Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics raised their championship banner #18 with jubilation as they took down the New York Knicks on Tuesday night at the Boston Garden.
Members of the 2023-2024 title squad were each handed out their respective championship rings pregame. It is Boston&rsquo;s 18th NBA championship, making them the winningest franchise in league history.
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The 18th championship banner rises for the Boston Celtics ☘️👏🏽 (🎥 <a href="https://twitter.com/danield1214?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@danield1214</a>) <a href="https://t.co/QQh7BguwJe">pic.twitter.com/QQh7BguwJe</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1848868309644808670?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2024</a></blockquote>

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CHAMPS. ☘️💍 <a href="https://t.co/KNSqvK2gyR">pic.twitter.com/KNSqvK2gyR</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1848869435718914206?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2024</a></blockquote>

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To celebrate their first title, Jayson Tatum and the rest of the Celtics ran the visiting Knicks down the court all game, earning a resounding 132-109 win. Tatum had a monster game in just 30 minutes, finishing with 37 points on 14-18 FG and 8-11 from three with 10 assists and 4 rebounds.
The Celtics as a team tied an NBA record for three pointers made in a game with 29, along with the Milwaukee Bucks who did it in 2020. Boston fully embraced coach Joe Mazzulla&rsquo;s philosophies with 61 three-point attempts, and this same formula won them a title a year ago.
Boston got everybody to contribute with Derrick White&rsquo;s 24, Jaylen Brown&rsquo;s 23, and Jrue Holiday&rsquo;s 18 proved to be too much for the new-look New York team with Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges playing their first official regular season games with the team.
The night was such a cool moment for Boston&rsquo;s sports fans as former Celtic legends Bob Cousy (who came out in a wheelchair), Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen all graced the game to see the 2024 championship banner go up next to the 17 others already in the rafters.
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FINAL SCORE: Knicks 109 - 132 Celtics Player of the Game: JAYSON TATUM 📊 37 PTS | 14-18 FG | 8-11 3PT | 10 AST | 4 REB The defending champs opened the season with a dominant home win, tying the franchise record for most threes in a game with 29 🔥 <a href="https://t.co/YVoypHD6HH">pic.twitter.com/YVoypHD6HH</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1848903456893112367?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2024</a></blockquote>

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The Boston Celtics raised their championship banner #18 with jubilation as they took down the New York Knicks on Tuesday.

Jayson Tatum, Celtics celebrate Ring Night 2024 with resounding win over Knicks

This article was originally published on BasketballNews on July 20, 2022.
Impact Basketball's facility sits inside an unassuming section of an unassuming plaza on Dean Martin Drive in Las Vegas.
The gym contains two light-colored hardwood basketball courts with a small scoreboard, a weightlifting area, a makeshift stretching room, a kitchenette for meals and snacks and a small office. It's no place for vanities. The only flexes are the dozens of white banners hanging on the right wall, listing names upon names of distinguished players who have come through during the gym's 25 years of existence.
Among those players: Kevin Garnett, Kawhi Leonard, Chauncey Billups, Kyle Lowry, Kelsey Plum, Tayshaun Prince, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Haliburton, DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall, Al Harrington, Kristaps Porzingis, Nassir Little, Saddiq Bey and Ziaire Williams.&nbsp;
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Kevin Garnett stopped by <a href="https://twitter.com/impactbball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@impactbball</a> and offered some advice to Blazers guard Keon Johnson, Mavericks wing Josh Green and 16-year-old prospect Dayan Nessah.<a href="https://twitter.com/Joe_Abunassar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Joe_Abunassar</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinGarnett5KG?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KevinGarnett5KG</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/iamkeonjohnson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@iamkeonjohnson</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshBGreen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JoshBGreen</a> <a href="https://t.co/fwRjAM2WHJ">pic.twitter.com/fwRjAM2WHJ</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1548046089877524482?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Impact Basketball, founded by trainer Joe Abunassar in 1997, has a reputation for its star-studded, closed-door pickup games that take place during the NBA offseason. In the spring, it's also where some of the top NBA Draft hopefuls join Abunassar's pre-draft "boot camp" and commit themselves to an intricate world of sports training and nutrition.
The timeline is simple: arrive by April, revamp your training lifestyle and find your professional pathway &mdash; either via the NBA Draft, an undrafted free-agent deal or another contract &mdash; afterwards. The work is not flashy, isn't always fun and, if you want to stick as a pro, never ends.
But the results can change lives.
"It's not about W's or L's, it's about M's &mdash; M's being millions of dollars," said Isaac Mourier, Impact's Director of Performance Nutrition and Sport Science. "Once you say that to a guy like that, that's all they need in terms of motivation."
Mourier is a key cog in Impact's program. He's from the United Kingdom and played professional basketball in England and Germany before starting his own sports nutrition consulting business. Mourier has worked for the University of Georgia and Sacramento Kings as a nutritionist and consultant, and joined Impact in 2020 during the spring.
During his two-and-a-half years and three draft cycles with the company, Mourier has filled his laptop with infographics and progress charts for Impact athletes. They include individualized goals for each player; an example involves raising one prospect's weight by 20 pounds, lowering his body fat by 2%, increasing his bench press weight by 50 pounds and adding two inches to his vertical.
Mourier feels privileged to work with athletes at this stage of their careers. To him, the noise of team ecosystems and outside expectations all fade away. He can clearly define goals, and players know exactly what success will look like.
"This is the first time, maybe ever in their life, where they have a team of people that are only worried about them," he said. "Now, I'm just trying to get you to the NBA and keep you there. I don't care whether you win or lose games right now. This is you. All the focus is on you."
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Boot camp begins as soon as players are done with their respective prior seasons. They arrive at Impact and take part in comprehensive body testing to establish a full physical profile. The technology includes a bioelectrical impedence analysis that uses electrical currents to scan body composition. Sweat patches can read how much sodium athletes need in their system.
Variables such as blood work, stress hormone levels, nutrient deficienies, pre-workout hydration levels and post-workout hydration levels, body composition and body fat percentages all help establish a baseline of strengths and needs.
From there, each prospect receives an individualized growth roadmap. Skill development makes up one component. Players often train together in small groups, but they receive specific plans that prepare them for team pre-draft workouts and the NBA level.
"We're looking and analyzing and making assessments on the court; if guys are getting bumped off their cuts, if guys don't have enough lower-body power in their jump shot and guys seem like they need to get stronger, if guys aren't fast enough, [we'll consider], 'Okay, what do we need to do in the weight room or from a nutrition standpoint to correct that?'" Abunassar told Basketball News. "So, that's why every guy has his own program, because every guy has different goals."
Hydration and dieting are also central pieces. Mourier oversees the implementation of dietary plans through Impact's local chef connections, and says he outlines each meal, snack and supplement. Along the way are regular check-ins on body metrics, sleep schedules, mood and motivation among other factors. Mourier estimated that about 20-to-25 Impact staffers are involved with a player's development.&nbsp;
But Mourier repeatedly emphasized that the technology, food and workouts aren't what takes players to the Association. One of his most important jobs is reframing their habits and instilling discipline toward health.
"When an athlete gets to the elite level with bad habits, it's, 'Well, I'm already one of the best in the world at what I do, so why would I change?' So it's changing that mindset, and then when we've done that, it's about understanding that doing small things consistently is what gets us the results, as opposed to trying to do extreme things," Mourier said.
"The way that the structure of basketball [is] from AAU to college to the pros, a lot of the power is in the athlete's hands, where it's almost like, 'Who are you to tell me what to do?' So I think one of the main things that we have to do is cut through that barrier. And again, when our goals are the same as theirs, it becomes a little bit easier. But again, it's, 'Well, you've gotten to this level despite your bad habits. How good could you be if we instill some good habits?'"
Good habits, however, can be inconvenient and awkward. For NBA players to maintain their places in the league, they have to stick with those routines well past a pre-draft boot camp.
Dallas Mavericks wing Josh Green joined Impact's program ahead of the 2020 NBA Draft cycle. He's still entrenched with Impact today, and has been working out in Las Vegas this offseason. Part of his nutrition plan includes avoiding butter, which can be a particular hurdle when eating out at restaurants.
"I have to be the guy who requests light virgin oil, whatever it is," Green told Basketball News. "I think that's the hardest part about it. I'm about to go to Australia for three weeks, and all I'm gonna want to do is eat all the food, but I'm gonna have to stay disciplined. I want to have a big year, so my goal is focusing right now, but just taking it one day at a time."
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👀 <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshBGreen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JoshBGreen</a> <a href="https://t.co/pX0fkZzCBZ">pic.twitter.com/pX0fkZzCBZ</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1547655829431525383?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Green said he started prioritizing nutrition after his second shoulder surgery in April 2019. Since joining Impact, Green has been floored by how much nourishment the human body loses during workouts. He has an app that lays out meal calories and hydration plans, and his goal this offseason is to skip carbohydrates, even from snacks like a simple bag of chips.
"When you're young, whatever you see in front of you is what you want," Green said. "I [was] able to start here early and realize, if I want to play ball for a while, it's important to put the right things in my body and stay healthy. It's the same thing as seeing your physical therapist and getting treatment, if not more important for your body."
Abunassar has a plethora of stories about players who embraced the importance of nutrition at the pro level. Garnett has talked about taping his meal-plan menus on the cabinets of his Minnesota home.&nbsp; Lowry, Haliburton and Serge Ibaka are examples of guys who transformed their bodies under Impact's guidance too.
Gym time and workouts are obviously valuable, but to Abunassar, nutrition is what sparks physical development.
"The nutrition is really the basis of body change &mdash; for anybody, not even just for a basketball player," Abunassar said. "You can go to the gym every day, but if you're eating cheeseburgers and fries, you're just not going to lose weight."
Mourier has his own trail of success stories. He's worked with dozens of players, including Haliburton and Green. Zeke Nnaji, another 2020 draftee, was an especially interesting case as the only plant-based-dieting prospect Mourier has guided at Impact.
Mourier does not advise athletes to follow a plant-based diet solely for performance. However, Nnaji had chosen to be a vegan for ethical reasons, which Mourier respected, and the two worked together to create a nutrition plan despite the constraints. One of Nnaji's pre-draft goals was to add muscle, and he succeeded with rigorous attention to detail.
"He gained 20 pounds and everyone was like, 'Who the hell is this?'" Mourier said. "So that was really good, just being tactful with the timing and quantities of that stuff. And [Nnaji] was really diligent with it. He nailed every single aspect of it down to the gram... He was a really easy one. I really can't take credit for all that stuff. I just put the blueprint down and he just rolled with it."
This year, Impact has worked with several 2022 draft prospects, including MarJon Beauchamp, Blake Wesley and Michael Foster Jr. among others.&nbsp;
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San Antonio Spurs rookie Blake Wesley (<a href="https://twitter.com/blakewesley0?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@blakewesley0</a>) working out at <a href="https://twitter.com/impactbball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@impactbball</a>: <a href="https://t.co/9lfkFikWsP">pic.twitter.com/9lfkFikWsP</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1547643918904217604?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Wesley has been an Impact athlete since he was 17, meeting Abunassar for the first time as a junior in high school. Wesley would come in occasionally for workouts, staying on the far court and watching as NBA players like Leonard and Paul George would get their reps in. He returned in offseasons and locked in for his own pre-draft boot camp.
Mourier praised the Spurs rookie for his attention to detail regarding nutrition. Wesley frequently FaceTimed Mourier while at restaurants and stores, and asked questions about what he should eat. He's also a staunch advocate of Herbalife's CR7 Drive sports drink mix, and even has an endorsement deal with Herbalife.
As part of his pre-draft plan to put on weight, Welsey would cook three eggs, plus have oatmeal, milk and orange juice for breakfast.
"[Changing my nutrition] helped my body a lot," Wesley told Basketball News over the phone. "I kept doing this, so I kept getting better on the court and did everything good on the court. So yeah, my nutrition helped me a lot."
The result: Wesley turned himself from a relatively unheralded four-star recruit into Notre Dame's first one-and-done player &mdash; then bulked up to 190 pounds in the spring and became a first-round NBA draft pick.
"I met [Wesley] a year ago, before he went to Notre Dame, and his transformation from then to the start of the pre-draft [process] to now &mdash; it's phenomenal," Mourier said.
The next challenge is to maintain discipline once that contract gets signed.&nbsp;
"You gotta stay focused; the NBA is totally different from college," Wesley said. "I mean, you're getting paid, you got a high profile [and] a lot of people are watching you &mdash; &nbsp;watching how you move, who you hang out with, stuff like that. So it's a whole different lifestyle."
Abunassar, Mourier and the Impact staff are hands-on with their players during the offseason and pre-draft process. But what happens when those players head back to their respective NBA franchises?
"For the most part, from a strength-and-conditioning standpoint [and] from a player development standpoint, the NBA teams have stuff really dialed in," Mourier said. "From a nutrition standpoint, for the most part, they do not."
Mourier estimated that there are only six full-time nutritionists and dietitians in the entire NBA. The Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association (CPSDA) lists <a href="https://sportsrd.org/career-development/full-time-sports-rds-working-with-usas-top-institutions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nine full-time registered dietitians.</a> Mourier said that teams often have physicians and trainers covering several responsibilites, including nutrition, due to budget restrictions and front-office priorities. This means some athletes, specifically reserve players, receive less health guidance.
"We're kind of the ones who are the last for the front office to see the value in it, so a lot of times we're really just a check-box," Mourier said. "So especially for those lower-order guys that are maybe No. 7, 8, 9, 10, all the way through to 15 on the roster, they're not really receiving any support at all. They're receiving provision. They're receiving meals and supplements. But in terms of education and behavior change, they're really not receiving it."
Over the last 25 years, Abunassar has seen sports nutrition dramatically change, with data and technology more interwoven into practice than ever. He thinks there are positives and pitfalls to the advancements.
"From a nutrition standpoint and strength-and-conditioning standpoint, it's clearly useful information to help prevent injury, to increase lean body mass, etc.," he said. "All of the technology that has come out has been very helpful for us, but you do have to watch that you don't get too reliant on it. Sometimes, you gotta watch the games and see how guys move and that kind of thing. But a combination of the two is very effective."
Impact Basketball is one progressive frontrunner in the field of sports science, but Mourier emphasized that, at this point, all basketball pros should be setting themselves up for success with some sort of offseason developmental map. Pre-draft prospects especially cannot afford to lose that critical period before team workouts to maximize their appeal.
"It's like doing the SAT without looking at the study guide," Mourier said "...I think it's definitely a standard. There's people doing this all over the country, really. Nobody does it like us, and nobody's been doing it for as long as us, but people are seeing the value."

