Demons

Anthony Edwards' meteoric rise in the NBA continues relentlessly. The 23-year-old Minnesota Timberwolves superstar has added another chapter to his burgeoning playoff legacy, leading his team to a 4-1 series victory over the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Semifinals. This triumph not only propels the Timberwolves to their second consecutive Western Conference Finals but also reinforces Edwards' growing reputation as the league's premier "legend killer."
The term "legend killer" may have been used in jest by fans and analysts, but it's becoming more apt with each passing series. Edwards is carving out one of the most impressive early playoff resumes in recent memory, routinely stepping up against the game's brightest stars and emerging victorious.
Slaying giants and legends is becoming a playoff tradition for Edwards
Edwards' postseason journey reads like a who's who of NBA royalty. Last year, he spearheaded the Timberwolves' stunning run through the Western Conference, eliminating a Phoenix Suns team led by future Hall of Famers Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. In the following round, they went toe-to-toe with reigning MVP Nikola Jokić and the defending champion Denver Nuggets &ndash; and prevailed.
This season has followed a similar narrative. In the first round, Edwards and the Wolves dispatched the Los Angeles Lakers in five games. Edwards outdueled both LeBron James and Luka Doncic on both ends of the floor and delivering clutch baskets in high-pressure moments.
Now, in the semifinals, he's taken down a Warriors team that boasted championship pedigree and playoff-tested veterans in Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green &ndash; and would have had Stephen Curry, were it not for injury.
It's no wonder the nickname "legend killer" has started to stick. Edwards is not just winning playoff series; he's ending runs and ushering in a new era of stardom. Few players his age have compiled such an impressive list of postseason victims &ndash; and he's doing it as the unquestioned leader of a franchise that hadn&rsquo;t been to the Conference Finals in 20 years before his arrival.
Golden State&rsquo;s fortunes took a major hit just minutes into Game 1 when Stephen Curry pulled up lame, clutching his left hamstring. The team initially called it &ldquo;tightness,&rdquo; but subsequent scans revealed a strain that would sideline the two-time MVP for the remainder of the series.
Curry&rsquo;s absence was devastating. In Game 1, the Warriors managed to win despite him being out for the majority of the game, and Golden State was within striking distance. But without him, the Warriors lacked spacing, cohesion, and a consistent scoring threat. Butler, whom the Warriors acquired midseason for a late title push, averaged a decent amount of points in the series but struggled to find rhythm without Curry drawing double teams. Draymond Green&rsquo;s defensive prowess and playmaking were neutralized by Minnesota&rsquo;s size and physicality.
Minnesota, meanwhile, smothered Golden State with a vaunted defense led by Jaden McDaniels, Rudy Gobert, and Edwards. The Wolves&rsquo; game plan was simple yet effective: deny Butler clean looks, collapse on drives, and force role players to beat them. Brandin Podziemski and Buddy Hield were rather inconsistent, while Jonathan Kuminga, though promising, lacked the polish to carry the scoring load for the entire series. The Warriors ultimately lost four straight games after taking the opener.
Timberwolves' strategic mastery&nbsp;
Minnesota&rsquo;s resurgence is as much about front-office vision as it is about Edwards&rsquo; emergence. The franchise made a controversial decision last summer, trading long-time star Karl-Anthony Towns &ndash; the face of the franchise for nearly a decade &ndash; to the New York Knicks in exchange for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.
Initially panned as an overreaction to last year&rsquo;s Conference Finals loss, the move has aged like fine wine. Randle brought a rugged interior presence and a scorer's mindset that perfectly complements Rudy Gobert&rsquo;s defense-first approach. In these playoffs, Randle has arguably been playing the best basketball of his life, often bullying smaller defenders in the post while spacing the floor just enough to allow Edwards room to operate.
DiVincenzo, a tenacious defender and underrated shooter, has been an x-factor despite struggling a bit in the playoffs. He has consistently hit timely threes while guarding opposing guards with a relentless motor. His chemistry with Edwards has flourished, allowing the Wolves to maintain intensity on both ends without sacrificing floor spacing.
Add in the steady leadership of Mike Conley and the rim protection of Gobert and Naz Reid off the bench and the perimeter defense by McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and you&rsquo;ve got one of the most well-balanced teams left in the playoffs.
With this series win, the Timberwolves have secured their second straight appearance in the Western Conference Finals &ndash; a feat that once seemed unimaginable for a franchise long plagued by mediocrity. They fell to Dallas in last year&rsquo;s WCF, but the lessons from that loss are clearly paying off.
This version of the Wolves is deeper, more experienced, and far more adaptable. They&rsquo;ve shown they can win gritty, defensive battles or shoot it out when the game opens up. Coach Chris Finch has masterfully balanced rotations and drawn up sets that accentuate Edwards&rsquo; strengths while keeping Randle, Gobert, and DiVincenzo involved.
The next step now is breaking through to the NBA Finals &ndash; something no Timberwolves team has ever accomplished.
Being the &lsquo;face of the league&rsquo;
As the NBA&rsquo;s long-standing icons gradually wind down their careers, the league is searching for its next torchbearer. While players like Jayson Tatum, Luka Dončić, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are all in the mix, few have made as loud a postseason statement as Anthony Edwards.
His playoff numbers &mdash; 27.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.6 assists per game &mdash; don&rsquo;t just tell the story of a rising superstar, they scream franchise cornerstone and future MVP. More importantly, Edwards has embraced the spotlight, asking for it and owning the pressure of delivering wins against the best in the world.
He&rsquo;s charismatic, fiercely competitive, and fearless. His ability to elevate his game in the postseason, rise above elite opponents, and close out games has drawn comparisons to legends of the past. And with every &ldquo;legend&rdquo; he defeats, Edwards inches closer to becoming one himself.
Anthony Edwards isn&rsquo;t just adding to his playoff resume &mdash; he&rsquo;s building a legacy. One legendary opponent at a time.
And if the &ldquo;legend killer&rdquo; keeps this up, the next generation of NBA stars might be defined by who manages to take him down.

Anthony Edwards continues his rise as the NBA’s “Legend Killer,” leading the Timberwolves past the Warriors to reach the WCF again.

