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Lakers

Cameron and Cayden Boozer have announced they will play for Duke University in college.&nbsp;
The sons of former Duke and NBA great Carlos Boozer took to social media to announce their decision.&nbsp;
The twins will make their way to the Cameron Indoor Stadium for the 2025-2026 season after playing their senior year in high school this season.
This ends the long process of recruiting both Cameron and Cayden, as top programs all over the US were vying for their commitments since last year.
Among the final candidates were Miami led by coach Jim Larra&ntilde;aga, as the twins play at Columbus in Florida. Making the jump in-state would have probably been beneficial and efficient for the family and Miami was so close in landing the twins.
However, Cameron and Cayden went to the school that made their dad Carlos to what he was in the NBA.
Cameron, a 6-foot-9 forward and five-star recruit, is the no.2 overall recruit in ESPN&rsquo;s 100 for the 2025 class. Cameron is one of the most decorated and efficient high school prospects in recent memory with three state titles, two gold medals, and two MVP awards with the USA Junior National Team.
Cayden, a 6-foot-4 point guard and also a five-star recruit, is the no.17 overall recruit in ESPN&rsquo;s 100 for the 2025 class. Cayden is a high-level and IQ point guard and has led the Nike EYBL and the FIBA U17 in assists.
Both Cameron and Cayden make up the first high-profile recruits for Duke and second-year head coach Jon Scheyer for next year after securing 2024 top overall recruit Cooper Flagg this year.

Cameron and Cayden Boozer have announced they will play for Duke University in college.

Boozer twins commit to Duke, follow footsteps of father Carlos

New Orleans Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado&rsquo;s drifting 3-pointer clinched a 25-20 win for Team Pau (Gasol) over Team Joakim (Noah) in the title game of the Rising Stars event Friday at All-Star weekend.
Alvarado, who was named the Most Valuable Player, had five points in the title game.
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A certified bucket getter. Peep Jose Alvarado's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JordanRisingStars?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#JordanRisingStars</a> MVP mixtape 🔥 <a href="https://t.co/6SoruJRNsP">pic.twitter.com/6SoruJRNsP</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1626800481539354630?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2023</a></blockquote>

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The win capped a memorable day for Gasol, who was named a Basketball Hall of Fame finalist earlier Friday.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going out on top. It may be one and done for me,&rdquo; Gasol said of his coaching debut.
New York&rsquo;s Quentin Grimes scored 14 points in the final but was wrapped up &mdash; literally held at times &mdash; by Alvarado down the stretch.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know you could do that in the Rising Stars game. I should have alerted the refs to call a technical or something,&rdquo; Grimes said. &ldquo;It was all fun but I was going for the win tonight.&rdquo;
Said Alvarado: &ldquo;It might not have been (legal), but he was doing good.&rdquo;
The four teams, comprised of 21 first- and second-year NBA players along with seven G League players, competed in semifinals games to a target score of 40.
Alvarado&rsquo;s 13 points helped Team Pau top Team Deron (Williams) in the first game 40-27, despite an array of spectacular dunks by Trey Murphy III.
In the second semifinal, Grimes scored 13 points including the winning 3 to power Team Joakim over Team Jason (Terry), composed of the G Leaguers. Mac McClung, who is competing in Saturday&rsquo;s Dunk Contest, nearly stole the show with 10 points in the comeback bid but missed a jam on his last attempt.
CELEBRITY GAME
Team Dwyane rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Team Ryan 81-78 in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game on Friday night. Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith and Basketball Hall of Fame finalist Dwyane Wade served as honorary captains of the celebrity teams.
Seattle Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf paced Team Dwyane with 20 points and 10 rebounds &mdash; but he&rsquo;ll be best remembered for an array of dunks. Actor Everett Osbourne led Team Ryan with 23 points, 12 rebounds and three assists. Metcalf was named the game&rsquo;s MVP.
Each celebrity team included a WNBA All-Star. Phoenix Mercury guard Diamond DeShields played for Team Ryan. Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale played for Team Dwyane. Other notable athletes participating included former NFL player Calvin Johnson and former MLB player Albert Pujols.
Wade added former NBA player Carlos Boozer to his team in the second half. Smith countered by adding former NBA player Richard Jefferson. Jefferson served as part of the officiating crew during the first half; he also worked as an official for one quarter of a Summer League game in Las Vegas last year.
Between the game, and a 3-point shootout between Smith and Wade, $142,000 was raised for 5 for the Fight, a charitable foundation devoted to funding cancer research.
Smith said the funds raised on Friday would benefit the Huntsman Cancer Institute on the University of Utah campus.
JABARI ON JORDAN
Houston&rsquo;s Jabari Smith Jr. was asked if Michael Jordan &mdash; who turned 60 on Friday &mdash; could compete if they were were to play 1-on-1 now.
Smith was pretty sure Jordan wouldn&rsquo;t be getting buckets.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not beating me right now. If a 60-year-old is hooping on me, I need to hang it up,&rdquo; Smith said. He then added, &ldquo;Happy Birthday, MJ!&rdquo;
SHORT STUFF
Alvarado is listed at 6 feet, which might be a tiny bit generous.
He doesn&rsquo;t mind.
When told before Friday&rsquo;s Rising Stars event that he was a hero for the undersized, Alvarado had a message for others who consider themselves vertically challenged.
&ldquo;Hey short people, I&rsquo;m just like y&rsquo;all. We got a lot of heart,&rdquo; Alvarado said. &ldquo;I see lots of other little guys tagging me on Instagram. I see your love. Keep being yourself, don&rsquo;t try to be nobody else.&rdquo;
Alvarado admitted that the highlights of him hiding behind bigger players to get steals in the backcourt is making it tougher to surprise opponents.
&ldquo;Everybody seen those clips. Now, so I just got to find another way, but I&rsquo;m crafty,&rdquo; he said.
WELCOME MOMENT
Oklahoma City&rsquo;s Jalen Williams said the season has been like a dream. He used to wear Derrick Rose&rsquo;s shoes constantly when he was younger and then found himself guarding D-Rose in Madison Square Garden.
&ldquo;So wild,&rdquo; Williams said before the Rising Stars games. &ldquo;Going up against people that I watched on TV is definitely kind of surreal.&rdquo;

Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado’s drifting three clinched a 25-20 win for Team Pau over Team Joakim in the Rising Stars title game.

Jose Alvarado wins Rising Stars MVP, leads Team Pau over Team Joakim

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; Deandre Ayton had 22 points and 11 rebounds, Devin Booker scored 21 points and Chris Paul chipped in 19 as the Phoenix Suns cruised past the Indiana Pacers 117-104 on Friday night.
Playing one day after their blockbuster trade for four-time NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant, the Suns led by as many as 26 and never trailed in a game they outrebounded the Pacers 64-45.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s exciting times for the Phoenix Suns,&rdquo; Booker said. &ldquo;You have one of the best players to ever touch a basketball coming. He&rsquo;s going to fit right in.&rdquo;
Durant, acquired from Brooklyn on Thursday, hasn&rsquo;t played since Jan. 8 when he sustained a knee injury in a game against Miami. Durant, who was not with the Suns in Indiana, is expected to be healthy enough to play at some point after the All-Star break.
Bennedict Mathurin posted 22 points for the Pacers, while All-Star Tyrese Haliburton finished with 18 points and five assists. Indiana, which has lost 14 of its past 16 games, shot 42% from the field and committed 15 turnovers.
&ldquo;Rebounding has been a challenge for us all year long,&rdquo; Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. &ldquo;They had 19 offensive rebounds. Rebounding is an attention-to-detail and effort area.&rdquo;
Phoenix shot 46% and capitalized on ball movement with 25 assists on its 43 baskets. Paul had nine assists and Booker five. Josh Okogie finished with 17 points and six boards, while former Pacer Torrey Craig started at power forward and racked up 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Phoenix, which has won six of its past eight, led 30-24 after the first quarter, 60-47 at halftime and 95-77 entering the final period. The Suns bounced back from Thursday night&rsquo;s loss in Atlanta.
&ldquo;We had a trade, emotions, travel,&rdquo; Suns coach Monty Williams said. &ldquo;(Thursday night) on the bus, plane, gave us a chance to get back to normal. Sometimes it takes you a minute to process whatever is going on.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Suns: Film study will play a &ldquo;huge&rdquo; role in determining how to work Durant into Phoenix&rsquo;s offense, according to Williams. &ldquo;Huge as far as us figuring out what&rsquo;s the most important thing to run,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Right now, it&rsquo;s the old (Gregg Popovich) saying: less is more.&rdquo; ... Cameron Payne (right foot sprain) and Landry Shamet (right foot soreness) sat out Friday&rsquo;s game. T.J. Warren, reacquired before the trade deadline, was not yet with the team.
Pacers: Indy native George Hill, acquired Thursday from Milwaukee in a four-team trade, chose to begin a second stint with the Pacers rather than be waived to pursue opportunities to join a contender, president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said in a pregame news conference. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s totally up to you,&rdquo; Pritchard recalled telling the 36-year-old guard. &ldquo;He immediately said, &lsquo;I want to come back and teach.&rsquo; I don&rsquo;t know if he&rsquo;s going to coach, but he&rsquo;s got valuable insights.&rdquo; &hellip; Big man Serge Ibaka, sent to Indiana in the same deal, will be waived, Pritchard said. The 33-year-old has played in only 16 games this season, averaging 11.6 minutes. &hellip; Hill and forward Jordan Nwora, the third player obtained from the Bucks whom coach Rick Carlisle said will receive a &ldquo;great opportunity&rdquo; to play in Indiana, should be ready to suit up for the Pacers next week, Carlisle said.
UP NEXT
Suns: Return home to face the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.
Pacers: Play at the Washington Wizards on Saturday night.

Deandre Ayton had 22 points and 11 rebounds, Devin Booker scored 21 points and the Suns cruised past the Pacers 117-104 on Friday.

Ayton, Booker lead Suns past Pacers a day after Durant trade

PHOENIX (AP) &mdash; The broad-shouldered Ish Wainright looks as if he should be making plays in the NFL instead of the NBA.
For a while, that was the dream.
But Wainright's athletic career is back on the basketball court these days, and he used his surprising skill set to help the short-handed Phoenix Suns win their second straight game by beating the Indiana Pacers 112-107 on Saturday night.
&ldquo;Obviously, you need talent in this league,&rdquo; Suns coach Monty Williams said. &ldquo;But playing hard, with talent, it's a great combination.&rdquo;
Josh Okogie led the Suns with 24 points and 10 rebounds while Mikal Bridges added 22 points, but it was a couple clutch plays from Wainright during the final possessions iced it.
The muscular 6-foot-5, 235-pound forward nailed a corner 3 with 1:10 left to push the Suns up by 107-101 and then added a nifty assist on a pass to Jock Landale for an easy basket &mdash; two stellar possessions that kept that feisty Pacers fighting from behind.
Indiana had a chance to tie on its final possession, but Buddy Hield missed a rushed 3-pointer with two seconds left. The Pacers lost despite a triple-double from T.J. McConnell, who had 18 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.
Phoenix and its ragtag roster took an 87-83 lead into the fourth quarter. The Suns were once again missing a big chunk of their staring lineup, including the All-Star backcourt of Chris Paul and Devin Booker. Starting center Deandre Ayton was out with a non-COVID-19 illness.
But the Suns are still playing hard and treading water in the Western Conference.
&ldquo;We're holding it down and just building trust,&rdquo; Wainright said of playing without the team's stars. &ldquo;They're trusting us, so when they get back, we'll trust them.&rdquo;
Both the Suns and Pacers struggled to score in the fourth quarter.
The Suns pushed to a 102-94 lead with 2:49 left but the Pacers scored four points on one possession when Phoenix's Saben Lee was called for a flagrant foul after elbowing Hield in the face. Hield hit both free throws and Bennedict Mathurin made a layup after the Pacers retained possession because of the flagrant foul.
The Pacers eventually pulled to 104-101 but Wainright's corner 3 swung the momentum back in the Suns' favor.
The Suns won despite shooting 41.8% from the field. The Pacers shot just 37.5%.
Indiana was without its leading scorer Tyrese Haliburton, who missed his sixth straight game. The Pacers have lost seven straight.
&ldquo;Getting the next win is going to be challenging,&rdquo; Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. &ldquo;That is how it is in his league.&rdquo;
The Suns had a 59-57 lead at halftime. Bridges led the Suns with 14 points while Bismack Biyombo had 12 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. Mathurin &mdash; who played at Arizona in college &mdash; scored 12 points for the Pacers and finished with a team-high 23.
WAINRIGHT'S JOURNEY
Wainright played four seasons of basketball at Baylor before switching to football, where he was a tight end for one season for the Bears.
He played well enough on the football field that he earned a tryout with the NFL's Buffalo Bills in 2018, but didn't make the final roster. Then it was back to basketball, and he played in Europe for a couple years before signing a two-way contract with the Suns in 2021.
He didn't play much at first, but has slowly earned a bigger role.
&ldquo;It's player development,&rdquo; Williams said. &ldquo;But it's also the player committing to the development. You can come in the gym, jack up shots and collect a check, or you can be intentional about it.&rdquo;
MCCONNELL'S TRIPLE DOUBLE
McConnell had the third triple-double of his NBA career, grabbing a 10th rebound late in the fourth quarter.
&ldquo;Rebounding is kind of one of those things as a guard, if you are not blocking out, you have to guess where the ball is going,&rdquo; McConnell said. &ldquo;Try to chase long rebounds and they kind of came to me tonight. I wasn&rsquo;t hunting for them they kind of landed in my hands.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Pacers: Haliburton was wearing the jersey of San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Brock Purdy while sitting on the bench. Haliburton and Purdy both played in college at Iowa State.
Suns: Paul, Booker, Ayton, F Cam Johnson, G Cam Payne and G Landry Shamet were all out. ... Honored the 1992-93 Suns team that won the Western Conference championship. They lost to the Bulls in the NBA Finals in six games. Several players were in attendance, including 11-time All-Star Charles Barkley, who was MVP that season. ... Hosted their 49th straight sellout crowd.
&nbsp;

Josh Okogie put up 24 points and 10 rebounds and the Phoenix Suns beat the Indiana Pacers 112-107.

Okogie, Bridges lead short-handed Suns past Pacers 112-107

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

Bookmark this page and we'll keep you up-to-date on every NBA rumor. We'll continue updating this tracker over the next 24 hours.

NBA Rumor Tracker: Compiling the latest news and intel

Here&rsquo;s a bit of trivia for you: Which rookie from this <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/why-they-are-all-special-a-guide-to-the-best-rookies-of-the-2021-class" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stacked</a> 2021 NBA Draft class has played the most minutes in the Conference Finals?
Considering most of the top rookies didn't advance very far, surely the answer has to be the Golden State Warriors' heralded No. 7 overall pick, Jonathan Kuminga &mdash; the same player who earlier this postseason was <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/warriors/warriors-jonathan-kuminga-vows-learn-despite-historic-nba-playoff-game" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the youngest rookie to start a playoff game since 1971</a>, right?&nbsp;
Wrong!
The answer, with an impactful 64 minutes played over the course of five games, is none other than Golden State&rsquo;s other rookie: the No. 14 overall pick Moses Moody.
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Our story begins in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, where a 104-76 score prompted both the Golden State and Dallas coaches to empty their benches for the home stretch of the blowout series opener.
In response, Reggie Miller on the call proclaimed: &ldquo;I have a sneaky feeling. I think these minutes are going to be important for [Nemanja] Bjelica and Kuminga because, at some point, those two guys are going to have to play significant minutes in this series.&rdquo;
Unbeknownst to him, he made a glaring omission in his statement; the player who really needed these repetitions was Moody. And during that seemingly meaningless stretch, Moody flashed two features that would prove useful to Golden State later in the series &mdash; his play-finishing and defensive versatility.
Play-Finishing&nbsp;
Nowadays, NBA offenses are so prolific that even the most venerable defenses can&rsquo;t eliminate every piece on the board. This leads to teams having to strategically <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-nba-playoffs-and-the-art-of-concessions-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concede</a> certain shots in order to hone-in on the player(s) they deem the most dangerous (see the Milwaukee Bucks' defense vs. the Boston Celtics in Round 2).
When you&rsquo;re going up against the Warriors, the Splash Trio receives the highest priority, and these standards lead to open looks for the group&rsquo;s least esoteric marksman.
As of this moment, Moody falls under this designation. And to his credit, he did an excellent job of burning the Mavericks for their negligence in defending him, draining 50% of his triples (albeit in a miniature sample size).
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Cutting and movement rule the day in Golden State's perpetual motion offensive system. Moody got the memo, and he did a great job of knowing when it was appropriate to shag back and maintain his spacing on the perimeter, and when it was time to fill the lane and shake the Golden Gate bridge with a <a href="https://streamable.com/k3xuy0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">seismic eruption</a> at the rim.
Defensive Versatility&nbsp;
As Seth Partnow noted in his <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/seth-partnow-qa-a-sitdown-with-the-author-of-the-midrange-theory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent book</a>, "The Midrange Theory," versatility is the key to playoff success &mdash; the ol' Carlos Boozer and Robert Horry paradigm.
This maxim reigns especially true in defense, where we&rsquo;ve already seen multiple playoff runs abbreviated due to a lack of scheme versatility. (I hope the folks in Utah are doing well on this fine Friday afternoon.)
Moody was far from the anchor out there, but the Warriors&rsquo; defense stayed afloat during his minutes, partially because of his ability to wear multiple hats on that end of the floor.
We&rsquo;ll start with his off-ball work and this snag-tastic reception:
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Moses Moody legit Odell Beckham-ed this ball. <a href="https://t.co/tC54YzUzhG">pic.twitter.com/tC54YzUzhG</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1530189122886897664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Along with that reception, Moody deflected two additional passes in that very same quarter, prompting Warriors writer Marcus Thompson to cite Moody&rsquo;s contributions as an <a href="https://theathletic.com/3332392/2022/05/25/warriors-mavericks-young-game-4/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">integral part of the team&rsquo;s Game 4 comeback</a>.
Despite only authoring 2 steals the entire series, spurts like the one he demonstrated in Game 4 leave room for potential growth into a future defensive playmaker.
Moody also did surprisingly well navigating the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/2-9-6fb93080023c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2.9 spot</a> as a low-man. He was well attuned to his positioning, consistently swaying in and out of the paint to avoid garnering a three-second call, while also timing his re-entries in a manner that enabled him to wall off forays at the rim when the moment presented itself.&nbsp;
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Lastly, Moody even showed some chops as a man defender. On <a href="https://streamable.com/b6cjoa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this play</a>, he manages to stay attached to Jalen Brunson amid Jordan Poole&rsquo;s hedge endeavor, and then mirrors his movements before hindering his attempt at the rim.
Moody&rsquo;s point-of-attack prowess is more apparent when you understand the amount of leeway he was granted within the Warriors&rsquo; scheme. In my <a href="https://theanalyst.com/na/2022/05/western-conference-finals-can-the-golden-state-warriors-continue-to-slow-luka-doncic-and-the-dallas-mavericks/">recent article</a> on this series, I looked into how Golden State has specific principles for Luka Doncic ball screens. Well, Moody was one of the few players given the green light to switch onto him immediately.
He was also empowered by Steve Kerr to captain the ship of the Warriors' revered Box-and-1 alignment a few times during the third quarter of Game 3. And Moody even got the chance to moonlight as the team&rsquo;s defensive coordinator, <a href="https://streamable.com/a8geaq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">calling for a zone formation on defense</a> at one point in Game 4. (For the Warriors, you can tell it's a zone when the signal-caller executes a <a href="https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2022/5/21/23133463/warriors-mavericks-game-2-steph-curry-kevon-looney-luka-doncic-film-breakdown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised double fist</a>).
To conclude our tale, let&rsquo;s take a gander at Moody&rsquo;s best two-way sequence of the series, where he blocks Doncic and then proceeds to commandeer free-throw attempts at the other end of the floor. A perfect encapsulation of his imprint on this series.
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Nice.
In a class as talent-laden and promising as the 2021 draft pool, who would have guessed that the player picked last in the lottery would be the last rookie standing.
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Mat Issa gives props to Moses Moody for his finishing and defensive contributions to the Warriors when his number was called upon.

