Lions

The 2025 Western Conference Semifinals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets have lived up to the hype, with the series knotted at 2-2. As the teams prepare for a crucial Game 5 in Oklahoma City, both squads face pressing questions and necessary adjustments to gain the upper hand. With a trip to the Western Conference Finals on the line, every possession, coaching decision, and hustle play will matter more than ever.
-- -- --
Thunder's path to regaining control
Assert themselves on the boards
The Thunder&rsquo;s lack of consistent rebounding has emerged as one of their most glaring weaknesses in this series. Despite boasting athletic bigs and switchable wings, they&rsquo;ve repeatedly been outmuscled on the glass by Denver&rsquo;s physical frontcourt led by Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon. The Nuggets have often out-rebounded the Thunder, securing offensive boards that led to multiple second-chance scoring opportunities. Those extra possessions have proven costly for OKC in close games.
Part of the issue stems from the Thunder often playing smaller lineups, which prioritize speed and switchability over size and physicality. While that identity served them well in the regular season, playoff basketball demands toughness in the paint. Oklahoma City will need to play more of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein to go up against Jokic and Gordon, and commit more to boxing out and crashing the boards. Their guards must also help secure long rebounds and quickly push the ball in transition, turning defensive stops into offensive chances.
To win Game 5 and take control of the series, the Thunder cannot afford to give the Nuggets repeated second opportunities. Rebounding isn&rsquo;t just about size, it&rsquo;s about desire, positioning, and timing. If OKC can neutralize Denver&rsquo;s rebounding edge and limit their putback chances, it could be a decisive swing factor on their home floor.
Rediscover offensive fluidity
Oklahoma City has struggled to find its usual offensive rhythm over the past two games. The Thunder's offense is built on movement, ball-sharing, and improvisation &ndash; playing freely with joy and confidence. But as the series has worn on and the physicality has ramped up, OKC has looked more rigid and hesitant, settling for tough isolation plays instead of generating quality looks through movement.
In Games 3 and 4, Denver&rsquo;s defense disrupted OKC&rsquo;s pace by pressing up on ball-handlers and switching effectively on screens. The Thunder have sometimes become overly reliant on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to bail them out in late-clock situations. While SGA is an elite shot-creator, Oklahoma City&rsquo;s offense thrives most when all five players are involved. Getting back to their roots &ndash; cutting off the ball, pushing in transition, and trusting each other&rsquo;s instincts &ndash; can unlock the offensive flow that&rsquo;s been missing.
Reclaiming that offensive identity also means trusting players like Cason Wallace and Isaiah Joe to take open shots and make quick decisions. Jalen Williams, who has flashed brilliance at times, must stay aggressive and attack mismatches. If the Thunder return to playing free and fearless, as they did in their Game 2 blowout win, they&rsquo;ll be much harder to guard and far more dangerous heading into a pivotal Game 5.
MVP-caliber performance from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
While SGA has delivered solid numbers throughout the series, Oklahoma City needs a transcendent Game 5 performance from their MVP candidate. Through four games, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 28.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 5.8 assists &ndash; but his impact hasn&rsquo;t always translated to late-game success. Denver has thrown multiple defenders at him, forcing tough midrange shots and limiting his trips to the free-throw line. For OKC to thrive, SGA must assert himself early and often, controlling the tempo and creating high-quality looks for both himself and his teammates.
This is the kind of moment where MVPs rise above the game plan. Whether it's hunting mismatches, collapsing the defense to kick out to shooters, or making timely defensive plays, SGA has the tools to take over. In Game 2, his 33-point performance was a reminder of what he&rsquo;s capable of when he&rsquo;s in attack mode and dictating the pace. The Thunder need that version of Shai to show up again in Game 5.
It&rsquo;s also about leadership. This young Thunder team looks to SGA not just for scoring, but for composure and direction in critical moments. With the home crowd behind him and the series on the line, this is his opportunity to put a stamp on his MVP-caliber season and carry his team one step closer to a conference finals berth.
Nuggets' strategies to steal Game 5
Elevate Nikola Jokic&rsquo;s impact
Nikola Jokic has not been his usual dominant self across all four games. While he&rsquo;s still managed to put up triple-doubles and impact the game in subtle ways, the Thunder have made him work harder than usual with their quick double teams and constant help defense. In Game 4, Jokic finished with 22 points on just 9-of-22 shooting&mdash;a rare inefficient night for the two-time MVP. For the Nuggets to win on the road, Jokic must return to the ultra-efficient playmaker and scorer who lifts everyone around him.
One adjustment could be to get Jokic more touches at the elbow and the top of the key, where he can orchestrate Denver&rsquo;s offense without dealing with immediate post pressure. From those areas, he can see the floor better and exploit mismatches or cutters. Additionally, running more two-man actions with Jamal Murray or Aaron Gordon could help relieve pressure and force OKC to defend multiple threats simultaneously.
Jokic&rsquo;s presence alone bends defenses, but when he&rsquo;s assertive and efficient, it unlocks the Nuggets&rsquo; full offensive potential. Denver will need their franchise cornerstone to set the tone with physicality, precision, and poise in the hostile OKC environment of Game 5.
Improved Three-Point shooting
The Nuggets&rsquo; offensive success often correlates with their outside shooting. In the games where they&rsquo;ve played, Denver pulled away with convincing wins. But when the shots haven&rsquo;t fallen, their offense has looked sluggish and overly reliant on Jokic or Murray to create something late in the shot clock. Getting back to crisp ball movement and creating open looks from the perimeter is a priority heading into Game 5.
Michael Porter Jr. and Christian Braun must convert the clean looks they&rsquo;re getting. Porter, in particular, has the shooting gravity to stretch OKC&rsquo;s defense and create spacing for Jokic&rsquo;s interior play. Even Aaron Gordon&rsquo;s willingness to take open threes can help Denver keep defenders honest. Making threes forces OKC to chase and rotate, which opens up driving lanes and cutting opportunities that Denver thrives on.
Expect head coach David Adelman to emphasize early ball reversals and inside-out play to generate quality three-point chances. If Denver shoots well from deep, it could swing momentum and silence the Paycom Center crowd in what promises to be a raucous Game 5 environment.
Boost bench production
In tight playoff matchups, bench production often makes the difference. For Denver, the second unit has been a mixed bag this series. They have a particularly shallow bench led by Russell Westbrook and Peyton Watson, and the Nuggets need consistent contributions from both of them to keep pace with OKC&rsquo;s energetic rotations.
The key is maintaining offensive rhythm and defensive intensity when Jokic sits. Braun&rsquo;s ability to defend, rebound, and finish in transition adds a valuable spark. Westbrook&rsquo;s experience and steady playmaking can provide structure when Murray rests. And Watson&rsquo;s length and athleticism make him a disruptive presence on both ends. Each of them must be ready to seize the moment in what could be the turning point of the series.
Adelman might also consider tightening his rotation or staggering starters more effectively to ensure a balance of scoring and defense. With so much on the line, every possession from the bench unit carries weight. If Denver&rsquo;s reserves can sustain leads &ndash; or even swing momentum &ndash; it could give them the edge they need to take Game 5 on the road.
-- -- --
As Game 5 approaches, the series hangs in the balance. Both teams have demonstrated resilience and adaptability, but only one can emerge with a crucial win to take control. The adjustments made and executed in this game will likely determine who advances and who faces an offseason of questions. In a battle between the Thunder and the Nuggets, Game 5 promises to be a war of wills, strategy, and superstar moments.

With the 2025 NBA Playoffs series tied 2-2, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets prepare for a pivotal Game 5.

2025 NBA Playoffs: Key adjustments as Thunder, Nuggets look to seize series

Team USA players came inside the Kerry Sports basketball facility one by one, each sporting their preferred and comfortable gear from the blazing heat of the Philippine weather they were not so accustomed to. They were about to hold their first practices in Manila for the FIBA World Cup 2023, the sport&rsquo;s world championship meet.
Anthony Edwards was one of the last ones to enter the gym along with fellow NBA no.1 overall pick Paolo Banchero. He had his Adidas Adilette comfort slides put on with black Team USA jogger pants and an Adidas triple-colored hoodie. Edwards was fixated on his phone, walking past whispering reporters onto the team&rsquo;s huddle at center court, clearly being the center of attraction for the young Team USA squad.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s who they call the Ant-Man.&rdquo;
Once upon a time, Edwards&rsquo; name was held in a much lower regard. The 22-year-old is considered to be one of the best and brightest young players in the league but has yet to establish himself as one of the staples and premier superstars with an iconic and deep playoff performance that cements him in that tier.
Until these playoffs.
Edwards has separated himself from the pack of young superstars leading their teams and entered the upper echelon of basketball royalty in the NBA. With the league anticipating the &lsquo;changing of the guard&rsquo; as current faces LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant eventually diminish their shining glories as the league&rsquo;s best of the best, Edwards comes in as one of the hopefuls to take the mantle when that inevitable day comes.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been saying that he (Edwards) is the face of the league but he hates it when I say it &ndash; but it&rsquo;s true. The future&rsquo;s so bright you gotta put the sunglasses on when you&rsquo;re walking around him,&rdquo; Karl-Anthony Towns said, in their post-game interview after their first-round series with the&nbsp;Phoenix Suns.
Edwards glanced briefly at Towns, who was beside him at the podium. He had that little smile on his face while bowing down his head as his teammate praised him in front of the listening reporters. He looked at Towns again, this time shaking his head in disbelief, but it had the element of confidence. There was obviously a focus on what Towns was talking about but with Edwards&rsquo; elite level-headedness through it all.&nbsp;
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re a young superstar in the league and you have to face it,&rdquo; the statement emphasized on Edwards as he&rsquo;s trying to soak it all in.
Ever since Edwards has been adamant about not calling himself anything until he wins in the playoffs. Now that his Wolves beat the Suns to win the franchise&rsquo;s first playoff series since 2004, Edwards certainly has all the right in the world to give himself even the tiniest bit of praise.
He thought for a good three seconds, glancing at the reporter and the horizon for a moment. He was just asked if he was now able to give himself some grace in that regard when people call him that &lsquo;young superstar&rsquo; label. A small grin emerged onto his face, clearly oozing with confidence albeit a controlled one. He looked back with that smile on his face while nodding, he said:
&ldquo;Nah, not yet a man. Not yet.&rdquo;
Behind this usual brash, confident, and charismatic Edwards is a hungry side that never gets contented and satisfied until he achieves his ultimate goal: winning a championship. Maybe he&rsquo;ll have the guts to call himself one when they reach the Finals and end up going all the way. But that remains to be seen.
He&rsquo;s got the swagger, the personality, and the charisma to be marketable by the league. Edwards mentioned wanting to go kill everybody that&rsquo;s in front of him, and boy, he did.&nbsp;
Edwards swept the Suns featuring his childhood idol and favorite player of all time Kevin Durant, who he has been jawing back and forth at several times in the series. This was him going at his childhood hero, taking on the challenge and never backing down. However, the play of the series happened in Game 4 when Minnesota was trying to put the nail in the coffin for Phoenix.&nbsp;
With 2:18 left on the clock in the 4th quarter, Edwards blew by Beal and rose through the air as high as he could. Durant made the right business decision by not going up together with a rampaging bull as he should For a brief moment, he looked like the second coming of a certain Michael Jordan &ndash; yet again &ndash; after he&rsquo;s been labeled as such throughout the course of the season after each jaw-dropping spectacular play. Edwards threw down a ferocious poster slam dunk that might have literally blown the roof over the Footprint Center as the play signaled the beginning of the end for the Suns.
Durant and Edwards will play together in Team USA in August for the Paris Olympics, and these two for sure would go head to head making their practice sessions much more interesting. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely a good feeling because he&rsquo;s my favorite player of all time, and I can tell him that I was the one who sent him home. It&rsquo;s gonna be a fun summer for sure,&rdquo; Edwards said.
First game of the Western Conference Finals and up against the Nuggets, Edwards scored a playoff career-high 43 points. He dissected their entire defense, scoring in all types of ways imaginable for a superstar. Edwards hit threes, blown by some of the toughest defenders in the NBA Aaron Gordon, and hit fadeaway mid-range jumpers reminiscent of Jordan. More importantly, Edwards displayed the level of maturity a superstar has to make in the playoffs &ndash; playing off of your teammates and playmaking for the entire team. He has done it so far with relative ease and that&rsquo;s why the Timberwolves have found their early success in this postseason.
He&rsquo;s doing it against supposedly their biggest challenge &ndash; the defending champions &ndash; who sent them home a year ago. &ldquo;Last year we didn&rsquo;t have Jaden (McDaniels) and Naz (Reid) against them so it was quite frustrating. Now that we have both I think we can definitely do better,&rdquo; Edwards said about their biggest thing in this rematch series vs Denver is being healthy.
Before the season started, Edwards was this up-and-coming 22-year-old star leading his nation at the World Championships for a chance at glory. Although the Americans ended up not medalling after losing to eventual world champions Germany in the semifinals and to neighboring Canada in the third-place game, Edwards was clearly the best player on the team filled with young American talent. He led Team USA in scoring, and at 22 years old, this was only the start of a big year ahead.
Edwards then was the clear-cut best player for the third-best team in the West, with Minnesota having a 56-26 record. Those 56 wins were the most since 2004 when they had 58 and went to the Western Conference Finals. They were led back then by legend Kevin Garnett but that was also their last time seeing the playoffs.&nbsp;
20 years later, Edwards is now shouldering all the burden by taking this Wolves team back to relevance, basking in all the glory he&rsquo;s worked so hard to attain. He&rsquo;s one of the bonafide young rising superstars in the league, and he intends to take them all the way.
Edwards&rsquo; huge season and ascension to superstardom could be attributed back to something you see coming even from a mile away. And it all started in that summer lengthy yet productive summer in 2023.
While most players use their summers to recuperate, have a vacation somewhere, and spend time with families and loved ones, Edwards took a privileged yet opportunistic route: play with the National Team at the FIBA World Cup. Usually, NBA superstars all express their willingness to play with the National Team at the Olympics. For no definite reason, somehow the FIBA World Cup does not seem appealing to play for the older/senior superstar guys, so it&rsquo;s usually the juniors/young guys who represent Team USA. Anthony Edwards took up that challenge and became the best player for the team and in turn, he&rsquo;s reaping the benefits of it in the playoffs.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve put in work this summer. Big shoutout to the USA team, man. They got me ready for the season.&rdquo;
That killer mentality that Edwards has is something that&rsquo;s never seen often and has been with only a select few in the history of the game, particularly Jordan and Lakers great Kobe Bryant. Behind all that bold and tough personality, however, is a side of himself that genuinely enjoys playing with his teammates.
When asked about the prospect of having his Wolves&rsquo; teammates, the first thing out of his mouth was how he was excited to meet them while playing for their respective countries (Rudy Gobert for France, Karl-Anthony Towns for Dominican Republic, Kyle Anderson for China, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker for Canada). He looked forward to playing against them, citing how much fun he would have once it happened.
Despite his clear burgeoning superstardom, however,&nbsp; Edwards still deflected every credit thrown towards him. When asked what he feels as one of the guys being billed as one of the next faces of the league, Edwards dismissed the idea faster than a Math teacher dispersing students after giving out a tough assignment due &ndash;&nbsp; immediately answering without hesitation that he does not make anything of it.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just gonna keep working, man. I make nothing of it, yeah. I just hope that I keep getting better.&rdquo;
It was clear all along among all the people in the gym that fateful day: Edwards had the most aura out of them all. It was just oozing, something you can feel when you&rsquo;re around certain people. It&rsquo;s kind of intimidating, but only to a certain extent. You can just feel the energy brewing and that certain look when you come across one of the ones. The underlying factor before the season was Minnesota only having five national TV games all season long. With most of their games out of the eyes of the majority, Edwards assured one thing going into the season sternly and convincingly.
&ldquo;We just gonna try to keep playing, man. We&rsquo;re not really worried about the national TV games. As long as we win, we&rsquo;ll be on TV when we make it into the playoffs. The world will know about us.&rdquo;
As their playoff mantra suggests, the Timberwolves have been waiting for this moment since 2004. From the annals of the great Kevin Garnett&rsquo;s era to ushering this new one paved by superstar-in-the-making, young Anthony Edwards, the Minnesota Timberwolves have arrived.

