Mastodons

The top overall seed, Alabama, has been on a roll despite being entangled in a&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/alabama-darius-miles-fatal-shooting-indictment-jamea-harris-887b6419c4b576da778b710a58b8acf7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">murder case</a>. Another No. 1 seed, defending national champion Kansas, is coming off a blowout loss and has a coach coming out of the hospital. Yet another, Houston, just watched its&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/memphis-houston-march-madness-ncaa-hardaway-329475213b5f98fb6a436cfefdc51390" target="_blank" rel="noopener">best player go down in a heap</a>&nbsp;with a scary injury.
This year&rsquo;s&nbsp;March Madness&nbsp;frontrunners are anything but perfect, but the presence of these teams and all their questions at the top of the bracket could make for precisely what the NCAA wants its tournament to be &ndash; a perfectly unpredictable mess.
Most of the drama in picking this year&rsquo;s bracket was resolved far before Selection Sunday.
Arizona State and Nevada made it off the bubble and into the 68-team field. Rutgers and Oklahoma State did not.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/purdue-big-ten-tournament-penn-state-zach-edey-3b17ff7c31380552d3707784339fed7e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Purdue, with 7-foot-4 Zach Edey leading the way,</a>&nbsp;edged out UCLA for the fourth and final No. 1 seed.
And in a decision most everyone saw coming, the selection committee&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-north-carolina-left-out-16e5709c3c1f97a1d52f485d292715e0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">left North Carolina, last year&rsquo;s national runner-up, out of the tournament.</a> It made the Tar Heels the first team since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985 to start the season ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll and finish it by not making the Big Dance.
The team they lost to, Kansas, is trying to become the first back-to-back NCAA champion since Florida in 2007.
The Jayhawks earned the top seed in the West Region, but only the third overall, behind the Crimson Tide and the Cougars. The Jayhawks are awaiting the return of coach Bill Self, who went to the hospital last week complaining of chest tightness and concerns with his balance.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-bill-self-hospital-ncaa-coach-jayhawks-2053ffeb102c7dfb418109215dab554b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">He has been discharged</a>&nbsp;and is expected back this week.
The head of the selection committee, Chris Reynolds, said it took every injury, and every absence, into account.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s certainly something the committee talked about during the course of the year, and certainly played a factor in seeding and selection,&rdquo; said Reynolds, the athletic director at Bradley.
He said the committee also did not ignore lopsided losses: Two of Kansas&rsquo; seven Ls came in March to Texas, a No. 2 seed, by 16 and 20 points.
&ldquo;They mark it how they feel and we&rsquo;re just going to do what we need to do to get where we need to be,&rdquo; Kansas forward KJ Adams said.
The tournament begins Tuesday with two First Four games. The full madness starts Thursday with 16 first-round games, then 16 more the next day.
Kansas&rsquo; loss to Texas in the Big 12 semifinal Saturday likely played into&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/ncaab?tab=national-champion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FanDuel Sportsbook</a>&nbsp;setting the Jayhawks at 10-1 to win the title, behind both Alabama of the South Region (8-1 odds) and the overall favorite, Houston (5-1 odds), which would be playing the Final Four in its hometown if it wins the Midwest Region. The semifinals and finals are set for NRG Stadium on April 1 and 3.
The Cougars lost their conference title game Sunday, <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-bracket-midwest-ba5f567eee97af8eb848e229694b8b9b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in large part because they were without Marcus Sasser,</a>&nbsp;the leading scorer who left the previous day&rsquo;s game early after sliding awkwardly and hurting his groin.
Purdue likely found its way onto the &ldquo;1&rdquo; line when it won the program&rsquo;s second Big Ten tournament title Sunday, less than 24 hours after UCLA, also dinged-up this season, fell by two to Arizona in the Pac-12 title game.
For Alabama, the SEC tournament was a relative breeze &ndash; nobody stayed within double digits of the Tide -- unlike the past two months,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-south-bracket-alabama-005db4413ccdad1b00bcd38f879ac5df" target="_blank" rel="noopener">which have been met with a near constant flow of headlines</a>&nbsp;about a former player, Darius Miles, who is accused of capital murder In the Jan. 15 killing of 23-year-old Jamea Harris.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure we would have predicted this,&rdquo; said coach Nate Oats of the Tide, which is a No. 1 seed for the first time. &ldquo;Being the No. 1 overall seed is great. It says what an unbelievable regular season we&rsquo;ve had. You&rsquo;ve still got to go win the games.&rdquo;
The SEC and Big Ten led the way by placing eight teams each in the 68-team field. Duke won the ACC for the 22nd time and was one of five teams from that conference in a relatively weak year.
But this tournament is always about more than big schools with big pedigrees.
Some teams to watch for include&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/marist-iona-maac-64c60cf20f61ade2159022b1c113e77c">13th-seeded Iona</a>, coached by the legend, Rick Pitino, who has the Gaels in the show for the second time in three years &ndash; with some people wondering if he&rsquo;ll be heading over to a vacant job at St. John&rsquo;s soon. Iona got a brutal draw &ndash; a first-round meeting against fourth-seeded UConn.
There is Southern Conference champion Furman, back in the tournament for the first time since 1980, and MEAC champ Howard, back in the tourney for the first time since 1992.
There is Kennesaw State,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/kennesaw-state-ncaa-tournament-2f0a9c43ce247215832b429a520f580e">the program that went 1-28 in 2019-20 and now finds itself in the bracket.</a>&nbsp;For the rest of the dreamers, there is Texas Southern &ndash; the team that won its conference tournament as a No. 8 seed and comes to March Madness at 14-20 for a play-in game against Fairleigh Dickinson.

March Madness is underway! Here's a look at the No. 1 seeds in this year's NCAA Tournament.

March Madness: Alabama, Houston, Kansas, Purdue are No. 1 seeds

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Jahvon Quinerly scored 24 points, Brandon Miller made the clinching free throws with six seconds left and No. 2 Alabama rallied from a 17-point deficit before beating archrival Auburn 90-85 in overtime Wednesday night.
The Crimson Tide (26-4, 16-1 Southeastern Conference) clinched outright their second regular-season SEC title in three years but continued to live on the edge over a troubling eight days that included courtroom revelations in a capital murder trial.
Miller rebounded teammate Jaden Bradley&rsquo;s missed dunk and drew a foul, making both free throws. Noah Clowney had blocked K.D. Johnson&rsquo;s layup attempt on the other end.
The Tigers (19-11, 9-8), who had three key players foul out, couldn&rsquo;t close it out after leading almost the entire way in regulation. They were up 17 with under 11 minutes left.
Alabama won its fourth straight but the past three have gone down to the wire since courtroom revelations tied freshmen Miller and Bradley to the scene of a murder. Neither has been charged or accused of a crime, but then-teammate Darius Miles and another man are facing capital murder charges.
Police said Miles texted Miller asking him to bring the gun.
NO. 22 TCU 75, NO. 9 TEXAS 73
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) &mdash; Damion Baugh scored a career-high 24 points, Emanuel Miller had 20 and TCU denied Texas a chance to play for a share of the Big 12 title in its upcoming regular-season finale.
Baugh scored on a breakaway layup off the opening tip and the Horned Frogs (20-10, 9-8 Big 12) never trailed. It was the second loss in a row and third in five games for the Longhorns (22-8, 11-6), who haven&rsquo;t won a regular-season conference crown since 2008.
Texas hosts third-ranked Kansas (25-5, 13-4) on Saturday. The Jayhawks had already clinched at least a piece of the Big 12 title Tuesday night, and now know they won&rsquo;t have to share it.
Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice scored 16 points for the Longhorns, and Tyrese Hunter had 15.
NO. 10 GONZAGA 104, CHICAGO STATE 65
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) &mdash; Drew Timme scored 17 points in what&rsquo;s expected to be his final home game at Gonzaga, and the Bulldogs trounced Chicago State in a postseason tune-up.
Timme made his 99th start at Gonzaga. The senior forward ranks second on the school&rsquo;s career scoring list, 21 points behind Frank Burgess (1958-61).
The 6-foot-10 Timme has played four seasons at Gonzaga but could return for a fifth because of extra eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He has not announced any definitive plans.
Fellow senior Rasir Bolton added 15 points for the Zags (26-5), who won their seventh straight game. Malachi Smith scored 14.
Jahsean Corbett led Chicago State (11-19) with 22 points and seven rebounds.
Gonzaga added the game to avoid going more than a week without playing before the West Coast Conference Tournament in Las Vegas.
NO. 11 KANSAS STATE 85, OKLAHOMA 69
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Desi Sills flirted with a triple-double in his Bramlage Coliseum farewell and Kansas State held on to beat Oklahoma.
Keyontae Johnson and Markquis Nowell also had big senior send-offs for the Wildcats. Sills finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, while Johnson had 16 points and Nowell added 11 points and 10 assists to help Kansas State (23-7, 11-6 Big 12) snap a three-game skid against the Sooners.
Nae&rsquo;Qwan Tomlin scored 19 points for Kansas State, which led by 20 early in the second half before the Sooners (14-16, 4-13) made a late run. Milos Uzan had 20 points to lead Oklahoma.
NO. 14 UCONN 88, DEPAUL 59
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) &mdash; Adama Sanogo scored 26 points to lead five UConn players in double figures and the Huskies closed out their home schedule in emphatic style with an easy win over skidding DePaul.
Andre Jackson filled up the stat sheet for Connecticut (23-7, 12-7 Big East) with 11 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Tristen Newton added 12 points for the Huskies, who have won four straight and seven of eight.
Nick Ongenda tied a career high with 17 points for DePaul (9-21, 3-16), which has lost 11 in a row.
UConn put the game away early, opening on a 29-2 run.
NO. 19 XAVIER 94, NO. 20 PROVIDENCE 89
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) &mdash; Souley Boum scored a season-high 33 points and Colby Jones added a career-best 29 to help Xavier beat Providence and clinch the No. 2 seed in the Big East Tournament.
Ed Croswell had 17 points with 13 rebounds, and Bryce Hopkins also scored 17 for Providence, which cut a 22-point first-half deficit to two in the second half.
It was the Friars&rsquo; first loss at home in 16 games this season.
With one game remaining, Xavier (22-8, 14-5 Big East) has a one-game lead over Providence (21-9, 13-6) and controls the tiebreaker, having swept their two regular-season matchups.
OHIO STATE 73, NO. 21 MARYLAND 62
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Felix Okpara had 12 points and 12 rebounds to help Ohio State finish its home schedule with a win over Maryland.
Justice Sueing had 16 points to lead six Buckeyes in double figures. Ohio State (13-17, 5-14 Big Ten) jumped ahead early with a 12-0 run and didn&rsquo;t give up the lead the rest of the way.
Julian Reese had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Terrapins (20-10, 11-8).
VANDERBILT 68, NO. 23 KENTUCKY 66
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Jordan Wright hit a go-ahead fall-away jumper in the lane with 2.6 seconds remaining to finish with 23 points, and Vanderbilt topped Kentucky for its first win at Rupp Arena since January 2007.
The surging Commodores (17-13, 10-7 Southeastern Conference) earned their seventh win in eight games and are 7-3 since losing to Kentucky 69-53 last month in Nashville.
Wright&rsquo;s drive tied the game with 42 seconds left, and Tyrin Lawrence grabbed Antonio Reeves&rsquo; missed jumper with 20 seconds to go.
Reeves&rsquo; 3-point attempt missed the rim altogether as time expired. Kentucky had won its previous four and re-entered the rankings on Monday for the first time in seven weeks.
Oscar Tshiebwe had 21 points and 20 rebounds for the Wildcats (20-10, 11-6).
NOTRE DAME 88, NO. 25 PITTSBURGH 81
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Marcus Hammond and Cormac Ryan each scored 20 points as Notre Dame beat Pittsburgh to win longtime coach Mike Brey&rsquo;s final home game.
Nate Laszewski and Trey Wertz each added 14 points for the Fighting Irish (11-19, 3-16 Atlantic Coast Conference), who snapped a seven-game losing streak.
Brey, stepping down at season&rsquo;s end, received warm ovations from the crowd before and after the game. He improved to 315-76 at Purcell Pavilion over 23 years as Notre Dame coach.
Jamarius Burton, Nelly Cummings and Nike Sibande all scored 19 points for Pittsburgh. Blake Hinson added 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Panthers (21-9, 14-5), who lost for only the second time in 10 games. They were playing their first game since moving into the AP Top 25 for the first time in seven years.

A recap of Wednesday's top-25 action in men's college hoops includes the Crimson Tide winning the regular-season SEC title.