Moses Moody: The last rookie standing in the 2022 NBA Playoffs

Jackson Frank breaks down the film and collaborates with Nekias Duncan and Mark Schindler to pick the 2021-22 All-NBA teams.

2021-22 All-NBA Teams: Praising this season's 15 best players

You are now invited into the NBA rabbit hole you didn&rsquo;t know you needed.
Do you remember Deron Williams before he boxed Frank Gore? The Deron Williams before toiling away with his hometown Dallas Mavericks and ring-chasing with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The one before the New Jersey Nets moved to Brooklyn. The one that got you banned on forums because of how vociferously you may have argued that he was better or worse than Chris Paul.
Ten years ago today, on March 4, that dude dropped a franchise-record 57 points. Yeah, you&rsquo;re getting old too, son. (That's still a Nets record, by the way.)
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That game itself, otherwise, wasn&rsquo;t all that memorable. The Nets had about one month left as representatives of New Jersey before relocating to Brooklyn later that year. They, at 12-26, won 104-101 against a Charlotte Bobcats (!) team that dropped to 4-31 on the lockout-shortened season.
Starters in the game included other glorious names like Kris Humphries, who was second on the Nets with 11 points (and 13 rebounds) and played 40 minutes. DeShawn Stevenson finished with an 0-2-1-0-0 line and had one shot attempt in 29 minutes of play. Eduardo N&aacute;jera, DeSagana Diop (who started for Charlotte!) and Shelden Williams got some run, and Tyrus Thomas played about seven minutes.
Kemba Walker was still coming off the bench for D.J. Augustin. Corey Maggette was the game&rsquo;s second-highest scorer, finishing with 24 points on just 4-of-12 shooting, but converted 15-of-16 free-throw attempts.
Current Charlotte (Hornets) star LaMelo Ball was 10 years old.
But it was also one of Williams&rsquo; last awesome NBA moments while still in his prime, a career cut short due to... well, it depends on who you ask, and/or what you believe. It&rsquo;s either related to injuries, which we began seeing take a toll on Williams after the Nets moved to Brooklyn. Or other stuff, like constant clashes with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett during that infamous 2013-14 season together.
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Say what you want about Stephen A. Smith &mdash; and this was before he essentially became the face of ESPN &mdash; but I vividly recall him here in New York saying things like, &ldquo;Deron Williams has the easiest job a franchise player could ever hope to have!&rdquo; And, &ldquo;All he has to do is ball,&rdquo; as Williams, frankly, didn&rsquo;t.
There was also the story that Pierce once mocked Williams, saying, &ldquo;<a href="https://www.netsdaily.com/2015/7/11/8932649/farewell-to-all-that" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What&rsquo;s the matter now, Deron? Your ____ hurt</a>?&rdquo; (If I&rsquo;m blanking it and not even giving you a letter, just know it was raw.)
The Nets had Williams &mdash; generally hated by their fans to this day &mdash; Pierce, Garnett, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez as a championship-level starting-five (in theory) entering the 2013-14 season. And the head coach was a first-timer in Jason Kidd, who played an integral part on the underappreciated 54-win New York Knicks the season before as a player.
<a href="https://sicovers.com/featured/brooklyns-new-look-nets-who-wants-a-piece-of-them-2013-14-october-28-2013-sports-illustrated-cover.html">Remember that Sports Illustrated cover</a>? Ohhhhhh maaaaaaan.
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You may also recall the famous Jackie MacMullan <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/12690080/washington-wizards-paul-pierce-speaks-truth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">profile on Pierce</a> when he was a Washington Wizard in the early John Wall and Bradley Beal days. As far as we know, this was before Wall and Marcin Gortat <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wizards-insider/wp/2018/02/07/marcin-gortat-responds-to-john-walls-comments-whos-attacking-who/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wanted to box each other&rsquo;s heads off</a>.
&ldquo;Before I got there, I looked at Deron as an MVP candidate,&rdquo; Pierce <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/12690080/washington-wizards-paul-pierce-speaks-truth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said to MacMullan</a>. &ldquo;But I felt once we got there, that's not what he wanted to be. He just didn't want that.
&ldquo;I think a lot of the pressure got to him sometimes. This was his first time in the national spotlight. The media in Utah is not the same as the media in New York, so that can wear on some people. I think it really affected him.&rdquo;
After noting that Johnson is quiet and doesn&rsquo;t want much attention, Pierce continued.
&ldquo;There's a lot of secondary guys on that team. KG and I went there looking at them as the main guys who would push us, because we were advancing in years. But we ended up doing all the pushing,&rdquo; he said.
(Given what we&rsquo;ve learned, it&rsquo;s mildly surprising that Williams didn&rsquo;t <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanFonsecaNY/status/1472409021189857287" target="_blank" rel="noopener">just fight him</a> after seeing this, but anyway.)
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Williams remains one of the grand "what ifs" of this century. And let&rsquo;s be responsible &mdash; injuries are one of the driving reasons for his sudden downswing from stardom to shell over a... hmm... two-year span? But we do what-ifs with guys who battled injuries all the time: Penny Hardaway, Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, Grant Hill and Derrick Rose, to name a few.
With Williams, just visualize, given how the game was going &mdash; and where he had been trending at one point &mdash; where he would&rsquo;ve evolved to if the talent, health, discipline and mentality all added up. And it doesn&rsquo;t always come together, which is why it&rsquo;s not responsible to purely say &ldquo;talent wins&rdquo; if the implication that talent alone is enough for substantial success.
And he clearly worked hard.
Williams averaged 19.5 points and 10.2 assists from 2007 to 2012 on .460/.346/.827 shooting splits. He attempted four threes a game at a respectable level and nearly six free throws per contest during that span. He consistently was among the league leaders in assists, while simultaneously profiling as one of the NBA&rsquo;s best scoring point guards. His True Shooting percentage was at 56.8% during those five years, hitting 60% in '07-08 and never dropping below 56.6% until the Nets&rsquo; last year in New Jersey. (Understandable when Humphries is your second-best player for most of the season.)
We weren&rsquo;t letting &lsquo;em fly from three the way we are now, and Williams was, like most others, streaky &mdash; but you had to guard him out there. The 35% perimeter clip in his peak reflected the near 36% for his career. The assists came with some high turnover numbers &mdash; Williams averaged 3.5 turnovers per game in those five seasons &mdash; but that still gave him a near 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
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Williams wasn&rsquo;t a usage monster either &mdash; his rating was never higher than 25.8% until a 30.1% usage in 2011-12, but, again, <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NJN/2012.html">look at the roster</a>. Even so, he was eighth in the league in usage; otherwise, he never cracked the league&rsquo;s top-20. You know who did during that span? And on multiple occasions? Corey Maggette, Michael Beasley, Stephen Jackson, his then-teammate Brook Lopez and his former teammate Carlos Boozer. (Rashad McCants, Andrea Bargnani, Charlie Villanueva, Josh Smith, Rodney Stuckey and Jordan Crawford were in the top-20 as well during those days.)
Until the trade from Utah to New Jersey, Williams would be in the top-20 in VORP consistently too. Most hadn&rsquo;t yet cared about some of those metrics though.
And his strength was a big part of his game. Williams was built like Eric Gordon, had powerful crossovers like Baron Davis, a passing fluidity that neared Steve Nash, and an offensive creativity that rivaled CP3&rsquo;s &mdash; which is how all those damn fights started.
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Williams, in a lot of ways, was perfect for where the league was going. Surprisingly, he only made three All-Star teams, which were consecutive from 2010 to 2012; though, <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2009/2/12/20301620/all-star-snubs-continue-for-williams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he had snub arguments in 2008 and 2009</a>, and <a href="https://nypost.com/2013/01/26/nets-wont-stir-pot-about-all-star-snub/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">again in 2013</a>.
It never came together, and everyone missed out because of it. Imagine if his prime stretched into a couple of those Brooklyn seasons... but don&rsquo;t imagine too hard because logistically, it would be a pain in the ass to lay out. But if he did ball out the way people on microphones, in forums and in his own locker room called for? Man.
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Williams would've been toe-to-toe in the mid-2010s against then-prime-entering stars such as James Harden, Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard. In his own conference, we might&rsquo;ve seen him in the playoffs go crossover-for-crossover with Kyrie Irving, or bump-for-bump with Kyle Lowry, or tough-finish-for-tough-finish with Wall. All of that while still mirroring a stat line of roughly 20 points and 10 assists per game on efficient shooting, further increasing his three-point and free-throw volume in the process.
That said, he did give us multiple All-NBA seasons and, again, a whole-ass fight with Gore. He says he&rsquo;s one-and-done, but that might be because none of you have offered him the Pierce one yet. And as silly as that sounds, you know you&rsquo;d watch.
But seriously, peak Williams was epic. If he continued along the path he had been, we don&rsquo;t know if it would&rsquo;ve brought the Nets a title &mdash; but they would&rsquo;ve been damn close.
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On the March 4 anniversary of Deron Williams' 57-point game, Bryan Fonseca looks back on his career and wonders: "What if?"

Deron Williams dropped 57 a decade ago... what could've been?