The underlying factor before the season was Minnesota only having five national TV games all season despite having Anthony Edwards.

‘WOLVES BACK’: Anthony Edwards introduces the Timberwolves back to the world

Last week, NBA legend Shawn Marion traveled to Abu Dhabi to support the 2023 NBA Abu Dhabi Games, which featured two preseason games between the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves as well as youth clinics and fan events.&nbsp;
Marion led a skill-development clinic for youth athletes from Dubai's NBA Basketball School &mdash; a year-round basketball program in the UAE for boys and girls ages 6-to-18. He also judged a dunk contest, met with fans and took part in other NBA events alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ray Allen, Tim Hardaway Sr., Gary Payton, Sam Perkins, Kenny Smith, Ronny Turiaf and Salah Mejri.
Marion is an NBA champion, four-time NBA All-Star, two-time All-NBA selection and one of just five players in NBA history to record 17,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 1,500 steals and 1,000 blocks (the other four are LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Karl Malone and Hakeem Olajuwon). The Phoenix Suns recently announced that they'll retire Marion's jersey this season.
While in Abu Dhabi, Marion joined me on <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1710458099448811578" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my new show "Running Up The Score"</a> to discuss his legendary career, the Suns' decision to retire his jersey, Mat Ishbia's impact since buying the franchise, the globalization of the NBA, how the game has evolved, whether he'll get back into podcasting and more.&nbsp;
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You&rsquo;re currently in Abu Dhabi for the Mavericks-Timberwolves preseason games and to host a basketball clinic with kids from the NBA Basketball School in Dubai. How is your trip going?&nbsp;
Shawn Marion:&nbsp;"Man, the trip is going amazing. This is a new culture for me; I've never experienced this, never been here. We're in a different part of the world right now and, I mean, I can tell you this: this is a place I'll definitely be coming back to. This is truly awesome. And, you know what, they're very passionate about [basketball]. I just had this meeting; I just came from an office visit and they had like 250 employees, but everybody spoke different languages! There were 16 languages being spoken! That tells you how diverse it is here, and they really pride themselves on that here. It's pretty amazing."
The globalization of the NBA has been a big priority for the league for some time. From when you were playing to now, do you see a big difference in terms of the NBA&rsquo;s worldwide popularity and international support?
Marion: "Yes. I think as you look at the lay of the land right now, the NBA and basketball is a global sport. But the way that the NBA has been able to grow it, they're taking it to other levels. They're starting NBA Academies and having clinics all around the world, and that just helps it grow even faster. Of course, TV and social-media content help as well, but the level it's growing at right now is unheard of."
The Phoenix Suns recently announced that they are retiring your jersey. Congratulations!
Marion: "Thank you!"
How did you find out that news and what was your reaction?
Marion: "I'm gonna be very honest and candid. Mat [Ishbia] called me as soon as he took ownership of the team and he was like, 'I'm not doing some of the shit that's been done [before]. I'm going to take care of you and reward you by retiring your jersey. I'm a man of my word, and that's what I'm going to do.' That's exactly what he said, and he did! Yep, it was that simple."
Ishbia is quickly winning over fans &mdash; he&rsquo;s spending money, making it easier to watch games, honoring past legends like yourself and so on. What do you think of Ishbia and the fresh start in Phoenix from an ownership perspective?
Marion: "I love it, man. I got a chance to see the practice facility; it's literally not too far from the place that I still have in Phoenix and I ain't been able to see [it before]. I ain't feel like... I feel like a weight was lifted off my shoulders to a certain degree. He's making the transition so easy. And he wants all the players who paved the way and set the foundation for the Suns organization and helped build that team into what the city loves and admires [to be involved]. He just wants everybody to be a part of it, man, and I love it. I think it's awesome. He's doing some amazing things out there."
The Suns have so much talent with Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic. What do you think of this year's team and do you think they can win it all?
Marion: "Man, I think they got a chance just like anybody else, but, of course, their [championship hopes] are probably a little bit more realistic than some other teams. I just hope they stay healthy. When you stay healthy, you give yourself a chance. That's the thing. A lot of teams deal with injuries, and they've been hit with the injury bug a little bit as well. But they've got Frank Vogel as the head coach out there now and he's a defensive-minded guy. They just made another trade and got some other pieces to add to it &mdash; Grayson Allen and Jusuf Nurkic. I think that happened while I was out here; I was at a meeting when I got the alert and I was like, 'Wow! They ain't playing no games right now!' Listen, at the end of the day, he's trying to give himself and the organization the best chance to win. That's what you gotta do."
You obviously helped change the game and were ahead of your time. Overall, what are your thoughts on the modern NBA?
Marion: "Listen, it's run-and-gun, it's feast-or-famine right now. We set the foundation for what [the game] is now. There's so much positionless basketball being played, and it's dynamic. You're seeing the transition and evolution of what we started back in my Phoenix days during the Seven-Seconds-Or-Less era. That's what we started, and that's what it is right now. And I don't see the game going back to two traditional big men ever again."
Throughout the 2000s, not having a specific position was a death sentence for a player; nobody wanted to be labeled a "tweener." Then, seemingly overnight, the NBA became obsessed with "positionless" players and the tweeners were suddenly the most valuable players. That's one of my favorite examples of how the NBA is always evolving.
Marion: "Here's the thing: people can say [they're positionless], but it don't mean they are. You know, to be a two-way player in this league is very rare, but to be a positionless player is even more rare. You could be a guy who can go out there and guard 1 through 5, but to actually do it &mdash; willingly do it &mdash; is a big difference! A lot of guys probably could do it, but they don't do it, you know? Right now, teams are playing positionless basketball because everybody's switching everything. Most guys don't really post up anymore either. It's all face-up game and jumpers. So, it's easy to just jump into that narrative and bandwagon, but if you look at the game as a whole though, it's more of a guard-heavy game now than it was prior to when we made that transition. It's just been a shift. A lot of bigs now don't post up anymore; they're face-up players [too]. That's the evolution of the game."
A few years so, you and I did some of the NBA Watch Parties together on Clubhouse. I also love that <a href="https://twitter.com/MainTeamSports2/status/1506615984173592589" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video where you jumped on Twitter Spaces</a> and educated fans about your career; it was incredibly entertaining. You're obviously passionate about this game. Have you ever thought of doing a podcast?
Marion: "Well, Alex, it's funny you say that. I actually had a podcast with one of my guys in Dallas, so I was one of the first guys to ever do it. I just didn't do any promoting or all of that stuff, but it was something that we did in the Mavs organization kind of early on &mdash; like way before everybody started getting into podcasts. And it was great! But the thing about podcasts is unless you got a set thing, you gotta create content all the time, and I was so busy focusing on trying to be a father first. That was my lane. And then I dibbled and dabbled in TV a little bit and thought about doing some broadcasting work, but, like I said, my priorities shifted because I'm a hands-on father. So, I couldn't keep doing it in Dallas because that was the situation, but I have thought about reopening that window.
"I do have a different side of the game that I like to talk about. I know narratives get created easily by the media, and we consume them and we digest them. It becomes part of our thought process of that player, of that team or whatever it is. But I was talking about this with one of my friends. I was telling him: it's easy for a [former] player to say, 'I can do this or that.' But what kind of player were you though? Because it's hard for a point guard to tell how to guard a big, or for a big to tell how to guard a point guard. But when I say it, I actually guarded all of them! I did it all! And I didn't just do it for a quarter or half a quarter. I did it for full games! So, when I sit there and I tell people that, people are like, 'Man, you know, I never thought about it from that standpoint.' I was like, 'Yo, I actually did this.' You know what I'm saying? Like, it's easy for somebody to say, 'I can guard somebody,' or, 'Oh, I'm a two way player; I can guard this player.' I'm like, 'Can you do it for a full game though?' I'm the only person ever to do it for full games."
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I love to ask players about big &ldquo;what-ifs&rdquo; from NBA history. There was a report a while back that you were nearly traded to the Boston Celtics as part of a three-team deal that would have sent Kevin Garnett to Phoenix and picks to Minnesota. Is that true and, if so, can you tell that story?
Marion: "It is true. But Phoenix wasn't gonna do the deal. They didn't think it was viable because they would have to change their style of play instantly because we're two different type of players. So, they didn't want it. KG was in Minnesota at the time, and I would've went to Boston and he would've came here (to Phoenix). At the time, Boston was losing; I think they had a losing record at that time. I was like, 'Uhh...' But I mean, we have no control over that. Some of the rumors that come out about trades are actually true, but both sides have to agree to it. People throw out deals all the time, [teams talk] all the time, so there's plenty of hypotheticals out there.
"But you wanna hear an untold true story? I never really fully ever became a free agent except my last year playing when I signed with with Cleveland. When I signed with Dallas, it was a sign-and-trade, so I was still under contract basically with Toronto. It was a sign-and-trade deal, so I never really tested the free-agency market like that. So, what happened was I was about to be a free agent or get traded, and this was around that same time as those KG rumors. Kobe [Bryant] called me and said, 'If you're really gonna go out on the market and it's a possibility [that you're changing teams], I want you to come out to L.A.' So, we was texting and he was like, 'Yo!' It ain't happen because they didn't have the money to pay me, but that's a story that a lot of people don't know about."
I love those kind of stories and it's always interesting to think how those potential moves could have changed NBA history.
Marion: "Oh, there were a lot of situations out there like that where [trade talks] were open! It was pretty fun. When you look at the business of the NBA, man, the optimism and [hope] of what could possibily be is what makes it so fun and dynamic &mdash; een with the trade that just went down with Damian Lillard. It's funny, Paul Pierce actually predicted that. He called that in July. He said, 'If I'm Dame, I would try to get to Milwaukee.' It's funny that he said that and I could see it [from Lillard's perspective]. But do I think they're better? Ehh, they lost a lot for that trade, you know? [Jrue Holiday]. Grayson Allen was a great player for Milwaukee. He is a great pickup for Phoenix. He's a hell of a player, a great player, dude. Like, he does a lot of small stuff. He's a very tough guy. I like him. It's something about him that I like. I like the little Duke dudes with that little rough-and-rugged side! But he's one of those guys who can hit shots, he's gonna play defense and he competes. He's actually a lot better than people give him credit for. He ain't got a chance to really showcase his skills, but he can play. And if they use him the right way, he can help them."
For sure. Thanks for your time, I really appreciate it!&nbsp;
Marion: "Anytime, man. You know, we have great conversations and stuff. I might contemplate doing a podcast again. I gotta have the mobile equipment. We'll see; I don't know. I gotta have a great co-host. I like people who shoot [straight]. I told this to a reporter, so I'll give this to you. I told this guy who was recording me yesterday: when you are doing your interviews, do not ask the same questions and stuff that somebody else asks. Do not&nbsp;ask the same stuff."
I'm sure that gets really annoying.
Marion: "It's so annoying. It's okay to piggyback off of answers just to get some kind of content to create something in your own way. But don't ask the exact same questions. You sound you are a true fan. I know you are a true fan of the game. Like, you really love this. And so [you] ask the questions that you wanna know from someone in my position! Forget about the stuff that's already been out there already! Create your own. We all got a story to tell."
For sure.
Marion: "And the thing is, I love my former guys talking about ball and stuff, but some of them talk like they was way bigger and better than they were. Some of these guys were below-average role players, but they talk like they were superstars! I'm like, 'What did you... How good was you? What did you do?!' (laughs) I'm like, 'He was a role player!' He was a solid role player! And look, I became a role player. But you know...
Yeah, but that was because of your longevity. You had four All-Star years before that.
Marion: "Yeah, that's about longevity and understanding that you gotta sacrifice to win. That's the biggest thing, you know? And I could have easily averaged such and such, but I was like, 'You know what? They don't need me to do that. I don't have to do that. If we can win and I'm averaging 16, 17 points, I'm cool with that. We gonna win, so I'm good with that. Let's win.' That was about getting them Ws.
"But that's something to think about though. You asked some great questions. That's the lane to go into. Those are the things to ask &mdash; the hypotheticals or something you [researched]. Like, 'You know what, he was pretty good at this, how did you pick up on that?' or, 'What's something that you did differently than everybody else?' Those are different questions, not the same questions [we always hear]. We get repetitively asked the same questions time and time again. It's boring. It sucks. I'ma be honest: it sucks. I hate it. It&nbsp;sucks!"
I can't imagine how old that gets.
Marion: "One thing that everybody was constantly asking me about was my shot. Everybody seemed to want ask me about my shot. But listen, you know what's really messed up about that though? One media person said it, so it went rampant and every media person wanted me to replicate the answer, right? Whether I like it or not, or whether I enjoy it or not. I did so much on the floor, but you wanna focus on something that nobody talks about? Nobody in the league talks about that. Don't nobody in the league shoot the same! ... I [used to get] pissed off, but now I respond and it's fine. 'It don't matter, don't nobody shoot the same. Next!' But why would you wanna talk about my shot, but then you won't talk about how I just had 25-and-15!"
Or that you shot 39% from three-point range one year!
Marion: "You wanna discredit me and what I did just to talk about my shot? Got it. I totally understand. There's certain lanes and narratives that will be pushed. I totally get it. I'm an owner now, so I see exactly what lane [they're in]; it's all marketing strategies. I know how it works and I know who controls it. Being on this side of the business, I know how things work now. But it's all good though. And it's all love. Thank you."
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/MwvBnhrrzgs?si=2BRrY0Vaq8WWyAPe&amp;t=1676" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Watch the full conversation here</a>.
Other news from around the web: <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/dress-to-impress-why-barbie-and-ken-are-the-hottest-couples-costume-this-halloween/ar-AA1iaTEh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Barbie and Ken are the hottest couples costume this Halloween</a>

Shawn Marion opens up about the Suns retiring his jersey, nearly getting traded to the Celtics, Mat Ishbia, the modern NBA and more.

