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Nets

Since Halloween is just two-and-a-half weeks away, BasketballNews compiled a list of the best costumes worn by NBA players.

Which NBA players have rocked the best Halloween costumes?

On Saturday, the Enemies and Triplets will battle for the BIG3 championship at The O2 Arena in London.
The Enemies feature Nick Young (the team's captain), Isaiah Austin (co-captain), Elijah Stewart (co-captain), Quincy Miller and Jordan Crawford, with Gilbert Arenas serving as the team's coach.
The Triplets have many familar faces, including Joe Johnson (the team's captain), Jeremy Pargo (co-captain), Larry Sanders, Jamario Moon, Damien Wilkins and Mo Charlo, with Lisa Leslie as their coach.
The Enemies earned a spot in the championship game by defeating three-time champions Trilogy, 50-37. All-Star standout Jordan Crawford led the way with 27 points. This is the Enemies' first-ever championship appearance.
The Triplets won the BIG3 championship back in 2019 and hope to earn their second title this weekend. They advanced to the title game after beating the Ghost Ballers, 50-45. The driving force behind their deep postseason run is back-to-back MVP Joe Johnson (who has a shot at winning a third-straight MVP award).
Prior to the championship matchup, the BIG3 All-Star game will also take place this weekend at The O2 Arena. The game will feature the following All-Stars: Michael Beasley, Jodie Meeks, Jordan Crawford, Mike Taylor, Donte Green, Glen Rice, Earl Clark, Ryan Carter, Joe Johnson, Jeremy Pargo, Leandro Barbosa, Gerald Green, Elijah Stewart, Royce White, Frank Nitty and Jason Richardson.
Both the All-Star game and championship game will be broadcast live on CBS. The All-Star game tips off at 1 p.m. ET, followed by the championship game at 2 p.m. ET.&nbsp;
This is the sixth season of Ice Cube's three-on-three league, and the BIG3 has experienced significant growth in <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/big3-basketball-viewership-keeps-growing-as-sixth-season-continues" target="_blank" rel="noopener">viewership</a> and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/big3-sees-surge-in-tv-ratings-attendance-to-start-sixth-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attendance</a> numbers this year.

On Saturday at The O2 Arena in London, the Enemies will battle the Triplets for the BIG3 title.

Enemies to face Triplets in BIG3 championship at London's O2 Arena

ATLANTA (AP) &mdash; Lou Williams announced his retirement from the NBA on Sunday, ending a career after winning the league&rsquo;s Sixth Man award three times and scoring more points off the bench than anyone in history.
Williams played for six teams &mdash; Philadelphia, Toronto, the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston, the Los Angeles Clippers and Atlanta. He last played in the 2021-22 season with the Hawks.
Out of 1,123 regular-season games played over 17 seasons, Williams came off the bench in 1,001. He scored 13,396 points off the bench, which is 2,117 more than Jamal Crawford and 2,249 more than Dell Curry.
Williams and Crawford are the only three-time recipients of the Sixth Man award in league history.
Williams was the 45th pick in the 2005 NBA draft. Out of the 60 players taken that year, only Chris Paul scored more points in the NBA than Williams &mdash; who went straight to the league out of high school.
He finishes his career with 15,593 points, 131st in NBA history.

Lou Williams retires after winning the NBA's Sixth Man award three times and scoring more points off the bench than anyone in history.

3-time Sixth Man award winner Lou Williams announces retirement

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Kawhi Leonard scored 30 points, Paul George had 24 and the Los Angeles Clippers overcame Stephen Curry&rsquo;s 50-point night to beat the Golden State Warriors 134-126 on Wednesday night.
The Clippers have won four straight to move into fifth place in the Western Conference.
The defending NBA champion Warriors are a game back as the teams split the four-game season series.
Leonard was 10-of-19 from the field for his fourth 30-point effort in the last eight games. He also had eight rebounds and five assists.
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Only 6 players in NBA history have recorded a 50+ point game at age 35 or older. LeBron James (twice) Jamal Crawford Kobe Bryant Michael Jordan Alex English Stephen Curry <a href="https://t.co/joDTrAwTOy">pic.twitter.com/joDTrAwTOy</a>
&mdash; NBA History (@NBAHistory) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAHistory/status/1636229680436051970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Curry tied a season high in points with the 12th 50-point game of his career. He was 20-of-28 from the field and had eight 3-pointers. The Warriors have lost nine straight road games.

Kawhi Leonard scored 30 points, and the Clippers overcame Stephen Curry’s 50-point night to beat the Warriors 134-126.

Clippers overcome Curry's 50-point night to beat Warriors 134-126

A list of 12 of the top talents in modern NBA history to have never appeared in an All-Star Game.

The 12 best modern-history players to never make an NBA All-Star team

The NBA officially announced the four players who will compete in the 2023 Slam Dunk Contest during NBA All-Star Saturday Night in Utah.
The following players are participating:
&bull; K.J. Martin, Houston Rockets
&bull;&nbsp;Trey Murphy III, New Orleans Pelicans
&bull;&nbsp;Jericho Sims, New York Knicks
&bull; Mac McClung, Philadelphia 76ers
The four dunkers will compete in the two-round competition. The NBA also announced that this year's Slam Dunk Contest will be judged by Karl Malone, Dominique Wilkins, Harold Miner, Lisa Leslie and Jamal Crawford.
The Slam Dunk Contest will air on TNT on Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. ET.
Last year, New York Knicks forward Obi Toppin won the 2022 Slam Dunk Contest in Cleveland.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The AT&amp;T Slam Dunk participants ⬇️ Event format and rules: <a href="https://t.co/ablHEJiuxU">https://t.co/ablHEJiuxU</a> <a href="https://t.co/mPI2q9c0Hd">pic.twitter.com/mPI2q9c0Hd</a>
&mdash; NBA Communications (@NBAPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAPR/status/1625647256551424000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2023</a></blockquote>

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The NBA officially announced the four players who will compete in the 2023 Slam Dunk Contest on NBA All-Star Saturday Night.

NBA announces Slam Dunk Contest participants, judges

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Jayson Tatum knew he was sitting on 48 points entering the final minute of the Boston Celtics' Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday and briefly thought about backing the ball out and letting the clock run down with the outcome well in hand.
Then he remembered a text from Jamal Crawford earlier this season after Tatum refused to take a late shot against the Miami Heat and finished the game with 49 points.
&ldquo;Jamal texted me after the game and he's like, &lsquo;If you&rsquo;re ever that close to 50, nobody is going to remember the time and score, they're just going to report if you got 50 or not,'&rdquo; Tatum said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what was going through my mind: Jamal telling me if you get that close to 50, go get it.&rdquo;
So Tatum let loose on a 3-pointer from the left wing with 38 seconds left and swished it, giving him a season-high 51 points &mdash; causing the crowd to erupt with chants of "MVP! MVP! &mdash; as the Celtics beat the Hornets for the second time in three days, 130-118.
It was the seventh 50-point game of Tatum's career.
Derrick White added 19 points and eight assists and Malcolm Brogdon scored 16 for the Celtics, who have won seven straight games. Boston is 33-12 on the season, the best record in the Eastern Conference.
Tatum was 15 of 23 from the field and 14 of 14 from the foul line.
"He makes me look like a better coach," Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said.
Mazzulla said he liked the way Tatum excelled at executing against different coverages the Hornets threw at him.
&ldquo;He didn't settle for shots,&rdquo; Mazzulla said. &ldquo;He got catch-and-shoots, he got off the dribbles, he got layups. The other piece of that is the humility of our team to really work with him to get those 51 points."
Added White: "He wants to be great and he takes that challenge each and every night. He&rsquo;s seen a lot of defense during his time in the league and he is making the right read off of that.&rdquo;
Jalen McDaniels led the Hornets with a career-high 26 points on 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range. LaMelo Ball finished with 25 points on 8-of-23 shooting. Mason Plumlee had perhaps his best all-around game of the season, with 19 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists for the Hornets (11-34), who&rsquo;ve lost eight of their last nine games.
The Celtics set the tone early, jumping out to a 35-22 lead in the first quarter after holding the Hornets to 28.6% shooting from the floor.
Charlotte would fight back to cut the lead to 100-98 early in the fourth quarter, but White was fouled by Dennis Smith Jr. on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws.
Moments later, the Celtics got three long offensive rebounds on one possession before White drove to the rim and scored to increase the lead with 6:34 left, causing Hornets coach Steve Clifford to punch the air in frustration.
&ldquo;When a shot goes up, all five guys should be coming back for the rebound,&rdquo; Clifford said. &ldquo;That is the way we want it. Defensive rebounding is a challenge for our team and we're not overly physical. We have a habit of leaking out and it has cost us two games."
Tatum took over down the stretch, finishing with 17 points in the fourth quarter.
He drilled a step-back 3 from the top of the key over Smith to push the lead to 10 and then buried the Hornets with a long 3 with 1:02 left. Tatum smiled when asked about the MVP chants.
"I hear them and just being in North Carolina, it all feels a little more special, having gone to school two hours away," said Tatum, who spent one season at Duke before entering the NBA draft. "Coming here feels like I'm back home a little bit."
MLK JR. DAY
During pregame warmups, the Celtics and Hornets wore gray and white T-shirts for Martin Luther King Jr. Day that read &ldquo;Now is the time to make justice a reality for all&rdquo; on the front and &ldquo;Honor King&rdquo; on the back.
TIP-INS
Celtics: Finished 24 of 25 from the free-throw line.
Hornets: P.J. Washington had 17 points. ... Clifford said he hopes to get Gordon Hayward (hamstring) and Cody Martin (knee soreness) back for the team's upcoming four-game road trip.
&nbsp;

