sides of the ball. So, I have to be the one to come out and kick that off the right way &mdash; which I will &mdash; and we&rsquo;ll see where we end up.&rdquo;

The Heat made NBA history, and not the good kind, by shooting only two free throws in Game 1 as Denver struck first in the title series.

Heat want to get to line more, while Nuggets vow to be better in Game 2

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Brittney Griner stood for the national anthem before her first regular-season WNBA game since being jailed in Russia.
Griner was outspoken for social justice in 2020 and didn&rsquo;t take the court during the pregame anthem. But nearly a year behind bars in Russia changed her.
&ldquo;I was literally in a cage and could not stand the way I wanted to,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Just being able to hear my national anthem and see my flag, I definitely want to stand.&rdquo;
Griner had 18 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots Friday night for the Phoenix Mercury in a 94-71 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks.
&ldquo;Not good enough, didn&rsquo;t get the dub,&rdquo; said Griner, who nevertheless couldn&rsquo;t be down in defeat.
&ldquo;I appreciate everything a little bit more, all of the small moments, like, &lsquo;Oh, I&rsquo;m so tired I don&rsquo;t want to go to practice today,&rsquo; that has changed, honestly,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Tomorrow is not guaranteed, you don&rsquo;t know what it&rsquo;s going to look like. I feel a lot older somehow, too.&rdquo;
The 32-year-old center&rsquo;s immediate goal is to play an entire game by the All-Star break in mid-July. She played 25 minutes Friday.
&ldquo;I hope to be exactly where I want to be,&rdquo; Griner said. &ldquo;Just getting back to how I was before all this happened.&rdquo;
Griner made an immediate impact against the Sparks. She fired a pass to Moriah Jefferson, who hit a 3-pointer for Phoenix&rsquo;s first basket. Griner grabbed a couple of rebounds and scored twice in helping the Mercury to an early lead.
&ldquo;How good did she just look? Unbelievable,&rdquo; WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert told reporters at halftime.
For the first time since last season, Phoenix coach Vanessa Nygaard opened her pregame comments without announcing how many days Griner had been jailed. Griner has been free since December when she was part of&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-brittney-griner-sports-government-and-politics-54de0cc371615a7165053a76eff17380">a high-profile prisoner swap</a>.
&ldquo;Until the day we got the news in the morning that she was on her way home, no one thought that it was going to happen,&rdquo; Nygaard said. &ldquo;We did our jobs probably with less joy than professional athletes do. It was heavy every day.&rdquo;
Not anymore.
&ldquo;Today is a day of joy,&rdquo; Nygaard said. &ldquo;An amazing, amazing thing has happened.&rdquo;
Griner and the Mercury were greeted with a standing ovation when they came on court for pregame warmups, although the biggest cheers were reserved for the Sparks.
&ldquo;Just taking it in but staying focused because at the end of the day I&rsquo;m at work,&rdquo; Griner said. &ldquo;Can&rsquo;t get caught up in the moment. Kind of feel it, but put it to the side and feel it a little bit later.&rdquo;
Griner hugged Vice President Kamala Harris and first gentleman Doug Emhoff as they left the court after Harris was presented with a No. 49 Sparks jersey. Earlier, Harris posed for photos in the Mercury&rsquo;s locker room.
&ldquo;It was nice to be able to see her face-to-face and thank her for everything,&rdquo; Griner said.
She patted her heart and applauded in return during a brief video welcoming her back to the WNBA.
&ldquo;It was nice to be back on the court for a real game,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;The love from the fans when we came out was amazing. I definitely feel it.&rdquo;
Griner scored 10 points in 17 minutes in an exhibition loss to the Sparks last week. It was her first game action since she was arrested at a Moscow airport in&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/hub/brittney-griner">February 2022</a>&nbsp;after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges containing cannabis oil.
&ldquo;We brought back this Black, gay woman from a Russian jail and America did that because they valued her and she&rsquo;s a female athlete and they valued her,&rdquo; Nygaard said.
&ldquo;Just to be part of a group that values people at that level, it makes me very proud to be an American. Maybe there&rsquo;s other people that that doesn&rsquo;t make them proud, but for me, I see BG and I see hope and I see the future and I have young children and it makes me really hopeful about our country,&rdquo; the coach said.
Fans arriving early to Crypto.com Arena wore T-shirts with Griner&rsquo;s name and jersey number on them. The 6-foot-9 Griner stopped to photo-bomb a group of young girls posing courtside before the game.
Billie Jean King and wife Ilana Kloss, who are part-owners of the Sparks, were on hand for the opener, as was Magic Johnson, Pau Gasol, Byron Scott, Robert Horry, Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham and South Carolina women&rsquo;s coach Dawn Staley.
Since her release,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/brittney-griner-wnba-mercury-4fd64332a21dfe5eb31cad63ec6c61fe">Griner has used her platform to advocate</a>&nbsp;for other Americans being detained abroad. She was already an LGBTQ+ activist since publicly coming out in 2013.
&ldquo;She stands for so many people, so many different kind of people who can be undervalued in our society,&rdquo; Nygaard said. &ldquo;She stands with pride and confidence and has never once has shied away from who she is.&rdquo;
Griner announced in April that she is working with Bring Our Families Home, a campaign formed last year by the family members of American hostages and wrongful detainees held overseas. She said her team has been in contact with the family of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is being detained in Russia on espionage charges.
&ldquo;She&rsquo;s an amazing person on and off the court,&rdquo; Phoenix teammate Jefferson said. &ldquo;I think her energy just inspires everybody every single day to show up and be the best version of themselves.&rdquo;

Griner had 18 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocked shots Friday night for the Phoenix Mercury in a 94-71 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks.

Brittney Griner makes WNBA season debut after being jailed in Russia

Spencer Davies speaks with Taqwa Pinero about his life journey and how he's preparing both the future and current hoop generations.