Shawn Marion on Suns retiring his jersey, near-trade to Celtics, more

Paying customers and plenty of media members have loudly expressed their frustrations with how the New Orleans Pelicans have handled the injuries and updates regarding Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, to the point of calling the organization outright liars.
Sure, there were frustrations with injuries derailing the season, but the messaging did not come from a place of dishonesty. It came from the type of misunderstandings and miscommunications that can ravage any type of relationship.
The obvious friction within the team the last few seasons were publicly expressed through curt answers and solemn body language on gamedays. Executive vice president David Griffin even admitted last July that the Pelicans &ldquo;did a really bad job organizationally" in handling some situations, especially after Williamson&rsquo;s viral pregame dunk and vague comments to the media. It took a summer of reconciliation, but the most pressing relationship issues have been resolved. Everyone understands how to speak each other&rsquo;s basketball love language and approach expectations for the coming season.
It all started with listening sessions this summer, which were a reason Williamson stuck around town for the offseason. But go back and listen to how Williamson and Ingram talk about basketball in press conferences over the years. Examining how they speak about the game explains a lot in how they&rsquo;ve approached their careers thus far.
Ingram has been using the term "professional" and "basketball" while talking like a hardwood scientist since his rookie season. It would not be surprising for B.I. to break down film at 4 a.m., making calls to wake sleepy-eyed teammates. Specifically, Devonte&rsquo; Graham and Josh Hart have shared on record how Ingram&rsquo;s film studies helped their game. Even when Ingram was out with an injury, the deep film sessions to help his teammates improve remained part of his routine. His methodical game reflects his intense devotion to his craft, though Ingram&rsquo;s personality comes off as a bit more laid back.
Williamson &ldquo;just loves hooping&rdquo; by his admission this Monday and in past interviews. Both are highly talented and naturally gifted and, as one source put it, &ldquo;They both love the game, but show it in different ways. The game has loved them back in different ways.&rdquo; Organizationally, there have been some growing pains as perhaps some things got taken for granted along the way for a franchise shaping a new identity.
That&rsquo;s starting to change and it is a two-way street. This team knows it was in first place last December and Williamson&rsquo;s renewed commitment has been the theme of the offseason with those I&rsquo;ve spoken with.
"This was the first summer where we&rsquo;ve seen Zion take his profession seriously like that and invest in it off the court on his own in a way that, I think, is meaningful," Griffin revealed during media day.
This is a reassuring development considering the past four years. Now, Zion still loves to hoop. There is no doubt. No one shows up on an outdoor court in New Orleans to work up a mid-summer sweat with some high-school kids without loving to hoop. Roll a ball out on a court and a smiling Williamson is like an overeager puppy. At least Alvin Gentry got that right in Zion&rsquo;s rookie season.
However, Williamson has not had a healthy relationship with NBA basketball the last few years. The NBA Draft is a crap shoot and New Orleans was not exactly a prime location. The new front office had a few growing pains earlier than expect as a result. NBA HQ added some bumps and bruises to the process as well. The national-TV-heavy schedule as a rookie and through the COVID bubble was unwarranted, unnecessary attention; it was just premature pressure on someone who couldn't legally buy a drink.
Attention before production paired with injury setbacks put pressure on every strained relationship, which partly factored into the Pelicans parting ways with coaches Gentry and Stan Van Gundy after just a year each with Williamson on the roster. Zion even went to rehab in Oregon away from the team, returning to the bench just weeks before the team&rsquo;s playoff run.
Publicly and privately, it&rsquo;s &ldquo;all water under the bridge&rdquo; between the locker room and front office. Aaron Nelson is still with the team, but in an advisory role that&rsquo;s far more hands-off on the day-to-day. Newly-hired Amy Atmore, the team's physical/performance therapist and director of rehabilitation, has already made the players comfortable with the revamped staff and new "ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" process. There are a few more full-time staffers to welcome into the group but by all accounts, head coach Willie Green has righted the ship culturally in the locker room. The leadership hierarchies and trust circle bonds are very strong and have been unanimously agreed upon.
In contrast to Williamson&rsquo;s on-court hooper mentality paired with a dozen endorsement deals, Ingram loves professional basketball and has been able to operate as an under-the-radar, one-time All-Star. This approach leads to multi-generational wealth that secures family futures. Ingram did not sign a contract extension this summer because "they handing a lot of people big money, [and] I&rsquo;m trying to get some big money&rdquo; next summer.
Ingram smiled while delivering that media-day-gold statement, but Zion was refusing to flash a grin for anyone to start training camp. This isn&rsquo;t just hooping anymore. This is serious, professional basketball and it would be a disservice to his talents and teammates to not approach this season as the opportunity of a lifetime. It&rsquo;s also a chance to win back all the fans and provide a return on the team&rsquo;s investment. Williamson loves to be loved. Ingram, especially after the FIBA experience, is after All-NBA respect before negotiating a contract extension.
The revamped player performance and medical staff changes were a direct result of the front office listening to player feedback. Williamson, who just signed a max-level extension, can see that.
"The Pelicans have put in a lot of things this offseason&hellip;" Williamson said. "I think what the Pelicans have done is add good structure and we'll see as the season goes&hellip; being on the same page with the personal trainers, really locking into every aspect of my body.''
Williamson also listened to feedback from the front office and the team&rsquo;s veterans. He got the message from CJ McCollum and Larry Nance Jr., who played through injuries last season, to set an example.
"I think [the changes] should help us," McCollum said. &ldquo;A lot of it is on us and how we prepare. Your staff can only do so much."
Off the court, Williamson&rsquo;s larger-than-life, crowd-pleasing ways mesh well with Ingram&rsquo;s reserved, low-key-funny, musically-inclined chill. Now, the Pelicans need them to make it work on the court when the stakes are highest. Like any relationship seemingly stuck running in place, huge consequences are resting on the next decision.
&ldquo;If this team can&rsquo;t take that next step, we need to know that as quickly as possible,&rdquo; Griffin stated straightforwardly at media day.
It&rsquo;s tough to hear for a young team, but at least the tough love is understood as coming from a place of caring about what&rsquo;s best for everyone.
Former NBA vet and Pelicans general manager Trajan Langdon said he felt players have returned with a bitter taste in their mouths after the way last season ended and expects them to come into camp highly motivated to show their true potential. Griffin, who is passing off some of the medical-team-oversight responsibilities to Langdon, feels this group is &ldquo;really optimistic."
"We have pieces that can be really dynamic and win together," Griffin said. "They haven&rsquo;t done a lot of it and they know they have something to prove."
Williamson definitely has something to prove and has new motivations in life to live up to his potential. The expecting father with no more viable professional excuses or blame to be placed on youth ''wanted change."
"If I want change, I have to do something different so I sat down with the Pelicans and came up with a great plan," Zion said.
All public signs from the front office, All-Stars and those speaking behind the scenes point to a mended, healthy relationship between all parties as reason for future optimism. Reports of mutiny or group dissension are downright wrong according to what I&rsquo;ve been hearing. Hot takes to insinuate the franchise operates from behind a smoke screen miss the mark at best and at times show the worst of biases from people who wouldn&rsquo;t know which coach or player had a family sitting next to them in the arena.
There were no ultimatums. It was a remodel, not a revolt. The front office took feedback from their players and ran with it. That&rsquo;s a positive relationship. It&rsquo;s boring for offseason news but has long-term benefits for the team and it&rsquo;s fans.
"If we would have controlled the narrative, it would have made (the media&rsquo;s) jobs a lot more boring, but it would have put [Williamson[ in a better position to succeed," Griffin said last summer. "I feel like to a huge degree, I failed him in that sense."
The Pelicans and Williamson are now in a position to succeed with a clear narrative: Win and show the world their true capabilities. Williamson, who trained to be &ldquo;un-guardable&rdquo; this offseason, switched vocabulary halfway through the press conference with an admission that he is &ldquo;a basketball player."
"I simply want to win and impact the game. I train to impact the game from all areas&hellip; Griff, Trajan and Swin [Cash], those three have been really helpful," Williamson added. "They've supported me, they've had my back and we all got the same goal in mind, which I think is what family is about &ndash; people having your back no matter what and wanting the best for each other.&rdquo;
Williamson went further, going out of the way to declare his loyalty to New Orleans.
&ldquo;This is home for me. This is where I want to be&hellip;" he said. "If something were to happen to me where basketball wasn&rsquo;t there or my life is changed, who would be there for me? Realistically, who would be there for me? I had to come to that realization that when it comes to them, the family, and the city, it&rsquo;s always good so I focus on that.&rdquo;
Frankly, if that doesn&rsquo;t hit you right in the feels as a fan of the Pelicans, it might be time to re-examine your engagement with basketball and this team. Either way the franchise is moving forward with stronger relationships just as their championship window is truly opening. A great start to the season might even feel like a second honeymoon for fans with an open mind and little bit of hope for the future.
Other news from around the web: <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/dress-to-impress-why-barbie-and-ken-are-the-hottest-couples-costume-this-halloween/ar-AA1iaTEh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Barbie and Ken are the hottest couples costume this Halloween</a>

The New Orleans Pelicans are all on the same page and could be poised for a big season, writes Christopher Dodson.

Pelicans better understand love languages of All-Star relationships

SlamBall co-founder Mason Gordon spoke to Alex Kennedy about the sport's return, the new season on ESPN and much more.

The return of SlamBall: Co-founder Mason Gordon discusses new season

ATLANTA (AP) &mdash; Trae Young scored 32 points in his best game of the playoffs and the Atlanta Hawks gave themselves a glimmer of hope, beating the Boston Celtics 130-122 Friday night to close the gap to 2-1 in the opening-round series.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/Trae%20Young%20scored%2032%20points%20in%20his%20best%20game%20of%20the%20playoffs%20and%20the%20Atlanta%20Hawks%20gave%20themselves%20a%20glimmer%20of%20hope,%20beating%20the%20Boston%20Celtics%20130-122%20Friday%20night%20to%20close%20the%20gap%20to%202-1%20in%20their%20opening-round%20series.%20Young%20hit%20a%20step-back%203-pointer%20from%20the%20corner%20with%202:21%20left%20and%20knocked%20down%20another%20huge%20basket%20on%20a%20floater%20in%20the%20lane%20with%2045%20seconds%20remaining%20after%20Jaylen%20Brown%20missed%20a%203-pointer%20that%20would've%20tied%20it%20for%20the%20Celtics.%20The%20seventh-seeded%20Hawks%20will%20try%20to%20even%20the%20series%20against%20the%20second-seeded%20Celtics%20in%20Game%204%20Sunday%20night%20at%20State%20Farm%20Arena.%20Jayson%20Tatum%20scored%2029%20points%20to%20lead%20Boston,%20which%20was%20barely%20challenged%20in%20the%20first%20two%20games%20of%20the%20series." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Young hit a step-back 3-pointer from the corner</a>&nbsp;with 2:21 left and knocked down another huge basket on a floater in the lane with 45 seconds remaining after Jaylen Brown missed a 3-pointer that would&rsquo;ve tied it for the Celtics.
The seventh-seeded Hawks will try to even the series against the second-seeded Celtics in Game 4 on Sunday night at State Farm Arena.
Jayson Tatum scored 29 points to lead Boston, which was barely challenged in the first two games of the series.
Young was under fire after making just 14 of 40 shots in Beantown. He was much better in Game 3, connecting on 12 of 22 attempts and doling out nine assists.
Dejounte Murray had another big game for the Hawks, scoring 25 points, including a 3-pointer with 1:40 remaining that helped Atlanta protect a puny lead.
Unlike the first two games in Boston, where&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/,%20White%20was%20forced%20to%20the%20bench%20for%20much%20of%20the%20opening%20half.%20He%20played%20only%209:58%20in%20the%20first%20two%20quarters." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Celtics pushed out to big leads</a>&nbsp;and cruised to a pair of 13-point victories, the Hawks finally put up a fight.
With Derrick White forced to the bench in the early going with two quick fouls, the Hawks took advantage of a chink in the Boston defense to get things rolling. Atlanta knocked down 30 of 46 shots (65.2%) in the first half.
Pumped up by a standing-room-only crowd, the Hawks built a 14-point lead &mdash; their biggest of the series &mdash; late in the first half.
But the Celtics responded with eight straight points and went to the locker room down 74-67.
It was Atlanta&rsquo; first victory over Boston this season. The Hawks dropped all three regular-season meetings.
TIP-INS
Celtics: White played only 9:58 in the first half after being whistled for a pair of fouls before the game was five minutes old. ... Marcus Smart landed hard on his lower back with about 2 1/2 minutes left, but stayed in the game, He finished with 24 points.
Hawks: Bogdan Bogdanovic took a shot to the face on Malcolm Brogdan&rsquo;s lay-in early in the fourth quarter. Bogdanovic kneeled over in the pain and was subbed out during a timeout. ... Basketball Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins felt ill before the game and did not serve as an analyst on the Hawks regional telecast. Brian Oliver took Wilkins&rsquo; usual spot alongside play-by-play announcer Bob Rathbun.
LONG ODDS
The Hawks still face long odds. They are 0-26 in playoff series over the franchise&rsquo;s 74-season history history when losing the first two games.

The Hawks gave themselves a glimmer of hope, beating the Celtics 130-122 Friday night to close the gap to 2-1 in the first-round series.

Trae Young scores 32, Hawks beat Celtics 130-122 to close to 2-1

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 28 points, and the Charlotte Hornets erased a 21-point first-half deficit to beat the Indiana Pacers 115-109 on Monday night behind a strong finish to snap a six-game home losing streak.
Terry Rozier added 23 points and Gordon Hayward had 22 for the Hornets, who outscored the Pacers 19-4 over the final six minutes to deal the Pacers&rsquo; postseason hopes a big blow.
Myles Turner and Buddy Hield each had 20 points for the Pacers, who fell 2 1/2 games behind the Chicago Bulls for the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference standings. The Bulls defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 109-105 in double overtime on Monday night.
&ldquo;Believe me, an opportunity lost for sure,&rdquo; Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.
Oubre said he and his Charlotte teammates are well aware that some Hornets fans don&rsquo;t want them to win at all at this point in the season with the team eliminated from playoff contention, hoping to have a better shot at the upcoming NBA draft&rsquo;s two prize prospects Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson.
But Oubre said the Hornets aren&rsquo;t bout to stop competing.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of backward when we people are commenting on how bad we played and when we lose they give up on us. But then when we win they say &lsquo;you&rsquo;re not supposed to win,&rsquo;&rdquo; Oubre aid. &ldquo;So it puts us in a uncomfortable position. But we are going to continue to play hard every night. ... We&rsquo;re in the mind frame of setting up something for next year.&rdquo;
The Hornets trailed 105-96 with 6:23 left in the game after Hield knocked down a 3-pointer.
But Svi Mykhailiuk&rsquo;s 3-pointer from the corner sparked a 13-0 Hornets run to put Charlotte in control as the Pacers were held scoreless for more than five minutes. Hayward&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 3:32 left put the Hornets ahead for good.
The Pacers turned the ball over 21 times resulting in 35 Charlotte points.
&ldquo;At that point, you&rsquo;re just giving it away,&rdquo; Carlisle said.
The Pacers (32-40) looked like they might blow out the Hornets early, bolting to a 40-22 lead behind Turner, who had 15 points in the first quarter on 9 of 9 shooting from the foul line.
The lead got as big as 21 in the second quarter, but the Hornets (23-50) battled back to take the lead in the third quarter when JT Thor buried a 3-pointer from the wing off an assist from Hayward.
&ldquo;Tonight, they were really good early, and we were really bad,&rdquo; Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. &ldquo;But you could tell in the huddle, guys were talking, &lsquo;stay with it,&rsquo; talking about the corrections they had to make. We played better and better, so they were rewarded tonight, which is great.&rdquo;
Nick Richards was strong in the second half for Charlotte, finishing with 14 points and 17 rebounds.
HIELD&rsquo;S ENDURACE
While some NBA players have missed a game here or there for load management reasons, Hield has now played in all 72 games for the Pacers.
&ldquo;He is very prideful about playing,&rdquo; Carlisle said before the game. &ldquo;He hates missing games, plays hurt, and is very unique. He has a tremendous level of endurance, stamina, and he works at it. He&rsquo;s also wired to love the game and he just loves to play.&rdquo;
BALL IN THE FALL
Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball said he expects to return for training camp in the fall after undergoing season-ending surgery on his broken right ankle on March 1.
Ball, who has been limited to 36 games this season, said he isn&rsquo;t sure if he&rsquo;ll begin wearing ankle braces next season after spraining his left ankle three times this season prior to sustaining a season-ending fracture in the other ankle.
TIP-INS
Pacers: Played without Tyrese Haliburton (right ankle sprain), Chris Duarte (left ankle soreness) and Kendall Brown (right tibia stress fracture). ... Bench outscored Charlotte&rsquo;s 45-18.
Hornets: Rookie center Mark Williams sat out his fifth straight game with a right thumb sprain, along with Ball and Cody Martin (left knee soreness).
UP NEXT
Pacers: Continue four-game road trip at Toronto on Wednesday night.
Hornets: At New Orleans on Thursday night.

Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 28 points, and the Hornets erased a 21-point first-half deficit to beat the Pacers 115-109.