Jayson Tatum scored 51 points as the Boston Celtics beat the Charlotte Hornets for the second time in three days, 130-118.

Tatum scores 51, Celtics beat Hornets for 7th straight win

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Anfernee Simons scored 32 points and Damian Lillard added 25 as the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Houston Rockets 107-95 on Saturday night.
Portland led by as many as 22 points before Houston closed the gap to 11 points in the fourth quarter with 2:09 remaining, prompting the Trail Blazers to put their starters back in the game.
Jusuf Nurkic scored 14 points and Josh Hart added 12 points and 13 rebounds for Portland. Lillard added 10 assists and two steals.
Portland won for the fourth time in five games. The Blazers entered December with a record of 11-11 and have gone 6-2 this month.
Jalen Green led the Rockets with 15 points, and Kevin Porter Jr., Kenyon Martin Jr., and Tari Eason each added 13 points.
Simons hit 11 of 21 shots from the field, including 5 of 14 from 3-point distance. He had a career-high 45 points two weeks ago in a 116-111 win over Utah.
&ldquo;I thought it was the best defensive game of the year for him, in my opinion,&rdquo; Portland coach Chauncey Billups said. &ldquo;He was locked in, he was physical, he was talking. I&rsquo;m more proud of him for that than the 32 points because he can do that most nights.&rdquo;
Lillard had a relatively quiet night after topping 35 points in four of the previous five games. He went 7 of 20 from the field, including 5 of 13 from 3-point distance. On Monday, he matched a career high with 11 3s on 17 attempts.
Lillard, however, did join the 18,000-point club and enters the next game just 21 points away from surpassing Clyde Drexler for most points in franchise history. Drexler had 18,040 with Portland.
The Rockets struggled from the field, especially from beyond the arc. Houston entered the fourth quarter 1 for 20 from long distance and finished the game 3 for 29.
&ldquo;The first half, we were just missing shots,&rdquo; Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. &ldquo;In the second half, we didn&rsquo;t take good shots, and that was a lack of ball movement. You&rsquo;re going to have nights where you don&rsquo;t make shots, but the ball movement just has to be better.&rdquo;
Houston had a season-low 14 points in the third quarter, and Portland entered the fourth quarter up 20 points, 85-65.
&ldquo;We adjusted well on defense in the third quarter, we were a lot more aggressive, and I think that bothered them a lot,&rdquo; Simons said. &ldquo;That changed the game for us.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Trail Blazers: Jerami Grant was out with back spasms, Portland coach Chauncey Billups said before the game. &hellip; Justise Winslow had four steals.
Rockets: Houston outrebounded Portland 51-37, including 18 offensive rebounds. Sengun led Houston with eight rebounds, Porter added seven, and Usman Garuba had four offensive rebounds. &hellip; Sengun added three blocks. &hellip; Sengun and Smith were issued technical fouls.
ON THE LATE SUBSTITUTIONS
Billups was not pleased with his young reserves after having to put starters back in the game late in the fourth quarter.
&ldquo;That should never happen. They&rsquo;re young, they&rsquo;re sitting over there for most of the game, but it&rsquo;s a luxury to play in the NBA," he said. "I should never have to go back to our starters and risk an ankle tweak or something. But I&rsquo;ve seen that movie too many times in the fourth where teams start to get momentum, and I wasn&rsquo;t going to let that happen. It was a teachable moment for us.&rdquo;
DAME IN THE GREATEST SHOOTER CONVERSATION?
Lillard on Saturday night passed Jamal Crawford for eighth on the all-time NBA 3-pointers made list.
&ldquo;I always see stuff on social media where they talk about the greatest shooters of all-time, and they always act like it&rsquo;s crazy for people to mention me,&rdquo; Lillard said. &ldquo;I think for how many 3s I&rsquo;ve made, for how consistent I make them, the level of difficulty I shoot them for years and years and years, I just think it&rsquo;s kind of crazy that people don&rsquo;t mention me in those discussions. Obviously, I think Steph (Curry) is the greatest ever, but I think after him, I don&rsquo;t see why I&rsquo;m not clear-cut in that discussion.&rdquo;
UP NEXT
Trail Blazers: Visit Oklahoma City on Monday night.
Rockets: Host San Antonio on Monday night.

Anfernee Simons scored 32 points and Damian Lillard added 25 as the Trail Blazers beat the Rockets 107-95 on Saturday night.

Anfernee Simons, Damian Lillard lead Blazers past Rockets 107-95

The Los Angeles Clippers are trying to give their fans a new way to view games. A lot of new views, actually.
And one of them will even feature in-game commentary at times from Clippers chairman Steve Ballmer.
The Clippers announced Monday that they are launching a direct-to-consumer product featuring six different stream options, with more in the planning stages, and without any pay-television subscription required. The NBA&rsquo;s new digital platform, which powers the league&rsquo;s updated app, is the vehicle the Clippers have leveraged to make their idea happen.
The product &mdash; ClipperVision, it&rsquo;s called &mdash; is a first for the NBA, and the team says it is planning on streaming more than 70 games live in-market this coming season.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s inevitable. This is where things are going. It&rsquo;s obvious,&rdquo; Clippers President Gillian Zucker said. &ldquo;The speed at which the pickup takes place, that&rsquo;s the only question mark.&rdquo;
In addition to live streams of traditional Clippers broadcasts, the product also has options where fans can choose an alternate stream; another that offers augmented graphics showing real-time shot probability and other stats during live play; options in both Spanish and Korean; and one called BallerVision &mdash; which will have a rotating lineup of analysts including Jamal Crawford, Baron Davis, Paul Pierce, Quentin Richardson, and Matt Barnes.
And, sometimes, the highly enthusiastic Ballmer will be on there as well.
&ldquo;I have wanted to create a product like ClipperVision since the day I came to the Clippers,&rdquo; Ballmer said. &ldquo;Years of effort, hard work and development have led up to its launch.&rdquo;
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-32369e1c88d94746528c89eedafd321c">The NBA last month unveiled its reimagined app,</a> one that is powered by artificial intelligence to give fans the sort of content they would want in the latest part of the league&rsquo;s own direct-to-consumer plan.
The Clippers are expecting to contend for an NBA title this season with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, and it&rsquo;s a simple formula &mdash; knowing they have a team that fans will want to watch, it just made good sense for the team to find a way to get more eyeballs onto games.
&ldquo;It is a strategic imperative,&rdquo; Zucker said. &ldquo;Steve has said repeatedly, &lsquo;I want to compete for championships every year,&rsquo; and he&rsquo;s willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen.&rdquo;

The product — ClipperVision, it’s called — is a first for the NBA and the team says it is planning on streaming more than 70 games live.

