Badgers

With just days left until the 2024-25 NBA season tips off, the Eastern Conference teams are settled, prepped, and ready for action. The offseason moves are done, rosters are set, and almost everyone&rsquo;s locked in for what&rsquo;s shaping up to be an intense race. From title contenders to dark horses, the East is packed with teams ready to make noise. So, let&rsquo;s dive into the top 15 teams in the East as we gear up for this brand-new season&mdash;no fluff, just what you need to know.
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">New York Knicks The Knicks made significant moves this offseason, adding Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges while retaining key pieces like Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby. With depth, defense, and firepower, they look primed for a deep playoff run. After a 50-win season in 2023-24, they now have realistic championship aspirations and could be the biggest threat to the Celtics in the East.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Boston Celtics The defending champions kept their core intact, extending Jayson Tatum and Derrick White. With Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Jrue Holiday leading a formidable lineup, the Celtics are aiming to repeat as NBA champions. Despite concerns about Al Horford&rsquo;s age and frontcourt health, Boston remains the favorite heading into the 2024-25 season.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Milwaukee Bucks The Bucks didn&rsquo;t make major changes but added depth with Gary Trent Jr., Taurean Prince, and Delon Wright. After an injury-plagued season from Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, Milwaukee looks to bounce back under returning head coach Doc Rivers. With questions surrounding Lillard&rsquo;s form and Middleton&rsquo;s durability, the Bucks remain playoff contenders, but how far they go will depend on health and chemistry.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Philadelphia 76ers The 76ers had a big offseason, adding Paul George, Andre Drummond, and Caleb Martin to support Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. Maxey&rsquo;s rise as a star solidifies Philly&rsquo;s title hopes, and Embiid&rsquo;s MVP-level play is crucial for their success. With an improved supporting cast, the Sixers could be serious challengers in the East, but Embiid&rsquo;s health remains the key.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Cleveland Cavaliers After a solid 48-win season, the Cavs focused on continuity by keeping their core of Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. New coach Kenny Atkinson brings fresh leadership, and Cleveland hopes to build on last season&rsquo;s playoff run. With a healthier roster and improved coaching, the Cavs could reach 50 wins and challenge the top teams in the East.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Indiana Pacers The Pacers had a quiet offseason but retained Pascal Siakam and made a key addition in James Wiseman. Tyrese Haliburton&rsquo;s breakout season makes Indiana a team to watch, and they&rsquo;re looking to build on their deep playoff run. With improved chemistry and young talent, Indiana could surprise as a top-five team in the East.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Orlando Magic The Magic are banking on internal growth, led by Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. After winning 47 games and making the playoffs last season, they added veteran Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for shooting and leadership. With a young core developing, Orlando could win 50 games if they continue their upward trend and improve their perimeter shooting.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Miami Heat The Heat had a quiet offseason, adding Alec Burks while re-signing key players like Bam Adebayo. With Jimmy Butler&rsquo;s future uncertain and health concerns for both Butler and Tyler Herro, Miami could face challenges in a competitive Eastern Conference. However, Adebayo&rsquo;s All-NBA-level play will keep them in the playoff hunt.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Atlanta Hawks The Hawks overhauled their roster after a disappointing 36-46 season, headlined by trading Dejounte Murray and acquiring the No. 1 pick, Zaccharie Risacher. With Trae Young remaining the focal point, the Hawks are banking on Risacher&rsquo;s development and contributions from new additions like Larry Nance Jr. and Dyson Daniels. This team looks poised to contend for a Play-In spot but lacks the co-star power needed for a deep playoff run.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Charlotte Hornets The Hornets enter the season with fresh energy, thanks to the hiring of new coach Charles Lee and the re-signing of Miles Bridges. With LaMelo Ball back healthy and Brandon Miller continuing to impress after an All-Rookie season, Charlotte&rsquo;s young core could surprise many. If Ball stays on the floor and their youth develops quickly, the Hornets might find themselves contending for a Play-In spot and shaking off years of underachievement.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Detroit Pistons The Pistons are looking to turn the page on a tough 2023-24 season and have made moves to fast-track their rebuild. With Cade Cunningham healthy, new leadership under J.B. Bickerstaff, and rookie Ron Holland adding spark, Detroit could outperform expectations. If Cunningham returns to form and the team gels quickly, don&rsquo;t be surprised if the Pistons emerge as a dark horse in the East.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Toronto Raptors The Raptors are in transition, keeping their young core of Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, and Immanuel Quickley intact. After a poor finish to last season, Toronto is betting on Barnes&rsquo; continued growth and the addition of Davion Mitchell to improve their fortunes. While their ceiling might be a Play-In appearance, the Raptors are hoping their trio can take a big step forward.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Chicago Bulls The Bulls traded DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso, adding Josh Giddey and Jalen Smith to the mix. Zach LaVine&rsquo;s injury history remains a concern, but the Bulls are counting on Coby White&rsquo;s emergence and the potential of lottery pick Matas Buzelis. Chicago is likely to be a competitive team some nights, but they may struggle to rise above the Play-In threshold.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Brooklyn Nets The Nets are entering a rebuild after trading Mikal Bridges and Lonnie Walker. With a young roster led by Nic Claxton and Cam Thomas, Brooklyn&rsquo;s focus is on player development. Ben Simmons remains a question mark, but the team&rsquo;s recent moves set them up for future success with significant draft assets. A playoff berth seems unlikely as they look to position themselves for a high draft pick.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Washington Wizards The Wizards continue their rebuild with the addition of Alex Sarr, the No. 2 overall pick. With Malcolm Brogdon and Saddiq Bey joining the squad, Washington hopes to see growth from young talents like Bilal Coulibaly. However, they&rsquo;re still far from playoff contention and will likely be looking at another lottery-bound season.</li>
</ol>

Let's dive into the top 15 teams in the East as we gear up for this brand-new season.

2024-2025 NBA Eastern Conference Power Rankings: A new number one arises at the top

This article is part of a two-part series preview for the upcoming 2023-2024 NBA Playoffs.
With the 2023-2024 NBA Playoffs starting, all eyes will be on all teams competing for the championship as fans and players look on for a taste of postseason action. As eight playoff teams in each conference gear up for what promises to be an intense battle for the title, each team faces its own set of unique challenges. In this article, we take a closer look at the biggest question facing each Western Conference team heading into the playoffs, from injuries and roster changes to key matchups and strategic decisions.
<h3>Oklahoma City Thunder - How far can their youth and inexperience take them in the playoffs?</h3>
The Thunder got away through the regular season with historic from MVP frontrunner Shai Gilgeous Alexander, an impressive rookie season by Chet Holmgren, a star sophomore leap by Jalen Williams, and a coaching masterclass in a genius coach Mark Daigneault.
However, the playoffs as we know it is a different beast &ndash; will Mark Daigneault be able to sustain the good coaching he has done with his team throughout this regular season?
How much of this youth and inexperience be a factor for them to advance deeper in the playoffs; will they be able to use it to their advantage? Or will it be a hindrance against other experienced teams when they face each other in these tight situations? Most of the time, these situations require patience and discipline &ndash; teams with playoff experience have shown over time and have done it time and time again on their way to a deep playoff run.
<h3>Denver Nuggets - Can they go back to back?</h3>
There&rsquo;s really no other question for a team like the Nuggets at the peak of their powers: Can they win back-to-back titles? There has not been a back-to-back champion in the NBA for the past 5 years, with the last one coming in 2017 and 2018 when the Warriors won it all.
Like Boston, it is a title or bust status with Denver as of now. They have been fairly healthy throughout the regular season, have a mostly intact roster that won it all last year, and have the best player in the world in Nikola Jokic in his absolute prime. Denver this year has again all the necessary pieces to win &ndash; the right amount of shooters, defensive guys, scoring in the paint &ndash; which are all the makings of a championship team.
A couple of questionable factors though would be how much of an impact the loss of Bruce Brown would have in these playoffs. Brown was arguably the 5th, or 4th best player in their championship run last year &ndash; maybe even the 3rd in some games. He was essential on offense and defense, guarding the opponent&rsquo;s best perimeter threats while providing off-ball scoring and cuts that fit perfectly with Jokic.
Second, they&rsquo;ll be facing championship-caliber teams with hunger and drive to defeat them, and all have been competitive with the Nuggets this season. The Lakers, although the Nuggets swept them last year in the Western Conference Finals, still have LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and they won&rsquo;t take that lightly &ndash; likely coming back with a vengeance.
The Suns have won the season series with the Nuggets 2-1 and they pose a threat to the Nuggets with their formula of having three elite shotmakers that can explode anytime &ndash; which the Nuggets may not cover all at the same time.&nbsp; The Wolves, who perhaps have the best lineup suited to defeat them, are lurking in the same bracket waiting to pounce on them at sight.&nbsp;
These are all challenges a defending champion must go through to achieve a rare feat because the playoffs are supposed to be hard.
<h3>Minnesota Timberwolves -&nbsp; Will they finally break through after years of heartbreak?</h3>
This has already been a win of a season for the Timberwolves, achieving their second most wins in franchise history (56) since 2004 when they won 58 wins and reached the conference finals.
However, this has not stopped them from wanting more, and the wolfpack is not satisfied nor contented with just this achievement &ndash; they want more.
Minnesota wanting to go win that first playoff series like a hungry pack of wolves has been evident since trading for 3-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert. Although they fell short last season due to untimely injuries to key players, the Wolves ran it back and have proven their little experiment with two bigs in star Karl Anthony Towns and Gobert would work.&nbsp;
Led by their resurgent young superstar Anthony Edwards equipped with the best defense in the league, Minnesota certainly hopes this team would be the one &ndash; the one to end the longest playoff series win droughts in the league for quite some time now.
<h3>Los Angeles Clippers - Will they be able to meet the expectations this time around?</h3>
The Clippers trading for James Harden signaled one thing for the franchise: They are going all in with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and surrounding them with all the help they can get. They are far from a perfect team, but the Clippers want to have the best possible results this season before transferring to their new arena next year.
The Clippers have only appeared in the conference finals once in the Leonard-George era after being plagued by several injuries during their different playoff runs. Due to that, people haven&rsquo;t been able to see what the team is capable of when their two stars are fully healthy in a playoff run.
However, this year might just be their year. Their core of Harden, George, and Leonard have been mostly healthy all season long. The front office has also surrounded them with complementary pieces to help them win. LA now has usable bigs in Zubac, Plumlee, and Theis; they have Terrance Mann as their designated stopper; Norman Powell being the sixth man off the bench microwave scorer; a 3-and-D wing in Amir Coffe; and Russell Westbrook as the spark plug that gives them the boost and the energy off the bench.
After being just the &lsquo;second team in LA&rsquo; and &lsquo;that other team in LA&rsquo; for years, the Clippers aim to prove the doubters wrong and change the perception that surrounds the team as they pivot into a new era of Clippers basketball.&nbsp;
<h3>Dallas Mavericks - Will Luka finally fulfill the promise he has been showing so far in his career?</h3>
Throughout his young NBA career, Luka Doncic has had one of the best starts since LeBron James statistically. He has been in constant range of breaking or matching LeBron&rsquo;s records in points scored, triple-doubles, assists, and rebounds. However, this has not always translated into wins with Doncic just appearing in just one conference finals in the first six years of his career. But that might change this season.&nbsp;&nbsp;
This year, the Mavericks have put up arguably the best roster on paper that Luka has had in his career &ndash; arguably even better than the 2022 team that made the conference finals.
Alongside Doncic&rsquo;s MVP act is a true partner in crime in Kyrie Irving; shot-blocking and rim-rolling vertical threats in Daniel Gafford and Lively; rugged forwards that can shoot in PJ Washington, Dante Exum, Josh Green, and Derrick Jones; a microwave off-the-bench scorer in Tim Hardaway Jr; and veteran bigs that have been in Dallas for quite some time now and you can count on in always with Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell.
Can Luka finally overcome the Clippers? This season was one for the books with an MVP caliber and worthy year by averaging close to 34 points a game with 9 rebounds and 9 assists per game. Doncic has taken his game to another level in the regular season &ndash; this time, can he take his playoff game to another level as well?
All great young players have to go through someone as the stepping stone to reach newer heights &ndash; and Luka has lost to this Kawhi Leonard and Paul George-led Clippers team twice already in his career in the playoffs.
LeBron had to go through the Celtics, Jordan had to go through the Pistons. Could it be Luka&rsquo;s turn to get through this Clippers team that has tormented him for two playoff series?
<h3>Phoenix Suns - Will this new formula take them over the top?</h3>
The Suns have experienced substantial playoff success over the past three years by having a Finals appearance and reaching the conference semifinals twice. However, those groups fell short, with the feeling of something lacking or something missing that could take them over the top.
So lo and behold, Phoenix scrapped it and took a different approach this season &ndash; ditching the point guard spot and getting a rugged and physical big that could set screens and not demand the ball much on offense.
In its place came through as the Suns traded for Bradley Beal &ndash; going with a new formula by having three shot creators and shotmakers on the floor at the same time &ndash; pairing him with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. They also traded away former no.1 overall pick DeAndre Ayton for Jusuf Nurkic, a wide-bodied center whose job is to set screens, rebound, and get their three creators open in the lane or for jump shots.
They added an elite shooter in Grayson Allen to space the floor alongside those three, or sometimes Royce O&rsquo;Neale comes in for more defense against the opposing perimeter threats.
The Suns&rsquo; new approach and formula to the game make it incredibly hard to defend because you have to have three elite defenders to contain those three shot-creators, who can explode and get buckets at any point in the game. Although their defense is still suspect at times, the main point of this lineup is not to outscore &ndash; but to out-create teams and have a variety of options to dissect and defeat defenses.
If this new strategy works and could take the Suns to the promised land in these playoffs remains to be seen.
<h3>Los Angeles Lakers - Will they have enough this time around?</h3>
Despite a strong run to the Western Conference Finals as a 7th seed, the Lakers fell short last year vs the Nuggets after being swept 4-0. Throughout the season, the Nuggets&rsquo; dominance of the purple and gold continued, and now they have lost eight straight games against this Denver team.&nbsp;
However, there is optimism that the Lakers will turn it around and have a different result vs the Nuggets. Superstar LeBron James, even at 39 years old, looks to prove that he still has something left in the tank. Although they got outplayed and outcoached last in that series by the Nuggets, James can make those adjustments being the cerebral and high IQ player that he is.
James is perhaps one of the best if not the best tactically sound players of all time, so it would make sense &ndash; if they were to defeat Denver, he needs to be able to outsmart Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets this time around. Superstar tandem Anthony Davis will also be vital to the series having to defend the &lsquo;Joker&rsquo; and producing buckets himself.
The Lakers will also feature some new bench pieces this year that could be difference makers in the series Taurean Prince, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Gabe Vincent, all of whom could defend and hit those spot-up threes if needed.
Then there&rsquo;s a hungry D&rsquo;Angelo Russell who had a bad series vs Denver last year raring to bounce back along with an always-solid Austin Reaves to be the stabilizer.
<h3>Pelicans - How will they fare without Zion Williamson?</h3>
The New Orleans Pelicans start and end with their young star Zion Williamson. After going out with what is to be believed a left hamstring strain, everything now hinges on his health.&nbsp;
The Pelicans obviously need him no matter what and whether or not he&rsquo;s healthy for their first-round series vs the Thunder will likely be the answer if they win it or not.
We&rsquo;ve seen what Williamson is capable of doing, scoring 40 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in his first taste of postseason action in their play-in game vs the Lakers. The burly forward bullied the Lakers&rsquo; defense and he showed his once generational type of body and scoring prowess come together after finally being healthy for a full season in his five years in the NBA.
New Orleans has fallen short a lot of times in the playoffs, either failing to make it or to win a series, and it is clear that Zion is the difference that separates them from winning or losing a playoff series.