A behind-the-scenes look at how Impact Basketball helps players realize their full potential by focusing on their training and nutrition.

How sports nutrition and biometrics are evolving NBA training

Former No. 2 overall pick Jabari Parker is turning heads after taking some shots at the NBA.
The former phenom recently signed a one-year contract with FC Barcelona and when asked why he decided to join the EuroLeague rather than continue his NBA career, he didn't mince words.
"I just want to be a part of something legitimate. I want to be a part of [a league where] &lsquo;every game matters.' Sadly, the NBA is a business and there are 10-12 teams that try to win every game and the other half try to get a draft pick," Parker told <a href="https://www.eurohoops.net/en/trademarks/1557757/jabari-parker-longed-to-be-a-part-of-something-legitimate-in-a-new-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EuroHoops</a>. "Where does that leave good players? You either have to be super good or bad to lose games. It&rsquo;s no excuse to see DeMarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard or John Wall, guys who are potentially going into the Hall of Fame&hellip; not have a job.
"We are seeing the league getting watered down, unfortunately. It&rsquo;s a lot of things that are out of our control. EuroLeague and the fans are expecting a lot, and we as players expect a lot from ourselves and we want to compete."
Parker didn't stop there. He also argued that EuroLeague rosters might be better than NBA rosters from top to bottom since there are more veterans.
"Euroleague might have, arguably, some of the better players consistently on a team," Parker <a href="https://www.eurohoops.net/en/trademarks/1557757/jabari-parker-longed-to-be-a-part-of-something-legitimate-in-a-new-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. "In the NBA, you have a lot of counterparts that don&rsquo;t really contribute to a talent, maybe [it's] political, maybe a favor, whatever. Out here, you have to play; you have to be able to be good, you have to have some experience and you see it with teams like us: [Alex] Abrines played with OKC, Jan [Vesely] played in the Wizards, Sato (Tomas Satoransky)&hellip;
"This is not like baseball where you have veterans that stay on a team; there is no minor league. Where is the room for experienced guys and veterans [on NBA rosters]? That arguably says that you do have some better talent [in the EuroLeague], just from the experience. If you have a roster full of guys that have been pro for 10-plus years, how are rookies or two-year guys exceeding them? You see that around Europe, with many other teams, not only ourselves. Real Madrid has some really good guys on their team too."
Parker's last NBA stint came to an end in January of 2022, when he was waived by the Boston Celtics. Rather than continuing to wait on an NBA call, Parker decided to sign abroad instead.
"I knew I wanted to play this season and I didn&rsquo;t want to wait," Parker <a href="https://www.eurohoops.net/en/trademarks/1557757/jabari-parker-longed-to-be-a-part-of-something-legitimate-in-a-new-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a>. "I didn&rsquo;t want to have to go through the extenuating process of trying to figure out an NBA team that was going to take a chance on me.
"As soon as we had the conversations with [FC Barcelona director] Mario Bruno Fern&aacute;ndez, I got down here. They pretty much gave me an offer that I couldn&rsquo;t refuse. I decided this was the best place for me."
Parker has suited up for six NBA teams: the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards, Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings and Celtics.
Throughout his eight-year NBA career, the 28-year-old averaged 14.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 0.9 steals while shooting 49.4% from the field, 32.6% from three-point range and 74.3% from the free-throw line.&nbsp;

Former No. 2 pick Jabari Parker didn't mince words when discussing his move to the EuroLeague and how it compares to the NBA.

Jabari Parker: NBA is 'watered down,' less legitimate than EuroLeague

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

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

Exploring the most dominant dynasties throughout NBA history

Here&rsquo;s a rarity: All five teams from one division are going to the NBA playoffs.
And they pulled that off in a year where a division champion almost didn&rsquo;t get there.
All five teams from the Pacific Division &mdash; Sacramento, Phoenix, the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers &mdash; have made the playoffs, which start Saturday.
But Miami, the champion of the Southeast Division, almost missed out. The Heat got there Friday night by closing on a 15-1 run to beat Chicago 102-91 in the final Eastern Conference play-in game.
Had the Heat lost, it would have been the first time in NBA history that a division winner wasn&rsquo;t going to the playoffs.
On the other end of the spectrum, the whole-division-goes feat had happened only two other times since the NBA went to the six-division, five-teams-in-each format starting with the 2004-05 season.
The Central Division did it in 2006, and the Southwest Division pulled it off in 2015. It almost happened in the Northwest Division in 2018 when Denver missed the playoffs by a game. And the Atlantic Division had a chance to send all its teams this year if Toronto gotten out of the play-in tournament.
PLAY IN TO PLAY ON
The play-in tournament provided a path for Miami, Minnesota, the Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta to make the playoffs.
And now, they&rsquo;ll try to go from playing in to playing on.
No team has managed that yet.
Granted, there&rsquo;s only been three previous versions of a play-in tournament, but no team has gone from the extra round in between the regular season and playoffs and gotten an actual postseason series win.
In 2020, Portland (which beat Memphis in a one-game play-in round inside the restart bubble) lost 4-1 to the top-seeded Lakers.
In 2021, the Lakers (4-2 to Phoenix), Memphis (4-1 to Utah), Boston (4-1 to Brooklyn) and Washington (4-1 to Philadelphia) were all ousted in Round 1.
And last year, Minnesota (4-2 to Memphis), New Orleans (4-2 to Phoenix), Atlanta (4-1 to Miami) and Brooklyn (4-0 to Boston) also lost their opening series after qualifying through the play-in.
2 TO 1
Golden State did something unusual last season. It finished second in the Pacific Division &mdash; and first in the NBA.
That&rsquo;s a serious break from the norm.
From 2012 through 2021, every team to make the NBA Finals did so after winning a division championship. The 2011 Dallas Mavericks had been the most recent team not to win its division but make the finals; they won the title that season.
The Warriors did it last season, also winning the title.
This season&rsquo;s division champions: Boston, Milwaukee, Miami, Denver, Sacramento and Memphis. History suggests that two of those six teams would be the wise picks for those forecasting who&rsquo;ll make the finals.
SEASON OF COMEBACKS
Playoffs might not have looked likely for a bunch of teams in the early going of the season.
Philadelphia started 0-3, Sacramento started 0-4, Brooklyn was 1-5, Golden State was 3-7, the Los Angeles Clippers opened 2-4, Minnesota was 5-8, Miami was 7-11 &mdash; and the Los Angeles Lakers were 2-10, a level of bad start that few teams have been able to overcome.
The Lakers are just the 15th team in NBA history to start 0-5 and make the postseason. And only four teams were worse than 2-10 after 12 games and still made the playoffs. Last season&rsquo;s New Orleans Pelicans started 1-11 and got there, as did the 1967-68 Chicago Bulls and 1984-85 Cleveland Cavaliers.
But the undisputed bad-start-and-made-playoffs-anyway kings are the 1996-97 Phoenix Suns. They started 0-13, wound up finishing 40-42, held a 2-1 series lead over top-seeded Seattle in the best-of-five opening round, then fell in five games.
WINS MILESTONE
Golden State teammates Klay Thompson and Draymond Green have both appeared in 102 playoff victories.
That&rsquo;s tied for 25th-best all-time, and they could keep climbing the charts this spring.
They&rsquo;re currently two wins behind Danny Green; three behind Dwyane Wade and Dennis Johnson; five behind Bill Russell, Robert Parish and Warriors teammate Andre Iguodala; and six behind No. 18 John Havlicek.
If the Warriors win another title and Thompson and Green appear in all 16 victories, they&rsquo;d then have 118 apiece &mdash; one fewer than Michael Jordan.
The Los Angeles Lakers&rsquo; LeBron James enters these playoffs as the career leader in postseason wins, with 174. Phoenix&rsquo;s Kevin Durant needs five to get to 100, and Warriors guard Stephen Curry has 93.
ON THE ROAD
Going &ldquo;on the road&rdquo; in these playoffs will be a relative term in some cases.
By driving distance, some of them are pretty close. Only 85 miles or so separates the arenas used by Golden State and Sacramento, and it&rsquo;s about 100 miles between the arenas in Philadelphia and Brooklyn.
Phoenix and the Los Angeles Clippers play 375 miles apart, while New York and Cleveland are separated by 450 miles, which is still no more than about an hour by air. The rest of the matchups are a bit longer &mdash; it&rsquo;s 850 miles or so between Minnesota and Denver, 1,100 between Boston and Atlanta, almost 1,500 between Miami and Milwaukee and just over 1,800 between Memphis and the Los Angeles Lakers&rsquo; home floor.
THE WAIT IS OVER
Sacramento&rsquo;s last playoff game was May 5, 2006. That was 12 Kings coaches ago.
A look at some of the other numbers:
&mdash; The Kings played 1,358 games in that span.
&mdash; They used 184 different players.
&mdash; They scored 142,294 points, with DeMarcus Cousins having the most in that span with 9,894.
&mdash; They went 515-843.
&mdash; There will have been 1,384 playoff games in the league between Sacramento&rsquo;s last playoff game and by the time the Kings and Golden State tip off in Game 1 on Saturday. All 29 other teams played at least 11 playoff games in that span; Boston has the most with 201, and the Celtics and Miami have a league-high 108 playoff wins apiece over that stretch.
INSIDE THE STANDINGS
If the 16 playoff teams had their own league this season, with only the games against one another counting, then the Boston Celtics would be feeling pretty confident right about now.
The Celtics had the best record against fellow playoff qualifiers this season, going 27-15. That just edged out Denver, which went 26-15 against playoff-bound teams during the regular season.
Boston&rsquo;s average point differential against playoff-bound teams per game is also better than any other postseason club. The Celtics outscored playoff teams, on average, by 5.6 points per game.
The rest of the records by playoff qualifiers against one another during the regular season: Milwaukee 26-16, Philadelphia 26-16, Minnesota 22-20, Memphis 21-20, New York 22-21, Miami 21-21, Phoenix 21-23, Sacramento 19-24, Golden State 19-24, Cleveland 18-23, the Los Angeles Clippers 18-24, Brooklyn 18-24, the Los Angeles Lakers 17-25, and Atlanta 16-26.
WARRIORS&rsquo; ROAD WOES
Golden State has won a road game in 27 consecutive playoff series, an NBA record and obviously a major reason why the Warriors have four of the last eight championships.
They&rsquo;ll need to rekindle that road magic.
The Warriors &mdash; who don&rsquo;t have home-court advantage in Round 1 against Sacramento, so they&rsquo;ll need at least one road win to have a chance in the series &mdash; went 3-19 against playoff teams away from home this season.
The last time any playoff team was that bad on the road during the regular season against other eventual playoff qualifiers was 2004. Denver was 2-20 entering those playoffs in road games against fellow postseason clubs that season, and Miami was 3-19.
PLAYOFF POOL
The NBA&rsquo;s postseason playoff pool is up nearly $10 million from last year. This year, the 16 playoff teams will divide up $26,969,000.
Every team is assured of at least $402,493 for making the playoffs. The payouts increase considerably as teams advance, and the teams with the best six records in each conference get more money as well.
Milwaukee has already clinched $1,860,950 from the pool &mdash; $777,777 for having the best record in the NBA and another $680,680 for having the best record in the Eastern Conference. If the Bucks win the title, their share of the pool would soar to $7,907,335.
Last year&rsquo;s pool was $17,317,334.