Clippers unveiling new direct-to-consumer viewing option

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Ben Simmons streaked behind the defense and caught a pass in transition that he dunked. About a minute later, he fired a cross-court pass to a Brooklyn Nets teammate for a 3-pointer.
Those were the types of plays the Philadelphia 76ers had seen many times before.
On Monday, Simmons finally made them for another team.
Simmons played against his former club in his first NBA game since June 2021, making him among a number of big names who got back to basketball action.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m grateful just to be able to step on that floor, step on an NBA floor again,&rdquo; Simmons said. &ldquo;So I had a lot of fun out there.&rdquo;
Kawhi Leonard also returned for the Los Angeles Clippers, as did Jamal Murray for the Denver Nuggets, after they both sat out last season recovering from surgeries for ACL tears.
&ldquo;539 days later&hellip; BOUT THAT TIME!!&rdquo; <a href="https://twitter.com/BeMore27/status/1577028842304462850?s=20&amp;t=ONs7jrBtujD6lJ4WvMznnw">Murray wrote on Twitter</a>.
&ldquo;Just being able to put all that hard work that I did throughout the, whatever, 14, 16 months, just being able to put that into test playing against NBA talent was good,&rdquo; Leonard said after the Clippers 102-97 win over Portland. &ldquo;Just being out there with the guys, talking, I missed it. It was a great experience for me.&rdquo;
That's no doubt how their teams felt after expecting to be title contenders last season but instead having those hopes wrecked by injuries. Paul George also missed significant time for the Clippers, and Michael Porter Jr. was out for all but nine games for the Nuggets.
They all played Monday, along with Damian Lillard returning for Portland after missing the final 47 games last season, when the Clippers and Trail Blazers met in a preseason game.
&ldquo;As a fan of the game, Kawhi being back is great for basketball, Jamal Murray being back is great for basketball,&rdquo; the Nets' Kevin Durant said. &ldquo;All the guys that have been out injured and able to play again, it&rsquo;s a great feeling just seeing them out there.&rdquo;
Simmons hoped he was close to playing last February after getting traded to the Nets in a deal headlined by James Harden. Simmons had cited mental health reasons in seeking a trade from the 76ers following a disappointing postseason when he took a bulk of the criticism after the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference was ousted by Atlanta in the second round.
But a herniated disk kept him from making a late-season debut and forced him to get offseason surgery.
Fully cleared now, Simmons was in the starting lineup and finished with six points, five assists and four rebounds in 19 minutes. He went weakly out of Philadelphia, with the last memory of the 2016 No. 1 pick's time there passing up a layup down the stretch of the Game 7 loss to the Hawks. But he looked confident pushing the ball in transition or playmaking from the post &mdash; though did miss his only two free throws.
Simmons said he thought he would feel nervous but didn't. Durant recalled feeling anxious when he returned after missing the 2019-20 season after Achilles tendon surgery.
&ldquo;You wonder how your lungs are going to feel playing in an organized game because playing pickup, working out is different than playing in a game,&rdquo; Durant said. &ldquo;So you just want to see where your legs are on the jump shot. So being away for a year, you get a lot of anxiety coming back. I know I did.&rdquo;
In Seattle, a bevy of big names made their preseason debuts before a sold-out crowd in just the second preseason game between NBA teams in the Emerald City since the departure of the SuperSonics for Oklahoma City.
While there were Clippers and Blazers fans, the prominent color was overwhelmingly green and gold amid constant hope that some day the Sonics will return.
The fans that showed up were treated to Leonard&rsquo;s first action since injuring his knee during the 2021 Western Conference semifinals, just a few days before Simmons.
Leonard looked just fine, knocking down his first shot 15 seconds into the game and scored 11 points in 16 minutes in the first half. John Wall also made his debut with the Clippers after the five-time All-Star did not play last season. Wall scored five points in 11 minutes and George added 12 points in 16 minutes. All three played just the first half.
Lillard played into the second half and had 16 points in 23 minutes.
The royalty of Seattle basketball turned out, including Lenny Wilkens, Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, Jamal Crawford, George Karl, Detlef Schrempf, Sam Perkins and many others connected to the city&rsquo;s hoops history. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer grabbed the microphone before tipoff and thanked his hometown for turning out.
&ldquo;I watched thousands of basketball games in Seattle &mdash; CYO, little kids, AAU, pro, college, you name it. So if this is a basketball city, damnit, let&rsquo;s hear it,&rdquo; Ballmer screamed right before tipoff, eliciting huge cheers from the crowd.
Murray's absence in Denver was even longer, having torn his ACL in April 2021 and leaving him unable to try to duplicate the brilliant postseason he had while leading the Nuggets to the 2020 West finals at Walt Disney World.
Murray scored 10 points in 15 minutes for the Nuggets in their loss to Oklahoma City.
&ldquo;Those long-term injuries are tough, dark,&rdquo; Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. "These guys do not have long windows to play basketball, they cannot play until they are 50. It&rsquo;s tough and takes a lot of commitment and work. The progress, especially early on, is almost invisible. You are non-weight bearing for a large amount of time with those types of injuries. Certainly happy for him and wish him well, in terms of staying healthy. He&rsquo;s a really good player and their team will benefit from having him back.&rdquo;
___
AP Sports Writers Pat Graham in Denver and Tim Booth in Seattle contributed to this report.

"All the guys that have been out injured and able to play again, it’s a great feeling just seeing them out there," Kevin Durant said.

Ben Simmons, Kawhi Leonard, Jamal Murray among happy NBA returns

SEATTLE (AP) &mdash; An NBA preseason game may not seem like a benchmark moment, even in a basketball-hungry city like Seattle, but Jamal Crawford believes there's value even in an exhibition.
&ldquo;It reignites a whole new generation of kids who need to see this,&rdquo; said Crawford, a Seattle native who has been a basketball ambassador for the city through a 20-year NBA career and now with a pro-am that brings in NBA players every summer. &ldquo;They need to be able to dream and know that it&rsquo;s real.&rdquo;
The NBA makes its latest brief return to the Emerald City on Monday night when the Los Angeles Clippers face the Portland Trail Blazers. The matchup will be the first NBA contest here since 2018, when the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings played a preseason game that was the last sporting event inside KeyArena before it was gutted and rebuilt into the gleaming Climate Pledge Arena.
A sell-out crowd turned out for that NBA game, the first one in Seattle since the beloved SuperSonics left for Oklahoma City in 2008 after 41 years in the Pacific Northwest.
&ldquo;The Sonics haven&rsquo;t been a team since I&rsquo;ve been in the NBA. So just to go play in Seattle is cool,&rdquo; Blazers star Damian Lillard said. &ldquo;We played in Vancouver a few years back. I think like two or three years ago, we had a preseason game at the (Memorial) Coliseum. So every time we get to do something like that, I always enjoy it because I wondered what was it like when it was a real thing, when the games were played in these different arenas. So I am excited to play in Seattle.&rdquo;
Someday, possibly soon, the expectations are that Seattle will reclaim its place as an NBA town.
Speculation is nonstop about when the NBA will choose to expand. Thanks to the resolution of its arena situation, Seattle seems likely to be at the forefront of those expansion talks, with Las Vegas likely right behind it.
But NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has been noncommittal about a possible expansion timeline, and it seems likely those talks won&rsquo;t pick up steam until the league deals with the new collective bargaining agreement and television deals that are on the horizon.
The community's commitment has never been in question. The appetite of Seattle fans hasn't waned in the years since the Sonics left and as the region became a hotbed for NBA talent, whether it was Crawford continuing to carry the banner for the city, to Zach Lavine of Renton, Washington, to this year&rsquo;s No. 1 overall pick Paolo Banchero, another Seattle native.
As if any reinforcement was needed, the summer provided a perfect example as fans camped overnight outside Crawford&rsquo;s summer league venue for the chance to get inside and watch LeBron James make his first basketball visit to the city in more than a decade.
"Anyone that knows Seattle knows what a great basketball city we are,&rdquo; Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said this summer when the preseason game was announced.
The idea for having the Blazers and Clippers meet in Seattle was the result of a brainstorm between Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Clippers coach Ty Lue. The two close friends wanted their teams to meet in the preseason and Lue noted the owners for both teams are Seattle based: Steve Ballmer of the Clippers and Jody Allen for the Blazers.
&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been back since I played there in 2008, I think it was. So just to be able to go back there and you know, Mr. Ballmer and kind of see his offices and how he lives, and (Chauncey) to get a chance to see his owner, and then to be with my best friend, I thought it would be a great common ground," Lue said.