In case you&rsquo;ve been overly consumed by the NBA, college basketball, or the WNBA off-season, now would be a great time to remind y&rsquo;all that the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers are going on.
And in case you didn&rsquo;t know, the host countries for the 2023 World Cup are Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines &mdash; more on that later.
The last World Cup was right before the 2019-20 season, but feels so long ago because this whole COVID thing hadn&rsquo;t yet clapped us up. If you remember, the 2020 Olympics took place in 2021 &mdash; as in, last year. Yeah, I know, the international stuff can get confusing, but I&rsquo;m here to help you. Trust me.
Now, perhaps quietly to some, international play quickly resumed this past November with the first window of 2023 World Cup qualifying, which we&rsquo;ll recap shortly.
You have four sets of qualifying regions: Africa, Americas, Asia/Oceania, and Europe. There are six windows played over a 15-month span (starting from this past November), where the competing squads normally would participate in two games per window. COVID had other ideas &mdash; more on that later.
Currently, each region has groups of four, and the top three in each group will advance to round two following the June/July window. This current round of qualifying is between Nov. 20-30, Feb. 21-March 1, and June 27-July 5, after which we&rsquo;ll enter round two. Round two also occurs over three windows: August 22-30, Nov. 7-15, and Feb. 20-28, then those who will have qualified will enter group drawing next March, and we&rsquo;ll see them compete between August 25-September 10 &mdash; the World Cup.
Now, let&rsquo;s lay out all the things you should probably know and, if you see a number in parenthesis next to a team that&rsquo;s listed, that&rsquo;s their current world ranking, <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/rankingmen">according to FIBA</a>. So if you feel like your people are being misrepresented, leave me alone and take that up with them. (Unless &hellip; unless you mean, you know, actual greater good/societal misrepresentation, then &hellip; let&rsquo;s talk, because me, too.)
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African Region
2019 WC qualifiers: Angola, Cote d&rsquo;Ivoire, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia
As they did in 2019, Africa will get five of the final 32 World Cup spots. Though they&rsquo;re hoping for a better result, because none of them advanced past&nbsp;group play. The Groups are as follows:
<ul>
<li>Group A: Nigeria (22), Mali (72), Cape Verde (74), Uganda (78),</li>
<li>Group B: Tunisia (28), Cameroon (64), South Sudan (82), Rwanda (84)</li>
<li>Group C: Angola (31), Cote d&rsquo;Ivoire (40), Central African Rep. (75), Guinea (99)</li>
<li>Group D: Senegal (34), Egypt (59), Congo DR (81), Kenya (103)</li>
</ul>
First Window Summary: Africa has a slightly different format. Groups A and C each played three games from Nov. 26-28, the biggest perhaps being Cape Verde&rsquo;s 79-71 upset over Nigeria, which helped move their ranking from No. 100 to No. 74 in the world. Thus, Groups A and C will return in the summer window. Nigeria and Mali are 2-1 and lead Group A, and Cote d&rsquo;Ivoire went 3-0 in November, sitting atop Group C. Groups B and D begin qualifying on Feb. 25 at Dakar Arena in Senegal, which will be three straight days of games through the 27th.
Tunisia&rsquo;s To Lose?: Tunisia went 10-2 in their World Cup qualifying for the 2019 tournament, and is expected to have similar production in group play here. Tunisia won the 2021 AfroBasket this past September, led by tournament MVP Makrem Romdhane, and All-Tournament guard Omar Abada. There&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/african-qualifiers/news/the-african-champions-are-ready-to-soar-in-dakar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">also a chance star center Salah Mejri suits up for Tunisia</a>. The 7-foot-2 former Dallas Maverick <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/international/teams/tunisia/2019.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">led Tunisia with 16.4 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 3.2 blocks per game</a> in their second ever World Cup appearance three years ago.
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The Biggest What If: Tunisia plays Cameroon on Feb. 25. Cameroon is one of the many wild cards worth keeping tabs on. They still haven&rsquo;t been able to piece together the dream frontcourt of Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who hasn&rsquo;t played since the NBA bubble. <a href="https://www.libertyballers.com/2017/2/7/14539418/joel-embiid-named-cameroon-preliminary-roster-fiba-afrobasket-2017-luc-mbah-a-moute" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Embiid came close in 2017</a>, but ultimately didn&rsquo;t play. Obviously, NBA players rarely can compete in these qualifying windows because of, well, them being in the NBA. But if Cameroon could do well enough and qualify, who knows if that&rsquo;ll be enough to lure Embiid and Siakam into international play.
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American Region
2019 WC qualifiers: Argentina (silver medalist), Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, USA, and Venezuela.
The Americas will, again, send seven to the World Cup late next year. The Americas have the standard format across the board, so this window will mark two games for each club. The groups are:
<ul>
<li>Group A: Argentina (7), Venezuela (17), Panama (50), Paraguay (77)</li>
<li>Group B: Brazil (15), Uruguay (41), Colombia (67), Chile (68)</li>
<li>Group C: Canada (18), Dominican Republic (20), U.S. Virgin Islands (54), Bahamas (62)</li>
<li>Group D: U.S.A. (1), Puerto Rico (19), Mexico (24), Cuba (65)</li>
</ul>
First Window Summary: Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay, Canada, Dominican Republic and Mexico are all 2-0. U.S.A. and Puerto Rico are the only 1-1 teams in the Americas, and will play each other on Tuesday in Washington D.C. Notably, for Team U.S.A., Jim Boylen coached the club in the November window, in which they held off Cuba 95-90, then lost to Mexico in Chihuahua City, 97-88. Although Cuba is 0-2, their star, Jaisel Rivero, is good enough to steal them a game. Rivero put 34 (13-18 shooting) with 9 rebounds and 3 threes on Team USA in their narrow loss. Rivero currently competes with Liga ACB and EuroCup&rsquo;s Valencia Basket in Spain, where he averages 11.1 points (second on team) and 4.9 rebounds (third on team) across all competitions.
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21 points for <a href="https://twitter.com/isaiahthomas?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@isaiahthomas</a> last night, including 4 made threes, none bigger than this dagger. 👀 Team USA defeated Cuba 95-90 to start 2023 World Cup Qualifiers. They face Mexico tonight. 📹: <a href="https://t.co/nNQDfvcF82">https://t.co/nNQDfvcF82</a> (via FIBA) <a href="https://t.co/dhAUAUVHLy">pic.twitter.com/dhAUAUVHLy</a>
&mdash; Bryan Fonseca 🇵🇷 (@BryanFonsecaNY) <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanFonsecaNY/status/1465437069073858560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2021</a>
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Uncle Iso Joe: Among <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/americas-qualifiers/game/0407/Mexico-USA#|tab=boxscore">the notables who suited up for Team USA in November</a> were Isaiah Thomas, Luke Kornet, Chasson Randle, Haywood Highsmith and Shaquille Harrison, among many other current and former NBA players. Seven-time All-Star and 40-year-old Joe Johnson, who famously was a Boston Celtic briefly earlier this season, is <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/americas-qualifiers/news/nba-experience-leads-revamped-united-states-roster-for-second-window-of-2023-fiba-world-cup-americas-qualifiers">confirmed to be suiting up with Team USA</a> in this February window. Brian Bowen II is the only player returning from the November window. Other Team U.S.A. members include current G Leaguers Jordan Bell, David Stockton, Langston Galloway and Justin Wright-Foreman, among others.
La Nueva Era de Baloncesto: Both Mexico and Puerto Rico announced new head coaches shortly before the November window. Mexico&rsquo;s led by long-time NBA assistant Kaleb Caneles, while Puerto Rico hired Nelson Colon, who is a three-time champion and Coach of the Year in Baloncesto Superior Nacional, Puerto Rico&rsquo;s top pro basketball league. Former long-time NBA guard Carlos Arroyo was also appointed the <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/news/puerto-rico-appoints-carlos-arroyo-as-its-male-national-team-general-manager#:~:text=Americas-,Puerto%20Rico%20appoints%20Carlos%20Arroyo%20as%20its%20male%20National%20Team,of%20the%20men's%20national%20team.">Puerto Rican National Team&rsquo;s General Manager last June</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Both Puerto Rico and Mexico starting this cycle with new coaches, too: <a href="https://t.co/PCDaPmNumy">https://t.co/PCDaPmNumy</a>
&mdash; Bryan Fonseca 🇵🇷 (@BryanFonsecaNY) <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanFonsecaNY/status/1465151054278967302?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Asia-Oceania Region
2019 WC qualifiers: Australia (finished fourth), China, Iran, Japan, Jordan, New Zealand, South Korea and the Philippines.
The hosts &ndash; Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia &ndash; typically automatically qualify for the World Cup. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171213161459/http:/www.philstar.com:8080/sports/2017/12/13/1767946/learning-2019-world-cup" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indonesia&rsquo;s qualification is more provisional</a> due to their lack of international success. Japan and the Philippines are automatically in, but they&rsquo;re all scheduled to participate in World Cup qualifiers anyway.
In the 2019 World Cup, Asia/Oceania sent eight teams over, which they&rsquo;ll do again in 2023. Here are the groups:
<ul>
<li>Group A: New Zealand (27), South Korea (30), Philippines (33), India (80)</li>
<li>Group B: Australia (3), China (29), Japan (37), Chinese Taipei (66)</li>
<li>Group C: Jordan (39), Lebanon (55), Indonesia (91), Saudi Arabia (79)</li>
<li>Group D: Iran (23),&nbsp;Kazakhstan (70), Syria (85), Bahrain (104)</li>
</ul>
First Window Summary: Due to travel restrictions (COVID), <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/asian-qualifiers/news/update-to-the-fiba-basketball-world-cup-2023-asian-qualifiers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">several games had to be canceled</a>, so while the format was originally the same as the Americas, it came with some modifications. No one in Group A has played yet, so they&rsquo;ll each play four games to compensate, all of which will take place between Feb. 24 and Feb. 28. In Group B, only China and Japan were able to play, and China smacked them twice, 79-63, and 106-73. Australia and Chinese Taipei are each scheduled to play three times between Feb. 25 and Feb. 28. Japan will play twice in this window, once against each of them, and China will return for four games in the third window to end round one.
Medal Momentum: This will mark the first we see of Australia since finally winning their first medal at the 2020 Olympics (that were played in 2021). Australia had lost the bronze medal game in the 1988, 1996, 2000 and 2016 Olympics before finally medaling in their fifth attempt. In their history, they&rsquo;ve never had a better World Cup finish than in 2019, where they lost in &hellip; another bronze medal game. Perhaps Australia is really turning a corner now. &nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
🥉 HISTORY MADE 🥉 The Boomers have done it- Australia have secured their first ever men&rsquo;s basketball Olympic medal! The bronze is coming home! 💚💛<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> <a href="https://t.co/ngxiYRwHdk">pic.twitter.com/ngxiYRwHdk</a>
&mdash; Basketball Australia (@BasketballAus) <a href="https://twitter.com/BasketballAus/status/1423988352987013120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 7, 2021</a>
<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</blockquote>
European Region&nbsp;
2019 WC qualifiers: Czech Republic, France (bronze medalist), Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Spain (gold medalist), Turkey.
Europe is the largest region of basketball playing powers here, so their rules are slightly different. Instead of four groups, there are eight. As a result, they&rsquo;ll get 12 World Cup bids.
Here are the groups:
<ul>
<li>Group A: Serbia (6), Latvia (26), Belgium (36), Slovakia (63)</li>
<li>Group B: Greece (10), Turkey (16), Great Britain (44), Belarus (48)</li>
<li>Group C: Slovenia (4), Croatia (21), Finland (35), Sweden (51)</li>
<li>Group D: Germany (11), Poland (13), Israel (42), Estonia (49)</li>
<li>Group E: France (5), Montenegro (25), Hungary (43), Portugal (58)</li>
<li>Group F: Lithuania (8), Czech Republic (12), Bosnia (45), Bulgaria (53)</li>
<li>Group G: Spain (2), Ukraine (32), Georgia (38), North Macedonia (52)</li>
<li>Group H: Italy (9), Russia (14), Netherlands (47), Iceland (46)</li>
</ul>
First Window Summary: Everyone here was able to play two games in November. Your 2-0 teams are as follows: Belgium, Slovenia, Israel, France, Lithuania, Bosnia, Spain and Russia. Your 0-2 teams are Netherlands, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Portugal, Poland, Croatia and Slovakia. Czech Republic was a story from the 2019 World Cup. They shockingly punched above their weight and reached the quarterfinals. Czech Republic, led by Tom&aacute;&scaron; Satoransky, finished sixth, one spot above Team U.S.A. But, so far, they haven&rsquo;t won a game in 2023 qualifying. Czech Republic lost to Bosnia 97-90 and Lithuania 74-66. They should have a breakthrough against Bulgaria on the 24th, but it&rsquo;ll be difficult to set themselves up for a repeat of 2019, which was their first World Cup bid.
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The State of Spain: After winning the 2019 World Cup with an incredibly stacked team, including tournament MVP Ricky Rubio, captain Rudy Fern&aacute;ndez, Marc Gasol and Willy Hernang&oacute;mez, Spain was knocked out of the Olympic quarterfinals by the United States. Their Olympic team featured many of their same heavy-hitters, including even Pau Gasol, who retired in October and is now a member of the International Olympic Committee. Like the United States, many of the players you&rsquo;d expect to see on their World Cup roster <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/european-qualifiers/team/Spain#|tab=roster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">likely won&rsquo;t participate much until then</a>. Even so, expect them to continue reigning as one of the top teams in the world. We could talk about the age factor around this time next year, perhaps.
The Sleeping Giant: Slovenia famously jumped 12 spots after their debut Olympic performance, largely led by Luka Dončić, accompanied by standout pro teammates Mike Tobey, Zoran (Goran&rsquo;s brother) Dragić,&nbsp;and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlatko_%C4%8Can%C4%8Dar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vlatko Čančar</a>. Slovenia finished fourth, losing to Australia in the bronze medal game. They didn&rsquo;t qualify for the 2019 World Cup, but did win the 2017 EuroBasket, in which Goran won MVP and Luka, at 18 years old, was named to the All-Tournament team. (Anthony Randolph played for the Slovenian team, then. Who knew?!?) Dragić and Tobey are <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/european-qualifiers/team/Slovenia#|tab=roster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listed on the roster for this window</a>. Look for them to continue raising hell in qualifiers, and if Dončić suits up, in the World Cup, too.
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For even more World Cup info and complete schedules, <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">go here</a>.
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Bryan Fonseca gives an overview of the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers.

Things to monitor as FIBA World Cup’s next qualifying window arrives

At the tail end of 2021, the former director of basketball research for the Milwaukee Bucks and current NBA writer for The Athletic released his new book &ldquo;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Midrange-Theory-Seth-Partnow/dp/1629379212" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Midrange Theory</a>." The book received rave reviews from the likes of Zach Lowe, Chris Herring, Ben Falk, Ben Taylor and even <a href="https://twitter.com/dmorey/status/1463590554026057736" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daryl Morey</a>, making it safe to say that Partnow&rsquo;s recent addition to the field of basketball analytics has been a massive success.
To talk about his book and the current and future state of NBA basketball and analytics, BasketballNews.com caught up with the brains behind this 270-page masterpiece, Seth Partnow.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Throughout the book, you make multiple references to Dean Oliver and his book Basketball on Paper. How well do you think his work in that project holds up with the state of basketball analytics today? And how much do you recommend it to younger people just dipping their toes into the field?
Seth Partnow: "It&rsquo;s funny, when I went back and reread Basketball on Paper as part of the research for my book, I was shocked by how short the sections on the Four Factors were. In terms of things directly applicable to modern research, those concepts remain the most relevant, largely because many of the other topics in the book are trying to solve questions in more roundabout ways than we need to today, given the broader availability of more granular data. I should also add that Dean wrote extensively about the implications and applications of the Four Factors elsewhere, and a little bit of Google magic can probably unearth some of those, which I think are well worth reading."
"As for BoP itself, I definitely think it&rsquo;s worth reading as much for the insight into the analytical mindset and how to define the questions being asked. I&rsquo;m not sure I would recommend it as the first thing for people just dipping their toes in to read, especially those without a decent amount of familiarity with the primary concepts of formal statistics. I tried to address the lack of a real 'intro to basketball analytics' book in the appendix to 'The Midrange Theory,' but I would say even that assumes a certain degree of statistical literacy &mdash; which, depending on what you mean by 'younger people,' could be too much to expect given the degree to which stats is underemphasized in secondary education at least in the US."
Towards the end of Chapter 4, you mention that it&rsquo;s better for overall spacing if below-average shooters pull the trigger on open looks rather than avoid shooting them all together. Do you feel such a prescription is applicable for a player like Ben Simmons? Or is he too far below the threshold of a below-average shooter?
Partnow: "There isn&rsquo;t a magical line at which a player is an effective spacer through sheer volume, as it&rsquo;s as much about defensive perception as anything else. In practice, as long as a player is in the low 30s overall and the mid-30s [percentage] on catch-and-shoot threes, their willingness to shoot will greatly influence the amount of defense attention they draw. Below that fairly low accuracy bar, they will more likely get the &ldquo;he&rsquo;s with us&rdquo; treatment of defenders conceding and even encouraging those attempts until they make a few in a row."
You dedicate nearly an entire chapter of the book towards discussing Plus/Minus data and make multiple references to Regularized Adjusted Plus/Minus (RAPM). Are there any other publicly-available one-number metrics that you find to be beneficial tools of analysis?
Partnow: "I think the entire alphabet soup of RAPM-inspired metrics can be useful, but they require an understanding of what they are and are not measuring. That&rsquo;s the easiest to explain in relatively non-technical terms of vanilla RAPM, which doesn&rsquo;t have a ton going on underneath the hood. The more successful extensions of the methodology, such as &ldquo;Estimated Plus/Minus,&rdquo; incorporate box score and other more traditional production measures to refine the outputs of base RAPM. But as you start adding ingredients to the recipe, I think greater care, expertise and experience are needed to properly interpret the results."
"There are also non-RAPM models, which I think are extremely useful. Kostya Medvedovsky&rsquo;s DARKO, for example, is much more box score-based. Kostya does some clever things with how he weights production by recency to help pick up on changes in player skill level earlier than might otherwise be possible. It&rsquo;s hard to find in public now that he&rsquo;s been snapped up by the Wizards, but Player Impact Plus/Minus created by Jacob Goldstein can give some RAPM-like insight into player impact across smaller samples which can be especially relevant (though with a big &ldquo;handle with care&rdquo; sticker) to evaluating playoff performance."
The problems with Bird Rights get brought up in your discussion about the NBA salary cap. Do you think there is a reasonable alternative the league can create to combat this conundrum, or is it a necessary evil to ensure teams have a means of keeping their core group together?
Partnow: "Ben Falk (proprietor of Cleaning the Glass and former head of analytics for the Blazers and 76ers) has told me that he often annoyed the GMs he worked for by answering many questions with one of his own: &ldquo;what are we solving for here?&rdquo; I think Ben&rsquo;s query applies here. Are we trying to help teams stay together because we think it helps drive fan interest in commitment? Are we trying to protect teams from themselves in terms of how deep a hole any one management group can dig, a la the Stepien Rule? Essentially, what&rsquo;s the problem we are trying to solve, or is the system working as intended? I think that&rsquo;s a bigger question than we have time for here, but I think the present system broadly works, though it would work better if teams didn&rsquo;t tend to be quite as status quo-biased as they often prove to be."
Given the cyclical nature of trends and how many great big men passers we now have in the NBA, do you see the game ever returning to the post-up heavy one of the 90s and 2000s?
Partnow: "I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re likely to see a return to a game with a lot of static, clear out a side and dump it into the big guy post-ups, at least not without substantial rule changes. I covered this in the book, but the switch from the old illegal defense rule to today&rsquo;s defensive 3-seconds rule makes playing out of a stationary post-up player a lot more challenging than it used to be."
"What we might see is offenses based around facilitating out of quicker, movement-based post-ups. As my fellow Milwaukeean Eric Nehm has often noted, I love a good duck-in where a player receives the ball in a post-up position off of quick, possibly random movement. The increased vision and skill level of modern bigs will allow them to take advantage of defenses reacting to such an unexpected threat. But that strikes me as an approach that will end up looking a lot more like some of the dribble handoff heavy stuff teams like Denver and (when Bam Adebayo is healthy) Miami like to run, than it would Shaq planting himself on the block and sticking a hand in the air to receive the ball in the 90s and early 2000s."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
In the chapter comparing playoff and regular season strategy (great Carlos Boozer shoutout, by the way), you talk about how, in order to neutralize All-Star players, teams normally devise multiple plans for stopping them (&ldquo;Plans A, B, and C&rdquo;). Can you give us an example of how this works in practice from a time during your tenure with the Bucks?
Partnow: "I don&rsquo;t think I can give a specific example. But there were numerous situations where you go into a series not wanting to have to double team a given player or on a certain action, so plan A might be to defend it straight up until that proves untenable. Plan B might be double-teaming immediately, but then if the opposition is consistently able to pass out of the double to good looks, Plan C might be doing some kind of scramble early in a possession to keep the offense from even getting to the action causing all the problems."
"The best teams and players will be able to choose the correct option depending on which plan the defense is executing. But the players without a variety of skills or the teams which play by rote won&rsquo;t be able to adjust, and those are the ones that will often struggle in the playoffs as the opposition finds out their weak points."
In your chapter about drafting, you talk about the issue with player comparisons. I am not really a fan of one-to-one player comparisons, but I do like the idea of having tiers of potential developmental outcomes. Do you see any use/value in player comparisons at all, or would you like the practice removed altogether?
Partnow: "In practice, the combination of anchoring and optimism biases make comps more likely to mislead than to enlighten, in my opinion. Sure, you can give a range of outcomes, but how many people will look past the top line? I understand the desire to simplify with a quick comp, because you consider a whole lot of guys in any one draft class, but the shortcut ends up short-circuiting the evaluation rather than simply saving time."
Coming into this book, I&rsquo;ve always felt a sense of existential dread in the back of my mind about the possibility that basketball analytics may reach a level that data will no longer require analysts for interpretation. To your credit, you do a great job throughout the book of highlighting the importance of humans in this process; what other comforting advice would you give to someone who shares this feeling of the future?
Partnow: "We would have to improve our understanding of the game by multiple orders of magnitude for truly useful 'automated analysis' to be a worry. During one offseason during my tenure with the Bucks, the analytics group got together and brainstormed all the things we would need to know from a statistical point of view to feel we had 'solved' basketball &mdash; things from perimeter defensive skill, to movement shooting, to lineup synergies and so on. We ended up with around 70 post-its up on the board. We figured about three of them were already solved. Another five or six were close. Of the remaining 60-plus, we couldn&rsquo;t even imagine how we would go about addressing more than half of the concepts. So I would say there is still an immense amount to learn."
---
Wow. What great responses from Seth. I feel even smarter than I felt after I read through his book (and I felt brilliant after that!). If you enjoyed this conversation and want to hear more from Seth, be sure to buy his book "The Midrange Theory," available now.
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Mat Issa asks and Seth Partnow answers questions about basketball analytics and his book on the subject, "The Midrange Theory."