Oubre, Hornets finish strong, beat Pacers 115-109

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) &mdash; In the 1990s, Dallas Mavericks point guard Derek Harper famously shot down an offer to be traded to the Jazz, quipping to ESPN: &ldquo;You go live in Utah.&rdquo;
Two decades later, members of the Golden State Warriors squad&nbsp;mocked Salt Lake&nbsp;as a nightlife-free city that could &ldquo;lull you to sleep.&rdquo;
And two months ago, former Jazz star Donovan Mitchell,&nbsp;reflecting on his time in Utah, said it was &ldquo;draining&rdquo; being a Black man in the mostly white, deeply religious state.
As the spotlight turns toward Salt Lake City and Utah during&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/107533176444f092fed0c7996a8e328f">this weekend&rsquo;s NBA All-Star Game</a>, business and political leaders are seeking to chip away at long-held notions &mdash; in basketball circles and elsewhere &mdash; of the state as a peculiar, boring and homogenous place that lags behind on LGBTQ- and race-related issues.
Their push to showcase the city and state as increasingly diverse and vibrant has been complicated by Utah&rsquo;s enduring legacy as a religious conservative stronghold, coupled with recent political developments at the intersection of race, gender and sports.
Just a year ago, a statewide ban implemented on transgender kids playing girls&rsquo; sports raised&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/utah-jazz-nba-sports-adam-silver-north-carolina-64a3f0f2d3b33bf9ccc806bcd6293997">worries</a>&nbsp;that organizers of some events like the All-Star Game would think twice about coming to Utah.
Still, political leaders see efforts to make businesses and tourists feel welcome as key to Utah&rsquo;s continued growth and ability to attract profitable trade shows and the&nbsp;Winter Olympics, which it is seen as likely to bid to host again in 2034.
&ldquo;What happens with those oddities that people think is, they&rsquo;re very quickly dispelled when people actually come to Utah,&rdquo; said Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican and avid Jazz fan.
Downtown, a pop-up liquor store has been erected to serve fans this weekend between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints&rsquo; flagship temple and the Jazz&rsquo;s home arena. Team owner Ryan Smith is&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/utah-jazz-nba-sports-salt-lake-city-f458ade6c498f9d9e729b25f9e5a7ebb">telling</a>&nbsp;anyone who will listen about the state&rsquo;s robust tech sector and progressive thinking. And the NBA is heavily advertising a pregame performance featuring&nbsp;Post Malone, a Utah-based, heavily face-tattooed rap star popular among residents.
Salt Lake City has long been more liberal and religiously diverse than the rest of Utah, a blue island in a sea of red. A majority of members on the current left-leaning city council&nbsp;identify as LGBTQ and are people of color.
<div class="Component-dfp-0-2-62 apnews_article_midarticle_2" data-card-id="sovrn-article-midarticle">
In the three decades since 1993, the last time the All-Star Game last was here, the population has diversified and almost doubled, transforming it into a thriving metropolis complete with the politics and problems that plague many midsize cities including pollution, housing shortages and&nbsp;homelessness.
A skyline dense with apartments, office buildings and two downtown malls has sprung up between Temple Square and the nearby mountains. The 2002 Olympics brought an influx of funding that helped build a light rail system many visitors will use during All-Star festivities.
Mayor Erin Mendenhall said The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the counterculture that rose up in response and continues to thrive both contribute to the city&rsquo;s social fabric.
&ldquo;We may still be peculiar, but we&rsquo;re&nbsp;minority Mormon&nbsp;now,&rdquo; she said.
The extensive influence of the faith known widely as the Mormon church will still be apparent, yet changes within its culture and the influx of thousands of secular residents may complicate how the expected 150,000 All-Star visitors perceive Salt Lake City, said Patrick Mason, a professor of religious studies at Utah State University.
&ldquo;Anybody who visits &mdash; especially for the first time &mdash; is going to be immediately struck by the Salt Lake Temple and the church&rsquo;s holdings right downtown very close to the arena. This is, as a lot of people say, &rsquo;Mormonism&rsquo;s Vatican,&rdquo; he said.
High-profile church members also demonstrate how the image the faith projects has remained distinct while also becoming more assimilated into the mainstream, he said.
&ldquo;That really gets reflected in the younger generation of entrepreneurs and politicians,&rdquo; Mason added. &ldquo;People like Cox and Smith are Latter-day Saints who are committed to their faith but also are savvy people who grow up with the internet, plugged in to a global culture.&rdquo;
Hosting All-Star Weekend is a major opportunity in particular for Smith, who purchased the Jazz in 2020 after selling the survey-software provider company that he founded, Qualtrics, for $8 billion.
&ldquo;This is just a chance to really have a moment together. People definitely know that there&rsquo;s something here,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s absolutely unique in all the positive ways. I think the one thing that is beautiful about Utah, that the people keep telling me from a wellness standpoint, &lsquo;Utah is like where I&rsquo;m at my best.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Since Smith attended part of 1993&prime;s All-Star Weekend as a member of the Jazz&rsquo;s youth basketball program, the NBA has cultivated a reputation for embracing progressive politics and social justice to a greater extent than most other professional sports leagues.
The ban on transgender athletes in girls&rsquo; sports didn&rsquo;t end up costing Utah the All-Star Game. But some fear marketing efforts could face challenges as the state doubles down on socially conservative stances on matters of race, gender and sports. Last month lawmakers&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-health-children-utah-surgery-9d8b304aef5060a1e033416558c9d6f8">banned</a>&nbsp;gender-affirming care for transgender youth, a policy being considered by lawmakers in a number of states across the country.
Utah has among the highest white populations of any state at 78% of its 3.3 million residents, and less than 2% are Black. That lack of racial diversity is long believed to have hurt efforts by the Jazz to lure free agents and retain players.
Mitchell, after being&nbsp;traded&nbsp;to the Cavaliers last offseason, said it took a lot of energy to confront a&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-nhl-ut-state-wire-utah-nfl-758cb7968d564893b57ca6d0a19777ce">series</a>&nbsp;of highly public race-related experiences and the pushback he received in response. They included incidents of bullying against Black students in Utah schools that he&nbsp;called&nbsp;&ldquo;demoralizing&rdquo;; a&nbsp;dustup&nbsp;between him and the state Senate president over new restrictions on how race and history could be taught; and the time Mitchell said he was pulled over and &ldquo;got an attitude from the cop&rdquo; until the officer saw Mitchell&rsquo;s ID and realized he was the Jazz player.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no secret there&rsquo;s a lot of stuff that I dealt with being in Utah, off the floor. ... I took on a lot because I felt like I could do it. But at some point, it became a lot to have to deal with,&rdquo; he&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://andscape.com/features/donovan-mitchell-thinks-the-cavaliers-can-be-a-pretty-scary-group/">told</a>&nbsp;the ESPN publication Andscape in December.
Some see All-Star weekend as a means of elevating social justice initiatives and changing Salt Lake City&rsquo;s image through showcasing oft-overlooked pockets of diversity. Sheena Meade, CEO of the Clean Slate Initiative, helped organize a expungement clinic with the NBA&rsquo;s social justice arm in the lead-up to the game, a year after Cox signed legislation to clear low-level convictions from people&rsquo;s criminal records. She said the NBA&rsquo;s presence in places regardless of the prevailing local politics has had&nbsp;tangible&nbsp;impacts.
&ldquo;They are doing more than lip service. They&rsquo;re putting out a host of events,&rdquo; Meade said. &ldquo;What it means for the All-Star Game to come to a state like Utah is it brings an immersion of culture and diversity and lifts up what&rsquo;s happening on some social issues.&rdquo;
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With the spotlight on Salt Lake City for the NBA All-Star Game, local leaders are looking to chip away at long-held notions of the state.

In NBA All-Star spotlight, Utah looks to change perceptions

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) &mdash; Kyrie Irving hadn&rsquo;t arrived yet and Luka Doncic was out, so it was time for the Dallas youngsters to shine.
Josh Green and Jaden Hardy each scored career highs of 29 points and the short-handed Mavericks stunned the Utah Jazz 124-111 on Monday night after completing a trade for Irving.
&ldquo;Luka (and Irving) are going to have their amazing nights, but if we want to be a championship team it&rsquo;s about the rest of us being able to step up,&rdquo; Green said.
The Mavericks acquired the eight-time All-Star along with Markieff Morris from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2029 first-round pick and two future second-round picks.
Irving and Morris arrived in Dallas on Monday to undergo physicals and were not available for the game. But their new team rallied behind Green, who averages 8.1 points, and Hardy, who scores 5.6 per game.
&ldquo;We believed we could win this from before the game even started,&rdquo; Hardy said. &ldquo;The Jazz didn&rsquo;t seem like they were taking it seriously. They came out late before the game to warm up, all nonchalant.&rdquo;
When Green was on the court, the Mavericks outscored the Jazz by an astonishing 39 points and won their first game in eight tries without Doncic, their leading scorer with 33.4 points a game.
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&ldquo;The guys believed and Josh set the tone,&rdquo; Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. &ldquo;He understands how to play and he&rsquo;s not afraid of the moment.&rdquo;
Doncic (heel bruise) missed his third game in 10 days. The Jazz beat the Mavs 108-100 on Jan. 28, when the Slovenian star was out with a sprained ankle. This time the Mavericks bested the Jazz in nearly hustle category, including a 49-37 advantage on the boards.
&ldquo;It was exemplified when (5-foot-11) McKinley Wright was boxing out (Utah&rsquo;s 7-foot-1 Walker) Kessler. The physicality for us tonight was high, no matter how small we were out there,&rdquo; Kidd said.
After scoring 12 total points over six games, Hardy broke out for his career night and Dwight Powell added 12 points and a career-best 16 rebounds.
&ldquo;It was super fun,&rdquo; Hardy said twice with a smile that didn&rsquo;t leave his face for a long while.
Jordan Clarkson paced Utah with 26 points on 7-for-19 shooting and Lauri Markkanen added 19 &mdash; the first time he has failed to reach 20 points in the last 21 games.
&ldquo;They played better than us. They played harder than us. Give credit to them, but I don&rsquo;t think we were ready to play,&rdquo; Markkanen said.
The Jazz are now 7-5 on a stretch where they&rsquo;re playing 11 of 13 games at home, when they hoped to gain ground on teams like Dallas, but are now two games behind the Mavs.
The Jazz struggle when their 3s aren&rsquo;t falling and they often fail to get back on defense. The upstart Mavs led the Jazz 27-4 on fast break points.
&ldquo;This is the first game all season where I just feel disappointed in our focus,&rdquo; Utah coach Will Hardy said. &ldquo;We just did not have the necessary focus and attention to the little things. They had 27 points in transition and 24 second-chance points and that&rsquo;s how we lost the game.&rdquo;
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As could be expected with different rotations and the end of the bench getting significant minutes, the Mavericks looked out of sync at times. But they started running at every opportunity and went on a 23-6 run bridging the second and third quarters to take a 75-66 lead.
The Jazz trimmed the lead to a single possession in the fourth quarter but could never catch the Mavs.
TIP-INS
Mavericks: Wright finished his first start with a career-high 10 points. &hellip; Davis Bertans (left calf strain) and Maxi Kleber (right hamstring tear) were out. &hellip; Dallas outscored Utah on second-chance points, 24-12
Jazz: Jarred Vanderbilt, the subject of persistent trade rumors, missed his second game with back spasms. &hellip; Mike Conley, who had a game-high 11 assists, turned his ankle in the fourth quarter but continued to play after a timeout. &hellip; Utah went 6 of 31 from 3-point range but had a 62-42 edge in the paint.
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Josh Green and Jaden Hardy each scored career-highs of 29 points and the short-handed Mavericks stunned the Utah Jazz 124-111.