s eight playoff teams in each conference gear up for what promises to be an intense battle for the title, each team faces its own set of unique challenges.

2024 Western Conference Playoffs: Each team’s biggest question heading into the playoffs

NBA free agency has died down and the 2023-24 NBA season is nearly three months away. This is why August is known as the dog days of the NBA calendar.
However, NBA fans will be able to watch some of their favorite players in action very soon, as the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup tips off tomorrow.
From Nov. 2021 through Feb. 2023, 80 countries battled for a spot in the World Cup but only 32 national teams qualified. There are a ton of NBA players participating, as Team USA has a talented young roster and they'll be facing stars such as Luka Doncic, Karl-Anthony Towns, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lauri Markkanen and Rudy Gobert.
Here's everything you need to know about the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
WHEN IS IT?
World Cup games will be played Aug. 25 through Sept. 10. There have been a number of warm-up games in recent weeks, but the real action tips off tomorrow.
First Round (Group Phase): Aug. 25-30 Second Round (Group Phase): Aug. 31 - Sept. 4 Quarterfinals: Sept. 5-6 Semifinals: Sept. 8 Final: Sept. 10 Third-Place Game: Sept. 10
The <a href="https://www.nba.com/news/fiba-basketball-world-cup-2023-schedule" target="_blank" rel="noopener">full schedule of games can be found here</a>.
WHERE IS IT?&nbsp;
For the first time ever, the FIBA Basketball World Cup will feature three host countries: the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
WHICH COUNTRIES QUALIFIED?
These are the 32 countries that will be participating in the 2023 FIBA World Cup: Angola, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, China, Cote d&rsquo;Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iran, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Montenegro, New Zealand, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Slovenia, South Sudan, Spain, United States and Venezuela.
These are the groups for the first round:
Group A:&nbsp;Angola, Dominican Republic, Philippines, Italy
Group B:&nbsp;&nbsp;South Sudan, Serbia, China, Puerto Rico
(Groups A and B will play their games at Araneta Coliseum in the Philippines)
Group C:&nbsp;Team USA, Jordan, Greece, New Zealand
Group D:&nbsp;Egypt, Mexico, Montenegro, Lithuania
(Groups C and D will play their games at Mall of Asia Arena in the Philippines)
Group E:&nbsp;Germany, Finland, Australia, Japan
Group F:&nbsp;Slovenia, Cape Verde, Georgia, Venezuela
(Groups E and F will play their games at Okinawa Arena in Japan)
Group G:&nbsp;Iran, Spain, Cote d&rsquo;Ivoire, Brazil
Group H:&nbsp;Canada, Latvia, Lebanon, France
(Groups G and H will play their games at Jakarta Arena in Indonesia)
WHICH NBA PLAYERS ARE COMPETING?
There are quite a few NBA players participating in this tournament. The <a href="https://www.nba.com/news/fiba-world-cup-roster-tracker-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">full list can be found here</a>, but below are the national teams that feature notable NBA players:
Group A
Dominican Republic: Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves), Lester Quinones (Golden State Warriors)
Philippines: Jordan Clarkson&nbsp;(Utah Jazz)
Group B
China: Kyle Anderson&nbsp;(Minnesota Timberwolves)
Serbia: Bogdan Bogdanovic (Atlanta Hawks), Aleksej Pokusevski (Oklahoma City Thunder), Nikola Jovic (Miami Heat)
Group C
Greece: Thanasis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks)
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/gettyimages-1608113478-2.jpg" alt="" width="736" height="414" />
United States: Paolo Banchero (Orlando Magic), Mikal Bridges (Brooklyn Nets), Jalen Brunson (New York Knicks), Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves), Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana Pacers), Josh Hart (New York Knicks), Brandon Ingram (New Orleans Pelicans), Jaren Jackson Jr. (Memphis Grizzlies), Cameron Johnson (Brooklyn Nets), Walker Kessler (Utah Jazz), Bobby Portis (Milwaukee Bucks), Austin Reaves (Los Angeles Lakers)

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Group D
Lithuania: Jonas Valanciunas (New Orleans Pelicans)
Montenegro: Nikola Vucevic (Chicago Bulls)
Group E
Australia: Josh Giddey (Oklahoma City Thunder), Patty Mills (Atlanta Hawks), Matisse Thybulle (Portland Trail Blazers) Josh Green (Dallas Mavericks), Joe Ingles (Orlando Magic), Dyson Daniels (New Orleans Pelicans), Dante Exum (Dallas Mavericks), Jock Landale (Houston Rockets), Xavier Cooks (Washington Wizards)
Finland: Lauri Markkanen (Utah Jazz)
Germany: Franz Wagner (Orlando Magic), Dennis Schroder (Toronto Raptors), Moritz Wagner (Orlando Magic), Daniel Theis (Indiana Pacers),&nbsp;
Japan: Yuta Watanabe (Phoenix Suns)
Group F
Georgia: Goga Bitadze (Orlando Magic), Sandro Mamukelashvili (San Antonio Spurs)
Slovenia: Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks)
Group G
Brazil: Raul Neto (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Spain: Santi Aldama (Memphis Grizzlies), Usman Garuba (Atlanta Hawks)
Group H
Canada: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder), R.J. Barrett (New York Knicks), Dillon Brooks (Houston Rockets), Lu Dort (Oklahoma City Thunder), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Minnesota Timberwolves), Dwight Powell (Dallas Mavericks)
France: Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves), Nicolas Batum (Los Angeles Clippers), Evan Fournier (New York Knicks), Frank Ntilikina (Charlotte Hornets)
Latvia: Davis Bertans (Oklahoma City Thunder)
HOW TO WATCH
FIBA recently announced that all 92 World Cup games will be available across ESPN's platforms. Six games will air on ESPN2 (including Team USA's three first-round games), while the other 86 games will be available on ESPN+.
FIBA&rsquo;s official streaming service, <a href="https://www.courtside1891.basketball/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Courtside 1891</a>, will also air the games live and on-demand. If you're interested in Courtside 1891, FIBA is offering our readers 20% off their World Cup bundle. Follow the instructions below if you'd like to use the 20% discount:
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li><a href="https://www.courtside1891.basketball/choose-a-package" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click this link</a> and you&rsquo;ll get a prompt to register</li>
<li>You&rsquo;ll then be redirected to the choose-a-package page</li>
<li>Select the &lsquo;Max &ndash; World Cup Bundle&rsquo;&nbsp;</li>
<li>Use the discount code FIBAWCAK to get 20% off</li>
</ul>
Enjoy the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, and hopefully the dog days of summer will fly by quickly!

The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup tips off tomorrow. Here's everything you need to know about the tournament.

Everything you need to know about the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup

The NBA announced that 242 players have filed as early-entry candidates for the 2023 NBA Draft. Here is the complete list.