Seth Partnow Q&A: A sit down with the author of “The Midrange Theory”

Our newest podcast on <a href="http://BasketballNews.com">BasketballNews.com</a>, &ldquo;Nothing But Bets,&rdquo; is on fire when it comes to our daily picks. Over the last three days, we are hitting at a 65% clip. Will the hot streak continue on into a monster 10-game slate on Wednesday night? Let&rsquo;s go ahead and dive into our predictions, including some same game parlays. All odds are provided by DraftKings Sportsbook.
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Orlando Magic vs. Charlotte Hornets (-5.5)
As I mentioned on Wednesday morning&rsquo;s podcast, I&rsquo;m officially all-in on the Hornets being a playoff team this season. LaMelo Ball is officially taking the star leap, plus Miles Bridges is jumping up another tier of his own thanks to some strong all-around shooting. If the Hornets are for real, these are the types of games this team should win. I&rsquo;m rolling with the Hornets moneyline at -225 odds. And as far as our same-game parlays go, this one feels like an easy winner: Hornets ML, LaMelo Ball 16+ points, Miles Bridges 15+ points at +130 odds. A quick way to double your earnings is betting on the Ball-Bridges duo to keep its hot start going in Orlando.
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Atlanta Hawks (-5)
This is going to be a super entertaining game to follow along with during Wednesday&rsquo;s mega slate. Trae Young in the Bayou taking on Brandon Ingram and the Pelicans, who are still without Zion Williamson. Thanks to Atlanta&rsquo;s overall depth, I&rsquo;m hammering the Hawks straight-up here on the road. Expect a fun battle between Young and Ingram in the scoring department as well, which is what I&rsquo;m parlaying into our SGP at +200: Hawks ML, Young 20+ points, Ingram 20+ points, Young 7+ assists, Young 1+ threes, Ingram 1+ threes. In what should be a high-scoring affair, this one is another I feel very confident about hitting.
Brooklyn Nets (-3.5) vs. Miami Heat
The biggest blockbuster involves Brooklyn and Miami clashing at the Barclays Center. Miami looks the part of a team who could challenge the Nets and Milwaukee Bucks and join them in the Eastern Conference&rsquo;s top tier. Meanwhile, the Nets are off to a slower-than-expected start. With Brooklyn&rsquo;s star power, though, it&rsquo;s going to be hard to ever bet against them. Kevin Durant should have a huge night, plus James Harden should snap out of his <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/why-isnt-james-harden-getting-to-the-free-throw-line" target="_blank" rel="noopener">current offensive funk</a>. I&rsquo;m hammering the Nets moneyline, plus the following player props to total +210 odds: Durant 25+ points, Harden 15+ points, Harden 2+ threes, Durant 1+ threes. I could easily see Miami making another massive statement on the road, but I&rsquo;m siding with Durant and Harden scorching the rims instead.
Boston Celtics (-4.5) vs. Washington Wizards
Whenever Jayson Tatum and Bradley Beal square off, there&rsquo;s always fireworks that follow. The two St. Louis products always get competitive against one another, and that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m expecting once again at the TD Garden. I&rsquo;m going with the Celtics straight-up in a closely-contested game, but a simple St. Louis SGP can boost our odds from -180 to +275: Tatum 25+ points and Beal 25+ points. This is one of my best bets tonight with the Celtics pulling off the W, plus Tatum and Beal trying to one-up each other consistently in the stat sheet.
Toronto Raptors (-1) vs. Indiana Pacers
When &ldquo;Nothing But Bets&rdquo; was recorded early Wednesday morning, Indiana was actually a 2-point favorite. So, we&rsquo;re seeing a sudden surge go towards Toronto here. Luckily for my bets, that plays right into a better-odds-booster. Indiana has been very fun to watch so far this season, which includes a surprising early Rookie of the Year candidate in Chris Duarte. In Caris LeVert&rsquo;s absence, Duarte has been the starting shooting guard alongside Malcolm Brogdon. With how much head coach Rick Carlisle trusts him, I have a hard time seeing the rookie leaving a prominent role in the rotation anytime soon. As new underdogs, I love Indiana with the plus moneyline here at -105 odds. An enticing same-game parlay is going to trail the two best players on the court as well, Domantas Sabonis and OG Anunoby: Pacers ML, Anunoby 20+ points, Sabonis 15+ points. If you trail that SGP, it&rsquo;s a monster payout of +425.
Milwaukee Bucks (-6.5) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
The defending champions are already dealing with injury concerns to two key contributors, Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez. With that being said, I still love the Bucks to win outright at home tonight. Minnesota has been feisty early on, plus the Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards duo is so entertaining to watch. If you want to double your money, here&rsquo;s a fun SGP at +155 odds currently: Bucks ML, Giannis Antetokounmpo 20+ points, Towns 20+ points, Edwards 15+ points, Khris Middleton 15+ points. As far as point totals go, those all feel very solidly like locks. If you like the Bucks to win outright, that&rsquo;s one of my favorite SGPs to bankroll.
Los Angeles Lakers (-5) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
There has been so much movement on this spread already throughout the day. Originally opening at -9, it moved down to -3.5 before jumping back up to -5 for the Lakers. LeBron James is out again tonight, plus Anthony Davis is questionable. Even if neither play, I love the possibility of Russell Westbrook going nuclear on his former team. I&rsquo;m rolling with the Westbrook-led Lakers to cover the spread, but expect Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to go toe-to-toe with him as well. Here&rsquo;s a fun same-game parlay to ride the momentum on &mdash; if you&rsquo;re expecting a Westbrook-SGA duel in OKC: Lakers -5, SGA 15+ points, SGA 3+ assists at +200 odds. Although the Thunder are 0-4, they&rsquo;ve actually been very entertaining to watch. I&rsquo;ll be tuning in tonight to this one throughout.
Phoenix Suns (-8) vs. Sacramento Kings
The Suns have been one of the most disappointing teams after the first week of the 2021-22 season, but this is the exact same script they followed a year ago prior to rattling off an incredible Finals run. I envision this as a get-right game for Phoenix, which includes Devin Booker flexing his muscles on a porous Sacramento defense. I&rsquo;m not comfortable enough to go with the straight-up spread here, but hammer the moneyline for Phoenix as a lock and a best bet. At +250 odds to flip the script, here&rsquo;s a very realistic SGP to tail: Suns ML, Booker 25+ points, Mikal Bridges 1+ steals and 1+ threes.
Portland Trail Blazers (-2.5) vs. Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies have been one of my favorite teams to watch this season, and a lot of it is due to Ja Morant taking the superstar leap. I wrote this morning about the Morant-De&rsquo;Anthony Melton backcourt, which is continuing to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/grizzlies-backcourt-continues-to-thrive-with-exciting-chemistry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prove how valuable it is</a>. Melton&rsquo;s shooting and defensive versatility are huge weapons alongside Morant, which is allowing the Murray State product to focus on terrorizing defenses. However, I&rsquo;m rolling with the Blazers tonight to cover the spread. Damian Lillard has gotten off to a very cold shooting start, and I expect that to break tonight with a fun duel against Morant. At +150 odds, here&rsquo;s a very realistic SGP to cash: Blazers spread, Lillard 25+ points, Morant 25+ points. This will be another game you won&rsquo;t want to miss out on watching tonight.
Los Angeles Clippers (-8) vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
Cleveland is a young squad on the rise, but I have the feeling Paul George is going to send a statement tonight. Coming off a super impressive blowout win against Portland, expect Los Angeles to continue riding its upward trajectory. Since Cleveland has been in each game, I&rsquo;m not comfortable with the 8-point spread. However, I will emphatically hammer the moneyline here. If you&rsquo;re betting on a solid game from George, plus No. 3 overall pick Evan Mobley to do well back in L.A., here&rsquo;s a same-game parlay you can tail off of at +125 odds: Clippers ML, George 20+ points, Mobley 12+ points.
Recapping our regular picks, here&rsquo;s who I&rsquo;m rolling with during a mega slate of games on Wednesday: Hornets ML, Hawks ML, Nets ML, Celtics ML, Pacers ML, Bucks ML, Lakers -5, Suns ML, Blazers -2.5, Clippers ML.

Alongside our "Nothing But Bets" podcast on BasketballNews.com, our daily picks will be posted each day.

Nothing But Bets: NBA Projections for 10/27/21

Before every season, I do my best to predict how I think the season will unfold &mdash; where teams will finish and who&rsquo;ll win each individual award. Heck, I even try my hand at predicting the All-NBA/Rookie/Defensive Teams.
Those efforts are generally meaningless; you can never truly account for injuries or transactions, for example, which makes it nearly impossible to truly nail these things down. Still, it&rsquo;s incredibly fun to take a look at the landscape of the league and make educated guesses.
Normally, I&rsquo;d thread my predictions on Twitter since it&rsquo;s a quick and easy way to get those thoughts out into the world. The issue is explaining controversial picks with a character limit; if you&rsquo;ve been on the app for any amount of time, you know how quickly discussions can go left.
Instead, I&rsquo;ve turned my predictions into an article. It&rsquo;ll be easier to track my predictions, and I have the space to explain my reasoning in a more thorough manner.&nbsp;
Without further ado, here&rsquo;s how I see things going this season.
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
MVP: Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL)
DPOY: Bam Adebayo (MIA)
ROY: Cade Cunningham (DET)
6MOY: Patty Mills (BKN)
MIP: OG Anunoby (TOR)
COY: Ime Udoka (BOS)
- Giannis is, at worst, a top-three player in the league right now. I don't think he's three or two. He'll put up crazy numbers, do so efficiently, and prove All-World defense in most of his minutes. Easy pathway for him to make a run at another MVP.
- I'm not sure this should classify as a hot take considering Adebayo is one of the six or so best defenders on the planet, but it'll probably be viewed as such. No biggie. The award is oddly perimeter-averse, so Adebayo represents the best blend of interior defense and perimeter versatility. The Heat project as an elite defensive unit; if that holds true, Adebayo will be the reason why. Keep an eye on Draymond Green for similar reasons.
(I'd also add that there will probably be a little bit of voter fatigue and postseason bias with Rudy Gobert that may hurt him. I'm not saying that's fair or right, but it factors into my calculus here.)
- ROY is a stat award. I think there's a strong case to be made for Jalen Green; he should have quite the greenlight in Houston. Ultimately, I land on Cade who is 1) better, in my humble opinion, and 2) should have better all-around numbers.
- A lot of this depends on what Steve Nash does with the rotation. And that will largely depend on what the heck Kyrie Irving decides to do. If Irving is back, or if Nash decides to start with a bigger lineup, Mills should be in line to get plenty of bench buckets for an elite team.
- Boston should see a pretty solid boost in wins from last season just by virtue of being healthier. A stingier defense and more fluid offense under Udoka could make the case even stronger.
TEAM AWARDS
ALL-NBA FIRST TEAM: Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, Nikola Jokic
ALL-NBA SECOND TEAM: Trae Young, James Harden, LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid
ALL-NBA THIRD TEAM: Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, Paul George, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo
ALL-DEFENSIVE FIRST TEAM: Jrue Holiday, Matisse Thybulle, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo
ALL-DEFENSIVE SECOND TEAM: Mikal Bridges, Jimmy Butler, OG Anunoby, Draymond Green, Rudy Gobert
ALL-ROOKIE FIRST TEAM: Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green, Scottie Barnes, Alperen Sengun, Evan Mobley
ALL-ROOKIE SECOND TEAM: Davion Mitchell, Jalen Suggs, Chris Duarte, Josh Giddey, Trey Murphy III
- For the All-NBA Teams, apologies are due, but not limited to: Jimmy Butler (rest days, deep class), Rudy Gobert (deep class), Karl-Anthony Towns (record, deep class), Devin Booker (deep class), Khris Middleton (deep class), Zion Williamson (missed time, record), Bradley Beal (record), Julius Randle (deep class), Jaylen Brown (deep class), and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (record).
- On a related note, I have no idea what to do with Ben Simmons right now. There's no telling if Simmons will play in Philadelphia. If he does, there's no telling how long he'll be there. There's also no telling what kind of effort we'll see from him, and how voters may view this whole situation. I'm leaving him off of everything, but we know Simmons is an All-Defensive First Team mainstay under normal circumstances.
- Simmons' departure, whenever it comes, should lead to more Thybulle minutes. He's an absurd perimeter defender with plenty of first-team selections coming his way, starting with this season.
- It'll be a year too late, but hopefully another successful season in Phoenix for Bridges, and an MIP campaign for Anunoby lead to them getting the recognition they deserve.
- The All-Rookie first team seems pretty straightforward. I like Murphy III snagging serious rotation minutes in New Orleans and providing value with his floor spacing. A second-team spot shouldn't be out of the equation.
- Chris Duarte as the Doug McDermott replacement in the Pacers' rotation makes sense. Add that to the injury concerns that come with some of their guards (Malcolm Brogdon, Caris LeVert), and the path to more-than-expected minutes is there.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
TOP SIX
<ol>
<li>BROOKLYN NETS</li>
<li>MILWAUKEE BUCKS</li>
<li>ATLANTA HAWKS</li>
<li>MIAMI HEAT</li>
<li>PHILADELPHIA 76ERS</li>
<li>BOSTON CELTICS</li>
</ol>
- The Sixers are the biggest wild card in the group for, uh, rather obvious reasons. They still have an MVP candidate and a strong defensive infrastructure to lean on. The slide shouldn't be too steep from them.
- I kept going back and forth between the Hawks and Heat. I eventually settled on the Hawks because of their superior depth. I probably feel a little better about the Heat in a playoff setting, though.
- I've been pretty high on the Celtics coming into this season, so of course we've already gotten COVID cases and a random Marcus Smart suspension before the season starts. They should still be a playoff team if the Jays are healthy.
PLAY-IN TERRITORY
<ol start="7">
<li>NEW YORK KNICKS</li>
<li>CHICAGO BULLS</li>
<li>INDIANA PACERS</li>
<li>WASHINGTON WIZARDS</li>
</ol>
- The Knicks are too deep to be in danger of missing the actual playoffs. I have some scheme concerns for them defensively, but they're a solid team in my view.&nbsp;
- I've warmed up on the Bulls. The offense looks good on paper, and flowed a little better than expected during the preseason. Patrick Williams being back already makes me feel a little better about their defense, though I'm still a bit iffy on it. We'll see if the preseason dominance (!?) on that end translates to being an average-ish group.
- l want to like the Pacers &mdash; deep roster, heck of a head coach in Rick Carlisle &mdash; but I just have no earthly idea of who's going to be available for them, or for how long.
THE REST
<ol start="11">
<li>CHARLOTTE HORNETS</li>
<li>TORONTO RAPTORS</li>
<li>CLEVELAND CAVALIERS</li>
<li>DETROIT PISTONS</li>
<li>ORLANDO MAGIC</li>
</ol>
- The more I've sat on it, the more I've found it difficult to trust the Hornets defense during an 82-game marathon.
- Toronto has the best chance of proving me wrong. I believe in Anunoby as a leap candidate, like the defensive infrastructure, but I have too many questions about their half-court offense as a whole to predict the playoffs/in for them.
- I entered the offseason ready to fire off a "Cavs make the play-in" take depending on how it went. Swapping out Larry Nance Jr. for Lauri Markkanen is just... man, I really worry about this defense.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
TOP SIX
<ol>
<li>UTAH JAZZ</li>
<li>LOS ANGELES LAKERS</li>
<li>PHOENIX SUNS</li>
<li>DENVER NUGGETS</li>
<li>GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS</li>
<li>DALLAS MAVERICKS</li>
</ol>
- There's a chance the Jazz take the Bucks' path and use the regular season as an experiment, but they have the talent, system, and continuity to run through the West.&nbsp;
- The Lakers are funky &mdash; they have quite a bit of lineup stuff to figure out &mdash; but their top-end talent should be enough to rack up wins if healthy.
- I've already changed my mind from the <a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA/status/1447935841565806599?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pacific Division pod</a>. Warriors over the Clippers if they're really going to lean into more small-ball this year.
PLAY-IN TERRITORY
<ol start="7">
<li>PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS</li>
<li>LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS</li>
<li>MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES</li>
<li>MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES</li>
</ol>
- You have to be careful with preseason takeaways, but it's pretty concerning that the Blazers' defense looked&nbsp;that&nbsp;bad. If that's any indication of what they're going to look like this year...
- Still curious about how the Clippers' offense is going to flow, but I like them.
- Jaren Jackson Jr. got himself&nbsp;paid.&nbsp;Here's hoping he's able to put things together on both ends of the floor.&nbsp;
- The Wolves have the offensive talent &mdash; Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards, D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley &mdash; and an offensive mastermind on the sideline to make things click. The defense will probably be bad still, but it's encouraging they've <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-preseason-musings-early-trends-that-may-matter-later" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taken a literal step</a> in the right direction.
THE REST
<ol start="11">
<li>NEW ORLEANS PELICANS</li>
<li>SACRAMENTO KINGS</li>
<li>SAN ANTONIO SPURS</li>
<li>HOUSTON ROCKETS</li>
<li>OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER</li>
</ol>
- I already had questions about the Pelicans' defending well enough to make a real push, and now their offensive centerpiece is missing the beginning of the year recovering from a foot injury. This freaking sucks.
- Like last year, the Spurs are the team most likely to prove me wrong if they get one of their young guys to pop. Let's see what the next step from Dejounte Murray is.
EAST PLAYOFFS
PLAY-IN TOURNAMENT
Bulls &gt; Knicks for 7th.
Wizards &gt; Pacers for 9th.
Knicks &gt; Wizards for 8th.
- Honestly, give me a late-game shot-making fest for the 7-8 game in MSG. Both teams are a step above their play-in counterparts anyway.
FIRST ROUND
(1) Nets &gt; (8) Knicks in 4.
(4) Heat &gt; (5) Sixers in 6.&nbsp;
(2) Bucks &gt; (7) Bulls in 5.
 (3) Hawks &gt; (6) Celtics in 7.&nbsp;
- Again, the Sixers' projections could swing pretty wildly depending on what happens with the Simmons ordeal. I think the Heat have an overall late-game edge in shot creation, even if Embiid is the best singular talent here.
- Young and Tatum duking it out in a Game 7 is the stuff that dreams are made of.&nbsp;
SECOND ROUND
(1) Nets &gt; (5) Heat in 5.
- There's a slight pathway to the Heat pulling this off &mdash; Adebayo and Butler owning the paint (and free throw line) to a degree that makes the Nets uncomfortable &mdash; but the Nets have too much offensive firepower. Even with Kyrie Irving's status up in the air, the Heat seem to be a wing defender short for this matchup, at least.
(2) Bucks &gt; (3) Hawks in 6.
- An ECF rematch in the second round? Sign me up. Ultimately, I just don't think the Hawks have a real answer for Giannis. Poor Clint Capela is going to have his hands full.
EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
(2) Bucks &gt; (1) Nets in 6.
-&nbsp;Yell at me if you'd like. I trust the Bucks owning the interior &mdash; paint baskets, free throws, rebounds &mdash; and defending at a high enough clip to win Part Two of this budding rivalry. Put another way: I'm a believer in Giannis dictating the terms of this series.
WEST PLAYOFFS
PLAY-IN TOURNAMENT&nbsp;
Blazers &gt; Clippers* for 7th.&nbsp;
Grizzlies &gt; Wolves for 9th.&nbsp;
Clippers* &gt; Grizzlies for 8th.
- The wild card here is a potential Kawhi Leonard return. If he's healthy by the time the playoffs roll around, I think they beat the Blazers for the 7th seed (and become the scariest low seed in the postseason).
FIRST ROUND
(8) Clippers &gt; (1) Jazz in 7.
(4) Nuggets &gt; (5) Warriors in 7.
(3) Suns &gt; (6) Mavericks in 6.
(2) Lakers &gt; (7) Blazers in 5.
- I would love every one of these matchups. I also spent way too much time going back and forth on all but the Lakers series.&nbsp;
- The Jazz probably win in 6 if Kawhi is out for the series. If he's back, I'm down with an 8-1 "upset" that isn't really an upset.
-&nbsp;I'm siding with Jokic in a home Game 7, but that series would truly be a coin flip. Steph may break Synergy with the pick-and-roll numbers he'd put up in this matchup.
SECOND ROUND
(4) Nuggets &gt; (8) Clippers in 6.
(2) Lakers &gt; (3) Suns in 6.
- I trust the Nuggets creating efficient offense a little more than the Clippers, and they at least have bodies to toss on the Clippers' wing combo.
- The Lakers get their revenge if healthy, owning the paint on both ends of the floor.
WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
(2) Lakers &gt; (4) Nuggets in 6.
- The Lakers have the collective size to at least bother Jokic. God bless Aaron Gordon, but I'm not sure he's equipped for a LeBron or Davis matchup &mdash; and he can only defend one of those guys.&nbsp;
NBA FINALS
(2) Bucks &gt; (2) Lakers in 6.
- This series could be decided by each team's big-star-at-the-5 lineup. I trust Milwaukee's configurations a little more. Bucks repeat, with Giannis (further) establishing himself as the league's best player.