Taqwa Pinero's knowledge is its own currency, and he's paying it forward

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; A magical journey put San Diego State in its first Final Four.
A thrilling buzzer-beater by Lamont Butler landed the Aztecs one win away from a national title.
Hot early shooting Monday night helped them race to an early lead against the mighty UConn Huskies.
Then things fell apart.
For more than 11 tortured minutes in the title game, no matter what they tried, the Aztecs could not make a field goal in their 76-59 loss.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult to play like that,&rdquo; Butler said.
Fighting against a stifling defense, they missed hook shots, had layups blocked, badly missed wide-open 3s and saw easy jump shots fall short.
The Aztecs (32-7) took shot after shot after shot &mdash; 14 in all as the clock ticked, ticked and ticked &mdash; but no matter what they tried nothing would fall.
&ldquo;We were talking about it for sure,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;And we were trying to figure out what we can do to stop the scoring drought and create advantages for ourselves. We tried but things weren&rsquo;t working.&rdquo;
By the time Darrion Trammell mercifully made a jump shot with about 5 &frac12; minutes left in the first half, the Aztecs had seen a four-point lead turn into a 26-17 hole.
A team that got here on the strength of its vaunted defense was in the end done in by an offense that went cold at the worst possible moment.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the national championship game, a lot of things had to go right on our end in order to win,&rdquo; guard Matt Bradley said. &ldquo;And when you&rsquo;re missing shots and turning the ball over and even when you&rsquo;re playing hard on defense, it&rsquo;s not going to be enough. So we learned that tonight for sure.&rdquo;
The Aztecs rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat Florida Atlantic in the national semifinal, with Butler&rsquo;s game-winner at the buzzer marking the first time in Final Four history that a buzzer-beater took a team from trailing to a victory.
This time there would be no such heroics. They did go on a second half run to make it interesting, though.
San Diego State used a 14-4 spurt, with the first four points from Jaedon LeDee, to get within 60-55 with about five minutes to go.
But Jordan Hawkins made a 3-pointer seconds after that to start a 9-0 run that shut the door on any designs the Aztecs had on another remarkable comeback.
Though their defense had been the star of this Cinderella&rsquo;s tournament run entering Monday night, their offense had done plenty to complement it.
Through their first five games in the tournament, the Aztecs shot an average of 42.48%. In the biggest game in school history Monday night, they shot a tournament-low 32% &mdash; a number significantly lowered by a 28.6% first half.
It was their second-lowest shooting percentage of the season, behind the 31.7% they shot in a 62-57 win over Utah State in the Mountain West Conference Tournament title game. Their 24 first-half points was the second-fewest they&rsquo;d managed all season.
There were no tears in San Diego State&rsquo;s locker room after the loss that snapped a nine-game winning streak, but rather a bunch of guys who were proud of how far they got, even if they came up short.
&ldquo;We were the only ones who believed we could get here,&rdquo; Trammell said. &ldquo;We surpassed our expectations honestly.&rdquo;
Added Keshad Johnson, who led the team with 14 points Monday night.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure we put our school&rsquo;s name on the map and I&rsquo;m proud of that,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;

Hot early shooting Monday night helped the Aztecs race to an early lead against the mighty Huskies. Then, things fell apart.

Long drought seals SDSU’s fate in title game against UConn

PORTLAND (AP) &mdash; De&rsquo;Aaron Fox scored 18 points and the Sacramento Kings clinched their first playoff berth since 2006 with a 120-80 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.
Kevin Huerter added 17 points in the win, which also earned the Kings home-court advantage to open the postseason. The team&rsquo;s 16-year playoff drought was the longest in NBA history and the longest active postseason dry spell among teams in the NBA, NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball.
&ldquo;We want to do bigger things, but 16 years &mdash; that&rsquo;s a long time,&rdquo; Fox said. &ldquo;So that feels great just being able to get that off us.&rdquo;
Before the final buzzer, a large group of purple-clad Kings fans chanted Sacramento&rsquo;s rallying cry, &ldquo;Light The Beam!&rdquo;
Kings rookie Keegan Murray made his 188th 3-pointer of the season with 6:44 to go in the third quarter to set the NBA record, passing Donovan Mitchell&rsquo;s mark of 187 set in 2017-18. Murray, who flashed an understated grin after the shot fell, finished with 13 points.
The Kings (46-30) sit at third in the Western Conference. The first-place Denver Nuggets and the Memphis Grizzlies, who sit three games back, have already clinched.
Sacramento could have sealed up the playoff spot earlier in the night, but the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Memphis Grizzlies 141-132.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got an opportunity to do something special, so we just continue to play this way and continue to get better, and hopefully we can get 50,&rdquo; Harrison Barnes said.
Rookie Shaedon Sharpe had 30 points for the Blazers, who have lost four straight and 10 of their last 11 games. The loss to the Kings eliminated Portland from playoff contention.
Portland was depleted with regular starters Damian Lillard (right calf), Jusuf Nurkic (right knee), Anfernee Simons (right foot) and Jerami Grant (left quad) all nursing injuries. It got a bit worse for Portland on Wednesday when Keon Johnson, who had 20 points in a loss to New Orleans on Monday, broke a finger in shootaround. Only seven Blazers played.
The Kings are 23-14 on the road this season, third-best in the NBA. And they&rsquo;ve avoided extended losing streaks: The team&rsquo;s longest came at the start of the season when the Kings opened with four straight.
&ldquo;Our guys are excited about it,&rdquo; Kings coach Mike Brown said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re excited about the way that they played tonight and the accomplishments that they&rsquo;ve had so far. They were excited for Keegan. But in the same breath, and not to downplay anything, they expect more.&rdquo;
Portland had a 20-19 edge after the first quarter, but the Kings took over, going up 44-32 on Kevin Huerter&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 3:51 to go before halftime. Portland closed the gap to 50-46 at the break.
The Kings went on to lead by as many as 40 points in the second half. Domantas Sabonis finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
&ldquo;Biggest difference was in the second half, they started making 3s, and they&rsquo;re that type of team,&rdquo; Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re going to play the same way. They&rsquo;re going to shoot a lot of 3s, and miss or make, they&rsquo;re going to play that way. We just couldn&rsquo;t keep up."
TIP-INS
Kings: The Kings were also in a position to clinch Monday, but they fell to Minnesota 119-115. ... &ldquo;I think every experience that we&rsquo;ve gone through this year can help translate (to the playoffs),&rdquo; Brown said before the game. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m telling you, we&rsquo;ll experience it in the playoffs at another level. And every round you advance in the playoffs, it&rsquo;s going to even take it up another notch.&rdquo;
Trail Blazers: It will likely be the second straight season the Blazers have missed the postseason. ... F Justise Winslow had surgery Wednesday on his left ankle. He is expected to be ready to play next season.
UP NEXT
The Kings and the Trail Blazers play again Friday night at the Moda Center.

De’Aaron Fox had 18 points and the Kings clinched their first playoff berth since 2006 with a 120-80 win over the Blazers on Wednesday.