Anthony Edwards adds to ‘legend killer’ legacy as Wolves eliminate Warriors in 5

The 2025 Western Conference Semifinals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets have lived up to the hype, with the series knotted at 2-2. As the teams prepare for a crucial Game 5 in Oklahoma City, both squads face pressing questions and necessary adjustments to gain the upper hand. With a trip to the Western Conference Finals on the line, every possession, coaching decision, and hustle play will matter more than ever.
-- -- --
Thunder's path to regaining control
Assert themselves on the boards
The Thunder&rsquo;s lack of consistent rebounding has emerged as one of their most glaring weaknesses in this series. Despite boasting athletic bigs and switchable wings, they&rsquo;ve repeatedly been outmuscled on the glass by Denver&rsquo;s physical frontcourt led by Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon. The Nuggets have often out-rebounded the Thunder, securing offensive boards that led to multiple second-chance scoring opportunities. Those extra possessions have proven costly for OKC in close games.
Part of the issue stems from the Thunder often playing smaller lineups, which prioritize speed and switchability over size and physicality. While that identity served them well in the regular season, playoff basketball demands toughness in the paint. Oklahoma City will need to play more of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein to go up against Jokic and Gordon, and commit more to boxing out and crashing the boards. Their guards must also help secure long rebounds and quickly push the ball in transition, turning defensive stops into offensive chances.
To win Game 5 and take control of the series, the Thunder cannot afford to give the Nuggets repeated second opportunities. Rebounding isn&rsquo;t just about size, it&rsquo;s about desire, positioning, and timing. If OKC can neutralize Denver&rsquo;s rebounding edge and limit their putback chances, it could be a decisive swing factor on their home floor.
Rediscover offensive fluidity
Oklahoma City has struggled to find its usual offensive rhythm over the past two games. The Thunder's offense is built on movement, ball-sharing, and improvisation &ndash; playing freely with joy and confidence. But as the series has worn on and the physicality has ramped up, OKC has looked more rigid and hesitant, settling for tough isolation plays instead of generating quality looks through movement.
In Games 3 and 4, Denver&rsquo;s defense disrupted OKC&rsquo;s pace by pressing up on ball-handlers and switching effectively on screens. The Thunder have sometimes become overly reliant on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to bail them out in late-clock situations. While SGA is an elite shot-creator, Oklahoma City&rsquo;s offense thrives most when all five players are involved. Getting back to their roots &ndash; cutting off the ball, pushing in transition, and trusting each other&rsquo;s instincts &ndash; can unlock the offensive flow that&rsquo;s been missing.
Reclaiming that offensive identity also means trusting players like Cason Wallace and Isaiah Joe to take open shots and make quick decisions. Jalen Williams, who has flashed brilliance at times, must stay aggressive and attack mismatches. If the Thunder return to playing free and fearless, as they did in their Game 2 blowout win, they&rsquo;ll be much harder to guard and far more dangerous heading into a pivotal Game 5.
MVP-caliber performance from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
While SGA has delivered solid numbers throughout the series, Oklahoma City needs a transcendent Game 5 performance from their MVP candidate. Through four games, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 28.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 5.8 assists &ndash; but his impact hasn&rsquo;t always translated to late-game success. Denver has thrown multiple defenders at him, forcing tough midrange shots and limiting his trips to the free-throw line. For OKC to thrive, SGA must assert himself early and often, controlling the tempo and creating high-quality looks for both himself and his teammates.
This is the kind of moment where MVPs rise above the game plan. Whether it's hunting mismatches, collapsing the defense to kick out to shooters, or making timely defensive plays, SGA has the tools to take over. In Game 2, his 33-point performance was a reminder of what he&rsquo;s capable of when he&rsquo;s in attack mode and dictating the pace. The Thunder need that version of Shai to show up again in Game 5.
It&rsquo;s also about leadership. This young Thunder team looks to SGA not just for scoring, but for composure and direction in critical moments. With the home crowd behind him and the series on the line, this is his opportunity to put a stamp on his MVP-caliber season and carry his team one step closer to a conference finals berth.
Nuggets' strategies to steal Game 5
Elevate Nikola Jokic&rsquo;s impact
Nikola Jokic has not been his usual dominant self across all four games. While he&rsquo;s still managed to put up triple-doubles and impact the game in subtle ways, the Thunder have made him work harder than usual with their quick double teams and constant help defense. In Game 4, Jokic finished with 22 points on just 9-of-22 shooting&mdash;a rare inefficient night for the two-time MVP. For the Nuggets to win on the road, Jokic must return to the ultra-efficient playmaker and scorer who lifts everyone around him.
One adjustment could be to get Jokic more touches at the elbow and the top of the key, where he can orchestrate Denver&rsquo;s offense without dealing with immediate post pressure. From those areas, he can see the floor better and exploit mismatches or cutters. Additionally, running more two-man actions with Jamal Murray or Aaron Gordon could help relieve pressure and force OKC to defend multiple threats simultaneously.
Jokic&rsquo;s presence alone bends defenses, but when he&rsquo;s assertive and efficient, it unlocks the Nuggets&rsquo; full offensive potential. Denver will need their franchise cornerstone to set the tone with physicality, precision, and poise in the hostile OKC environment of Game 5.
Improved Three-Point shooting
The Nuggets&rsquo; offensive success often correlates with their outside shooting. In the games where they&rsquo;ve played, Denver pulled away with convincing wins. But when the shots haven&rsquo;t fallen, their offense has looked sluggish and overly reliant on Jokic or Murray to create something late in the shot clock. Getting back to crisp ball movement and creating open looks from the perimeter is a priority heading into Game 5.
Michael Porter Jr. and Christian Braun must convert the clean looks they&rsquo;re getting. Porter, in particular, has the shooting gravity to stretch OKC&rsquo;s defense and create spacing for Jokic&rsquo;s interior play. Even Aaron Gordon&rsquo;s willingness to take open threes can help Denver keep defenders honest. Making threes forces OKC to chase and rotate, which opens up driving lanes and cutting opportunities that Denver thrives on.
Expect head coach David Adelman to emphasize early ball reversals and inside-out play to generate quality three-point chances. If Denver shoots well from deep, it could swing momentum and silence the Paycom Center crowd in what promises to be a raucous Game 5 environment.
Boost bench production
In tight playoff matchups, bench production often makes the difference. For Denver, the second unit has been a mixed bag this series. They have a particularly shallow bench led by Russell Westbrook and Peyton Watson, and the Nuggets need consistent contributions from both of them to keep pace with OKC&rsquo;s energetic rotations.
The key is maintaining offensive rhythm and defensive intensity when Jokic sits. Braun&rsquo;s ability to defend, rebound, and finish in transition adds a valuable spark. Westbrook&rsquo;s experience and steady playmaking can provide structure when Murray rests. And Watson&rsquo;s length and athleticism make him a disruptive presence on both ends. Each of them must be ready to seize the moment in what could be the turning point of the series.
Adelman might also consider tightening his rotation or staggering starters more effectively to ensure a balance of scoring and defense. With so much on the line, every possession from the bench unit carries weight. If Denver&rsquo;s reserves can sustain leads &ndash; or even swing momentum &ndash; it could give them the edge they need to take Game 5 on the road.
-- -- --
As Game 5 approaches, the series hangs in the balance. Both teams have demonstrated resilience and adaptability, but only one can emerge with a crucial win to take control. The adjustments made and executed in this game will likely determine who advances and who faces an offseason of questions. In a battle between the Thunder and the Nuggets, Game 5 promises to be a war of wills, strategy, and superstar moments.

With the 2025 NBA Playoffs series tied 2-2, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets prepare for a pivotal Game 5.