The NBA Playoffs tip off on Saturday, so here's everything you need to know.

What to know entering the NBA playoffs, which start Saturday

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; Karl-Anthony Towns had 28 points and 11 rebounds to lead Minnesota into the playoffs, as the Timberwolves muscled and hustled their way past the Oklahoma City Thunder 120-95 to finish the play-in tournament on Friday night.
Rudy Gobert had 21 points and 10 rebounds in his return from exile&nbsp;for swinging at teammate Kyle Anderson, and the Wolves filled out the NBA playoff bracket by seizing the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference with a near-perfect performance at the end of another harder-than-it-had-to-be season.
Anthony Edwards had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolves, who had a 58-30 advantage in points in the paint. They will face No. 1 seed Denver in a best-of-seven series starting on Sunday night.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 22 points, going 12 for 12 from the free throw line but just 5 for 19 from the field. Jalen Williams and Lu Dort each scored 17 points.
With their best defender Jaden McDaniels out with a broken hand &mdash; thanks to a wall he punched out of frustration in the final regular-season game shortly before Gobert took a swing at Anderson in an argument during a timeout &mdash; the Timberwolves put Nickiel Alexander-Walker in the starting lineup to guard the dynamic Gilgeous-Alexander. They&rsquo;re cousins, actually.
Gilgeous-Alexander was slow to get going in the Thunder&rsquo;s play-in tournament opener, too, before scoring 25 of his 32 points after halftime in the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/pelicans-thunder-playin-acf9a3517de39968463f1c06436dcca9">113-108 win</a>&nbsp;over New Orleans. This time, the NBA&rsquo;s fourth-leading scorer picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter and then had to leave for treatment a few minutes later after Gobert accidentally elbowed him in the eye as he rebounded and dunked his own miss.
Towns had 24 points on 8-for-12 shooting in Minnesota&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/lakers-timberwolves-lebron-playin-tournament-024ffc281bfdb29922ac13b95c133e45">108-102 overtime loss</a>&nbsp;in Los Angeles in the first play-in game on Tuesday, but he camped out on the perimeter too much down the stretch as the Wolves offense grinded to a woeful finish.
This time, the Wolves took a much better blend of outside and inside shots with a constantly moving ball. They leaned hard on their advantage around the basket, with the big men Towns and Gobert going to work against the smaller Thunder.
Gobert moved around rather stiffly, listed as questionable with a back injury that might have kept him out against the Lakers anyway to make his team-imposed suspension moot. He wore a wrap around his midsection when he was on the bench, but he found his groove in the second half.
The Thunder came a long way from the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/oklahoma-city-thunder-nba-sports-draft-8c087d0afbe773f3d61b24753f35b713">loss of No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren</a>, the 7-foot-1 Minneapolis native who broke his foot in an offseason pro-am game, but they let the Timberwolves pile up the highlights down the stretch.
RELEARNING PROCESS
The Wolves won three of four matchups with the Thunder, playing twice in the first five days of the season and twice more by Dec. 16. Towns was out with an injury then. The three-team trade that jettisoned D&rsquo;Angelo Russell from the Minnesota backcourt and brought in Conley and Alexander-Walker was still two months from conception.
So was it even worth reviewing the film from those games?
&ldquo;We do because we&rsquo;re paranoid, and what else are you going to do? Like, watch Netflix?&rdquo; Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s different. They&rsquo;re missing guys. We&rsquo;re different. Both teams have evolved since then.&rdquo;
WITH HONORS
Daigneault was announced by the NBA as one of&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-mvp-jokic-embiid-antetokounmpo-award-finalists-befc47525340c68c47b50cf5ddcfdee5">three finalists</a>&nbsp;for the Coach of the Year award. Gilgeous-Alexander (Most Improved Player) and Jalen Williams (Rookie of the Year) also landed on their respective lists. Scott Brooks (2010) is the only previous Coach of the Year winner the franchise has had since it moved to Oklahoma City in 2008.
TIP-INS
Thunder: Josh Giddey went 2 for 13 from the floor.
Timberwolves: Edwards, who went 3 for 17 from the field against the Lakers, made 8 of 19 shots. ... Walker-Alexander had 12 points.

The Timberwolves muscled and hustled their way past the Oklahoma City Thunder 120-95 to finish the play-in tournament on Friday night.

Wolves go big to beat Thunder in play-in game, get 8th seed

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; UConn&rsquo;s Jordan Hawkins made this year&rsquo;s NCAA championships a family affair Monday night when he picked up a title a day after his cousin Angel Reese led LSU to the women&rsquo;s crown.
And he had a message for those who&rsquo;ve criticized Reese for waving her hand in front of her face while staring down Iowa star Caitlin Clark before pointing toward her finger where a championship ring might be while walking toward the Iowa star.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re national champions. They&rsquo;re not,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So, at the end of the day, they can say whatever they want.&rdquo;
Reese, who was named Most Outstanding Player, was unapologetic over her actions after social media went wild with opinions on her trash talk in the closing minutes of LSU&rsquo;s 102-85 victory Sunday.
&ldquo;All year, I was critiqued about who I was,&rdquo; Reese said Sunday. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t fit in a box that y&rsquo;all want me to be in. I&rsquo;m too hood. I&rsquo;m too ghetto. But when other people do it, y&rsquo;all say nothing. So this was for the girls that look like me, that&rsquo;s going to speak up on what they believe in. It&rsquo;s unapologetically you.&rdquo;
Hawkins raved about his cousin after scoring 16 points to help UConn claim its fifth title with a 76-59 win over San Diego State.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m so proud of her,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;She works so hard.&rdquo;
Then he was asked who would win a friendly family game of one-on-one between the two national champions.
&ldquo;Probably me, now. I would probably win,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But there was a time I would probably lose to her.&rdquo;

“We’re national champions. They’re not,” Hawkins said to Reese. “So, at the end of the day, they can say whatever they want.”

Cousins Jordan Hawkins, Angel Reese claim titles on consecutive days

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash; The Sacramento Kings might just be riding the beam all the way to the NBA playoffs.
The resurgent Kings are on the verge of ending the longest postseason drought in league history, with first-year coach Mike Brown employing a fast-paced offense led by the dynamic duo of De&rsquo;Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis to put Sacramento in first place in the Pacific Division.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great feeling. It&rsquo;s great because it&rsquo;s my first time,&rdquo; Fox said of being in the playoff hunt. &ldquo;This is something we want to make annual. We want to be contending for a title. ... It&rsquo;s great for the city and organization. We still want bigger things for ourselves.&rdquo;
The Kings (43-29) are in third place in the Western Conference and might be able to clinch the franchise&rsquo;s first playoff berth since 2006 during the final three games of a four-game homestand that ends Monday night against Minnesota.
The 16 seasons without a playoff berth are the longest in NBA history and the longest active postseason drought among any team in the NBA, NFL, NHL or Major League Baseball.
&ldquo;I do feel that that group believes in themselves, not just because I&rsquo;m telling them they&rsquo;re good, but because they&rsquo;ve actually gone out and proven it time after time after time, whether it&rsquo;s individually in certain situations or collectively as a team,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;When you have a team that believes, they can be dangerous. You&rsquo;ve got a connected team that believes, they can be a very dangerous team and that&rsquo;s what our group is right now.&rdquo;
The Kings are also one of the best feel-good stories of the NBA this season with an entertaining style of basketball that leads the league in scoring at 120.9 points per game for the highest mark in the league since 1983-84.
Each win at home is punctuated with the lighting of the beam &mdash; a beam of light from purple lasers atop the Golden 1 Center &mdash; and fans have even chanted for the beam at road games around the country.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s like a playoff atmosphere every night,&rdquo; swingman Kevin Huerter, one of the key offseason acquisitions, said after a recent home win. &ldquo;The only thing that&rsquo;s missing is handing out the T-shirts and maybe some towels, whatever they&rsquo;re doing for the playoffs. But it really is this every night.&rdquo;
The Kings have been one of the most success-starved franchises since moving to Sacramento in 1985. They had a losing record in each of their first 14 seasons in California, winning just one playoff game.
That all changed in 1999 when general manager Geoff Petrie and coach Rick Adelman built a winner around players like Chris Webber, Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic that played an entertaining style in a grind-it-out era that nearly delivered a championship.
The Kings posted eight straight winning records and playoff berths under Adelman, but lost a heartbreaking seven-game series to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002 and then saw their title hopes derailed the following year when Webber went down with a serious knee injury in the second round of the playoffs.
Adelman kept the team competitive through 2006 but was let go following a second straight first-round playoff exit.
Then the dark era began with 16 straight losing seasons under 11 coaches, an ownership change and fears that the city would lose its only major pro team to Seattle.
Vivek Ranadive bought the team from the Maloof family in 2013 and kept the team in Sacramento by building a downtown arena, but there was no on-court success until this year.
The Kings traded away star DeMarcus Cousins and botched several high draft picks. But they have been revived following last year&rsquo;s trade with Indiana that sent promising guard Tyrese Haliburton to Indiana for a playmaking big man in Sabonis and the decision to hire Brown as coach.
Sabonis proved to be the perfect piece to team with the speedy Fox, giving Sacramento a dynamic duo.
Fox is averaging 25.4 points per game and has been the best clutch scorer in the league this season, scoring double figures in the fourth quarter a league-high 25 times.
Sabonis, acquired in a controversial trade from Indiana midway through last season for promising guard Tyrese Haliburton, has been the perfect piece to team with Fox with his playmaking ability as a big man. Sabonis is averaging 19 points, 12.5 rebounds and 7.3 assists with 12 triple-doubles.
Add in outside shooting from Huerter and rookie Keegan Murray, the veteran presence of Harrison Barnes and scoring off the bench from Malik Monk and the Kings have gained the attention of other contenders.
&ldquo;Give a lot of credit to Mike Brown,&rdquo; Celtics star Jayson Tatum said. &ldquo;He has the guys playing a lot better. Fox is playing at an All-NBA level. Sabonis has been great for them. They play with so much pace. All those guys have a lot more confidence.
&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re playing with confidence, it naturally opens things up for the individual and the group.&rdquo;
___
AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney contributed to this report&nbsp;

The resurgent Kings are on the verge of ending the longest postseason drought in league history.