Kings end record-long playoff drought with 120-80 win over Blazers

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) &mdash; Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is not a big fan of the transfer portal, lamenting that it gives young athletes an easy out instead of an opportunity to overcome challenges.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll say until the day I die, I do not see anything good for the players in it,&rdquo; Izzo said Tuesday.
The seventh-seeded Spartans, however, would not be in the Sweet 16 for the 15th time under their Hall of Fame coach without former Northeastern guard Tyson Walker and ex-Marquette forward Joey Hauser.
The Spartans, of course, are not alone in relying on transfers. Not anymore. They are all over March Madness.
Third-seeded Kansas State, which will face the Spartans on Thursday night in New York, has relied heavily on transfers with 12 on its roster under first-year coach Jerome Tang. Former Florida forward Keyontae Johnson and ex-Arkansas-Little Rock guard Markquis Nowell, both of whom earned third-team All-America recognition, are starring for the Wildcats.
UCLA and Princeton are bucking the trend because they&rsquo;re still in the Tournament without a transfer player.
Izzo could have dipped back into the portal to bolster this season&rsquo;s team after losing his top three scorers and a solid post player from last year&rsquo;s team. Instead, he chose to stick with the players he had after they chose to stay.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s something they believed in here,&rdquo; Izzo said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the beauty of sticking together. And if it carries us through the weekend, it&rsquo;ll be one of the great life lessons learned.&rdquo;
EAST REGION
No. 4 seed Tennessee vs. No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic
Like many transfers, Tyreke Key left a smaller program (Indiana State) for a bigger one and the Volunteers are glad he did. After sophomore point guard Zakai Zeigler tore a knee ligament in the final week of the regular season, Key became even more valuable for the postseason.
Vladislav Goldin, meanwhile, went against the grain by leaving a larger school for a mid-major program. The 7-foot-1, shot-blocking Russian bolted from Texas A&amp;M to play for the Owls in search of more playing time. He found what he was looking at FAU, starting in 33 games.
SOUTH REGION
No. 1 seed Alabama vs. No. 5 seed San Diego State
All-America freshman forward Brandon Miller leads the Crimson Tide on the court, but key roles have been filled by a few transfers, including Mark Sears. The former Ohio University guard trails only Miller in scoring and has provided much-needed, 3-point shooting.
Four of San Diego State&rsquo;s top five scorers are transfers, including former California standout Matt Bradley, who is averaging a team-high 13 points per game.
No. 6 seed Creighton vs. No. 15 seed Princeton
The Bluejays have two transfers, two more than the Tigers. Baylor Scheierman starts and Francisco Farabello comes off the bench for Creighton. Scheierman was the Summit League player of the year last year at South Dakota State and Farabello played at TCU for three seasons.
MIDWEST REGION
No. 1 seed Houston vs. No. 5 seed Miami
The Courgars have recruited and developed most of their best players, but former Arkansas forward Reggie Chaney is in the rotation. The Hurricanes second-, third- and fourth-leading scorers are transfers: Jordan Miller (George Mason), Norchad Omier (Arkansas State) and Nijel Pack (Kansas State).
No. 2 seed Texas vs. No. 3 seed Xavier
The Longhorns often have four transfers in their starting lineup and leading scorer, Marcus Carr, has left two schools. The former Pittsburgh and Minnesota guard along with ex-New Mexico State guard Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice, the team&rsquo;s second-leading scorer, are in their sixth season of college. Carr and Rice took advantage of an extra year of eligibility that the NCAA gave athletes if they were in school when the pandemic started.
Souley Boum, who started his career at San Francisco and went on to become a star at New Mexico State, leads the Musketeers with 16.5 points a game and is also in his sixth year of college. Former Iowa forward Jack Nunge, ex-Belmont guard Adam Kunkel and former Indiana forward Adam Kunkel are also among Xavier&rsquo;s top players.
WEST REGION
No. 2 seed UCLA vs. No. 3 seed Gonzaga
While the Bruins have no transfers, the Zags have Rasir Bolton, who ranks fourth on the team in scoring, played at Penn State and for Iowa State before landing at Gonzaga. Malachi Smith went from Wright State to Chattanooga before choosing a lesser role at Gonzaga.
No. 4 seed UConn vs. No. 8 seed Arkansas
The Huskies&rsquo; backcourt is full of transfers. Former East Carolina star Tristen Newton runs the point, averaging 10-plus points and nearly five assists per game. Grad student Joey Calcaterra spent four years at San Diego and Nahiem Alleyne was a three-year starter at Virginia Tech.
The Razorbacks are in the Sweet 16 for a third straight year in part because coach Eric Musselman has made good use of the portal. Former Wichita State guard Ricky Council leads Arkansas in scoring and Makhi Mitchell, who played at Maryland and Rhode Island, is one of team&rsquo;s top rebounders and scores seven points a game.
___
AP Sports Writer John Zenor, Bernie Wilson, Eric Olson, Tom Canavan, Teresa M. Walker, Dave Skretta, Tim Reynolds, Jim Vertuno and Beth Harris contributed.

Nearly every team of the men's Sweet 16 field has been significantly impacted by the NCAA transfer portal.

Transfer portal provided boost for most March Madness teams

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Eric Musselman and his players rushed across the floor at the final buzzer to celebrate with their joyfully delirious friends from Arkansas.
The 58-year-old coach jumped onto the press table, ripped off his red polo shirt and waved it over his head, shouting all the while to the fans&rsquo; delight, as has become his tradition after the biggest of his wins.
And this was a really big one.