No. 2 Alabama rallies from 17 down to top rival Auburn in OT

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Brandon Miller scored 24 points and Mark Sears made seven of eight free throws over the final 1:04 to help No. 2 Alabama top Arkansas 86-83 on Saturday.
Miller delivered his second straight huge game for the Crimson Tide (25-4, 15-1 Southeastern Conference) since police alleged in courtroom testimony that he brought a gun to former teammate Darius Miles, who is charged with capital murder in a fatal shooting.
The week&rsquo;s details cast a different light on Miller&rsquo;s regular pregame introduction, which is a Tide staffer giving him a pat down. Coach Nate Oats said after the game that intro for Miller is now over.
Fellow freshman Nick Smith Jr. of Arkansas (19-10, 8-8), another potential NBA draft lottery pick who helped keep the Razorbacks in it with a late 3-pointer, scored 24 points. Davonte Davis added 21 points for Arkansas, Council scored 20, and the rest of the team combined for 18 points.
Jahvon Quinerly had 16 points and seven assists for the Tide, and Noah Clowney had 10 points and 13 rebounds.
NO. 1 HOUSTON 76, EAST CAROLINA 57
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Marcus Sasser scored 22 points to help Houston clinch outright possession of the American Athletic Conference regular-season title.
Tramon Mark added 20 points for the Cougars (27-2, 15-1), while J&rsquo;Wan Roberts had 17 points and 12 rebounds in Houston&rsquo;s ninth straight victory.
East Carolina (14-14, 5-10) had an energetic home crowd for the first-ever visit from a No. 1-ranked team to Minges Coliseum, as well as the program&rsquo;s first game against a top-ranked opponent in more than 31 years. But the Cougars never trailed and led for all but 56 seconds. Ezra Ausar scored 15 points to lead the Pirates.
NO. 3 KANSAS 76, WEST VIRGINIA 74
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Dajuan Harris was one point shy of a career high, scoring 17 points to help lift Kansas over West Virginia.
The Jayhawks&rsquo; stifling defense kept West Virginia from attempting a shot in the final 20 seconds. The Mountaineers&rsquo; Joe Toussaint traveled on their final possession of the game. Baskets by K.J. Adams and Kevin McCullar extended the Jayhawks&rsquo; lead to 75-68 late as they grinded out the victory.
Harris led Kansas (24-5, 12-4 Big 12) with 7-of-9 shooting from the field and had six assists and six steals.
Erik Stevenson led West Virginia (16-13, 5-11) with 23 points. Tre Mitchell scored 20, Kedrian Johnson scored 15 and Emmitt Mathews Jr. had 13.
NO. 17 INDIANA 79, NO. 5 PURDUE 71
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Jalen Hood-Schifino scored a career-high 35 points and Trey Galloway added 10 of his 13 in the second half to lead Indiana over Purdue.
The Hoosiers (20-9, 11-7 Big Ten) snapped a seven-game losing streak in West Lafayette and pulled their first season sweep in this bitter rivalry since 2012-13.
Zach Edey led the Boilermakers with 26 points and 16 rebounds and Fletcher Loyer added 14 points. Purdue (24-5, 13-5) has lost three of four and blew a chance to clinch a share of the conference crown in front of its home fans, who stood outside in chilly temperatures and snaking lines for hours before tip-off.
NORTH CAROLINA 71, NO. 6 VIRGINIA 63
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Pete Nance scored 22 points to lead North Carolina past Virginia.
Nance shot 7 of 10 from the floor and was 4 of 4 from behind the arc, the most 3-pointers the fifth-year forward has made in ACC play. He added two assists and four blocks.
R.J. Davis notched the fourth double-double of his career with 16 points and 10 rebounds for North Carolina (18-11, 10-8 Atlantic Coast Conference), which got a much-needed boost to its NCAA Tournament resume with a Quadrant 1 win &mdash; the first of the season for the Tar Heels.
Jayden Gardner had 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead Virginia (21-6, 13-5), which lost its second in a row. Armaan Franklin added 14 points.
ARIZONA STATE 89, NO. 7 ARIZONA 88
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) &mdash; Desmond Cambridge Jr. hit a 60-foot shot at the buzzer and Arizona State rallied from a 10-point deficit to beat Arizona.
The Wildcats (24-5, 13-5 Pac-12) built a 10-point lead midway through the second half before going more than six minutes without a field goal as Arizona State pulled ahead by one.
The Sun Devils (20-9, 11-7) went up 86-85 on Warren Washington&rsquo;s layup with just a minute left, but Pelle Larsson put Arizona back up on a layup with 29 seconds left. Arizona State&rsquo;s DJ Horne missed a jumper with 4 seconds left and the Sun Devils had a final shot after Oumar Ballo hit one of two free throws.
Catching the ball with 2.4 seconds left, Cambridge launched a shot from beyond half-court to finish with 19 points and give the Sun Devils a big boost in their bid to make the NCAA Tournament.
NO. 9 BAYLOR 81, NO. 8 TEXAS 72
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Jalen Bridges had 17 points for ninth-ranked Baylor, which overcame a huge deficit with an impressive run right after freshman standout Keyonte George left injured early and beat Big 12 co-leader Texas.
Adam Flagler had 14 points for the Bears (21-8, 10-6). Dale Bonner added 13 points, including seven in an quick spurt after halftime while Flo Thamba had 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Dylan Disu had a season-high 24 points for Texas (22-7, 11-5), which twice got even early in the second half but never could regain the lead.
NO. 10 MARQUETTE 90, DEPAUL 84
MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Kam Jones and Tyler Kolek each scored 22 points while helping Marquette clinch a share of its first Big East regular-season championship in a decade.
Kolek also had 14 assists as Marquette (23-6, 15-3) rolled to a 49-28 halftime lead and hung on after DePaul (9-20, 3-15) got close down the stretch. Marquette has won nine of its last 10, while DePaul has lost 10 straight.
This is Marquette&rsquo;s first conference title in 2013, when the Golden Eagles shared the Big East crown with Georgetown and eventual national champion Louisville.
Umoja Gibson led DePaul with 20 points and eight assists. Nick Ongenda added 16 points and 12 rebounds.
NO. 11 TENNESSEE 85, SOUTH CAROLINA 45
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Josiah-Jordan James came back from missing four games with an injury to score 18 points to lead Tennessee to a rout of South Carolina.
James, who suffered an ankle injury against Vanderbilt on Feb. 8, shot 4 of 7 on 3-pointers for the Volunteers (21-8, 10-6 Southeastern Conference). Jahmai Mashack scored 14 points, Zakai Zeigler had 13 points and 11 assists, and Olivier Nkamhoua and Uros Plavsic scored 10 each.
Hayden Brown led the Gamecocks (10-19, 3-13) with 18 points.
NO. 12 GONZAGA 77, NO. 15 SAINT MARY&rsquo;S 68
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) &mdash; Drew Timme scored 19 points and Gonzaga earned a share of the West Coast Conference regular-season title with a win over Saint Mary&rsquo;s.
Anton Watson had 17 points and Malachi Smith added 13 off the bench for the Bulldogs, who have won or shared the conference title in 11 straight seasons. Gonzaga (25-5, 14-2) also reached the 25-win mark for the 16th season in a row &mdash; and avenged a loss to the Gaels earlier this month in Moraga.
Logan Johnson led the Gaels (25-6, 14-2) with 27 points.
Because the teams shared the regular-season title, the WCC will use the NCAA&rsquo;s NET rankings to determine the top seed for the conference tournament.
FLORIDA STATE 85, NO. 13 MIAMI 84
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Matthew Cleveland&rsquo;s 3-pointer as time expired capped Florida State&rsquo;s comeback from a 25-point second-half deficit and a win over Miami.
Jordan Miller had given Miami the lead on a 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds left. But Cleveland let fly from about 25 feet and the ball swished to give the Seminoles (9-20, 7-11 Atlantic Coast Conference) their best moment of the season.
Cleveland and Darin Green Jr. each had 20 points for Florida State, which also got 13 from Caleb Mills and 11 from Jalen Warley.
Miller led Miami (23-6, 14-5) with 21 points. Norchad Omier had 15, Isaiah Wong scored 14 and Bensley Joseph added 12 for the Hurricanes, whose seven-game winning streak and perfect home season were ended.
NO. 18 UCONN 95, ST. JOHN&rsquo;S 86
NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Jordan Hawkins scored 20 points, Adama Sanogo added 18 points and nine rebounds, and UConn beat St. John&rsquo;s.
Andre Jackson Jr. had 15 points, Joey Calcaterra also scored 15 to lead a strong effort by Connecticut&rsquo;s bench and the resurgent Huskies (22-7, 11-7 Big East) avenged an 11-point loss to St. John&rsquo;s at home last month.
UConn won for the sixth time in seven games, closing in on a first-round bye in the Big East Tournament.
AJ Storr had 20 points and Posh Alexander added 18 for the Red Storm (17-13, 7-12), who had won three of four.
NO. 14 KANSAS STATE 73, OKLAHOMA STATE 68
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) &mdash; Markquis Nowell had 22 points, eight assists and four steals in Kansas State&rsquo;s third straight win, beating Oklahoma State.
Keyontae Johnson added 17 points for the Wildcats (22-7, 10-6 Big 12), who swept the regular-season series.
Kalib Boone scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half on Senior Day for Oklahoma State. Caleb Asberry scored 13 points and John-Michael Wright added 12 for the Cowboys (16-13, 7-9), who have lost four straight.
VILLANOVA 79, NO. 19 CREIGHTON 67
PHILADELPHIA (AP) &mdash; Eric Dixon scored 18 of his career-high 31 points in the first half, Cam Whitmore added 17 and Villanova defeated Creighton.
Dixon also set a career high with six 3-pointers for Villanova (15-14, 9-9 Big East), which has won five of six.
Arthur Kaluma scored 19 points and Ryan Kalkbrenner had 18 for Creighton (18-11, 12-6). The Bluejays have lost three of four following an eight-game winning streak.
NO. 22 SAN DIEGO STATE 73, NEW MEXICO 71
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) &mdash; Lamont Butler&rsquo;s 3-pointer at the buzzer gave San Diego State a win at New Mexico.
After Jaelen House&rsquo;s steal and end-to-end run for a layup with 5.6 seconds left gave New Mexico a 71-70 lead, Butler unhurriedly brought the ball up court before dropping his shot, giving him 10 points for the Aztecs (23-5, 14-2 Mountain West).
Darrion Trammell scored 18 points to lead the Aztecs. Matt Bradley added 11 as San Diego State won its sixth straight.
Jamal Mashburn Jr. finished with 20 points for New Mexico (20-9, 7-9) and House had 15.
OKLAHOMA 61, NO. 23 IOWA STATE 50
AMES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Jacob Groves led Oklahoma with 16 points as the Sooners knocked off Iowa State.
The Sooners (14-15, 4-12 Big 12) had lost nine of their previous 11 games but erased an early 11-point deficit and seized control with a 17-2 run in the second half.
Groves shot 4 of 5 from the 3-point line. Tanner Groves added 9 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
The Cyclones (17-11, 8-8) shot just 31%. Gabe Kalscheur led Iowa State with 12 points.
NO. 24 TCU 83, TEXAS TECH 82
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) &mdash; JaKobe Coles made two free throws with 4.3 seconds remaining, and TCU beat Texas Tech despite blowing a 12-point lead in the final eight minutes.
After De&rsquo;Vion Harmon&rsquo;s steal and layup put the Red Raiders in front by one with 12 seconds remaining, Coles caught a pass from Emanuel Miller in the lane and was fouled by Fardaws Aimaq going up for the shot. The Horned Frogs (19-10, 8-8 Big 12) weren&rsquo;t in the bonus.
Harmon&rsquo;s desperation 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded wasn&rsquo;t close, ending a four-game winning streak Texas Tech (16-13, 5-11).
Mike Miles Jr. scored 24 points for the Horned Frogs, who had lost five of six and were coming off a loss to No. 3 Kansas at home. Miller had 14 points and 12 rebounds for TCU.
Aimaq scored 19 points, Harmon had 18 and Kevin Obanor finished with 17 points and nine rebounds for Texas Tech.
MISSISSIPPI STATE 69, NO. 25 TEXAS A&amp;M 62
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) &mdash; Tolu Smith had 17 points and Shakeel Moore had 14 as Mississippi State knocked off Texas A&amp;M.
Cameron Matthews had 11 points for the Bulldogs (19-10, 7-9 Southeastern Conference), who held the Aggies to one field goal in the final 14 minutes and outscored them 34-18 during the same time period.
Wade Taylor IV led Texas A&amp;M (21-9, 13-3) with 21 points, including four 3-pointers, and Henry Coleman III and Andersson Garcia each had 11.

A recap of Saturday's slew of action in top 25 NCAA men's college hoops.

Miller has another big game as No. 2 Alabama tops Arkansas

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Ja Morant had 27 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds, Jaren Jackson Jr. added 28 points and the Memphis Grizzlies overcame a lackluster first half to defeat the Indiana Pacers 112-100 on Sunday.
Brandon Clarke had 13 points, hitting all five of his shots as Memphis snapped a five-game losing streak and ran its home record to 21-3. It was Morant&rsquo;s fifth triple-double of the season and second in a row.
Benedict Mathurin, the sixth pick in the 2022 draft, led the Pacers with 27 points and eight rebounds. Aaron Nesmith had 16 points and Myles Turner added 15 points.
The Pacers dominated the first half, leading by as many as 19. First-half shooting, which hovered at 60% at the midway point of the second quarter, helped Indiana to a 62-50 lead at the break.
But 14 straight points brought Memphis back into the game early in the third quarter, and the Grizzlies outscored Indiana 30-17 in the third to retake the lead.
Memphis&rsquo; 13-2 run to open the fourth opened the game up.
Both teams entered the game reeling from losing skids. Memphis was returning home after a winless five-game trip West, while the Pacers had lost nine of their last 10.
TIP-INS
Pacers: Guard Tyrese Haliburton continued to sit out with left knee and elbow sprains, but there were indications Indiana&rsquo;s top scorer could return to action soon. Coach Rick Carlisle expects Haliburton to practice this week &ldquo;and looking toward the real possibility that he could play this weekend.&rdquo;
Grizzlies: Have won eight straight at home; their last home loss was Dec. 27 to Phoenix. ... Guard Desmond Bane sat out with right knee soreness. Coach Taylor Jenkins classified Bane as day-to-day and expects him to return this week.
TURNER EXTENSION
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/myles-turner-pacers-agree-on-twoyear-60m-extension" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Turner will stay with Indiana</a>&nbsp;after agreeing to a two-year contract extension. Carlisle said the team has a Monday news conference planned.
MOMENT OF SILENCE
Sunday was the Grizzlies&rsquo; first home game since the video was released of Memphis police officers beating Tyre Nichols to death after a traffic stop. The Grizzlies held a pregame moment of silence for Nichols, 29, who died three days after the confrontation with police.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-memphis-crime-law-enforcement-1b7e8fa4ed7120a897086250d5d6da35" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Five officers were fired and indicted on an array of charges</a>, including second-degree murder.
&ldquo;Obviously, our city is going through a really tough time right now, I&rsquo;m kind of focused on that more than basketball,&rdquo; Jenkins said, adding that the video was &ldquo;very disturbing.&rdquo;
UP NEXT
Pacers: Host the Lakers on Tuesday.
Grizzlies: Host Portland on Wednesday.

Ja Morant had 27 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds, and the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Indiana Pacers 112-100 on Sunday.

Ja Morant's triple-double rallies Grizzlies over Pacers

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

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

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

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Bam Adebayo scored 23 points, Jimmy Butler had 22 points and 12 assists, and the Miami Heat beat the Philadelphia 76ers 119-103 on Wednesday night for a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Victor Oladipo scored 19 points on his 30th birthday and Tyler Herro added 18 for the Heat, the East&rsquo;s No. 1 seed. Oladipo had 10 of those points in the fourth quarter.
Tyrese Maxey scored 34 points for Philadelphia, which got 21 from Tobias Harris and 20 from James Harden.
A 10-0 run in the fourth turned an eight-point Miami lead into an 18-point edge, sealing the win and ensuring the Heat would hold home court before the series shifts north. Game 3 is Friday in Philadelphia.
And now, the Heat will hope history holds &mdash; and the 76ers will hope it doesn&rsquo;t.
Miami has taken a 2-0 lead in 18 previous series, including the first round this season against Atlanta, and won the matchup every time. The 76ers&rsquo; franchise has dropped the first two games of a matchup on 19 other occasions, never recovering to win the series.
The question going into Friday will revolve around whether Philadelphia&rsquo;s Joel Embiid could be ready for Game 3. The league&rsquo;s scoring champion and MVP finalist has, not surprisingly, been big-time missed by the 76ers.
&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have a big man right now,&rdquo; Philadelphia coach Doc Rivers lamented.
Adebayo surely isn&rsquo;t complaining. He was 8 for 10 from the field and 8 for 8 from the line in Game 1; he followed that up with a 7-for-11 night from the floor on Wednesday.
It wasn&rsquo;t just the absence of Embiid, though, that hurt Philadelphia. The 76ers were awful again from 3-point range, shooting 8 for 30.
Danny Green was 1 for 10 from the field &mdash; the second time in his playoff career that he had that many attempts and shot that poorly in a postseason game. The other? A 1-for-12 effort for San Antonio in 2013, also in Miami, the night the Heat won their third and most recent NBA title.
The Heat aren&rsquo;t close to that yet. But they are two wins from the East finals.
TIP-INS
76ers: Harden got fouled on a 3-point try with 0.1 seconds left in the half, making all three free throws to get Philadelphia within 60-52 at the break. ... Maxey got a cut on his right knee in the fourth quarter, the game stopping temporarily while the 76ers tended to him. He stayed in the game. ... Georges Niang had another unusual stat line. He was 0 for 7 &mdash; all 3-pointers &mdash; in Game 1, then fouled out in 10 minutes of Game 2. It was the fourth-fewest minutes played all season by anyone who fouled out.
Heat: PJ Tucker turns 37 on Thursday. ... It was the 497th consecutive sellout announced by the Heat, tying Sacramento for the fifth-longest streak in NBA history. The record is held by Dallas, which has 864 consecutive sellouts and counting. ... Miami held a 44-34 rebounding edge.
PASSING PAT
With the win, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra&rsquo;s postseason record improved to 91-59 (.607). Among coaches with at least 100 playoff games, he moved into fourth on the NBA&rsquo;s win-percentage list behind only Steve Kerr (.732), Phil Jackson (.688) and Billy Cunningham (.629). The coach Spoelstra passed in winning percentage Wednesday night? That would be his boss, Heat President Pat Riley, who went 171-111 (.606).
KENTUCKY SOUTH
The Kentucky ties ran deep Wednesday night. Wildcats coach John Calipari was at Game 2 to see Herro formally receive the Sixth Man award. Other former Kentucky players on the Heat and 76ers: Adebayo, Maxey and Heat two-way player Mychal Mulder. And Riley played at Kentucky.
UP NEXT
Game 3 is Friday in Philadelphia.

Miami took a 2-0 lead over the Philadelphia 76ers with a second-straight home win in the Eastern Conference Semis.