Green, Hardy help Mavs surprise Jazz 124-111 without Doncic

In the first round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs, Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins had to turn elsewhere. Surprisingly, the Western Conference&rsquo;s second seed was outplayed by the upset-minded Minnesota Timberwolves in its own building in a Game 1 loss, and needed to pack a more powerful punch to ensure the series would be tied going back to Minneapolis.
Enter Xavier Tillman Sr., a then-second-year big man who had seen his playing time diminish from his rookie campaign. The Michigan State product rewarded the team&rsquo;s decision with a critical 13-point, 7-rebound effort, all the while holding Wolves star Karl-Anthony Towns in check over 20 minutes in a Game 2 victory.&nbsp;
&ldquo;And then, it was kinda downhill from there. I didn't have a performance like that again in the playoffs,&rdquo; Tillman told Basketball News in a phone interview.&nbsp;
As for why that was the case, according to him, it ultimately came down to his approach. Tillman spent most of his second season in play groups in practice, participating in scrimmages and weight-lifting. Admittedly, he would save his legs on certain days because he figured he&rsquo;d need extra energy to perform on game days.&nbsp;
Tillman waited for his number to be called as the year progressed. He was certain it would happen, but it didn&rsquo;t&hellip; until the postseason. He was shocked, and, to him, it showed.
&ldquo;I didn't take advantage of it as much as I should have, and I knew it by the end of the season,&rdquo; Tillman said. &ldquo;I was like, &lsquo;Man, I could've been at least like five times better than what I finished the season out with in the playoffs,&rsquo; simply because I wasn't playing and it was a great opportunity for me to work on me. But I didn't see it as that.
&ldquo;I would just keep like stacking and wasting those days, day-by-day. Then, you have the same mentality. And eventually... maybe you could say it caught up with me?&rdquo;
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Entering Year 3, Tillman vowed to be proactive. Whether he forced his way into the Grizzlies&rsquo; rotation or not, he was determined to &ldquo;work my butt off&rdquo; this past summer and during the season.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I'm gonna get up early before we have team meetings and team shootarounds. I'mma get on the bike for 30 minutes and I'mma go 11-to-12 miles on the bike. I'm gonna lift every two days instead of every three days to take advantage of that. And (in) these play groups, I'm trying to win, I'm trying to make winning plays,&rdquo; Tillman explained of his mindset.
To this point, aside from a handful of games where he&rsquo;s played 20 or more minutes with the Grizzlies when they&rsquo;ve been shorthanded, it&rsquo;s been much of the same as far as his playing time is concerned. (In fact, he&rsquo;s averaging just over 11 minutes a night, a career-low). With that being said, it hasn&rsquo;t deterred him from trying different things.
At the beginning of the season, Tillman personally requested that the coaching staff allow him to play with the Memphis Hustle, the organization&rsquo;s G League affiliate, to stay fresh &mdash; especially with home games being only a 40-minute drive from the team&rsquo;s home arena.
&ldquo;If we don't have a game that day, I can definitely go down there and play and get some good minutes. And that's been a blessing for me to just, honestly, keep my flow of playing,&rdquo; Tillman shared. &ldquo;Because even in those play groups and those workouts, you can't get in the flow of boxing somebody out, grabbing a rebound, pushing it, being in help defense. 'Cause it's a workout, all you work on is offensive scoring.
&ldquo;So being in a Hustle game allowed me to just play and play in a real game. So when I got my opportunity called &mdash; like now due to injury &mdash; I was ready to go and ready to help the team in all ways.&rdquo;
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X is so inspirational man. <a href="https://t.co/uAnVhnf9dl">pic.twitter.com/uAnVhnf9dl</a>
&mdash; Memphis Hustle (@MemphisHustle) <a href="https://twitter.com/MemphisHustle/status/1603087828589711371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2022</a></blockquote>
Team-first is Tillman&rsquo;s M.O. Whatever his squad needs and asks of him, he does it. It&rsquo;s been that way from an early age, particularly when he was playing with current Phoenix Suns guard Duane Washington Jr. at Grand Rapids Christian High School in West Michigan.
&ldquo;We played high school ball together my junior and my senior year, and having him on my team, I knew that I didn't have to be a 20-point scorer for us to win these games. Especially 'cause he was a bucket-getter himself. I'm like, 'Okay, if I can get him shots and then fill the gaps on our team, we'll be great,&rsquo;&rdquo; Tillman said. "Start to try to fill the gaps instead of like, 'Hey, this is what I bring and then let everybody else fill it around me.' I've learned as I've gotten older. See the identity of your teammates and then work around that to help us win games.&rdquo;
If you&rsquo;re a teammate of his, it helps that Tillman can &ldquo;think the game&rdquo; the way he does. He&rsquo;s constantly one step ahead of his defender on offense and the opposing player when he&rsquo;s on the defensive end. If he gets an offensive rebound, it&rsquo;s either going up or going to a teammate. If he sees one of his guys getting doubled, he&rsquo;s freeing them up or cutting to the bucket.
Screens are precise, handoffs are well-timed, backdoor passes to cutters are on point and short-roll spray-outs to the corner are on target. There&rsquo;s a knack for the intangibles of the game and the little things that, when added up, become big.
&ldquo;I've always played on teams, for the most part coming up, where I've had shooters and scorers on my teams, but I didn't always have guys who cared about defense, who wanted to get blocks and steals and rebounds and stuff like that. So that was kinda the role I filled on my teams early on in life,&rdquo; Tillman said.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The main skill part that I would bring to the table was me being able to bring the ball up after a rebound and then, make a play after that to pass it to somebody else. But early on in my career playing basketball, I had people on my team who could score the ball, so my job then at that time wasn't even that. So I guess I kinda always had that... I don't know if anything is truly, truly natural, but my experience has made it natural, I guess you would say.&rdquo;
Tillman&rsquo;s distribution prowess is impressive, whether he&rsquo;s pushing the ball up the floor on the fast break or searching for guys in space in the half-court. Being a Michigan State Spartan, the recently-turned 24-year-old looked up to Draymond Green as somebody with a comparable height, build and playstyle.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Being able to facilitate, being to able to lock up on defense, being able to rebound with the big 7-footers and stuff like that. So I just drew similarities from him for sure,&rdquo; Tillman said. &ldquo;I loved watching guys coming up like LeBron [James], and not necessarily like the athleticism and scoring aspects, but the same thing I was talking about (with Draymond) &mdash; the way he can find people, the way on defense he'll be on the back line communicating crazy to everybody and letting everybody know what's up. And then, in transition, being able to make the plays that he does.&nbsp;
&ldquo;So those two guys are two that I kinda looked up to as far as my game and how I could find similarities between them.&rdquo;
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When on a G League assignment, there is a noticeable difference in Tillman&rsquo;s focus areas. Unlike the role he plays for the Grizzlies, he is granted freedom to expand his game with the Hustle. In five games, Tillman is averaging 17.8 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.4 steals per contest, taking 13.0 shots a game and converting on 52.3% of his total attempts.
Hustle head coach Jason March sends him out there for a predetermined allotment of minutes and draws up plays for the big man to take shots and score that don&rsquo;t usually come with the Grizzlies.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Him telling me stuff like that, it's like, 'Man, okay, I gotta shoot it.' So now when I catch the ball down there, I'm thinking, 'Okay, what's the best move I can make here to get a shot off?'&rdquo; Tillman explained.
&ldquo;When I'm on the Grizzlies, I got Des [Bane] on the court with me or I got Ja [Morant] on the court with me or I got DB (Dillon Brooks) on the court with me or I got JJ (Jaren Jackson Jr.) on the court with me or I got Tyus [Jones] on the court with me, and I'm like, 'These are our scorers. I need to find ways to get them open, and then if two people go to them, cool. I can finish the easy layup, I can finish my floater, whatever.'&rdquo;
For somebody like Tillman who has capabilities outside of the role he plays with the big club, those opportunities in the G League are helpful and reassuring.
&ldquo;It's always a balance. It's not easy, I will say that. The only part that's not easy is... I guess the ego side, the pride side of it,&rdquo; Tillman acknowledged. &ldquo;Because at the end of the game, everybody's looking at stats and you see like, 'Ah man, I only took 4 or 5 shots today and I played this many minutes? What's that about?' And then, you watch the film and you can watch the film and say, 'Damn, you're passing up all these shots.'
&ldquo;But in my head when I'm in the game, my mind is already set on, 'I need to get so-and-so open, I need to get so-and-so a shot here.' And so like, that's kinda the hard part is the aftermath when I watch film and I watch myself because I'm like, 'Man, I had way more shot opportunities than I took.' But then when I'm in the game, I'm like, 'Man, you played good out there. You got some assists, you got some rebounds. We went up 10 points while you were out there.' So it's just those things, trying to balance that for sure.&rdquo;
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X Gon' Give It To Ya<a href="https://twitter.com/Rookiedunker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Rookiedunker</a> <a href="https://t.co/0SpoKi2FfU">pic.twitter.com/0SpoKi2FfU</a>
&mdash; Memphis Hustle (@MemphisHustle) <a href="https://twitter.com/MemphisHustle/status/1602843540048023552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2022</a></blockquote>
With Brandon Clarke back from a sore hip that sidelined him for six games, Tillman&rsquo;s playing time has started to diminish again.
But at 31-13, the Grizzlies are the hottest team in the NBA with 11 straight wins, a rung barely below the Denver Nuggets at top of the Western Conference ladder. Tillman&rsquo;s been a part of that and will continue to do whatever he can to help his team along throughout the rest of this campaign.&nbsp;
A young, hungry and deep group that continues to blossom with each passing season, Memphis poses a legitimate threat to the rest of the NBA &mdash; both right now and down the road.
&ldquo;It's definitely been awesome to see, especially this early in our careers,&rdquo; Tillman said. &ldquo;Being my third year, Des's third year, Ja's fourth year, JJ's fifth year. It's pretty cool to see the success happen so early in our career. But at the same time, we have to have that knowledge in the back of our heads that it is early in our careers. So when things don't pan out the way we feel like it should, we shouldn't freak out and blow up the bus. We should say, 'Hey, alright, we made mistakes.' But we're a super, super young team. Mistakes are bound to happen.
&ldquo;So, it's just awesome that we have the success that we have now and the camaraderie that we have because we'll ride for one another every night, making sure that everybody's good, is getting cared for. We'll play hard for one another. The success that we've had, I can't lie, it's been awesome. Especially because our fan base has been pretty amazing, on the road or at home, where people are just still rooting for us, and the energy's amazing.&rdquo;

Spencer Davies goes 1-on-1 with Grizzlies big man Xavier Tillman to discuss his mentality in Year 3, his games with the Hustle and more.

No wasted days: Xavier Tillman waiting in the wings for Grizzlies' call

Springfield, Massachusetts has been offering glimpses into the future of basketball since James Naismith put some peach baskets on a YMCA wall in 1891. Every MLK weekend, the town gives us another in the form of the HoopHall Classic, where dozens of the best high-school players in the country descend on Blake Arena.
The HoopHall Classic is also one of three high-school showcases this season that was given the green light for NBA scouts to attend. It's a prime opportunity for the elite talents to separate themselves from the pack &mdash; or for less heralded names to put themselves on the map.
I checked into the arena at noon and spent 11 hours inside, sticking around until the penultimate contest. These standouts, among many others, caught my eye:
Boys &mdash; IMG Academy (FL) 61, Newton (GA) 52
Khani Rooths, IMG Academy &mdash;&nbsp;A 2024 wing, Rooths' impact on IMG's win far outshone his box score (11 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists). The 6-foot-6 wing kept the ball moving with some savvy passing versatility, making the right skip reads and interior decisions. He went 2-for-3 beyond the arc and seemed more comfortable spotting up and passing from a standstill versus attacking off the dribble.
Rooths also defended Newton star Stephon Castle for large portions of the game and made the 5-star guard's life pretty challenging. He can slide with relative success and deal with physicality without fouling. Rooths, a 4-star guard who is uncommitted, fits in all sorts of contexts and is a player who can thrive with today's direction of basketball.
Marcus Whitlock, Newton &mdash;&nbsp;Whitlock was one of the early head-turners of the weekend. He's a 6-foot-2 guard who plays with relentless confidence. The senior only made 4-of-12 threes but looked poised shooting off movement and spot-up attempts, finishing with 22 points.
He's not a half-court creator, but Whitlock did get chances to run and finish at the rim in transition. He also dove for loose balls on defense and wound up with three steals. Whitlock isn't ranked by most sites and hasn't chosen a school yet, so this effort might have put him on some college radars.
Girls &mdash; Sierra Canyon (CA) 67, Sidwell Friends (DC) 55
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The legend of Juju Watkins at Sierra Canyon continues to grow, as well. She missed a big stretch of the first half after tweaking her ankle, went down for a few moments again late on, and still put up 29/14/5/3/3 in 26 mins. Her physicality never wavered either. Generational. <a href="https://t.co/VGuq1TuqcT">https://t.co/VGuq1TuqcT</a> <a href="https://t.co/wVUIgv0fHd">pic.twitter.com/wVUIgv0fHd</a>
&mdash; Wilko (@wilkomcv) <a href="https://twitter.com/wilkomcv/status/1614365704995868673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Juju Watkins, Sierra Canyon &mdash; The No. 1 senior in the country had the performance of the day. Watkins missed time twice with injuries to both ankles, but you wouldn't notice from her final stat line: 29 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks and 3 steals. (She said postgame that she's feeling alright).
Watkins relished the chance to beat another nationally-ranked opponent and the challenge of matching up against 6-foot-1 junior Kendall Dudley.
"It's definitely an adjustment playing against other players my size, learning how and when to get to my spots," Watkins told Basketball News in her postgame presser. "I just had to make that adjustment mentally, but when I made it, it was easier."
Though Watkins battled for rebounds and showed off limitless range, she also demonstrated a unique blend of speeds and gears, often warping time around her defenders and finishing with a teardrop floater. That's one of the young star's newest weapons.
"I worked on it a lot this summer &mdash; just learning how to change pace better and get my defender on their heels. I've been working on that a lot, and I went out there and showed it today," Watkins said.
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Mackenly Randolph, Sierra Canyon &mdash;&nbsp;The 5-star junior finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds and was critical in helping Sierra Canyon close out a 67-55 win. Randolph dominated on the glass against a physically imposing Sidwell Friends squad; it's no surprise that her dad is Zach Randolph. She also slashed through the lane for some impressive interior buckets.&nbsp;
Kendall Dudley, Sidwell Friends &mdash;&nbsp;Dudley is the No. 13 player in ESPN's 2024 rankings and she showed off the versatility that earned her the billing. The 5-star talent was cool and collected driving the basketball and kicking out. She can play physically at 6-foot-1, but doesn't need to, and her comfort off the bounce was apparent. She also led the defensive attack and did about as well guarding Watkins as her team could ask.
Dudley hasn't chosen a college yet and should be one of the most highly-anticipated commits in the coming year. She finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 3 steals in the loss.
Boys &mdash; Long Island Lutheran (NY) 64, Oak Hill Academy (VA) 56
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FLOOR GENERAL 👏 Jayden Reid always in control as LuHi beats Oak Hill 64-56 <a href="https://twitter.com/LuHiBasketball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LuHiBasketball</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/jaydenreid0?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jaydenreid0</a> <a href="https://t.co/PzVFy12thm">pic.twitter.com/PzVFy12thm</a>
&mdash; NIBC (@NIBCOfficial) <a href="https://twitter.com/NIBCOfficial/status/1614391132728836097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Jayden Reid, Long Island Lutheran &mdash;&nbsp;A 5-foot-10 playmaker who shined is going to land on this list all day. Reid, a 3-star senior point guard, showed total command of the offense with wraparound dimes and pocket passes in the pick-and-roll. He knocked down a pair of threes and finished off one fast break with an impressive double-clutch layup. The guard play from both squads was really excellent, but Reid stood out with 16 points, 7 assists and 4 steals.
Kaden Magwood, Oak Hill &mdash; Magwood caught fire off the bench, going for 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting. He made both of his threes and finished <a href="https://twitter.com/NIBCOfficial/status/1614385220500725760" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a stunning layup on the fast break</a> to help keep Oak Hill in the game. Magwood is only a sophomore and not in the early class frontrunners yet; I expect that to change pretty soon. He plays with a ton of fight for a guard listed at 6-foot-2 and 160 pounds.
Boys &mdash; Montverde Academy (FL) 85, La Lumiere (IN) 63
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Cooper Flagg is that guy 😎 (No. 2 ESPN 25) put on a show in Montverde&rsquo;s 85-63 win over La Lu <a href="https://twitter.com/MVABasketball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MVABasketball</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CooperFlagg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CooperFlagg</a> <a href="https://t.co/VGOxQpkMy7">pic.twitter.com/VGOxQpkMy7</a>
&mdash; NIBC (@NIBCOfficial) <a href="https://twitter.com/NIBCOfficial/status/1614417408323723265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Cooper Flagg, Montverde &mdash;&nbsp;It's remarkable how polished Flagg plays despite being just a sophomore and in his first year with one of the most successful programs in the country. Flagg had 21 points in 25 minutes on 8-for-10 shooting (3-4 3PT). The shots came in all types: cutting via baseline out-of-bounds plays, spacing the floor in the corner and initiating the attack himself.&nbsp;
Then you add the defense, which included five steals and a few ticky-tack fouls that could have been blocks. Flagg is aware and active on both sides of the ball, and it's easy for him to string productive plays together regardless of whether he's getting buckets.&nbsp;
Flagg certainly matched the hype as one of the top players in the 2025 class. After leaving his hometown Nokomis High in Maine and transferring all the way to Florida, he's fit right in with the Eagles. He said approximately 100 friends and family made the four-hour drive down to western Massachusetts.
"I think it's kind of similar to my team back in Maine. We all trust each other. I think that's helped to elevate me too, is playing at the highest level and having a team [where] everybody trusts each other," Flagg said after his performance. "We know that every night it's gonna be someone else [stepping up]."
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KJ Evans, Montverde &mdash;&nbsp;The Oregon-bound senior quietly worked his way to 19 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists, but punctuated his effort with a powerful putback slam. Evans found most of his success around the basket and demonstrated syngergy with Flagg and other playmakers when cutting. The 5-star forward thrived in his role as Montverde tore apart La Lumiere with its decisive passing.
Boys &mdash; Centennial (CA) 66, Camden (NJ) 62
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Off the screen. A little head fake frees up Jared McCain for a deep 3ball. It&rsquo;s his fifth 3 of the night. Corona Centennial leads Camden (NJ) 50-45 after three quarters. <a href="https://t.co/me3L1dEpYo">pic.twitter.com/me3L1dEpYo</a>
&mdash; Tarek Fattal (@Tarek_Fattal) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tarek_Fattal/status/1614435225085304838?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2023</a></blockquote>

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DJ Wagner, Camden &mdash;&nbsp;It is all-but impossible to stop Wagner at this level when he bombards the basket. The 5-star senior slithered his way through space and sliced open double-teams with jump-stop attacks, finishing with 27 points. Though he struggled to shoot it from outside, his craft and touch around the rim are superb, and his functional strength is light-years from when I first got the chance to watch him at HoopHall as a freshman.&nbsp;
Wagner will team up with fellow 5-star classmate Aaron Bradshaw (15 points, 8 rebounds) at Kentucky, and he's excited to keep the momentum rolling with his 7-foot teammate.
"It's great. We've been playing together for a long time now," Wagner told reporters postgame. "Off the court, that's like my brother, so it's just fun to be able to go to the next level and play on the same floor with him in college."
Jared McCain, Centennial &mdash;&nbsp;McCain was money as a shooter and finished with 27 points, including six made threes. Centennial used him off of creative screening actions and as a spot-up threat, but the Duke commit also pulled up for a couple of self-created makes. He added an impressive driving layup and a fadeaway make from the free-throw line. A 4-star guard, McCain brought a really positive energy to Centennial's win with his confidence.
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Boys &mdash; Christopher Columbus (FL) 74, San Ysidro (CA) 67
Cameron Boozer, Christopher Columbus &mdash;&nbsp;Boozer was the second top sophomore to look far beyond his years on Saturday. The son of Carlos Boozer, Cameron finished with an effortless 33 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks &mdash; and still showed displeasure with his squad's defense &mdash; as Christopher Columbus led wire-to-wire. His twin brother Cayden, a guard, also had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
Boozer is listed at 6-foot-9, 215 pounds online. He seems even more physically imposing in person. Yet he's not a bowling ball; Boozer calmly settled into three-pointers (3-for-5) and comitted just one foul while still battling around the basket.&nbsp;
"When I was younger, I got in foul trouble a lot swiping down," Boozer told Basketball News in his postgame scrum. "It's something I've learned: just stay vertical and contest guys so it's kind of tough to finish over me &mdash; using my size and my length to my advantage."
Boozer mentioned in the scrum that his favorite player is Anthony Davis, and he admires the Brow's full arsenal of two-way weapons.
"I feel like he can do it all," Boozer said. "He can rebound, he can pass, he can shoot it, he finishes well... When he's healthy, he's one of the best players in the league."