NBA announces 242 early-entry candidates for 2023 NBA Draft

ATLANTA (AP) &mdash; Trae Young returned after missing one game with the flu and scored 25 points and had 16 assists to help the travel-weary Atlanta Hawks overwhelm shorthanded Washington 134-116 on Wednesday night.
With the win, the Hawks achieved a modest milestone as they prepare for the postseason. The Hawks (41-39) ended a streak of 33 games being within 1 game of .500.
The Nets defeated the Pistons and guaranteed that the Hawks cannot finish as the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference and will be in the conference play-in tournament for the second straight season. Atlanta holds the No. 8 seed and has a one-game lead over No. 9 Toronto.
The Hawks overcame travel issues that forced the team to fly from Chicago on Wednesday morning after plane difficulties caused the team to stay in Chicago on Tuesday night. Arriving in Atlanta at 2 p.m., the Hawks hit the court five and half hours later.
&ldquo;It was definitely an unusual schedule,&rdquo; AJ Griffin said. &ldquo;Coach (Quin Snyder) handled it well. He set the tone. We knew we just had to play hard and get through the day.&rdquo;
John Collins had 23 points and put the Hawks in control with a stellar sequence in the third quarter. Collins scooped up a loose ball before throwing down a reverse jam, then buried a 3-pointer on the next possession that gave the Hawks an 85-71 lead.
The Hawks did not trail for the game&rsquo;s final 29 minutes and shot 43.3 percent from 3-point range.
Wizards center Daniel Gafford had a career-high 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Hawks reserve Jalen Johnson continued his recent string of strong play, matching his career high of 16 points, set the previous night in a win over the Bulls. Johnson also had 8 rebounds.
The Wizards played without out six of their top eight rotation players, including 20-plus point scorers Bradley Beal, Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma as they play out the string following their elimination from playoff contention.
&ldquo;I thought offensively, we did some good things,&rdquo; said Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. &ldquo;We moved the ball with pretty good pace. We were sharing the ball as best we can. We had some good looks that didn&rsquo;t go down, but I&rsquo;m more concerned with the defensive stuff.&rdquo;
BENCH BOOST
Snyder talked about his &ldquo;deep&rdquo; bench prior to Wednesday&rsquo;s game, and the group backed up his assessment right away. Led by Johnson, Atlanta had 15 points from its bench in the first quarter after the Hawks got off to a sluggish start in the opening minutes. Johnson and Griffin finished with 16 points apiece.
&ldquo;We have a lot of guys who are prepared,&rdquo; Snyder said. &ldquo;There are limited minutes and some tough decisions have to be made. One of the tings about our bench is the acceptance of a role. To put the team first is not something you take for granted.&rdquo;
Snyder inserted guard Aaron Holiday for Young just six minutes into the game. The Hawks responded with a quick burst.
Holiday, who played just two minutes on Tuesday, had eight points and four assists in 21 minutes.
TIP-INS
Wizards: First-round pick Johnny Davis started his third straight game and has averaged 18.7 points in his three starts. Davis scored 20 points each of his past two games. The rookie from Wisconsin averaged 11.6 points in 19 G League games and has played 26 games with the Wizards.
Hawks: De&rsquo;Andre Hunter missed his fourth straight game with a knee injury. Hunter has started 65 games this season. ... Bogdan Bogdanovic did not play due to right knee injury management. He led the Hawks with 26 points in Tuesday night&rsquo;s win at Chicago. ... The Hawks scored over 100 points for the 55th straight game, extending their team record.
UP NEXT
Wizards: Host Miami on Friday night.
Hawks: Host Philadelphia on Friday night.

The Hawks ended a streak of 33 games being within a game of .500. They hold the eighth seed with a one-game lead over No. 9 Toronto.

Young has 25 as Hawks gain momentum, beat Wizards 134-116

WASHINGTON --&nbsp;Paolo Banchero is finishing strong in his bid for Rookie of the Year honors.
Banchero had 30 points and 12 rebounds, Markelle Fultz added 25 points and the Orlando Magic overcame a 16-point second half deficit to beat the Washington Wizards 116-109 on Friday night.
The Wizards managed only 13 points in the final quarter and fell to three games behind Chicago for the final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference with five games remaining. Orlando remained four games behind the Bulls, who routed Charlotte 121-91.
Banchero, the No. 1 pick in last year's draft out of Duke, is the clear favorite to win Rookie of the Year, and Fultz gave him an endorsement.
&ldquo;I think you just see it, playing both ends of the floor, being able to create, being confident and poised," Fultz said. "I don't really think it's any discussion about it, but of course people got to vote.&rdquo;
Washington was without its top three players &mdash; Bradley Beal (left knee), Kristaps Porzingis (illness) and Kyle Kuzma (right ankle).
Corey Kispert scored a career-high 27 points for Washington but did not manage a shot attempt in the fourth until the final minute. He made nine of the Wizards' 17 3-pointers.
Washington scored the first 13 points of the third quarter and led 76-60. The Magic cut the lead to three later in the quarter but the Wizards were up 96-85 entering the fourth.
In that final period, however, Orlando shut Washington down. The Wizards went 1 of 11 from long distance in the fourth and 5 of 23 from the field.
&ldquo;Some of the shots we were passing up, we've got to just take them, make or miss,&rdquo; Wizards guard Delon Wright said. &ldquo;I feel like that was the biggest thing &mdash; just not being confident in some of the shots we were taking.&rdquo;
The Magic finally took a 105-103 lead on a 3-pointer by Cole Anthony. That was part of a 13-2 run that put Orlando up by eight.
Anthony scored seven of his 16 points in the fourth.
&ldquo;That midrange, I think we found a time in the possessions that it was a clean look, it was the right look," Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. "His ability to walk in there and step in there with confidence is what we've asked him to do.&rdquo;
ADJUSTMENT
Wright credited Orlando's zone defense with helping to turn the tide, and Mosley said the Magic defended well as a team.
&ldquo;Our guys did a great job communicating," Mosley said. "Our bench was doing a fantastic job of communicating with those guys on the floor, knowing where Kispert was, finding shooters.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Magic: Kevon Harris (left elbow) did not play. ... Fultz went 11 of 15 from the field. ... Franz Wagner had 20 points. ... Banchero went 13 of 14 on free throws. The Wizards as a team were just 10 of 12. ... Orlando has won four of five, including two victories over Washington.
Wizards: Kispert's previous career high was 26 points. ... Delon Wright had 21 points and nine rebounds, and Daniel Gafford contributed 18 points and 13 rebounds. ... Rookie Johnny Davis scored 10 points but went 4 of 15 from the field. ... Washington attempted a season-high 50 3-pointers. ... The Wizards used 11 players, although Kispert played 41:52.
UP NEXT
Magic: Host Detroit on Sunday night.
Wizards: At New York on Sunday night.

Banchero had 30 points and 12 rebounds and the Magic overcame a 16-point second half deficit to beat the Wizards 116-109 on Friday.

Magic beat Wizards 116-109 behind Paolo Banchero's 30 and 12

Spencer Davies tells the complex story of Eban Hyams, the first Indian-born international professional basketball player.

Setbacks and bouncebacks: On Eban Hyams, India's first pro ballplayer

NEW ORLEANS (AP) &mdash; CJ McCollum scored 13 of his 32 points in the final four minutes and the New Orleans Pelicans held off the Dallas Mavericks 113-106 on Wednesday night.
McCollum&rsquo;s compelling finish came after each team lost a top player. The Pelicans&rsquo; Brandon Ingram left late in the second quarter with a sprained right ankle after scoring 12 points. Dallas star guard Luka Doncic left in the third with a strained left thigh after scoring 15 points.
The Mavericks were down by as many as 19 in the third quarter and by double digits well into the fourth. But the Mavs suddenly surged within striking distance with a 12-0 run that began with Davis Bertans 3, Kyrie Irving&rsquo;s 4-point play on a 3 as he was fouled, and Christian Wood&rsquo;s 3-point play on a layup as he was fouled.
Irving capped the spurt with driving layup along the baseline that made it 97-94 with 4:12 left.
That&rsquo;s when McCollum snapped the run with two clutch baskets &mdash; a 14-foot pull-up and a 3. He added two more 3s and a floating bank shot to make it 110-103 in the final minute, and New Orleans held on from there.
Trey Murphy III scored 16 for New Orleans. Herb Jones and Jaxson Hayes each added 14 points for the Pelicans.
Irving scored 27 points and Tim Hardaway Jr added 17 points for Dallas.
Coming off a four-point victory over Utah on Tuesday night, Dallas faded quickly after a promising first few minutes. After hitting two of their first four 3s and going up 14-6 on Powell&rsquo;s alley-oop dunk of Doncic&rsquo;s lob, the Mavs missed 13 of their next 14 shots from deep.
By the end of the first quarter, the Pelicans had tied it at 24 on rookie Dyson Daniels&rsquo; 3-pointer.
New Orleans then opened the second quarter with eight straight points on McCollum&rsquo;s 3, Hayes&rsquo; alley-oop dunk and Naji Marshall&rsquo;s banked 3, and went on to lead by as many as 18 before taking a 59-43 lead into halftime.
Despite Ingram&rsquo;s inability to return after the second quarter, New Orleans maintained a comfortable lead for most of the second half.
Jones scored eight of his points in the third quarter, when Murphy hit two 3s, and New Orleans led 90-74 after Murphy&rsquo;s third 3 of the half early in the fourth.
TIP-INS
Mavericks: Wood finished with 15 points and Jaden Hardy 11. ... Finished 16 of 46 (34.8%) from 3-point range. Doncic was assessed a technical foul in the first quarter while staring down official Natalie Sago after making a driving shot on which he apparently thought he&rsquo;d also been fouled. ... Reggie Bullock missed the game with a bruised right quadriceps, Maxi Kleber was out with a right hamstring injury and center JaVale McGee was sidelined by a sprained right ankle.
Pelicans: The club announced before tip-off that All-Star forward Zion Williamson will be out at least two more weeks while he recovers from a Jan. 2 right hamstring injury. ... Shot 50.6% (42 of 83) overall and 48.1% (13 of 27) from deep. ... Outrebounded Dallas 49-34.
UP NEXT
Mavericks: At Memphis on Saturday.
Pelicans: Host Oklahoma City on Saturday.

CJ McCollum scored 13 of his 32 points in the final four minutes and the Pelicans held off the Mavericks 113-106 on Wednesday.