Nekias Duncan gives his predictions for the NBA season — standings, awards, and even playoff picks.

Nekias Duncan's 2021-22 NBA season and award predictions

Ricky Rubio has been here before.&nbsp;
Maybe not physically in the city of Cleveland, but in the same predicament.
For the fourth time in as many seasons, the 30-year-old will enter training camp playing for a different organization that&rsquo;s trying to show significant growth with its youthful roster, this time around with the Cavaliers. The feeling isn&rsquo;t so unfamiliar for the veteran point guard.
&ldquo;It doesn't help when you don't have stability because your role or your teammates change a lot, so it's a little different,&rdquo; Rubio told reporters in his Cavs introductory press conference. &ldquo;But my experience says that it doesn't matter where you play &mdash; if you play your best, you're gonna have the role you're looking for. So I feel like I can have a good impact right away. I feel like I grew up a lot from the mistakes I did in the past, the things I've learned too as well. So I feel ready for the challenge.&rdquo;
In the middle of playing for his home country of Spain in this past summer&rsquo;s Tokyo Olympics, the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/wolves-dealing-ricky-rubio-2022-pick-to-cleveland-for-taurean-prince" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Minnesota Timberwolves traded Rubio to the Cavs for Taurean Prince and a 2022 second-round draft pick</a>.
Between the second and third game of group play, he found out on the morning of Usman Garuba&rsquo;s draft party. Ready to celebrate his teammate getting selected after a good night&rsquo;s rest, Rubio turned his phone on and was immediately bombarded by a plethora of messages, heartfelt goodbyes from Minnesota and welcomes from Cleveland. At the time, a surprised Rubio had to block it out. Spain had to gameplan for Luka Doncic and Slovenia, and competing with the national team was his priority. That doesn&rsquo;t mean it wasn&rsquo;t on his mind, though.
&ldquo;When you get traded, there&rsquo;s a lot going on,&rdquo; Rubio said. &ldquo;Especially with a guy with a family, it&rsquo;s like, &lsquo;Where are we going to go, how are we going to do this&rsquo; and all this stuff. At the end of the day, is this going to be the end stop or not?&rdquo;
Being dealt was another thing that added to Rubio&rsquo;s plate. Following what he called a &ldquo;bad year&rdquo; with the Wolves, he was set on standing out on the international stage and carrying that momentum into this NBA season. He referred to his MVP run at the FIBA World Cup in 2019 when Spain won the championship in convincing fashion. Rubio went on to have his &ldquo;best year in the league&rdquo; with the Phoenix Suns after he built his confidence there.&nbsp;
Having just averaged 25.5 points and 6.0 assists on 52.2% from the field (47.8% on threes) over four Olympic games, including a record 38-point outburst against many of his old NBA teammates on Team USA, Rubio is hoping to repeat history with the Cavs in the 2021-22 campaign.
&ldquo;It felt good to play that way, especially after getting traded and all that stuff. You want to show that you're worth it,&rdquo; Rubio said. &ldquo;I think I'm on the best momentum I ever had in my career with the national team, and I feel great shape-wise.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I was feeling great in Phoenix, and then the pandemic happened, and then kind of hit my routine, kind of hit all the timing&rsquo;s off... But I think I'm back on track, and I feel like I'm in my prime with my career. So I can bring a lot to the table.&rdquo;
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While he hasn&rsquo;t spoken in-depth with head coach J.B. Bickerstaff quite yet about what the team will ask him to do, in scanning over the Cavs roster, it&rsquo;s become clear to Rubio that he&rsquo;ll be assuming the mentorship role in his next pro stint. (Although he doesn&rsquo;t feel like the old guy yet, he joked: &ldquo;'&rsquo;Damn, I'm gonna play with people who were born in the 2000s.' That's gonna be crazy.&rdquo;)&nbsp;
Rubio enjoys being a wise, seasoned player with a wealth of knowledge to bestow upon the next generation. It&rsquo;s not like he always knew the tricks of the trade; he too had to soak up advice and compete against veterans. Rubio credits longtime international guard and Badalona teammate Elmer Bennett for always challenging him when he first started his pro career. The same goes for Gianluca Basile when he and Rubio were together in Barcelona in 2009.
&ldquo;He's Italian, and the first year I got to Barcelona, we won the Euroleague,&rdquo; Rubio said. &ldquo;He came to me like, &lsquo;I'm chasing the Euroleague [title] for 20 years, and you come here at the age of 20 and you win in the first year. That's not easy.&rsquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;Then the international team, of course, Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, [Juan Carlos Navarro] &mdash; all these guys who won the World Cup in 2006. And I got there in 2008 when I was 17 years old, and in practice, it was amazing just being able to be there.&rdquo;
Just as his vets did with him, Rubio will demand the best out of Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Isaac Okoro, Evan Mobley and the like in Cleveland&rsquo;s locker room.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I love it because I'm good at talking to [young players] and letting them know that they are good, but they can be even better. When I was growing up &mdash; I was 16 years old playing professionally here in Spain &mdash; I had some mentors like that, who would challenge me every day saying like, &lsquo;You're good, but you're too young to know what I know.&rsquo; And you have to go through a lot of stuff before you know all the stuff. So I'm trying to give them my experience.&nbsp;
&ldquo;But until they go through that experience, they're not gonna, like, really listen to me. So what I can do is give it to them. And if they take it, it's there for them... A good example this year [is] with Anthony Edwards; I was pulling examples of the league, like Damian Lilliard or other guys who had really good rookie seasons, but they took everything that it takes to be better the year after that. So I'm looking forward to being in the role, and let's see how the young guys really accept the challenge.&rdquo;&nbsp;
"He's the best leader I've been around all my life," Edwards <a href="https://twitter.com/DimeUPROXX/status/1370417504829472771?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in March</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Lot of people wondered who&rsquo;s gonna be Anthony Edwards vet to teach him the ropes Great to see Rubio coaching Antman up after he made a mistake. <a href="https://t.co/ndA42GNh6c">pic.twitter.com/ndA42GNh6c</a>
&mdash; Barflaan Tedoe 🇱🇷 (@The_Barftender) <a href="https://twitter.com/The_Barftender/status/1348115283207065600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Rubio contends that putting together a better year after having a great season prior is one of the hardest things to accomplish. There&rsquo;s a certain amount of attention and pressure for players in those scenarios due to the expectations stemming from their own doing. Asked how he&rsquo;ll approach this with Garland, a savvy Rubio replied that it will be a test of mentality.
&ldquo;&lsquo;Do I have what it takes to be even better?&rsquo; It takes a lot of energy to have the year that Garland] had last year. He had great numbers, great year. But that can translate to a winning team? [Can that] be translated to help the team to win?&rdquo; Rubio sternly stated. &ldquo;That's what I'm going to have to challenge him [with] in that area. I'm going to bring my experience the same way I did with [Devin] Booker, the same way I did with Donovan Mitchell, the same way I did with the young stars that I had on my team...&rdquo;
These cold-hard truths don&rsquo;t just exist on the individual level either. Entering his 11th season in the NBA, his first as a part of the Eastern Conference, Rubio&rsquo;s seen his fair share of players. It&rsquo;s those that buy into the concept of something bigger than themselves that tend to stick.
&ldquo;I think there&rsquo;s a lot of talent, but that doesn't make a good team. What makes a good team is putting the pieces together and [making] it work. So we will see how everything works out,&rdquo; Rubio said. &ldquo;And as a veteran, it's part of my job to really make that work. Seeing where and how the young talent has to sacrifice something for the team. Because a lot of people, a lot of players come to the league knowing I can do that, I can do this, I can do a lot of stuff. But at the end of the day, what the team needs from you is what makes sense for the team.&nbsp;
&ldquo;If you are a rebounder and you want to score, but your job is to rebound the ball and pass it to another guy, I know you can score &mdash; but at the end of the day, you have to do what's best for the team. And at the same time, the team has to help the other players grow and make the best opportunity for everybody. But at the same time, not everybody can score, not everybody can shine at that level. And I think there's a lot of winning teams that show that the 15th guy has to be the best guy, the best 15th guy in the league to win. That being said, everybody has to have a role and accept the role and be the best they can be in that role. So I'm pretty excited [about] helping this team make that happen.&rdquo;
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It always helps to have a familiar face around to ease the transition. Granted Kevin Love stays with Cleveland and isn&rsquo;t moved or bought out, Rubio will reunite with his former Wolves friend for the first time in eight years. (Rubio has a great deal of respect for him championing mental health and admits that Love&rsquo;s courage to speak up has helped him when he&rsquo;s struggled.)&nbsp;
He crossed paths with Bickerstaff as a rookie in that same Minnesota environment with Love; however, due to Rick Adelman&rsquo;s hiring and the departure of his predecessor Kurt Rambis, it was short-lived. Rubio did receive a vote of confidence from Marc Gasol regarding Bickerstaff, who coached the former All-Star big man during their time together with the Memphis Grizzlies three seasons ago.
Aware that his career clock is ticking, and that his timeline doesn&rsquo;t exactly match Cleveland&rsquo;s, Rubio is honest about his desire to compete for an NBA championship. He understands that there are phases to a professional basketball career. It usually starts with personal stats and evolves into a hunger to win. A player in his position usually doesn&rsquo;t backtrack, particularly reverting to another rebuild. And <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisFedor/status/1435731716874784770?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who's to say he'll even end the season where he starts it</a>?
Rubio knows how much energy and focus it&rsquo;ll take to combat that realization. That&rsquo;s why, as he issues challenges to the others, he&rsquo;s treating this opportunity as one of his own.
"I think one of my main things is I lead by example,&rdquo; Rubio said. So I'm not going to be just talking, talking, talking and sitting on the side saying you have to do that or this. I'm going to be the first one over there in practice, diving on the floor, whatever it takes to really get it going. So I think they expect all that from me, from the conversations I had, and having like a good impact on the team right away...
&ldquo;...[Can] this young team take the next step? I've been on teams that did that, and I've been on teams that haven't done that. So I know things that work and [don't] work, but at the end of the day, every team is different. We have to know each other. We have to go to training camp with that mentality that we want to win every game. But we want to win every day, get better every day.&rdquo;

Ricky Rubio is looking forward to challenging the Cavaliers' youth and himself this upcoming season, writes Spencer Davies.

Ricky Rubio will demand the best out of young Cavs, himself

T.J. Warren is one of the most interesting players in the NBA for a multitude of reasons. His journey from one-dimensional scorer to full-blown star during the Orlando Bubble led to Warren being more nationally recognized.
After being selected No. 14 overall in the 2014 NBA Draft, Warren was stuck for five years on a Phoenix Suns team with no true direction. While the Suns searched for better lottery ball odds at season&rsquo;s end, Warren&rsquo;s scoring binges went unnoticed in large part due to a lack of NBA talent around him. For a few years, Warren and Devin Booker were the only notable pieces on the Suns&rsquo; roster.
Over time, Warren&rsquo;s fit in Phoenix fizzled out due to the arrival of wings in consecutive seasons. The Suns drafted Josh Jackson No. 4 overall in 2017, but the bigger component revolved around Kelly Oubre Jr.&rsquo;s arrival in Dec. 2018. Quickly, Oubre's infectious energy and two-way game made Warren expendable to the Suns&rsquo; future plans.
Although Warren provided endless buckets, his game was missing simple elements that left him off the mark of underrated players. Warren was allergic to shooting three-pointers, possessing a retro game that would have made him a superstar in the 1980s and 1990s. Also, Warren&rsquo;s lack of playmaking and defensive versatility forced him into a box of how Phoenix could best utilize him.
When the Suns needed to make a decision around who best fit their inside-out duo of Devin Booker and 2018 top pick Deandre Ayton in the 2019 offseason, the choice was obvious. Suns general manager James Jones, who was hired on a full-time basis after the 2018-19 campaign, rolled with Oubre and Mikal Bridges to be the squad's wings of the future. When diving into the advanced metrics, the Booker-Ayton-Warren trio was far and away the worse three-man lineup combination when compared with Oubre and/or Bridges.
Add in a surprising No. 11 overall pick in Cameron Johnson that year, and Warren was squeezed out immediately. Both Warren and Jackson &mdash; the latter of which failed to live up to top-five expectations &mdash; were shipped out for pennies on the dollar to clear cap space to sign veteran point guard Ricky Rubio and re-sign Oubre.
Warren&rsquo;s tenure in Phoenix was known for missed opportunities. Not being able to consistently carve out a long-term role alongside continuous injury issues led to a mutual parting of ways after his fifth season in the Valley. Warren could take over a game for a few minutes with incredibly unique scoring creativity, but everything else was lacking when trying to convince yourself of his potential fit on a great Suns team in the future around Booker and Ayton.
Warren was traded to the Indiana Pacers for cash considerations... that&rsquo;s it. No additional players or draft capital were included for the scoring wing from North Carolina State. It turned heads around the Association for the lack of value received, but, as mentioned, it was a cap-clearing maneuver for Rubio and Oubre Jr.
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A <a href="https://www.basketballinsiders.com/nba-daily-t-j-warren-pacers-building-trust-early-on/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">motivated Warren arrived in Indiana</a>, a much better fit for his score-first game to be insulated by a strong defensive foundation led by Victor Oladipo, Myles Turner and Malcolm Brogdon. During Warren&rsquo;s first season with the Pacers, he thrived within his role while also showcasing a newfound effort on the defensive end when seeing how others around him cared so much about it. Warren averaged a career-high 19.8 points while shooting 40.3% on three-pointers.
The added element of an outside shot appeared during Warren&rsquo;s final season in Phoenix, where he converted on a blistering 42.8% on 4.2 attempts per game. For years, Warren missed this ever-important offensive feature, but he&rsquo;s now been a 40.5% three-point shooter since the 2018-19 season. The Suns still wanted to get rid of Warren because of his high usage, which would take away shot opportunities from Booker and Ayton &mdash; even with added floor-spacing acumen. In Indiana, Warren was able to realize how lethal he could be as a three-level scoring threat.
During the Orlando Bubble, Warren&rsquo;s status around the league reached an entirely new level: an unexpected rise to pseudo-star on ESPN's Wide World of Sports campus in Florida. Warren was incredible for the Pacers during this stretch in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, averaging 26.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.9 threes and 2.4 assists per game while shooting an incredible 47.5% on long-distance opportunities. When Warren scored a career-high 53 points against the Philadelphia 76ers, helping Indiana seal a victory late, the forward&rsquo;s confidence grew to extremely high levels. Warren saw himself on a different tier, and for good reason.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
T.J. Warren still hot from his 53-point performance last game 34 PTS 11 REBS 4 ASTS 3 STLS 4 BLKS Man did it all. <a href="https://t.co/h13cRYmIJA">pic.twitter.com/h13cRYmIJA</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1290413580215435265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2020</a></blockquote>

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Exiting a bubble environment, expectations were sky-high internally and externally from Warren and the Pacers. They saw him as an important member of their core who had the potential to carve out an even larger role throughout the 2020-21 campaign.
Unfortunately, the injury bug bit Warren once again before his most important season yet got off the ground. Warren opted for season-ending foot surgery after four games, which kicked off a roller-coaster season for Indiana that was littered with injuries and drama revolving around first-year head coach Nate Bjorkgren. Warren&rsquo;s absence was felt throughout the season, because Indiana at points struggled to generate consistent offense without a primary option available. Shortly after Warren&rsquo;s surgery, Oladipo was traded to Houston in a four-team deal where Indiana netted promising young wing Caris LeVert in return.
Now the Pacers face the proverbial fork in the road. Rick Carlisle is back in the saddle again as Indiana&rsquo;s head coach after a decade-plus-long stint with the Dallas Mavericks. Carlisle&rsquo;s modern coaching philosophy plays right into Warren&rsquo;s strengths, particularly those that were showcased throughout the jaw-dropping bubble run. The Pacers believe the coach was the main issue, canning Bjorkgren for Carlisle. If Carlisle is unable to improve an underachieving Pacers roster, huge changes could be in store once 2022-23 rolls around. Warren&rsquo;s future is at the top of that list of potential outcomes where the pendulum could swing one way or another.
Entering the final year of his $50 million extension signed in 2017, Warren has certainly outplayed his annual value with his offensive evolution and improved defensive versatility. Looking ahead to a 2022 free-agency class where <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/after-years-of-star-movement-2022-offseason-is-shaping-up-to-be-the-opposite" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stars will be lacking across the board</a>, a jackpot opportunity awaits Warren if he returns to Orlando Bubble-form on a daily basis. There&rsquo;s a chance for Warren to enter 2022 free-agency as the No. 1 option available for teams with flexible cap space. A $100 million or more contract is in arm's length from Warren. All he needs to do is replicate his resurgent debut season with Indiana, while avoiding another injury to add to the laundry list of prior setbacks.
Warren will either be a member of the Pacers long-term or serve as a launching pad for another organization &mdash; at February&rsquo;s trade deadline or next summer as a unrestricted free agent. As a player who can score 20 points per game in his sleep, while also giving more consistent effort as a defender, Warren can help change the fortunes of many franchises looking for one last punch of offensive firepower.
The soon-to-be 28-year-old wing knows this is his big opportunity for a massive payday during his prime. For that reason alone, plus his continued all-around evolution on the basketball court, Warren is certainly one of the most intriguing players to follow throughout the 2021-22 season.