The NBA makes its latest brief return to the Emerald City on Monday night when the Clippers face the Blazers.

NBA returning briefly to Seattle; questions of future loom

The NBA Sixth Man of the Year award recognizes the importance of a key player who contributes like a starter despite coming off the bench. Over the last decade, with only one exception (Lou Williams in 2018), nine of the 10 award-winners were a part of a playoff team.
It's fair to say that the Sixth Man of the Year must contribute to a high level of winning.
There is another commonality between the winners of the award over the last 10 seasons: All but one of them have been high-volume guards &mdash; Tyler Herro, Jordan Clarkson, Williams (3x), Jamal Crawford (2x), Eric Gordon and JR Smith (with the one anamoly being Montrezl Harrell.)
Zooming out more, over the last 20 seasons, 17 of the winners were listed as a "shooting guard." Harrell, Lamar Odom and Antawn Jamison were the other three award-winners in that span.
Each of these guards had one job when they came into the game: Get buckets. Every award-winner averaged at least 14 points per game on 40% from the field or better, and 70% of the winners scored more than 18 points per contest. This is often good enough for a top-three scoring season on an individual's team, thus highlighting the important impact they have off the bench.&nbsp;
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But what is the Sixth Man of the Year award really&nbsp;about? Is it about a player's total impact off the bench? Is it the contribution to winning? Or is it merely the ability to score a lot of points while not being in the starting lineup?
The only legitimate qualification for the award is playing with the second unit more than being in the actual starting five. In 2016-17, while Gordon only started 15 games, he was third on the team in minutes played. Herro was also third in minutes for the Miami Heat this past season.&nbsp;
Volume. Volume. Volume.
However, the Sixth Man of the Year award should look beyond the volume scorers by default and focus on those bench players who have a high-level impact on winning teams.
Take, for instance, Tyus Jones. The Memphis Grizzlies finished with the second-best record in the NBA last season (56-26). Yes, Memphis has a budding superstar in Ja Morant, but the Grizzlies are not where they are today without Jones.
Jones led the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio (7.04) by almost 2 assists over the next closest player &mdash; his brother, San Antonio Spurs guard Tre Jones (5.07). Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins has been able to entrust his offense to Tyus with the second unit to the point where Memphis finished with the second-highest scoring average in the NBA last season at 115.6 points per game.&nbsp;
Last season's Sixth Man award-winner was Herro, who had a net rating of plus-5.3. While net rating is more of a team stat, it does indicate that his team was better by more than 5 points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor. In comparison, the Grizzlies were 7.6 points per 100 possessions better than their opponent when Jones was on the floor.&nbsp;
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Taylor Jenkins on how Tyus Jones&rsquo; aggression and confidence scoring the ball enhances the team&rsquo;s offense &mdash; his playmaking, his teammates, productivity <a href="https://t.co/CdGw6gXWRe">pic.twitter.com/CdGw6gXWRe</a>
&mdash; Grizzly Bear Blues (@sbnGrizzlies) <a href="https://twitter.com/sbnGrizzlies/status/1456033306257002504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2021</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just a great connector out there. I love the spirit [and] leadership he plays with, the way he moves the ball,&rdquo; Jenkins said after the playoff-opening loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves last season. &ldquo;Obviously when he&rsquo;s played a bigger role, he&rsquo;s filled those shoes brilliantly. He plays so well, plays great team basketball.&rdquo;
The Grizzlies were also 17-6 in the games in which Jones had to step in, replacing an All-NBA player in Morant due to injury. Herro only started 10 games in Miami last season, and the Heat were 5-5 in those contests. Further, Herro was playing a less crucial position than Jones and replacing a less depended-upon player.
In those 23 contests in which Jones started, he averaged 12.7 points and 6.6 assists per game. Memphis had an improved Offensive Rating and Defensive Rating compared to his time off the bench, good for plus-14.1 per 100 possessions with Tyus starting. In Herro's 10 starts, his scoring average decreased slightly. (His assists did bump to 4.4 helpers a night, though.)
However, in essence, when Jones was called upon to start, he elevated his play with his increased minutes. Herro's starts were essentially on par with his production off the bench, and Miami saw a significant decrease in both ORTG and DRTG with him as a starter; now, this is partly due to who may have been absent from the lineup. Nonetheless, Herro's impact fell well short of Jones when you look beyond pure scoring.&nbsp;
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A prime example of the "impact winning" argument comes from the Utah Jazz in 2020-21, in which both Jordan Clarkson and Joe Ingles were up for Sixth Man of the Year. (One of them clearly had to be the seventh man, right?)
Clarkson was top-three in just two categories for the Jazz, points per game and steals per game; meanwhile, Ingles was top-three in assists, Offensive Rating, three-point percentage, Offensive Plus-Minus and Win Shares. So while Clarkson outscored Ingles by an average of 6 points per game, it certainly seems that Ingles had a bigger impact on winning each game.&nbsp;
The NBA is full of nuance. The MVP has always been a nuanced conversation, where statistics and impact beyond basic scoring are weighed and valued. The MVP off the bench should also be deeper than just being a "bucket-getter."
Guys like Joe Ingles in 2020 and Tyus Jones over the last couple of years are an example of some of the most important players off the bench in the entire Association, and it could lead the latter to some golden hardware this season.

Justin Lewis analyzes how Tyus Jones' importance to the Grizzlies' success could lead to him winning the Sixth Man award.

Why Tyus Jones has a case for 2022-23 NBA Sixth Man award with Grizzlies

J.R. Smith last appeared in an NBA game in the 2019-20 season, when he suited up for the Los Angeles Lakers. In the two years since, we've seen Smith change lanes completely, opting to return to school and play NCAA golf.
However, Smith still has some strong feelings about how his NBA career came to an end. In a <a href="https://stories.complex.com/jr-smith-pivot-tips/2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">newly released Complex interview</a>, Smith&nbsp;was asked if he felt "blackballed in a way" by the NBA.
"Yeah, a hundred percent," Smith responded. "I mean, anybody could sit here and tell you that's a fact."
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J.R. Smith says he, Jamal Crawford, Isaiah Thomas, Nick Young and Joe Johnson have been blackballed from the NBA. Link below for full <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ComplexVolume?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ComplexVolume</a> story and interview with J.R. Smith. 🔗: <a href="https://t.co/HJEfAcMDgC">https://t.co/HJEfAcMDgC</a> <a href="https://t.co/sR7XsSbztz">pic.twitter.com/sR7XsSbztz</a>
&mdash; Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/ComplexSports/status/1565802281534103557?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Smith went on to say that if you exclude the top-three players on each NBA roster, there's not a single player in the league who's better than him.
"I've worked out with these dudes! I've watched their GM come up to me and ask me, 'Yo, why aren't you playing?' You know why I'm not playing!" Smith said. "[They'll say], 'Oh, why aren't you playing? You don't want to play anymore?' Bro... Like, come on."
Smith stressed that he doesn't think his career ended because of his performance on the court. He thinks it came down to money and other factors. He&nbsp;added that this has happened to "a whole genre" of players, and he named Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford, Nick Young and Isaiah Thomas as examples.

J.R. Smith claims that he was blackballed by the NBA, along with Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford, Nick Young and Isaiah Thomas.