Ethan Fuller shares his scouting report from Saturday's action at the HoopHall Classic.

HoopHall Highlights: Top performances from Saturday's action

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Negativity has dogged the Kentucky basketball program since its disappointing loss to South Carolina on Tuesday.
Heading into Saturday&rsquo;s 63-56 win over No. 5 Tennessee, Wildcats coach John Calipari did his best to insulate his players while absorbing as many bullets as possible himself.
&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t lost faith in any of these guys,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a good team. (Friday night), I collected all the (players&rsquo; cell) phones and iPads and everything else.&rdquo;
Antonio Reeves scored 18 points and Oscar Tshiebwe had 15 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Wildcats (11-6, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) over the Volunteers. The victory ended a 25-game home win streak for Tennessee (14-3, 4-1) that dated back to the end of the 2020-21 season.
Kentucky led 58-50 with 3:28 left in the game. Two free throws by Santiago Vescovi and two buckets by Uros Plavsic closed the gap to two with less than a minute to play.
A Wildcat turnover gave Tennessee a shot to tie or take the lead, but Zakai Zeigler and Plavsic missed down low.
&ldquo;Both coaches made it a slugfest,&rdquo; said Calipari. &ldquo;Nobody backed down.&rdquo;
The Wildcats showed a physical presence and dominated the Volunteers on the boards, 43-23. Tennessee came into the game leading the SEC in rebounding margin (+9.94).
&ldquo;Our frontline&rsquo;s gotta do a better job rebounding,&rdquo; said Tennessee coach Rick Barnes. &ldquo;On the defensive end, we have to get everyone involved.&rdquo;
The Tennessee big man Plavsic, who scored 19 points, was the only Vol to match Kentucky&rsquo;s physicality.
Calipari said the strategy was to focus on the Vols&rsquo; perimeter play, while letting Plavsic have his way.
&ldquo;They can beat us with 3s,&rdquo; said Calipari. &ldquo;They won&rsquo;t beat us with 2s.&rdquo;
CJ Fredrick scored eight in a row and had 10 of his 13 points in the first half as Kentucky led at the break, 33-26.
Vescovi, who tweaked his shooting (left) shoulder in a collision early in the game, had seven in the first half for Tennessee. He finished with 13 points.
&ldquo;We had some uncontested looks at the rim,&rdquo; Barnes said. &ldquo;Point-blank layups &mdash; you&rsquo;ve gotta make them.&rdquo;
POLL IMPLICATIONS
During his 36 seasons as a head coach in college basketball, Rick Barnes has led his teams into the AP Top 25 a total of 299 weeks. That includes 131 weeks in the Top 10.
BIG PICTURE
Kentucky: Besides the frustration that comes with six losses this early in the season, the Wildcats have had to deal with injury problems. G Cason Wallace (back) and F Jacob Toppin (shoulder) have been sidelined. Both started against the Vols. &hellip; Big man Oscar Tshiebwe leads the SEC with 10 double-doubles this season. &hellip; Sahvir Wheeler leads the SEC with 6.3 assists a game. This is his third straight year on top. &hellip; John Calipari coached his 36th game against Tennessee. No other coach has led his team against the Vols in as many games.
Tennessee: Senior G Santiago Vescovi has been hot lately. He came into the Kentucky game averaging 16.5 points over his last five games while shooting 60% from the field and 57% from 3-point. &hellip; Zakai Ziegler, who has gotten used to his role as a point guard coming off the bench, had 27 assists in his last three games heading into Saturday. &hellip; Chris Lofton (2004-08), the SEC&rsquo;s all-time leader in 3-point baskets made (431), had his No. 5 hoisted into the rafters of Thompson-Boling Arena.
UP NEXT
Kentucky: Hosts Georgia on Tuesday.
Tennessee: Visits Mississippi State on Tuesday.

Antonio Reeves scored 18 points and Oscar Tshiebwe had 15 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Wildcats over the Volunteers.

Calipari, Kentucky silence doubters, beat No. 5 Tennessee

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Giannis Antetokounmpo says he wants to produce with so much consistency that it causes boredom.
That's the only respect in which the two-time MVP has fallen shortly lately.
<a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportWI/status/1610478762532954116">Antetokounmpo scored a career-high 55 points with a series of thrilling dunks and drives</a> Tuesday as the Milwaukee Bucks beat Washington 123-113 on Tuesday night, snapping the Wizards&rsquo; five-game winning streak. The spectacular forward also had 10 rebounds and seven assists to continue arguably the best stretch of his career.
&ldquo;I want to get in a position ... that my game is boring,&rdquo; Antetokounmpo said. &ldquo;I just do what I do and people don't talk about it because it becomes boring &mdash; I do it every single night. That's what I want to do. I want other people to feel like my game is boring. But I don't get bored. The greats &mdash; the best players &mdash; never get bored. They go out there and they always give their best any given night.&rdquo;
Antetokounmpo has at least 40 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in each of the last three games he's played. The two-time MVP sat out a 118-95 loss to the Wizards on Sunday because of a sore left knee.
The only other players in NBA history to have three straight performances of 40 points, 10 rebounds and five assists are Elgin Baylor in 1961 and 1963, Wilt Chamberlain in 1963 and Russell Westbrook in 2016. The only other Bucks to score at least 40 points in three straight appearances are Flynn Robinson in February 1969 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in February 1972.
&ldquo;He's been kind of playing with this kind of determination, this kind of just willing us in games,&rdquo; Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. &ldquo;Tonight we were able to win it. He's just been phenomenal.&rdquo;
Bucks center Brook Lopez is in his fifth season of playing alongside Antetokoumpo. The 7-footer couldn't recall a regular-season stretch in which Antetokounmpo has played better than this.
&ldquo;He's just constantly improving,&rdquo; said Lopez, who had 21 points and 12 rebounds. &ldquo;When you think where else can he go and how else can he improve, he just improves again. We're going to have to expand the English language in some way to come up with words (to describe him). I don't know if I've said that before, but I'm sure he's going to improve again. Who knows what he's going to do next. He's just so otherworldly.&rdquo;
Antetokounmpo's previous career high was a 52-point effort against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 17, 2019. He just missed the single-game franchise scoring record owned by Michael Redd, who scored 57 points against the Utah Jazz in November 2006.
Washington&rsquo;s Bradley Beal returned after missing three games with a sore left hamstring, but he played just 13 minutes. Beal scored eight points before the hamstring issue prevented him from playing at all in the second half.
&ldquo;Same area,&rdquo; Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. "We just have to get it evaluated.
Kristaps Porzingis scored 22 points for the Wizards, and Kyle Kuzma added 20.
Milwaukee's Bobby Portis had 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Milwaukee's Jrue Holiday returned to action after missing three games with a non-COVID illness and scored six points in 19 minutes. Bucks forward Khris Middleton missed an eighth straight game with a sore right knee and also won&rsquo;t play Wednesday at Toronto.
TIP-INS
Wizards: Taj Gibson missed a third consecutive game with a sore left groin. ... Gaford had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. ... Rui Hachimura, Deni Avdija and Corey Kispert had 12 points each.
Bucks: George Hill missed a third straight game due to a non-COVID illness. ... Portis has four consecutive double-doubles. ... Grayson Allen shot 1 of 9 overall and 1 of 7 from 3-point range to continue his slump. Allen is 9 of 37 on 3-point attempts over his last four games. ... Antetokounmpo was 15 of 16 on free throws.
&nbsp;

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a career-high 55 points as the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Washington Wizards 123-113.

Antetokounmpo has career-high 55 points; Bucks beat Wizards

DETROIT (AP) &mdash; LeBron James scored 35 points, Anthony Davis had 34 points and 15 rebounds and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons 124-117 on Sunday night.
&ldquo;This was a must-win for us, because we wanted to have a successful road trip &mdash; at least .500,&rdquo; Davis said. &ldquo;The last game is always the toughest to win.&rdquo;
Davis also had seven assists as the Lakers overcame 38 points from Bojan Bogdanovic to end a three-game losing streak. Lonnie Walker IV added 18 points for Los Angeles and Russell Westbrook had 11 points and nine assists.
&ldquo;LeBron really came in with a focus to finish the right way,&rdquo; Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. &ldquo;He was leading the charge and would not allow this game to get away from us."
Rookie Jaden Ivey had 16 points for Detroit. The Pistons have lost three in a row.
&ldquo;There are a lot of things you can't control in a game &mdash; they came in shooting 28% on threes and they shot 42% tonight &mdash; but we have to get better at the other things,&rdquo; Pistons coach Dwane Casey said. &ldquo;We can control boxing out and understanding rotations - we get caught up in the game and lose our focus.&rdquo;
The Lakers led 61-49 at halftime, but Bogdanovic scored a career-high 25 points in the third quarter to pull the Pistons back into the game. With Davis scoring 17 points in the quarter, the Lakers took a 91-90 lead into the fourth.
&ldquo;We fought all night long, but I think we had too many mistakes in the first half,&rdquo; Bogdanovic said. &ldquo;We must have given them 10 easy back-door layups and dunks, and that breaks your defense.&rdquo;
Alec Burks scored to pull Detroit to 119-115 with a minute left, and Bogdanovic&rsquo;s layup made it 119-117 with 35 seconds to play.
James, who had 13 points in the fourth, ran down the clock, drove down the lane and flipped to an open Austin Reaves for a baseline 3-pointer with 12.4 seconds to play.
&ldquo;When you are playing with him, you know he's always going to make the right basketball play,&rdquo; Reaves said. &ldquo;Knowing he has the confidence in me to take that shot builds my confidence.&rdquo;
Casey was left shaking his head at another key mistake by his young team.
&ldquo;I'm not even sure who it was, but our defender in the strong corner helped into the lane on LeBron,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You can't do that. You have to understand the situation. If we give up a basket at the rim, we live with it, but you can't give up a three at that point.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Lakers: James and Davis had two of their most famous performances at Detroit's previous arena, the Palace of Auburn Hills. James scored 48 points, including Cleveland's final 25, in an overtime win in Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals. Nine years later, Davis had 59 points and 20 rebounds to help New Orleans beat the Pistons 111-106 on Feb. 21, 2016.
Pistons: Rookie Jalen Duran made his only field-goal attempt in his second start, finishing with three points and 13 rebounds in 23:42.
LAKERS VS. CELTICS
With the Lakers heading home to host Boston - the NBA's most historic rivalry - Ham was left shaking his head about his memories of the two franchises facing off.
&ldquo;I hated both those teams,&rdquo; said Ham, who grew up about 90 minutes north of Detroit and won the 2004 NBA title with the Pistons against the Lakers. &ldquo;We hated the Lakers, the Celtics and the Bulls.&rdquo;
UP NEXT
Lakers: Host Boston on Tuesday night.
Pistons: At Charlotte on Wednesday night.

LeBron James scored 35 points, Anthony Davis had 34 points and 15 rebounds and the Lakers beat the Pistons 124-117 on Sunday night.