A $100 million-plus payday is awaiting T.J. Warren, making him one of the NBA's most interesting players to monitor throughout the 2021-22 season.

T.J. Warren could earn himself a lucrative payday in contract year

The next NBA season is drawing nearer, and 95% of the offseason business is complete. We still await news on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-freeagency-destinations-for-lauri-markkanen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">what team Lauri Markannen will play for</a>, and at a certain point, Sam Presti has to reduce his stockpile of draft picks over the next several years.
(The bet here is that he packages as many of them as possible to the team/teams most likely to be in the lottery next year, so that he can increase his chances of landing Gonzaga recruit Chet Holmgren with the No. 1 pick.)
With sports gambling now legal in roughly half of the United States, and coming soon to a bunch of remaining states, it is time for a look at what types of odds are out there on a bunch of different NBA wagers.&nbsp;
We&rsquo;re going to take this team-by-team on this particular Monday, because summer is a time for hope, and hoping for the best is what gets us through all 30 in the NBA. So let's begin.
ATLANTA HAWKS: After the Hawks took a bow at Madison Square Garden following their takedown of the Knicks, we can only wonder what is next for Trae Young. His scoring average actually dropped last season by 4.3 points to 25.3 points per game, but we know he is capable of being a 30-point scorer. If he were to do that, and the Hawks were to improve significantly on last season&rsquo;s 41-31 record, the kid will be in the MVP discussion. Right now his odds range from (+1800) at DraftKings Sportsbook to (+2100) at FanDuel. Also, Nate McMillan is (+1500) to (+1600) to win Coach of the Year.
BOSTON CELTICS: With Brad Stevens now running the front office, Al Horford manning the middle again and Dennis Schroder coming in as a capable backup point guard &mdash; Marcus Smart reportedly is <a href="https://nesn.com/2021/08/celtics-reportedly-plan-to-start-marcus-smart-at-point-guard-and-they-should/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expected to be the starter</a> &mdash; this is a transitional year for the Celtics, who are listed at 40-1 to win the championship after their .500 (36-36) finish last season. Ime Udoka has been named the 18th coach in the franchise&rsquo;s 75-year history, and coincidentally, he is 18-1 to win Coach of the Year. Jayson Tatum is among the MVP favorites, with the best odds (+3300) available at PointsBet.com.
BROOKLYN NETS: These guys are favored for just about everything, and with good reason. Kyrie Irving and James Harden are expected back healthy, Kevin Durant just won his third Olympic gold medal and Patty Mills has been brought aboard from the San Antonio Spurs. Steve Nash is the co-favorite along with Erik Spolestra for Coach of the Year, and Harden is favored to lead the league in assists. Cam Thomas, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/did-the-nets-get-a-steal-in-no-27-overall-pick-cam-thomas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the co-MVP of Summer League</a>, has been added to the Rookie of the Year wagering slate with odds all over the board; 60-1 at FanDuel is quite enticing.
CHARLOTTE HORNETS: The team with the reigning Rookie of the Year, LaMelo Ball, had somewhat of a quiet offseason, but made a deal on draft night to acquire Mason Plumlee. The 31-year-old slots in as Charlotte's new starting center. Plumlee was under the radar last season playing in Detroit, but was ranked 64th in VORP (Value Over Replacement Player), just behind Kelly Olynyk and ahead of Jarrett Allen. The Duke grad averaged 10.3 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. Plumlee is 200-1 at PointsBet to lead the NBA in rebounding, and despite the addition of Kelly Oubre Jr., PJ Washington can be found at 100-1 odds for Most Improved Player.
CHICAGO BULLS: We told you Saturday that <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/over-chicago-bulls-win-total-getting-most-action-at-draftkings-sportsbook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bettors are pounding the Bulls on the season win total Over/Under</a> like no other NBA team, because big things are expected from the team that acquired Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso. There are two enticing wagers here. Patrick Williams, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/chicago-bulls-evolved-patrick-williams-offensive-game-at-nba-summer-league" target="_blank" rel="noopener">entering his second season</a> after averaging 9.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game as a rookie, is 100-1 for Most Improved Player at PointsBet.com. And Billy Donovan, about to enter his second season at the helm, is 10-1 for Coach of the Year at DraftKings, putting him just behind Steve Nash and Erik Spoelstra (both 9-1).
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: Jarrett Allen ranked 13th in defensive rebounds and 10th in blocks last season. His defensive win share stats are low, but he will be playing a full season with the Cavs after signing long-term in the offseason, and a bump in rebounds from the 9.9 boards he averaged in 51 games for the Cavs last season could get him into the Defensive Player of the Year debate. He is 40-1 at PointsBet for Defensive Player of the Year and 30-1 to lead the league in rebounds.
DALLAS MAVERICKS: Perhaps Jason Kidd can find a way for Luka Doncic (the consensus MVP favorite) and Kristaps Porzingis to thrive together in a loaded Western Conference. Kidd is 15-1 to win Coach of the Year, but the most intriguing wager here is Moses Brown &mdash; who played with Oklahoma City last season before being traded this offseason to Boston and rerouted to Dallas &mdash; to lead the league in rebounding. Yes, Luka Doncic normally leads the Mavs in boards, so this is like the ultimate flyer bet. But if it hits, those who took Moses at (+7000) could name their new boat &ldquo;Mark Cuban bought me this yacht.&rdquo;&nbsp; (Clint Capela of Atlanta is the rebounding favorite, by the way). Doncic is second behind Bradley Beal to lead the NBA in scoring, and fourth behind James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Trae Young to lead the league in assists (+600).
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DENVER NUGGETS: Nikola Jokic is the defending MVP, but is not the favorite (Doncic is) to win Most Valuable Player this season. Michael Porter Jr. is the favorite for Most Improved Player; in my opinion, Porter should have received stronger consideration last year. If you like players with the same first and last name, Bol Bol is almost dead last on the futures page for Most Improved Player at PointsBet with odds of (+100000). Only Andrew Wiggins (+250000) has longer odds.
DETROIT PISTONS: For obvious reasons, Cade Cunningham is the top choice for Rookie of the Year. But that race is up for grabs, as a good young player on a terrible team can break out over the course of the regular season and outperform someone who was taken quite a few spots higher. This is one of the few awards where a team&rsquo;s final record plays little role in who wins the award. It is purely stat-driven. For that reason, look for players whose time on the floor is high. Signed by Detroit this summer, Kelly Olynyk was a beast for the Houston Rockets after they acquired him from Miami, and he should get lots of burn behind Isaiah Stewart at center and Jerami Grant at power forward. That makes him an enticing pick for Sixth Man of the Year at odds of 66-1 at PointsBet.com.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: Before the NBA rechristened it Most Improved Player, the award was known as Comeback Player of the Year. And if that was still the case, all we would be discussing in this category would be Klay Thompson, who is two seasons removed from playing competitive hoops. None of the major U.S sportsbooks even list him in that category, but FanDuel has him at (+150000) for Most Valuable player. Nobody is listing odds on James Wiseman for Most Improved, and in Rookie of the Year odds, Jonathan Kuminga is listed highest at Fan Duel at (+3400). Moses Moody is (+6600) at PointsBet.com.
HOUSTON ROCKETS: Jalen Suggs is second behind Cunningham for Rookie of the Year, and Kevin Porter Jr. is on the board for Most Improved Player at various odds, the best of which are (+1400) at FanDuel and PointsBet. Christian Wood is (+9000) to lead the league in rebounding.
INDIANA PACERS: Rick Carlisle is the new head coach after the Nate Bjorkgren fiasco, and we shall see what he can do with one of the most underachieving teams in the NBA last season. He is (+1600) to win Coach of the Year, Domantas Sabonis is (+700) to lead the league in rebounding, Myles Turner is (+700) to win Defensive Player of the Year and Malcolm Brogdon is 130-1 for Most Improved Player at FanDuel. The best Rookie of the Year odds on Chris Duarte are (+4600) at FanDuel.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS: LeBron James did not receive any votes from his peers for best NBA player, so that may just fuel him. He is not a favorite anymore for MVP, and the best odds you can find on him in that category are (+1500) at DraftKings, where Anthony Davis is also listed at (+2500). Kendrick Nunn is (+2000) on the board for Sixth Man of the Year, and Frank Vogel is (+1400) for Coach of the Year at BetMGM. One of the biggest line disparities involves Davis for Defensive Player of the Year. He is the (+350) favorite at FanDuel and the fourth choice (+1000) at BetMGM.com.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS: With Kawhi Leonard likely out for most of the season with an ACL injury, there is just not a lot of buzz around the secondary tenants at Staples Center. Paul George is going to have to be the leader of this team, and his MVP odds are alluring. He is (+4000) at Caesars/William Hill and lower everywhere else. Keon Johnson is (+6600) at PointsBet.com for Rookie of the Year, but much lower elsewhere.
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MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES: Theoretically, Memphis could do what Phoenix did last year and sneak up on everybody, and the Grizzlies are 50-1 to win the West. Individually, this very young team has one decent sleeper pick in Jaren Jackson Jr. for Most Improved after he played only 11 games last season. He is listed between 14-1 and 16-1 at various books. Ja Morant is in the 45-1 range for MVP.
MIAMI HEAT: We have already mentioned that Spoelstra is one of the heavy favorites for Coach of the Year, so if you really want an interesting flyer wager, you could do a lot worse than Jimmy Butler at 55-1 for MVP and Kyle Lowry at 300-1 &mdash; not a misprint &mdash; for the same award. The only player with somewhat of a chalk line is Duncan Robinson at 11-1 to lead the league in three-pointers made per game. (Steph Curry is a nutso favorite with a line of (-165)).
MILWAUKEE BUCKS: It is safe to say that Giannis Antetokounmpo is in the mix for a third MVP award if he can stay healthy and make free throws without setting the knee-knocking record, and he is on the board at odds of 8-1 pretty much everywhere. Defensive Player of the Year awards do not usually go to on-ball defenders, but we all got a close look at <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/jrue-holiday-is-the-final-piece-to-any-teams-puzzle-nba-finals-2020-tokyo-olympics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how good Jrue Holiday is in that category</a> during the NBA Finals and the Olympics. Holiday is (+2700) in that category at FanDuel, and (+3000) everywhere else. Pat Connaughton, who had a nice postseason, is 100-1 for Sixth Man of the Year at PointsBet.com. Nobody has him listed for Most Improved.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES: OK, we scrape the back of the brain for something nice to say. They did not have a first- or second-round draft pick, so Rookie of the Year is sort of out of the question. Karl-Anthony-Towns is (+9000) to win MVP, and that probably isn't happening unless he gets traded. And with that, we have run out of nice things to say.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: This revamped roster includes Devonte&rsquo; Graham as the team's new point guard, and if he gets extremely good at lobbing he ball to Zion Williamson and Jonas Valanciunas &mdash; and finding Brandon Ingram &mdash; he might just lead the NBA in assists. If you think that is a realistic possibility, you seem to be alone. No sportsbook lists Graham among the contenders to lead the league in assists. The best you can do is (+6000) on him at PointsBet for Most Improved. Zion Williamson&rsquo;s MVP odds are 40-1 pretty much everywhere.
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NEW YORK KNICKS: Obi Toppin is coming off a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/new-york-knicks-youngsters-exceed-expectations-in-nba-summer-league-las-vegas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">heck of a Summer League</a>, so he has to be in consideration for Most Improved Player if Tom Thibodeau believes in him. He was Player of the Year two years ago in college, so the talent is there. Problem is, the best MIP odds on him are nowhere to be found. He is not listed at any of the major U.S. sportsbooks. For true believers in the orange and blue, Kemba Walker is 400-1 for MVP at DraftKings.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER: Because Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may as well play 48 minutes per game and average 59 points per game until Sam Presti realizes he is damaging his tanking chances, he is a nifty flyer bet at 100-1 (DraftKings) to lead the NBA in scoring.
ORLANDO MAGIC: Do not bet on the Orlando Magic in the futures market, okay? Well, alright, we will give you one thing to consider. Markelle Fultz, back after missing all of last season, is (+8000) for Most Improved Player at DraftKings &mdash; though we'll see <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/breaking-down-6-nba-players-whose-roles-may-be-diminished-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">what his role looks like</a> in a crowded backcourt.
PHILADELPHIA 76ers: A mystery team until we find out <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-ben-simmons" target="_blank" rel="noopener">what they plan to do with Ben Simmons</a>. Joel Embiid was a worthy runner-up for MVP last season, and he is again atop the list of favorites. Curiously, Embiid is 25-1 to lead the league in rebounds while his backup, Andre Drummond, is 20-1. Seth Curry is 80-1 for Most Improved Player, but is not on the board for most three-pointers made per game.
PHOENIX SUNS: The second-place finishers in the NBA Finals are <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/suns-poised-to-be-one-of-the-nbas-best-teams-in-early-portion-of-202122-schedule" target="_blank" rel="noopener">returning pretty much the same cast</a>, with Devin Booker (20-1) listed way ahead of Chris Paul (100-1) in MVP odds. One intriguing possibility is Deandre Ayton for Most Improved, because he did not receive enough of the credit last season for this team&rsquo;s success despite shooting 62.2% in his third NBA season. It's hard to see him improving on that percentage, but should Ayton get into the 70% territory (only Wilt Chamberlain, DeAndre Jordan and Mitchell Robinson have done so), Most Improved could be within his sights. The best odds on that are (+4500) at DraftKings.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS: Chauncey Billups has the same odds (30-1) as Willie Green of the Pelicans to win Coach of the Year. Both are being put in charge of taking their teams to the next level, and Billups has the better team, in my opinion. Damian Lillard is a top-six choice for MVP everywhere except PointsBet, where he is eighth at (+1600). Robert Covington, the Patrick Beverley of forwards, is 100-1 to win Defensive Player of the Year.
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SACRAMENTO KINGS: Nobody places odds on the first coach to be fired. Richaun Holmes has the longest odds of anybody on the board at DraftKings for Most Improved Player at 150-1.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS: Gregg Popovich is 50-1 to win Coach of the Year. New Wizards head coach Wes Unseld Jr. (45-1) and 22 other coaches have better odds. Thaddeus Young is a sneaky Sixth Man pick at 55-1 (provided he gets traded elsewhere).
TORONTO RAPTORS: Our staff loved <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/something-to-prove-og-anunoby-shot-creation-toronto-raptors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OG Anunoby</a> for <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-roundtable-which-player-is-poised-to-break-out-next-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">player most likely to have a breakout season</a>, and he is on the board at just 25-1 at PointsBet but 66-1 at BetMGM. Following the offseason moves that left them a long way from looking like the team that went to the NBA Finals in 2019, it is difficult to find any other members of the Raptors on the boards anywhere.
UTAH JAZZ: If they do what they did last year, Donovan Mitchell is going to get a lot more MVP consideration than he did last season, when these guys snuck up on a lot of people. He is 30-1 for MVP pretty much everywhere, and Jordan Clarkson is the favorite to repeat as Sixth Man of the Year; the same goes for Rudy Gobert with Defensive Player of the Year. Also, Quin Snyder is right up there with the favorites for Coach of the Year. With pretty much the same roster, is it a little surprising to see them listed behind the Lakers, Warriors and Suns to win the West.
WASHINGTON WIZARDS: The Wizards are another off-the-radar team following the trade of Russell Westbrook, but Bradley Beal is the favorite to lead the NBA in scoring and Kyle Kuzma is 40-1 for Most Improved. Curiously, PointsBet.com is the only book listing Montrezl Harrell for Sixth Man of the Year, where he is 20-1. He won the award two years ago and was sixth last season.