J.R. Smith feels he and other veterans were 'blackballed' from NBA

It is common for the players who score the most points to get the most praise. They get the credit on SportsCenter and are viewed as the stars of the night. But there is another kind of player who typically doesn't get the credit they deserve, whose importance to the team is not often illuminated.
Enter Victor Oladipo.
In Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics on Saturday night, Oladipo's 5 points didn't make the ESPN highlight reel or pop out in the box score. His stat line wasn&rsquo;t highlighted on the NBA TV recap.
After being bumped out of the rotation in the first half in favor of Caleb Martin and Duncan Robinson, Oladipo could have pouted and had an attitude. This is something that happens at every level: a player doesn&rsquo;t play in the first half and mentally checks out. Sometimes, they are visibily disgruntled. You may be able to see it during halftime warm-ups or in his demeanor on the bench.&nbsp;
Oladipo didn&rsquo;t do any of that. He stayed locked in and was ready and prepared if his number happened to be called. Then, it happened. Jimmy Butler went down and could not return to the game in the second half. Butler has been carrying the team throughout the series; he is who the offense runs through, who the team relies on every trip down the court in some capacity. When he couldn't return due to a knee injury, Oladipo&rsquo;s number was called and he was ready.
In just 20 minutes, Oladipo had 4 steals (twice as many as the Celtics had as team for the entire game) and 8 pass deflections (one more than the Celtics). After the game, PJ Tucker raved about Oladipo's play.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s usually his offense everybody talks about,&rdquo; Tucker said. &ldquo;He comes in with a spark. But his lateral slides and quickness were unbelievable. I told him tonight, 'That was some of the best lateral foot speed I&rsquo;ve seen anybody have.' Jaylen Brown, when he gets going &mdash; especially right &mdash; he's tough to get back in front of. For Vic to square him up was unreal. He gave us a spark.
&ldquo;We talked about it at the half, knowing he was about to start the half and play. To not play at all and then step in and do what he did in the second half, that level of professionalism is few and far between.&rdquo;
Former NBA guard Jamal Crawford tweeted: &ldquo;Vic Oladipo&rsquo;s stats won&rsquo;t justify the game he actually played. They don&rsquo;t win this game without him.&rdquo;
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Vic Oladipo&rsquo;s stats won&rsquo;t justify the game he actually played. They don&rsquo;t win this game without him.
&mdash; 🏁 Jamal Crawford (@JCrossover) <a href="https://twitter.com/JCrossover/status/1528214518660157440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2022</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;Everything about it, it speaks to his competitive character,&rdquo; Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said of Oladipo. &ldquo;That was not easy. We went with a slightly different rotation because Kyle [Lowry] came back. That is going to force some changes throughout the rotation, so he didn&rsquo;t play in the first half. We&rsquo;ve had so many guys that have had to take on different roles and sacrifice. We say it&rsquo;s always easy to sacrifice when you&rsquo;re not the one doing it, and he&rsquo;s had to sacrifice many times. That wasn&rsquo;t easy. That wasn&rsquo;t necessarily the way we were going to go the first half. Just things were going really well. We just kept going with that. Then, all of a sudden, boom: Jimmy is not going to go in the second half.
"For him to be stable enough and not be frustrated and not be rolling his eyes and like, 'Oh, okay, now I get an opportunity.... he&rsquo;s just steady. Stays the course. He&rsquo;s made himself available, made himself vulnerable through this whole process. He&rsquo;s prepared behind the scenes. His minutes in the second half were so important defensively against their two studs (Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown), and then offensively, he just gave us a facsimile of a lot of the stuff we do with Jimmy. And I mean that as the ultimate compliment.&rdquo;
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This isn&rsquo;t the first time during these playoffs that Oladipo has had to be ready to jump right in and be a determining factor when his number was called. Oladipo was actually outside of Miami's rotation in the first round against the Atlanta Hawks. However, he ended up being one of the key reasons for the Heat's 97-94 win in Game 5, which could have easily gone in the Hawks favor. Oladipo poured in 23 points, 3 assists and 3 steals, while shooting 50% from the floor and 50% from three. After that game, his play was featured in ESPN's highlight reel and his stat line jumped out when looking at the box score.
But again, if he hadn't been ready when his number was called, none of that would have been possible. Time and time again, Oladipo has shown that when given the opportunity, he can produce at a high level and be a game-changing player. Any questions about his past injuries (including a ruptured right quadricep tendon) should be laid to rest as he's proven that he's back in terms of his lateral movement, athleticism, ability to create his own shot, outside shooting and transition defense.
&ldquo;Signing Victor Oladipo [to a veteran-minimum deal] was one of the biggest steals in NBA history for the Miami Heat," said Daniel Abraham, Oladipo&rsquo;s former AAU coach. "To get a former All-Star and All-Defensive Team player still near his prime like that for very little and be able to wait patiently for him to get healthy is the type of move that will likely land them in the NBA Finals! And if you know Vic like I do, you know the level of the dedication and work ethic he has always had, so none of this would surprise you.&ldquo;
Many in the NBA world were ready to write him off into irrelevance after he re-injured his leg in 2020 and got traded twice. In January 2021, Oladipo was traded to the Houston Rockets in the four-team blockbuster deal that also sent James Harden to Brooklyn and Caris LeVert to Indiana. Two months later, the Rockets sent Oladipo to Miami for a first-round pick swap, Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk.
But with all that behind him, Oladipo is proving all of his doubters wrong. He is far from finished and he has proven that he's still capable of being an impact player and a X-Factor for his team &mdash; whether it&rsquo;s by solely playing defense on one of the best scorers in the league or stepping in and being one of the game's high scorers himself. Regardless of his role, Oladipo will have the right attitude and energy, even if those opportunities don&rsquo;t present themselves each and every game.
This is the type of player whom any organization would want on their team, and Oladipo should receive plenty of interest from teams when he hits unrestricted free agency this summer.
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Regardless of what the box score showed, Victor Oladipo played a crucial role in the Heat's Game 3 win over the Celtics.

Victor Oladipo staying ready and making the most of every opportunity

Last night, on his 42nd birthday, Jamal Crawford announced his retirement from the NBA. Crawford is one of eight players in NBA history to play for 20 seasons; only Vince Carter (22), Robert Parish (21) and Kevin Willis (21) had a longer career.
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&ldquo; Goodbye to the game, all the spoils the adrenaline rush.&rdquo; Thank you basketball, I owe you everything &hellip;..✌🏾 <a href="https://t.co/PpKYjoqz9p">pic.twitter.com/PpKYjoqz9p</a>
&mdash; 🏁 Jamal Crawford (@JCrossover) <a href="https://twitter.com/JCrossover/status/1505795444693082112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2022</a></blockquote>
Crawford will go down as arguably the greatest sixth man of all-time, and he's one of just two players to win the Sixth Man of the Year award three times. He was known for creating instant offense off of the bench, and he was one of the league&rsquo;s best ball-handlers &mdash; consistently coming up with new moves and wowing fans with his handles. He scored the second-most points off the bench in NBA history (trailing only Lou Williams), per <a href="https://twitter.com/statmuse/status/1505915685238497285" target="_blank" rel="noopener">StatMuse</a>.
Crawford was also known as one of the best teammates around the league, winning the NBA&rsquo;s Teammate of the Year award in 2018. He has strong relationships with many people around the basketball world &mdash;&nbsp; from players to coaches to executives to media. Throughout his career, he garnered a ton of respect from fellow players because of his immense love of the game and electrifying style of play, which inspired plenty of younger hoopers (especially in his hometown of Seattle).&nbsp;
Over the years, Crawford has done everything in his power to help up-and-coming Seattle-area players, even letting some live with him throughout his NBA career (including Isaiah Thomas, Nate Robinson and Abdul Gaddy among others).
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s all about. When you&rsquo;re a kid, you think it&rsquo;s all about you making it. Then, as you get older, the real joy, the real fulfillment, comes from seeing someone else make it," Crawford <a href="https://hoopshype.com/2018/09/03/nba-seattle-supersonics-sonics-jamal-crawford-proam-crawsover/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told me</a> in 2018. &ldquo;How can I tell someone like Isaiah Thomas or Brandon Roy or Nate Robinson or Tony Wroten or any of these guys to go help the next generation if I&rsquo;m not doing it? It all goes full circle. That&rsquo;s the payback. I don&rsquo;t want anything from those guys, I just want them to do it for the next generation... Before looking at their talent, I like to see how good of a kid they are and what kind of character they have. That&rsquo;s No. 1 for me. Once I see that, I&rsquo;m willing to help to the moon and back. I want to work with them and show them that this [lifestyle] is attainable.&rdquo;
When Crawford thinks about his career, he's said that passing down that pay-it-forward mentality to the next generation of Seattle players is one of his proudest achievements. Chicago Bulls star Zach LaVine raves about Crawford, and he now tries to help younger players just as Crawford helped him.
&ldquo;Jamal is just, like, the best human being. He&rsquo;s a great person,&rdquo; LaVine&nbsp;<a href="https://hoopshype.com/2018/09/03/nba-seattle-supersonics-sonics-jamal-crawford-proam-crawsover/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told me</a> in 2018. &ldquo;I try to be the same way; it&rsquo;s just how you&rsquo;re supposed to be, how you&rsquo;re supposed to treat other people. I thank my parents [for instilling that]. I remember being in high school &ndash; or even right before I entered high school &ndash; getting little invites to their pro runs. To be a high-schooler going up against Brandon Roy, Jamal, Nate Robinson, Tone [Wroten]? You keep getting better and better. You can see the progression, and they can see that you&rsquo;re part of that group of players who will carry on Seattle basketball. You start from a young age and then once you get there [to the pros], you just pass it down the same way.&rdquo;
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Crawford is beloved by quite a few fan bases, having suited up for the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn Nets.
After a productive 2018-19 season with the Suns (where Crawford was a strong leader and scored 51 points in his final game), he had a hard time getting signed by NBA teams. The Nets ultimately signed him during the NBA Bubble in Orlando, but he appeared in just one game before injuring his left hamstring. That would end up being Crawford&rsquo;s final NBA game, as he remained unsigned throughout the 2021-22 season &mdash; even when COVID-19 ravaged rosters and created opportunities for other veterans.
What&rsquo;s next for the 42-year-old? He has already been co-hosting the HooperVision broadcasts on NBA League Pass alongside Quentin Richardson, and he has received other offers in the media space (such as podcasting opportunities). Crawford has long been considered an excellent candidate for a broadcasting gig, and now he can seriously pursue that.&nbsp;
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Recently, Crawford has been coaching his son's basketball team, and he revealed on a Twitter Spaces conversation several months ago that he has received coaching and front-office offers from NBA teams. He has said that he wants to become an NBA executive someday because he feels that the NBA needs more former players in those positions, but it remains to be seen when he&rsquo;ll pursue that.
&ldquo;I [have] wanted to get into management just from the standpoint, I think we need more players in those roles and positions, someone that can give some insight into what it is like in the locker room,&rdquo; Crawford said, according to <a href="https://landonbuford.com/2021/10/03/jamal-crawford-reveals-he-has-gotten-nba-coaching-front-office-offers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Landon Buford</a>. &ldquo;Everything is not about numbers; sometimes, it is: what is driving this person? For example, how much does this person love the game? And is there something off the court affecting his on-the-court play? Those are the little nuances that I don&rsquo;t think they are looking at.
&ldquo;I would love to do that still, but I am enjoying coaching my son&rsquo;s team right now. Like, I am having a ball doing that. And I&rsquo;ll tell you guys that I have gotten offers for front-office and coaching in the NBA. I have put it on pause because I enjoy doing this, and I&rsquo;m the parent that is good with keeping the scorebook. The coach asked me to help out and that turned into a bug. I look forward to it and that&rsquo;s the immediate step basketball-wise, and then the other [stuff] will be there like TV and management hopefully at some point down the road.&rdquo;
After an amazing 20-year career, the basketball world is excited to see what the future holds for Crawford.
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Last night, on his 42nd birthday, Jamal Crawford announced his retirement after a 20-year NBA career. What's next for Crawford?