2025 NBA Playoffs: Key adjustments as Thunder, Nuggets look to seize series

DENVER (AP) &mdash; Some might say Stan Kroenke and his family would be pulling off the impossible by bringing a long-awaited NBA title to Denver.
Less discussed &mdash; at least these days &mdash; was their willingness, in 1999, to dive into a messy acquisition process for a largely irrelevant franchise that had been considered a relocation prospect as the 21st century approached.
All of the talk of them relocating no longer exists.
Now, the conversation is about how the Nuggets were able to reach their first NBA Finals thanks to the stubborn patience displayed by the Kroenkes, who have taken an unorthodox route toward assembling an unorthodox winner. Denver hosts the Miami Heat in Game 2 Sunday night after&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-denver-nuggets-nba-sports-755531bae7f944958c4225f8d5f54bad">winning the Finals opener</a>.
Kroenke&rsquo;s deal to purchase the Nuggets, along with the Colorado Avalanche and their home arena for $450 million, included a clause that tethered the NBA franchise to Denver for the ensuing 25 years. These days, the Nuggets are estimated by Forbes to be worth $1.93 billion.
&ldquo;One thing I know about Stan is that when he sets his mind to doing something, and when he thinks he&rsquo;s right, he&rsquo;s going to fight for that,&rdquo; said Wellington Webb, who was Denver&rsquo;s mayor in 1999 and helped broker the deal that closed a year later between Kroenke and the Nuggets.
Though Kroenke married into money &mdash; he wed Walmart heiress Ann Walton in 1974, a few years after meeting her during a ski trip to Aspen &mdash; he had already honed his business chops. His first deal: Taking a $1,500 loan at 6% interest from his dad so he could buy part of a clothing shop with his friend.
Not long after, he got into the real estate business, building shopping centers with a developer who was tight with Walmart founder Sam Walton.
Real estate and sports are, these days, almost intertwined &mdash; a reality Kroenke grasped quickly.
&ldquo;I always thought I&rsquo;d enjoy (owning a sports franchise) because the professional sports business is part business and part sports,&rdquo; Kroenke told the Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune in 2022, &ldquo;and I love both of them.&rdquo;
Kroenke&rsquo;s representatives did not return messages left by The Associated Press seeking an interview.
His first major jump into sports was his partnership with Rams owner Georgia Frontiere. In the mid-1990s, Frontiere was chafing at the inability of Los Angeles to build a new stadium, She was looking for partners to bankroll a move to St. Louis. Kroenke bought in, and when Frontiere died in 2008, he exercised his right to purchase a majority stake in the team.
The sad irony is that it was Kroenke, the Missouri native, who moved the Rams out of St. Louis and back to LA where they are the main tenant in his $5.1 billion stadium. His connection with Denver &mdash; much different.
&ldquo;One of my dreams was to be involved in a professional basketball team,&rdquo; Kroenke told The Denver Post, shortly after closing the deal for the Nuggets. &ldquo;This is a dream I&rsquo;ve had for a long time.&rdquo;
There is, in fact, a strong argument that the basketball trophy might be the most meaningful for a family that has amassed three Stanley Cup trophies with the Avalanche, a Super Bowl trophy with the Rams and is still looking for glory with Arsenal, the Premier League soccer team it has had a controlling interest in since 2011.
Kroeke&rsquo;s son, Josh, was a standout basketball player in high school and played at University of Missouri. He now runs the Nuggets.
&ldquo;I thought that you could bring a championship to Denver,&rdquo; Josh said in a recent interview on team-owned Altitude Sports Radio. &ldquo;Trying to do something that&rsquo;s never been done before, it&rsquo;s not always easy, and it&rsquo;s usually met with a lot of resistance. ... We&rsquo;re mostly excited for the city to get to experience this. But the job&rsquo;s not done.&rdquo;
The Nuggets were parked squarely in NBA purgatory when the team went on the block in 1999, having not sniffed relevancy since their mid-80s heydey, when the teams were highlighted by coach Doug Moe&rsquo;s uptempo offense. Their situation off the court wasn&rsquo;t much better. In the late &rsquo;80s, then-owner Sidney Shlenker had toyed with the idea of moving the team to Memphis.
His sale to a media conglomerate that was never truly hot on owning sports teams did nothing to tamp the idea that the Nuggets were a team that might be available to move. And teams were moving; Between 2001-08, Memphis (from Vancouver), Oklahoma City (from Seattle) and New Orleans (from Charlotte) all adopted existing franchises in a flurry of NBA reshuffling.
When Denver went on the block, the highest bidder, billionaire businessman Donald Sturm, came in with a $460 million offer, but balked at the idea that he couldn&rsquo;t move the team.
In stepped Kroenke, who had no problem with the arrangement. A side note: To close the sale, Kroenke had to outmaneuver another group fronted by none other than John Elway.
&ldquo;It was clear Sturm wasn&rsquo;t going to work out,&rdquo; Webb said. &ldquo;And my only question was, &lsquo;Is the new guy going to be supportive of the team winning?&rsquo; Because if the arena is full, not only do the owners make money, but city makes money, as well.&rdquo;
The Kroenkes have answered Webb&rsquo;s question with their willingness &mdash; increasingly rare in pro sports &mdash; to play the long game, both on the roster and on the bench.
The roster was built in workmanlike,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-finals-nuggets-jokic-murray-malone-18329e13dfecae50834ebc06d409027c">no-drama fashion</a>,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-playoffs-nikola-jokic-denver-nuggets-mvp-lebron-lakers-8e668572f9f43942175ded63e7a61832">highlighted by Nikola Jokic</a>, who entered the league as an unheralded second-round pick from Serbia. The coach, Michael Malone, was hired in 2015, and there was never much talk of making changes after disappointing finishes to their seasons in 2018, 2019 and even last year.
Today, Malone sits behind only Gregg Popovich (Spurs), Erik Spoelstra (Heat) and Steve Kerr (Warriors) &mdash; who have a combined 11 championships on their coaching resumes &mdash; in terms of longevity among the NBA&rsquo;s 30 head coaches.
&ldquo;That has a ton to do with where we are today,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t be more thankful for working for an ownership group that is not impatient and is not trying to find the next great thing, but is saying &lsquo;Hey, listen, let&rsquo;s let this grow and marinate into something special.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Despite his family&rsquo;s large role in the Denver sports scene &mdash; the Kroenke business also owns the MLS Colorado Rapids, and the National Lacrosse League&rsquo;s Colorado Mammoth, who lost the deciding game in that league&rsquo;s title series Saturday &mdash; Kroenke has still taken his fair share of criticism around town.
It&rsquo;s a byproduct of his 2004 move to bundle his teams&rsquo; TV rights and air them on company&rsquo;s new regional television network, Altitude.
In 2019, the region&rsquo;s biggest cable operator, Comcast, stopped carrying Altitude due to a disagreement over fees the cable giant was charging to carry the network. The ensuing legal battle has kept the Nuggets off the local airwaves in millions of homes for the last four seasons. The battle between billion-dollar companies has left many average Nuggets fans feeling like the only real losers in the equation.
But whatever bitterness lingers from the cable dispute has mostly been set aside over the past few months. All the playoff games have been on national TV.
Meanwhile, Kroenke stays firmly in the background. He can make it from his apartment at the top of Ball Arena through some back passageways and into his luxury suite to watch games in less than two minutes. Sometimes he brings his German Shepherd along.
&ldquo;I think that not only is he a good businessman,&rdquo; Webb said, &ldquo;but he also feels he has something special in Denver. And I think it&rsquo;s always been his goal to do right by Denver.&rdquo;

Some might say Stan Kroenke and his family would be pulling off the impossible by bringing a long-awaited NBA title to Denver.