CJ McCollum scores 32, Pelicans hold off Mavericks 113-106

WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen scored 23 points apiece and Donovan Mitchell added 21 to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 114-91 rout of the Washington Wizards on Monday night.
All five Cleveland starters were in double figures by halftime, and the Cavaliers won for the fourth time in five games. Evan Mobley finished with 16 points and Isaac Okoro contributed 12.
Kristaps Porzingis scored 18 points for Washington, which has lost three straight following a six-game winning streak. The Wizards were playing without Bradley Beal (left foot soreness) and Kyle Kuzma (left ankle sprain).
Washington led by at least 20 in each of its previous two losses, but the Wizards didn&rsquo;t have to worry about blowing a big lead on this night. In fact, they were never ahead at all.
Cleveland shot 63% in the first half, leading 37-25 after one quarter and 66-46 after two.
&ldquo;To me, the most important thing is, there were very little up and downs,&rdquo; coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. &ldquo;We played at a consistently high level, and that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re aiming to do.&rdquo;
Caris LeVert, back after missing two games with a sore right hamstring, had a steal and dunk in the third quarter to make it 83-57. Cleveland led by as many as 28 points.
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&ldquo;Offensively they were just comfortable,&rdquo; Washington&rsquo;s Daniel Gafford said. &ldquo;There was a lot of things that they did that kind of had us in scramble situations, time and time again down the floor. They just really just got the shots that they wanted.&rdquo;
Mitchell, who has been bothered by a groin issue recently, looked pretty spry when he threw down a windmill dunk on an alley-oop from Garland to make it 101-74.
LeVert, who could be dealt this week because of his expiring contract and uncertain role, scored 10 points.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a starter in this league. We&rsquo;re fortunate enough to have him now where he&rsquo;s in an opportunity where he&rsquo;s going against second-unit guys,&rdquo; Bickerstaff said. &ldquo;So he can be attack-minded, he can make them pay for mistakes, whether it&rsquo;s him scoring, whether it&rsquo;s him facilitating &mdash; and I think he&rsquo;s doing a great job on the defensive end.&rdquo;
Kevin Love, another possible trade candidate, did not play.
NOT EVEN CLOSE
This was Cleveland&rsquo;s 24th double-digit win, which leads the league. The Cavaliers swept both halves of a back-to-back by a combined 42 points. They&nbsp;beat Indiana 122-103&nbsp;on Sunday.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re figuring it out at home, and then on the road you&rsquo;re starting to see positive signs,&rdquo; Mitchell said. &ldquo;Taking the crowd out early, responding to runs.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Cavaliers: Cleveland ended up shooting 56% for the game. Allen was 10 for 13. ... The Cavaliers shot at least 55% in every quarter except the fourth.
Wizards: Washington was held under 100 points for the first time since Dec. 17. ... Will Barton scored 15 points. ... Johnny Davis, a rookie who was drafted in the lottery but has played sparingly so far, scored two points in 6:17. It was his 11th appearance for the Wizards.
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Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen scored 23 points apiece to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 114-91 rout of the Washington Wizards.

Garland, Allen each score 23, Cavaliers rout Wizards 114-91

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; Buddy Hield scored 21 points against his former team and the Indiana Pacers beat the Sacramento Kings 107-104 on Friday night to stop a four-game losing streak.
Hield shot 5 of 9 from 3-point range and grabbed 10 rebounds. Aaron Nesmith added 17 points for the Pacers, going 4 for 7 on 3s. Myles Turner had 14 points and 13 boards.
&ldquo;Especially against your old team, it&rsquo;s always good to get the win,&rdquo; Hield said.
Hield and Tyrese Haliburton were traded to the Pacers a year ago in a six-player deal that sent Domantas Sabonis to the Kings.
Turner said the Pacers had extra motivation to get the victory for Hield and Haliburton.
&ldquo;(Hield) made some big shots down the stretch,&rdquo; Turner said.
Harrison Barnes led the Kings with 23 points. Kevin Huerter scored 16, while Sabonis and Terence Davis each had 15.
Sacramento was without leading scorer De&rsquo;Aaron Fox, who sat out for personal reasons.
Davis sank a 3-pointer with two minutes left to slice the Pacers&rsquo; lead to 107-104, but neither team scored the rest of the way.
Barnes missed a 3 with 9.1 seconds left, and Nesmith came up with the rebound.
&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t react trying to foul,&rdquo; Kings coach Mike Brown said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s on us as a staff to remind them to foul, if we&rsquo;re down three and the clock is below 24 seconds and we&rsquo;re down three points or two or one. That&rsquo;s just a teaching point.&rdquo;
Brown thought his team had several problems in the final quarter.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to be able to box out,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t give up second shots. We didn&rsquo;t do any of that down the stretch. Throughout the course of the game, our turnovers were terrible. It really hurt in a one-possession game to have 20 of them on the road. Our inability to communicate on defense against a team &mdash; and give up too many good looks &mdash; that can shoot like the Pacers, was not good.&rdquo;
The Pacers, who led by 12 at halftime, took a 19-point lead in the third quarter before the Kings ended the period with a 20-8 run to narrow the deficit to 87-80 after three.
Indiana went 10 of 21 on 3s to take a 60-48 halftime lead. In contrast, the Kings were 6 for 23 from long range in the opening half.
The Pacers scored 14 straight points to build a 51-39 advantage. Nesmith hit a trio of 3-pointers during the stretch.
Haliburton, playing his second game after missing 10 with an elbow sprain and knee bruise, acknowledged he was tired after the game and struggled to make shots. He had 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting and nine assists.
&ldquo;We knew the way they play, you&rsquo;re going to have to make it a gritty game, an ugly game,&rdquo; Haliburton said. &ldquo;You need to be able to play defense and get stops, and we were able to do that tonight.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Kings: The Pacers showed a pregame tribute to Sabonis on the scoreboard during his first game back in Indiana since the trade. Sabonis was inactive due to a knee injury when Sacramento played at Indiana last March. &hellip; Trey Lyles, the 2014 Indiana Mr. Basketball from Indianapolis Tech High School, scored seven points off the bench.
Pacers: Daniel Theis, in his second game of the season, scored eight points off the bench. Theis, traded to the Pacers from Boston, returned Thursday after having knee surgery in November. &hellip; With the return of Theis, two other Pacers post players, Jalen Smith and Isaiah Jackson, didn&rsquo;t play.
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Buddy Hield with the backdoor cut and hammers it home.🔨 <a href="https://t.co/okj9qlWmWa">pic.twitter.com/okj9qlWmWa</a>
&mdash; Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Pacers/status/1621694353482596352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2023</a></blockquote>

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BIG DUNK
Hield isn&rsquo;t known for his dunking ability, but he had a big one to put the Pacers up 104-99.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s number one,&rdquo; Hield said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m never the one cutting to the middle or baseline. I saw an opening and that&rsquo;s all she wrote. I trusted my legs. It was fun. My teammates were excited. They&rsquo;re always joking about me not dunking the ball. It was fun to see them laughing.&rdquo;
UP NEXT
Kings: At New Orleans on Sunday.
Pacers: Host Cleveland on Sunday.
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Buddy Hield scored 21 points against his former team and the Indiana Pacers beat the Sacramento Kings 107-104 on Friday night.

Buddy Hield leads Pacers to 107-104 win over Kings

DALLAS (AP) &mdash; Kyle Kuzma scored 30 points and made one of two free throws to break a tie with 4.2 seconds remaining, lifting the Washington Wizards to a 127-126 victory over Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night.
Luka Doncic had 41 points and 15 rebounds for the Mavericks. Doncic still had on the jersey he ripped when he missed a free throw that would have put Dallas in front with 12.5 seconds to go when he bumped Kumza on a drive along the sideline.
The Mavericks challenged, but the call was confirmed. Kuzma missed the first free throw but swished the second.
&ldquo;I think there was some debate about whether he stepped out, whether he (was) fouled,&rdquo; Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. &ldquo;Thankfully, fouled. Those types of situations happen fast. You&rsquo;ve got to make a split-second decision.&rdquo;
Doncic tried twice to pass to Spencer Dinwiddie out of a double team on the final possession. The Wizards knocked the first out of bounds, and former Maverick Delon Wright stole the second to seal the victory.
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&ldquo;Luka had the right intention, was making the right play,&rdquo; Dinwiddie said. &ldquo;Delon just made a good play with his hands, something he&rsquo;s known for.&rdquo;
Kristaps Porzingis was out with an ankle injury in his first trip to Dallas since the Mavericks traded him to the Wizards last February for Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans.
The 7-foot-3 Latvian, whose pairing with Doncic never worked the way Dallas envisioned, received light applause after a video tribute during the break between the first and second quarters.
It was Washington&rsquo;s first game since sending Rui Hachimura to the Los Angeles Lakers for Kendrick Nunn and draft picks. Nunn was available but didn&rsquo;t play.
The Wizards opened a five-game trip with a third consecutive victory while Dallas finished a 1-3 homestand with its eighth loss in 11 games.
Washington swept the two-game series for the second consecutive season after going 14 years without a sweep of Dallas.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy to get excited about one performance. We&rsquo;ve got along road trip ahead,&rdquo; Unseld said. &ldquo;It could be a catalyst for something, to be a little short-handed, able to compete on the road, an area which we&rsquo;ve struggled at times.&rdquo;
Bradley Beal scored 22 points with a 3-pointer that was one of three lead changes in the final three minutes. Deni Avdija had 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Dwight Powell scored a season-high 22 points with nine rebounds for Dallas. Dinwiddie had 20 points and eight assists.
Josh Green made his first seven shots and finished with 16 points, the most for the Dallas guard in four games since returning from a 20-game absence with a right elbow sprain.
TIP-INS
Wizards: Daniel Gafford played 19 minutes before fouling out with 6:32 remaining, getting nine points with seven rebounds. ... Corey Kispert scored 14 points, Monte Morris had 13 and Wright had 10 points, six assists and three steals.
Mavericks: F Christian Wood missed his third game since breaking his left thumb in a loss to Atlanta. The team has said he would be re-evaluated this week. ... Dorian Finney-Smith scored 12 points.
MISSED &rsquo;EM BOTH
Porzingis also missed the first meeting against his former team in Washington, won by the Wizards 113-105. He was out with a left groin strain for that November game. He&rsquo;s listed as week-to-week after spraining his left ankle Saturday against Orlando.
UP NEXT
Wizards: All three Texas cities are part of the five-game trip, with Houston next to finish a back-to-back Wednesday. The Rockets swept the two-game set with Wizards last season. The San Antonio stop is after a trip to New Orleans.
Mavericks: A two-game trip starts Thursday in Phoenix, where Dallas blew a 22-point lead in the second half of a 107-105 loss in the season opener.
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Kyle Kuzma scored 30 points, lifting the Washington Wizards to a 127-126 victory over Dallas Mavericks.