Jamal Crawford retires after 20-year NBA career: What's next for him?

I still remember when I got the call that I&rsquo;d been traded from New Orleans to Indiana. It was the third time I was traded in my career, and by this point, I was going on 34 years old. I didn&rsquo;t want to leave my guys Chris Paul and David West, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The silver lining for me was that I was heading to Indiana to join a team with a nice group of young players, including Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and two rookies named Paul George and Lance Stephenson.
So it made me really happy to see that Lance not only got another shot with Indiana this season, but that <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lance-stephensons-energy-would-make-him-a-perfect-tank-commander-for-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he&rsquo;s made the most of it</a>. Last week, Lance dropped 30 on the Nets, and even scored 20 straight points in the game&rsquo;s first quarter. I was so happy for him, just like I was happy for guys like Joe Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and Greg Monroe, to name a few.
G League guys get &ldquo;called up,&rdquo; but some <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/greg-monroe-and-the-brief-case-for-us-to-see-more-nba-veterans-this-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">veteran players were fortunate to get called back</a>. It&rsquo;s hard to come back to the league after you&rsquo;ve spent a year or two away, but this season, a lot of guys have made it look really easy. They deserve props.
Everyone who loves the NBA owes the guys who are coming in and playing on these 10-day contracts, because the season would have probably been suspended already if it wasn&rsquo;t for them.&nbsp;
But what the whole situation has revealed, to me, is that there are some teams that have faith in their developmental programs, and some that don&rsquo;t.
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When I was coaching in the G League, we approached the situation with our players on the Canton Charge as if we were developing them and preparing them to get called up to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers one day. The G League is the NBA&rsquo;s farm system, and it&rsquo;s supposed to be used as the training ground for the league. Even I am an example of that &mdash; I spent a year with Canton before I was promoted to an assistant coach for the Cavs.&nbsp;
In theory, the same thing is supposed to happen with the G League players.
Like I said, I am happy for guys like Lance, Joe and Isaiah. Someone like Jamal Crawford should still be in the league right now.&nbsp;
But when a team goes out and signs a guy who&rsquo;s been out of the league to a 10-day contract, it does make you wonder a bit.&nbsp;
A guy coming in on a 10-day isn&rsquo;t coming to the team with an understanding of the team&rsquo;s offensive system, the team&rsquo;s coaching staff or any of his teammates&rsquo; tendencies. For the most part, he&rsquo;s being signed as an insurance policy to be available to play a few minutes and to play off of muscle memory. In most situations, he probably isn&rsquo;t going to be incorporated very much into the team&rsquo;s long-term plans.
G League call-ups, on the other hand, should already be familiar with the culture of the organization and the system that his team is running. So if a team has players out with COVID (or for whatever reason) and it finds itself in a pinch, the G League should be the first place to turn to. In some cases, you can look at some of the teams that do things the right way, and see the rewards they get from taking player development seriously.
Look at Miami, for example.
When I was in the NBA, even before there was a G League, Pat Riley and the Heat had a reputation for finding guys with potential and turning them into ballers. I think about guys like Voshon Leonard, Caron Butler, Udonis Haslem and D-Wade, as well as some of the younger guys like Mario Chalmers, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
This season, Omer Yurtseven&rsquo;s name is starting to ring out. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/omer-yurtseven-georgetown-hoyas-nc-state-wolfpack-fenerbahce-ulker-turkey-2020-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Look him up</a>.
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Omer Yurtseven now has 10 straight games with 12+ rebounds. That is a new 𝙈𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙞 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 breaking Hassan Whiteside's previous streak of 9. Yurtseven is only the 3rd rookie ever to accomplish this feat. Blake Griffin was most recent.<a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiamiHEAT</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HEATCulture?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HEATCulture</a> <a href="https://t.co/wjLjK9yj0z">pic.twitter.com/wjLjK9yj0z</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallyHEAT/status/1478951383244197889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

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He might not ever be an All-Star or anything like that, but he&rsquo;s just another example of a player that Miami got its hands on and prepared for the big leagues. They&rsquo;ve had guys in and out the lineup all season, and have had to rely on some of their end-of-bench guys and replacement players &mdash; and they really haven&rsquo;t skipped a beat.
That&rsquo;s a developmental culture.
Already this season, there have been over 100 G League call-ups, and what I&rsquo;m really paying attention to is the amount of guys who get called up by the team that their G League team is affiliated with. That kind of continuity, in my opinion, should be the goal. If every team strives to treat its G League affiliate like a true farm system, it will help to advance the game and could continue to help make the G League a more viable alternative for players who might not be good enough to play in the NBA as soon as they&rsquo;re eligible.
While on the subject, I will show some love to the Magic, who have called up five players so far this season, four of them from their affiliate in Lakeland. The Thunder have called up four of their own guys from the Blue; meanwhile, the Lakers (South Bay), Pistons (Motor City Cruise) and Sixers (Delaware Blue Coats) have gotten good mileage out of their G League programs too.
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Of all years, if you can&rsquo;t find use for your G League affiliate this season, why bother having a G League affiliate at all? That&rsquo;s the way I see it.
At the end of the day, the NBA is a fraternity. I have a lot of brothers still playing in the league and others who are blessed to be coaching or otherwise working for teams. I&rsquo;m rooting for everyone to succeed, and hope that the league is able to continue to thrive and bring us exciting basketball, in spite of COVID.
I just couldn&rsquo;t help but to think about all the G League players who are hoping to find their own opportunity and get their 15 minutes of fame.&nbsp;
Some guys literally work their entire lives for that one moment, and I hope as many as possible continue to get them this season.
In the long run, the game and the G League itself will both be better off for it.