Kroenke bought Nuggets, kept team in Denver, now hoping to deliver title

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Anthony Davis had 16 points and 14 rebounds while blocking five shots in a spectacular defensive performance, D&rsquo;Angelo Russell scored a career playoff-high 31 points and the Los Angeles Lakers completed their first-round upset of the Memphis Grizzlies with a 125-85 victory in Game 6 on Friday night.
LeBron James scored 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting for the seventh-seeded Lakers, who emphatically clinched a playoff series in their own arena for the first time since 2012.
The Lakers won all three of their home games in the series, and the final victory was a scary demonstration of their capabilities when James and Davis are both healthy. Davis&rsquo; imposing defensive presence largely shut down Memphis&rsquo; offense in Game 6, while Russell&rsquo;s five 3-pointers highlighted an impressive offensive effort from a late-blooming team with championship aspirations.
The Lakers took a 20-point lead in the first half and went up by 36 in the third quarter before coasting to victory&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/lakers-jack-nicholson-7a5e4d2543c4c462b3aedbdede832059">before superfan Jack Nicholson</a>&nbsp;and a roaring crowd. James and Davis even got to sit out the entire fourth quarter, preserving their legs for the second round.
The Lakers had to win a play-in game just to reach a playoff series, although this star-studded team is no ordinary seventh seed. Los Angeles opens its next series on the road Tuesday against the winner of Sunday&rsquo;s Game 7 between Sacramento and defending champion Golden State.
Ja Morant scored 10 points on 3-of-16 shooting for the Grizzlies, who won 107 games and two Southwest Division titles in the past two seasons, but just one playoff series.
Morant&rsquo;s injured right hand appeared to hamper his shot, and he seemed unwilling to drive the paint with his usual fearlessness while Davis loomed in the middle. Morant&rsquo;s teammates couldn&rsquo;t pick him up: Desmond Bane, who guaranteed a Game 7, had 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting, while Jaren Jackson Jr. had 14 on 3-of-12 shooting.
Dillon Brooks, the Memphis agitator who dismissed James as &ldquo;old&rdquo; after Game 2 and then got ejected from Game 3 for striking James in the groin, finished a dismal series performance with 10 points in Game 6 while Lakers fans booed his every move.
The Lakers hadn&rsquo;t won a playoff series outside the Florida bubble in 11 years, enduring a dismal decade-plus for a 17-time champion franchise with a fan base used to excellence.
James and Davis have won a title together, but they had done little to remember in front of their home fans before the past two months, when their supporting cast markedly improved at the trade deadline with several additions headlined by Russell. The dynamic duo improved to 5-0 in playoff series in which they both appeared in every game together.
The Grizzlies had the second-worst road record among the NBA&rsquo;s 16 playoff teams in the regular season, and they lost their first four road games against the Lakers this season. They fell into a 3-1 hole in this series with back-to-back losses in Los Angeles, but staved off elimination by winning in Memphis on Wednesday.
Lakers fans sensed the enormity of the moment and turned out in force, highlighted by the return of the 86-year-old Nicholson to his courtside seats after a nearly two-year absence. Their team delivered, jumping to a 20-point lead in the first half and stretching it to 36 in the third quarter.
The Grizzlies played without 3-point threat Luke Kennard due to a sore shoulder, further hurting the depth on a roster already missing injured regulars Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke.
JACK&rsquo;S BACK
Nicholson watched his beloved team for the first time since October 2021, returning to his usual seats alongside his son. The Lakers&rsquo; most famous fan has been a fixture at courtside for the last half-century, and the Oscar-winning actor got a huge ovation from his fellow supporters whenever his face appeared on the scoreboard.
TIP-INS
Grizzlies: Kennard went through a pregame workout before getting ruled out. He got a stinger in Game 5. ... Xavier Tillman scored two points in 18 minutes.
Lakers: Nicholson&rsquo;s return was the highlight of a celebrity-studded night at courtside, where the fans included Larry David, Dr. Dre, Adele and Kyrie Irving, who got a big hug from James before the game. Irving is a free agent this summer, and he has been linked to a reunion with James repeatedly in recent years. ... Austin Reaves had 11 points, eight assists and six rebounds.

The Los Angeles Lakers completed their first-round upset of the Memphis Grizzlies with a 125-85 victory in Game 6 on Friday night.