Kuzma FT lifts Wizards over Mavs 127-126 despite Doncic’s 41

Looking back to the summer of 2022, it was deemed a foregone conclusion that the Los Angeles Lakers would trade Russell Westbrook before the 2022-23 NBA season began. The team had just missed the playoffs for the second time since LeBron James came to L.A., and the trio of Westbrook, James and Anthony Davis just wasn't clicking on the floor.
So rumors flew as to where Westbrook would be shipped off to and the price the Lakers would have to pay to jettison his bulky $47 million contract. Just before the season started, it looked like a deal was going to happen. According to reports, the Indiana Pacers were going to send Myles Turner and Buddy Hield to the Lakers for Westbrook and their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks. The Lakers even <a href="https://twitter.com/AnthonyIrwinLA/status/1572334141659828224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1572334141659828224%7Ctwgr%5E42d7893d3a33391e36a365478b2c60e8cb30e9d7%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fclutchpoints.com%2Flakers-news-darvin-ham-rob-pelinka-press-conference-canceled-fans-speculate-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pushed back a media session</a> with vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka and new head coach Darvin Ham (perhaps because a deal was close?).
Then, it didn&rsquo;t happen.
Now, more than halfway into the season, the Lakers are struggling again with a 20-25 record and sitting at the No. 13 position in the Western Conference. Davis once again suffered an injury that has cost him a big chunk of the season, and the team is still dreadful at shooting from three-point range.
Which begs the question: Did the Lakers wait too long to make a move or is there still hope to improve this roster?
Hindsight is always 20/20. Still, it would have been a smart gamble to take on Turner and Hield, even at that high cost. Turner has blossomed, averaging career-highs in points (17.1) and rebounds (7.8) while still being a force defensively around the rim, ranking third in the league in blocks (2.4). Hield has always been a knockdown, volume shooter, connecting on 40.0% of his shots from three-point range in his career and he has upped that to 42.4% this season.
It's understandable that the Lakers are cautious about making any major moves following the Westbrook trade that gutted their roster of shooting and defense &mdash; both obvious needs. It hasn&rsquo;t totally backfired with Russ playing well in his role off the bench this season, but his bad decision-making and hero-ball ways in crunch time have cost the team at least a few wins.
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Laker fans groan as Russel Westbrook isolates for 10 seconds and turns it over <a href="https://t.co/Q5ucNN84Mp">pic.twitter.com/Q5ucNN84Mp</a>
&mdash; hoops bot (@hoops_bot) <a href="https://twitter.com/hoops_bot/status/1615939443348865024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2023</a></blockquote>

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As we&rsquo;re seeing it play out now, Westbrook's contract should have been used to acquire multiple role players before the season. Even if that meant trading both of those precious future first-round picks, they should've gone for it if the right deal was on the table. Indiana wasn&rsquo;t the only possible landing spot for Westbrook either, with Charlotte and San Antonio also showing some interest in the former MVP.
Imagine a Lakers squad that had proven role players to surround James and Davis. Well, we can. That&rsquo;s the 2020 championship team that included the likes of Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Danny Green. The formula is there, but the front office decided to blow it up.
Now the team has &mdash; again &mdash; banked on a roster filled with one-year players on prove-it, minimum-level deals. Sure, Dennis Schroder and Thomas Bryant have had moments, but both have come crashing down to earth over the past week. You can&rsquo;t depend on those players to put up reliable stats all season long.
Imagine this team with real depth and even a little bit more shooting. Some of those close losses &mdash; and there have been plenty of them &mdash; could have been wins. They can handle it better when Davis has to miss games due to injury. (Unfortunately, that&rsquo;s become a regular thing for him, especially over the past three seasons.) Maybe you could rest LeBron a little more and not put such a 36-minutes-per-game type of burden on his shoulders?
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There&rsquo;s a lot of "coulda, shoulda, woulda" with this Lakers season. But somehow, it&rsquo;s not too late.&nbsp;
The Western Conference is still tight with only three-and-a-half games separating the No. 13 spot and the No. 5 spot. With this kind of parity, that means one good winning streak can bolt a team up the standings quickly.&nbsp;
LeBron is still playing at an incredible level. Austin Reaves and Lonnie Walker &mdash; arguably the team&rsquo;s best role players &mdash; are close to a return after missing a few weeks. And Davis should be back before the end of January after being sidelined for over a month with a stress injury in his foot.
Their schedule is incredibly soft down the stretch. Starting March 1, 15 of their last 20 games are against teams that are currently at or below .500. &nbsp;There are plenty of wins available to make the playoffs. That should be the goal: get in the playoffs and see what happens.
But the team needs more. It&rsquo;s a seller&rsquo;s market with teams holding sky-high prices for players they're open to moving (you can thank Minnesota and the Rudy Gobert trade for that). Those demands should come down a little as the Feb. 9 trade deadline gets closer.
There are moves to be made for the Lakers.
Turner might not be available, but Hield could be, especially considering all of young, talented shooters the Pacers have. Take on Daniel Theis and his salary, and something could be there.
Giving up one of those aforementioned first-rounders to Detroit for Bojan Bogdanovic, who is having a career-year, and backup big Nerlens Noel? Sure.
What about a package from the Hornets including Terry Rozier and PJ Washington? Rozier is owed $48 million over the next two seasons, but that could help with the price of getting a deal done. (Plus, Charlotte is reportedly set on a rebuild, per The Athletic.)
Yes, it would mean the Lakers would be giving up their projected $30 million in cap space this offseason, but it would behoove the team to do something with Westbrook now, since he is on the books for $47 million &mdash; a net of $17 million more would be available to use for players that L.A. could lose come summertime.
The clock is ticking. The season is more than halfway over.
Does this Lakers front office want to bank on this current roster and risk missing the playoffs yet again, or will they dive into the deep end of the pool? Time will tell.

Brian Fritz explains that, in spite of the Lakers' inability to improve the roster over the summer, the team can still right the ship.

Despite an offseason failure, it's still not too late for the Lakers

WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; CJ McCollum scored 34 points and Jonas Valanciunas added 27 points and 12 rebounds as the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Washington Wizards 132-112 on Monday night.
New Orleans (25-16), which had lost four of five, took the lead early in the second quarter and put the game away when it scored the first 15 points of the fourth quarter to take a 115-88 lead with 8:44 to play.
Washington (17-24) has lost three straight and was missing leading scorer Bradley Beal, who didn&rsquo;t play for the fifth time in six games with a strained left hamstring.
Kristaps Porzingis led the Wizards with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Kyle Kuzma scored 19 points before fouling out with 9:03 to play. In the second quarter, he was assessed a technical foul, and when Kuzma was called for his sixth foul, he marched off the court and walked into Washington&rsquo;s locker room.
&ldquo;The foul trouble frustrated him quite a bit,&rdquo; coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. &ldquo;You pick up early fouls, it&rsquo;s hard to get a rhythm.&rdquo;
The Wizards committed 20 turnovers leading to 39 points.
New Orleans was without its leading scorer, Zion Williamson, who missed his fourth straight game with a strained right hamstring.
The Pelicans, who fell behind 10-0 in the first two minutes, took a timeout just 1:44 into the game, and quickly caught up thanks to McCollum, who scored 12 straight points in a 2:36 span of the first quarter.
&ldquo;That was a tough moment at the start of the game,&rdquo; Valanciunas said. &ldquo;We knew that was not us and we had to man up and play better defense, play better offense. We changed that.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Pelicans: F Brandon Ingram, who hasn&rsquo;t played since Nov. 25 due to a bruised left toe, is closer to a return to action, but needs more work, according to coach Willie Green. &ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t had a full practice yet. We&rsquo;re hopeful that sometime on this trip, he can get a full practice in.&rdquo; &hellip; G/F Herb Jones suffered a bruised lower back in the second quarter and didn&rsquo;t return. &hellip; Broke a nine-game losing streak in Washington. ... F Naji Marshall scored 18 points. &hellip;G Dereon Seabron scored the last basket of the game, his first NBA points.
Wizards: G Johnny Davis, who has spent much of the season on assignment with the G League, is out with a strained right hip. Unseld thinks he could return within the next week. &hellip;C Daniel Gafford suffered a sprained right ankle. He&rsquo;ll be reevaluated on Tuesday.
REST HELPED
McCollum sat out Saturday&rsquo;s game at Dallas, and the rest benefitted him.
&ldquo;I needed it. I needed it bad,&rdquo; McCollum said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t normally ask for time off. I try to push through.
&ldquo;Sometimes when you&rsquo;re fatigued, bad things can happen. I was just trying to be smart. I&rsquo;m 31. I&rsquo;ve played for a long time, and I know my body.&rdquo;
BREAKING THE STREAK
Green was a player with the New Orleans Hornets the last time the franchise won a game in this building on Jan. 1, 2011.
&ldquo;Most of the time when we come East we have a number of games in a row,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;Everything I&rsquo;m saying is an excuse. The fact of the matter is teams try to take pride in taking care of home court, coming out and playing in front of their home fans. Once again, you have to do a really good job of having a high level game plan, discipline for games like that.&rdquo;
&nbsp;

CJ McCollum scored 34 points and the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Washington Wizards 132-112.

McCollum scores 34, Pelicans beat Wizards 132-112

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; LeBron James had 33 points and nine assists, Lonnie Walker scored 21 points and the Los Angeles Lakers overcame the absence of Anthony Davis to beat the Washington Wizards 119-117 on Sunday night.
Davis, the Lakers&rsquo; leader at 27.4 points and 12.1 rebounds, injured his right foot Friday night in a victory over Denver and is expected to be sidelined for several weeks.
Thomas Bryant added 16 points and 10 rebounds to help the Lakers win for the third time in their last four games and hand Washington its 10th straight loss and 13th in 14 games.
&ldquo;You have to follow the lead and sometimes wait for your (name) to be called," said Bryant after making his third start with Davis sidelined. &ldquo;It doesn't change the fact that you have to be ready and stay ready and do what you can to make sure you're in that mode in case something like this happens. I take pride in the preparation that I have.&rdquo;
James appeared to lose the ball near midcourt, but regained possession and found Bryant underneath for a tiebreaking dunk with 7.1 seconds remaining. Former Laker Kyle Kuzma missed a 3-pointer for Washington with 2.1 seconds left.
&ldquo;Whoever is available to play, we have to make plays,&rdquo; said James who had his fourth consecutive game of at least 30 points. &ldquo;We're all NBA players and we have to go out and trust the game plan the coaches put oth there. Tonight, we were able to do that for the majority of the game.&rdquo;
Bradley Beal scored 29 points in his return to the Wizards. He missed the past six games because of a hamstring injury, last seeing action Dec. 4 in a 130-119 home loss to the Lakers,
Kuzma scored 22 points and Kristaps Porzingis added 21 for Washington. The Wizards last won Nov. 28 at home against Minnesota.
&ldquo;It's frustrating for sure,&rdquo; Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. said after allowing the go-ahead basket on a broken play. &ldquo;We were playing to get the ball out of (James') hands and missed it. We got a hand on the ball to knock it loose, we just didn't come up with possession.&rdquo;
The Wizards led 102-98 with 6:43 remaining after an alley-oop dunk by Daniel Gafford. But an 8-0 run from Lakers, capped by James' three-point play, gave Los Angeles a 106-102 lead with 5:09 remaining. The Lakers never trailed again.
Austin Reaves hit a pair of floaters as the Lakers went up 115-111 with 1:17 remaining. But the Wizards tied it on consecutive baskets from Gafford and Beal.
James put the Lakers ahead 117-115 when he brought the ball down court and split the lane for an uncontested dunk with 27.1 seconds remaining. Beal tied it again at 117 on a pair of free throws with 23.1 seconds left.
Beal played 32 minutes in his return.
&ldquo;I thought he looked great,&rdquo; Unseld said. &ldquo;It's a credit to him that he was able to bounce back. he's really good as far as getting his rhythm on the floor.&rdquo;
DAVIS DOWN
Davis was injured Friday when his foot was twisted against the leg of the Nuggets star Nikola Jokic.
The severity still is being determined. He was set to see a specialist Sunday night.
Davis missed 36 of the Lakers&rsquo; 72 regular-season games in the 2020-21 season, then didn&rsquo;t play in 42 of their 82 games last season. Sunday was just his fourth absence this season.
TIP-INS
Wizards: Gafford sustained an ankle injury in the first half but returned after halftime. &hellip; G Delon Wright, who hasn&rsquo;t played since Oct. 25 because of a hamstring injury, continues to progress toward a possible return by the end of the month.
Lakers: G Patrick Beverley did not play because of right calf soreness. &hellip; Reaves stepped on the foot of Gafford just past the midway point of the third quarter and went to the locker room with an ankle injury before he returned in the fourth
&nbsp;

LeBron James had 33 points, Lonnie Walker scored 21 and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Washington Wizards 119-117.