Success-starved Kings close in on long-awaited playoff berth

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Stories of New York City point guards have an almost mythical quality.
There are Hall of Famers and trailblazers such as Bob Cousy and Nate &ldquo;Tiny&rdquo; Archibald. In the 1980s, Kenny Smith and Kenny Anderson followed a similar path &mdash; from the same Catholic high school in Queens to the Atlantic Coast Conference to the NBA.
From Pearl Washington to Mark Jackson, Stephon Marbury to Sue Bird, tenacious players forged by rugged games played at the famous courts at Rucker Park and West Fourth Street are a part of basketball lore.
And while New York City high schools haven&rsquo;t been pumping out stars in recent years the way they used to, three of the four teams that have reached the NCAA Tournament's&nbsp;East Regional at Madison Square Garden have point guards with Big Apple backgrounds.
Michigan State&rsquo;s Tyson Walker and Kansas State&rsquo;s Markquis Nowell will renew their acquaintance in the Sweet 16 when the seventh-seeded Spartans (21-12) face the third-seeded Wildcats (25-9) on Thursday night.
&ldquo;I grew up playing in parks with him,&rdquo; Nowell said. &ldquo;I just want to give a big shoutout to New York City for breeding tough and gritty guards and just give him a shoutout.&rdquo;
The other point guard who&rsquo;s making a homecoming this week will only be able to watch his team at The Garden. No. 4 seed Tennessee managed to reach the second weekend of the tournament without the injured Zakai Zeigler,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/zakai-zeigler-injury-tennessee-basketball-0fa91f6e3e517321879a013285ed97d9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who blew out his left knee on Feb. 28.</a>
&ldquo;I had no doubt in my mind that we were going to be here in this situation,&rdquo; said Zeigler, who grew up on Long Island and finished his high school career in the Bronx. &ldquo;So now that I&rsquo;m back here and I can have some pizza, I feel great.&rdquo;
The Volunteers (25-10)&nbsp;face&nbsp;ninth-seeded FAU (33-3)&nbsp;in the late game of the doubleheader.
The 5-foot-8 Nowell became one of the breakout stars of this NCAA Tournament when he went off for 27 points in a&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-kentucky-kansas-state-e0f322d3422ce45e56ec92d210ea55d8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second-round victory against Kentucky.</a>
Nowell, whose Twitter handle is&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MrNewYorkCityy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@MrNewYorkCityy</a>&nbsp;and is&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.instagram.com/mr.newyorkcity/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@mr.newyorkcity</a>&nbsp;on Instagram, grew up in Harlem, attended high school in the Bronx and went to college at Arkansas Little-Rock before transferring to Manhattan &mdash; Kansas, that is.
&ldquo;I made a promise to myself back when I was in high school that I was going to do anything and everything in my power to be the best player that came out of New York,&rdquo; Nowell said. &ldquo;So I kind of keep that edge and that kind of just reminds me every day that I wake up that I still have more work to do. Guys like Carmelo (Anthony), Bernard King and all the greats came out of New York, so that just keeps me grounded and keeps me working hard.&rdquo;
Ask Nowell about the New York City point guards he idolized in high school and he brings up the Mavericks&rsquo; Kemba Walker, who led UConn to a national championship and was a first-round pick in the NBA draft in 2011, and the Pelicans&rsquo; Jose Alvarado, who played at Georgia Tech.
Alvarado went to Christ the King High School in Queens, a power in both boys and girls basketball that also produced Bird and the Spartans&rsquo; Walker.
Like Nowell, Walker started his college career at a mid-major (Northeastern) and transferred after two seasons to Michigan State in 2021.
According to 247 Sports rankings, the last top-30 national recruit to come from a New York City high school was Moses Brown, a 7-footer who went to UCLA from Archbishop Molloy, where Smith and Anderson starred in the &rsquo;80s.
&ldquo;Are we as good as we once was? Well, if you take away all the kids that grew up in New York that go to prep school outside of New York ... and consider them New York, yes, we are,&rdquo; said Cardozo High School coach Ron Neclario, the winningest NYC public school coach ever. &ldquo;Do we have as many high, high, high majors? Maybe not, but we have plenty of low-majors. We have plenty of mid-majors.&rdquo;
Where Nowell leans into his New York roots, Walker takes a low-key approach.
&ldquo;Just got to be tough. Got a different type of finesse with you,&rdquo; he said.
Walker was also a difference-maker in the second round of the tournament, scoring 23 points to lead&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-michigan-state-marquette-izzo-690d24a67256a2bf187353c0bfed577a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michigan State past second-seeded Marquette.</a>
&ldquo;I think sometimes the New York swagger is a very cocky swagger, and sometimes that&rsquo;s good,&rdquo; Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s kind of had the happy medium. He&rsquo;s got enough cockiness to be confident, and yet he&rsquo;s an unbelievable kid.&rdquo;
Izzo joked after beating Marquette about how Walker owed him cab ride and a slice of pizza for helping him earn a trip home.
&ldquo;Got me my pizza last night,&rdquo; Izzo said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking for the cab ride today.&rdquo;
Nowell is one of four Kansas State players from the New York area, along with Tykei Greene, Nae&rsquo;Qwan Tomlin and Ismael Massoud. None has ever played at The Garden, only dreamed about it.
&ldquo;I had my big brother, my father, my uncles working me out every day for a moment like this,&rdquo; Nowell said. &ldquo;Standing here, being here at Madison Square Garden.&rdquo;

Three of the four teams that reached the NCAA Tournament's East Regional at MSG have point guards with New York backgrounds.

NYC guards lead Michigan State, Kansas State to Sweet 16 at MSG

Longtime pro Jordan Crawford opens up to Spencer Davies about his unpleasant NBA experience, his Detroit connection and more.

Ex-NBA pro Jordan Crawford has a story to tell — and a whole lot more

The Los Angeles Lakers continue to look around the league and guage the trade market. One player the team has been linked to for months is Detroit Pistons forward Bojan Bogdanovic.&nbsp;
In an <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2023/01/13/nba-trade-deadline-teams-to-watch-lakers-wizards-jazz-raptors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article discussing the trade market, Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated</a> mentions that "the Lakers and Pistons have discussed a deal that would include both Bogdanović and Nerlens Noel".
The Pistons have shown reluctance to move Bogdanovic unless they get at least an unprotected first-round pick. The 33-year-old is having a banner year, averaging 21.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists shooing 48.7% from the field and 41.5% from three-point range.
Noel has been out of the Pistons rotation with the team giving playing time to young centers Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart. The Lakers have been looking for another big man and recently worked out <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lakers-to-work-out-former-allstar-demarcus-cousins" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DeMarcus Cousins</a> and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/center-meyers-leonard-to-work-out-for-lakers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meyers Leonard</a>.
While previous talks between the teams had the Lakers including Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn in a deal, the numbers wouldn't work with Noel's $9.24M salary unless LA also included three players on minimum contract.&nbsp;
The team could instead send Russell Westbrook and his $47.1M salary in a deal but the Pistons would have to add more players to match salaries.

The Lakers have reportedly spoken to the Pistons about a trade for both sharpshooter Bojan Bogdanovic and Nerlens Noel.