Chris Sheridan checks into the NBA's preseason odds and goes through the top wagers to make for all 30 teams.

Best bets: NBA team-by-team odds choices as 2021-22 season approaches

Chris Duarte's path to the NBA is one that's rarely traveled. Entering the league at age 24 &mdash; only seven months younger than Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker &mdash; Duarte had to work pretty hard to even get noticed on a national stage. Beginning his collegiate basketball career at Northwest Florida State, a junior college, Duarte was able to catch the attention of D1 programs and eventually landed at the University of Oregon, a long way away from his native Dominican Republic.
The Indiana Pacers fell in love with Duarte as both a prospect and a person and selected him with the 13th overall pick in this year's draft. On draft night, the 24-year-old Dominican wing accomplished one of his major goals. There were trials and tribulations along the way, though. Nowadays, it&rsquo;s rare to ever see a draft prospect like Duarte go from unnoticed in junior college to being a lottery pick.
Duarte&rsquo;s new journey is just now beginning, and the realization started to kick in of how far he&rsquo;s come during the MGM Grand NBA Las Vegas Summer League.
"It's amazing, man. It's amazing,&rdquo; Duarte said of reaching the NBA. &ldquo;I was just excited about coming to Indy. Just excited about getting drafted. So whatever happened, it happens, so that's the way I was thinking. I was just really excited about seeing my dream come true.&rdquo;
Before becoming one of the hottest names in the pre-draft process &mdash; rising from a late first-round pick to someone who garnered significant buzz from multiple teams in the lottery &mdash; Duarte shined in his final season at Oregon. He averaged 17.1 points, 2.7 assists, 1.9 steals and 0.8 blocks per game while shooting a blistering 42.4% from three-point territory. The 24-year-old do-it-all wing also became one of the NCAA&rsquo;s most efficient scorers, turning in a true shooting percentage of 65.7.
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For a team like Indiana &mdash; one that feels it's ready to win right now with a strong, well-rounded roster &mdash; Duarte fits into their culture seamlessly. New head coach Rick Carlisle, who returns to Indiana after over a decade with the Dallas Mavericks, feels Duarte has a role within their already deep rotation. After sharpshooter Doug McDermott&rsquo;s departure to the San Antonio Spurs in free-agency, Duarte figures to fill that role while also providing even more two-way versatility.
"He's a guy that we feel can play three positions &mdash; two, three and play some one,&rdquo; Carlisle said after the draft about Duarte. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a terrific offensive player. He's a terrific defender. And a guy that's very mature we feel like can help us now.&rdquo;
Duarte became regarded as one of the most NBA-ready prospects in the 2021 draft class. Now with the Pacers in Las Vegas, Duarte is proving those thoughts to be right on the money. Already, he looks the part of an instant-impact rotation player who is reaching the &ldquo;too good for summer league&rdquo; threshold. In Las Vegas, Duarte is averaging 17.5 points, 2.5 assists, two steals and one block while shooting an eye-opening 47.1% from three-point range.
Duarte&rsquo;s confidence is at an all-time high in Las Vegas, allowing the Pacers to experiment with other elements of his game. Although he figures to jump between shooting guard and small forward, there&rsquo;s untapped playmaking potential due to his extremely high basketball IQ. Based off Carlisle&rsquo;s post-draft comments, Duarte could see time as a tertiary playmaker who can create easy looks for others in certain situations.&nbsp;
"Coach Carlisle likes to have multiple ball-handlers,&rdquo; Pacers summer league head coach Mike Weiner said after Indiana's second game on Tuesday. "The league is going more skill-oriented and the more attackers and ball-handlers we have, the better. We feel Chris is going to fit in with that. We&rsquo;re putting him in different situations, wanting him to read the game, feel the game. A lot of the NBA game right now is feel.&rdquo;
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Duarte&rsquo;s feel for the game is already outstanding. Couple that with his pro-ready shooting and defensive versatility, and Indiana has a player poised to take on an important role in his rookie campaign. So far, the returns in summer league on the Duarte pick have been outstanding for Indiana &mdash; and there&rsquo;s no wonder why multiple teams tried to trade up on draft night for him.
"Well, that's me. I let the game come to me,&rdquo; Duarte said after his summer league debut. &ldquo;I don't force a lot of shots. And when I do, I just feel bad about myself, because that's not the right way to play basketball. I'm a team player. I try to make the simple play, so that's me."
Currently, outside of Duarte, one Dominican-born player is on an NBA roster: Al Horford of the Boston Celtics. Duarte is putting a whole country on his back with his strong professional debut in Las Vegas.
Moving forward, keep your eye on Duarte. He&rsquo;s already proving worthy of his lottery status with a well-rounded game that surprisingly has plenty of untapped potential.
Duarte has cleared a major hurdle in getting drafted by the Pacers, but he&rsquo;s not satisfied yet.

Chris Duarte was the oldest prospect in the draft. However, thus far, the Indiana Pacers look like they made a wise decision with their 13th pick.

Chris Duarte showcasing NBA readiness with strong summer league debut

The NBA released some key numbers to remember ahead of Thursday's NBA Draft:
The 2021 NBA Draft will take place on Thursday, July 29 at 8 p.m. ET at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.&nbsp;&nbsp;ABC&nbsp;will televise the&nbsp;first round of the NBA Draft&nbsp;for the first time, and ESPN will air both rounds.&nbsp;
Twenty draft prospects are scheduled to attend and have their once-in-a-lifetime experience on the biggest stage.&nbsp;&nbsp;NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum will announce the selections for the first and second rounds, respectively.&nbsp;
Here is a by-the-numbers look at this year&rsquo;s NBA Draft:&nbsp;
History &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4 &ndash;&nbsp;Since the NBA Draft Lottery began in 1985,&nbsp;four&nbsp;first overall picks have won an NBA championship with the team that drafted them: David Robinson (San Antonio Spurs; first pick in 1987), Tim Duncan (Spurs; first pick in 1997), LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers; first pick in 2003) and Kyrie Irving (Cavaliers; first pick in 2011).&nbsp;James won an NBA championship in his second stint with Cleveland. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6 &ndash;&nbsp;Since the two-round format was adopted in 1989, Kentucky holds the record for the university with the most picks in an NBA Draft &ndash;&nbsp;six&nbsp;each in 2012 and 2015. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Barclays Center will host the NBA Draft for the&nbsp;eighth&nbsp;time.&nbsp;It last hosted the event in 2019 prior to the pandemic. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;11 &ndash;&nbsp;A college freshman has been the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft in each of the last&nbsp;11&nbsp;years. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;15 &ndash;&nbsp;This marks the&nbsp;15th&nbsp;consecutive year that Adam Silver will announce draft selections as either deputy commissioner (seven years) or commissioner (eight years including 2021). &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1947 &ndash;&nbsp;The NBA Draft will be held in July for the first time since&nbsp;1947, the year of the inaugural draft.
Prospects &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 &ndash;&nbsp;In 2020-21, USC forward-center Evan Mobley became the&nbsp;first&nbsp;player to win the Pac-12 Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards in the same season. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3 &ndash;&nbsp;Florida State forward Scottie Barnes, NBA G League Ignite guard Jalen Green and Gonzaga guard Jalen Suggs have won&nbsp;three&nbsp;gold medals together with USA Basketball in international play: 2019 FIBA U-19 Basketball World Cup, 2018 FIBA U-17 Basketball World Cup and 2017 FIBA U-16 Americas Championship. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4 &ndash;&nbsp;Four&nbsp;2021 NBA Draft prospects were teammates on the Montverde (Fla.) Academy team that went 25-0 during the 2019-20 high school season: Scottie Barnes, Oklahoma State guard Cade Cunningham, Arkansas guard Moses Moody and North Carolina center Day'Ron Sharpe.&nbsp;&nbsp; &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7.6 &ndash;&nbsp;Adelaide 36ers guard Josh Giddey (Australia) led Australia&rsquo;s National Basketball League in assists with&nbsp;7.6&nbsp;per game in the 2020-21 season. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;19 &ndash;&nbsp;Besiktas forward Alperen Sengun (Turkey), the 2020-21 Turkish League MVP, turned&nbsp;19&nbsp;on July 25. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;48 &ndash;&nbsp;Tennessee guard&nbsp;Keon Johnson set the NBA Combine record with a max vertical jump of&nbsp;48&nbsp;inches.&nbsp;&nbsp; &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;75 &ndash;&nbsp;Last season, Cade&nbsp;Cunningham became Oklahoma State&rsquo;s first consensus All-America First Team selection in&nbsp;75&nbsp;years.
Teams &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2 &ndash;&nbsp;The Houston Rockets franchise is set to select&nbsp;second&nbsp;overall in the NBA Draft for the first time in 51 years.&nbsp;In 1970, the then San Diego Rockets selected five-time NBA All-Star Rudy Tomjanovich with the No. 2 pick. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3 &ndash;&nbsp;The Oklahoma City Thunder has&nbsp;three&nbsp;picks in both the first round (Nos. 6, 16 and 18 overall) and the second round (Nos. 34, 36 and 55 overall). &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4 &ndash;&nbsp;The Toronto Raptors are poised to pick&nbsp;fourth&nbsp;overall in the NBA Draft for the first time since selecting newly elected Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Chris Bosh at that spot in 2003. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7 &ndash;&nbsp;The Golden State Warriors&rsquo; first pick in the NBA Draft is at No.&nbsp;7&nbsp;overall, a spot where they have selected five-time NBA All-Star Chris Mullin (1985), two-time Kia NBA MVP Stephen Curry (2009) and NBA champion Harrison Barnes (2012) during the NBA Draft Lottery era. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;49 &ndash;&nbsp;The Cleveland Cavaliers are set to pick third overall in the NBA Draft for the first time in&nbsp;49&nbsp;years. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;51 &ndash;&nbsp;The Detroit Pistons are poised&nbsp;to make the first pick in&nbsp;the NBA Draft for the first time in&nbsp;51&nbsp;years.&nbsp;&nbsp;In 1970, the Pistons used the top pick to select eight-time NBA All-Star Bob Lanier, a longtime ambassador for the NBA Cares program.&nbsp;
Family Ties &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9.2 &ndash;&nbsp;Auburn guard&nbsp;Sharife Cooper&rsquo;s&nbsp;sister, Te&rsquo;a Cooper, is currently averaging&nbsp;9.2&nbsp;points per game with the Los Angeles Sparks in her second WNBA season.&nbsp;&nbsp; &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;10 &ndash;&nbsp;Michigan forward Franz Wagner (Germany) and his brother, Orlando Magic forward-center Moritz Wagner, were both All-Big&nbsp;Ten&nbsp;Team selections with the Wolverines.&nbsp;&nbsp; &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12 &ndash;&nbsp;Houston guard&nbsp;Quentin Grimes&rsquo;&nbsp;brother, NHL veteran Tyler Myers, was selected&nbsp;12th&nbsp;overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.&nbsp; &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;33 &ndash;&nbsp;Boise State&nbsp;forward&nbsp;Derrick Alston Jr.&rsquo;s father, Derrick Sr., was the&nbsp;33rd&nbsp;overall pick in the 1994 NBA Draft and played three seasons in the league.&nbsp; &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1984 &ndash;&nbsp;Tennessee guard Jaden Springer is the son of Gary Springer, who was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the&nbsp;1984&nbsp;NBA Draft. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1992 &ndash;&nbsp;Loyola Maryland forward&nbsp;Santi&nbsp;Aldama (Spain)&nbsp;is the son of Santiago&nbsp;Aldama&nbsp;Ales&oacute;n, who was a&nbsp;member of the Spanish National Team that competed against the Dream Team at the&nbsp;1992&nbsp;Barcelona Olympics.&nbsp; &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2015 &ndash;&nbsp;Gonzaga guard&nbsp;Joel&nbsp;Ayayi (France)&nbsp;is the brother of&nbsp;Valeriane&nbsp;Ayayi&nbsp;Vukosavljevic, who played in the WNBA in&nbsp;2015.&nbsp;
Global Game &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 &ndash;&nbsp;Australia&rsquo;s Josh Giddey is poised to become the&nbsp;first&nbsp;NBA Academy graduate to be drafted into the NBA.&nbsp;Giddey attended NBA Global Academy in Canberra, Australia. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;If NBA G League Ignite forward Jonathan Kuminga is drafted in the top&nbsp;six, he would be the highest-drafted player from the Democratic Republic of the Congo since Dikembe Mutombo was drafted fourth overall in 1991. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9 &ndash;&nbsp;Last year, a record&nbsp;nine&nbsp;players from or with ties to Nigeria were drafted: Isaac Okoro, Onyeka Okongwu, Aaron Nesmith, Precious Achiuwa, Zeke Nnaji, Udoka Azubuike, Desmond Bane, Daniel Oturu and Jordan Nwora. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;13 &ndash;&nbsp;Thirteen&nbsp;international players have been selected No. 1 overall in the NBA Draft, most recently Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton (Bahamas) in 2018. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;27 &ndash;&nbsp;A record&nbsp;27&nbsp;international players were selected in the 2016 NBA Draft, including a record 15 in the first round and a record-tying 12 in the second round. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;68 &ndash; Sixty-eight&nbsp;former Basketball Without Borders campers have been drafted into the NBA.&nbsp;This year&rsquo;s class features a number of potential draftees with BWB experience, including Gonzaga guard Joel Ayayi (France; BWB Europe 2017), Western Kentucky forward-center Charles Bassey (Nigeria; BWB Global 2017 &amp; 2018), Paris Basket guard Juhann Begarin (France; BWB Europe 2019; BWB Global 2020), Zalgiris Kaunas guard Rokas Jokubaitis (Lithuania; BWB Europe 2017), Adelaide 36ers guard Josh Giddey (Australia; BWB Asia 2018; BWB Global 2020), Texas forward-center Kai Jones (Bahamas; BWB Americas 2017), Seton Hall forward Sandro Mamukelashvili (Georgia; BWB Global 2017), KK Mega Basket forward-center Filip Petrusev (Serbia; BWB Europe 2017; BWB Global 2018), Alabama guard Josh Primo (Canada; BWB Global 2020) and Oostende forward Amar Sylla (Senegal; BWB Africa 2018; BWB Global 2019). &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;215/25 &ndash;&nbsp;The NBA Draft will reach fans live in&nbsp;215&nbsp;countries and territories in&nbsp;25&nbsp;languages on their televisions, computers, mobile devices and tablets. &nbsp; NBA G League &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4 &ndash;&nbsp;Four&nbsp;former five-star high school prospects who helped lead NBA G League Ignite to the 2021 NBA G League Playoffs are entered in the&nbsp;NBA Draft:&nbsp;Jalen&nbsp;Green, Jonathan&nbsp;Kuminga, guard&nbsp;Daishen Nix and forward Isaiah Todd.&nbsp;&nbsp; &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;24 &ndash;&nbsp;Twenty-four&nbsp;of the 60 players who were selected in the 2020 NBA Draft played in the NBA G League during the 2020-21 season, including five first-round selections. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;49 &ndash;&nbsp;Daishen&nbsp;Nix&nbsp;has a chance to join Carlos Boozer, Mario Chalmers and Trajan Langdon as NBA players who grew up in the&nbsp;49th&nbsp;state &ndash; Alaska.&nbsp; &nbsp; ESPN &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 &ndash;&nbsp;The NBA Draft will air on both ABC and ESPN for the&nbsp;first&nbsp;time ever. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Five&nbsp;virtual technology cameras will be used for the telecast. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;ABC and ESPN&rsquo;s on-air talent will feature&nbsp;12&nbsp;reporters. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;19 &ndash;&nbsp;ESPN will present the NBA Draft for the&nbsp;19th&nbsp;consecutive year. &nbsp; NBA TV &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4 &ndash;&nbsp;NBA TV&rsquo;s NBA Draft night coverage will include&nbsp;four&nbsp;former first-round picks: Rex Chapman, No. 8 in 1988; Brian Shaw, No. 24 in 1988; Jim Jackson, No. 4 in 1992; and Brendan Haywood, No. 20 in 2001. &nbsp; Partners &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;38&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Wilson was last used as the official basketball of the NBA&nbsp;38&nbsp;years ago.&nbsp;Last seen on the court in the 1983 NBA Finals, Wilson basketballs will adorn the green room at the NBA Draft and will join the latest draft class on the court for the 2021-22 season. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;75&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;The NBA Draft Cap from New Era features the commemorative NBA&nbsp;75th&nbsp;Anniversary Season logo and marks the first league-licensed product to carry the logo.