Lakers obliterate Grizzlies 125-85, advance to 2nd round

Isaac Mourier is the director of performance nutrition and sports science at Impact Basketball, one of the most prestigious independent training organizations for elite pro basketball players. He's spent time as a consultant for the Sacramento Kings and as a nutritionist for Georgia athletics, and he played pro basketball in Germany.
So while Mourier cannot speak for everyone in the NBA, his next statement carries weight:
"I've never met a player that doesn't want to play," Mourier told Basketball News. "Never, in my career as a player, as a practitioner, have I ever met a player that does not want to play. So that's a myth."
The NBA's perceived "load management crisis" has only sparked louder outrage this season from fans, some media and even former players. Charles Barkley has <a href="https://awfulannouncing.com/nba/charles-barkley-load-management-steel-mill-first-take.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called the trend</a> "disrespectful to the game."&nbsp;Kendrick Perkins has <a href="https://fadeawayworld.net/kendrick-perkins-rips-load-management-its-starting-to-get-beyond-disrespectful" target="_blank" rel="noopener">labeled the mental toughness of today's players</a> as "softer than funeral music." While these two are certainly controversial voices at the very least, they are significant influences in the sport's discourse.
Barkley and Perkins, among many others, are also warping the true hows and whys of load management.&nbsp;
Today's NBA game is more physically taxing than ever, and among those in the league, it's barely a debate.&nbsp;
"I was part of the physical era, where you could hand-check and grind, post up and all that," Mike Conley told <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nba/load-management-draymond-green-warriors-kevon-looney-technology-mike-conley-jerami-grant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox Sports in January.</a> "We were a physical team. It&rsquo;s who we were. That was taxing in a whole other way. You played through injuries, but it was more bumps and bruises because you were being physically assaulted.
"Now it&rsquo;s like, imagine running as fast as you can for 48 minutes and having to do that every night. There are more possessions, more opportunities to get these non-contact injuries. Guys are having more calf strains, more hamstrings and stuff like that. We weren&rsquo;t getting those as much (before)."
Kevon Looney backs Conley up in <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nba/load-management-draymond-green-warriors-kevon-looney-technology-mike-conley-jerami-grant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">that article</a>, and Mourier supports them both. He says that the "physicality" of the old-school, post-centric game is much different from today's fast pace that wears out the body with more muscle contractions.
"What may look less physically taxing to the eye, in terms of less bumps and bruises and people getting knocked over &mdash; I think you're actually having the opposite effect on the body, where these distances covered, the speed at which they're covered and the changes of directions are far more taxing on the body," Mourier said.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Today, teams can quantify those stresses. Mourier explains that players often jump on force plates and see how their power generated will change with fatigue throughout a season. Hormones and proteins found in blood testing can signal muscle damage or inflammation. Teams use GPS tracking and camera systems to monitor players' wear and tear even in practices. The data paints a collective picture of an athlete's overall load during the season.
Importantly, this data isn't hidden by doctors &mdash; it typically is part of an ongoing conversation throughout the year. Building trust between players and medical staffers is crucial to injury management. That way, players can trust the data and doctors can respect the athlete's motivations.
"There's a number of data points that you will track until it gets to the point where we have to stop," Mourier said. "It's not like, 'Hey, we've just noticed something and you're not gonna play tonight.' It will be something that's been in the works &mdash; overall wellness scores, looking at that force plate data &mdash; it will be a trend, which is happening over time, and it's got to a point where it's like, 'Okay, we really have to do this.'
"It's not taken lightly because, ultimately, everybody's job there is to make sure that people can play every night."
Fans often want to ask: Who's in control? And the difficult answer is that the power dynamics change in different organizations.
Mourier says that superstars' voices will naturally have more influence, but that college staffs have more control over player rest than NBA teams. Others in the NBA have observed that teams do hold serious decision-making power.
"I do know on occasion that it&rsquo;s not the player&rsquo;s choice [to rest]," New Orleans Pelicans forward Larry Nance Jr. told Basketball News.
"On the whole, I think people are on the same page, especially when it comes to our [Impact Basketball] guys on [NBA] teams," Mourier said. "I've never come across someone saying, 'They made me sit down; I wanted to play and I couldn't.'"
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/usatsi_20114521.jpg" alt="" width="575" height="444" />
Seth Partnow works for StatsBomb and writes for The Athletic, and was formerly the Milwaukee Bucks' director of basketball research, working adjacent to the sports scientists within the organization. He said in his general experience, trust in both data and relationships is a huge part of reaching decisions to rest.&nbsp;
"I think that the impetus for resting overwhelmingly comes from the medical and front-office side," Partnow told Basketball News. "I think that part of the increased comfort players have with revealing that information is maybe an increased willingness to take that advice."
Partnow explained that teams often boil down decision-making for rest to a "risk versus reward" scale. Does Player X need to play this specific game for the sake of the team, and is it worth the risk of a potential injury that could threaten playoff availability?&nbsp;
"We're going to be judged on how well we do in the playoffs," Partnow said. "And more of a bigger factor than a regular-season win or two is, 'Are my good players able to play?'"
That balance does not include the weight of the fan experience &mdash; a valid criticism within the conversation. Mourier, originally from England, remembers attending his first NBA game in person between the Miami Heat and Washington Wizards and being disappointed when LeBron James and Dwyane Wade didn't suit up. NBA tickets can be a significant investment for fans and families; understandably, they would be bummed when a star rests.
But "risk vs. reward" applies to the league's approach too, as evidenced by its lack of action on anything surrounding load management. Others, including <a href="https://theathletic.com/4272209/2023/03/03/load-management-nba-injuries/?source=user_shared_article" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a recent conversation between The Athletic's staff members</a>, have clamored for more transparency around injuries as at least a starting point.
&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t a new issue. There&rsquo;s nothing particularly happening this season that we haven&rsquo;t seen happening over the last several seasons," Adam Silver <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/02/25/sports/sunday-basketball-notes/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in February</a>. "I understand it from a fan standpoint that if you are particularly buying tickets to a particular game and that player isn&rsquo;t playing. I don&rsquo;t have a good answer for that other than this is a deep league with incredible competition."
One motivator gaining traction is the idea of minimum-games-played requirements for season awards. Shams Charania has reported that <a href="https://theathletic.com/4302514/2023/03/13/the-bounce-lakers-cba-games-played-minimum-shams/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">both the league and the National Basketball Players Association like the idea</a>. But many do not, including Mourier.
"I think that opens up a pretty dangerous can of worms, because if you have somebody that's really not in a position where they're ready to play &mdash; we have to start looking at them as humans as opposed to just athletes," Mourier said. "If they're in a position where they are really not ready to play, they're feeling sore or there's an injury, and they're creeping up on that cut-off for games and they're about to play, and it's gonna mean that they're not going to get home, they can't put food on the table for their family or can't support the the different needs that they have, then we have a human issue."
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Warriors head coach Steve Kerr explains his position of protecting his players on the second night of a back-to-back, empathizes with the fans who are affected by load management and shares how a 72-game NBA season would be equally as rewarding as it&rsquo;d be safe. <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/osTyhqxNyd">pic.twitter.com/osTyhqxNyd</a>
&mdash; Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1616581456658108416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Another common suggestion is to simply shorten the schedule, be it to 70 games, 65 games or whatever makes sense. It would lighten the workload for players and possibly address some of the concerns about the value of the regular season along the way. But Silver didn't seem excited.
&ldquo;If we thought it made sense to reduce the number of games, we would. But there&rsquo;s no data right now that suggests, as I said, based on some prior experiments or even as we look at the data over the course of the season and when players get injured, it isn&rsquo;t... You would think that it would be the case that injuries would increase as the season goes on, and that&rsquo;s not necessarily it either," Silver said.
Partnow echoes Silver's stance as a reason for the league shrugging its shoulders. There just isn't hard proof that the change wouldn't lead to an obvious loss of revenue from dropping 200-plus contests.
"Measuring how that sort of loss of &mdash; I don't know, if you want to call it loss of trust &mdash; might longer-term affect the per-game revenue, that's tough math to do, but I think that's the concern," Partnow added.
And even if the league did shrink the schedule, games are not the only way athletes are physically taxed during the year.
&ldquo;I think the biggest thing [fans don't notice] would just be trying to manage injuries and inflammation while traveling via airplane," Nance Jr. said. "That always seems to exacerbate most problems.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Fans can&rsquo;t imagine playing 82 games in different cities all across the country and the physical toll it takes on your body, even without injuries," added NBA veteran Etan Thomas. "It&rsquo;s difficult for most fans to really understand.&rdquo;
Mourier says that pros need at least 48-to-72 hours between high-level competition for their bodies to replenish with proper nutrients. That's not consistently happening under the current schedule, and travel doesn't help.
"All of the factors which are not directly related to after the ball is thrown up at the tip-off &mdash; so sleep, travel, all of that other stuff &mdash; how can we influence those things to put the players in a more favorable spot to be able to go and perform every night? I think that's where we start," Mourier suggested.
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Load management is the best strategy NBA teams have to contain injuries, but it isn't stopping them from happening. <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0263354" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Studies are showing</a> that NBA players get hurt more than ever. Partnow warns not to assume rest every time a star is out briefly; many of the smaller cases are still legitimate injuries.&nbsp;
The findings hint at a scarier truth: What if the NBA can't do anything about it? As <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27125793/these-kids-ticking-bombs-threat-youth-basketball" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN's Baxter Holmes uncovered</a>, AAU and youth sports are taking major tolls on players' bodies before they even reach the pro level. Current pros are torn on if the grind of year-round youth basketball was worth it.
"I agree that kids are being overworked at a young age,&rdquo; <a href="https://hoopshype.com/2019/11/08/does-aau-lead-to-load-management-in-nba-kids-are-being-overworked/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chicago Bulls big man Nikola Vucevic told HoopsHype in 2019</a>. &ldquo;Parents push kids too hard to succeed and hire all these fake basketball coaches who don&rsquo;t teach them how to play the game the right way. Kids have to have fun first while they play, and not [have someone] make it a business for them right away."
The NBA doesn't supervise the entirety of American youth hoops, which means it can't stop one of the root problems.
"Yes, absolutely [it's worrisome]," Partnow said. "I mean, on some level, it's not just that youth sports are out of our control. Youth sports are out of control."
So, NBA teams and players have more data than ever to manage a sport that is more physcially demanding than ever. But the league doesn't have the data to comfortably make a big change, and the frustration only grows.
At what point does the NBA stop waiting for numeric proof to force change, and take the risk for the sake of its players and fans?
"That's a political question. I don't know," Partnow said. "The longer [load management] becomes front and center of the conversation, the shorter that timespan is. But if something intervening happens that takes the focus off, and now we're talking about this other thing, then it loses salience and it kind of subsides...
"It seems like this [conversation] has been pretty continuous for the last couple months, which is probably the longest I can remember it being sort of a constant."