Lakers, Pistons have talked Bogdanovic, Noel deal

With the Brooklyn Nets&rsquo; win at Miami on Sunday, they have won a franchise record 18 of their last 20 games, which represents the best 20-game stretch at any point in a season in the organization's history.
Kyrie Irving is leading the Eastern Conference guards in All-Star voting, and Kevin Durant is having an MVP-level season, averaging 29.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game.
But unfortunately, last night, Durant had to exit the game in the third quarter after Jimmy Butler fell into Durant. On Monday morning, the Nets announced that he was diagnosed with an isolated MCL sprain of the right knee and that he'll be out for at least the next two weeks before being reevaluated. It's devastating news for Nets fans, as the team has been taking the league by storm for the past 20 games.&nbsp;
To discuss Durant's injury, Irving's strong play and more, I sat down with Nets great and Basketball News contributor Kenyon Martin to discuss his former team.&nbsp;
Etan Thomas: The Nets are on a great run. They&rsquo;ve been proving a lot of people who had completely written them off wrong. How do you think they&rsquo;re playing overall right now?&nbsp;
Kenyon Martin: "I think they&rsquo;ve been playing great. Once you get your two stars on the same page in KD and Kyrie &mdash; and they&rsquo;re playing off each other and going to each other when the other one is hot and they&rsquo;re healthy &mdash; they are a tough team to beat. I saw KD went down last night and I&rsquo;m hearing he may be out for a few weeks, which definitely hurts, but he&rsquo;ll bounce back. They&rsquo;ll just have to hold down the fort until he gets back, and when he returns, they&rsquo;ll take off again just like they did when Kyrie returned.
"And Kyrie is playing as free as I&rsquo;ve seen him since he was with Cleveland in the Finals. It's like he&rsquo;s playing with no pressure and nothing holding him back from being one of the top guards in the league. And the team is benefiting from that relief."
Etan: Let me ask you this, because I think Jacque Vaughn has done an excellent job since he&rsquo;s taken over, and I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s being talked about as much as it should be. No knock on Steve Nash because I don&rsquo;t know the ins and outs of why it wasn&rsquo;t working with him, but there is definitely a visible difference. Would you agree?&nbsp;
Kenyon: "Let&rsquo;s be honest, E &mdash; Steve Nash is a hell of a basketball player and had great athletes around him. I&rsquo;ve never thought of Steve Nash as a vocal guy, never thought of him as that kind of a leader. I&rsquo;ve never heard him get after anybody. I&rsquo;ve never heard him put anybody in their place or call anybody out or chastise anyone who needed to be chastised. I just heard of him as a nice guy who is a great pass-first point guard who guys really enjoyed playing with. That&rsquo;s not to say that he couldn&rsquo;t have done a good job coaching; I just think it was a little premature to put him in that position.
"Jacque Vaughn, on the other hand, has proven that he could be a head coach down in Orlando. He just got a bad deal. But he showed that he could do all of the things that a head coach needs to do in order to be successful in this league. He&rsquo;s not afraid to be honest with guys, to call guys out or to challenge guys, but still not turn into the enemy. But (he'll) be like, 'We&rsquo;re in this together, but this is how we have to do things.' He wasn&rsquo;t a two-time NBA MVP, he wasn&rsquo;t an All-Star year-in and year-out, but he commanded a respect from the jump."
Etan: That&rsquo;s very true. One person who has <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-feature-interview-nic-claxton-approach-reaping-rewards-with-surging-brooklyn-nets-kevin-durant-jacque-vaughn-kyrie-irving-royce-oneale-georgia-bulldogs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">really stood out this season is Nic Claxton</a>. He won&rsquo;t get the praise that KD and Kyrie get of course, but he has been doing a tremendous job and is really vital to this team.&nbsp;
Kenyon: "I&rsquo;ve been a big fan of his since he got to the Nets. I love the energy he plays with, his effort, his motor, his athleticism, his defense, (he's a) rim protector. And when you have a guy who is surrounded by superstars, understands and embraces his role, and plays it to the best of his ability, the team is going to be successful, and that&rsquo;s what he does night-in and night-out."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
"He&rsquo;s a big piece for us and we need him every night." Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and Jacque Vaughn reflect on Nic Claxton's impact on the Nets and his development into an everyday starting center. STORY: <a href="https://t.co/U1odBzLCHT">https://t.co/U1odBzLCHT</a> <a href="https://t.co/v4Meeb8B7V">pic.twitter.com/v4Meeb8B7V</a>
&mdash; Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1607867619347931137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Etan: I always admit I do have big-man bias, and I know the game has transitioned into a more of a guards game &mdash; more people play small ball &mdash; but I&rsquo;m surprised players like Dwight Howard and (DeMarcus) Boogie Cousins aren&rsquo;t in the league right now. But specifically with the Nets, couldn&rsquo;t they use them? Especially in the playoffs when they have to face Milwaukee or Boston, or Philly with Joel Embiid and Montrezl Harrell off the bench?
Kenyon: "I&rsquo;m a big fan of both of those guys and their entire body of work. The way Boogie has adjusted his game and what people have thought of him over the years, he&rsquo;s channeled the energy that people were saying was negative into his game and on-court passion, tenacity and physicality that every team needs.&nbsp;
"And what Dwight brings to the table is similar to what we were talking about before with Nic Claxton. He knows his role and does it to the best of his ability. Shot-blocker, rebounder, physical play, athletic, rim-protector, and we all know he&rsquo;s strong as hell. Why wouldn&rsquo;t you want someone like that on your team? (Think about) what the Lakers got out of the combination of him and JaVale (McGee) a couple of years ago."
Etan: Uh huh, when they won the championship.&nbsp;
Kenyon: "Yup, I just think more teams should follow that. If you don&rsquo;t have a dominant Joel Embiid or a dominant (Nikola) Jokic, you need to play by committee at that position. And I think what a lot of teams are missing is exactly that. I think either one of them could be that missing piece for a lot of teams. But yes, specifically for the Nets this season."
Etan: I even <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-los-angeles-lakers-anthony-davis-etan-thomas-injury-achilles-recovery-heal-patient-robert-griffin-III-rgIII-frank-vogel-lebron-james" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote about it</a>. I was surprised, going back to JaVale and Dwight, that the Lakers didn&rsquo;t keep them. I&rsquo;m not a GM, but If it ain&rsquo;t broke and just won you a championship, don&rsquo;t fix it, right?
Kenyon: "Who&rsquo;d they get, Marc Gasol?"
Etan: Yeah, that&rsquo;s who they got.
Kenyon: "Yeah I just have a problem with the league as a whole when you have guys that have proven what they can bring to the table, talking about Dwight and Boogie Cousins. It makes no sense for them not to be on an NBA roster right now."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Etan: Another player I&rsquo;ve really been impressed with is Royce O'Neale. I don&rsquo;t know if people were expecting him to play as well as he&rsquo;s been playing this season. Was he a pleasant surprise for you or did you foresee that?
Kenyon: "Honestly, I thought it was a little weird of a trade at first because of the position that he plays. But you can never have enough guys that you can count on. I think Royce is a solid pro. He&rsquo;s proven that he can be successful in this league and you can count on him. And here&rsquo;s the thing &mdash; when players are surrounded by greatness and a role is asked of you, it should be easy for you to fill that role. You know what I mean? It shouldn&rsquo;t be a hard thing for professionals to do. People can really find success on good teams by simply doing what&rsquo;s asked of you."
Etan: (Laughing) Doesn&rsquo;t seem like a hard concept.
Kenyon: (Laughing) "Shouldn&rsquo;t be hard at all."
Etan: It&rsquo;s interesting with Kyrie, because really just a few weeks ago &mdash; after the entire fiasco when he shared the documentary "From Hebrews To Negroes," got suspended, had backlash, was assigned six steps to return and everything that transpired after that &mdash; there was this loud uproar among the media and fans on social media proclaiming definitively that the Nets would be better off without Kyrie Irving, and even that he may be out the league soon.
Kenyon: (Laughing) "How crazy is that?"
Etan: It&rsquo;s crazy, but that was the overall sentiment, especially from a lot of the media for a while. So he comes back and they are playing great. They go on a 5-0 winning run and Kyrie is averaging 30, then a 10-0 run, then a 14-1 run. Now, they&rsquo;ve won 18 of 20 games, setting a franchise record. Kyrie&rsquo;s hitting game-winners and shining, and you've seen all of those people just get quiet. None of those people have offered any retraction to their previously loud statements. They just act like they weren&rsquo;t just saying the Nets were better off without him. And I&rsquo;m just like, keep that same energy you had to demonize someone to also praise them when they are doing well.
Kenyon: "But the key word in what you just said is the media. Who cares what the media says? I took all that criticism and uproar and outrage the media had as all performative. They were just putting on a show and jumping on a bandwagon, which many of them get paid to do. I didn&rsquo;t buy into any of that. It&rsquo;s not like he wrote the book or made the doc. He said he didn&rsquo;t agree with all of it and was sharing it for the information. But if those media people who were saying the Nets were better off without Kyrie don&rsquo;t know how special of a player he is &mdash; aside from the documentary and whatever else &mdash; then they don&rsquo;t need to be writing or commenting on anything.
"It&rsquo;s like a fumble in football. Everybody in the media, fans (and) social media started jumping on top of the dog pile, and Kyrie emerged from the bottom of the pile carrying the football and holding it high in the air for everyone to see. The backlash didn&rsquo;t break him. The team still needs Kyrie Irving. They wouldn&rsquo;t be where they are without him. And if anybody thought the Nets didn&rsquo;t need him, they just don&rsquo;t know the game."
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Kyrie Irving scored 29 PTS &amp; the Nets have won 18 of their last 20 games! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NetsWorld?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NetsWorld</a> <a href="https://t.co/6SobtaV7MI">pic.twitter.com/6SobtaV7MI</a>
&mdash; Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ballislife/status/1612422254607958016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Etan: I hear you, but the piling on just bothered me. I was like... y&rsquo;all are making him out to be Hitler himself. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dns9B0ypwk0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">specifically said</a>, like you mentioned earlier, "I don&rsquo;t agree with everything in this documentary, I&rsquo;m sharing it for the information, I don&rsquo;t hate anyone, I respect all religions." And they wanted to make him Public Enemy No. 1. and the face of antisemitism.
Kenyon: "Yeah, that&rsquo;s exactly what they tried to do, but it didn&rsquo;t work because that&rsquo;s not who he is and (he) has never been that. You can&rsquo;t make someone be something they&rsquo;re not, and that&rsquo;s not who he is."
Etan: But what was really bothering me is that I was seeing a lot of media people who look like me and you literally running to jump on that bandwagon and bashing him the most. That really bothered me.
Kenyon: "One-thousand percent. That bothered me as well seeing that because that&rsquo;s not the way it&rsquo;s supposed to be. And we&rsquo;re talking about Black media who are in high positions."
Etan: Yes, the ones you see if you turn on ESPN or FOX Sports or HBO Sports or the main Black sports journalists. And I don&rsquo;t have to single anyone out in particular because they all were doing that. It was really disappointing to see.
Kenyon: "For them to do that... I know you don&rsquo;t want to call names and I&rsquo;ll respect your platform, but some of them are some high paid."
Etan: Don&rsquo;t even say it.
Kenyon: (Laughing) "I won&rsquo;t say it but you know what I&rsquo;m thinking." (laughing)
Etan: (Laughing) Yes I do.
Kenyon: "And the guy you expected to join the piling on actually took up for Kyrie &mdash; talking about Jason Whitlock."
Etan: Him and Candace Owens did. How crazy is that? It was like we were in the Twilight Zone.
Kenyon: "They usually can&rsquo;t wait to say something negative about a Black athlete, or a Black person or the entire Black community."
Etan: They made an entire career out of it.
Kenyon: "Absolutely, and they are where they are because of that."
Etan: One-hundred percent.
Kenyon: "So yeah, I&rsquo;m with you, it was definitely disappointing to see the piling on from Black media people in particular on the platforms they have and not one guy said something even remotely in this man&rsquo;s corner. They were calling for his career."
Etan: And very loudly too. Jay Williams did say something, so shout out to him.
Kenyon: "Yeah that&rsquo;s right he did, but he was the only one, at least that I saw. But let me say this &mdash; you&rsquo;ve done a great job in providing perspective on this whole topic. I&rsquo;ve been following everything you posted. The interview with your guy from your show (Dave Zirin), you <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-rematch/episodes/basketballnews-com-episode-60-rabbi-harry-rozenberg-on-antisemitism,-kyrie-irving-s-suspension,-nets-6-steps-to-return,-adl,-more" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sat down with a Rabbi</a>, you had the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-rematch/episodes/basketballnews-com-episode-61-former-nba-players-craig-hodges-and-mahmoud-abdul-rauf-discuss-the-kyrie-irving-backlash,-more" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convo with Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Craig Hodges</a>. Even how you <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-nike-employs-adl-tactics-as-they-officially-drop-kyrie-irving-etan-thomas-torraine-walker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote about Nike after they dropped him</a>.
"That&rsquo;s why what you do is important, for that very reason of what we saw all the other media do with the piling on and one-sided bashing. You actually had discussions about it."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Etan: Thanks. Well, shout out to Basketball News for giving me the flexibility to cover different aspects of this topic in different ways. Most platforms wouldn&rsquo;t have allowed that. They would&rsquo;ve shut all that down.&nbsp;
Kenyon: "Censorship is crazy. Not even to have a discussion?"
Etan: Sometimes, media platforms want you to follow a script and you have to stick to the talking points. And with this, the script was: Bash Kyrie, label him antisemitic, denounce, condemn and bash some more.&nbsp;
Kenyon: "That&rsquo;s just wrong, but I&rsquo;m happy that Kyrie can put all of that behind him and the team&rsquo;s playing well, and he&rsquo;s rolling and being the Kyrie we all know him to be on the court. And you have to give a shout out to his teammates, who also didn&rsquo;t buy into all of the bashing and the talk of them being better without Kyrie. Because if you saw, they were trying to get them to co-sign that, but none of them did. They didn&rsquo;t say a bad word about Kyrie, and that&rsquo;s also a reason why they are playing so well right now. Because that kind of stuff can ruin the entire chemistry of a team if you let the outside noise seep into the locker room."
Etan: That&rsquo;s a great point. Last question: The Nets are playing really well, clicking on all cylinders and they have a rhythm with each other. They also have so many weapons we didn&rsquo;t even talk about like Seth Curry, Joe Harris, Ben Simmons, Yuta Watanabe and TJ Warren. How well can the Nets do this season?&nbsp;
Kenyon: "I would like to see them go out and get another big because you might have to play Philly. I love Nic Claxton, but dealing with Embiid by yourself for a whole playoff series is a lot to ask. But other than that, they have enough shooting, enough playmakers &mdash; they have a solid shot, they are definitely a contender. (It's about) learning how to win now, and win consistently like they have been doing &mdash; close games, ugly games, games where your main people are off because everything isn&rsquo;t going to be clicking every game. But still finding ways to win consistently, they are really preparing themselves for a very good playoff season."