Adebayo, Butler lead Heat past 76ers 119-103 in Game 2

You know what makes the Joker such an iconic villain? Since the day he introduced himself to Batman and the rest of Gotham City, he&rsquo;s found ways to push his criminal deviancy to new heights. After spending years of wiping out countless innocent civilians, he ramped things up by making his agendas personal. He murdered Commissioner Gordon&rsquo;s wife, paralyzed his daughter and viciously tortured and killed (<a href="https://youtu.be/WIY7jwv4-eg">supposedly</a>) the second Robin, Jason Todd.
When Trae Young dropped 32 points in his pro playoff debut and followed it up by telling the fans at Madison Square Garden to [<a href="https://youtu.be/gXPhb1HthNk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shut the front door</a>], he firmly cemented himself as the NBA&rsquo;s new villain. And in doing so, he put a big red target on his back.&nbsp;
To his credit, however, Young has responded to the increased scrutiny by doing what all great villains do &mdash; leveling up his game accordingly.
This season Young has improved in a handful of one-number offensive metrics (<a href="https://backpicks.com/2022-players/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OBPM</a>, <a href="https://www.bball-index.com/lebron-database/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">O-LEBRON</a>, <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/nba-player-ratings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OFF RAPTOR</a> and <a href="https://dunksandthrees.com/epm?season=2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OFF EPM</a>). But even the best catch-all metrics don&rsquo;t really &ldquo;catch it all.&rdquo; So to compensate, I dug into the film to see how Young has improved his game since his public service announcement in New York last summer.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Finishing At the Rim
A lot has been made about the new <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/how-the-nba-is-trying-to-eliminate-unnatural-foulbaiting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">points of emphasis</a> in officiating and how it may be mitigating the value of free-throw dependent players. Young himself has not been immune to the effects of the current standard, as his "free throws per 75 possessions" total has taken a sizable hit from 9.5 to 7.4 (per Basketball-Reference). Yet, despite his dip in the most efficient shot on the court, Young has actually managed to improve his Relative True Shooting percentage from +1.7 to +3.2 (per BREF).
One reason for his uptick in overall efficiency has been his massive improvement in the second-most efficient area on the floor &mdash; the rim. This season, Young is converting at a career-high 60.0% clip while also taking more shots from the restricted area than he did last season (per Cleaning the Glass).
Young isn&rsquo;t particularly overpowering (about 180 pounds soaking wet), and while he may be quick, he doesn&rsquo;t cover too much ground on a per stride basis. So to atone for his inability to naturally create separation in the paint, Young has leaned almost entirely on his craft:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/qwjju3" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Opportunistic mad dashes when no bigs are near the paint, changes in speed, wrong-footed finishes, fancy dribble moves &mdash; all of these things are now firmly ingrained in his vocabulary, and they've contributed to his rise as an <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4423#tab-shooting_accuracy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">above-average finisher</a>.
Perimeter Shooting
Young has also laid to rest the big-brain take that he&rsquo;s somehow actually &ldquo;not that great of a shooter.&rdquo; This year, he&rsquo;s shooting more threes than he was last season and knocking them down from each region at a more efficient rate:
Young Shooting By Distance (note: mobile users scroll right to see full table)
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Shot Distance
</td>
<td>
Young '20-21
</td>
<td>
Young '21-22
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
20-24 ft.
</td>
<td>
37.2%
</td>
<td>
45.1%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
25-29 ft.
</td>
<td>
33.2%
</td>
<td>
38.0%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
30-34 ft.
</td>
<td>
31.3%
</td>
<td>
38.3%
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
*Data Provided by NBA.com
Young&rsquo;s marketable improvement from 30-to- 34 feet (a.k.a. way downtown) is particularly significant because he&rsquo;s launching shots from those lengths (1.5 <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1629027/shooting/">attempts</a> per game) more often than he has his entire career.&nbsp;
His proficiency in these spots also has a warping effect on the floor. Defenses must account for his presence at all times, even when he&rsquo;s hanging around in a different continent.&nbsp;
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/nwl3mi" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
In this clip, promising young Raptors rookie Scottie Barnes is relegated to bystander status on this possession because he must respect Young&rsquo;s shooting prowess, which in turn effectively creates a 4-on-4 situation for the Atlanta Hawks&rsquo; offense. This defense-altering gravity allows Young to provide meaningful off-ball value in spite of being rather sedentary without the ball in his hands (similar to one <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/is-the-mere-threat-of-a-three-enough-to-affect-a-defense/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eric Gordon</a>).
Picking Up The Pace
Young lacks the body type and playstyle that are emblematic of most transition warriors. As we mentioned, his strides are too abbreviated for him to use his speed to race past people, and his offensive philosophy comes from the slower, more probing Chris Paul-sian school of thought.&nbsp;
However, even with these limitations, he&rsquo;s made a concerted effort to maximize his opportunities on the break. Young is averaging 1.11 points per transition possession, the highest mark of his career (per NBA.com). And he&rsquo;s managing this by leveraging the skills that make him such a cool customer in the half-court: elite passing and a knack for knowing when to slow things down or speed them up.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/ovs1pm" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Even after made shots, Young will ramp up the offense by making passes before he crosses the timeline to help jumpstart his team&rsquo;s possessions.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/uqltbe" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Historically Excellent
Overall, Young&rsquo;s subtle growth on that end of the court has been enough where he is now firmly in the mix as one of the 10 best offensive players in the world.&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s even more impressive is his offensive production this year not only puts him in elite company for this season, but also places him in rarified air historically among all-time great, guile-based scoring/playmaking point guards.
Similar to what I did with <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/are-jokic-and-embiid-having-the-best-center-seasons-ever" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jokic and Embiid</a>, I compared some of Young&rsquo;s stats to other great offensive point guards of a similar playing style. The first chart shows each players&rsquo; outputs in Offensive Box Plus-Minus, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtEQxqVgP04">Inflation-Adjusted</a> Points per 75 possessions, relative True Shooting and Assist Percentage. The second chart shows where each player ranked in those stats compared to other &ldquo;point guards'' in those particular seasons.
(Note: mobile users scroll right to see full table)
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Player (Year)
</td>
<td>
OBPM*
</td>
<td>
IA Pts per 75*
</td>
<td>
Relative TS%**
</td>
<td>
AST%**
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Young ('21-22)
</td>
<td>
4.4
</td>
<td>
28.8
</td>
<td>
+3.2
</td>
<td>
46.3%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Harden ('16-17)
</td>
<td>
6.5
</td>
<td>
29.2
</td>
<td>
+9.1
</td>
<td>
50.7%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Paul ('07-08)
</td>
<td>
5.3
</td>
<td>
23
</td>
<td>
+3.6%
</td>
<td>
52.2%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Nash ('06-07)
</td>
<td>
5.2
</td>
<td>
20.4
</td>
<td>
+11.3
</td>
<td>
50.1%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Price ('91-92)
</td>
<td>
4.6
</td>
<td>
22.5
</td>
<td>
+7.9
</td>
<td>
37.9%
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
*Data provided by Backpicks
**Data provided by Basketball Reference
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Player (Year)
</td>
<td>
OBPM*
</td>
<td>
IA Pts per 75*
</td>
<td>
Relative TS%**
</td>
<td>
AST%**
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Young ('21-22)
</td>
<td>
1st
</td>
<td>
1st
</td>
<td>
2nd
</td>
<td>
2nd
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Harden ('16-17)
</td>
<td>
1st
</td>
<td>
1st
</td>
<td>
3rd
</td>
<td>
4th
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Paul ('07-08)
</td>
<td>
1st
</td>
<td>
2nd
</td>
<td>
6th
</td>
<td>
1st
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Nash ('06-07)
</td>
<td>
1st
</td>
<td>
5th
</td>
<td>
1st
</td>
<td>
1st
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Price ('91-92)
</td>
<td>
1st
</td>
<td>
1st
</td>
<td>
1st
</td>
<td>
4th
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
*Data provided by Backpicks
**Data provided by Basketball Reference
One thing that stands out to me is that Young is the only one among these five players to be in the top-three in all these categories. Of course, this is by no means conclusive evidence that his performance this year is better than the performances of these all-timers in those seasons; however, it does illustrate the point that his blend of scoring and playmaking holds up with some of the best to ever do it.&nbsp;
This data also indicates that Young has followed up his grand debut on the world stage with a sequel even more impressive than the original. And to top it off, this time, he's doing it with the hatred of the league on his shoulders.&nbsp;
I guess I shouldn&rsquo;t be that surprised, though, because Young&rsquo;s a villain now, and if he keeps leveling up the way he has, he&rsquo;ll be a damn good one at that.
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

Mat Issa writes about the advancements Trae Young has made with his game and how it's made him all that more dangerous.

Trae Young made himself the villain, and he's leveled up accordingly

Civil Rights attorney Lee Merritt discusses the power and influence the NBA has, and can continue to have &mdash; if the NBA continues using its platform, voices and resources to fight for justice.&nbsp;
Lee Merritt is one of the attorneys for Ahmaud Arbery&rsquo;s family &mdash; a 25-year-old black man who was murdered while on a run near Brunswick, in Glynn County, Georgia. A verdict of life imprisonment was just announced in the case, in which three men were convicted of murdering Arbery. While Lee Merritt is definitely relieved about the verdict, we discuss the long road ahead to achieve justice and equality for all. Merritt is running for attorney general in Texas and I would love to see the NBA duplicate what the WNBA did, when they threw their support behind Raphael Warnock, an Atlanta-area pastor who was running as a Democrat at the time for (and would eventually win) one of Georgia&rsquo;s seats in the U.S. Senate.&nbsp;
This was a great discussion.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0QPt67zE6KE" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Etan Thomas: So this time last year, I interviewed a group of WNBA players, [including] Renee Montgomery and Elizabeth Williams, who both played for the Atlanta Dream at the time, [as well as] Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, Angel McCoughtry &mdash; and Eric Garner's daughter, Emerald. And <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/wnba-nba-kelly-loeffler-atlanta-dream-renee-montgomery-elizabeth-williams-swin-cash-etan-thomas-activism-black-lives-matter-activist-movement-vote-warnock-shirts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">we discussed what the WNBA did to galvanize support for Raphael Warnock, and ultimately get him in office and Kelly Loeffler out of office</a>. And it was really amazing. Because for one, Raphael Warnock was polling at 9% before the WNBA got involved. And he won &mdash; in Georgia, of all places.&nbsp;
So I want to see how we can galvanize the NBA to duplicate that with you, as you're running for attorney general in the state of Texas. So that's why I reached out to you to have this interview with you. I've been following you for a long time and I'm a big fan of the work that you do. And so, I'm going to send this interview to the NBA, to the <a href="https://www.thesocialchangefund.org">NBA Social Change Fund</a>.
Which, for those that aren't familiar, it was birthed out of the Bubble season. After the NBA players went on strike, after Jacob Blake was shot multiple times in broad daylight, in front of his children. The NBA Social Change Fund was formed by Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade, and is aimed to support critical issues in the black community.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_7183_lg.jpg" alt="" width="501" height="282" />
So that's why after speaking to Allisa Charles-Findley, who is Botham Jean's sister &mdash; and I actually interviewed her for my new book, &ldquo;<a href="http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/police-brutality-and-white-supremacy-the-fight-against-american-traditions/">Police Brutality and White Supremacy: The Fight Against American Traditions.</a>&rdquo;
She was one of the people I interviewed, along with Atatiana Jefferson's family, who I know that you work with as well &mdash; so we came up with the idea of conducting this interview with you, to try to galvanize that support from the NBA. Some people are like, "Alright, you usually do basketball stuff. Why are you interviewing a politician right now?" But that's the reason why. So thank you for taking this time.
Lee Merritt: "Sure, I really appreciate that. During most of my career, I've enjoyed the support of the National Basketball Association. I can recall in 2017, a young man named <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2018/08/29/jordan-edwards-made-the-case-against-roy-oliver-unlike-any-murder-trial-dallas-had-ever-seen/">Jordan Edwards </a>was slain in Balch Springs, Texas.&nbsp;
"It was in the middle of the NBA playoffs &mdash; and Steve Kerr, who had suffered family tragedy as well, identified with that family, reached out, invited them to the playoff games [and] got his brothers to take their mind off of it for a bit.
"I actually used to coach basketball myself. I was a coach down at South Atlanta High School. I coached Derrick Favors, I coached against Cousins and Walls* when they were high school students. And I enjoy a relationship with them today, continuing to give back to the community of Atlanta.
"And yeah, the names that you mentioned that you work with, Chris Paul has supported the work and the families I represent. Dwyane Wade and his wife, Gabrielle Union, [have] been major, major supporters over the course of my career.
"And, just as I transition away from representing one family at a time and start talking about representing larger groups of people and going towards policies, I certainly think the NBA can play a major role &mdash; in not only the success of the campaign, but championing some of those issues that we're fighting for on a case-by-case basis, and taking it to one of the biggest states in the country and really impacting national policy."
Etan: So, let me ask you to review some of the cases that you've worked with before, and the people that you've represented. We could start off with Ahmaud Arbery.
Merritt: "Sure. I came to represent the Ahmaud Arbery family before the video was released of his brutal slaying in South Georgia. Many [...] will recall that he was a South Georgia jogger. On February 23, 2020, he was targeted by three white men who have now been each <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/jury-reaches-verdict-ahmaud-arbery-death-case/story?id=81353504">convicted of murder</a>, and are facing life sentences in the state of Georgia, as well as federal hate crime charges.
"I've also represented... Unfortunately, the list of families that I've represented is quite extensive. I represent over 67 families who have suffered misuse of force, that lost a loved one, as a result of the deadliest police culture in the world. Some of the names that your viewers may have heard of.
"You mentioned [...] <a href="https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article236198028.html">Atatiana Jefferson</a>.&nbsp;
"Of course, that case is ongoing. <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/death-innocent-man-timeline-wrong-apartment-murder-trial/story?id=65938727">Botham Jean</a>, who was an accountant eating a bowl of ice cream in his own apartment complex.&nbsp;
"<a href="https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-illinois-police-shooting-guard-20181112-story.html">Jemel Roberson</a> was a security guard in Chicago. Had just stopped a mass shooting, and was shot in the back by a police officer who must have mistook him for a gunman.&nbsp;
"<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/13/us/california-attorney-general-sean-monterrosa-shooting/index.html">Sean Monterrosa</a> in California.
"But the bulk of my work has been in Texas. I represent <a href="https://foxsanantonio.com/news/local/damian-daniels-family-responds-to-no-indictment-for-deputy-that-killed-him">Damian Daniels</a>, a veteran shot to death in his home.&nbsp;
"<a href="https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Family-of-woman-killed-by-Baytown-officer-13872709.php">Pamela Turner</a> in the Houston area.&nbsp;
"And like I said, we could probably spend the rest of this podcast going through the list of names."
Etan: Wow! So now you're running for attorney general in Texas. And for those that don't know, what exactly are the responsibilities of an attorney general?
Merritt: "The attorney general of Texas, and an attorney general in any state, is the legal voice for the people. They're supposed to serve as the spokesperson for what justice is in a municipality. And so we've seen it, in cases like Breonna Taylor, where we had a really bad attorney general interfere with accountability in that case, in the form of Daniel Cameron. We've seen the opposite end of that spectrum with Keith Ellison and the work that he's done in Minnesota. Prosecuting the officers responsible for the death of George Floyd and, most recently, Daunte Wright.
"But even beyond the criminal justice aspect, the attorney general&rsquo;s office, particularly in the state of Texas, impacts virtually every aspect of Texas life. So property taxes, school protection. And we've heard a lot recently in the news about the CRT [Critical Race Theory] scam, where they're trying to erase entire portions of our history in the name of not getting anyone upset.
"From the border crisis, to really economic empowerment in our schools. There's so many businesses that are attempting to get off the ground, but don't have access to the kind of governmental loans and support that our white counterparts do.
"All of those things run through the attorney general's office. It's a very, very influential office. More or less the second-in-command in the state of Texas."
Etan: Now, Ken Paxton, [is] who you would be running against, and who is the current attorney general &mdash; and has been since 2015. I want to talk about the stark differences between the two of you, because it's really night and day.
But I want to start off with this, because the Jan. 6 insurrection [anniversary] is upon us. And you know, I'm looking at him, looking at the footage, and I see him at a rally right before the insurrection, almost like leading the charge. Explain to me, let's start off with there, about the stark differences between you and Ken Paxton.
Merritt: "Well, there is a clear contrast. You know, Texas was in the national news because of [its] unique voter suppression laws. They passed some laws that would make it more difficult for the black and brown people in the state, people with disabilities and marginalized communities to vote.
"It was so upsetting that certain members of the Texas legislature left the state and went to DC &mdash; refused to participate in that session in order to fight for voting rights. Now, I was present with them. I thought that was a fight worth standing with people for, providing both legal advice and strategies, working with the labor community and others to take on voting issues in Texas.
"By contrast, the last sort of infamous trip of the attorney general, the current attorney general, to our nation's capital was on Jan. 6. And we don't know exactly what he did there, because he has not participated in an ongoing investigation in terms of his potential criminal liability for helping to incite a riot.
"But he was very publicly on camera, encouraging the soon-to-be riders and insurrectionists that the election was stolen, that they had a responsibility to fight. And he invoked the name of Texas when he did it. He said, "You all should fight, because Texans fight." And he laid out that he had fought to overturn the results of the free and fair election. And yeah, that's our top legal position in the state, advocating for the overthrow of our government."
---------------
We then went on to discuss particular differences between him and Ken Paxton such as his position on education, police reform, border, gun training before owning a gun, and we cleared up the misconceptions on CRT, being anti-police vs. anti-police brutality, Second Amendment rights, etc.
---------------
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Etan: So let's go to the NBA, and how important it is for the NBA to continue to promote, to continue to use their platforms, to be able to &mdash; I mean, this is the thing. It's important to do that part. But now we have to take it a step further.
And I think the NBA has been doing a great job of promoting, raising awareness. You saw it all especially during the Bubble season, after the entire country was promoting and demonstrating and protesting what happened with George Floyd, what happened with Breonna Taylor [and] Ahmaud Arbery.
You saw John Wall and Bradley Beal here in D.C. leading protests. You saw all the Ball brothers, you saw Russell Westbrook in L.A. You saw Jaylen Brown and Enes Kanter Freedom too, in Boston &mdash; of course everything that LeBron was always doing.
But now it's like, it needs to be a step further, like the next step. And I think that you, with what you are trying to implement in Texas as the attorney general, is that next step. Because you have to be able to have someone in place that's on the right side of wanting to be able to create something that functions properly. So just talk about that, how this is like the next step that should happen. Along with [...] raising awareness and protesting and everything like that.
Merritt: "Yeah. I can recall, we were in the middle of the NBA playoffs when Jacob Blake was repeatedly shot in his back by a Milwaukee police officer. And I was watching the game, and Chris Paul had just gone off, sort of a historic performance.
"And <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxcNbbyg0ZI">they interviewed him</a> right after the game. And they said, 'You know, Chris, you were playing...' I think he was playing his old team, the Houston Rockets. He was with the Oklahoma City Thunder [...], where Derrick Favors is currently.
"And they said, 'Tell us about this performance against your old team. You had a chance to really show them that you still got it.' And he said, 'Yeah, I don't really care about that. That's cool. And that's what I'm paid to do. But a law enforcement officer in my community has just shot someone in their back several times. He was unarmed and nonviolent. Let's talk about that.'
"I think it's on the players to stand up like Chris Paul did, and like you said, like people have done, in a systemic way across the National Basketball Association &mdash; where the pundits and the media might tell you, 'Could you just shut up and dribble.' We've heard that refrain before.
"It's important for the players to say, "No, actually I won't. This is my community. What's going on in our community, it's urgent. It's a crisis. It's not something that we want to put off for a later conversation or for the offseason. But where it happens, I'm going to stand up to it. And I will get involved in elections. And I will use my resources and time and attention to shine a light on these issues that must be addressed."
Etan: You know, it's interesting. In my book, &ldquo;<a href="http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/we-matter-athletes-and-activism/">We Matter: Athletes and Activism</a>&rdquo; I interviewed Jahvaris Fulton, who is Trayvon Martin's brother. And in the interview, he told me how &mdash; and when he said this, it kind of threw me,&nbsp; because I didn't expect him to say it &mdash; he said that if it weren't for NBA players and celebrities and everybody like that, talking about his brother, he didn't think that anybody would know his name. And I was like, "Wow, that's kind of strong. Why do you say that?"
So then he explained to me how, when Trayvon Martin was first killed, his family was trying to get the local news people to cover it and they didn't want to cover it. They said, "Okay, another young black man was killed. That's not newsworthy."
And I was like, "That's what they told you?" He said, "Yeah," he was like, "We don't have no evidence. We don't have no video of it. Just your word saying that he [was] killed, that's not newsworthy." And he gave a shout-out to Roland Martin and some of the black news people, who were covering it. But he said, "But no local news people wanted to cover it."
So then he said, "But then, LeBron James started talking about it. And Dwyane Wade started talking about it. And then the entire Miami Heat team posed in the hoodies." So then he said, "So then you had everybody like, 'Okay, what is this that LeBron James is discussing? And why is Dwyane Wade feeling so passionate about this, and talking about his kids, and about this case?' Then everybody started to gravitate towards it and cover it and everything like that."
But he said [...] before, they couldn't get anybody to cover it. And that's just... It's unfortunate that it is that way, because people should have a regard for human life anyway, without an athlete having to speak about it. However, the athlete speaking about it is what drew the attention &mdash; and that just shows where athletes have to continue to do that, continue to use your voice and your platform to be able to speak to these causes.
And also to take it a step further by having laws being changed, and people who are in positions to fight for laws being changed, like [you are]. You know what I mean? And running for attorney general &mdash; [who] are in positions to actually implement some things so these things don't just continue to keep happening.
Merritt: "Yeah. I can remember in 2016, we saw two high-profile officer-involved shootings back-to-back, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. It was the same weekend, and it was almost like a dark cloud being hanged over impacted communities. And if you and I saw each other on the street, we would make eye contact and say, 'You know, man, this is becoming too much.'
"Dallas had a protest &mdash; I was living in Dallas at the time. And they had a protest downtown, where we marched and we discussed what happened, and started to talk about organizing police reform. And at the end of that protest, a vigilante named Micah Xavier Johnson, targeted law enforcement officers and shot five police officers and a couple of civilians as well. And you could imagine the national outcry about Black Lives Matter, and how they put law enforcement lives at risk.
"And everyone began to ignore the fact that people were there for protesting peacefully about police violence &mdash; that was back-to-back and overwhelming. And while it was a tragedy for our entire community that law enforcement officers were targeted by Mr. Johnson, there was also an ongoing crisis in our community, that was the reason that all those people had gathered and made targets of themselves.
"And it was Dwyane Wade. LeBron was still, I think, in 2016, with the Miami Heat. So it was Wade and LeBron who came forward at the ESPY Awards that weekend and re-centered the conversation. And said, 'That's terrible what happened in Dallas, and we back the blue. We stand for the law enforcement officers.'
&ldquo;But understand that our community is also under attack. And it's two sides of the same coin. We don't tolerate violence directed at law enforcement officers. And we cannot continue to tolerate violence directed at our community.
And it saved the national conversation so that we could get back to what had brought us all there in the first place. And so, yeah, members of the NBA have the opportunity, in [the] state of Texas, but [also] throughout the country, the voices of the NBA are critically important to that."
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/violalogo1_lg.png" alt="" width="666" height="333" />