The pandemic has resulted in over 100 G League players being called up this season. But some teams can't rely on their prospects.

This season, we’re seeing the teams that trust their G League program

The&nbsp;<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/jamal-crawfords-welcome-to-the-nba-moment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/giannis-antetokounmpo-shares-why-he-doesnt-associate-or-practice-with-other-nba-players-in-the-offseason/" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">following article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="http://basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://BasketballNetwork.net" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">BasketballNetwork.net</a>:
For a lot of players, getting used to the off-court realities of NBA life is as challenging as figuring out the game itself. As much as they remember the first time someone schooled them on the court, players also remember the first time they realized there are no feelings and loyalty in the business of the NBA. Jamal Crawford learned that lesson early on in his career.
&ldquo;This is a business&rdquo;
With the No. 8 pick in the 2000 NBA Draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers selected Jamal Crawford, but rerouted him to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Chris Mihm and cash. A rebuilding team that was trying to find its way after Michael Jordan left Chicago for good, the Bulls were turning to young prospects. That gave Crawford the confidence that they would have patience with young players who show potential.
Then, a &ldquo;welcome to the NBA&rdquo; moment sobered Crawford up.
"The first one I can remember, like &lsquo;Whoa, this is a business' was Khalid El-Amin," Crawford <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/tr/podcast/jamal-crawford/id1443174829?i=1000536338009&amp;l=tr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said on The Habershow</a>. "He was playing well &mdash; he was a second-round pick &mdash; and I&rsquo;m pulling in to the facility, and he&rsquo;s leaving the facility. I&rsquo;m like &lsquo;Where you going? We got practice.' And he was like, &lsquo;They just let me go.&lsquo; I was playing behind him, here I am a lottery pick! He had a better rookie season, flat out."
El-Amin was a member of the 1999 Huskies team that won the NCAA championship. He was the 34th pick in the same draft as Crawford, playing ahead of him, getting real NBA minutes and performing; yet, it wasn&rsquo;t enough. The craziest part is that El-Amin was selected to play in the Rookie-Sophomore game that season. That means he was considered to be one of the 12 best rookies in the NBA. A month later, he was let go by the Bulls.
Crawford couldn&rsquo;t believe it.
&ldquo;That was my first 'welcome to the NBA' moment where I was like, &lsquo;What to hell, this makes zero sense?!&rsquo; I forgot about that part, he made the Rookie-Sophomore game. He was balling! I&rsquo;ve never told that story, that&rsquo;s crazy," Crawford <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/tr/podcast/jamal-crawford/id1443174829?i=1000536338009&amp;l=tr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
Jamal had to wrap his head around the fact that even if you&rsquo;re playing great, sometimes that&rsquo;s just not enough.
Potential is everything
El-Amin played for the Dakota Wizards in the D-League (now G League) the next year, but those minutes with the Bulls were his last in the NBA. After that, it&rsquo;s a list of teams overseas for an impressive international career. But why do you draft a guy only to cut him so quickly, particularly after he&rsquo;s outplayed his draft position?
There&rsquo;s nothing general managers love more than to draft well in the second round; that boosts their credibility and literally buys a few years of job security. But given the fact no other team signed El-Amin after the Bulls let him go, there was an obvious consensus he&rsquo;s not good enough for the Association.
Teams are always thinking two moves ahead, and at 5-foot-10, a player&rsquo;s potential in the NBA is limited. You literally have to be the best scorer in the fourth quarter in NBA history (Isaiah Thomas, for those who don&rsquo;t know enough about the King in the Fourth) to offset your defensive limitations. And the moment IT stopped dropping 30, he was out of the league before we knew it. But Kudos to Thomas for making it back this season on a pair of 10-days.
But Crawford learned quickly as a rookie about the harsh side of the league.
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Jamal Crawford recalls the time he found out firsthand the harsh realities of the NBA.

Jamal Crawford relays when he found out the NBA was a business

The&nbsp;<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/tracy-mcgrady-to-launch-1-on-1-nationwide-basketball-league/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/giannis-antetokounmpo-shares-why-he-doesnt-associate-or-practice-with-other-nba-players-in-the-offseason/" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">following article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="http://basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://BasketballNetwork.net" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">BasketballNetwork.net</a>:
The success of Ice Cube&rsquo;s BIG3 basketball league showed there is a hole in the market for alternative-format basketball leagues. Now, Tracy McGrady is trying to come up with a concept of his own:
&ldquo;Ones Basketball Association&rdquo;
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The Hall of Famer joined Jamal Crawford and Quentin Richardson on &ldquo;NBA HooperVision,&rdquo; a broadcast on NBA League Pass. While watching the Bucks blowout the Magic &mdash; the final result was 136-118 &mdash; T-Mac announced he&rsquo;s in the process of starting a professional one-on-one basketball league.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m creating something, a one-on-one league that I&rsquo;m creating,&rdquo; McGrady said. &ldquo;Nationwide. Not a tournament, a league. 18 and up. It&rsquo;s called OBA. Ones Basketball Association. Coming to you.&rdquo;
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Tracy McGrady just announced on HooperVision he&rsquo;s in the process of starting a professional 1-on-1 league, for 18 and over adults, called the OBA (Ones Basketball Association) Details ⬇️ <a href="https://t.co/YkkfTbuaW4">pic.twitter.com/YkkfTbuaW4</a>
&mdash; Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/1476736450485899265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2021</a></blockquote>

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McGrady has yet to reveal more details about the project. He also didn&rsquo;t specify when he plans to launch it. But judging by Jamal Crawford&rsquo;s reaction, who is one of the greatest one-on-one players the NBA has ever seen, the potential entertainment value of such a league is enormous.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m calling you, man,&rdquo; Crawford said to McGrady, aspiring to join the project both as a player and a business partner. &ldquo;I need in.&ldquo;
Following BIG3&rsquo;s example
When Ice Cube launched BIG3, he wanted to allow guys who had &ldquo;honed basketball skills to the highest level to continue to play at a high level.&rdquo; T-Mac aims to do the same thing, just through a different format, arguably an even more exciting one to watch.
Following the 2020 season&rsquo;s cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic &mdash; going into its fourth season &mdash; the BIG3 faced the challenge of regaining momentum and keeping the league alive. The league even lost one of its biggest sponsors in Adidas due to financial losses caused by the pandemic.
But the project&rsquo;s core idea &mdash; returning favorite former NBA players back to pro-level action &mdash; is still alluring to the basketball public. Now it&rsquo;s just a matter of regaining awareness and reminding people of what they liked about the league in the first place.
McGrady&rsquo;s project seems to be along the same lines. If executed properly, assuming Crawford isn&rsquo;t the only one-on-one artist interested in participating, Ones Basketball Association has the potential to be a huge success. We can&rsquo;t wait for it to launch &mdash; fans always welcome any form of competitive basketball involving NBA-caliber players.
&nbsp;

On NBA HooperVision, Tracy McGrady announced one-on-one basketball league.