Lakers overcome Davis' absence to beat reeling Wizards

Nekias Duncan takes an early look at this year's NBA award races with an in-depth look at who leads the pack through mid-December.

Nekias Duncan's 2022-23 NBA award front-runners: MVP, DPOY, ROY, more

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 12 of his 16 points in overtime, including the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3:34 remaining, and No. 17 Illinois rallied to hand second-ranked Texas its first loss of the season, 85-78 on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic.
Jayden Epps added 11 points, including the final five points of regulation &mdash; a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left and two tying free throws with 8 seconds remaining. Epps then blocked Marcus Carr&rsquo;s jumper in the lane just before the buzzer to force overtime in an entertaining showdown at Madison Square Garden.
Matthew Mayer, who faced Texas several times at Baylor, tied a career high with 21 points as he made his first seven shots and finished 8 of 10.
Shannon, who missed eight of nine shots in regulation, took over in the extra period to help Illinois (7-2) beat a ranked foe for the second time this season.
Timmy Allen scored a season-high 21 points for Texas (6-1), which failed to open 7-0 for the first time since 2014-15. Tyrese Hunter added 10 points but Carr was held to nine points on 3-of-14 shooting as Texas had 12 shots blocked and shot 42%.
NO. 1 HOUSTON 76, NORTH FLORIDA 42
HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Ja&rsquo;Vier Francis scored 14 points, star Marcus Sasser had 12 points in the first eight minutes before leaving with a cut over his eye, and Houston coasted past North Florida.&nbsp;
Sasser, who entered the game averaging 17.5 points, made two 3-pointers early but got hit in the face and left with a cut that required stitches.
Jarace Walker had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Houston (9-0), and Tramon Mark scored 10.
Jarius Hicklen led the Ospreys (2-6) with 12 points.
NO. 3 VIRGINIA 55, JAMES MADISON 50
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark scored 17 points, Jayden Gardner had 14 points and eight rebounds, and Virginia beat its feisty in-state rival.
The Cavaliers (8-0), who lost starting guard Reece Beekman to a right leg injury early in the first half, prevented the Dukes (7-3) from winning a second straight December game in Charlottesville. James Madison beat Virginia 52-49 last Dec. 7.
Takal Molson scored 20 points for James Madison, including a 3-pointer that tied the game at 42-all with 7:47 to play. Gardner responded for Virginia by scoring five straight points in a 9-1 run.
The Cavaliers kept the Dukes in the game by missing eight of 13 free throws over the last six minutes.
NO. 9 ARKANSAS 65, UNC GREENSBORO 58
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) &mdash; Standout freshman Nick Smith Jr. scored 22 points in just his third game as Arkansas overcame a sluggish offensive showing to beat North Carolina-Greensboro.
The Razorbacks (8-1) shot 33.3% and trailed for a majority of the game.
Makhi Mitchell had 13 points and 14 rebounds for Arkansas, Davis had 10 points and 10 boards, and Black scored 11 points.
Donovan Atwell led UNC Greensboro (4-6) with 12 points and Dante Treacy added 11.
NO. 12 BAYLOR 80, TARLETON STATE 57
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Freshman Keyonte George scored 22 points, redshirt freshman Langston Love added 20 and Baylor beat Tarleton State.
The Bears (7-2) had trouble early pulling away from the Texans, led by former Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie, but finally took a double-digit lead not long after halftime.
Shakur Daniel scored 13 points for the Texans (5-4), who were playing Baylor for the first time since 1986 and the ninth time overall.
WISCONSIN 64, NO. 13 MARYLAND 59
MADISON, Wis. (AP) &mdash; Chucky Hepburn scored 13 points and Steven Crowl added 12 as Wisconsin handed Maryland its first loss under coach Kevin Willard.
Wisconsin (7-2, 1-0 Big Ten) opened a 58-45 lead with a 13-point run, capped by Crowl&rsquo;s two free throws with 3:46 remaining. The Badgers hung on despite making just 15 of 25 free throws in the second half and no field goals over the final 4:03.
Jahmir Young scored 17 points and Julian Reese had 10 for Maryland (8-1, 1-1), which entered averaging 80.8 points per game and outscoring opponents by 19.8.
NO. 15 DUKE 74, IOWA 62
NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Jeremy Roach tied a career high with 22 points and No. 15 Duke led virtually the entire way against Iowa in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
The Blue Devils (9-2) won their third straight since a 19-point loss to Purdue last month in the championship game of the Phil Knight Legacy.
Mark Mitchell added 13 of his 17 points in the second half. Kyle Filipowski had 12 points and 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double.
Patrick McCaffery led the Hawkeyes (6-2) with 12 points in a game that had special meaning to him. The junior forward was 13 when he was diagnosed with cancer of the thyroid.
NO. 24 TCU 78, JACKSON STATE 51
FORTH WORTH, Texas (AP) &mdash; JaKobe Coles scored a career-high 21 points, Damion Baugh had 15 points, six rebounds and five assists, and TCU won its fifth straight.
Coles matched his career high with 15 points by halftime. He then had the final six points of an 8-0 run early in the second half for a 54-34 lead. Shahada Wells added 14 points and Chuck O&rsquo;Bannon Jr. scored 11 for TCU (7-1).
Coltie Young made four 3-pointers and scored 14 points for Jackson State (1-7). Romelle Mansel had eight points, 11 rebounds and two blocks.&nbsp;

The Jimmy V Classic started with a bang on Tuesday evening, including a top-tier upset.

Shannon shines in OT, No. 17 Illinois tops No. 2 Texas 85-78

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Rookie Andrew Nembhard hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, and the Indiana Pacers rallied from a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter for a stunning 116-115 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night.
Tyrese Haliburton scored 24 points and hit a tying layup with 39 seconds left for the Pacers, who trailed 101-84 early in the fourth. LeBron James hit a one-handed floater with 20.9 seconds left, and Myles Turner missed an ensuing 3-point attempt for Indiana &mdash; but Haliburton got the rebound and found Nembhard alone on the perimeter, where the Canadian second-round pick from Gonzaga drilled his fourth 3-pointer of the night.
Haliburton had 13 assists while rookie Bennedict Mathurin added 23 points for the Pacers, who avoided their first back-to-back losses since October in dramatic fashion.
Anthony Davis had 25 points and 13 rebounds for the Lakers, who were well on their way to their sixth victory in seven games before their defense faltered down the stretch. Davis missed one of two free throws right after the Pacers missed three consecutive layups and tip-in attempts in the final minute, leaving the door open for Nembhard's eventual heroics.
James had 21 points and seven rebounds, while Russell Westbrook scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half.
Los Angeles opened its biggest lead two minutes into the fourth quarter, but Indiana responded with a 10-0 run and eventually trimmed the deficit to one point with 2:11 to play. The Pacers missed three consecutive layups and tips that would have put them ahead early in the final minute, and Davis hit one free throw before Haliburton's tying layup with 39 seconds left.
Davis returned to the lineup after a one-game absence to rest his bruised left calf, while James played his third straight game after a five-game absence with a groin injury.
James scored 10 points in an early-game outburst, but he went to the locker room midway through the first quarter after he rolled his left ankle when he stepped backward onto Haliburton&rsquo;s foot. James returned to start the second quarter.
TIP-INS
Pacers: Buddy Hield had 15 points, missing five of his six 3-pointers. ... Injured C Daniel Theis played alongside Schr&ouml;der on Germany's third-place EuroBasket team this summer. Theis has yet to make his Pacers debut after knee surgery.
Lakers: Patrick Beverley served the third game of his three-game suspension for shoving Phoenix's Deandre Ayton last week. Schr&ouml;der made his third straight start in Beverley's place and got eight points and four assists. ... Lakers fan Jaime Murry hit a shot from well behind midcourt to win $75,000 between the third and fourth quarters. He celebrated by hitting the Griddy and getting hugs from much of the Lakers' roster.
SAME TEAMS
Westbrook, Hield and Turner were the main characters in months of trade rumors between these clubs, but no deal was ever reached. Turner&rsquo;s positional versatility and Hield&rsquo;s outside shooting seem to make them ideal fits for the current Lakers, but the 17-time champions have been unwilling or unable to meet Indiana&rsquo;s price.
UP NEXT
Pacers: At Sacramento on Wednesday.
Lakers: Host Portland on Wednesday.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Andrew Nembhard hit a three at the buzzer, and the Pacers rallied from a 17-point deficit in the fourth for a stunning 116-115 victory.