Etan Thomas is joined by Lee Merritt on "The Rematch" to discuss social justice and the NBA's role in societal change.

Lee Merritt: The NBA could impact public policy and elections

Kyrie Irving has never been afraid of taking the road less traveled.
The only problem, in this instance, is that nobody knows where it leads.
With a few strokes of a keyboard, Sean Marks and his Brooklyn Nets took a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nets-say-kyrie-irving-cant-play-or-practice-with-team-while-unvaccinated" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hard-line stance</a> as it relates to the point guard. In the quest for a championship, Marks declared that Brooklyn would not permit any of its players to serve in a part-time capacity &mdash; superstars be damned.
In other words, with respect to Irving, the messaging was clear: get vaccinated, or else.
Maybe betrayed is too strong of a word, but there&rsquo;s no way that Kyrie could have received the organization&rsquo;s decision positively.
Perhaps it&rsquo;s ironic that Brooklyn would decide that it would rather have none of Irving than half. Of Brooklyn&rsquo;s Big Three, he was the one whose joining the franchise was fairly and accurately declared a homecoming.
Of the three, it is Irving who was first to take his talents to Brooklyn, and it was he who was first to don the Nets' signature black and white threads.
Now, he is another first &mdash; the first to be sent away.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Sean Marks says the decision on Kyrie Irving was made by himself and Joe Tsai: <a href="https://t.co/vHvQ2UjF6B">pic.twitter.com/vHvQ2UjF6B</a>
&mdash; Nets Videos (@SNYNets) <a href="https://twitter.com/SNYNets/status/1447956798598680576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 12, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

When Irving signed with the Nets in 2019, nobody could&rsquo;ve ever predicted such an outcome. It was as unforeseen as it is unfortunate, especially if you&rsquo;re Kyrie or someone who&rsquo;s sympathetic to his cause.
Behind closed doors and away from the cameras and the microphones, scores of NBA players have expressed reluctance to get vaccinated against COVID-19. But over the course of the summer, it became clear that in order to fully participate and have some semblance of normalcy, the league&rsquo;s players had a simple choice to make.
And for players who call New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco home, the stakes were even higher: full participation with their teams depended on their willingness to get jabbed.&nbsp;
In the end, for the players as a whole, the want to be full-time members of their teams and to enjoy their lives as competitors in the NBA won out. As a class, the league&rsquo;s players understand that their careers are relatively short, and that their window to earn is, as well. Their future generations and familial legacies can be enhanced with the stroke of a pen, and when painted into a corner, invariably, they choose to perform. The decision to go into the Orlando Bubble and continue competition after the murder of George Floyd told us that.
All things considered, the league&rsquo;s players tend to fall in line.
...Only not this time.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
It&rsquo;s become quite cliche these days for head coaches and team leaders to refer to their teammates and one another as "brothers" or as "family," but there&rsquo;s some merit in those declarations. At least during the season, most players spend more time with their teammates than they do with their children. They&rsquo;re married to their coaching staff just as they are married to their spouses.
So whether they say it publicly or not, members of the Nets organization probably look at Irving&rsquo;s refusal to get vaccinated as a stubborn refusal in which he&rsquo;s choosing his personal principles over the team&rsquo;s collective goal. And if you disagree with that, ask yourself why more 95% of the league&rsquo;s players are vaccinated. Ask yourself why Irving is the only member of either New York team who isn&rsquo;t.
And while there are other players around the league who have opted against the vaccination, none of them are on a team that enters the season as a title favorite; none face the possibility of missing 43 of their team&rsquo;s 82 regular season games.
Kyrie made a choice to stand his ground.&nbsp;
Marks had no choice but to do the same.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Sean Marks on the future of Kyrie Irving as a Net: "The hope is that we have Kyrie back. We'll welcome him back with open arms." <a href="https://t.co/MivSnk9CmG">pic.twitter.com/MivSnk9CmG</a>
&mdash; Nets Videos (@SNYNets) <a href="https://twitter.com/SNYNets/status/1447958806466531337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 12, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

A descendent of Gregg Popovich&rsquo;s tree, Marks saw firsthand the kind of culture that can be built by competent organizational leadership. True success in the NBA begins with standards and equitable administration of a team&rsquo;s ideals. Ask Erik Spoelstra, Tom Thibodeau and the great Popovich, and they themselves will tell you the same.
So when faced with the prospect of allowing Irving&rsquo;s refusal to get vaccinated hover over his team, Marks did what any leader in his position would have &mdash; he made a tough choice.
As a basketball player and personality, Irving is as large as they come. Whether he was available or not would impact not only head coach Steve Nash&rsquo;s game planning, but the team&rsquo;s rotations. Every player, including both Kevin Durant and James Harden, would have had to have two separate instructional sets, catering for life both with and without Irving.
Those situations obviously happen in pro sports, but unlike other scenarios, whether Marks and Nash would subject their team to that reality was completely within their control.
So in the end, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why Marks told Irving to stay away, just as it&rsquo;s easy to understand how Kyrie could be put off.
As a player, Nash gave up sugar. Amar&rsquo;e Stoudemire took wine baths. Chris Paul decided to go vegan. For the most part, players view their bodies as not only their temples, but their empires. They spend their pre-professional days doing all they can to develop and take care of their bodies. And although each team employs its own set of medical professionals to support their teams, most players maintain personal relationships with their own set of medical and training professionals whom they trust.
Being told that they must receive a vaccination that a fair amount of the public doesn&rsquo;t fully trust is a foreign concept to the league&rsquo;s players. Irving, in particular, has previously been outspoken in his desire to be, in his eyes, treated more like a person and less like an asset.&nbsp;
From his vantage point, it&rsquo;s not that difficult to understand why he feels that his right to choose should be absolute.
It&rsquo;s also not that difficult to see how, in asking him to stay away, Irving feels like &mdash; despite what is said in the statement released by the Nets &mdash; he&rsquo;s not being supported by the franchise he chose to call his own before either Durant or Harden had found their way to Barclays.&nbsp;
Declaring itself to &ldquo;support&rdquo; Irving while also not permitting him to play or practice with his team seems a bit hollow. By their deeds, the Nets are forcing Kyrie&rsquo;s hand in an attempt to get him to take the vaccine. The team is looking out for its best interests, while Kyrie is doing the same for his. Unfortunately, in this instance, the interests of the parties just aren&rsquo;t aligned.
Like everything else in life, there are two sides to the story. Two ways to look at the situation.
Perhaps it&rsquo;s fitting. Long a contrarian and one who isn&rsquo;t afraid of solitude on an island, Irving has fully embraced the path of most resistance.
Two sides to the story. Two outcomes, two possibilities.&nbsp;
As both a man and a competitor, Kyrie Irving has never avoided the fork. He&rsquo;s long made his choice to opt for the road less traveled.
In this case, though &mdash; despite their common dreams and desire &mdash; it&rsquo;s hard to see it leading back to Brooklyn.

The Nets will not permit Kyrie Irving to play or practice with the team unless he gets vaccinated. So where do the sides go from here?