Kansas&rsquo; national title defense ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday when Arkansas&rsquo; Ricky Council IV made five free throws in the closing seconds and the eighth-seeded Razorbacks beat the No. 1 seed Jayhawks 72-71.
&ldquo;I would love to lie and say that I felt composed, but we only led for 1:43,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This has been as challenging and as up-and-down a season as I&rsquo;ve ever been a part of.
&ldquo;For these guys to be rewarded for sticking with it and being able to go to Las Vegas and participate with only 16 teams still standing. ... It&rsquo;s really hard to make this tournament. It&rsquo;s really hard to win a game in this tournament. It&rsquo;s really hard to beat defending champions, No. 1 seed. We did it.&rdquo;
Arkansas was playing a No. 1 seed for the third straight year. Last year, the Razorbacks knocked out Gonzaga on the way to their second straight Elite Eight. This time, the Razorbacks survived shaky offensive play early and foul trouble late. They became the first team to beat a No. 1 seed with three players fouling out, according to&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/OptaSTATS/status/1637245525572440064?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">OptaSTATS</a>.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s such an unbelievable win for our program,&rdquo; Musselman said. &ldquo;I keep telling people that we&rsquo;re getting better. Not many teams can get better this time of year. I&rsquo;ve never been prouder of a team like tonight.&rdquo;
Davonte Davis scored 25 points and Council added 21 as Arkansas rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit. Kansas,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-kansas-bill-self-4ad50feff4c6e12b4722de893edfc059" target="_blank" rel="noopener">playing without ailing coach Bill Self,</a>&nbsp;became the second top seed not to escape the tournament&rsquo;s first weekend after Purdue lost on Friday night to No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson.
Arkansas (22-13) is in the Sweet 16 for the third straight year and will play either Saint Mary&rsquo;s or UConn in the West Region semifinals in Las Vegas on Thursday.
Self has been with the Jayhawks (28-8) since they arrived in Des Moines and has attended practices and meetings, but he still didn&rsquo;t feel well enough to coach a game after having a heart procedure March 8 to clear clogged arteries.
Longtime assistant Norm Roberts was acting coach for a fifth straight game in Self&rsquo;s absence.
Kansas, bidding to become the first repeat national champion since Florida in 2006-07, was ahead 35-27 at halftime and lost for the first time in 27 games when entering the second half with a lead. Kansas had been 47-0 in the NCAA Tournament when leading by eight points or more at the half.
&ldquo;Our guys have been terrific all year,&rdquo; Roberts said. &ldquo;They fought to the very end, made huge plays. It was tough not having Coach here, but we don&rsquo;t make any excuses. We have to line up and get it done, and we came up a little bit short today.&rdquo;
Davis scored 21 of his points in the second half. He fouled out with 1:56 left, turning things over to the veteran Council, a transfer from Wichita State who scored nine of the Razorbacks&rsquo; final 11 points.
&ldquo;This team was struggling and we figured it out,&rdquo; Davis said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad we did at the right time. Hopefully we continue to do it.&rdquo;
Outside the locker room, a sobbing Musselman hugged Davis and shouted, &ldquo;I (expletive) love you, man!&rdquo;
Council&rsquo;s free throw put Arkansas ahead to stay, 68-67, with 24 seconds left. He then rebounded his own miss of the second free throw and made two more to give the Razorbacks a three-point lead.
The teams traded free throws, and Arkansas sent Kansas&rsquo; Jalen Wilson to the line with 3 seconds left to prevent a potential tying 3-pointer. Wilson made the first free throw and appeared to try to miss the second intentionally, but it banked hard off the glass and in, and Kansas never regained possession.
Wilson led the Jayhawks with 20 points but lamented grabbing only four rebounds, which he said was a factor in Arkansas holding a 15-2 advantage in second-chance points. No missed rebound hurt more, he said, than when Kansas failed to grab the ball off Council&rsquo;s missed free throw in the waning seconds.
&ldquo;It always comes down to one play, especially hustle plays like that,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just disappointing to end like that, especially with how great our year was. Credit to them for how they played.&rdquo;
Arkansas,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-illinois-arkansas-9c5294f8634c1fc2903b6e8b8b84df82" target="_blank" rel="noopener">which beat Illinois in the first round,</a>&nbsp;was considered a scary matchup for the Jayhawks with its explosive transition game and ability to play lockdown defense.
But circumstances were less than ideal for the Razorbacks. Guard Anthony Black tweaked a nagging ankle injury early and went to the bench to get re-taped and change shoes, and fellow guard and projected high NBA first-round draft pick Nick Smith Jr. picked up two quick fouls and was limited to 10 minutes and no points in the first half. Also, big man Kamani Johnson was ill and played with a sore toe.
The Razorbacks were too eager to shoot 3-pointers early. They missed 8 of 9 in the first half and couldn&rsquo;t get their running game going.
Kansas was in control for stretches but never could put away the Razorbacks.
Davis started a game-turning 11-0 Arkansas run in the middle of the second half and Jordan Walsh&rsquo;s 3-pointer with eight minutes left gave the Razorbacks their first lead since their first basket of the game.
Arkansas neutralized Wilson when it mattered most, allowing the All-American only two shots over a 15-minute stretch of the second half.
Arkansas is in the Sweet 16 for the 14th time. The only lower-seeded Razorbacks team to reach a regional semifinal was the 1996 squad, which was a No. 12 under Nolan Richardson, who led the school to its only national title two years earlier.
If Musselman reaches his first Final Four, he will evoke more memories of those glory years.