Ethan Fuller talks to figures around basketball to understand why load management happens and what can be done about it.

Here's the reality of the NBA's perceived 'load management crisis'

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Destiny Harden made a shot in the lane with 3.5 seconds left to send ninth-seeded Miami past top-seeded Indiana 70-68 on Monday night, lifting the Hurricanes to their first Sweet 16 since 1992.
The Hoosiers (28-4) became the second No. 1 seed to be eliminated in two nights. Stanford was upset Sunday on its home court. It&rsquo;s the second time since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1994 that two No. 1 seeds didn&rsquo;t make the Sweet 16. It also happened in 1998.
Harden finished with 18 points and Lola Pendade had 19 points for the Hurricanes (21-12), who never trailed.
Indiana tied the score at 68 on Yarden Garzon&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 6.6 seconds left but couldn&rsquo;t get the defensive stop it needed and turned the ball over on the final possession to seal their only home loss of the season.
No. 4 VILLANOVA 76, No. 12 FLORIDA GULF COAST 57
VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) &mdash; Maddy Siegrist scored 31 points and sent the winningest team in Villanova history into the Sweet 16 for the second time in program history with a win over Florida Gulf Coast.
The fourth-seeded Wildcats (30-6) won their record 30th game and celebrated the March Madness milestone in front of another packed house at the Pavilion. Siegrist, the first-team AP All-American, made 13 of 24 shots in what was likely her final home game. The four-year star has left some wiggle room that she could return for a fifth season, but all signs point toward her playing in the WNBA this summer.
One thing is sure, Siegrist is headed to the Sweet 16.
The Wildcats are going for the first time since 2003 -- the coach of that team, Harry Perretta, watched this one from behind the basket -- and they will the play winner of Monday&rsquo;s game in Indianapolis between top-seeded Indiana and No. 9 seed Miami.
SEATTLE 3 REGION
No. 4 TENNESSEE 94, NO. 12 TOLEDO 47
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Reserves Sara Puckett and Jillian Hollingshead led five Lady Vols in double figures with 13 points apiece as Tennessee routed Toledo.
This is the first time since 2015 and 2016 that Tennessee (25-11) has reached consecutive Sweet 16s and the first in coach Kellie Harper&rsquo;s fourth season. The Lady Vols now have reached the Sweet 16 for the 36th time as the only program to play in all 41 NCAA Tournaments.
Toledo (29-5) snapped a program record 17-game winning streak and missed out on its first Sweet 16. The Rockets lost for the first time since Jan. 18 at Bowling Green, which was avenged in the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship for their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2017.
Quinesha Lockett led Toledo with 19 points.
No. 3 OHIO STATE 71, No. 6 NORTH CAROLINA 69
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Jacy Sheldon made a tiebreaking jumper in the lane with 1.8 seconds left to lift Ohio State to a win over North Carolina and help the Buckeyes advance to the Sweet 16 for the second straight season.
With the game tied, Sheldon took the pass from Eboni Walker and floated in the game-winning score. North Carolina had one final chance, but turned it over with a second remaining.
Ohio State (27-7) saw its 12-point lead with 7:02 to go erased as the Tar Heels went on a 13-2 run midway through the fourth quarter. The Tar Heels did most of that run without star Deja Kelly, who exited midway through the final quarter with a leg injury. She went to the locker room, but returned to the court a short time later.
Trailing 66-63, Kelly made two free throws before Paulina Paris made a layup in transition to give the Tar Heels (22-11) its first lead of the game with 2:09 left.
No. 2 UCONN 77, No. 7 BAYLOR 58
STORRS, Conn. (AP) &mdash; Azzi Fudd scored 16 of her 22 points in a decisive third quarter, leading UConn to a win over Baylor and into a 29th straight Sweet 16.
Aaliyah Edwards added 19 points and Nika Muhl had 10 assists for the Huskies (31-5). Dorka Juhasz chipped in with 11 points and Caroline Ducharme added 10.
Ja&rsquo;mee Asberry scored 15 points and Jaden Owens had 14 for Baylor, which finishes its season 20-13. Bella Fontleroy scored 12 points for the Bears, who made 12 3-pointers after hitting 14 in their first-round win over Alabama.
But the Huskies dominated inside, outscoring the Bears 36-12 in the paint and outrebounding Baylor 42-31.
SEATTLE 4 REGION
No. 5 LOUISVILLE 73, No. 4 TEXAS 51
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) &mdash; Hailey Van Lith scored 21 points and Louisville rolled over Texas on the Longhorns&rsquo; home court to send the the Cardinals to the Sweet 16 for the sixth NCAA Tournament in row.
In a matchup of two teams that began the season in the Top 10 only to all out of the rankings before regrouping late, the Cardinals smothered the Longhorns and standout point guard Rori Harmon all night, stretching a 14-point halftime lead to 21 by end of the third quarter.
Louisville (25-11) led by as much as 27 early in the fourth. The win sends the Cardinals to the Seattle 4 Region to play No. 8-seed Mississippi, which upset No. 1 Stanford on Sunday.
DeYona Gaston scored 12 points to lead Texas (26-10).
No. 6 COLORADO 61, No. 3 DUKE 53
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Quay Miller had 17 points and 14 rebounds, and Aaronette Vonleh converted two overtime baskets in the lane after picking up her fourth foul, helping Colorado beat Duke.
Jaylyn Sherrod had 14 points and Vonleh finished with 12 as the Buffaloes (25-8) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 20 years.
Elizabeth Balogun scored 14 points and Reigan Richardson had 10, but the Blue Devils didn&rsquo;t hit a field goal in overtime. Duke overcame a 13-point deficit in regulation.
Next up for Colorado is Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the Seattle 4 Region semifinals.
Duke lost for the third time in its last four second-round home games in the NCAA tourney.
GREENVILLE 1 REGION
No. 4 UCLA 82, No. 5 OKLAHOMA 73
LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Charisma Osborne scored a career-high 36 points in her final game at Pauley Pavilion and UCLA rallied in the fourth quarter after blowing an 18-point lead to defeat Oklahoma.
The Bruins, who had an 18-point lead in the second quarter, found themselves trailing 54-50 late in the third quarter before Osborne started the comeback. She drove the lane and hit a layup while being fouled by Beatrice Culliton. Osborne made the ensuing free throw to bring them within one.
She had 13 points in the final 10 minutes as the Bruins (26-7) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019. UCLA regained control by going on a 6-1 run at the beginning of the fourth.
Kiki Rice added 14 points for the Bruins, who will face top-ranked South Carolina on Saturday in a Greenville 1 Regional semifinal. UCLA hung tough with the Gamecocks earlier in the season before losing 73-64.
Madi Williams scored 24 points and Ana Llanusa 15 for the Sooners, who end their season 26-7.