It’ll be difficult for Kyrie and the Nets to come back from this

Prior to the start of last season, Kyrie Irving <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2921968-nets-kyrie-irving-on-fine-for-media-policy-violation-i-do-not-talk-to-pawns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called the media &ldquo;pawns&rdquo;</a> and stated that it would be his preference if he didn&rsquo;t speak to them at all, and it appears as though many are dedicated to holding a grudge for the rest of their days.
But did Kyrie Irving have a valid point? Were the members of the media who fall into that category the only ones offended by those comments? I personally didn&rsquo;t take offense because I know he wasn&rsquo;t talking about me. But as the saying goes, if the shoe fits...
Irving's words should have resulted in a lot of the media taking a hard and long look in the mirror instead of getting their notepads in a bunch (see what I did there).
A pawn is defined as &ldquo;a person used by others for their own purposes.&rdquo;
So from that standpoint, was Kyrie onto something? For instance, recall last year&rsquo;s dramatic articles and commentary projecting disaster on the Brooklyn Nets in the preseason. A hypothetical (and eventual) combination of three of the game&rsquo;s most gifted scorers led to the media assuming they'd be unwilling to share the ball. There were accusations that Kyrie would be uncoachable. There were reports claiming he no longer cared about the game of basketball and more of the like.
But didn&rsquo;t all of that disappear as soon as the season started? Some members of the media were even calling for Kyrie to retire before the season even began.&nbsp;
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z81VQBtWnYU" width="100%" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Creating baseless gossip and chit-chat for ratings, clicks and shares is very pawn-like.
Isn't that the script that the media is following?
Look at the evidence &mdash; articles with &ldquo;anonymous sources&rdquo; claiming that the Nets are looking to move Kyrie, commentators drumming up baseless trade chatter and spreading rumors that Kevin Durant secretly wants Kyrie gone, reports that if Kyrie is traded he&rsquo;ll retire, suggestions that a Ben Simmons swap is even in the realm of a possibility, etc.
Isn&rsquo;t it interesting that so much of the noise seems to magically disappear as soon as he starts playing? I&rsquo;m sure that will be the case again as soon as this season begins. That usually means the reports and commentary and &ldquo;anonymous sources&rdquo; never really had any substance in the first place, but were just more media noise that was manufactured to create chatter in the slow months tor ratings. Again, very pawn-like.
To weigh in on Kyrie Irving&rsquo;s never-ending battle with the media, I asked NBA Hall-of-Famer, Detroit Pistons legend and television analyst Isiah Thomas for his thoughts on the matter.
&ldquo;I respect the independence that Kyrie has shown throughout this entire process. Just like we [do] as professional athletes, we as human beings, we as fathers, husbands, brothers &mdash; sometimes we get it wrong. And at the same time, sometimes the media gets it wrong," Thomas told me. "And when the media gets called out on being wrong, their response is almost &lsquo;How dare you?&rsquo;
"Just like one side can be wrong, so can the other side. So, don&rsquo;t jump on me when I&rsquo;m wrong, but be quiet when you&rsquo;re wrong. You received information about me, and what I am thinking and what my intentions are, and whoever told you that didn&rsquo;t tell you correctly. Now, this is what I meant, this is my voice. This isn&rsquo;t whatever source, this is my voice. So respect my voice, and that&rsquo;s what Kyrie has been saying. And he has been very authentic in his voice."
It doesn&rsquo;t sound like he took Kyrie&rsquo;s &ldquo;pawn&rdquo; comment personally, does it?&nbsp;
Regarding the trade rumors surrounding the star point guard in Brooklyn, Thomas feels strongly that sending Kyrie elsewhere would be a mistake the Nets would regret.
&ldquo;The LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavs that came back and beat the Golden State Warriors after they had a 73-9 season &mdash; and LeBron James was off the charts in every statistical category &mdash; but the Cleveland Cavs do not win the championship without Kyrie Irving on that team," Thomas said. "Put me down on record. The Brooklyn Nets with the team constructed the way it currently is, cannot, and will not, win the championship if he is not there. Period.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Let&rsquo;s be clear: Kyrie is special. If he is not beating you from the perimeter off the dribble, he is knifing through the paint whenever he chooses with an array of dribble moves, crossovers, stepbacks and finishing in traffic. He is &ldquo;both-handed,&rdquo; which in basketball terms equates to being ambidextrous. He can finish with his left or right hand regardless of the size of the shot-blocker or the number of people occupying the lane. His layup package is on a different planet.
But don&rsquo;t take my word for it.
Allow legendary NBA point guard and New Jersey Nets fan favorite Kenny Anderson to tell you himself.
&ldquo;As far as [the great] point guards go: Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, [Allen] Iverson, Steph Curry, Oscar Robertson, and you gotta put Kyrie in the next mix," Anderson told me. "He&rsquo;s one of the best that ever played the game. He&rsquo;s so talented. His ball-handling skills are exceptional. He&rsquo;s hitting his shot from long range and short range. He can do it all. He&rsquo;s just a great player. I love watching him. He&rsquo;s one of my favorite players.
&ldquo;The Nets would be crazy to even think about trading him. They&rsquo;re favored to win everything. I don&rsquo;t even believe that they are seriously thinking about trading him. I think that&rsquo;s just something the media came up with to have something to talk about before the season starts. We got the best player in the league, Kevin Durant, with the best point guard in the league. Kyrie Irving. and an unstoppable scorer in James Harden. So no, trading Kyrie from the Nets perspective shouldn&rsquo;t even come into their minds and definitely shouldn&rsquo;t come out of their mouths as even a consideration.&rdquo;
There is statistical evidence to back up what both point guard legends are saying.
Last season, Kyrie had the best regular season of his 10-year career, averaging 26.9 points, 6.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game. He became just the ninth player in NBA history to join the exclusive 50/40/90 club and shot 50.6% from the field, 40.2% from the three, and 92.2% from the free-throw line. He joined the likes of Curry, Larry Bird, Mark Price, Reggie Miller, Dirk Nowitzki and Malcolm Brogdon, along with his teammate, Durant, and head coach, Steve Nash.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
To provide further insight, Syracuse University point guard icon Sherman Douglas &mdash; who played 11 seasons in the NBA and two with Nets &mdash; weighed in as the rumors as well.
&ldquo;Kyrie is vital to the Nets' success this season. To even think about trading him is absurd," Douglas said. "It&rsquo;s going to take the Lakers a while to get their chemistry [together], and we&rsquo;ll see how that works out. But if you trade him, you&rsquo;re not going to get equal value back, I don&rsquo;t care what package you come up with. He is a special talent, so what type of sense would it make to take a step back in a season where you should be favored to win it all? And if it weren&rsquo;t for injuries, you very well may have won it all last season. Of course, no disrespect to Milwaukee because they did an amazing job. But my point is, it would make no sense to break that team up.&rdquo;
Nicknamed &ldquo;The General&rdquo; for the way he ran the Orangemen and setting the NCAA record for assists in 1989, Douglas offered his evaluation of Kyrie Irving as a point guard and a leader.
&ldquo;Kyrie&rsquo;s skill level of not just ball-handling but of shooting, passing and scoring is one of the best I&rsquo;ve ever seen. He can do it all," Douglas said. "He is one of those point guards where you have to just say, 'I hope he&rsquo;s off tonight.' And [with] the way Brooklyn plays spreading the floor with shooters &mdash; which leaves the defender on an island by himself with Kyrie &mdash; you wanna send help, but you can&rsquo;t because of all of the shooters.
&ldquo;And as a leader, one of the many things that had impressed me with Kyrie is that he can take a step back and let other guys score. So when he sees Durant is scoring or Harden has it going or whoever, he has the humility to take a step back and allow those guys to get off when he knows he could be doing the same exact level of scoring. And I&rsquo;ve seen Harden do that as well. It&rsquo;s not a competition, and that&rsquo;s special. You don&rsquo;t just throw that away, because that chemistry isn&rsquo;t easy to come by and they jelled quickly.&rdquo;
So everyone agrees that, on the court, Kyrie is invaluable. But one of the things that makes him somewhat of an enigma to many is the fact that Kyrie cares about much more than basketball.&nbsp;
At one point last season, Irving divulged that he was participating in his first Ramadan, a sacred time for Muslims where they fast from dawn to sunset and can&rsquo;t eat or drink anything during the day. He also disclosed that the Israeli airstrikes that slaughtered dozens of Palestinians heavily weighed on him, and despite the fact that the playoffs were just days away and the Nets were significant favorites to win it all, his main focus wasn&rsquo;t at the time bouncing a ball.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Kyrie explained why, with everything going on in the world, basketball isn't the most important thing for him to talk about right now. <a href="https://t.co/y6YbMPoZq6">pic.twitter.com/y6YbMPoZq6</a>
&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1393764602840768513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of stuff going on in this world, and basketball is just not the most important thing to me right now," he said. "There&rsquo;s a lot of stuff going on overseas. All my people are still in bondage all across the world. There&rsquo;s a lot of dehumanization going on, so I apologize if I&rsquo;m not going to be focused on your questions. There&rsquo;s just too much going on in the world for me to just be talking about basketball... and it&rsquo;s not just in Palestine and not just in Israel, it&rsquo;s all over the world, and I feel it.
"I&rsquo;m very compassionate to all races, all cultures, and to see so many people being discriminated against based on their religion, the color of their skin, what they believe in it&rsquo;s just sad. We all say we&rsquo;re human beings and we&rsquo;re compassionate and we care, but what are you doing to help?&rdquo;&nbsp;
Anybody with eyes could see the genuine hurt that Kyrie Irving was feeling at that moment. This is who he is. He cares deeply.&nbsp;
Shortly after the Jan. 6 insurrection &mdash; in which the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. was violently attacked by a mob of supporters of Donald Trump as they sought to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election &mdash; Kyrie took a break from the team. Upon his return, he addressed the media. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
"There are so many oppressed communities and so many things going on that are bigger than a ball going in the rim." Kyrie Irving discussed his absence, mental health and his goals off the court. (via <a href="https://twitter.com/SNYNets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SNYNets</a>) <a href="https://t.co/4LY7T8V327">pic.twitter.com/4LY7T8V327</a>
&mdash; Yahoo Sports NBA (@YahooSportsNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/YahooSportsNBA/status/1351601992280498178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2021</a></blockquote>
&ldquo;When things become overwhelming in life, you know, you just got to take a step back and realize what&rsquo;s important. I&rsquo;m not alone in this. And that&rsquo;s just a big thing about also mental health, you know, just coming in and being balanced with yourself and then being able to perform," Irving said. "So, with everything going on in the world politically, socially, it&rsquo;s hard to ignore. I want to make changes daily. You know, there are so many oppressed communities, so many things going on that are bigger than just a ball going into the rim. So it&rsquo;s just the balance of it.&rdquo;&nbsp;
No one is going to deny that Kyrie's absence from the team was unexpected, and the lack of details opened the door for speculation and chatter. And to be fair, the way he handled it wasn&rsquo;t the best either. Breaking the NBA&rsquo;s COVID-19 protocols and attending a party is obviously not the greatest thing to do, even if it&rsquo;s part of the taking a step away process.
However, at the same time, Irving&rsquo;s mental health is something that needs to be intact in order for him to perform at the optimal level fans desire. And taking a break doesn&rsquo;t always look the same for everyone. But in this society, athletes are still greatly ridiculed when they take time off for their mental health, just ask Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles. But that doesn&rsquo;t change the fact that mental health is something that should be valued, and Kyrie is not someone who is going to stop caring &mdash; because that&rsquo;s just who he is. 
On my show "<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-rematch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Rematch</a>," while I was interviewing Stephen Jackson, <a href="nba-kyrie-irving-george-floyd-stephen-jackson-house-bought-gianna-lil-baby-barbra-streisand-brooklyn-nets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he revealed that Kyrie bought a house for the family of George Floyd</a>, who was murdered last year at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.&nbsp;
Irving also <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2021/01/01/brooklyn-nets-guard-kyrie-irving-pays-off-tuition-of-nine-students-at-hbcu-lincoln-university/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paid off the college tuition of nine students from an HBCU</a> (Lincoln University) on Dec. 10 as part of his foundation&rsquo;s 11 Days of Giving.
At the height of an international covid pandemic, <a href="https://nothinbutnets.com/2020/07/27/nets-kyrie-irving-wnba-players/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he committed $1.5 million to help support the income of WNBA players</a> who chose to sit out the 2020 season due to health and other personal reasons.
This past August, <a href="https://www.michigandaily.com/news/kyrie-irving-donates-13000-to-umich-student-run-charity-for-solar-water-center-in-pakistan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he donated funds to help build a solar water center in Pakistan</a> that will provide clean water and electricity to over 1,000 people.
And I could go on and on and on, but in describing his character, many members of the media choose to focus on Kyrie not wanting to speak to them instead of constantly bringing up these facts.
It always goes back to him calling them pawns, or downplaying his need to take a mental break, or not being committed to the team or pulling up previous statements to add ridicule to him. A good example is his strong opposition to Thanksgiving.
(All the while ignoring the fact that he is very serious about his Native American heritage; his mother, Elizabeth, who passed away when he was 4, was a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Irving and his older sister, Asia, were actually welcomed into the tribe with a ceremony in 2018. He was even given the Lakota name "Little Mountain" by tribal elders. So, yes, it should be more than understandable why he would not be as enthusiastic about a holiday that marks the slaughter of his people, but I digress.)&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I asked Douglas why many in the media choose to focus on the negative instead of the positive so often with Kyrie. 
&ldquo;Unfortunately, the way of the media is to focus on the negative and not the positive. &nbsp;Negativity is what sells," Douglas said. "They are not looking to praise Kyrie for what he does off the court, and he is not looking for that. In fact, he wants to do things quietly and is looking to do the right thing, and you have to commend him for that. What he is doing off the court is just phenomenal. I think Kyrie has to just tune all of that out and keep doing what he has been doing. But he is an example to all on how to give of yourself and to be selfless and care for the well-being of others in thought, word and in deed."
Thomas reflected with the same sentiments.
&ldquo;I love the sensitivity that he shows to the community and in particular, people who are in poverty. I am one who grew up in poverty, so I benefitted from the charitable generosity and good will of others. And it is appreciated more than many people know because he doesn&rsquo;t have to do that," Thomas said. "And he doesn&rsquo;t do it to be seen doing it. Things leak out of course because that&rsquo;s the age we are living in, but he would rather keep everything quiet, and that shows how genuine of a person he is &mdash; because he is doing it out of the kindness of his heart, not for recognition or to embarrass the person who he is helping, which happens too often. So I have all the respect and admiration in the world for him.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Anderson had some closing comments, in addition.
"They just want him to just shut up and play basketball. He has things other than basketball that he feels passionately about, and there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with that," Anderson said. "He cares for people in a way that is foreign to a lot of folks, but he&rsquo;s supposed to care about people. He wants to make a difference in the world and that&rsquo;s what he is doing. He&rsquo;s looking at what&rsquo;s going on overseas, what&rsquo;s going on here in America, things affect him &mdash; but they are supposed to affect him. He&rsquo;s a human being with a huge heart and the financial ability to make a change.
"I think he is doing great, and he needs to keep doing everything he&rsquo;s doing &mdash; whether it&rsquo;s challenging whoever, or helping whoever, or speaking up for whoever. It obviously didn&rsquo;t take away from what he is doing on the court. He can&rsquo;t help injuries, but when he laced them up, he dominated. And if he wouldn&rsquo;t have gotten hurt, things would&rsquo;ve been different last year. So he just needs to ignore everyone and keep doing what he is doing. He definitely has my admiration and support.&rdquo;
All three are absolutely right about Kyrie Irving, and I couldn't agree more.

Etan Thomas defends Kyrie Irving along with three former NBA point guards that admire his game and, more importantly, his character.

Isiah Thomas, Kenny Anderson, Sherman Douglas have Kyrie Irving's back

Eric Garner took his last breath on this earth seven years ago today, after being killed by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo. Garner was guilty of selling loose cigarettes outside of a convenience store and the officer administered an illegal choke hold despite him repeating the phrase &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t breathe&rdquo; 11 times. An unmoved group of fellow police officers stood around and did nothing as he was murdered in broad daylight.&nbsp;
This led to worldwide protests and demonstrations, which spilled into NBA arenas. Derrick Rose was the first NBA player to wear an &ldquo;I Can&rsquo;t Breathe&rdquo; shirt during warmups, followed by LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Garnett and many players from the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns.&nbsp;
I have worked closely with Garner&rsquo;s daughter, Emerald, since inviting her to speak at a Black Lives Matter panel that I put together at Canaan Baptist Church in Harlem during the 2015 NBA All-Star Weekend. The panel also included Isiah Thomas, Alonzo Mourning, Chris Broussard, and John Wallace among others.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qgUUNPS9iP4" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Fast forward to 2019: the Suns&rsquo; players were <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2019/02/22/nba-players-political-statements/2838011002/">interested in activism</a> and wanted to make an impact, so they brought Emerald and I to Phoenix to speak to the team. It was an emotional experience for the players, but one that was greatly appreciated by Emerald.&nbsp;
When I told Emerald about the invitation, the first thing she said was, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know much about the Phoenix Suns, but they were one of the teams who wore the &lsquo;I Can&rsquo;t Breathe&rsquo; shirts, so I would love to speak to them.&rdquo;
And with that, we were off to Phoenix.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
We sat down and watched the Suns go through a light practice. I hugged James Jones, who I have known for years from working with him on the NBPA&rsquo;s executive board (and I&rsquo;m so happy for him and his success as a GM). After practice, they all assembled in their media room and sat and listened for nearly an hour and a half as I asked Emerald questions. It was originally slated for only 45 minutes, but when I asked if they wanted us to wrap it up or continue, Jamal Crawford (who was an elder statesman on the team) replied, &ldquo;No, please continue. This is important and we don&rsquo;t have anywhere pressing to go right now.&rdquo; He looked around at everyone and the entire team nodded in agreement, so we continued.&nbsp;
I remember a young Deandre Ayton watching and listening intently to every word. Devin Booker forgot all about the fact that he had ice on his knees and the trainer had to peek in and tell him to take it off. I saw him shake his head, snap out of his trance, take his ice off and apologize for making any noise.&nbsp;
At one point, Emerald leaned over to me and asked, &ldquo;Do you think this is too heavy for them?&rdquo; And I told her, &ldquo;No, keep talking, you&rsquo;re doing great.&rdquo;
We discussed how her family was devastated after her father was killed by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, how they were still holding out hope for some type of justice, how afraid and traumatized she felt, and how much she appreciated athletes like them supporting her.
At the time, some people questioned whether an athlete wearing a shirt is activism and if it meant anything at all, so I asked her about that. The players heard directly from someone who was immediately impacted by their gesture, and she shared exactly what it meant to her and her family. She said she was so thankful for them because it made her feel like somebody cared.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/aap_lg.jpg" alt="" width="608" height="363" />
At one point, she said something that caused a player who I won&rsquo;t name to have tears in his eyes.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Imagine your father being murdered, and every time you turn on the TV, you see people justifying why he deserved to die,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t thank you enough for doing the opposite.&rdquo;
To wrap up, Emerald personally thanked each and every one of them for their support. After our talk, another player came up to her, with tears in his eyes, and asked if he could give her a hug.
I recently asked Emerald what she remembered about the talk and how she felt about the Suns bringing us in.
&ldquo;I was benefiting from it just as much as they were,&rdquo; Emerald said. &ldquo;I enjoyed answering all of their questions and I was amazed that they were that focused and locked in for the entire time. They just had practice -- one guy kept messing up the play and got in trouble -- but they were really interested in how they can get involved and be a part of the change, and I really appreciate that. Sometimes, talking about everything is really therapeutic for me. Sometimes, I feel like I&rsquo;m rambling and you always do a great job of keeping me focused.&rdquo;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Whenever a similar tragedy occurs, Emerald said it&rsquo;s very hard for her and her family.
&ldquo;People don&rsquo;t understand the after effects of how it impacts the entire family structure every time [something like] this happens. It&rsquo;s not just another case or just another hashtag; we are people and it impacts our entire family,&rdquo; she said.
I also asked her if she remembered the player who teared up and gave her a hug afterward.
&ldquo;Yes, I remember that very well,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I had to look up who he was after, so I have been rooting for him ever since that day. He was so moved by my story. They all asked such good questions. Sometimes, the media will ask the stupidest, meanest, most insensitive questions, but their questions were really good. But that&rsquo;s usually how it is with younger people. When we go speak at schools, whether it&rsquo;s Horace Mann or The Eagle Academy, I&rsquo;m always blown away by the questions of the students, and this was no different. They cared. They didn&rsquo;t want us to stop. We went way past the time, and they wanted to keep talking to us.&nbsp;
&ldquo;From that day, I&rsquo;ve been a fan of the Phoenix Suns, and all of the athletes who supported my family after my father was taken away from us. It means a lot. More than people know.&rdquo;

In 2019, the Phoenix Suns hosted Eric Garner's daughter, Emerald, and Etan Thomas. Emerald and Etan look back on the powerful chat.

How an emotional conversation made Emerald Garner a lifelong Suns fan

Etan Thomas spoke with Al Harrington about Sha'Carri Richardson's suspension, marijuana in pro sports, his cannabis company and more.