The 8th-seeded Razorbacks beat the No. 1 seed Jayhawks 72-71, ending Kansas’ national title defense in the second round.

March Madness: Eighth-seeded Arkansas ousts defending champ Kansas

According to the <a href="https://twitter.com/tp4pt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Transfer Portal For Playing Time</a>, the NCAA men&rsquo;s basketball transfer portal has set a new record for the most D-I and D-II entries in the first four days, with more than 1,015 players putting their name in thus far. For comparison, it took six days longer to surpass 1,000 entries in 2022. The transfer portal has created a period of unprecedented player movement across the NCAA. On "The Collision: Where Sports And Politics Collide,&rdquo; me and my co-host Dave Zirin did a deep dive into the transfer portal and what this means for college basketball going forward.
Dave Zirin: I heard your former coach, Jim Boeheim, discuss some of the things that have changed the dynamics of college basketball. He discussed NIL and the transfer portal. Has it surprised you how quickly the power dynamics have shifted in college hoops? Etan Thomas: Interesting. I was actually just listening to Coach Boeheim discuss this on the radio with Jay Williams and Keyshawn Johnson this morning after I dropped my kids off at school. For me, as far as the transfer portal (goes), I&rsquo;m kind of torn on this topic, to be honest.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/be2.jpg" alt="" width="699" height="375" />
Dave: I am as well. I'm very torn, but please continue. Etan: So, on one hand, players now have flexibility and I think it&rsquo;s important for players to have that flexibility to move to a different situation if the situation they are currently in is not the best for them. So, I&rsquo;m definitely all for that. In addition, from a players perspective, you&rsquo;re no longer&hellip; how can I say this... held captive. I don&rsquo;t want to use that strong of a phrase and, of course, this is in a basketball sense &mdash; don&rsquo;t take this literal, please. Dave: I understand what you&rsquo;re saying. Etan: Yeah, so I just want to make that point clear. But in the past, no matter how bad the situation was for you, from a player&rsquo;s perspective, you were almost forced to deal with it because [the] repercussion or punishment for transferring would be that you had to sit out an entire year and lose that year of eligibility. And that is a lot; you had to really be unhappy in your situation to give up an entire year. Now, it&rsquo;s different. Players now have the flexibility to leave if the situation is not good for them and I&rsquo;m all for that, in theory. Now, from a coaching standpoint &mdash; and this was Coach Boeheim&rsquo;s point this morning &mdash; how do you build a team with that reality, [when] you have half of your team leaving every year? And I understand that issue. But should players have the flexibility to leave? I think so. I mean, coaches have the flexibility to leave anytime they get a better opportunity somewhere. I always thought &mdash; and this was way before the transfer portal was even a reality &mdash; but I thought that if your coach left, you should have the right to leave without having to sit out a year. I think that should&rsquo;ve been a rule anyway. Dave: I definitely agree with that. I mean, that definitely seems fair for so many reasons. Etan: Right. But at the same time, when you look at the transfer portal now, it just opened up and in, what, 3 days you have over 1,000 players who want to transfer? That&rsquo;s a lot, so that&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m torn on this topic. Dave: Whew. I too am very torn on this. So, on the one hand, the checkmate argument in favor of the transfer portal is exactly what you just said: coaches can leave, so why can&rsquo;t players? Coaches don&rsquo;t have to sit out a year, so why should players? Coaches can pursue the best opportunities for themselves and for their families, so why can&rsquo;t the players make similar choices in that regard? That, to me, is the most checkmate of all checkmate arguments. But, there is another side to it, and you can&rsquo;t deny this other side. You know, you actually end up sometimes losing arguments when you don&rsquo;t grant that the other side has a point.
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Etan: That&rsquo;s very true because then you look unreasonable. It&rsquo;s okay to say, "I agree with you here, but this is where I have a different perspective." Dave: Right, so the thing that I really don&rsquo;t like about the transfer portal is: I think there is actual value in team sports of fighting your way forward, of being the person freshman year who had to bust their hump to start sophomore year. And if you&rsquo;re that unhappy that you want to leave, I don&rsquo;t mind there being a high bar for that level of unhappiness. Listen, we all know how this situation works, and we all know that young people can be a tad impulsive. So, I like the idea of there being guard rails for when players make these decisions to consider, "Okay, do you really want to leave? Is it really that bad? Or are you just having a really bad week or month? Is this something you can persevere through?"
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m bringing my luggage with me. And it&rsquo;s Louis&hellip; The more of you that transfer, the more room there is&rdquo; Deion Sanders telling most of the team to transfer after they gave him an ovation is a WILD move<a href="https://t.co/tCbWEeJYQq">pic.twitter.com/tCbWEeJYQq</a>
&mdash; Max Chadwick (@Chad_Maxwick) <a href="https://twitter.com/Chad_Maxwick/status/1599591913560023041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Now, with that being said, and I have to point him out because he has been the most honest about it: Deion Sanders walks in at the University of Colorado, addresses his players in full view of the cameras and says something to the effect of, &ldquo;Yeah, a third of you won&rsquo;t be here next year." And it&rsquo;s like, you&rsquo;re talking to scholarship athletes in their teens and are basically telling them, "Hey, that class you&rsquo;re taking that you really like or your girlfriend that you&rsquo;re thinking of possibly proposing to in a few years or that frat you just rushed, well good luck because those life plans are out the window! Because I&rsquo;m the new coach and I&rsquo;m in charge." And that doesn&rsquo;t seem very fair because if you&rsquo;re offered a scholarship, that should mean something." Etan: Yeah, but people still have to understand that it is a year-to-year agreement. My wife gets tired of me using her as an example, but it&rsquo;s what happened to her after she tore her ACL for the third time while she was playing at Syracuse. The doctors told my wife (who was my girlfriend at the time), Nichole Oliver, if she wanted to be able to run around and play with her children when she was in her 30s, she would have to stop playing, and the coaches tried to take her scholarship away.
Her and her mother actually had to get a lawyer and meet with the Athletic Director and threaten legal action and a ton of bad publicity for the university if they did that. And here&rsquo;s the thing, Dave: every time I tell this story, we get multiple messages from parents or players asking for advice because their university is trying to do that very same thing to them.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/syracuse23.jpg" alt="" width="503" height="300" /> Dave: Wow, that&rsquo;s awful. Etan: Right, it's terrible. So, people do have to put stories like that into consideration. But it&rsquo;s an example of how all of the power was always leaning to the side of the colleges, and I never liked that dynamic. But again, like we said earlier: there a thousand players in the transfer portal right now! So, what I would say is I think they should come up with a rule that you get one transfer, so make it a good one because you only get one. You have some players you see now and this is their third transfer and their third different college, and their just a junior! I&rsquo;m not sure if that&rsquo;s good either. So, that&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m torn on this topic. Dave: I really like that idea. Thinking of my own child, if my son went to a university and the coach was super intense about recruiting him and then day one on campus, the coach leaves, [that changes things]. Here is my son as a freshman and he has to deal with the fact that he has to either [transfer] or find peace with the new coach who may or may not even value him as a player. He may not be a player he wants to play and he has no connection to him because he never recruited him, so why would he stay there? Etan: I agree, 100%. So in my scenario, if you only get one transfer, that&rsquo;s like the exception. If your coach leaves, that doesn&rsquo;t count against your one transfer because, yes, that changes everything for an athlete.
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Dave: Ah, I like that too because the new coach could have a completely different idea of what they want to do from what you were promised when they recruited you there. Etan: I agree. But with that being said, I do have to be able to acknowledge &mdash; and this is what Coach Boeheim brought up today on the radio &mdash; if he was still coaching now, he would be chasing players to see who is going to stay and who is going to leave, and it&rsquo;s a musical chairs type of thing now. You lose four players, you replace them with four new players. But how can a coach actually coach players? If they don&rsquo;t like anything, they just leave! Well, I can see that both ways. If you&rsquo;re being brutally unfair to someone, yes, they&rsquo;re probably going to leave because you can no longer hold them captive. Some coaches call it &ldquo;coaching a player hard," but I don&rsquo;t like that term because Bobby Knight in his mind thought that&rsquo;s what he was doing when it was actually abuse. So, a coach can no longer do that and hold a player captive anymore, and that&rsquo;s a good thing, in my opinion.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/oit.jpg" alt="" width="484" height="360" />
But now the other side, and this is the part that Coach Boeheim brought up, sometimes it&rsquo;s simply not your turn yet. So I look at myself: my freshman year at Syracuse, it just wasn&rsquo;t my turn yet. I was playing behind a more experienced, bigger, stronger and, quite frankly, better senior center in Otis Hill, who had just been to the NCAA Finals the year before, so I had to be patient. And, of course, it was hard because I was at the bottom of the totem pole on the team. But when I came back my sophomore year, I was ready and prepared to step in as a starter, got back-to-back Big East Defensive Player of the Year and things turned around for me. But I had to wait, so I know firsthand that a bad situation can definitely change.
Dave: If they had the transfer portal your freshman year, would you have stayed? Etan: Listen, I was almost going to transfer even without them having the transfer portal how it is now (laughing). But looking back now, I&rsquo;m glad I didn&rsquo;t make that decision. But I was very close to doing it because it was not a good environment and situation for me in my freshman year. Coach Boeheim also used the example of <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/hakim-warrick-qa-2003-syracuse-championship-and-jersey-retirement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hakim Warrick</a>, who didn&rsquo;t play a whole lot in his freshman year but then came back his sophomore year and blocked the shot against Kansas in the championship game that really won the game for Syracuse. So his point is that things can change, and he&rsquo;s right. So, there is an argument to be made that some players are losing the lessons of perseverance, fighting through adversity, etc. because at any hint of difficulty, they transfer. But at the same time, there&rsquo;s the question of should they be able to have the flexibility and the choice to leave a situation they are unhappy in? So, that&rsquo;s why this is a complex topic. Dave: Very complex indeed.