Tracy McGrady to launch one-on-one nationwide basketball league

Across the country, mostly in the living rooms of their parents&rsquo; homes, the NBA's 2020 draft class sat with bated breath. Separated by physical proximity, they were united in their collective hopes and aspirations.
As expected, Anthony Edwards, James Wiseman and LaMelo Ball were the first three to hear their names called. And after the Detroit Pistons opted for Killian Hayes with the seventh overall pick, the New York Knicks were on the clock.
What was clear when the Knicks were picking at No. 8 was the perpetual truth: the team needed a point guard.
Instead, and rather inexplicably, they opted for another forward &mdash; the Brooklyn-born Obi Toppin.
Back on Nov. 18, 2020, Tyrese Haliburton was the right pick. And as he pushes incumbent De&rsquo;Aaron Fox for lead guard responsibilities in Sacramento, at this moment, the same holds true.
But in the NBA, young players are like securities being traded on the New York Stock Exchange; today&rsquo;s value doesn&rsquo;t guarantee a future payoff.
And now more than ever, opportunity is knocking on Toppin&rsquo;s door.
On Thursday, Julius Randle was placed in the NBA&rsquo;s health-and-safety protocols. Slowly but surely, the sophomore highflier has forced head coach Tom Thibodeau to find minutes for him simply because Toppin&rsquo;s game impact and energy became impossible to ignore. He&rsquo;s taken full advantage of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/as-a-franchise-player-julius-randle-has-left-a-lot-to-be-desired" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lazy and uninspired effort</a> of many of the team&rsquo;s players who were ahead of him on the depth chart. And now, he will go from being an afterthought to a feature attraction, even if only for a handful of games.
In the NBA, opportunities come and go. One minute, you&rsquo;re a rookie whose potential alone earns you adoration and admiration. The next thing you know, you&rsquo;re buried on the bench next to Kevin Knox.
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Way back in 2009, the Knicks needed a point guard (surprise, surprise) and head coach Mike D&rsquo;Antoni lusted over an undersized guard from Davidson University named Stephen Curry. The front office was all-in on selecting him as the mastermind of the team&rsquo;s offense, and the prospect was equally exciting to Curry and those close to him.
The only problem was that the Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves had both indicated a want for depth at the guard position. The two teams owned the fourth, fifth and sixth picks. Ironically, the Golden State Warriors were perhaps the one team selecting ahead of New York that didn&rsquo;t appear to have a need at guard.&nbsp;
According to verteran reporter Marc Stein, the Warriors&rsquo; ownership group <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=4284512" target="_blank" rel="noopener">traveled to Memphis</a> to meet with promising third-year guard Monta Ellis to discuss his future with the team, including the fact that he would be handed the keys to the offense. This came after Golden State agreed to trade veteran Jamal Crawford to the Atlanta Hawks and received another guard prospect, Acie Law, in return. Aside from those two, the likes of Anthony Morrow and C.J. Watson were also demanding minutes. Curry was not believed to be filling a position of need in Oakland.&nbsp;
The prevailing sentiment was that Golden State would go big with its seventh pick, and when Curry was the selection, there was a belief that he would be included in a trade to Phoenix that would land Amar&rsquo;e Stoudemire with the Warriors.
That obviously didn&rsquo;t happen, and needless to say, Curry quickly managed to work his way through the crowded rotation and become a truly revolutionary player.&nbsp;
He somehow managed to fulfill his mighty destiny wearing the jersey of a team that didn&rsquo;t seem to need him at the time.
Sound familiar?
It&rsquo;d be crazy to compare Toppin, even at this stage, to Curry. But the soil must be tilled before the crop thrives. And if a player has that kind of potential in him, he&rsquo;ll make the most of his opportunity when it&rsquo;s presented.
For Toppin, now is certainly the time for him to begin to kindle.
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In five of the six drafts between 2015 and 2020, the Knicks had a top-10 selection. They ended up with Kristaps Porzingis, Frank Ntilikina, Kevin Knox, RJ Barrett and Toppin.
Porzingis was obviously a good pick, and it&rsquo;s too soon to make any definitive declaration about Barrett or Toppin. But even with those three, it&rsquo;s impossible to not think of them in connection with another player who could have paid New York greater dividends.
It&rsquo;s easy to wonder what could&rsquo;ve been if the Knicks ended up with the second pick in 2015 and selected D&rsquo;Angelo Russell, particularly when Porzingis is now in Dallas. Donovan Mitchell and Bam Adebayo were selected after Ntilikina in 2017, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Miles Bridges lead the pack of players who could&rsquo;ve been donning a Knicks jersey rather than Knox.
As promising as Barrett has seemed at times, one must remember that the Knicks had the league&rsquo;s worst record in 2018 and that even the &ldquo;consolation prize&rdquo; of Ja Morant would&rsquo;ve actually been the long-awaited savior. Had they won the lottery and selected Zion Williamson, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant may have landed at Madison Square Garden rather than Barclays Center.
Of course, none of this matters that much right now, but that historical context makes it impossible to ignore Haliburton&rsquo;s coming of age in Sacramento and compare it with the strides that Toppin has (or hasn&rsquo;t, depending on your perspective) made in New York.
Fortunately for Obi, his story is really just beginning.&nbsp;
And when we look back at it in the not-so-distant future, the opportunity that now avails could either be the beginning of the end, or the most important chapter.
When he heard his name called by Commissioner Adam Silver, Toppin was emotional. He vowed to do all he could to become a difference-maker.
He now has the chance to make good.

With Julius Randle on the shelf, the Knicks will be relying on Obi Toppin. This is the sophomore's chance to show what he's made of.

This is the opportunity Obi Toppin has been waiting for

The&nbsp;<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/heres-how-special-joe-johnsons-return-really-is/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/giannis-antetokounmpo-shares-why-he-doesnt-associate-or-practice-with-other-nba-players-in-the-offseason/" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">following article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="http://basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://BasketballNetwork.net" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">BasketballNetwork.net</a>:
After ending a three-year absence from NBA basketball, "Iso" Joe Johnson is back with the Boston Celtics. He played less than one minute in his return to the NBA, but was able to knock down a late-game jumper for the team that drafted him in 2001.
Now, only he and the prestigious Dirk Nowitzki have scored buckets for the same team as a 20-year old and a 40-year old.&nbsp;
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Players to score as a 20-year-old and a 40-year-old for the same NBA team: - Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas - Joe Johnson, Boston
&mdash; Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) <a href="https://twitter.com/ByTimReynolds/status/1473851864584183809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 23, 2021</a></blockquote>

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For those who don&rsquo;t remember Johnson in a Celtics uniform during their famous Eastern Conference Finals juggernaut run in 2002, there&rsquo;s a key reason. The Phoenix Suns sent Tony Delk and Rodney Ray Rogers (who was once famous for scoring &zwnj;nine&zwnj; &zwnj;points&zwnj; &zwnj;in&zwnj; &zwnj;eight&zwnj; &zwnj;seconds&zwnj; &zwnj;against&zwnj; &zwnj;the&zwnj; &zwnj;Utah&zwnj; &zwnj;Jazz) away to Boston for Johnson in &zwnj;a&zwnj; &zwnj;late&zwnj;-February&zwnj; &zwnj;trade.
Is there a reason the Celtics had no idea that Iso Joe would go on to be one of the most gifted scorers of the 2000s, toppling over 20,000 points for his career and counting? The Celtics coach at the time, Rick Pitino, couldn&rsquo;t recognize young talent even if it started for him. Guess who the Celtics drafted No. 3 overall and let walk before the season even started?&nbsp;
Chauncey Billups! Thanks Pitino...
In the present day, there is a chance Johnson might mentor Jayson Tatum and teach him how to become an even greater iso player than he already is. Of course, this is only inhibiting the part of Tatum&rsquo;s game that doesn&rsquo;t involve teammates and leads to the occasional Marcus Smart callout. But hey, it&rsquo;s not like Johnson can do any harm to the Celtics&rsquo; chemistry and stylistic problems.
Would you have guessed that Johnson was a seven-time All-Star and an All-NBA player in 2010? That&rsquo;s as many All-Star appearances as Scottie Pippen, Kevin McHale and Willis Reed &ndash; all while competing with Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Tracy McGrady, Paul Pierce, Dwyane Wade, Gilbert Arenas, Vince Carter and Carmelo Anthony during his peak in the East from 2007-14.&nbsp;
Even if he doesn&rsquo;t stay past his 10-day contract, he is now on a Mount Rushmore with only Dirk Nowitzki&rsquo;s face beside him. Those accomplishments last forever.
With Lance Stephenson on the Hawks, Isaiah Thomas on the Lakers and now Johnson on the Celtics, it's only fitting to ask when Jamal Crawford is making his return. (He might be too busy with Quentin Richardson doing their &lsquo;NBA Hooper Vision&rsquo; stream for league pass games, though.)
Here's another name that comes to mind...
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😂😂😂😂😂 I can&rsquo;t <a href="https://t.co/aRHFJrw44b">https://t.co/aRHFJrw44b</a>
&mdash; DWade (@DwyaneWade) <a href="https://twitter.com/DwyaneWade/status/1473890924694413316?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 23, 2021</a></blockquote>

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It looks like Wade&rsquo;s already made it clear that you can cross him off of your Christmas wish list.&nbsp;
Check out more articles from BasketballNetwork.net&nbsp;<a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

When Joe Johnson made an isolation jumper late in the fourth quarter for the Celtics, he joined another legend in NBA history.