Q&A: Al Harrington on Sha’Carri Richardson, cannabis company, more

On July 4, 2021, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/04/sports/basketball/espn-rachel-nichols-maria-taylor.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published a story</a> detailing the fallout of a leaked Rachel Nichols&rsquo; video, wherein the host of ESPN&rsquo;s &ldquo;The Jump&rdquo; questioned the merit of her colleague, Maria Taylor.&nbsp;
&ldquo;If you need to give her more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your crappy longtime record on diversity &ndash; which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it &ndash; like, go for it. Just find it somewhere else,&rdquo; Nichols said while unknowingly being recorded.
Since the release of the article, ESPN has been hard at work trying to extinguish the fire sparked by Nichols&rsquo; comments.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Rachel Nichols began today's episode of The Jump with this apology to Maria Taylor and others at ESPN <a href="https://t.co/9cXsDmMMhZ">https://t.co/9cXsDmMMhZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/yQj5j8akMw">pic.twitter.com/yQj5j8akMw</a>
&mdash; Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) <a href="https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1412145201888497664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 5, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

Still, flames sit at every corner of this story. They range from small to large, and they highlight the injustices at ESPN. The New York Times forced ESPN&rsquo;s hand, so now the company is trying to put out this fire as quickly as possible before it reaches the deep pit of grease at the story&rsquo;s core: ESPN&rsquo;s insidious environment of racism and sexism.&nbsp;
Some of these flames include the direct fallout from the tape &mdash; like criticism over the repercussions former ESPN video producer Kayla Johnson faced for sharing the audio with Taylor &mdash; to larger structural grievances with how the media conglomerate uses women.&nbsp; &nbsp; Despite Nichols igniting the match, many have pointed out that she&rsquo;s been burned by ESPN, too. They point to the toxic culture at ESPN, and how animosity between women is fostered at a company that so rarely makes room for more than one.&nbsp;
When women are relegated to hosting and sideline reporting, there are limited opportunities to truly flourish. And when success can no longer be had as a collective and only in spite of one another, toxicity and animosity are cultivated.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s particularly unfortunate that two women in the industry are pitted against each other,&rdquo; NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said when asked about the situation.&nbsp;
A toxic environment is still not an excuse for the racist dismissal of Taylor, especially from someone with the history and experience of Nichols.&nbsp;
Nichols is a seasoned journalist of over 26 years, having worked for The Washington Post, CNN, Turner Sports and ESPN covering both basketball and football. Throughout her career, Nichols has stood out by carving her space in media as a much-needed female voice that challenges the misogynistic culture in sports &mdash; from <a href="https://youtu.be/RhM66jfE-WE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confronting NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell</a> following the Ray Rice scandal to <a href="https://youtu.be/67HVtWgDE10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">questioning the redemption narrative surrounding Derrick Rose</a>&rsquo;s 50-point game two years after a civil trial for rape allegations. (Editor&rsquo;s Note: A federal jury ultimately <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/oct/19/derrick-rose-rape-trial-verdict-consent-nba-jury-photos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cleared Rose of all counts</a>.)
Nichols recognizes the value her identity adds to her coverage, giving her a unique perspective in a male-dominated industry. And yet, she somehow fails to recognize Taylor&rsquo;s value in a moment of national racial strife.
Many people have also been harping on Nichols' claim that it was in her contract to host NBA Countdown during the 2020 NBA Finals... But that is entirely beside the point.&nbsp;
For starters, ESPN asked Nichols if she wished to switch to sideline duties &mdash; a request she was allowed to decline. And the controversy is not about a contract dispute. It is not even about whether Nichols felt she deserved the job more than Taylor. It is about her comment at that moment. Had she only made reference to the contents of her contract, there would be no story and no backlash.
There&rsquo;s also the invasion-of-privacy issue that, rightfully, is being discussed as well. Since the recording was captured on Nichols&rsquo; laptop through software she uses to record &ldquo;The Jump,&rdquo; this is another small fire for ESPN to investigate. However, again, this is not at all what the public outcry is about.&nbsp;
While these issues may individually hold merit, they do not serve as a defense, and they have been used to detract from the core issue at hand: Rachel Nichols&rsquo; racist comment.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
At the core, this is a story about a powerful White woman weaponizing her Whiteness to dismiss and demean a Black colleague to another White person who&rsquo;s in a position of power.&nbsp;
The backlash and outcry are so loud because this is a story that Black people are all too familiar with. Nichols&rsquo; comment had no basis in reality, but deep roots in history. It suggests that Black people do not belong, and any advancement is the result of external assistance.&nbsp;
A handout.
Claiming that Taylor was given this opportunity instead of earning it completely dismisses her unique voice and perspective. Nichols&rsquo; compliments of Taylor&rsquo;s skill and talent evaporate the very second Nichols questions Taylor&rsquo;s merit. Her success is no longer credited to her hard work, but to the color of her skin.
The stereotype that Black people get by on handouts is a tale as old as time. This ranges from overt racist sentiments like Ronald Reagan&rsquo;s &ldquo;welfare queen&rdquo; trope to more subtle microaggressions in corporate settings.&nbsp;
Dismissing the accomplishments of Black people is a core tenant of White supremacy. Implicit bias transmitted through microaggressions is the exact strain of White supremacy that Black people fear in their workplaces. It&rsquo;s a pervasive form of racism that is felt immensely, but near impossible to call out.&nbsp;
You feel it through glances and through inner circles you can&rsquo;t penetrate, cementing the belief that you don&rsquo;t belong. You feel it when you look around and rarely see faces that look like yours. You&rsquo;re forced to exist in a space that&rsquo;s unwelcoming to you, wondering whether others question your worthiness.
It&rsquo;s a culture of exclusion, which Nichols is acutely aware of.
&ldquo;Those same people &mdash; who are, like, generally White, conservative, male Trump voters &mdash; is part of the reason I&rsquo;ve had a hard time at ESPN,&rdquo; Nichols said on the same recording.
The leaked audio of two White people dismissing a Black woman&rsquo;s credibility confirmed people&rsquo;s suspicions to be true: that these conversations do happen behind closed doors. It&rsquo;s why so many were hurt and offended.
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" style="max-width: 605px; min-width: 325px;" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@mariataylortoks/video/6863473616298855686" data-video-id="6863473616298855686">
<section><a title="@mariataylortoks" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@mariataylortoks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@mariataylortoks</a>
Hey Black Women ✊🏾🙋🏾&zwj;♀️👋🏾 <a title="blacklivesmatter" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/blacklivesmatter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">##blacklivesmatter</a> <a title="fyp" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">##FYP</a>
<a title="♬ original sound - Maria Taylor" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-6863473633193380614" target="_blank" rel="noopener">♬ original sound - Maria Taylor</a></section>
</blockquote>

<script src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>

It&rsquo;s important to note that Nichols said this to Adam Mendelsohn, an advisor to LeBron James and NBA agent Rich Paul (who founded Klutch Sports Group and represents many stars). These are the inner circles that outsiders feel they cannot penetrate. Questioning Taylor&rsquo;s credibility leaves her on the outside with Mendelsohn and all of his notable clients.&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s even more troubling is that Mendelsohn felt safe saying he was &ldquo;exhausted&rdquo; by &nbsp;#MeToo and the Black Lives Matter movement &mdash; sentiments he would likely never share with Black journalists (or his Black clients). This furthers distrust because it illustrates how issues that should be treated as universal are discussed differently by White colleagues depending on the setting. There&rsquo;s the public response and then there&rsquo;s the behind-closed-doors response.
Once we understand what the core issue is, we can examine why Nichols&rsquo; apology fell short.&nbsp;
Her apology addresses a workplace issue at a colleague-to-colleague level rather than a racial issue. Instead of a White woman apologizing to a Black woman for racially insensitive comments, Rachel deflects, explaining that she does not want to be the story.&nbsp;
She did not have to be.
Nichols could have used her learning experience to highlight the pervasiveness of implicit bias and the importance of language.&nbsp;
In quick monologues, Nichols so often educates her audience on a prominent storyline &mdash; from <a href="https://youtu.be/JinS7woEgnA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg</a> to the <a href="https://youtu.be/YEBN9Oo_b1I" target="_blank" rel="noopener">protests across the United States</a> in the wake of George Floyd&rsquo;s murder.&nbsp;
She is a leader in using her show to highlight the importance of difficult conversations in sports, and why the coverage around basketball cannot solely be about the Xs and Os.
Yet, in a prime opportunity to use her show as she and ESPN often do so well, both failed.&nbsp;
Instead of apologizing for her actions and explaining that she (more than anyone) understands that utilizing diverse identities isn&rsquo;t about meeting quotas, but rather about enriching coverage, Nichols apologized for the way Taylor was made to feel.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
To accompany Nichols' apology, Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson, two Black men, were asked to speak &mdash; despite having nothing to do with the matter.&nbsp;
Perkins spoke to knowing Nichols&rsquo; heart and shared his wonderful experience working alongside her. Jefferson, meanwhile, spoke to his 20-year relationship with Nichols and made mention of difficult conversations being had behind the scenes &mdash; while also adding that Nichols was not excused and that he and Perkins weren&rsquo;t either.&nbsp;
Bringing in these two former NBA champions to discuss race added nothing of value to Nichols&rsquo; apology, and only exposed yet another issue of diversity at the company. Why were two privileged Black men brought in to discuss racism between an established White woman and a younger Black woman? Also, why were these two Black men put in this position and used as pawns? The fact that, after 24 hours, this was the best ESPN could do is baffling.&nbsp;
They haphazardly attempted to douse the flames once and for all, but like water on a grease fire, the blaze was not subdued. Instead, burning oil splattered far and wide, reaching <a href="https://youtu.be/9WVDnygemDg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter Spaces</a>. The next day, ESPN removed Nichols from its 2021 NBA Finals coverage, with Malika Andrews handling the sideline-reporting duties in her place. Apparently, ESPN&rsquo;s power structure only doles out punishments for racist comments once they are made public.
For now, ESPN&lsquo;s solution will be to cover the fires with a cloak &mdash; a temporary answer to a grand problem. The structural damage, however, will remain until it works to rebuild its infrastructure from the ground up. &nbsp;

Imman Adan reacts to Rachel Nichols' comments toward Maria Taylor and the manner in which ESPN fumbled the fallout.

Rachel Nichols-Maria Taylor incident exposes ESPN’s racism, sexism

Stephen Curry made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 14 seconds left, moments after missing from deep, and scored 36 points to lead the Golden State Warriors past the Western Conference-leading Utah Jazz 119-116 on Monday night to keep hold of the eighth seed in the playoff race.
Jordan Poole's Curry-like 52-footer at the third-quarter buzzer went to replay review and stood, giving Golden State an 89-75 lead and serious momentum going into the final 12 minutes before Utah's furious comeback effort in the closing minutes.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Steph (36 PTS &amp; 6 AST) came up BIG tonight 👀 <a href="https://t.co/ExttjEwCEW">pic.twitter.com/ExttjEwCEW</a>
&mdash; NBA TV (@NBATV) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1391977045857488898?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

Curry, coming off a 49-point performance with 11 3-pointers in 29 minutes in Saturday&rsquo;s 136-97 thumping of the Thunder, wasn't nearly as sharp &mdash; but his supporting cast did plenty to take the pressure off. Curry went just 1 of 5 from deep in the first half then wound up 11 of 25 from the floor overall and 3 for 13 on 3s.
Jordan Clarkson scored 41 points and Bojan Bogdanovic added 27 for a Utah team still missing injured All-Star guards Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
A SEASON-HIGH 41 PTS and 50.4 FPTS for Jordan Clarkson! 💧 <a href="https://t.co/QLSHHtqfFk">pic.twitter.com/QLSHHtqfFk</a>
&mdash; NBA Fantasy (@NBAFantasy) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAFantasy/status/1391980284946665475?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

Poole finished with 20 points off the bench, Kent Bazemore scored 19 and Kevon Looney grabbed 13 rebounds to give him double figures on the boards in three straight games for the first time in his career.
Mychal Mulder's 3 with 4:55 left in the third put the Warriors up 71-63 and Golden State got a stop on the other end. Bazemore converted a three-point at 3:57 for a 74-63 advantage before Bogdanovic immediately answered with a 3, was fouled and converted the free throw.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr addressed the magnitude of this game for his team, which is playing its final six games at home in Chase Center.
&ldquo;It's going to be a fun night. They&rsquo;ve got a great chance to secure the one seed, which I&rsquo;m sure they&rsquo;d love to get, so that means they&rsquo;ve got to play well this week,&rdquo; Kerr said. &ldquo;And we&rsquo;re still fighting for the best possible seed that we can get."
NCAA CHAMPS
Hall of Fame Stanford women's basketball coach Tara VanDerveer and her NCAA champion Cardinal team were in attendance and recognized on the big screen during a first-quarter timeout. Highlights were shown and Warriors coach Steve Kerr offered a congratulatory message to friend VanDerveer.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been amazing. We are all such Warrior fans,&rdquo; VanDerveer said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s great to be here. It&rsquo;s really great that their team is recognizing our team, too.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Jazz: The Jazz shot 13 for 44 from deep on the night. ... Utah's nine first-half turnovers led to 15 points for Golden State. ... The Jazz are 9-10 on the road vs. the Western Conference with two games remaining, at Oklahoma City and Sacramento.
Warriors: Draymond Green&rsquo;s technical foul at the 4:10 mark in the third didn&rsquo;t end up costly. ... F Damion Lee, Curry's brother-in-law who contracted COVID-19 despite being vaccinated, was back on the court shooting for the first time, an encouraging step for Kerr and everybody to see in his recovery. Lee watched from the baseline table. ... F Eric Paschall continues to progress in his recovery from a strained left hip flexor and Kerr spoke to him today, remaining hopeful Paschall might play this week. He played 3-on-3 again Monday. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re hopeful he will be back before the end of the regular season but we&rsquo;ll see,&rdquo; Kerr said. ... Golden State has won two in a row at home.
UP NEXT
Jazz: Host Portland on Wednesday in Utah's final regular-season home game. The Jazz have won the last three with the Trail Blazers and also three in a row at home.
Warriors: Host the Suns on Tuesday night in their final set of back-to-backs. Golden State has lost the last two against Phoenix.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

The Warriors kept hold of the eighth seed in the playoff race with the victory.