LeBron James, Anthony Davis carry Lakers past Pistons, 124-117

When Mike Brown was coaching in San Antonio under Gregg Popovich, he recalls a young, free-spirited Manu Ginobili, whose play would range from &ldquo;wow&rdquo; to &ldquo;doing some stuff that helped Pop get white hair quicker.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Now in the head seat with the Sacramento Kings, Brown sees a little bit of that in Malik Monk in the best of ways.
&ldquo;I'm not comparing him to Manu, so don't write this down at all,&rdquo; Brown said with a laugh. &ldquo;That's kind of Malik. He's gonna do more good than bad out there, so you gotta let 'em hoop. You've gotta let him feel his mojo and all that other stuff, and that's what I try to do.&rdquo;
Averaging career-bests of 14.5 points and 4.0 assists per game on a personal-high 60.1% True Shooting and <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4279#tab-offensive_overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">26.9% assist percentage</a>, Monk is playing with a palpable confidence and energy that has opened up parts of his skill set we haven&rsquo;t necessarily seen on a nightly basis since he came into the league.&nbsp;
He&rsquo;s found a rhythm as a playmaker, has continued to be a microwave scorer and, above all else, has not been pigeonholed.
&ldquo;Mike lets me be me, man. He just lets me go out there and play my game. He don't try to limit me to things,&rdquo; Monk told Basketball News. &ldquo;He'll show me when I miss somebody on the kick-out and things like that, but he doesn't limit me. I've been like this my whole life. I played point guard before I went to Kentucky, so I've been handling the ball for a little bit. So it's just him giving me the opportunity.&rdquo;
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Everybody knows he can put the ball in the bucket. It&rsquo;s how Monk is doing it, and of course, what he&rsquo;s doing to involve his teammates. While he has been more involved in pick-and-roll actions, it&rsquo;s the handoff possessions that jump off the page. With Domantas Sabonis at his disposal, Brown has doubled the average amount of those per game (1.42) from Malik&rsquo;s time in Los Angeles (0.71), per InStat.
Getting him moving on curls toward the ball and similar plays has resulted in the sixth-year guard putting it on the floor and naturally getting to the rim, or dishing it off to the next man for a better look.
&ldquo;First side, the defense is great. Second side, they relax a little bit. Third side, they're relaxing more. So we just try to move it, move the defense as much as possible,&rdquo; Monk explained. &ldquo;But they can't help off me as much 'cause I can shoot. They can't help off of Domas that much because he's a big threat rolling. So whatever they do is gonna be wrong, and I've just been making the right reads this year.&rdquo;
Candidly, Brown made it clear that he will not hesitate to pull Monk aside during those not-so-good moments too, as the 24-year-old is simultaneously turning it over twice a night through 24 games.&nbsp;
&ldquo;When you have a guy that's as talented as he is, he's gonna take some risk,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;He knows if he makes a mistake, I'mma yell at him, I'mma get on him, I'mma coach 'em. I said, 'Come on, you've been around me long enough where sometimes you've gotta let crap go through one ear and out the other. I know I'm the one on you, but that's how you've gotta survive in this business. That's how you thrive in this business. I gotta coach you and I will, but sometimes if you feel like you can make a play, go make a play.'&nbsp;And so, he knows that he's got that support from me, and vice-versa.
"So I think when a player feels that and really believes it, it just gives him more ability to be himself, which is go make plays for himself and others out on the floor.&rdquo;
Kings forward Harrison Barnes agrees with Brown&rsquo;s assessment.
&ldquo;I mean Malik, his energy is vital for us,&rdquo; Barnes said. &ldquo;There's some players who come in this league and... you can't necessarily put them in a role, you can't put them in a box. You kinda just roll the ball out there and pray it goes well.&nbsp;
&ldquo;And he's one of those guys that, for us, we just wanna give him just ultimate freedom, play through his mistakes. He brings so much energy for us, just a different look to our second unit. And I think that has become contagious.&rdquo;
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Monk is at his most dangerous on fast breaks. He likes to push the pace &ldquo;because we know a lot of teams don't like to get back in transition,&rdquo; and averages 1.24 points per possession in those scenarios.&nbsp;
The vast majority of his rapid play comes when he&rsquo;s playing alongside his friend, De'Aaron Fox. Before teaming up on the Kings, Monk and Fox were also backcourt partners on the Kentucky Wildcats in 2016-17. Monk has <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1628370/passes-dash?dir=D&amp;sort=PASS&amp;PerMode=Totals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed to him more than any teammate by far</a> (147 times).
And together, they play at the highest pace on the team (108.21) &mdash; a mark that <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced?CF=MIN*GE*200&amp;GroupQuantity=2&amp;dir=D&amp;slug=advanced&amp;sort=PACE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ranks 10th in the NBA</a> among duos with at least 200 minutes combined. As far as Monk is concerned, he and Fox have picked up where they left off in Lexington.
&ldquo;He was a big part [of me coming to Sacramento] 'cause we're so comfortable with each other and we know how to play off each other,&rdquo; Monk said. &ldquo;Yeah man, it's been working out for me.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Good morning. I&rsquo;m still thinking about this pass from Malik Monk to De&rsquo;Aaron Fox. <a href="https://t.co/UNFLFRwkba">pic.twitter.com/UNFLFRwkba</a>
&mdash; Frankie Cartoscelli (@FCartoscelli3) <a href="https://twitter.com/FCartoscelli3/status/1599805025962053633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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On the opposite side of the coin, Monk has turned up the defensive pressure while sharing the floor with Sacramento&rsquo;s tenacious stopper, Davion Mitchell. In fact, he and the man they call &ldquo;Off Night&rdquo; own the Kings&rsquo; <a href="https://go.nba.com/uytkg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">best defensive rating on the team</a> (99.5) &mdash; the only duo allowing fewer than 100 points per 100 possessions.
&ldquo;Ah, that's hot,&rdquo; Monk reacted when Basketball News told him. &ldquo;I try to give Davion a lot of confidence, man, because he's the head of the snake, 'cause he's the point guard. He usually guards the best player. So however he guards is how the rest of us is gonna feed off of that. And I try to tell him that every game, every time we're on the court.&nbsp;So he just makes me go up a level. That's why I just try to force that [message] to him and I think that's why it's working for us.&rdquo;
A key cog in the bench bunch alongside him, Chimezie Metu has enjoyed the attitude Monk has brought into the locker room and on the floor.
&ldquo;He's great to be around. High energy. He's going out there being vocal, kinda keeping everybody's spirits up and it's just been great having him around,&rdquo; Metu told Basketball News. &ldquo;Personality-wise, he's kind of the guy that's been gluing everybody together. I feel like he has a great relationship with everybody on the team. Yeah man, he's fun to be around and fun to play with.
&ldquo;It's been fun playing with Malik and Davion and TD (Terence Davis) and also Trey [Lyles] at times. I feel like during practice and stuff, we're usually like the second unit that kinda does everything together, so we're always laughing, joking. But I think at the end of the day, we understand the task at hand because I feel like our job is to either keep the lead going or give us the energy to bring us back into a game. So either way, we have to have high energy at all times. I feel like we've been doing a great job of that.&rdquo;
Brown has his own way of describing Monk&rsquo;s effect on his ball club.
&ldquo;You know, he's a free spirit. Malik is what I call a connector,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;He just brings people together and he uplifts people all the time. He talks to everybody and he jokes with everybody, he touches everybody and everybody on the team has respect for him &mdash; not just for him as a person, but also they know that when he speaks, he knows what he's talking about because he's right a lot of the times.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
&ldquo;Malik is what I call a connector &mdash; he just brings people together. He uplifts people all the time &hellip; and everybody on the team has respect for him.&rdquo; Coach Brown on what <a href="https://twitter.com/AhmadMonk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AhmadMonk</a> brings to the squad on and off the court 👑 <a href="https://t.co/bwEuauVWBc">pic.twitter.com/bwEuauVWBc</a>
&mdash; Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1601365754313596929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2022</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;He's a talented, talented basketball player, and sometimes, especially when they're young like he is &mdash; he's young, but he has an old soul and he understands what's right, what's wrong and the right way to do things and all that.&rdquo;
Altogether, the 24-year-old has found a niche and a comfortability with this Kings team. A lot of that has to do with a consistent role with consistent minutes, which he has found the last couple of seasons between L.A. and Sacramento as opposed to the sporadic nature in the past when he was with the Charlotte Horntes.
&ldquo;It's the biggest relief, man,&rdquo; Monk admitted. &ldquo;I know when I'mma go in, I know when I'mma come out, I know when I'mma go back in again. So it's just a relief, and it just gives me way more confidence to go out there and play my game.&rdquo;
From a young age, Monk has always been passionate about his apparel. He told Basketball News that when he was a kindergartner living with his mom, his older brother Marcus &mdash; a former NFL wide receiver who played for the Chicago Bears &mdash; always rocked BAPE clothing line. Malik latched on to style because of that and has kept up to date with the latest fashion ever since.
On Friday, Monk came into Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse wearing a fuzzy skeleton sweater with black paints, matching shoes and some bling to top it off. Pregame, his teammates tried to figure out what brand he was going with.
&ldquo;Look man, he spends a lot of money on his clothes. They better look good. That's all I'mma say,&rdquo; Metu said with a chuckle.
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<a href="https://t.co/Ol8wlMxDpz">pic.twitter.com/Ol8wlMxDpz</a>
&mdash; Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1601371494747369473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2022</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;If my fit not as up to how I want it, man, I feel like I'll go out there and be a little down. But I haven't done that this year. All my fits been pretty decent so far. Yeah man, it's always 'look good, feel good, play good,'&rdquo; Monk said.
Clearly, Malik Monk has been a positive influence in Sacramento. It&rsquo;s a big reason why they&rsquo;re in the thick of it in the Western Conference &mdash; and that doesn&rsquo;t seem to be changing anytime soon.
&ldquo;I just try to bring everybody life, man,&rdquo; Monk said. &ldquo;Losing streaks, it's gonna happen. It's a game of runs, especially in basketball. So I just try to make everybody feel the same every day. 'Cause we know we're gonna be together for the rest of the year, so I just try to make sure we're like this instead of like that.&rdquo;

Spencer Davies dives into Malik Monk's positive effect on the Sacramento Kings — on and off the floor — in an exclusive interview.

The Connector: Malik Monk's infectious energy breathes life into Kings

Over the past few seasons, the talk around the DMV in regards to the Maryland Terrapins has been an abundance of criticism, frustration and disappointment. It seemed as though Maryland basketball as a whole had lost its luster. Even the Xfinity Center wasn't the same &mdash; it was no longer an electric atmosphere.&nbsp;
Many will attempt to attribute the decrease in fan attendance and overall participation to COVID, but those in the know will tell you that that&rsquo;s not 100% accurate. The fact of the matter is: while the Xfinity Center was once one of the BIG 10's most difficult arenas for opposing teams to play in, it had lost its sizzle.&nbsp;
However, Friday night was a return to the good ol' days, as a sold-out Xfinity Center was buzzing with an atmosphere usually seen during March Madness. No. 22 Maryland beat No. 16 Illinois 71-66, bringing their record to 8-0. This was the first big home game of the Kevin Willard era and possibly the biggest home game since the pandemic. The student section was rocking, the band was playing, and there was a sea of fans dressed in gold for the annual &ldquo;gold rush&rdquo; game. This atmosphere was exactly what many Maryland fans had been longing for.
I caught up with Lonny Baxter and Byron Mouton &mdash; two members of the 2001-02 Maryland championship team &mdash; to get their thoughts on their alma mater&rsquo;s red-hot start, which has the entire DMV buzzing.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/lonny23.jpg" alt="" width="660" height="326" />
Etan Thomas: Your team is looking good. They've started off 8-0 and got a really nice win last night against a good Illinois team. How does it feel, seeing how Maryland is playing right now?&nbsp;
Lonny Baxter: "Oh man, I&rsquo;m super proud. We&rsquo;ve had some up-and-down years over the past few years. And to see this team &mdash; which is technically a 'rebuild team' &mdash; doing as well as they are, I think we are surprising a lot of people who weren&rsquo;t expecting much from us this season. But we are opening a lot of people&rsquo;s eyes. Coach Willard has come in and done a tremendous job right from the jump. We&rsquo;re really looking good right now."
Thomas: You mentioned Coach Willard, and there was initially some skepticism when he was hired &mdash; talk of him not technically being from within the Maryland program, etc. But immediately upon arrival, he made it clear that he was going to have an emphasis on local DMV players, which has been a criticism of Maryland for quite some time now, as you know. He had three high recruits right from the DMV: Jamie Kaiser, DeShawn Harris-Smith and Jahnathan Lamothe. And the point guard from the transfer portal, Jahmir Young, is from the DMV as well. How much has he shifted the narrative locally with this start?&nbsp;
Baxter: "Not only that, he also hired two great assistants from the DMV who are both good friends of mine: David Cox and Tony Skinn. They know the area, they have relationships locally whether it&rsquo;s high schools or AAU programs, and they are doing a great job of changing that very narrative you were talking about. David Cox had me come up to the school and showed me around, introduced me to all the guys, told them the history of this program (which I am blessed to be a part of) and really made an effort to connect everything to the community, and that&rsquo;s what we need."
Thomas: I hear a lot of announcers refer to the culture that Coach Willard has created here from the beginning. You mentioned that there were a couple of down years, but even aside from the 8-0 start, it seems like there is a certain electricity that had been missing for a while.
Baxter: "Coach Willard did a great job at Seton Hall. Then, he comes here and brings that same energy. He reminds me of a Gary Williams Jr. so to speak &mdash; a lot of grit and a lot of fight in him. And you see that energy transfer to the court."
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Thomas: I love that they brought you back to talk to the team. You were on a special team, the championship team of 2001-02. How was your conversation with the guys?&nbsp;
Baxter: "He brought me and a lot of former [Maryland] guys into the locker room and just introduced us to the guys. He wanted them to know who we were and what we were a part of. And like I said, this is a rebuild year for them technically, but they are laser focused. They know the expectations of them, they know the history and legacy of the program that they are now a part of, and they are getting the job done. Hats off to them. They just beat a good Illinois team last night. We are really playing well. Love what I&rsquo;m seeing."
Thomas: You mentioned the Illinois game and I referenced the electricity &mdash; you saw it in the crowd and the announcers kept bringing it up. They said that a year ago, the stands were empty. But last night, it was a sold-out crowd. You saw the energy in the student section. Talk about how special that is, because y&rsquo;all had that when you guys were playing but, like you said, it&rsquo;s been up-and-down for the past few years. That electricity, that crowd support, was definitely present last night.&nbsp;
Baxter: "I wasn&rsquo;t able to go last night, but a lot of people were texting me during the game like, 'Are you here?!' It hasn&rsquo;t been this way in a long time. It&rsquo;s amazing! [People were] sending me videos and screen shots, and I regret not being there. I had already made my plans and cleared my schedule to be at the UCLA game, but I am mad that I missed it last night. But that&rsquo;s what we need. There&rsquo;s been so many up-and-down years, so many disappointments. We&rsquo;ve had some good teams, don&rsquo;t get me wrong, but the support and the energy really dipped for a few years. But [now], everyone is all on social media excited. Like, Maryland basketball is back! It&rsquo;s great for Maryland, great for the DMV. The guys are playing really well and I&rsquo;m looking forward to the rest of the season."&nbsp;
Thomas: Now, let&rsquo;s reminisce for a quick minute about the good ol' days, because y&rsquo;all had such a special team. Yourself, Steve Blake, Juan Dixon, Byron Mouton, Chris Wilcox... y&rsquo;all had a crew. Talk about how special that championship team was.
Baxter: "Our team was definitely special because we weren&rsquo;t a lot of McDonald's All-Americans. We were just a bunch of guys who were hungry, gritty and we loved to play together. Great chemistry. We&rsquo;re even friends to this day, we have a group chat that we all talk on just about every week. We&rsquo;re texting each other, congratulating each other on accomplishments, birthdays, talking about the games, etc. It just shows how close of a unit we were. Even when I spent some time with the Wizards when you were there, me, Juan and Steve Blake, it was like we were inseparable. But like I said, we were just hungry and determined and focused, and we played together as a team. Everyone bought into their roles and played to the best of their ability. That might sound cliche, but that&rsquo;s really what happened! (laughing)"
Thomas: (Laughing) Yeah, it does, but I know what you mean. What advice would you give the team now? It sounds like when they brought you in, it was more to just introduce you to them. But if you could give them all some advice &mdash; coming from a member of the 2001-02 championship team, which is the ultimate goal &mdash; what advice would you give this young, rebuilding team?&nbsp;
Baxter: "Just stay humble and stay hungry. Keep doing what you&rsquo;re doing, and never be satisfied. The hard work, the long hours in the gym, it&rsquo;s all paying off. They&rsquo;re jelling on the court and playing some complete games &mdash; both offensively and defensively. But keep that underdog mentality, keep that chip on your shoulder and stay hungry."
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/byron12.jpg" alt="" width="660" height="333" />
Thomas: The team is really looking good. What are your thoughts on how everything is going so far?&nbsp;
Byron Mouton: "You know, the first time I met Coach Willard, I had a good feeling about him and this upcoming season. He was direct and to the point, and he doesn&rsquo;t hide his feelings. And I know a lot of the players. Jahmir, I&rsquo;ve known since he was in the fifth grade. He has a high basketball IQ, understands the game and is a team player, and has always been that way. And he plays winning basketball, so I was definitely excited for Maryland to get him."
Thomas: Can you explain a little more about why you had that good feeling about Coach Willard?&nbsp;
Mouton: "Well, from the start, he set the tone. [He] brought a lot of us alumni back and had a meeting with us, and told all of us that he valued us, respected us, appreciated us and wanted us involved with the team moving forward, and that was big. He made the point clear that his goal was to bring us back to a consistent top-10 program, which is what it should be."
Thomas: So, he valued the legacy of Maryland.&nbsp;
Mouton: "Exactly. And he made the point clear also that in order to be amongst the best, we had to compete against the best. He said he didn&rsquo;t believe in hiding from anyone and that was music to my ears. When I played for Gary Williams, we always played the best teams in the non-conference, early schedule. We would go to Maui, preseason NIT... wherever the top competition was, that&rsquo;s where we went. Mark Turgeon didn&rsquo;t want to do that; he wanted to play in these little cupcake tournaments where we&rsquo;re heavy favorites and expected to win, but that&rsquo;s not how you get better. That&rsquo;s not how you prepare for regular-season Big 10 games."
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Thomas: I see. And talk about Coach Willard's passion and energy. He showed a lot of energy on the sidelines last season with Seton Hall, and it seems like he brought that same energy here to Maryland.
Mouton: "I don&rsquo;t want to compare him to Gary Williams, but there are a lot of similarities. Passionate, honest, doesn&rsquo;t hold back his emotions or his feelings. I love coaches like that. I can&rsquo;t play for a guy who just wants to sit on the bench and call out plays, but shows no passion. I wanna know that you&rsquo;re in this battle with me."
Thomas: I hear you. Like, he shares your passion.&nbsp;
Mouton: "Yes. And he holds everyone accountable, the practices are intense, and he has that fire. And he teaches. So, he has all the keys to being successful at this level, and that&rsquo;s exactly the kind of coach I would want to play for."
Thomas: It seems like he&rsquo;s earned the players' trust very early. Sometimes, as you know, it&rsquo;s difficult for a new coach to do that.
Mouton: "Yes, it definitely can be. But at the same time, as you know, in order for any head coach to be really successful, it&rsquo;s crucial to hire great assistants, and he did that with Coach Cox and Coach Tony Skinns. I&rsquo;ve played with them and against them; I know them know them. And they have great ties to the DMV community, so I gotta include them as far as being vital for the overall success of the team."&nbsp;
Thomas: Let&rsquo;s talk about Jahmir Young. He really shined last night and you&rsquo;ve known him for a long time &mdash; you said since he was in the fifth grade?&nbsp;
Mouton: "Yeah, definitely. And like Coach said last night, he came here to do exactly what he did last night. A lot of teams are building their rosters through the transfer portal &mdash; that&rsquo;s just where college basketball is right now. It&rsquo;s not like in the old days when we played; coaches have to win now so they try to get players who are ready immediately. And Jahmir knows the game of basketball. Team player, leader, and was ready day one. He leads by example and also holds himself accountable. That&rsquo;s how a leader should be. And he&rsquo;s always under control, that&rsquo;s one of the things that&rsquo;s most impressive about him. He doesn&rsquo;t let anything that the opponent is doing speed him up or make him panic. He plays at his pace and runs the team. He&rsquo;s special."
Thomas: I asked Lonny Baxter this and I&rsquo;mma ask you the same thing: Y&rsquo;all had a special championship team. What was it that made y&rsquo;all work so well?&nbsp;
Mouton: "Well, in my opinion, it was about how competitive we were every single day. Everyone held everyone else accountable. Nobody allowed anyone else to coast in practice, or not give it their all, or not play at the highest level every single day. People held me accountable, I held them accountable &mdash; about everything. Not running the sprints hard enough in practice, not being where you&rsquo;re supposed to be on the defensive rotation, not giving the effort, whatever it was. And our practices were intense, and that carried over into the game."
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Thomas: What advice would you give to this current team?&nbsp;
Mouton: "Well, as you know, as the entire DMV is buzzing about them now, they have to stay together when that tide changes. They&rsquo;re not going to be buzzing like this all year (laughing) &mdash; that&rsquo;s just not the way it works. I&rsquo;ll give you an example. The year before we won the national championship, we were playing Duke. We were up 10 points with 1:04 left, and we lost. Craziest game I have ever been a part of in my entire college career. All the fans were booing us, the papers were killing us. People on campus were looking at us sideways when we walked by (laughing). Everyone was down on us. And after that, we lost three-straight games. I&rsquo;ll never forget when we lost to Florida State and their little point guard jumped on the scorer&rsquo;s table and was talking noise to our fans, waving bye-bye to them, and our fans started letting us have it. We could&rsquo;ve crumbled as an entire team after that, but we didn&rsquo;t. We pulled together and developed an us-against-the-world mentality. I say that because, there will come a time during this season when all the cheering stops, and maybe even some boos start. And now they have social media, so everyone can tell you that you suck (laughing). I would tell them when that happens, to pull together. Take on the us-against-the-world mentality. Don&rsquo;t splinter and start pointing fingers and playing the blame game because that happens, but stick together, pull together in tough times, and keep that passion and excitement and love for the game they have now, and they will do just fine."