So far, 1,015 players have entered the NCAA transfer portal. Etan Thomas and Dave Zirin discuss what this means for college hoops.

Is the NCAA transfer portal getting out of control?

College basketball is full of excitement and drama. While winning a national championship is the ultimate goal for every team, there have been many loaded squads that came up short.&nbsp;
While the teams on this list didn&rsquo;t win a title, they are still often mentioned among the best teams in the history of college basketball. Here are the best college-basketball teams that failed to win it all.&nbsp;
11. 1965-66 Kentucky Wildcats
The 1965-66 Kentucky Wildcats were coached by Adolph Rupp and their talented roster included future NBA stars Pat Riley and Louie Dampier. The Wildcats finished the season with a record of 27-2 and advanced to the national championship game, where they faced the Texas Western Miners. In a game that would later be immortalized in the movie "Glory Road," the Miners upset the Wildcats, 72-65.
10. 2006-07 Ohio State Buckeyes
Led by future No. 1 overall draft pick Greg Oden and longtime NBA point guard Mike Conley, the Buckeyes were hoping to win their second national championship in program history. Ohio State, traditionally a football school, finished the season 35-4 and ranked No. 1 in the AP poll. The Buckeyes advanced to the national championship game, where they faced a loaded Florida Gators squad that was led by future NBA All-Stars Joakim Noah and Al Horford.&nbsp;
In the national championship game, Oden avoided the foul trouble that had plagued him earlier in the tournament and put up a dominant 25 points and 12 rebounds. However, it wasn&rsquo;t enough, as the Gators defeated the Buckeyes 84-75 behind Horford's 18 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. Four players from the Buckeyes' roster would go on to play in the NBA: Conley, Oden, Daequan Cook and Othello Hunter.
9. 2004-05 Illinois Fighting Illini
The 2004-05 Illinois Fighting Illini were a dominant force in college basketball. Coached by Bruce Weber and led by Dee Brown and Deron Williams, the Illini won their first 29 games of the season and finished with a 37-2 record.&nbsp;
Illinois advanced to the national championship game, where they faced the North Carolina Tar Heels (who were led by Raymond Felton, Sean May, Rashad McCants and Marvin Williams). Despite a valiant effort, the Illini fell just short, losing 75-70. Five of their players would go on to play in the NBA: Williams, Brown, Luther Head, Roger Powell and James Augustine.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/rose22.jpg" alt="" width="690" height="349" />
8. 2007-08 Memphis Tigers
Yes, John Calipari has back-to-back teams on this list. Coach Cal&rsquo;s 2007-08 Memphis Tigers were absolutely loaded and they were led by Derrick Rose, who would go on to be the No. 1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft and the youngest MVP in NBA history in 2011. Chris Douglas-Roberts, Joey Dorsey and Antonio Anderson were also key contributors who eventually had stints in the NBA.
The Tigers finished the season with a record of 38-2 and they advanced to the national championship game, where they faced the Kansas Jayhawks. Despite a strong effort, the Tigers were unable to overcome the Jayhawks. Memphis missed a number of late free throws, which opened the door for Mario Chalmers to hit <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/march-madness-ranking-the-top11-ncaa-tournament-buzzerbeaters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of the most memorable buzzer-beaters in modern NCAA Tournament history</a> and force overtime. Kansas would go on to win, 75-68.
7. 1974-75 Indiana Hoosiers
Led by head coach Bob Knight, the 1974-75 Indiana Hoosiers finished the season with a record of 31-1 and advanced to the Final Four, where they faced the Kentucky Wildcats. Despite a strong effort, the Hoosiers were upset by the Wildcats, 92-90.&nbsp;
The Hoosiers would have eight players who would go on to play in the NBA: Scott May, Steve Green, Kent Benson, Quinn Buckner, John Laskowski, Bob Wilkerson, Tom Abernethy and Wayne Radford.
6. 1996-97 Kansas Jayhawks
The 1996-97 Kansas Jayhawks featured a pair of future NBA stars (Paul Pierce and Raef LaFrentz) and one of the best coaches in college-basketball history (Roy Williams). The Jayhawks finished the season with a record of 34-2 and advanced to the Final Four, where they faced the&nbsp; Arizona Wildcats.&nbsp;
Pierce put together a monster performance &mdash; 27 points, 11 rebounds, 3 threes, 2 blocks and 2 steals on 69.2/60/100 shooting splits &mdash; but it wasn't enough to defeat Mike Bibby&rsquo;s Wildcats. The Jayhawks lost 85-82 in overtime. In addition to Pierce and LaFrentz, Kansas had four other players go on to the NBA: Scot Pollard, Billy Thomas, Jacque Vaughn and Ryan Robertson.
5. 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats
The 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats, coached by John Calipari, featured quite the collection of young, high-upside talent. Led by future NBA superstars Karl-Anthony Towns and Devin Booker, the Wildcats finished the season with a perfect record of 38-0.
Kentucky advanced to the Final Four, where they faced the Wisconsin Badgers and were ultimately upset 71-64. In total, a whopping nine Wildcats would go on to play in the NBA: Towns, Booker, Trey Lyles, Willie Cauley-Stein, Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison, Tyler Ulis, Dakari Johnson and Alex Poythress.
4. 1984-85 Georgetown Hoyas
The 1984-85 Georgetown Hoyas, coached by John Thompson, were a powerhouse team that featured future NBA star Patrick Ewing. The Hoyas finished the season with a record of 35-3 and advanced to the national championship game, where they faced the Villanova Wildcats.&nbsp;
In one of the biggest upsets in college-basketball history, the Wildcats defeated the Hoyas 66-64. In addition to Ewing, Georgetown had four other players who went on to play in the NBA: Reggie Williams, Bill Martin, David Wingate and Michael Jackson.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/web2.jpg" alt="" width="690" height="348" />
3. 1992-93 Michigan Wolverines
The prior season, the Fab Five took college basketball by storm, with bald heads and baggy shorts. They started five true freshmen and had a great season, making it all the way to the national championship game, where they were handled by a veteran Duke squad that was led by Christian Laettner, Grant Hill and Bobby Hurley, losing 71-51.
In the 1992-93 season, the Wolverines were widely regarded as the most talented team in the country and they were the favorites to win it all. Unfortunately, they fell short to North Carolina in the national championship game in one of the most memorable endings in sports history. Future No. 1 pick Chris Webber called a timeout that Michigan didn&rsquo;t have, as they lost 77-71. Michigan had five players who would later play in the NBA: Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Eric Riley (plus Rob Pelinka would go on to run the Los Angeles Lakers' front office).
2. 1982-83 Houston Cougars
Led by future Hall-of-Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, the 1982-83 Houston Cougars were known as "Phi Slama Jama" for their high-flying style of play. The Cougars were a dominant force on both ends of the court. They advanced to the Final Four, where they faced the N.C. State Wolfpack. Despite a 20-point lead in the second half, the Cougars were upset by the Wolfpack, 54-52. In addition to the superstar pairing of Olajuwon and Drexler, Houston also had two other players who would go on to play in the NBA: Michael Young and Larry Micheaux.
1. 1990-91 UNLV Runnin' Rebels
The 1990-91 UNLV Runnin' Rebels are one of the greatest college basketball teams of all-time, despite not winning the national championship. Coached by Jerry Tarkanian, the Rebels had an incredible season, finishing with a record of 34-1.&nbsp;
Led by Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon and Greg Anthony, the Rebels played an up-tempo style of basketball that was both thrilling and effective. In the Final Four, they lost a close game to the Duke Blue Devils, who would go on to win the national championship. Johnson, Augmon and Anthony would go on to thrive in the NBA, and two other Rebels would also make it to the league (Elmore Spencer and Eyric Gray).
Would you rank these teams differently? Who is missing from this list? <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tweet us your thoughts now</a>!

Jamal Shakespeare looks back on 11 all-time great college basketball teams that failed to win a championship.