Stephen Curry's late three lifts Warriors past Jazz 119-116

For the Golden State Warriors, the magic number is 20.&nbsp;
Steve Kerr thinks 20 games is the barometer for solidifying lineups and for this season&rsquo;s squad to formulate an identity. Now, with a quarter of the season played and an 11-10 record, the Warriors are still without either a solidified lineup or an identity.
Granted, the Warriors as constructed do not have the roster to contend for a title. They lost Klay Thompson to an Achilles injury on draft night, and have new faces such as Kelly Oubre Jr. and James Wiseman to implement into their system, so Kerr's emphasis on development seems to be a reasonable move. However, development doesn&rsquo;t mean that the Warriors should not prioritize winning, especially when they also have a two-time MVP in Stephen Curry and a former Defensive Player of the Year in Draymond Green -- two competitors who want to win -- on that roster, as well.&nbsp;
This is a team with an identity crisis. On some nights, the Warriors look like a scrappy dark-horse playoff team. On others, it looks like their ceiling is (at best) a berth in the play-in game. While there&rsquo;s not much to do regarding the roster -- unless Golden State makes some significant trades -- it is Kerr&rsquo;s responsibility to not only prioritize development, but also prioritize winning at the same time.
In some instances, Kerr has done a solid job of developing players. He&rsquo;s helped turn Andrew Wiggins into a solid rotational piece, and Eric Paschall has grown into a key cog with the second unit. However, the Warriors have had opportunities to beat the New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers and, most recently, the Phoenix Suns, but they lost those winnable games. The question is: Has Kerr put this team in the best positions possible to win games? Unfortunately, it&rsquo;s fair to say that he hasn&rsquo;t.&nbsp;
The Warriors as constructed are mediocre, but they have shown glimpses of what they could be, and some of the struggles are on Kerr. Here are some examples of his missteps and why the Warriors aren&rsquo;t consistently playing the kind of basketball that they have envisioned.
Inability To Adjust
In the past, Kerr&rsquo;s motion read-and-react offense worked because he surrounded Curry and Thompson with high-IQ vets who understood the purpose behind every cut and every screen. It also succeeded because those role players were capable scorers. Shaun Livingston and David West, for example, had reliable mid-range jumpers, while Andre Iguodala was a capable slasher in the paint. &nbsp;
Now, with Thompson out of the lineup, Curry is the only player who can consistently shoot and score. Oubre and Wiggins have never been in offenses as complex and as predicated on ball movement as this one. Oubre is the type of player who thrives in transition and slashing, and Wiggins is similar to a degree. But instead of tailoring the system to the strengths of his current players, Kerr runs the same system as if Klay was in the lineup and Kevin Durant, Livingston and Iguodala were still on the roster. Knowing that Curry is the only threat offensively, defenses sell out on him seamlessly with box-and-ones and other variations of a modified zone.
To counter defenses, Kerr has some options such as running high screen-and-rolls and elevators to take advantage of Curry&rsquo;s efficiency as the pick-and-roll ball-handler. On the season, Curry is averaging 1.12 points per possession in the pick-and-roll, which is even better than his 2016 MVP season (1.11 PPP).
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/259mxE8ImQ8" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
For whatever reason, the Warriors have stopped running elevator doors. Having two bigs setting a high screen would take out both the defender and the helper, which would give Curry the necessary room to take a three or even dribble into the occasional mid-range shot. Not to mention, it frees up space in the paint to cut.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aEV7NMeC-JM" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
To better incorporate Oubre, for as long as he&rsquo;s a Warrior, Kerr could also run a two-man stagger to get him some backdoor cuts.
In the first clip, notice where Green is. The defense was a little off guard. Now, the defense would concede that shot and sag off. Instead, imagine Curry in that slot instead. The trap would come, and Oubre cuts backdoor for an easy dunk.
Granted, motion works. However, Kerr should not be so rigid in sticking to it verbatim, especially when he has a different set of players who don't fit as well within the system. Introducing diversity in schemes and adapting to the strengths of the roster isn't abandoning what works; it&rsquo;s simply evolving.
Lineups
Before Kerr moved rookie center James Wiseman to the bench, his lineup of Curry, Wiggins, Oubre, Green and Wiseman had the worst net rating in the league (-20.3) among lineups that played at least 100 minutes or more during the season. This is the reason why the Warriors would dig themselves into 17-to-20-point deficits in the first quarter before the bench would scrap and claw back into the game.
These questionable lineups are arguably at the heart of the Warriors&rsquo; identity crisis. Why? Because the lineup sans Curry isn&rsquo;t a lineup that will go out and win games. This is a lineup that's focused on development, which is fine... if Curry, Green and Thompson were about 10 years younger. The best approach is to maximize Curry&rsquo;s and Green&rsquo;s prime while developing the prospects simultaneously. For one, the Warriors owe it to the core to put them in positions to compete and win. Secondly, the developing guys want to be rewarded for their hard work and buy into what the team is selling.
Kerr was set on this lineup for development and defensive purposes. However, the Warriors&rsquo; defensive rating was 110.2 during the first 12 games. So what was the point of rolling out the lineup other than internal development and racking up losses?
While the decision didn&rsquo;t significantly move the needle, it helped matters somewhat in terms of familiarity and experience with the offense.
Still, there's one other substitution that needs to be made that hasn&rsquo;t happened yet. Oubre isn&rsquo;t a fit at all (and may be traded), but in the meantime, Kerr hasn't sent him to the bench or reduced his minutes -- even with Damion Lee and Mychal Mulder looking like better options as shooters and scorers. The reasoning is defense; but again, the Warriors still have lapses defensively with that particular unit.&nbsp;
In addition to the starting lineup issues, Curry's minutes are a problem. Usually, Kerr puts Curry in around the six-minute mark of the second and fourth quarters. It&rsquo;s a problem because, at times, Kerr subs Curry out when he and the team have just gotten some momentum.&nbsp;
Overall, the Warriors are where they were expected to be in the preseason: faltering between the sixth and the ninth seed. They have the potential to make a push. Again, they owe it to Curry and Green to compete and win. Now, it&rsquo;s up for Kerr to decide: does he want to sacrifice games that he can&rsquo;t afford to lose for the sake of development, or does he want to win what&rsquo;s possible while developing?
We'll see which option he chooses.&nbsp;

Jannelle Moore dives into Golden State's lack of an identity and how Steve Kerr's rotations and philosophy haven't helped.

How Steve Kerr’s missteps factor into the state of the Warriors

In an exclusive interview with BasketballNews.com&rsquo;s &ldquo;The Rematch,&rdquo; former NBA player and current co-host of &ldquo;All The Smoke&rdquo; Stephen Jackson opened up about his relationship with George Floyd and how his murder set him on a path of activism, prompting him to use his voice and platform like never before.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9YOMgbyWSKU" width="100%" height="415" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Jackson spoke candidly about the pain he felt when he learned that his friend had been murdered. This wasn&rsquo;t simply another tragic murder at the hands of the police or another hashtag; this was his friend. This was very personal for him.
He reminisced about his first encounter with Floyd; they looked so similar that they started calling each other &ldquo;Twin.&rdquo; He discussed their friendship as well as the growth he saw in Floyd, who admittingly made his share of mistakes over the years in his quest to provide for his family while living in an impoverished situation with limited opportunities. But, according to Jackson, he had found a new path and was making the necessary changes to improve his life and surroundings. Jackson discussed Floyd&rsquo;s love for his daughter, Gianna, and his commitment to helping others (such as the work he was doing in his church). Jackson painted a much different picture of Floyd than the media initially did after his murder.&nbsp;
He humanized George Floyd.
Just as his friend was turning over a new leaf, his life was snatched away from him by Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Jackson went into great detail about the tears he shed, the anger he felt and the heartache he shared with the Floyd family. He vowed to be there for Gianna, who recently celebrated her first birthday without her father.&nbsp;
Here&rsquo;s a transcript of my conversation with Jackson, who detailed the entire process starting from the moment he learned the news that Floyd had passed:&nbsp;
Etan Thomas: &ldquo;Talk to me about what happened when you got the call and found out about George&rsquo;s death. Where were you? Who broke it to you? What was your immediate reaction?&rdquo;
Stephen Jackson: &ldquo;I was right here on the same couch I'm sitting on. It was probably 10:30 in the morning. I'm on the couch, sleeping with my daughter. My daughter's room is upstairs, but she doesn't like to sleep in her room because my room is downstairs. So she sleeps on the couch and watches TV, so she can be close to me. And something made me get up and come get on the couch with her. So I was laying on the couch with her that morning. And me and my girlfriend's mom talk about police brutality and all the nonsense that&rsquo;s done to Black people all the time, and she sends me videos all the time.
&ldquo;So my phone is ringing, vibrating. I look at it and I see the video from her, but I don't even correlate that this is my brother. So I'm not even thinking about George when she sent me the video. I look at it, not even putting two and two together. I'm just like, &lsquo;Oh man, they done killed another brother.&rsquo; As I put the phone down, my phone vibrates again. And I pick up the phone and I look at it and it&rsquo;s a message from my friend, Mike Dean, and it says, &lsquo;You see what they did to your twin in Minnesota?&rsquo;&nbsp;
"I went back to the video from my girlfriend's mother. And I see the video and I look in closely and see that's him on the ground and I lose it, E. I get to throwing stuff. I jumped up and scared my daughter. I'm screaming. I was hurt, bro. I was actually hurt because I saw myself in him and this is somebody who I consider my twin getting murdered by the police for the world to see. I never thought that I would see that with my own eyes -- somebody that I loved, that I consider me. I've never dealt with nothing like that, E. And so to see that, it knocked the wind out of me, honestly. It knocked the wind out of me and I just cried. I couldn&rsquo;t even get myself together for a while.&rdquo;
Thomas: &ldquo;Everybody saw the video and when I watched, I was looking at the evil in him -- in the officer, Derek Chauvin -- as he was kneeling on his neck and putting his hand in his pocket (and they say this was so he could apply even more pressure to his neck). The facial expression that he had, it was just nothing. I looked at it with my kids and I'm breaking down too. We talk about Black Lives Matter and that showed us that, to that officer and all those officers around him, our lives didn't matter at all. You don't even treat an animal like that. I mean, if everybody saw a dog being murdered like that&hellip;&rdquo;
Jackson: &ldquo;They would go crazy.&rdquo;
Thomas: &ldquo;They would go absolutely crazy. And that's the part that was so tough to me. You think that we&rsquo;ve made some kind of progress and then you see something like that, and it just knocks us all the way back. I'm feeling like, &lsquo;Wow, so what do we do now?&rsquo; And you went into work mode after that. That happened, you had your moment of grieving and feeling upset, and then you went into work mode right after that. Talk about that switch; what went into that?&rdquo;
Jackson: &ldquo;You never know what God has for you in your life. I was really upset. In the past, I had been upset that I didn&rsquo;t make All-Star games in my career. [I had been upset] for being judged for the (Malice at the Palace) brawl for having my teammates&rsquo; back and it messed up my career and all of the accolades I should&rsquo;ve gotten. I know I should have been an All-Star at least two or three times. But God works in mysterious ways. What I'm doing now, I want to be known for that. I don't even want to be known for basketball at all. I want to be known for what I'm doing now. Like I said, you never know what God has for you. Me going to Minnesota... I wanted to go down there so they wouldn't demean my brother's name. Like you&rsquo;ve said: the first thing they do when they murder one of us and try to make it look valid, they demean our character.&rdquo;
Thomas: &ldquo;Yeah, that&rsquo;s what they always do. With Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Terence Crutcher, Alton Sterling, Ahmaud Arbery and so on. They literally do it every time.&rdquo;&nbsp;
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/jax222_lg.jpg" alt="" width="671" height="AUTO" />
Jackson: &ldquo;Yup, and I wanted to go down there to let the world know who he really was. And nine times out of 10, when this happens, none of these people that get killed by the police have a celebrity to speak up for them. That's one thing that messed up Minnesota and the world: nobody expected Stephen Jackson to be considered George Floyd&rsquo;s twin. And nobody expected Stephen Jackson to put everything he had on the line for him, and fight for justice for him. While I was in Minnesota, not only did they know he had a celebrity speaking up for him, but at the time I spoke up for him, my podcast was one of the bigger podcasts in the world. I was all over ESPN and doing all of these shows. Nobody expected him to have somebody [with that kind of platform] to speak up for him.
&ldquo;When I went down there, seeing how the city of Minnesota got behind me and supported me, [that] let me know that this has been going on for a long time. I walked to the corner [and saw a woman holding a sign that said], &lsquo;His name was Hardel Sherrelle.&rsquo; His mom was standing on the corner, crying and holding signs, trying to get justice for her son just by herself. She didn&rsquo;t have no Stephen Jackson to speak up for her. So we stopped. I had all kinds of cameras following me at the time. I stopped, I put the cameras and the mics in front of her, and she tells her whole story. I ended up being the voice for her [too]. So I inherited being the voice for so many people who have been brutalized by police or by racism and never got justice. And the fact that it was a celebrity basketball player that everybody knew, that a lot of people respected and loved, all 18 countries and 50 states got behind me. And it became one of the biggest protests all at one time ever in the history of protests.&nbsp;
&ldquo;So the fact that that happened, I just dropped on my knees because I never knew God would make my life that important. It's way more important than basketball because I'm changing lives. And it sparked me to want to go to all 50 states and to let people know -- in the areas we come from -- that we care about them, that we hear them, that we have money to give and resources to help you out to try to get to a better life. And it's just God. Like I said, you never know what God has for you. It was meant for me to be in this position. It was meant for me to have a domino effect of helping people after going out there and standing up for my brother and to fight for change, and I would rather be known for what I'm doing now than anything else.&rdquo;
Later in the interview, Jackson lashed out at the media for the way they negatively portrayed his friend. He criticized attorneys like Benjamin Crump, whom he called out by name, because he feels they should fight harder for justice and less for settlements. (Although he did add that he still has respect for Crump and prays for him and hopes that the fight for justice is successful.) He also expressed his frustration with a justice system that doesn&rsquo;t hold police officers accountable for murdering innocent civilians.&nbsp;
Also, Jackson thanked celebrities such as Kyrie Irving (who purchased a house for the Floyd family), Lil Baby (who paid for Gianna's recent birthday party), Barbra Streisand (who bought Disney stocks for the Floyd family) and activist Tamika Mallory (who showed a lot of support).&nbsp;
Jackson praised the people of Minnesota for the tremendous support he received when he went there to protest for his friend. He really felt like the city embraced him and his cause, which he didn&rsquo;t anticipate. He also thanked all of the white allies, in particular, across the country who have aided him and supported him on his quest for justice.&nbsp;
Jackson is a new man. A man who has found his voice after much of the world joined him to protest the murder of George Floyd. In fact, many people were getting involved and protesting police brutality and racism for the first time (including many white people), which was likely due to Jackson&rsquo;s efforts. 
As the country awaits to hear the verdict for Derek Chauvin and the other officers involved, we can only hope and pray that justice will prevail.

Stephen Jackson opens up about his relationship with George Floyd and how his murder prompted him to speak out like never before.

Stephen Jackson on fight for George Floyd: 'It's way more important than basketball'

This year, there were 107 international players from 41 countries on opening-night rosters for the 2020-21 NBA season.