Etan Thomas speaks with Kenyon Martin about the Nets' surge, Kevin Durant's latest knee injury and Kyrie Irving's recent play.

Kenyon Martin talks Nets, Kevin Durant's injury, Kyrie Irving backlash

Michael Jordan was moments away from hoisting his third of what would become five NBA Most Valuable Player awards, and then-Commissioner David Stern greeted him at the midcourt ceremony with words that were both simple and profound.
&ldquo;You are simply the standard,&rdquo; Stern said that night in 1992, &ldquo;by which basketball excellence is measured.&rdquo;
That&rsquo;s never been more true.
The NBA MVP award has been renamed The Michael Jordan Trophy, the league announced Tuesday. Jordan is a five-time MVP so he has five trophies named for Maurice Podoloff &mdash; the league&rsquo;s first commissioner. But after six decades of the award bearing Podoloff&rsquo;s name, the NBA decided the time was right to rebrand.
The Jordan trophy will stand 23.6 inches tall and weigh 23.6 pounds -- nods to his jersey number and six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls -- but is not a depiction of him. The chairman of the Charlotte Hornets approved the design, one that symbolizes someone reaching for excellence, but did not want the statue to be of himself. He also declined a request for comment through the NBA.
&ldquo;Anybody should be able to see this and see themselves in it,&rdquo; said Mark Smith, a longtime designer at Jordan Brand and the person who oversaw the trophy&rsquo;s design. &ldquo;They should feel the excellence of Michael Jordan and his pursuit. It&rsquo;s got his name on it, but it isn&rsquo;t him. It&rsquo;s everybody. It could be a shipbuilder or it could be a teacher or a lawyer or a writer who looks at it and says, &lsquo;That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m trying to do.&rsquo;&rdquo;
The league has rebranded almost all its trophies in the last two seasons, even adding some new ones. As part of Tuesday&rsquo;s announcement, the league revealed that The Jerry West Award is being introduced and will be given to the NBA Clutch Player of the Year &mdash; which, like almost all other league awards, will be voted on by a media panel. NBA coaches will nominate players for the clutch award.
Also, the Defensive Player of the Year will now receive The Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy; the Rookie of the Year will receive The Wilt Chamberlain Trophy; the Sixth Man of the Year will now receive The John Havlicek Trophy; and the NBA&rsquo;s Most Improved Player will receive The George Mikan Trophy.
&ldquo;Our new collection of trophies celebrates some of the greatest and most impactful players in the history of the NBA,&rdquo; NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. &ldquo;As we recognize the league&rsquo;s top performers each season, we also pay tribute to the legends who embody these prestigious awards.&rdquo;
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-nikola-jokic-38e98ac99f4a71a971a5e626ef7e5209">It became evident last week that something was changing about the MVP trophy</a> when the NBA said Podoloff&rsquo;s name was going onto a new prize -- a trophy that will go to the team with the best regular season record.
The MVP trophy has many levels of numerical significance related to Jordan, besides its height and weight. It has a five-sided base, a tribute to his five MVP awards. The name badge is six-sided, one for each of his championships. The base is shaped at a 15-degree angle; he played 15 NBA seasons.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m always going to numbers and symbiology as key root DNA to make something specific and authentic for that person,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;When you start putting all these things together, there&rsquo;s only one person and it becomes very unique. Not different, but very unique.&rdquo;
Jordan was involved at every step of the design process, Smith said. The final product was a bronze trophy depicting a player &ldquo;breaking out of a rock to reach for the ultimate rock &mdash; a crystal basketball,&rdquo; the league said. The trophy becomes more refined closer to the top, meant to show how hard work leads to something more polished and finally something great.
Smith said he fully expects to be emotional when he sees the new trophy awarded for the first time this spring.
&ldquo;This is actually the highest achievement for a single player ... and it&rsquo;s mind-blowing,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be a mind-blower.&rdquo;
Other trophies renamed or reimagined in the last year or so include ones named for Joe Dumars (sportsmanship), Red Auerbach (coach of the year), the Kobe Bryant All-Star MVP award &mdash; along with the Larry O&rsquo;Brien Trophy for the NBA champions and the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP trophy.
New Eastern Conference and Western Conference championship trophies named for Bob Cousy and Oscar Robertson respectively were added, along with the Larry Bird Trophy for East finals MVP and the Magic Johnson Trophy for West finals MVP. The league also began issuing divisional championship trophies, naming them for Nat &ldquo;Sweetwater&rdquo; Clifton (Atlantic Division), Wayne Embry (Central), Earl Lloyd (Southeast), Willis Reed (Southwest), Sam Jones (Northwest) and Chuck Cooper (Pacific).

The NBA MVP award has been renamed The Michael Jordan Trophy, the league announced Tuesday.

The Jordan Trophy: NBA rebrands, redesigns its MVP award

There&rsquo;s now another trophy for NBA teams to chase.
The league announced Tuesday that the team with the best regular season record will now receive The Maurice Podoloff Trophy, named for the first commissioner of the NBA.
And that name strongly suggests that another trophy tweak is coming &mdash; since until last season, the league&rsquo;s MVP trophy was named for Podoloff. Denver&rsquo;s Nikola Jokic received the Podoloff Trophy when he won his first MVP award in 2021; when he won MVP again last season, he also received a crystal ball amid a leaguewide redesign of many trophies.
The new Podoloff Trophy has a crystal ball cut into 82 panels &mdash; a nod to the 82-game regular season &mdash; and sits atop a pedestal that combines the structures of the Eastern Conference posts and Western Conference rings.
The league also unveiled several more redesigned trophies Tuesday. The Joe Dumars Trophy for sportsmanship, The Red Auerbach Trophy for coach of the year, The Twyman-Stokes Trophy for the league&rsquo;s best teammate and the NBA Executive of the Year Trophy all have new looks. Each features an embedment inside a 15-inch crystal net structure.
&ldquo;Winning the first NBA Sportsmanship Award and being the trophy&rsquo;s namesake are among the greatest honors of my career,&rdquo; said Dumars, who is now an NBA Executive Vice President and the league&rsquo;s head of basketball operations. &ldquo;The reimagined trophies represent the enduring legacy of past recipients and are a fitting way to honor those who will continue to raise the standard of excellence in our game.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The NBA today unveiled redesigned trophies for its end of season trophies. The trophies are designed in partnership with artist Victor Solomon, who previously worked with the league to redesign its trophy offerings throughout the NBA&rsquo;s 75th Anniversary Season.
&mdash; NBA Communications (@NBAPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAPR/status/1600143568164691968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Last season, the league changed the look of the NBA&rsquo;s championship trophy, The Larry O&rsquo;Brien, with the golden ball atop it now tilting in a different direction than the previous version and with a rounded base instead of the square one that the trophy had for decades.
It also made design changes for many other awards, including the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP trophy along with the Eastern Conference and Western Conference championship trophies &mdash; naming them for Bob Cousy and Oscar Robertson, respectively. The league also added two new prizes last season, the Larry Bird Trophy for East finals MVP and the Magic Johnson Trophy for West finals MVP.
All the trophies handed out at All-Star weekend, including the Kobe Bryant MVP award, were also redesigned last season. The league also began issuing divisional championship trophies, naming them for Nat &ldquo;Sweetwater&rdquo; Clifton (Atlantic Division), Wayne Embry (Central), Earl Lloyd (Southeast), Willis Reed (Southwest), Sam Jones (Northwest) and Chuck Cooper (Pacific).

The league announced Tuesday that the team with the best regular season record will now receive The Maurice Podoloff Trophy.

NBA adds Maurice Podoloff Trophy for team with best record

Spencer Davies details Jamal Cain's climb from Pontiac, Michigan to the NBA level through the lens of longtime friend Mychal Covington.

Outwork everybody: Two-way Heat rookie Jamal Cain catches you sleeping

DeMatha was leading Sierra Canyon by almost double digits in the fourth quarter, but the Trailblazers were mounting a comeback and chipping away at the lead.&nbsp;
The electrified crowd was enthusiastically cheering on the hometown Stags. It felt like an NBA-playoff atmosphere.&nbsp;
Senior point guard Jaden Winston led a very balanced DeMatha attack with 10 points, but his real impact was felt on the defensive end where he harassed the Sierra Canyon backcourt the entire night. The guards were visibly uncomfortable, which at times led to them struggling to get into their offensive sets and contributed to Bronny James being held to 11 points on just two field-goals.
Ashton Hardaway, who led Sierra Canyon with 14 points, had a very impressive night scoring in a variety of ways &mdash;from fastbreak dunks to offensive putbacks. Down the stretch, he displayed great footwork with a mid-post move to a turnaround fade that brought "ooohs" and "aaaahs" from the DeMatha-heavy crowd.&nbsp;
Unfortunately, a crowd disturbance caused the game to be cancelled with less than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter. (DeMatha was leading 52-51 at the time the game was called).
Following the game, Rashid Ghazi, the president of Paragon Marketing Group, issued the following statement through social media: "Given the incident in the stands tonight during the CBC vs. Stags game at Wise High School, we have cancelled Sunday&rsquo;s event. We are making the decision out of the utmost of caution to ensure player and fan safety. Refunds will be available via Go Fan."
I spoke to a group of teenage girls outside of the Wise High School gymnasium who were witnesses to what happened (including my daughter Imani Thomas) who told me:
&ldquo;I was walking by the concession line when I just saw everyone start running. They were jumping down from the bleachers and stampeding toward the exit. I have never seen anything like this before. People were so scared; they looked like they were running for their lives, so I started running too. Not like I was going to ask anyone what happened or what was going on. I saw running so I ran.&rdquo;&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Another teenager added: &ldquo;They should&rsquo;ve had this at a bigger place, like where the Mystics play in Southeast. That&rsquo;s a big arena, so you wouldn&rsquo;t have had to have people all in the aisles and packed around the balcony. That was just a bad set up. Someone could&rsquo;ve really gotten hurt.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Another teenage girl passionately chimed in with,&nbsp;&ldquo;This was all Sierra Canyon&rsquo;s fault. They were so busy trying to protect Bronny, they caused all of this themselves. Nothing even happened. There was no fight, not even any punches were thrown. It was some young boys running off at the mouth at each other.&rdquo;&nbsp;
One of Imani&rsquo;s schoolmates added, &ldquo;Hey, they gotta protect LeBron's son. They can&rsquo;t be having him out here risking it all.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Another girl responded: &ldquo;Yeah, but them being all scared for no reason caused all this and it wasn&rsquo;t even that serious. Nobody would&rsquo;ve reacted if they didn&rsquo;t see them start running for their lives off the court. Ain&rsquo;t nobody gonna do nothing to Bronny. I wanted to see them finish the game and send them back to Cali with an L.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Imani chimed back in with,&nbsp;&ldquo;There were just way too many people in there in the first place. Wasn&rsquo;t that a health-code violation or fire-marshall issue or something?&rdquo;&nbsp;
They were all absolutely correct in their assessments.&nbsp;
From where I was standing in the overly-crowded balcony they were referring to, I could see everything and what I saw was two young kids who couldn&rsquo;t have been any older than 6th or 7th grade start arguing with each other. Then, I saw security rush over toward them and everyone started to look up into the stands to see what was going on. I looked back onto the court and I saw Sierra Canyon literally running for their lives off of the court. What followed could only be described as complete panic and pandemonium. But as the teenager pointed out, this was 100% prompted by Sierra Canyon&rsquo;s sprint off the court.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s a shame because it was an amazing display of basketball being played by both teams filled with highlights.&nbsp;
A three-pointer from freshman phenom Ashton Meeks after Jaden Winston makes the defender almost do the splits:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Jaden Winston finds Ashton Meeks for the 3-ball. Meeks is the younger cousin of former DeMatha star Earl Timberlake. <a href="https://twitter.com/DeMathaHoops?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DeMathaHoops</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Jaeewinston1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Jaeewinston1</a> <a href="https://t.co/gmKfk4tUy3">pic.twitter.com/gmKfk4tUy3</a>
&mdash; Capitol Hoops (@CapitolHoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/CapitolHoops/status/1586567933886701568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2022</a></blockquote>