Rookie Nembhard hits three at buzzer, Pacers stun Lakers 116-115

Over the last week, I have been very active on social media voicing my views on the Kyrie Irving situation, which prompted quite a few active NBA players to reach out to me privately to express that they too shared the view that the six requirements laid out for Irving to end his indefinite suspension were not only way over the top and excessive, but insulting.&nbsp;
Let&rsquo;s do a quick recap of the events that have led us to this point.&nbsp;
Irving shared a link to the documentary &ldquo;From Hebrews To Negroes: Wake Up Black America" without context, which caused a firestorm, as many viewed this as an endorsement of the film.&nbsp;
At his initial press conference, he expressed his reasoning for sharing the doc, saying, &ldquo;When I post, it does not mean that I support everything that&rsquo;s being said or everything that&rsquo;s being done or [that] I&rsquo;m campaigning for anything. All I do is post things for my people and my community.&rdquo;&nbsp;
He also said:&nbsp;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a divisive person when it comes to religion. I embrace all walks of life. You see it on all my platforms. I talk to all races, all cultures, all religions. And my response would be, it&rsquo;s not about educating yourself on what antisemitism is. It&rsquo;s really about where the root words come from and understanding that this is an African heritage that is also belonging to the people. Africa is in it, whether we want to dismiss it or not. So the claims of antisemitism; who are the original chosen people of God? And we go into these religious conversations and it&rsquo;s a big no-no, I don&rsquo;t live my life that way. I grew up in a melting pot, and I say a melting pot of all races: white, black, red, yellow, Jewish, Christian, Muslim. You see the way I live my life now, I&rsquo;m not here to be divisive."
This was prior to his spat with ESPN's Nick Friedell.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
This was met with criticism, condemnation and accusations that Kyrie was antisemitic, since people felt he was endorsing and promoting antisemitic propaganda (which he said wasn&rsquo;t his intention).
The media as a collective began taking turns bashing Kyrie, attributing beliefs to him that he did not express, and since he didn&rsquo;t vehemently denounce these ideas, many took that as an endorsement. It's not uncommon for athletes to be attacked by certain media talking-heads who shall remain nameless, but what we saw was a unified, non-stop, public lashing of Kyrie across the board.&nbsp;
He deleted his tweet. Then, during another press conference, he was asked if he was antisemitic and his answer was, "I cannot be antisemitic if I know where I come from." He also explained that he meant no harm, while adding that he wasn&rsquo;t the one who made the documentary.
This drew the ire of Brooklyn Nets governor Joe Tsai, as Irving was swiftly suspended for a minimum of five games and given six steps that had to be completed before he would be allowed to return.
The Nets released a press release that stated: "We were dismayed today, when given an opportunity in a media session, that Kyrie refused to unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs, nor acknowledge hateful material in the film. This was not the first time he had the opportunity &mdash; but failed &mdash; to clarify. Such failure to disavow antisemitism when given a clear opportunity to do so is deeply disturbing, is against the values of our organization, and constitutes conduct detrimental to the team. Accordingly, we are of the view that he is currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets."
Many people (including some who strongly condemned Kyrie for posting the link to the documentary) viewed this as a blatant attempt to emasculate and dehumanize Irving in front of the entire world.&nbsp;
Irving eventually posted <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Ckhj8iIu0HN/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a lengthy apology</a> to the entire Jewish community on Instagram.
As I voiced my personal disproval of the six steps he had to complete to return &mdash; which is unprecedented for an NBA suspension &mdash; that&rsquo;s when I started receiving messages from active players who were also outraged by the treatment Kyrie was receiving. However, they didn&rsquo;t feel comfortable saying anything out of fear that a similar outrage would be directed toward them or that an objection to Kyrie's punishment would be interpreted as supporting him posting the movie. They didn't want to be lumped in with Kyrie and face the same backlash. Their apprehension was very understandable.&nbsp;
This caused me to ponder the question: what if this Kyrie backlash causes athletes to go silent again? After all, besides Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Craig Hodges, athletes were pretty quiet back in the 1990s. That continued through my era in the early 2000s. Only recently, since Colin Kaepernick's protest, has there been a resurgence of athletes using their platforms and voices, and it&rsquo;s been beautiful to see. But it&rsquo;s also important to note that since Kaepernick took his stance, he has not played a single snap in the NFL. In addition, all of the protests have stopped and, for the most part, NFL players speaking out has significantly reduced almost to a whisper. Could that happen in the NBA?&nbsp;
Over the last 24 hours, both NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Joe Tsai said that they have met with Kyrie and can report that, in their opinion, he is not antisemitic, which has led many to believe that Irving will be returning to the court soon. But has the damage already been done?
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/emerald1.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="402" />
I reached out to Emerald Garner, the daughter of Eric Garner who has a newly-released book that I co-wrote called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Finding-My-Voice-Grieving-Pushing/dp/1642598313/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=163ffcc0-f0f3-4ecf-b8fa-907636f54c3f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Finding My Voice,"</a> to discuss this situation. We talked about what it meant to her personally when athletes used their voices and platforms to support her family and whether the Kyrie backlash might scare players into being silent going forward.
Etan: Do you think the backlash that Kyrie Irving is currently receiving has the potential to silence athletes?&nbsp;
Emerald: "I hope not. Listen, I don&rsquo;t know anything about the film, and don&rsquo;t support antisemitism in any form or fashion, but I didn&rsquo;t actually hear Kyrie say anything antisemitic. And correct me if I&rsquo;m wrong, but he didn&rsquo;t produce the documentary, did he? They&rsquo;re acting like it&rsquo;s his film."
Etan: No, he didn&rsquo;t produce it, but to be fair, he did share it without context. But he also cleared up his reasoning for sharing it in his initial press conference. He said he was just sharing it for the information and wasn&rsquo;t endorsing or promoting the film.
Emerald: "So, he apologized and deleted it, right?"
Etan: Yes, he did.
Emerald: "But he still has to go through all of these hoops before he gets to play again?"
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Etan: Yes, the six steps he has to complete are:
1) He has to apologize and condemn the film
2) Make a $500,000 donation to anti-hate causes
3) Complete sensitivity training
4) Complete antisemitism training&nbsp;
5) Meet with the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish leaders
6) Meet with Joe Tsai to &ldquo;demonstrate an understanding of the situation.&rdquo;
Emerald: "Wow, that&rsquo;s really a lot. So let me say it like this: officer Daniel Pantaleo murdered my father in broad daylight on video and he didn&rsquo;t have to do anything before he returned to active duty. I wrote about it in my book how traumatizing it was to see him laughing and joking with other cops on the street like nothing happened. He didn&rsquo;t have to do anything. He didn&rsquo;t even have to apologize to the family of the man he murdered. But they&rsquo;re gonna make Kyrie do all this before he can play basketball?"&nbsp;
Etan: Wow, that&rsquo;s a great point.
Emerald: "Listen, Kyrie and LeBron and all of the players on the Brooklyn Nets at the time and Kobe and all of the Lakers team supported my family after my father was choked to death by the NYPD. Back then, every time I turned on the TV, all I saw were people justifying his murder and saying why my father deserved to die. I will forever be thankful to him and all the athletes who stood with us for that."
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kyrie111.png" alt="" width="651" height="380" />
Etan: Yeah, a lot of people were quiet then, but athletes weren&rsquo;t. That started a new boom of athletes using their voices and platforms. That&rsquo;s why I wrote my book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/We-Matter-Athletes-Activism-Sports/dp/1617755915/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=3aa7746c-b367-4e3f-b314-48164e0e4144" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"We Matter: Athletes And Activism"</a> and interviewed so many athletes and impacted family members. I wanted to encourage the next generation of athletes to continue to use their voices and show the impact it has. My fear now is that after this, athletes may start being quiet again or people may advise them to be quiet again in fear of the Kyrie Irving treatment.
Emerald: "And that would be tragic. You have done an amazing job promoting that concept and, yes, there is great power in their voices. When I turned on the TV and saw all of the NBA players wearing 'I Can&rsquo;t Breathe' shirts&hellip; I&rsquo;m getting emotional right now..."
Etan: I&rsquo;m sorry, I don&rsquo;t want to trigger you.
Emerald: "No, it&rsquo;s ok. You know I always get emotional when we talk, and we talked about this in my book, but when I saw them wearing those shirts, it made me feel seen. That someone actually cared about what happened to my father. It didn&rsquo;t feel like anyone cared. The police definitely didn&rsquo;t show any remorse. They all stood around and watched as Officer Pantaleo choked my father to death, then they all supported Pantaleo, not one of them condemned anything. So many people supported Pantaleo like they always do when the police murder someone. But it was Kyrie and NBA players who supported me. And my father loved basketball. He loved every New York team that existed. Even sports he wasn&rsquo;t even that into, if they were [a team in] New York, he supported them. He would&rsquo;ve been so proud how they all supported him. I can see his big smile now. I can&rsquo;t tell you how much I miss seeing that big smile of his."&nbsp;
Etan: It&rsquo;s so important that people know this, and understand this. I&rsquo;ve gone on multiple programs recently and said that silencing athletes that you disagree with isn&rsquo;t the answer. Instead, have an actual dialogue. And I really believe that.
Emerald: "Listen, we have done enough speaking engagements for me to fully understand and be a supporter of dialogue. Of course it&rsquo;s important. And not lectures but actually listening to because, correct me if I&rsquo;m wrong, but I didn&rsquo;t hear Kyrie say anything bad or anti-anything. He said I love everyone, I respect all religions. It&rsquo;s like they&rsquo;re trying to make him believe things that he didn&rsquo;t say he believed. At least that&rsquo;s how I see it."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Etan: I definitely agree. I didn&rsquo;t hear him actually say anything antisemitic. I&rsquo;m just worried about the effect it will have on athletes moving forward. When I was playing, I had so many people warn me to be careful (including David Stern). I had other people who literally said you don&rsquo;t want to get done like Craig Hodges or Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. I heard Shannon Sharpe initially say that on his show "Undisputed." I see people putting that notion out there.
Emerald: "Well, that would be tragic if athletes did 'shut up and dribble.' I&rsquo;mma be honest, I didn&rsquo;t realize the impact y&rsquo;all have until I started working with you and talking to other impacted families who had athletes stand up for them. How Russell Westbrook spoke up for Terence Crutcher, how Stephen Jackson spoke up for George Floyd, how LeBron speaks up for a lot of families, how the whole Milwaukee Bucks [team] spoke up for Jacob Blake, how the whole NBA spoke up for Breonna Taylor and I can go on and on and on. It&rsquo;s important. Take it from me, it means everything."

Could this Kyrie Irving situation silence athletes going forward? Etan Thomas discusses this with Eric Garner's daughter, Emerald.

Emerald Garner hopes Kyrie Irving backlash doesn’t silence athletes

WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; Kyle Kuzma scored 36 points, and the Washington Wizards overcame the absence of Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis to beat the Dallas Mavericks 113-105 on Thursday night.
Rui Hachimura added 23 points for Washington, which was missing Beal because of health and safety protocols and Porzingis because of a left groin strain. The Wizards fell behind 22-8 but quickly rallied and eventually pulled away thanks to a trio of 3-pointers by Kuzma early in the fourth.
Spencer Dinwiddie, who went to Dallas in the trade that sent Porzingis to Washington, led the Mavericks with 33 points, and Luka Doncic contributed 22. The Mavericks have lost two in a row following a four-game winning streak.
The Wizards (6-6) haven't started quite as impressively as last season, when they won 10 of their first 13 games, but Thursday's performance gave them back-to-back victories for only the second time this season. It was the start of a six-game homestand for Washington, the first four of which are against teams from the Western Conference.
Washington climbed out of its early deficit and trailed 61-58 at halftime. The Wizards then closed the third quarter strong and led 87-83 before Kuzma opened the fourth with a 3-pointer. He later made two more 3s to make it 98-86.
With Porzingis unavailable, Daniel Gafford made an impact with 11 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
NEW STREAK
After scoring at least 30 points in each of the first nine games, Doncic has been held under that by both Orlando and the Wizards.
TIP-INS
Mavericks: Christian Wood (left knee sprain) and Davis Bertans (right knee effusion) were out.
Wizards: Delon Wright (right hamstring strain) and Taj Gibson (cervical strain) did not play. ... The Wizards wore pink jerseys as part of their City Edition Cherry Blossom uniforms. ... Kuzma had 11 rebounds and seven assists. ... The Washington bench outscored Dallas' 50-25.
UP NEXT
Mavericks: Host Portland on Saturday night.
Wizards: Host Utah on Saturday night.
___
Follow Noah Trister at https://twitter.com/noahtrister

Kyle Kuzma scored 36 points, and the Wizards overcame the absence of Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis.