NBA rosters feature 107 international players from 41 countries

A lot of people criticize and ridicule LaVar Ball. In fact, he&rsquo;s been called every name in the book: a helicopter parent, a smotherer, an exploiter of his own children, a media whore, a terrible businessman and just an overall jerk. He&rsquo;s been described as overbearing and detrimental to his kids&rsquo; careers, as well as sexist and misogynistic.
However, he also put both Lonzo and LaMelo in position to be top picks in the NBA Draft. Lonzo was the No. 2 overall pick in 2017 and it&rsquo;s very possible that LaMelo will go No. 1 in this year&rsquo;s draft. LaVar always believed in them, maybe even more than they believed in themselves. He prepared them, supported them and set them up for success on and off the court.&nbsp;
Let&rsquo;s go back to the beginning. LaVar began preparing his children almost from birth. They have told this story many times, but they started training shortly after learning to walk. They did push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups. They hopped onto steps or furniture around the house. They did sprints in the street and ran up hills. He put a court in his backyard and ran them through drills. He recruited other neighborhood kids to come work out and play in scrimmages against them. They would hold training camps regularly. Again, this was while they were still learning their ABCs.
The three brothers - Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo - were very talented. LaMelo was the youngest and LaVar always challenged him to compete against kids who were four or five years older than him. On the AAU circuit and in high school, he played alongside his older brothers and this fast-tracked his development.&nbsp;
Then, LaVar did something that had never been seen before. He took a completely unconventional approach with LaMelo, pulling a then-16-year-old LaMelo out of his high school so that he could play professionally in Lithuania. He joined a team called Vytautas Prienai alongside his older brother, LiAngelo, who was 19 at the time. This gave them the opportunity to compete against grown men in a professional league with a history of producing NBA players.&nbsp;
LaMelo became the youngest American to play professional basketball overseas. The media was critical of this decision and skeptical of whether it would actually help the teenagers. But LaVar ignored all of the doubters and stuck to his plan.&nbsp;
He also began teaching his sons about business, marketing and the importance of ownership. They capitalized on their popularity by creating their own brand (Big Baller Brand) and LaMelo became the first-ever high school player to have his <a href="https://twitter.com/bigballerbrand/status/903299440349396992?s=21">own signature shoe</a>.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/lamelo1_lg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="AUTO" />
LaMelo was achieving things that were unprecedented for someone his age. Then, LaVar took LaMelo&rsquo;s talents to Australia to play for the Illawarra Hawks of the National Basketball League (NBL). He signed a two-year contract in Australia and in his first game, he finished with a double-double of 12 points and 10 assists. He continued improving and a few games later, he had a career-high 32 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds in an overtime win, becoming the youngest player in NBL history to record a triple-double.
The next game, he registered another triple-double with 25 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, making him just the fourth player in NBL history to record consecutive triple-doubles. He was putting on a show and quickly became one of the league&rsquo;s most dominant players.&nbsp;
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xNMvIZFLuRQ" width="100%" height="350" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
He even had the business savvy to <a href="https://www.sportscasting.com/lamelo-ball-could-possibly-own-his-australian-basketball-team/">attempt to buy</a> the team after the season. And although he wasn&rsquo;t successful in his bid to buy the team, he impressed many people with his ambition and business acumen (which was taught to him by his father).&nbsp;
Now, every 2020 NBA mock draft has LaMelo as a top pick. In fact, many mock drafts have him going No. 1 overall. Jonathan Givony of ESPN <a href="http://insider.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/30280664/nba-draft-intel-latest-top-picks-trades-lottery">reported</a> that multiple NBA front officers are "under the assumption" that LaMelo will go first overall on Nov. 18 (either to the Minnesota Timberwolves or to a team that trades up to select him).
I would say that LaVar did a great job with LaMelo.&nbsp;
Now, don&rsquo;t get me wrong: A father&rsquo;s job isn&rsquo;t solely to get his children to the NBA. And just because your children make it to the league doesn&rsquo;t mean you were a great parent. A parent&rsquo;s top responsibility is preparing their child for life. And there&rsquo;s much more to life than basketball.
This brings me to this past summer when LaMelo, Lonzo and LiAngelo were <a href="https://lonzowire.usatoday.com/2020/05/31/watch-lamelo-ball-news-lonzo-liangelo-protest-george-floyd-black-lives-matter-chino-hills-instagram/">on the front lines</a> of the Black Lives Matter protests in Chino Hills following the murder of George Floyd. And who was right there to give the Ball brothers support and guidance? Their father. During a <a href="https://castbox.fm/episode/A-Big-Baller-Father's-Day-(ft.-Lavar-Ball)-id2962974-id278164184?country=gb">podcast appearance on &ldquo;Say Less</a>,&rdquo; talked about the protests and the message he gave his sons when they were deciding whether to join in.
&ldquo;As far as all the political preference of any player or anybody, man, stick to your thing and do your thing. I explained to my boys on certain situations, &lsquo;I get it. I get the protesting and I get that.&rsquo; But I said, &lsquo;Be careful out there.&rsquo; Because you have to understand what a protest is. What I mean by that&hellip; When you want to be political about a lot of things, you got to go the full route. Don&rsquo;t do it [for just] 20 minutes or two days. Out of all the protestors, they&rsquo;re only taking pictures of the celebrities. But let me ask you this: What were you doing before that protest? Did you protest some other things? Or was you out spending and making your money until now [and you&rsquo;re showing up now so] we can be visible?
&ldquo;You got people out there with videos and masks on just showing that they was there but they ain&rsquo;t really about that. Because you can&rsquo;t be about it for no one week. You got to do some other things in your life if you want to take that political stance and you want to be in that lane. Don&rsquo;t work all your life to be a basketball player and you ain&rsquo;t went to one council meeting and all of the sudden you got this voice and now you want to be like, &lsquo;I want justice, I want peace.&rsquo; So guess what? The people&rsquo;s that&rsquo;s done that, leave it to them. Let them do what they do and you can support that your own way.&rdquo;
To me, that sounds like good advice from a good father. This led Lonzo to <a href="https://lonzowire.usatoday.com/2020/11/01/lonzo-ball-lavar-black-lives-matter-george-floyd/">tell reporters:</a>&nbsp;"I&rsquo;m proud of my dad for stepping in there and showing support for the movement. He&rsquo;s definitely a powerful black figure in today&rsquo;s world, so anything he says is going to get out there and I&rsquo;m glad he&rsquo;s supporting the right message.&rdquo;
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/lamelo12_lg.jpg" alt="" width="771" height="AUTO" />
This is, of course, contrary to what is often written about LaVar Ball. But just because something is written doesn&rsquo;t make it true.&nbsp;
CBS reporter Reid Forgrave <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/lavar-ball-is-a-lot-of-things-but-a-bad-father-doesnt-appear-to-be-one-of-them/amp/">provided some context</a> to the time when LaVar went on Colin Cowherd's show and told Cowherd's co-host, Kristine Leahy, to "stay in your lane." This caused social media to explode and jump-started the vilification of LaVar Ball. But context is important:
According to Forgrave, &ldquo;Leahy was doing a television segment on Ball and his basketball-playing sons, and here's what she said: &lsquo;All three sons, they're being forced to do it. They're being told, 'You will start basketball at age six,' just like Lonzo told us. And whenever you asked him a question, I think [Lonzo] said, what, five words? He looks terrified whenever he's talking. He looks genuinely afraid.&rsquo;&rdquo;
I don't know about you, but if anybody said that about me and my child, I'd blow my top. LaVar clearly went into that interview primed to disrespect someone &ndash; not women in general, as his "stay in your lane" comment was unfortunately interpreted, but Leahy specifically. Because she had attacked his family. To me, the most relevant part of Ball's diatribe wasn't "stay in your lane." It was what he told Leahy when she asked why he had a problem with her.&nbsp;
"My problem is, you are a hater," he said.
I remember when Richard Williams, the father of Serena and Venus, was protective of a then-14-year-old Venus when a reporter was questioning her confidence in herself. Williams interrupted the reporter to protect his daughter, just as any good father would.
"You've got to understand that you're dealing with [the] image of a 14-year-old child,&rdquo; Williams said. &ldquo;And this child is gonna be out there playing when your old ass and me are gonna be in the grave&hellip; Let her be a kid. She answered with a lot of confidence; leave that alone!&rdquo;&nbsp;
Just as LaVar was criticized, so was Richard Williams.&nbsp;
(It&rsquo;s funny how that same criticism is rarely distributed to the protective Mama Bear figures that run rampant through youth sports. Anyone involved in youth sports has seen overprotective mothers create absolute mayhem on soccer fields and volleyball courts like you wouldn&rsquo;t believe. I actually had a mother run on the floor when her baby fell down, push past the medical people, fuss at everyone to give her baby some room and actually carry her son in her arms to the sideline when all he did was bump knees with someone. But I digress...)&nbsp;
But the looming question surrounding LaVar Ball is this: Is he so overbearing and overprotective and outspoken that teams should shy away from his sons altogether?
I asked New Orleans Pelicans color analyst Antonio Daniels about LaVar since he spent much of last season around him and his son, Lonzo, on the Pelicans.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always given LaVar credit for being present, motivating and pushing his sons towards success,&rdquo; Daniels said. &ldquo;I think people feel like Zo and Melo are the only success stories, but all three of his boys were put in a position to have their college paid for. That&rsquo;s success right there. His methods may be somewhat suspect, but we can&rsquo;t argue with the results.&rdquo;
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/lonzo_lavar1_lg.jpg" alt="" width="791" height="AUTO" />
Has Antonio personally witnessed LaVar creating any distractions or publicly criticizing coaching strategies or demanding more playing time for Lonzo or anything like that?&nbsp;
&ldquo;Not at all,&rdquo; Daniels said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;d sit right behind us in the arena. He was super quiet and never said a word. He and his family cheered like everyone else. I literally didn&rsquo;t hear a word from LaVar all year. There were zero distraction from him the entire season.&rdquo;
It appears as though every move LaVar Ball makes is calculated and for a purpose. He knows when to be quiet and stay in the background. And he knows how to promote his product and to get people talking. He knows how to market himself, his sons, his reality show and his brand. Most recently, even his reaction to LaMelo signing with Puma got the media talking. He seemed furious, which created a buzz and got people to tune in. That&rsquo;s just great marketing and the show is in its sixth season, so obviously they&rsquo;re doing something right.
Earlier this year, Lonzo opened up about his current relationship with his father.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We had a couple rumblings here and there, but everything got squared away,&rdquo; Lonzo told <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29883967/lonzo-ball-looking-lead-my-career-signs-klutch-sports">ESPN&rsquo;s Malika Andrews</a>. &ldquo;When your son gets older, they&rsquo;re going to butt heads with their dad, and that&rsquo;s what I did for about a year and a half. But everything is cool now.&rdquo;
LaVar had a similar comment when asked to respond.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s always been his own man,&rdquo; LaVar <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29883967/lonzo-ball-looking-lead-my-career-signs-klutch-sports">stated to ESPN</a>. &ldquo;As a father, all I can do is guide him. I&rsquo;m not going to take a lesser role. I am going to be his father, and that&rsquo;s it.&rdquo;
LaVar Ball has been accused of being loud, obnoxious, rude, dismissive, uncouth, offensive, discourteous and so on. But tossing these adjectives into an ever-spinning media echo chamber to somehow arrive at the conclusion that LaVar must also be a bad father is baseless. There simply aren&rsquo;t any facts or evidence to support that claim.

With LaMelo Ball projected to be a top pick in the NBA draft (just like Lonzo), it's hard to argue with LaVar Ball's results, says Etan Thomas.

You can’t call LaVar Ball a bad father

Sacramento Kings forward Harrison Barnes, Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown, Milwaukee Bucks guard George Hill, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Chris Paul and Dallas Mavericks forward-center Dwight Powell have received the 2019-20 End-of-Season NBA Cares Community Assist Award presented by Kaiser Permanente in recognition of their continued commitment to positively impacting their communities through sustained efforts over the course of the season, the NBA announced today.&nbsp;
This year&rsquo;s end-of-season award recognizes five players whose exemplary work advanced social justice and provided COVID-19 relief and support, reflecting the longstanding passion of NBA players to give back to their communities and stand up for the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion.
The five recipients made concerted efforts throughout the 2019-20 season &ndash; which extended nearly a full calendar year including the league&rsquo;s hiatus and restart &ndash; to leverage their platforms and voices to engage, empower and support different communities amidst the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic and social justice movement following continued incidents of racialized violence against Black men and women.&nbsp; Each winning player will receive $10,000 to their charity of choice, a donation from the NBA and Kaiser Permanente.
Harrison Barnes, Sacramento Kings
Barnes has provided meaningful support to youth, families and frontline workers in Sacramento, Dallas and Ames, IA.&nbsp; Barnes and his wife, Brittany, donated $40,000 to deliver weekly groceries for families and senior citizens in Sacramento and contributed an additional $40,000 to Hunger Busters, a local non-profit that provides daily meals for Dallas Independent School District students, and $10,000 to the Boys &amp; Girls Club of Greater Dallas.&nbsp; Barnes provided nearly $200,000 for refurbishments to his alma mater Ames High School to assist with safe and healthy learning.&nbsp; He continues to take a leadership role in fighting for meaningful change to combat racial and social inequities, speaking about the importance of civic engagement and voting at a peaceful protest in downtown Sacramento in support of Black Lives Matter following the tragic murder of George Floyd.&nbsp; As part of the season restart, Barnes dedicated each Kings game to a different organization, including the Trayvon Martin Foundation, The Botham Jean Foundation, The Atatiana Project, Mothers Against Police Brutality, The Michael Brown Foundation, Tamir Rice Foundation, Champion in the Making and the African American Policy Forum, contributing $25,000 to each non-profit created by the families of victims of police brutality and gun violence.&nbsp; Barnes has selected the African American Policy Forum as the recipient of his donation.
&ldquo;It is a great honor to be named among the winners of the NBA Community Assist Award, which I proudly share with my wife, Brittany,&rdquo; said Barnes.&nbsp; &ldquo;Brittany and I remain committed to helping the communities we are connected to, specifically showing our support for families affected by police brutality.&nbsp; We dedicate this award to the legacy of Breonna Taylor and we stand with organizations such as #SayHerName with African American Policy Forum to shine a light on Black women and girls who have been victims of police brutality.&nbsp; We cannot forget them, and the Black men senselessly killed.&nbsp; Our efforts are not done, and we will continue to make a difference to fuel racial and social justice.&rdquo;
Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
Brown has continuously demonstrated leadership in Boston and Atlanta and throughout the hiatus and restart, organizing action and advocating for racial and educational equity.&nbsp; Following the killing of George Floyd, Brown drove 15 hours to his native Atlanta and organized a peaceful march on May 30.&nbsp; Brown&rsquo;s impassioned advocacy towards social justice inspired the Boston Celtics United for Social Justice campaign, a multi-focus commitment to addressing racial injustice and social inequities in the greater Boston area.&nbsp; In response to the pandemic, Brown made a significant contribution to the Boston Resiliency Fund, a city-led effort to assist communities most impacted by the pandemic.&nbsp; His generous donation provided meals for senior citizens and families most in need, new technology for students as they transitioned to remote learning as well as continued support for first responders.&nbsp; Brown has selected the 7uice Foundation as the recipient of his donation.
On receiving the 2019-20 End-of-Season NBA Cares Community Assist Award presented by Kaiser Permanente, Brown shared, &ldquo;There is so much more work to be done.&rdquo;
George Hill, Milwaukee Bucks
Hill and his teammates were instrumental in encouraging members of the NBA family to leverage their collective platforms to advance social justice. &nbsp;Electing not to play on Aug. 26, Hill and the Bucks organized a call with Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes&nbsp;to discuss meaningful measures to address criminal justice reform.&nbsp; In April, he partnered with Represent Justice for a conversation with Xavier McElrath-Bey, who was formerly incarcerated, about the criminal justice system following the Bucks&rsquo; Play for Justice game at Racine Correctional Institution in December.&nbsp; Particularly focused on education, Hill collaborated with community leaders in his hometown of Indianapolis to open Him By Her Collegiate School for the Arts, preparing underserved students for college entry and postgraduate success, and created a youth mentorship program to help Milwaukee Public School students stay engaged during the pandemic called George&rsquo;s Gentlemen.&nbsp; To support those impacted by COVID-19, Hill donated meals to health care workers and contributed to the Bucks Emergency Relief Fund to provide financial relief to Fiserv Forum employees.&nbsp; Hill has selected Represent Justice as the recipient of his donation.
&ldquo;Every day we have to live our lives with greater respect and purpose.&nbsp; This isn&rsquo;t a one-person battle, it&rsquo;s a battle for the entire world,&rdquo; Hill said.&nbsp; &ldquo;Now is the time for us to come together as one and embrace each other, love one another and grow together.&nbsp; Humanity is something we&rsquo;re lacking, and I will continue to do my job to bring back those attributes that we lack today in every community.&rdquo;
Chris Paul, Oklahoma City Thunder
As President of the National Basketball Players Association, Paul played an integral role in ensuring the goal of the season restart would be to take collective action to combat systemic racism and promote social justice, working in partnership with the NBPA and NBA to create social justice messages on jerseys and the court, provide on campus programs and resources for players and use the game&rsquo;s platform to increase awareness around civic engagement.&nbsp; Paul, Portland&rsquo;s Carmelo Anthony and NBA legend Dwyane Wade launched the Social Change Fund in July dedicated to addressing social and economic justice issues facing Black communities and breaking down the discriminatory barriers to success.&nbsp; In March, he collaborated with Live Nation to launch an internship program at North Carolina A&amp;T State University, providing students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities with an opportunity to gain experience in the music industry.&nbsp; As part of the Chris Paul Family Foundation&rsquo;s efforts to strengthen communities, Paul donated meals to feed more than 200 hospital workers in North Carolina during the pandemic.&nbsp; Paul&rsquo;s foundation also partnered with State Farm and Spalding in January to renovate a 30-year-old court at Family T.R.E.E, an organization dedicated to renewing and reunifying families in Oklahoma City, and hosted 100 children from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Oklahoma on a holiday shopping spree, teaching children how to budget their money and give during the holidays.&nbsp; Paul has selected the Chris Paul Family Foundation as the recipient of his donation.
&ldquo;The community assist award is such an honor to me any year, but this year in particular,&rdquo; said Paul.&nbsp; &ldquo;Given everything 2020 has thrown our way, it&rsquo;s important that we the players continue to use our NBA platform to be the voice of the voiceless.&nbsp; I will continue to amplify and support the front-line organizations fighting for racial and economic justice as well as the tireless efforts of the health care workers keeping us healthy and safe during the COVID-19 health crisis.&nbsp; I am so thankful for this acknowledgement as it is one of the proudest accolades an NBA player can receive.&rdquo;
Dwight Powell, Dallas Mavericks
During the pandemic, Powell organized immediate support for families and frontline workers in Dallas.&nbsp; He joined teammate Luka Dončić, Mavericks governor Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks Foundation in donating $500,000 to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Hospital to assist with childcare for frontline workers and provide meals from local restaurants for more than 11,000 health care workers and first responders at the City of Dallas&rsquo; Emergency Operations Center, COVID-19 testing sites and local hospitals.&nbsp; Powell also lifted the spirits of youth during periods of physical distancing, participating in children&rsquo;s hospital virtual room visits, delivering congratulatory messages for 2020 graduates, and making personal phone calls and videos encouraging positivity.&nbsp; He continues to support cancer patients and their families through the Dwight Powell Children and Family Support Fund and as part of NBA restart, orchestrated the entire Mavericks roster to select &ldquo;Equality&rdquo; to wear on their jerseys. Powell has selected Champions of Discovery as the recipient of his donation.
&ldquo;In my opinion, being a member of a community means lending your neighbor a hand whenever needed and searching for ways to help make your community a better place for all who live there,&rdquo; Powell stated. &ldquo;Furthermore, this year has presented us all with challenges that I feel should have reminded us that we are part of a much larger community than our NBA market.&nbsp; The issues at hand regarding public health and equality are far reaching and demand all of our attention.&nbsp; So it goes without saying we as NBA players have felt the need to step up in whatever way we can to try and find ways to help keep people safe, fight for racial justice and urge everyone to register to vote so they too can use their voices. As members of the greater community I feel that&rsquo;s all of our duties.&rdquo;
The NBA Cares Community Assist Award presented by Kaiser Permanente recognizes an NBA player each month who best reflects the passion that the league and its players share for giving back to their communities, and honors the standard set by NBA Legend David Robinson, who improved the community piece by piece.&nbsp; The monthly award recipients in the 2019-20 NBA season included Gorgui Dieng of the Memphis Grizzlies, Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns, DeAndre Jordan of the Brooklyn Nets, Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks and Langston Galloway of the Detroit Pistons.&nbsp;

Harrison Barnes, Jaylen Brown, George Hill, Chris Paul and Dwight Powell received the 2019-20 NBA Cares Community Assist award.