The 2021 NBA Draft: By the Numbers

LeBron James' illustrious NBA career takes on a new light if you look through the lenses of his teammates.
James has shared the court with a diverse cast of NBA players ever since he joined the Cleveland Cavaliers back in 2003. Along the way, his teammates have evolved with the NBA game, from bruising bigs to sharpshooting guards.&nbsp;
Below is a ranking of James' best supporting-cast members. There's plenty of room for debate, but it's also worth noting the unique skill sets of each player who cracked the list. James has shown that he can integrate with all sorts of teammates in his 18-year career; many have also stepped up to aid The King when he needed them.
10. Carlos Boozer (2003-04)
Prior to joining the Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls, Boozer started his career in Cleveland one year before the franchise drafted James. The tough-nosed big man averaged a double-double in his second season, with a cool 15.5 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.
The short stint was highlighted by a monster 32-point, 20-rebound performance against the Seattle SuperSonics. Though it was a short-lived pairing with LeBron, Boozer's time with the Cavs hinted at what would become one of the more underrated careers of the past decade-plus.
9. J.R. Smith (2015-2018)
Smith's notoriety stems from one admittedly mind-numbing play in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals. But it overshadows a rock-solid run in Cleveland as a microwave scorer. The former Knick came over via a three-team trade and averaged 10.5 points per game during his three seasons and change next to James.&nbsp;
His 2018 blunder overshadows some impressive playoff performances. His 20-point outburst against the Warriors in Game 3 of the NBA Finals helped the Cavs get on the course to a championship. Smith also shot a ridiculous 50% from three-point land in the 2016-17 postseason.&nbsp;
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8. Ray Allen (2012-14)

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One of the greatest shooters ever finished off his career with two seasons on the LeBron-led Miami Heat. Allen put up 10.3 points per game in a hyper-sixth-man role, and still canned 39.8% of his triples during that stretch.
Of course, the most memorable moment came in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals. Who could forget Mike Breen's call? "Rebound Bosh, back out to Allen, his three-pointer... BANG!" That clutch bucket rivals any shot ever made by a LeBron-James teammate.
7. Mo Williams (2008-10, 2015-16)
The journeyman stopped for two seasons in Cleveland and instantly became the best scorer behind LeBron James. Williams was electric as a 6-foot-1 point guard, averaging 16.9 points while knocking down 43.2% of his three-point attempts. He dropped two games of 40-plus points in a three-week span during winter of 2009. He was named an All-Star in 2008-09, when he averaged 17.8 points, 4.1 assists and 3.4 rebounds while shooting 43.6% from deep.
Williams would later return to Cleveland and get an elusive championship during the 2015-16 season. He suited up for 41 games at age 33, starting 14 of those contests.
6. Zydrunas Ilgauskas (2003-2011)
"Big Z" was LeBron's greatest teammate in his original campaign with the Cavaliers. Ilgauskas was a rock in the paint, and he averaged 12.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 589 games over an eight-season span. The 7-foot-3 center played in at least 72 regular-season games during six of those years, and while he wasn't a highlight-reel machine, he consistently battled inside.&nbsp;
Ilgauskas earned an All-Star nod in 2005. That season, he led the league in total offensive rebounds (299) and finished sixth in blocked shots (165). When James left for Miami in 2010, Ilgauskas followed him, playing out his final NBA season with the Heat. This makes the Lithuanian one of the longest-tenured teammates in James' career.
5. Kevin Love (2014-2018)
Cleveland's acquisition of Kevin Love marks the second-biggest trade on a LeBron-led squad. By necessity, Love was never quite the player that obliterated defenses in Minnesota. But he still succeeded as a stretch center, and his career during the mid-2010's might actually be a bit underrated.
Love averaged a cool 17.1 points and 10.0 rebounds per game while shooting 37.7% from downtown between 2014 and 2018. He made two All-Star appearances in 2014 and 2017, and towards the end of the run, he really found his footing in Cleveland. Injuries ultimately factored in, as Love played just four postseason games in the 2015 postseason and surpassed 60 regular-season games only twice.
4. Chris Bosh (2010-2014)
Bosh may slot in fourth, but that should not discredit his impact as a member of the Big 3 in Miami. Despite a <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/boshch01.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noticeable downturn in usage rate</a>, the steady forward seamlessly transitioned from a featured role in Toronto to a steady glue-guy presence.
Also, he completely altered his game, evolving from an interior scorer to a stretch five. During his final season in Toronto, he attempted just 22 three-pointers (or 0.3 threes per game). From 2010-11 through 2013-14, he attempted 1.2 threes per game. Bosh landed on four All-Star teams in those four years, while averaging 17.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.&nbsp;
Bosh's coaches and teammates would often describe him as Miami's most important player during that run. Udonis Haslem <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-miami-heat-udonis-haslem-everybody-cant-handle-pressure-of-playing-with-lebron-james" target="_blank" rel="noopener">praised Bosh</a> for being the consummate teammate on James Posey's podcast,&nbsp;The Posecast. His willingness to take a back seat to James and Dwyane Wade helped Miami capture those two titles.&nbsp;
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Kyrie Irving was unreal in the 2016 NBA Finals🔥<a href="https://t.co/Ci3u1A4Qqj">pic.twitter.com/Ci3u1A4Qqj</a>
&mdash; Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheHoopCentral/status/1242185554885619715?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2020</a></blockquote>

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3. Kyrie Irving (2014-2017)
The signature bucket in Cleveland basketball history might belong to Kyrie Irving. His dagger in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals created ripples across the NBA landscape. But the rising star deserved credit for his overall postseason play that year, when he averaged 24.7 points and 4.6 assists per game while shooting a scorching 44% from long range.&nbsp;
Irving made the 2014-15 All-NBA Third Team in his first year next to James. He averaged 22.4 points and 5.3 assists per game during the three-year span, and it marked the rise of one of the league's best point guards.
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2. Dwyane Wade (2010-2014, 2017-2018)
LeBron and D-Wade teamed up right as the longtime Miami Heat superstar reached the latter stages of his prime. But Wade still averaged 22.2 points, 4.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds per contest across four years while winning his second and third championships with the franchise. He tossed in some crucial playoff performances, such as Game 5 of the 2012 East Semis, when Wade scored 41 points to help down the rival Indiana Pacers.
The face of the Heat earned All-NBA recognition in three of four seasons with James in Miami. But don't forget about Wade's second stint as a partner in crime, either. Though it only lasted 46 games, the duo paired up again in Cleveland during the 2017-18 season.
1. Anthony Davis (2019-present)
Some will dock Davis among LeBron James teammates because of his lack of longevity. But Davis is batting 1.000 in terms of rings, and in a vacuum, is the best player that has ever shared the court with James. He's the only teammate who was also the consensus best player at his position.
The Brow landed on the All-NBA and All-Defensive First Teams last season while averaging 26.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. He even edged out LeBron (27.7 PPG to 27.6) in postseason per-game scoring. With only one season under his belt, Davis has the highest MVP ranking (sixth) in James teammate history. He's a transcendent big man whose run with the King has only just taken off.&nbsp;

LeBron James has teamed up with some of basketball's best over the past decade. Ethan Fuller ranks his top running mates.

Ranking LeBron James' best teammates over the years

NBA All-Star 2021 will take place on Sunday, March 7 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, reaching fans in 215 countries and territories in more than 50 languages on their televisions, computers, mobile phones and tablets. This marks Atlanta&rsquo;s third time hosting the league&rsquo;s annual global celebration of basketball.
TNT&rsquo;s NBA All-Star coverage in the United States will begin at 5 p.m. ET with TNT NBA Tip-Off presented by CarMax, followed by the Taco Bell Skills Challenge and MTN DEW 3-Point Contest starting at 6:30 p.m. ET. NBA All-Star Game coverage on TNT will begin at 8 p.m. ET, with the AT&amp;T Slam Dunk Contest taking place at halftime. ESPN Radio coverage in the U.S. will begin at 7 p.m. ET.
Below are facts and figures about NBA All-Star 2021:
NBA All-Star Game
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">4 &ndash;&nbsp;The Phoenix Suns&rsquo; Chris Paul is the third player to be named an All-Star with&nbsp;four&nbsp;different franchises, joining Moses Malone and Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">9 &ndash;&nbsp;The LA Clippers&rsquo; Paul George&nbsp;made a record&nbsp;nine&nbsp;3-pointers on his way to 41 points in the 2016 NBA All-Star Game while representing the Indiana Pacers.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">17 &ndash;&nbsp;The Los Angeles Lakers&rsquo; LeBron James has been selected as an NBA All-Star&nbsp;17&nbsp;times, third most in league history behind Kareem Abdul Jabbar (19) and Kobe Bryant (18).&nbsp; James is also set to start the All-Star Game for the&nbsp;17th&nbsp;consecutive year.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">20 &ndash;&nbsp;At&nbsp;20&nbsp;years old, the New Orleans Pelicans&rsquo; Zion Williamson is set to become the fourth-youngest player to play in the NBA All-Star Game, behind Kobe Bryant, James and Magic Johnson.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">27.3 &ndash;&nbsp;The Milwaukee Bucks&rsquo; Giannis Antetokounmpo has the highest scoring average in NBA All-Star Game history at&nbsp;27.3&nbsp;points per game.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">58 &ndash;&nbsp;As part of the game production,&nbsp;58&nbsp;cameras will be positioned around the arena, including more than 30 in robotic form in the tunnel, practice court and locker room.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">70 &ndash;&nbsp;This is the&nbsp;70th&nbsp;edition of the NBA All-Star Game, which was first played in 1951.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">385 &ndash;&nbsp;James is the leading scorer in NBA All-Star Game history with&nbsp;385&nbsp;points.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">7,424,951 &ndash;&nbsp;NBA All-Star Voting 2021 presented by AT&amp;T set a single-day record with&nbsp;7,424,951&nbsp;fan votes cast on Jan. 28.</li>
</ul>
AT&amp;T Slam Dunk Contest
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">1 &ndash;&nbsp;In the final round, the two competitors who advance that far will perform&nbsp;one&nbsp;dunk each and the winner will be determined by &ldquo;Judges&rsquo; Choice&rdquo; instead of individual score.&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">2 &ndash;&nbsp;Two&nbsp;Slam Dunk participants, the Portland Trail Blazers&rsquo; Anfernee Simons and the Pacers&rsquo; Cassius Stanley, have NBA G League experience.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">3 &ndash;&nbsp;Nate Robinson is the only player to win Slam Dunk&nbsp;three&nbsp;times (2006, 2009, 2010).&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">7 &ndash;&nbsp;This year&rsquo;s five Slam Dunk judges (Dee Brown, Jason Richardson, Josh Smith, Spud Webb and Dominique Wilkins) won a combined&nbsp;seven&nbsp;Slam Dunk titles.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">44 &ndash;&nbsp;Stanley recorded a maximum vertical leap of&nbsp;44&nbsp;inches in the 2020 NBA Draft Combine, tied for the third-highest mark since 2000.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">107 &ndash;&nbsp;Slam Dunk competitor Obi Toppin of the New York Knicks led Division I college basketball in dunks last season with&nbsp;107.</li>
</ul>
MTN DEW&nbsp;3-Point Contest
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">3 &ndash;&nbsp;The 3-Point Contest will feature two shots in the deep &ldquo;MTN DEW Zone&rdquo; that are worth&nbsp;three&nbsp;points each.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">6 &ndash;&nbsp;The&nbsp;six-player field&nbsp;will be composed entirely of 2021 NBA All-Stars &ndash; Devin Booker of the Suns, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics, Zach LaVine of the Chicago Bulls and Donovan Mitchell of the Jazz &ndash; making it the first 3-Point Contest in which each participant is a current All-Star.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">7 &ndash;&nbsp;Curry, the 2015 champion, will compete for the&nbsp;seventh&nbsp;time, tying Dale Ellis for the second-most appearances behind Craig Hodges (eight).</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">2,664 &ndash;&nbsp;Curry has made&nbsp;2,664&nbsp;career 3-pointers, second most in NBA history behind Ray Allen (2,973).</li>
</ul>
Taco Bell&nbsp;Skills Challenge
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">2 &ndash;&nbsp;Steve Nash and Dwyane Wade are the only&nbsp;two-time winner of the&nbsp;Skills Challenge.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">5 &ndash;&nbsp;Chris Paul is making his record&nbsp;fifth&nbsp;appearance in the&nbsp;Skills Challenge and his first since 2011.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">22 &ndash;&nbsp;Dončić, who turned&nbsp;22&nbsp;on Feb. 28, is the first player in Mavericks history to be voted as an NBA All-Star Game starter in two consecutive years.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">2013 &ndash;&nbsp;Robert Covington, who entered the NBA in&nbsp;2013,&nbsp;attended Tennessee State, an HBCU in Nashville, Tenn.</li>
</ul>
NBA All-Star in Atlanta
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">3&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;This is the&nbsp;third&nbsp;NBA All-Star in Atlanta, which previously hosted in 1978 and 2003.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">27 &ndash;&nbsp;The Buffalo Braves&rsquo; Randy Smith scored&nbsp;27&nbsp;points to lead the Eastern Conference past the Western Conference 133-125 in the 1978 NBA All-Star Game, the first time that Atlanta hosted.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">300 &ndash;&nbsp;The teams combined for&nbsp;300&nbsp;points in the 2003 NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta, where the Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference 155-145 in the only double-overtime game in All-Star history.&nbsp; Kevin Garnett scored a game-high 37 points and Michael Jordan had 20 points in his final NBA All-Star Game.</li>
</ul>
NBA All-Star Entertainment
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">12&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;All-Star entertainers have earned a&nbsp;combined&nbsp;12&nbsp;GRAMMY Awards during their careers.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">7 &ndash;&nbsp;Gladys Knight, a&nbsp;seven-time GRAMMY Award winner, will sing the U.S. national anthem at NBA All-Star 2021.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">3 &ndash;&nbsp;Three-time GRAMMY Award winner and Florida A&amp;M University alum Common will introduce the Clark Atlanta University Philharmonic Society Choir, which will perform an original rendition of &ldquo;Lift Every Voice and Sing.&rdquo;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">1 &ndash; GRAMMY Award winner and singer-songwriter Alessia Cara will sing the Canadian national anthem.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">1 &ndash; GRAMMY Award winner Anthony Hamilton will perform his song &ldquo;Fine Again&rdquo; in recognition of frontline workers.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">100&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;The nationally-recognized Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band and Florida A&amp;M University Marching&nbsp;100&nbsp;will play during NBA All-Star player introductions from their respective historic campuses.</li>
</ul>
NBA All-Star Around the World
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">1 &ndash;&nbsp;For the&nbsp;first&nbsp;time ever in Canada, TSN, Sportsnet and RDS will televise all the All-Star events.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">2 &ndash; Two&nbsp;international players have been named All-Star Game MVP: Tim Duncan (U.S. Virgin Islands; 2000) and Kyrie Irving (Australia; 2014).</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">4 &ndash;&nbsp;Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers; Cameroon) is one of&nbsp;four&nbsp;players born in Africa to be at least a four-time All-Star, along with Dikembe Mutombo (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Steve Nash (South Africa) and Hakeem Olajuwon (Nigeria).</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">6 &ndash;&nbsp;A record&nbsp;six&nbsp;European players were named All-Stars this season: Antetokounmpo (Greece), Luka Dončić (Dallas Mavericks; Slovenia), Rudy&nbsp;Gobert&nbsp;(Utah Jazz; France),&nbsp;Nikola Jokić (Denver Nuggets; Serbia), Domantas Sabonis (Indiana Pacers; Lithuania) and Nikola&nbsp;Vučević&nbsp;(Orlando Magic; Montenegro).</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">9/5 &ndash;&nbsp;There are a record&nbsp;nine&nbsp;international All-Stars, including a record&nbsp;five&nbsp;international players voted All-Star Game starters.&nbsp; The nine international All-Stars are Antetokounmpo, Dončić, Embiid, Gobert, Irving, Jokić, Sabonis, Ben Simmons (76ers; Australia) and Vučević.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">14 &ndash;&nbsp;Fourteen&nbsp;active international players have been named All-Stars during their careers.</li>
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NBA All-Star on TNT
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<li style="font-weight: 400;">7 &ndash;&nbsp;TNT&rsquo;s announcing team of Marv Albert, Reggie Miller and Chris Webber will call its&nbsp;seventh&nbsp;straight NBA All-Star Game together.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">8&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Analysts&nbsp;Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal (3), Isiah Thomas (2), Charles&nbsp;Barkley (1), Dwyane Wade (1) and Candace Parker (1) have won a combined&nbsp;eight&nbsp;All-Star MVP awards in the NBA and WNBA.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">19 &ndash;&nbsp;TNT will present the NBA All-Star Game for the&nbsp;19th straight year.</li>
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NBA All-Star on ESPN Radio
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<li style="font-weight: 400;">25 &ndash;&nbsp;ESPN Radio will broadcast its&nbsp;25th&nbsp;NBA All-Star Game.&nbsp; Commentator Marc Kestecher and analyst Jon Barry will call the game action, with Kevin Winter and analyst P.J. Carlesimo anchoring pregame, halftime and postgame studio coverage.&nbsp; ESPN Radio host and Los Angeles Sparks star Chiney Ogwumike will join the broadcast at halftime as a special guest analyst for AT&amp;T Slam Dunk.</li>
</ul>
Support for HBCUs and COVID-19 Equity Efforts
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<li style="font-weight: 400;">9&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Throughout the game, members of the Divine&nbsp;Nine&nbsp;fraternities and sororities, a prestigious group of nine historically Black Greek letter organizations, will introduce step teams from Spelman College and Morehouse College.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">37/47 &ndash;&nbsp;As part of this year&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="https://pr.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2021/03/2021-NBA-All-Star-Game-Format-3-4-21.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://pr.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2021/03/2021-NBA-All-Star-Game-Format-3-4-21.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615047366969000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHdCojJOVRRBY1zllGkbqgXgB87Sg">game format</a>, the two All-Star teams will play for either UNCF (consisting of&nbsp;37&nbsp;member colleges) or Thurgood Marshall College Fund (composed of&nbsp;47&nbsp;publicly-supported HBCUs) as their respective beneficiary, with both providing scholarship funding to further HBCU students&rsquo; higher education.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">3,400 &ndash;&nbsp;The Goodr NBA All-Star Grocery Pop-Up presented by Kaiser Permanente will benefit nearly&nbsp;3,400&nbsp;families in need across 16 locations in Metro Atlanta by providing them with free groceries and household essentials.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">3 Million &ndash;&nbsp;As part of NBA All-Star 2021, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association will commit more than&nbsp;$3 million&nbsp;in initial funds and resources toward HBCUs and support awareness around equity and access to COVID-19 care, relief and vaccines.</li>
</ul>

Here are some interesting facts and figures about the 2021 NBA All-Star Weekend.