A recap of Monday's action of the 2023 Women's NCAA Tournament includes yet another eight seed upending a top seed.

Miami women shock top-seed Indiana in March Madness

Jim Boeheim enrolled at Syracuse in 1962. Played there until 1966. Started coaching there in 1969. Took over the program as head coach in 1976.
Put simply, he was Syracuse basketball.
Until now.
The Basketball Hall of Famer&rsquo;s 47-year tenure as coach at Syracuse came to an awkward end on Wednesday, with the university saying Orange associate head coach and former Syracuse player Adrian Autry has been promoted to the job. The Orange moved quickly, making the announcement less than three hours after&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wake-forest-syracuse-dcb7b6ea899dfee2b805972b1ba60897" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Syracuse lost to Wake Forest</a>&nbsp;in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. And if Boeheim knew the announcement was coming, he didn&rsquo;t let on at what was his final postgame news conference.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s up to the university,&rdquo; Boeheim said. &ldquo;They have to make their decision, and it&rsquo;s up to them.&rdquo;
The university didn&rsquo;t wait long before making the decision public, saying in part: &ldquo;Today, as his 47th season coaching his alma mater comes to an end, so too does his storied career at Syracuse University. Associate head coach Adrian Autry &rsquo;94, one of Boeheim&rsquo;s former players and longtime assistant, has been named the program&rsquo;s next head coach.&rdquo;
Autry has been on Boeheim&rsquo;s staff since 2011, and held the title of associate head coach since March 2017.
&ldquo;There have been very few stronger influential forces in my life than Syracuse University and Jim Boeheim,&rdquo; Autry said. &ldquo;They have both played such important roles and without either of them, I am certain I would not have this incredible opportunity before me.&rdquo;
The 78-year-old Boeheim&rsquo;s record in his 47 seasons, officially, was 1,015-441. That reflects 101 wins taken away by the NCAA for violations between the 2004-07 and 2010-12 seasons.
Whether the count was 1,015 or 1,116, only now-retired Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski had more wins than Boeheim at the Division I level. Boeheim led the Orange to the 2003 national title &mdash; Carmelo Anthony&rsquo;s lone season in Syracuse &mdash; and saw 46 of his players get taken in NBA drafts. Among them: Anthony, Derrick Coleman, Rony Seikaly, Dion Waiters, Billy Owens, Sherman Douglas and Pearl Washington. Boeheim also was a USA Basketball assistant under Krzyzewski on the teams that won Olympic gold medals in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been very lucky to be able to coach my college team, to play and then be an assistant coach and then a head coach, never having to leave Syracuse,&rdquo; Boeheim said in that postgame news conference, one in which he hinted at retirement, then hinted at returning. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great university.&rdquo;
He has, in many ways, been the face of that university. Boeheim and his wife Juli, through their family foundation, have raised millions for children&rsquo;s causes across Central New York. He helped champion what became known as the &ldquo;Coaches vs. Cancer&rdquo; phenomenon with the American Cancer Society.
The 2-3 zone defense he used almost exclusively caused opponents fits for decades. His dedication was unwavering; the best examples were how he returned to work earlier than doctors wanted after he was treated for prostate cancer in December 2001 &mdash; the team was struggling and needed him, Boeheim said at the time &mdash; and how he went to work at 12:01 a.m. on the day his nine-game suspension for NCAA violations was lifted during the 2015-16 season.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s given his heart and soul to that school,&rdquo; said Washington coach Mike Hopkins, a former Boeheim assistant. &ldquo;Still surprised they don&rsquo;t have a statue made of him in the middle of campus. When you think of Syracuse University, you think of Jim Boeheim and you think of the Carrier Dome, and now both of those will be gone, which is very sad.&rdquo;
The dome still stands, just with a different name. The program will continue, just with a different coach. For the first time since 1976, someone other than Boeheim is now the head coach of the Orange.
&ldquo;Jim has invested and dedicated the majority of his life to building this program, cultivating generations of student-athletes and representing his alma mater with pride and distinction,&rdquo; Chancellor Kent Syverud said in a statement distributed by the school.
Boeheim has been synonymous with Syracuse for more than six decades. He was born in the central New York town of Lyons, not far from Syracuse. He enrolled at the school in 1962 as a walk-on, eventually becoming a captain of the then-Orangemen along with Dave Bing.
In 1969, he was hired at Syracuse as a graduate assistant. And on April 3, 1976, he took the program over after Roy Danforth left for Tulane. Boeheim has led the program since; even the court at the dome where Syracuse plays its home games has bore his name since 2002.
&ldquo;There will never be another Jim Boeheim,&rdquo; Buddy Boeheim, one of Boeheim&rsquo;s sons who played for him at Syracuse, tweeted Wednesday. &ldquo;The greatest coach, father, and mentor I could ever ask for. A man that gave a city, program, and university everything he had his whole life with countless accomplishments. Excited for a lot of golf in our future, love you pops.&rdquo;
The Orange were 17-15 this season and will miss the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive season. That led to criticism, which led to questions about Boeheim&rsquo;s future, and what the school would ultimately decide.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an honor to play for Coach Boeheim,&rdquo; Syracuse&rsquo;s Benny Williams said after the loss to Wake Forest.
A low point came in November 2011. Bernie Fine, then Syracuse&rsquo;s associate head coach, was fired after being accused of sexual abuse by two former Syracuse ballboys. Boeheim initially called the ballboys liars out to get money, then apologized for being insensitive to victims of abuse and took responsibility. Fine was never charged.
Syracuse reached the NCAA Tournament 35 times under Boeheim, went to the Final Four in five of those appearances, won 10 Big East regular-season titles and five more titles in that conference&rsquo;s tournament.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been just so lucky to be able to coach at Syracuse, a place I love, I place I love to live,&rdquo; Boeheim said. &ldquo;People keep wondering about that, but maybe that&rsquo;s a flaw I have. But I&rsquo;ve lived in Syracuse my whole life, and I&rsquo;ll live there hopefully a long time into the future. I think it&rsquo;s a great place.&rdquo;
Reaction was mixed when word of the coaching change reached the Syracuse campus.
Chris Davis, a freshman, wondered if a coach change will hurt the Orange.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s disappointing to be honest,&rdquo; Davis said. &ldquo;It hurts the students who are here. To see him gone is heartbreaking.&rdquo;
Senior Gracie Carrigan was surprised by the move, saying, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s shocking. He had such a great career. You almost thought he&rsquo;d be here forever, so it&rsquo;s shocking that it&rsquo;s actually happening.&rdquo;
Added freshman Benjamin Perle said: &ldquo;Obviously, massive shoes to fill. I have faith in coach Autry and the coaching staff.&rdquo;
Syracuse clearly has faith in Autry as well.
He played in 121 games in his four seasons for Boeheim, then spent more than a decade on the bench with his former coach.
&ldquo;I have spent much of my time in the game of basketball learning from Jim and am so grateful to him for preparing me to carry on the winning tradition that is Orange Basketball,&rdquo; Autry said.