Etan Thomas chats with former Maryland Terrapin greats Lonny Baxter and Byron Mouton about their alma mater’s red-hot start.

Lonny Baxter, Byron Mouton have high praise for Maryland Terps

NEW YORK &ndash; The NBA today announced Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart as the NBA Cares Community Assist Award winner for the month of October in recognition of his ongoing support for pediatric cancer patients and commitment to creating access to opportunity for inner-city student-athletes. Each month of the regular season the award recognizes a player who best demonstrates the passion that the league and NBA players share for giving back to their communities.
Since joining the Boston Celtics in 2014, Smart has made it a priority to visit the Boston Children&rsquo;s Hospital to spend one-on-one time with kids undergoing cancer treatments. As part of this effort, he also works to donate mobile charging stations loaded with tablets and video game consoles called &ldquo;Smart Carts&rdquo; designed to serve as entertainment hubs, as well as portals for communication and diversion during patients&rsquo; treatment and recovery. Over the past year and a half, Smart and his foundation, the YounGameChanger Foundation, have made &ldquo;Smart Carts&rdquo; available in seven different children&rsquo;s hospitals throughout New England, one in his hometown of Dallas, TX, and two in collaboration with the JLH Social Impact Fund founded by Jrue (Milwaukee Bucks) and Lauren Holiday to support virtual programming at Children&rsquo;s Wisconsin Hospital.
Smart primarily engages with his community through the YounGameChanger Foundation, a 501c3 he founded in 2014 to serve as a source of guidance, motivation, encouragement and empowerment for inner-city student-athletes to become game changers both on and off the court or field. The organization creates opportunities through education, sports and mentorship with emphasis on science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) and also seeks to provide inspiration and life-changing experiences for pediatric cancer patients and their families. Earlier this month on Nov. 10, Smart hosted his biggest fundraiser of the year, the Bowling Bash, to help further support his foundation&rsquo;s donation of &ldquo;Smart Carts&rdquo; and laptops to children&rsquo;s hospitals and communities in need.
&ldquo;I started my YounGameChangers Foundation to serve as a source of guidance, motivation and empowerment for youth to be game changers on and off the court,&rdquo; said Marcus Smart. &ldquo;You never know what people are going through, so giving back to make their lives better in any way and letting them know they are not alone is important to me. I am honored to receive this award and will continue prioritizing serving my community.&rdquo;
Smart will be recognized during an on-court ceremony before the Celtics&rsquo; home game against the Charlotte Hornets on Nov. 28 at 7:30 p.m. ET. Steve Pagliuca, Boston Celtics co-owner and president of the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, will present him with the award. The NBA will donate $10,000 to the YounGameChanger Foundation.
The NBA Cares Community Assist Award presented honors the standard set by NBA Legend David Robinson, who improved the community piece by piece. To learn more, please visit https://communityassist.nba.com/.

Smart's had ongoing support for pediatric cancer patients and a commitment to creating access to opportunity for inner-city student-athletes.

Celtics’ Marcus Smart receives October NBA Cares Community Assist Award

Steve Nash got paroled.
That&rsquo;s the easiest way to say it. Some will say fired, and the official term used Tuesday was that Nash and the Brooklyn Nets agreed &ldquo;to part ways,&rdquo; which is the popular phrasing these days when a coach leaves a team.
But the reality is this: He&rsquo;s free.
Whatever happens next in the never-ending string of Kyrie Irving developments won&rsquo;t be taking up Nash&rsquo;s time. The Earth can be flat. Alex Jones can be right about conspiracy theories. Links to antisemitic movies can be shared with millions of followers. The merits of vaccines can be debated.
Not Nash's problem anymore.
This was never going to work in Brooklyn, and the signs were there long before Nash&rsquo;s first game. Irving made a podcast appearance in the fall of 2020, while the bubble season &mdash; the one that Irving railed against and wouldn&rsquo;t join &mdash; was still going on at Walt Disney World. On that podcast, Irving offered up that the Nets didn&rsquo;t really need a head coach and that it could be &ldquo;a collaborative effort&rdquo; between himself, Kevin Durant and others.
For 99% of the players in the NBA, that statement would be considered wild.
It's just another entry on a long list of Irving stories.
Among some of what Nash had to deal with during his short tenure with the Nets: the failed attempt to turn Irving, Durant and James Harden into a Big Three; the failed attempt to turn Irving, Durant and Ben Simmons into a Big Three; Irving missing most of last season because he wasn&rsquo;t vaccinated; Harden getting traded; Simmons arriving but not playing last season; Simmons playing this season but not scoring; a slew of other injuries; Durant wanting a trade this summer before backing off that request; and now, the latest Irving saga.
For now, that distraction is in the hands of Nets interim coach Jacque Vaughn, who became the eighth coach that Irving has played for &mdash; Ime Udoka could soon become the ninth. The Nets&rsquo; answer to this circus will, apparently, be to go hire Udoka from rival Boston after he went to the NBA Finals last season but was suspended this season for having an inappropriate relationship with a female Celtics employee.
The Nets must love drama. Maybe that&rsquo;s why they wanted to part ways with Nash. Too boring and stable, perhaps.
&ldquo;Steve Nash is a good friend of mine, so more than anything, I feel for Steve," Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. &ldquo;I think he has all the qualities to be a brilliant coach. Brilliant. But it was a good reminder to me and I think to all coaches that we are all at the whim of players, front offices, ownership. You really need a solid situation in which to thrive as a coach in this league."
Irving will be a free agent this summer. There's no way to predict how that will go.
He has incredible talent. He may be the best ballhandler in the game, probably one of the best to ever play. An absolutely elite player, an NBA champion, a perennial All-Star. His skill cannot be argued.
Yet it&rsquo;s just impossible to imagine a team committing major money and many years to Irving ever again. Even if he apologizes for sharing the link to antisemitic content &mdash; Irving, for the record, insists he supports all people, all races, all religions &mdash; the damage may have really been done this time.
He would have fared better had he followed Meyers Leonard&rsquo;s example.
Leonard was with the Miami Heat in March 2021 when, while streaming himself playing a video game, he used an antisemitic slur. Leonard insisted he didn&rsquo;t understand the meaning of the word, apologized almost immediately, got fined $50,000, was admonished by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, was told by the Heat to not be around the team and got traded a few days later.
Leonard might not get back to the NBA because of injuries. But he has partaken in multiple acts of contrition &mdash; volunteering with Jewish youth, meeting with representatives from the Anti-Defamation League, holding camps, speaking to groups, and he&rsquo;s done it all with no intention of any of it publicly getting out. He didn&rsquo;t want to look sorry. He wanted to show he was sorry.
Irving didn&rsquo;t back down. He made a bad situation worse. And now the Nets will start over with a new coach, plus with some members of the fan base so turned off by Irving that they wore &ldquo;Fight Antisemitism&rdquo; shirts to a game this week.
Irving saw those fans. He spoke to them. One of those fans told the New York Post that the shirts weren&rsquo;t for Irving, but rather for the Nets. They want them to act.
A day later, Nash was gone. That probably wasn't the action they wanted.
This isn't what Durant signed on for, though the two-time champion in Golden State did ask for Nash to be fired during the offseason. Instead of being part of title contender, Durant has been part of exactly one playoff series win in his Brooklyn tenure. At 34, he doesn&rsquo;t have an unlimited number of title chances left. It will surprise no one if his trade request reappears later this season, or this summer.
It will also be no surprise when another controversy pops up in the next few weeks over something Irving said or tweeted. And when that happens, at least Nash won&rsquo;t be caught up in it all.
___
Tim Reynolds is a national basketball writer for The Associated Press. Write to him at treynolds(at)ap.org

The Nets must love drama. Maybe that’s why they wanted to part ways with Nash. Too boring and stable, perhaps.

Escaping the Kyrie Irving saga makes Steve Nash a big winner

PHILADELPHIA (AP) &mdash; Good news for Philadelphia 76ers fans: They can keep their No. 21 Joel Embiid jerseys.
And don&rsquo;t worry about a trip to Delaware just to watch Embiid and James Harden play for the developmental Blue Coats.
The All-Stars are not going anywhere &mdash; well, except Toronto for games Wednesday and Friday against the Raptors &mdash; and the Sixers are not going to finish the season 0-82. It only felt like the sky was falling in Philly after an 0-3 start.
&ldquo;From the fans' perspective, yeah,&rdquo; Embiid said. &ldquo;They probably wanted me to be traded and the whole team to be sent down to the G League.&rdquo;
The reigning NBA scoring champion, Embiid kept his cool, even as boos inside the Wells Fargo Center got louder as the Sixers lost their first three games before they <a href="https://apnews.com/article/indiana-pacers-philadelphia-76ers-nba-sports-joel-embiid-1d1a4965831b05114b4c4cb748da8aa7">rebounded at home to beat Indiana</a> on Monday night.
&ldquo;To me, it&rsquo;s low pressure,&rdquo; Embiid said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s 0-3, three games in. Fairly new team, trying to find their way.&rdquo;
Yes, coach Doc Rivers has to figure out how best to use a healthy and invigorated Harden with Embiid and still find room for Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris to score. And Rivers is still looking for another rotation player to emerge off a bench full of new faces. But it was Embiid&rsquo;s slow start &mdash; OK, slow by the 7-footer's standards &mdash; that raised early concerns.
He scored only 15 points on 6-of-21 shooting and did not score in the second half of a loss to Milwaukee. A 37% shooter from 3-point range last season, Embiid missed 5 of 6 in the opening-night loss at Boston. He also had 10 turnovers in his first two games, uncharacteristically awful numbers that might have been rooted in injuries.
Rivers eventually revealed Embiid suffered in the offseason from plantar fasciitis, and the foot woes slowed the big man to the point where he was essentially sidelined headed into training camp. Only now, Rivers said, is Embiid starting to round into game shape.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still trying to work my way back,&rdquo; Embiid said after he scored 40 points in a loss to the Spurs. &ldquo;Coming into training camp, I hadn&rsquo;t done anything in like two months, so it really slowed me down. But I&rsquo;m still trying to work my way back and hopefully everything goes back to normal.&rdquo;
Embiid said the foot injury &ldquo;came out of nowhere&rdquo; while he worked out over the summer in Los Angeles and hurt him to the point where he couldn&rsquo;t walk. Often one of the more jovial players when he talks to the media, it turned out Embiid wasn&rsquo;t entirely joking when he said last month before the start of camp his biggest offseason accomplishment was <a href="https://apnews.com/article/philadelphia-76ers-nba-sports-basketball-joel-embiid-84c7239b1fd373687d0e4efba7688623">staying in bed</a>.
Turned out, he needed to stay off his feet.
Embiid has played banged-up for the bulk of his NBA career &mdash; he famously missed his first two seasons with injuries &mdash; and suffered a right orbital fracture and concussion in last season&rsquo;s playoffs. He had offseason surgery to repair the torn ligament in his right thumb suffered in the playoffs and a procedure to repair an injury to his left index finger.
&ldquo;You still think about it, especially when it comes to boxing out,&rdquo; Embiid said Monday. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m still not comfortable using my hands and my fingers because I think that&rsquo;s how I got hurt in the first place. My finger got caught on somebody. I&rsquo;ve still got to get comfortable with that. Boxing out, I haven&rsquo;t been using my hands much. I&rsquo;m trying to use my elbows and my forearm. I&rsquo;m sure over time it&rsquo;s going to get better.&rdquo;
Embiid, the MVP runner-up each of the last two seasons, scored 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting against the Pacers with three blocks.
&ldquo;I liked how he approached the game,&rdquo; Rivers said. &ldquo;He kind of had great patience. He kind of let the game come to him.&rdquo;

Embiid has played banged-up for the bulk of his NBA career — he famously missed his first two seasons with injuries.

Joel Embiid tries to put early foot, hand woes behind him

PHILADELPHIA (AP) &mdash; Wesley Matthews hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 23.8 seconds left, and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 21 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 90-88 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night.
Brook Lopez scored 17 points as the Bucks, who went 0-5 in the preseason, won their season opener after Matthews surprised the Sixers on the long 3. James Harden, who scored 31 and rallied the Sixers in the fourth, missed a jumper that could have won the game.
The 76ers lost their opener Tuesday night in Boston and had another weak defensive effort that had the Philly crowd booing them off the court in the third quarter.
Joel Embiid had 15 points and 12 rebounds. Tyrese Maxey added 15 points for the Sixers.
Embiid, who had offseason surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb, had another four turnovers. He had six against the Celtics.
&ldquo;It does affect you for a long time, especially if he gets hit,&rdquo; coach Doc Rivers said. &ldquo;Those are still raw moves. As a big, I&rsquo;m assuming he gets hit every game. You&rsquo;re not injured, it&rsquo;s just painful.&rdquo;
Harden finally got the Sixers rolling in the fourth when he scored eight straight points and cut a 12-point deficit to single digits. Trying to bulk up the defensive lineup with toughness, Rivers turned to Harden, Tobias Harris, P.J Tucker, De&rsquo;Anthony Melton and Daniel House Jr.
The 76ers forced shot clock turnovers and forced the Bucks out of bounds. Tucker stole the ball and hit Harden for the layup that made it 80-all with 6:41 left. Harden, whose nagging hamstring injuries from last season seem behind him, flexed for the crowd that roared in approval.
His bucket capped a 13-0 run, all done with Embiid on the bench.
Antetokounmpo snapped the tie when he pushed through for Milwaukee&rsquo;s first basket in more than four minutes.
TIP-INS
Bucks: Coach Mike Budenholzer used a walking cane before the game and hobbled in a walking boot during the game following surgery on his right ankle. ... Rivers said Bucks guard Jrue Holiday reminded him of former 76ers point guard Mo Cheeks, whose No. 10 is retired by the team. Holiday, who started his career with the Sixers, missed 13 of 15 shots. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he gets enough recognition,&rdquo; Rivers said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know another guard that is a better defensive player than him. I would not want to see him every night.&rdquo;
76ers: Fanatics founder Michael Rubin sold his stake in the company that owns the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils to David Adelman. Adelman is the third-largest shareholder behind owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer.
UP NEXT
Bucks: Play their home opener Saturday against Houston.
76ers: Trust the Process! Long-time coach Brett Brown, who shepherded the Sixers' rebuilding process that brought them Embiid, returns Saturday as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs.

Wesley Matthews hit the go-ahead three, and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 21 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Bucks.