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A rebound putback and-one by Malcolm Thomas brought the crowd to its feet:
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Jaden Winston steal on one end. Malcolm Thomas Follow up on the other. <a href="https://twitter.com/Jaeewinston1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Jaeewinston1</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/princ3_thomas?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@princ3_thomas</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DeMathaHoops?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DeMathaHoops</a> <a href="https://t.co/QoBJoUmVTs">pic.twitter.com/QoBJoUmVTs</a>
&mdash; Capitol Hoops (@CapitolHoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/CapitolHoops/status/1586570558401138688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2022</a></blockquote>

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A pull-up three-pointer by Bronny James:
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Bronny James pull-up tonight for Sierra Canyon. <a href="https://twitter.com/DeMathaHoops?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DeMathaHoops</a> did a tremendous job on James defensively tonight. This was one of his buckets. <a href="https://t.co/RoFwUmN7oq">pic.twitter.com/RoFwUmN7oq</a>
&mdash; Capitol Hoops (@CapitolHoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/CapitolHoops/status/1586545569480179712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2022</a></blockquote>

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But the play that brought the house down was made by DeMatha&rsquo;s Chris McElveen. It&rsquo;s a play that will be talked about in the DMV for quite sometime. A fastbreak dunk over Bronny James that almost caused the game to be paused in itself:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Bronny James and Sierra Canyon put on a show tonight at Wise before some unfortunate circumstances ended the game with 2 mins left and <a href="https://twitter.com/DeMathaHoops?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DeMathaHoops</a> up 1. But many will remember this game because Chris McElveen (<a href="https://twitter.com/iam_cris21?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@iam_cris21</a>) put one on Bronny&rsquo;s head!! 😱😱😱😱 <a href="https://t.co/CzYm5KHK45">pic.twitter.com/CzYm5KHK45</a>
&mdash; Capitol Hoops (@CapitolHoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/CapitolHoops/status/1586535252784095232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Regardless of the unfortunate ending, this was a great display of basketball played in Prince George&rsquo;s County on Saturday night. Yes, adjustments will have to be made the next time as suggested by the group of very astute and keenly aware teenage girls. But overall, the crowd definitely got their money&rsquo;s worth (even if it was a hiked up $15 a pop for a preseason scrimmage game).
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A few things impressed me with this play. The fact that Malcolm <a href="https://twitter.com/princ3_thomas?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@princ3_thomas</a> challenged Bronny up top (yes he did foul him but he also got a lot of the ball too) but the fact that he didn&rsquo;t move out of the way and just allow the Bronny highlight <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoNo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NoNo</a> (Shout out to Mutumbo) <a href="https://t.co/HK6fKMrSdg">pic.twitter.com/HK6fKMrSdg</a>
&mdash; Etan Thomas (@etanthomas36) <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1586712529421705217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Credit to <a href="https://instagram.com/tariqa1i?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tariq Ali</a>, who contributed the photo of Bronny James.

Etan Thomas was in attendance for Saturday's game between DeMatha and Sierra Canyon that ended due to a crowd disturbance.

DeMatha-Sierra Canyon game ends early after minor crowd disturbance

NBA training camps and preseason games are underway, yet DeMarcus Cousins is still a free agent.
Last season, Cousins became a key contributor after joining the Denver Nuggets in February, averaging 8.9 points and 5.5 rebounds in 13.9 minutes per contest. He played well during the playoffs too, particularly in Denver's Game 5 loss against the Golden State Warriors when he scored 19 points in 15 minutes (while shooting 8-of-12 from the field and 2-of-3 from three-point range).
It certainly seems like the 32-year-old big man can still help a team, but he believes his negative reputation is why he remains unsigned.
&ldquo;I think the misperception of me is that I&rsquo;m this angry monster that just goes around bullying people, beating people up, uncoachable, and a cancer in the locker room,&rdquo; Cousins told <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/demarcus-cousins-admits-mistakes-as-he-pursues-nba-comeback-just-asking-for-a-chance-to-show-my-growth-161331965.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports</a>. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s all false. I played for coach [John] Calipari, a legendary coach. I was more than coachable. Steve Kerr would attest to that and coach [Mike] Malone. Obviously, you can always go back to my time in Sacramento. I was a young kid. I was still figuring this business out. I was ignorant to a lot of things. I handled a lot of things the incorrect way, but I&rsquo;ve also learned from those mistakes. And some things that happened were just out of my control. The stars just didn&rsquo;t align and things just didn&rsquo;t work out the way we had planned. But that was seven or eight years ago.
"I&rsquo;m a grown man with a family that I work to provide for and that&rsquo;s my goal every day when I wake up: 'How can I provide for my family?' So, to hold my time in Sac over my head, I think that&rsquo;s unfair. I believe we all should have a chance to grow and change and actually have that change be embraced. I just want a fair shot.&rdquo;
Cousins acknowledges that he has screwed up throughout his career, mainly when he was younger. Now, he just wants an opportunity to show how much he has grown.
&ldquo;Have I made mistakes? Absolutely,&rdquo; Cousins <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/demarcus-cousins-admits-mistakes-as-he-pursues-nba-comeback-just-asking-for-a-chance-to-show-my-growth-161331965.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Yahoo Sports</a>. &ldquo;Have I done things the wrong way? Absolutely. For that, I&rsquo;m very apologetic. But I&rsquo;ve done even more things the correct way, and I&rsquo;ve done even more positive things compared to my negatives. I just don&rsquo;t want those positives to be overlooked. And obviously, whenever it gets to the point where the negatives outweigh the positives, you should probably move away from him. That&rsquo;s just how life goes. But I don&rsquo;t believe I&rsquo;m in that boat. I&rsquo;m just asking for a chance to show my growth as a man and a player...
&ldquo;It would mean everything in the world to me to be back in the NBA. I know I belong in this league. I feel like I&rsquo;ve paid my dues and earned my stripes. I&rsquo;ve hit some bumps in the road with injuries and I&rsquo;ve always worked my way back to be 100% healthy. I&rsquo;ve worked my tail off to get back to this point. I just want the opportunity to show the work I&rsquo;ve put in and continue to put in. I also just want an opportunity to also earn my keep and that&rsquo;s all I really want. I have a lot left in the tank. A whole lot. I feel like I&rsquo;ve actually become an even better player, just sharpening all my skills. I&rsquo;ve had nothing but time in the gym. I&rsquo;ve gotten better in all aspects of my game."
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Cousins has been working out every day and staying ready for when he gets that call from an NBA team.
&ldquo;I just want teams to get to really know me and not to believe the narrative," Cousins said. "I&rsquo;m a great teammate and great for the locker room. I have a lot of experience in this league. I have a lot of knowledge to give to these younger guys. I love spreading knowledge. I love being an OG to the younger guys. I&rsquo;ve always been a big-brother figure. I don&rsquo;t believe those areas of my game and of my personality are ever really highlighted. It&rsquo;s more so always the technicals and things of that nature. And like I said, I just don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s a fair assessment. I&rsquo;m ready to help a team however way I can.&rdquo;
In recent years, numerous teammates have raved about Cousins. After the Nuggets were eliminated from the playoffs last season, Monte Morris and Will Barton discussed Cousins' impact &mdash; on and off the court.
&ldquo;Anytime you have a guy like that, you always want him back,&rdquo; Barton said. &ldquo;Like I say, he's still DeMarcus Cousins &mdash; a guy who, when he's healthy, is a very good player. Those are not my decisions; I'm not in management. Obviously, if I have a voice in the fight, I definitely would love to have him back. He was big for us on and off the court, [a] presence in the locker room. We'll see what happens.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Signing Boogie, man... I love him to death,&rdquo; Morris said. &ldquo;A guy that would pick up 19 points in a do-or-die elimination game just shows how much heart he has, how much love he has for the game. I'm definitely proud of him... He's a great guy. He has a great family, great kids, an amazing wife. I look at things bigger than just ball. He's a guy that's been through a lot, on and off the court, experience-wise. He can help anybody. It's a lot that he's seen. Having that around, I think, is big.&rdquo;
Over the course of Cousins' 12-year NBA career, the four-time All-Star has averaged 19.6 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.1 blocks on .460/.331/.737 shooting splits. Cousins is currently the fourth-best player on our <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/nba-free-agency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA Free Agent Rankings</a>.

DeMarcus Cousins has yet to be signed. He opened up to Chris Haynes about his free agency, his negative reputation and more.