Revisiting 11 loaded NCAA-basketball teams that failed to win it all

It's hard not to be impressed by the growth of Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo.
He's gotten better every year &mdash; somewhat of a rarity, despite the expectation for linear growth among young players. That really shines through on the offensive end of the ball, where Adebayo has transformed from screen-and-dive man, to handoff hub, to an increasingly comfortable bucket-getter.
Adebayo has never been more self-sufficient: 40.3% of his made field goals have been unassisted this year, marking the first time his assisted mark has fallen under 60%. Per Second Spectrum, the Heat are generating 1.08 points per possession (PPP) on trips featuring an Adebayo isolation, and roughly the same clip on post-ups (1.075 PPP).
Among high volume scorers &mdash; a minimum of 150 isolations&nbsp;and 150 post-ups &mdash; only Luka Doncic and DeMar DeRozan match Adebayo's efficiency in both situations. That's pretty good company to be in; honestly, that's company I'm not sure anyone outside of the Heat organization ever expected Adebayo to be in. At least not this early.
"The growth speaks for itself, the work speaks for itself," Adebayo told Basketball News after another 30-point performance of the season, his 11th, in Saturday's win over the Atlanta Hawks.
"Another year expects, you know, more growth from you, after every year. Nobody wants to get complacent in this league &mdash; I sure don't. The goal for me is to keep getting better, and I feel like I've done that."
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As Adebayo has been given &mdash; no, earned &mdash; more hats to wear within the offense, there's one in particular that's been left on the rack with increasing frequency: Pick-and-roll reps.&nbsp;
We know what Adebayo can do as a screener, laying the lumber before jetting down the lane for lobs or short-rolling into mid-range attempts &mdash; something he's doing more often than ever. You would think, with the Heat being more comfortable with the ball in his hands, they'd follow the trend of bigger creators running more ball-screens.
We've seen them sprinkled in at random moments. Adebayo's bringing the ball up the floor more than ever &mdash; roughly 11 possessions per game, per Second Spectrum &mdash; opening the door for some early screens to be set for him.
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Then there's the random set piece, like this possession against the Hawks on Saturday.
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The play ends with an incredible recovery and block from Clint Capela, but look at how tantalizing the setup is for Adebayo.&nbsp;
He gets a touch in his comfort zone. The defense has to worry about him posting up or facing up. They have to worry about the Heat flowing into split action or, with the left side only being occupied by Adebayo, the possibility of this turning into a handoff with limited help available.&nbsp;
Instead, it's Tyler Herro running his man (Jalen Johnson) into Capela, creating a path for Adebayo to get to the rim. With Adebayo taking a career-low 40% of his shots at the rim this season, finding ways to scheme that up would make sense.
One would think a potential solution would be those kind of ball-screen sets. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra notes that while Adebayo "has been initiating for us for years," he's careful not to put too many eggs into the pick-and-roll basket.
"That's part of bringing a little bit more diversity to our offense, but we also have some specific things that he has to do for us," Spoelstra told Basketball News.
"As a screener, as a big, putting pressure on the rim. That's vital for our offense. He has to do a lot of different things, and that's not easy to balance. If you do one of the things&nbsp;too&nbsp;often, that's not great for us."
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To Spoelstra's point, the Adebayo-led ball screens haven't been efficient &mdash; though that comes with a small sample caveat.&nbsp;
Adebayo has only received 63 on-ball picks this season, or 1.5 per 100 possessions, the lowest rate since becoming the undisputed starter in 2019-20. On those possessions, the Heat have only generated 0.83 PPP. That ranks 214th among 243 players to run at least 60 ball-screens this season.
The Heat may not have the ecosystem to give Adebayo a meaningful bump in frequency either. Going back to the Hawks example, it makes sense to empty a side and allow Herro &mdash; Miami's best (movement) shooter &mdash; to put extra strain on defenses. But even with it making sense on paper, this is how it looked in practice.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screen-shot-2023-03-06-at-12-43-10-pm.png" alt="" width="650" height="367" />
Bogdan Bogdanovic is peeled in early, with two feet in the paint. Saddiq Bey is sagging off Max Strus, a step away from the paint. Dejounte Murray doesn't affect the play in a meaningful way, but he's also sagging off of Victor Oladipo and can provide help at the nail if he wants.&nbsp;
Spoelstra noted that Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry (currently out) have been screening partners for Adebayo in the past. They make more sense than Herro as partners right now. Lowry's one of the best (and willing) <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/changing-of-the-guard-the-future-of-screening-is-here" target="_blank" rel="noopener">guard screeners in NBA history</a>. Butler is rugged in his own right, and has the dual benefit of mitigating his own issues as a spacer by being directly involved in the action.
Ultimately, if Miami is going to run a ball-screen, Butler, Herro and healthy Lowry will remain higher on the pecking order. They should&nbsp;remain higher on the pecking order.
And until the context in Miami improves, you can expect it to remain that way.&nbsp;

Nekias Duncan examines how Bam Adebayo's growth as an offensive player has changed the way the Heat have used him.

Bam Adebayo's game is expanding for the Heat in all but one way

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Kevin Durant made his Phoenix Suns debut Wednesday night against the Charlotte Hornets.&nbsp;
Durant, wearing No. 35, was greeted by a loud ovation as he was introduced at Spectrum Center and fans held up cell phones stretching to get video of him in his white jersey.
He missed a foul line jumper on his team&rsquo;s first possession, but scored his first basket with the Suns a few moments later on a driving left-handed layup. Durant followed with a block on Hornets rookie center Mark Williams and then knocked down a 3-pointer from the left wing as the Suns bolted to a 9-0 lead.
Durant finished with 23 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks, while shooting 10-of-15 from the field (including 2-of-4 from three-point range), as the Suns beat the Hornets 105-91.
He is expected to be on a minutes restriction as he makes his way back from a knee injury that has held him out since Jan. 8.
The 13-time All-Star was acquired from the Brooklyn Nets in a&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-nets-phoenix-suns-nba-sports-basketball-3932b34f477549895cce131490bec86d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blockbuster deal</a>&nbsp;in which the Suns parted ways with Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder and four first-round picks.
Like Durant's previous stops in Seattle, Oklahoma City, Golden State and Brooklyn, the expectations are high &mdash; and there is a different level of excitement with his arrival.
&ldquo;You feel it,&rdquo; Suns coach Monty Williams said. &ldquo;You feel it at the (team) hotel when people are lined up outside. You feel it in the gym. ... Yeah, I feel it. I learned a long time ago that pressure and expectations are a privilege and you have to embrace those things because that is where the good stuff is.&rdquo;
Williams admitted that anything less than an NBA championship this season would feel like a disappointment, but added that is true of any of the league&rsquo;s top teams.
Durant&rsquo;s has been through plenty during his 15-year NBA career, but this is the first time he&rsquo;s joined a new team midway through the season.
&ldquo;I have a lot of experience in the league, so the transition was a little easier than it would have been 10 years ago,&rdquo; Durant said following practice Tuesday. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a quick turnaround and everything happened so fast. But the game is the constant thing.&rdquo;
The Suns hope Durant&rsquo;s addition gets them over the hump after losing to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games in the 2021 NBA Finals.
The Suns were in fourth place in the Western Conference at 33-29 entering play Wednesday &mdash; a game ahead of another of his former teams, the Warriors, with 20 remaining. Phoenix was 10 1/2 games behind the West-leading Denver Nuggets.
Williams expects Durant will have a major positive impact on his new teammates, which include Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s more than a generational talent, he&rsquo;s a historic talent,&rdquo; Williams said. &ldquo;From that standpoint you can use your imagination, just from a scoring standpoint. But I have tried to have an open mind about it not to box him in and say &lsquo;he&rsquo;s going to be this, this and that.&rsquo; So I&rsquo;m looking forward to it as much as everybody else is.&rdquo;
Durant remains at the top of his game, averaging 29 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists while shooting 55.9% from the field and 37.6% from 3-point range this season.
Hornets coach Steve Clifford said the Suns are going to be a tough out in the playoffs.
&ldquo;They now have the number one thing that you have to have to win close games in the playoffs &ndash; they have two guys who can draw help without the aid of the pick-and-roll,&rdquo; Clifford said. &ldquo;So if you just give Booker the ball, you have to help. You can&rsquo;t guard him one-on-one. If you give Kevin the ball, nobody can guard him one-on-one. Nobody. Then you throw in the Chris Paul pick-and-roll piece with Ayton, the way he&rsquo;s grown.
&ldquo;Playoff basketball is going to come down to, and it&rsquo;s always been the same thing, how many guys on the court can get a shot on their own, and then what can they do when they draw help? And they&rsquo;re two of the best guys in the league. It certainly puts them in the conversation.&rdquo;
Durant has spent the past couple of weeks getting to know his new teammates on a personal level, as well as how they operate on the floor while mostly watching from the sideline as he recovers from a sprained knee that has kept him out since Jan. 8.
He said his knee has been pain-free for the last couple of weeks.
He&rsquo;s been trying to visualize where he fits into the Suns&rsquo; system and how he can have the biggest impact while learning the team&rsquo;s plays.
&ldquo;I know my versatility can help me a lot of different areas on both ends of the court,&rdquo; Durant said. &ldquo;Being able to shoot the ball from different areas of the floor can help me, even if I don&rsquo;t know every small subtlety in a play I can still try to figure out just by movement and stuff.&rdquo;