Kuzma scores 36 to lead Wizards past Mavericks 113-105

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Jeremy Roach scored 16 first-half points to help seventh-ranked Duke open Jon Scheyer&rsquo;s coaching tenure with a 71-44 win over Jacksonville on Monday night.
Freshman Mark Mitchell had a team-high 18 points for the Blue Devils, who used a 25-4 run spanning halftime to blow the game open.
It was a quality start to a season of massive change for the Blue Devils, starting with Scheyer taking over for retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski. Duke has 11 new players, including the nation&rsquo;s No. 1-ranked recruiting class and two power-conference transfers. The Blue Devils didn&rsquo;t have top freshmen Dereck Lively II and Dariq Whitehead for this one as they recover from preseason injuries.
Mike Marsh scored 15 points to lead the Dolphins, who shot 34% and missed 18 of 19 3-pointers before making two meaningless 3s late.
NO. 1 NORTH CAROLINA 69, UNC WILMINGTON 56
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Caleb Love and RJ Davis scored 17 points apiece and North Carolina began a season of grand expectations by pulling away from UNC Wilmington.
Armando Bacot added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Tar Heels, who were perhaps most impressive at the defensive end. UNCW shot 29.8% from the field.
The Tar Heels, who were the NCAA Tournament runner-up in April, began the new season with the top ranking for the first time in seven years. It&rsquo;s a record 10th time that North Carolina has been ranked No. 1 to start a season &mdash; one more than rival Duke.
Trazarien White scored 19 points for UNCW, which faced a top-ranked team for the first time in program history.
NO. 2 GONZAGA 104, NORTH FLORIDA 63
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) &mdash; Drew Timme scored 22 points, Julian Strawther added 16 and No. 2 Gonzaga used a big first-half run to beat North Florida in both teams&rsquo; opener.
Anton Watson had 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and five steals for Gonzaga, which won its 68th consecutive home game, the nation&rsquo;s longest such streak.
Carter Hendricksen scored 16 points, Jadyn Parker 13 and Jose Placer 12 for North Florida, a veteran-laden team from the Atlantic Sun Conference that returned its top four scorers from last season.
NO. 3 HOUSTON 83, NORTHERN COLORADO 36
HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Marcus Sasser scored 21 points, J&rsquo;Wan Roberts added 12 points and six rebounds, and Houston opened the season by beating Northern Colorado.
Sasser, a preseason All-American, scored 11 points in the first half. He finished 7 of 14 from the field and made 4 of 8 3-pointers. The senior guard missed the second half of last season and all of Houston&rsquo;s run to the Elite Eight with a toe injury.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson won his 700th career game and 200th with the Cougars.
Matt Johnson II, Riley Abercrombie and Caleb Shaw each scored eight points for the Bears.
NO. 4 KENTUCKY 95, HOWARD 63
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Antonio Reeves scored 22 points, CJ Fredrick had 20 and Kentucky beat Howard with All-American Oscar Tshiebwe and two other players sidelined.
Tshiebwe had a procedure last month on his right knee. Point guard Sahvir Wheeler (right leg) and sophomore forward Daimion Collins (personal reasons) were also out, but the Wildcats still shot 55% against the overmatched Bison.
Jacob Toppin and freshman Cason Wallace each added 15 points for Kentucky.
Kobe Dickson scored 17 points and Elijah Hawkins had 14 for Howard, which shot 34%.
NO. 5 KANSAS 89, OMAHA 64
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Jalen Wilson had 19 points and 11 rebounds, Gradey Dick added 23 points in his debut, and Kansas began defense of its national championship without suspended coach Bill Self by routing Omaha.
Bobby Pettiford Jr. added 13 points, Dajuan Harris had 11 points and eight assists, and Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar Jr. scored 10 for the Jayhawks, who broke open a close game in the second half with two big runs.
Self served the first of a four-game punishment along with assistant Kurtis Townsend as part of the fallout from a 2017 federal investigation into college basketball corruption.
Jaeden Marshall scored 13 points and Luke Jungers had 12 for the Mavericks.
NO. 5 BAYLOR 117, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE 53
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Adam Flagler scored 21 points to lead six players in double figures as Baylor won the opener of its 20th season with coach Scott Drew.
Flagler, a preseason All-Big 12 pick who also was the Bears&rsquo; leading scorer last season, also had eight assists and one of his four 3-pointers started a 24-0 run midway through the first half.
LJ Cryer had 16 points and Dale Bonner, another returning guard, had 14.
Alvin Stredic scored 14 points and Terry Collins 10 for Mississippi Valley State in its first game for new coach George Ivory.
NO. 9 CREIGHTON 72, ST. THOMAS 60
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) &mdash; Baylor Scheierman made back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second half to give Creighton the lead for good.
Arthur Kaluma scored 17 points, Trey Alexander had 12 and Scheierman added 11 as the Bluejays won their 25th opener in 26 years.
St. Thomas, a Summit League member beginning its second season in Division I, gave the Bluejays all they could handle until the last few minutes. Andrew Rohde had 15 points to lead the Tommies.
NO. 10 ARKANSAS 76, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 58
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) &mdash; Trevon Brazile had 21 points and 12 rebounds in his debut as Arkansas won its season opener.
Brazile, a sophomore transfer from Missouri, scored six straight points during an 11-0 run early in the second half that gave Arkansas a 16-point lead with 15 minutes left.
Wichita State transfer Ricky Council led the Razorbacks with 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting.
Grant Nelson and Boden Skunberg had 17 points apiece to lead North Dakota State.
NO. 11 TENNESSEE 75, TENNESSEE TECH 43
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Tyreke Key came off the bench to score 17 points and Tennessee beat Tennessee Tech in both teams&rsquo; opener.
Key, an Indiana State transfer, connected on 4 of 8 3-pointers to ignite a sluggish Volunteer offense. Zakai Zeigler scored all but two of his 12 points in the second half.
Brett Thompson led the Golden Eagles with 15 points.
NO. 12 TEXAS 72, UTEP 57
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) &mdash; Tyrese Hunter scored 18 points to lead Texas past UTEP in the debut of its new arena.
Hunter, a transfer from Iowa State, was 6-of-8 shooting and added five rebounds. Ze&rsquo;Ri Onyema led UTEP with 10 points.
Texas this season moved to the $375 million Moody Center on the edge of campus, leaving behind the old Frank Erwin Center after 45 years.
NO. 13 INDIANA 88, MOREHEAD STATE 53
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Preseason All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis and freshman Malik Reneau each scored 15 points, helping Indiana beat Morehead State in the season opener for both teams.
The Hoosiers have won all six matchups in the series and are 26-0 all-time against Ohio Valley Conference foes.
Mark Freeman led the Eagles with 14 points, and Drew Thelwell had 11 for the OVC favorites.
NO. 14 TCU 73, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 72
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Mike Miles hit a 3-pointer with 51 seconds remaining to finally put TCU ahead to stay against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, which built an early 20-point lead in the season opener for both teams.
Miles, the preseason Big 12 player of the year, hit from deep beyond the top of the key for a 71-68 lead.
Emanuel Miller had 15 of his 19 points in the second half, and Miles finished with 15 points for the Horned Frogs. They returned all five starters and five other scholarship players after winning their first NCAA Tournament game since 1987.
Shaun Doss had 25 points with four of Arkansas-Pine Bluff&rsquo;s 13 3-pointers.
NO. 15 AUBURN 70, GEORGE MASON 52
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Wendell Green Jr. scored 16 points while K.D. Johnson and Johni Broome each had 12 to lead Auburn to a season-opening win over George Mason.
The Tigers weren&rsquo;t really challenged much in their first game since losing NBA first-round draft picks Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler.
Ronald Polite III led George Mason with 10 points, and Victor Bailey Jr. had nine.
NO. 16 VILLANOVA 81, LA SALLE 68
VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) &mdash; Caleb Daniels scored 24 points to make coach Kyle Neptune a winner in his Villanova debut.
Neptune replaced Hall of Famer Jay Wright, who retired in the offseason. The Wildcats returned three starters (a fourth, Justin Moore, was injured) from the team that lost a national semifinal game to Kansas. Eric Dixon added 20 points for Villanova.
Daniels made his first five 3-pointers and the Wildcats used an early 10-0 run to put away their city rival and spoiled 74-year-old coach Fran Dunphy&rsquo;s return to the bench.
Josh Nickelberry scored 22 points to lead the Explorers.
NO. 17 ARIZONA 117, NICHOLLS STATE 75
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) &mdash; Azuolas Tubelis scored 23 points and Arizona went on a massive opening run to begin its second season under coach Tommy Lloyd with a rout.
Ballo scored 18 points, helping Arizona set a school record with 71.7% shooting from the floor against the reigning Southland Conference regular-season champions. The Wildcats opened the game with a 30-4 run.
Micah Thomas led Nicholls State with 20 points.
NO. 18 VIRGINIA 73, NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL 61
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman sparked a 15-2 second-half run, and Virginia beat North Carolina Central after blowing a 16-point first-half lead.
Armaan Franklin led Virginia with 21 points in the season opener for both teams, and Francisco Caffaro had 10.
Justin Wright scored 20 and Eric Boone had 18 for the Eagles, who used a 12-0 run just after halftime to go ahead. But Clark hit a 3 and Beekman followed with a steal and a breakaway.
NO. 19 SAN DIEGO STATE 80, CAL STATE FULLERTON 57
SAN DIEGO (AP) &mdash; Darrion Trammell hit three 3-pointers during a 29-10 run to open the second half and finished with 18 points as San Diego State beat Cal State Fullerton.
Fellow newcomer Jaedon LeDee and Lamont Butler scored 11 points apiece and Nathan Mensah had 10 for the Aztecs, who won their 10th straight season opener and their 17th in 18 seasons.
Vincent Lee scored 11 and Jalen Harris 10 for the Titans, the defending Big West Conference champions.
NO. 20 ALABAMA 75, LONGWOOD 54
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Freshman Brandon Miller had 14 points and 13 rebounds in his debut as Alabama beat Longwood.
Fellow freshman Rylan Griffen also scored 14 for the Crimson Tide, and point guard Mark Sears had 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Freshman guard Jaden Bradley added 11 points and six boards.
Alabama held Longwood to 27% shooting and blocked nine shots. Michael Christmas led Longwood with 12 points.
NO. 21 OREGON 80, FLORIDA A&amp;M 45
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) &mdash; N&rsquo;Faly Dante had 16 points and 10 rebounds as Oregon opened with an easy win over Florida A&amp;M.
Keeshawn Barthelemy added 13 points for the Ducks, ranked to start the season for the ninth straight year. Will Richardson scored 11.
Jordan Tillmon and Jordan Chatman had eight points apiece for the Rattlers, who have 11 new players. Florida A&amp;M coach Robert McCullum was on Oregon coach Dana Altman&rsquo;s staff from 2014-17.
NO. 22 MICHIGAN 75, PURDUE FORT WAYNE 56
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) &mdash; Hunter Dickinson had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and freshman Jett Howard added 21 points in Michigan&rsquo;s season-opening win.
After Purdue Fort Wayne opened an 8-4 lead, Michigan went on a 20-0 run to take control.
Quinton Morton-Robertson scored 15 points and Bobby Planutis added 13 for the Mastodons.
NO. 23 ILLINOIS 87, EASTERN ILLINOIS 57
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) &mdash; Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 24 points and Coleman Hawkins had 23 points and 12 rebounds as Illinois cruised past Eastern Illinois.
Dain Dainja added 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Illini, who outrebounded the Panthers 53-30 in the opener for both teams.
Kinyon Hodges scored 14 points and Yaakema Rose added 10 for Eastern Illinois.
NO. 24 DAYTON 73, LINDENWOOD 46
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Mustapha Amzil scored 14 points, DaRon Holmes II and R.J. Blakney each had 13 and Dayton beat Lindenwood in a sluggish opener for both teams.
Dayton was without injured point guard Malachi Smith and didn&rsquo;t play particularly well until late, but it had a large margin for error against Lindenwood, which was playing its first game after moving up to Division I.
Chris Childs had 15 points for the Lions, who shot 33% from the field.
NO. 25 TEXAS TECH 73, NORTHWESTERN STATE 49
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) &mdash; Daniel Batcho had 12 points and 10 rebounds as Texas Tech rolled past Northwestern State in both teams&rsquo; opener.
Texas Tech broke it open late in the first half and led 42-23 at halftime.
Isaac Haney led Northwestern State with 16 points.

It was a quality start to a season of massive change for the Blue Devils, starting with Jon Scheyer taking over Duke's program.