Free agent DeMarcus Cousins admits mistakes, hopes for NBA call

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) &mdash; Victor Wembanyama didn&rsquo;t wait long to make an impression.
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-las-vegas-6f4ac3d44f624ef36ddb00e314cf0401" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The 7-foot-4 French phenomenon</a> from the club Metropolitans 92 blocked shots at the rim and on the perimeter, got rebounds, ran the floor, set screens, scored on a nifty spin move, showed off his ability to dribble, dove for a loose ball and even played point guard on one possession.
Oh, and all that was in the first two minutes. Talk about setting the tone.
The 200 scouts and NBA executives who came to see a show didn&rsquo;t have to pay for their tickets Tuesday night, but if they had, they wouldn&rsquo;t have been short-changed at any price. Wembanyama showed off all the skills that have him widely presumed to be the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
His final numbers: 37 points, 11-for-20 shooting, 7 three-pointers, 5 blocked shots, 4 rebounds.
The final score, as if it mattered: G League Ignite 120, Metropolitans 115, with Scoot Henderson &mdash; the consensus No. 2 pick, as of now anyway &mdash; finishing with 28 points and 9 assists for the Ignite.
The teams will play again Thursday afternoon; after that, the next time Wembanyama plays a game of any significance on U.S. soil will likely be at NBA Summer League next July.
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WHAT A DUEL Scoot Henderson &amp; Victor Wembanyama PUT ON A SHOW TONIGHT! <a href="https://t.co/jOApxyIJoD">pic.twitter.com/jOApxyIJoD</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1577516849826242562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Much of the Wembanyama repertoire was on full display, and it was as good as advertised. He made three-pointers. Step-back jumpers. Did what seemed to be mildly reminiscent of the Michael Jordan shrug from the 1992 NBA Finals after one of those shots fell. Played through what appeared to be a bit of a twisted ankle, making a fadeaway three while doing so. He even argued foul calls like a seasoned NBA veteran and may have had a legitimate case on a couple occasions.
There are many ways for the 18-year-old to get better. But it&rsquo;s clear: He&rsquo;s ready for the NBA, ready for the scrutiny that will come going into the draft, the scrutiny that will come if he is indeed the No. 1 pick.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s really a talented player,&rdquo; Ignite coach Jason Hart said.
Even the stuff that didn&rsquo;t show up next to Wembanyama&rsquo;s name in the box score was eye-popping at times. Case in point: a play midway through the second quarter when he set a pick near midcourt, rolled, caught a pass a couple inches inside the three-point line, took one dribble and went airborne &mdash; because by then, he was already in the middle of the lane. He tried to elevate over multiple Ignite players, took a shot, got fouled, shrugged off the contact and dunked the rebound.
It didn&rsquo;t count, but still had some sitting courtside reacting in disbelief.
There are always shows in Vegas, but Cirque du Soleil wasn&rsquo;t the French brand capturing the basketball world&rsquo;s attention on Tuesday night.
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Back-to-back Splash 💦 Victor Wembanyama is up to 17 PTS 🔥 Watch Now on the NBA App and on ESPN 2 📲 <a href="https://t.co/WIy2EVFAUt">https://t.co/WIy2EVFAUt</a> <a href="https://t.co/V3d1hfHCeJ">pic.twitter.com/V3d1hfHCeJ</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1577502513657323520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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San Antonio executive R.C. Buford and Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti were chatting pregame. Chris Paul and Devin Booker, in town with the Phoenix Suns to play the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night, showed up to watch with seats near the Metropolitans bench. DeMarcus Cousins grabbed a seat near the Ignite bench. Chelsea Gray and A&rsquo;ja Wilson of the WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces &mdash; coming off a FIBA World Cup gold medal won a few days ago as well &mdash; watched from one of the baselines. The WNBA trophy even made an appearance.
And this wasn't just The Victor Show, either. Henderson believes he should be the No. 1 pick and had more than his share of moments. He got around Wembanyama's incredible 8-foot wingspan a couple times for layups, got him in the air to set up assists to Ignite teammates a couple more times, made a step-back three over him as well.
He also tried what would have been a dunk with 3:31 left. Wembanyama swatted it away with ease. Henderson also tried a 3 with 1:31 left; Wembanyama sent that into the seats.
But Henderson more than lived up to his end of the bargain in this made-for-TV showdown.
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Scoot Henderson hit the brakes! Get to the NBA App Now: <a href="https://t.co/WIy2EVoxSt">https://t.co/WIy2EVoxSt</a> <a href="https://t.co/BvffwiVWSo">pic.twitter.com/BvffwiVWSo</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1577504502282059776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;This game meant a lot to Scoot,&rdquo; said Ignite forward Shareef O&rsquo;Neal, the son of Hall of Famer Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s my No. 1 pick.&rdquo;
Said Henderson: &ldquo;I feel like I impacted the game."
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Henderson showed some fire. He gave the Metropolitans&rsquo; bench a long look when time was called in the second quarter and the Ignite were starting to build their lead. Wembanyama had a little edge to him as well; he made a three-pointer from near the Ignite bench early in the second half, then turned and gave those seated there a look, then converted a four-point play on his next possession.
Nicolas Batum, who played for Metropolitans 92 coach Vincent Collet at the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021 and the 2019 Basketball World Cup in China, tweeted this during the second half: &ldquo;One thing for sure is that the first 2 picks are LOCKED for the next NBA draft.&rdquo;
Much can change between now and June. But Batum's prediction seems pretty safe.
A Victor vs. Scoot show was what the NBA wanted. It delivered.

A Victor Wembanyama vs. Scoot Henderson showdown was what the NBA wanted, and both stars delivered.

Victor Wembanyama, Scoot Henderson showed repertoire as NBA watched

LAS VEGAS (AP) &mdash; A&rsquo;ja Wilson had 24 points and 11 rebounds and the Las Vegas Aces beat the Connecticut Sun 67-64 on Sunday in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals.
The Aces staved off a late run by the Sun, who nearly erased a seven-point deficit with 1:24 left when Alyssa Thomas hit back-to-back shots to pull Connecticut within three. But DeWanna Bonner&rsquo;s desperation 3-point attempt to tie the game fell short as time expired.
Chelsea Gray finished with 21 points for Las Vegas, while Jackie Young chipped in 11 as the franchise won their first WNBA Finals game in franchise history. They had been swept in 2008 when the team was in San Antonio and lost in three games in 2020.
&ldquo;Coming from being swept and actually getting one. Pretty happy about this one,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;Not going to dwell on it long as we have a really tough Game 2 coming up.&rdquo;
After squandering a first-quarter lead, and allowing the Sun to control the second and carry momentum in the third, the Aces outscored Connecticut 13-3 to close the third quarter and seize momentum for the final period before a frenzied record sold out gathering of 10,135.
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Thomas led Connecticut with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Jonquel Jones added 15 points, Brionna Jones came off the bench to score 12 and Natasha Hiedeman contributed with 10.
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Dearica Hamby came off the bench a bit past the midway point of the third quarter and provided an immediate spark for the Aces with a pair of offensive rebounds, a put back under the basket, two assists and a steal, as the Aces clawed their way back to turn a six-point point deficit into a two-point lead heading into the final period. Hamby missed the final month of the regular season with a knee injury.
She didn&rsquo;t play in the first round of the playoffs and was used sparingly in the final two games of the semifinals.
The Aces set the tone early by taking a 12-5 lead with Wilson leading the charge by scoring six of their points. Wilson scored 12 of her points in the first quarter, as Las Vegas shot 56.3% (9 of 16) from the floor. Connecticut finished the opening quarter hitting 8 of 18 (47.6%). And while the Aces were 5 of 7 from the free-throw line, the Sun didn&rsquo;t have one attempt in the period.
The Sun wasted no time in getting back into the game, opening the second quarter by scoring the first six points to pull within two, and eventually took a one-point lead at 30-29 behind 13-4 run. The Aces shot a dreadful 3 for 15 (20%) and was outscored 21-9 in the second quarter. The Sun finished 9 of 14 (64.2%) in the quarter and hit 17 of 42 (40.4%) in the first half.
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&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t let them get rockin&rsquo; and rollin&rsquo; like that,&rdquo; Wilson said.
COURTSIDE CLUB
In attendance for Game 1 included Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore, Miami Heat guard Kyle Lowry, Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant, free agent DeMarcus Cousins and Los Angeles Clippers coach Ty Lue.
EXHIBITION, EH?
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced during her pregame press conference that the WNBA will hold a preseason exhibition game in Canada next year with hopes of continuing global exposure for the league. This will be the first time since 2011 that the WNBA has played an international game.
UP NEXT
The teams will play Game 2 in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

The Aces won their first WNBA Finals game in franchise history on Sunday.

A'ja Wilson’s double-double leads Aces to 67-64 Game 1 win over Sun

The calendar is about to flip to September, which means NBA training camps will get underway in a few weeks. It's now been two months since the 2022 NBA free-agency period tipped off, but there are still a number of notable players who remain unsigned.
Editor's Note: Collin Sexton agreed to a four-year, $72 million contract in a sign-and-trade that sent him to Utah, so he is no longer on this list.
Here's a look at nine players who are still available:
MILES BRIDGES, RESTRICTED FREE AGENT
Miles Bridges is coming off a breakout season, averaging a career-high 20.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.9 threes and 0.9 steals. The forward seemed due for a massive payday, and Charlotte Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak even said that the team would re-sign him. Then, Bridges was arrested for domestic violence on the eve of free agency. Bridges' wife, Mychelle Johnson, <a href="https://twitter.com/TheNBACentral/status/1542723880619581440/photo/4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke out</a> about Bridges' alleged abuse and documented her serious injuries. Not only has this situation understandably scared teams away, but it's also very possible that the NBA will suspend Bridges.
MONTREZL HARRELL, UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT
Montrezl Harrell just delivered another productive and efficient season as a reserve, averaging 13.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 23.1 minutes per game, while shooting 64.5% from the field. Harrell started the season with the Washington Wizards and then got traded to the Hornets before the deadline. However, it's worth noting that the 28-year-old is facing felony drug charges after officers claimed to find three pounds of marijuana in his car during a traffic stop back in May. That's likely why the former Sixth Man of the Year is still available.
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DENNIS SCHRODER, UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT
Last offseason, Dennis Schroder signed with the Boston Celtics at a significant discount. After struggling during the first half of the season, he was traded to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Daniel Theis. He finished last season averaging 13.5 points, 4.6 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 threes per game, while shooting 43.1% from the field, 34.4% from three-point range and 85.3% from the free-throw line. The Los Angeles Lakers have reportedly considered signing Schroder again.
HASSAN WHITESIDE, UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT
Hassan Whiteside is a solid center who can come off the bench and protect the rim. Last season, while backing up Rudy Gobert on the Utah Jazz, he averaged 8.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 17.9 minutes per game. In eight starts, the 33-year-old averaged 11.5 points, 11.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks while shooting 63.5% from the field.
CARMELO ANTHONY, UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT
Last season, a 37-year-old Melo put up 13.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.2 threes, 0.8 blocks and 0.7 steals in 26.0 minutes per game with the Lakers. In recent years, he has shot the ball much better from three-point range, knocking down 37.5% of his three-point attempts last year and 40.9% from deep the year before. Earlier this offseason, Anthony was working out with his son, Kiyan, at Impact Basketball in Las Vegas while preparing for next season.
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Carmelo Anthony (<a href="https://twitter.com/carmeloanthony?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@carmeloanthony</a>) working out at <a href="https://twitter.com/impactbball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@impactbball</a> in Las Vegas: <a href="https://t.co/Rnz8Bam7EO">pic.twitter.com/Rnz8Bam7EO</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1547693404414365702?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2022</a></blockquote>

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DEMARCUS COUSINS, UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT
Cousins became a key contributor after joining the Denver Nuggets in February, averaging 8.9 points and 5.5 rebounds in 13.9 minutes per contest. He looked great at times during the playoffs, scoring an efficient 19 points in 15 minutes during Game 5 against the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the postseason. The 31-year-old can still help a team.
&ldquo;I belong in this league,&rdquo; Cousins said after Denver was eliminated. &ldquo;I was given the opportunity; I'm thankful for Mike Malone. I spoke with him before. A lot of doors closed for me. Mike looked out, gave me an opportunity. I just tried to take the best advantage of it as I could. That's what I did.&rdquo;
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JEREMY LAMB, UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT
Last season, the Indiana Pacers traded Lamb to the Sacramento Kings as a part of the Domantas Sabonis deal. In 56 games, Lamb averaged 7.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.0 three in 16.7 minutes a night. The 30-year-old struggled with his shot, knocking down just 38.3% of his attempts from the field and 32.4% of his threes (after shooting 45.1% from the field and 40.6% from three the previous year).&nbsp;
TRISTAN THOMPSON, UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT
Last season, Thompson suited up for the Kings, Pacers and Chicago Bulls, averaging 6.0 points and 5.1 rebounds in 15.7 minutes per game. At this stage of his career, the 31-year-old is a solid backup big man who can provide frontcourt depth.
ANDRE IGUODALA, UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT
Last season, Iguodala rejoined the Golden State Warriors, averaging 4.0 points, 3.7 assists, 3.2 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 0.7 blocks in 19.5 minutes across 31 games. Entering his 19th season in the league, the 38-year-old is mainly a veteran leader and strong locker-room presence, but he can still produce in limited reserve minutes. Don't be surprised if he re-signs with Golden State.

NBA training camps will get underway in a few weeks, but there are still a number of notable free agents who are unsigned.