Kevin Durant made his Phoenix Suns debut on Wednesday, scoring 23 points and leading the team to victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

Kevin Durant makes Phoenix Suns debut in return from knee injury

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Kevin Durant has been through quite a bit during his 15-year NBA career &mdash; but joining a new team midway through the season is a new one for the 13-time All-Star.
The 34-year-old Durant doesn&rsquo;t seem all that worried.
Durant makes his highly anticipated Phoenix Suns debut on Wednesday night against the Charlotte Hornets. It comes 20 days after Phoenix&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-nets-phoenix-suns-nba-sports-basketball-3932b34f477549895cce131490bec86d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">completed a blockbuster deal</a>&nbsp;that sent Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and four first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets, delivering shockwaves throughout the basketball world.
This is Durant&rsquo;s fourth different team in seven seasons, but he doesn&rsquo;t feel like joining the Suns midseason will be a huge adjustment.
&ldquo;I have a lot of experience in the league, so the transition was a little easier than it would have been 10 years ago,&rdquo; Durant said following practice Tuesday. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a quick turnaround and everything happened so fast. But the game is the constant thing.&rdquo;
The Suns are hoping that Durant&rsquo;s addition gets them over the hump after losing to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games in the 2021 NBA Finals.
The Suns were in fourth place in the Western Conference at 33-29 entering Wednesday night&rsquo;s game &mdash; one game ahead of another of his former teams, the Golden State Warriors, with 20 remaining. Phoenix was 10 1/2 games behind the West-leading Denver Nuggets.
Durant has spent the past couple of weeks getting to know his new teammates on a personal level, as well as how they operate on the floor while mostly watching from the sideline as he recovers from a sprained knee that has kept him out since Jan. 8.
The knee has been pain-free for the last couple of weeks, according to Durant, and now it&rsquo;s a matter of working his body into game shape.
He said going through a full practice with teammates on Tuesday helped.
&ldquo;I feel great. I am looking forward to getting this opportunity to play again,&rdquo; Durant said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a long time. I was having fun out there before I got injured. I&rsquo;m looking forward to going out there and picking up where I left off. I know it will take me some time to get used to everything early on.&rdquo;
His first game back comes against a Hornets team that has won a season-best five straight games but lost star point guard LaMelo Ball to broken ankle on Monday night. Charlotte also is expected to be without P.J. Washington (knee soreness) for a third straight game, meaning second-year forward JT Thor would have the unenviable task of guarding Durant.
Durant remains at the top of his game, averaging 29 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game while shooting 55.9% from the field and 37.6% from 3-point range this season.
He has been trying to visualize where he fits into the Suns&rsquo; system and how he can have the biggest impact while learning the team&rsquo;s plays.
&ldquo;I know my versatility can help me a lot of different areas on both ends of the court,&rdquo; Durant said. &ldquo;Being able to shoot the ball from different areas of the floor can help me, even if I don&rsquo;t know every small subtlety in a play I can still try to figure out just by movement and stuff.&rdquo;
He said his new teammates have been eager to integrate him into offensive sets.
&ldquo;Having a long practice helped, and we were able to figure some stuff out,&rdquo; Durant said. &ldquo;So it&rsquo;s been fun. I&rsquo;m looking forward to trying to translate over to the floor and see how we can keep building.&rdquo;
Durant is clearly embracing his new surroundings and the idea of playing with Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton and contending for another NBA title. Durant said he likes the energy of his new team and sees plenty of chemistry.
&ldquo;There is an enthusiasm for the game and if a problem arises everyone is talking about it,&rdquo; Durant said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not simmering or lingering over for too long and that&rsquo;s always a good thing.&rdquo;

Kevin Durant spoke to the media before making his highly anticipated Suns debut against the Hornets on Wednesday night.

Kevin Durant eager for Suns debut tonight against Hornets

MORAGA, Calif. (AP) &mdash; Logan Johnson scored 29 points in the final home game of his career and No. 15 Saint Mary&rsquo;s clinched at least a share of the West Coast Conference regular-season title with an 83-52 victory over Pacific on Thursday night.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice that we were able to clinch a share of it on our home court,&rdquo; coach Randy Bennett said. &ldquo;I wanted to make sure they would get recognized and win out on their home court the right way. ... For them to be able to win this thing on our home court, I definitely wanted the crowd to be able to show their appreciation.&rdquo;
Alex Ducas added 17 points and Mitchell Saxen scored 11 for the Gaels (25-5, 14-1). Saint Mary&rsquo;s is assured no worse than a tie for first place in the conference for the first time since 2015-16 and can secure its first outright crown since 2011-12 by winning at No. 12 Gonzaga on Saturday night.
The Gaels held a trophy ceremony at midcourt after the game and put on championship T-shirts. But the celebration didn&rsquo;t last long, with a bigger game looming.
&ldquo;About 10 more minutes until I shower and go home,&rdquo; Ducas said of how long he&rsquo;d celebrate this win. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll get our minds right. We have bigger things to focus on. There&rsquo;s plenty more time to celebrate after the season is done.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The Gaels wrapped up their second straight perfect home season in conference play with a victory that gave them 25 wins for the 12th time in the last 16 seasons.
Jordan Ivy-Curry scored 11 points to lead the Tigers (13-17, 6-9), who have lost five of six.
Johnson helped break the game open early, sparking a 21-6 run that gave Saint Mary&rsquo;s a 33-16 lead midway through the first half. He scored 12 points during that stretch, including a pair of 3-pointers to cap it.
Johnson finished with 20 points in the half as the Gaels led 48-31 at the break.
Saint Mary&rsquo;s was never threatened in the second half, with Ducas&rsquo; 3 making it 68-35 midway through the half.
SENIOR NIGHT
The Gaels honored their three senior starters before the game: Johnson, Ducas and Kyle Bowen.
All three have started every game the past two seasons, helping Saint Mary&rsquo;s earn a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament last year and putting the Gaels in position to win the conference title this season.
&ldquo;These three guys are special,&rdquo; Bennett said. &ldquo;We may never have a group of three leaders, as seniors, as good as these guys. I know what special looks like and these guys are special.&rdquo;
Ducas and Bowen could choose to return for a fifth season because of the 2020 campaign impacted by COVID-19 but haven&rsquo;t made a final decision.
Saint Mary&rsquo;s reserve Matt Van Komen also was honored.
BIG PICTURE
Pacific: The Tigers lost their 34th straight game against a ranked opponent since beating No. 21 Providence in the first round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament.
Saint Mary&rsquo;s: The Gaels have won four straight since their lone slip-up in conference play, an overtime loss at Loyola Marymount two weeks ago. But their toughest test yet comes in the finale at Gonzaga. Saint Mary&rsquo;s won the first matchup at home 78-70 in OT earlier this month.
UP NEXT
Pacific: Hosts Portland on Saturday.
Saint Mary&rsquo;s: Visits No. 12 Gonzaga on Saturday night.

Saint Mary’s can secure its first outright crown since 2011-12 by winning at No. 12 Gonzaga on Saturday night.

Biggz

Craig Hodges discusses the maturation of Michael Jordan