The Hall-of-Famer’s 47-year tenure as Syracuse's head coach came to an end on Wednesday, with Adrian Autry replacing Boeheim.

Jim Boeheim’s long career at Syracuse ends, Adrian Autry takes over

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) &mdash; The clubs that Nikola Jokic might be on the cusp of entering are highly exclusive.
There&rsquo;s the three-consecutive-MVP club, with only Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird as its current members. Then there&rsquo;s the averaged-a-triple-double club, which includes only Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook.
Jokic doesn&rsquo;t care about being added to either of those lists. It might happen anyway.
The best team in the Western Conference so far has been the Denver Nuggets, and the biggest reason why they&rsquo;re atop the standings coming out of the All-Star break is the 28-year-old Serbian big man who was the league&rsquo;s best player two years ago, was the league&rsquo;s best player last year and very well might be the best again this year.
&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t lie,&rdquo; Cleveland guard Donovan Mitchell said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if you all have been watching what Jokic has been doing. It&rsquo;s ... outrageous, to be honest. I don&rsquo;t know how many people have won it three times in a row. I definitely feel like I&rsquo;m in that conversation as well, but he&rsquo;s otherworldly right now.&rdquo;
Jokic&rsquo;s numbers: 24.7 points, 11.5 rebounds and 10.1 assists per game, on 63% shooting from the field, 39% from 3-point range. Such a collection of stats is unprecedented; others have scored more, assisted more, rebounded more and shot better, but nobody has ever had all those averages and percentages in one season &mdash; especially not a big man.
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Westbrook is a guard. Robertson was a guard. In their average-a-triple-double years &mdash; four for Westbrook, one for Robertson &mdash; they didn&rsquo;t shoot better than 48%. Jokic is making almost two of every three shots he takes, and that&rsquo;s with him as the top priority for every defense Denver faces.
&ldquo;I just think that he just plays at his own pace,&rdquo; Toronto&rsquo;s Pascal Siakam said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t really disrupt what he does. He just plays at his own pace. He does what he wants. His passing ability, the scoring, how smart he is on the basketball court. Yeah, it&rsquo;s dope to watch.&rdquo;
The Nuggets are five games ahead of Memphis &mdash; Denver has 23 games left, the Grizzlies have 25 &mdash; for the top spot in the Western Conference. They&rsquo;re well on their way to securing the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage throughout at least the first three rounds of the playoffs.
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And that would be huge, given that Denver&rsquo;s 27-4 home record is the best in the NBA. Evidently, teams don&rsquo;t like playing at 5,280 feet above sea level. And they can&rsquo;t match the way Jokic thinks, with his brain in home games at 5,287 feet above sea level. He&rsquo;s played in 51 games; the Nuggets are 38-13 in those contests, 3-5 when he doesn&rsquo;t play.
Denver coach Michael Malone was asked how he would create a pie chart to show the components that make Jokic great.
&ldquo;Athleticism, 1%. I&rsquo;ll start there,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;Then I would say the big pieces of that Serbian pie would be IQ and unselfishness, the ability to make every one of his teammates better. What I marvel at, having coached Nikola for eight years now, the thing that I&rsquo;m just blown away by is the consistency to being great. I mean, there are a lot of great players in this league. But for Nikola to win the MVP, to win it again, and now he&rsquo;s putting together an even better season ... it just speaks to the fact that he is so damn consistent.&rdquo;
Conventional wisdom would have been that Jokic&rsquo;s numbers, good enough to win him the last two MVP awards, would take a dip this season simply because the Nuggets were getting two of their best players &mdash; Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. &mdash; back from injury.
It hasn&rsquo;t happened, or at least, not much. His scoring is down slightly. Rebounds, down slightly. Assists, up slightly. Murray and Porter are getting their numbers &mdash; largely because Jokic looks for them every chance he gets &mdash; and he&rsquo;s still finding the way to fill all the columns next to his name on the stat sheet as well.
&ldquo;That, and the ability to make everyone around him better, is what allows Nikola to be a historically great player in this league,&rdquo; Malone said.
And it should be noted that the player who is least impressed by Jokic is, well, Jokic.
If he had his way, he&rsquo;d show up, play games, hop on YouTube to watch horse racing &mdash; he owns harness horses, and was even driving one when the Nuggets&rsquo; brain trust showed up in Serbia to surprise him with last year&rsquo;s MVP award &mdash; and live very quietly.
The West should be an absurd race down the stretch. Phoenix just got Kevin Durant. The Los Angeles Lakers have LeBron James trying to make a playoff push. The defending champion Golden State Warriors could have Stephen Curry back from his injury before too long. Dallas got Kyrie Irving to play with Luka Doncic. The Los Angeles Clippers will be adding Westbrook. Sacramento is poised to end its long playoff drought.
If nobody is talking about the Nuggets, Jokic won&rsquo;t complain.
&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t need it,&rdquo; Jokic said. &ldquo;We know what we&rsquo;re doing. We know what we&rsquo;re trying to do. We believe in the basketball system that we have built over the years, so it works. It&rsquo;s still working. Nothing can affect us from outside. We are thinking about ourselves and just how to get better.&rdquo;
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Denver Nuggets star big man Nikola Jokic is on the cusp of joining some exclusive clubs.

Nuggets’ Jokic has a chance to join some exclusive clubs

Few people probably expected the NBA at large to be focused on a Reddit conspiracy theory for most of Saturday, but here we are.
Reddit user u/AdMassive6666 posted <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/10nbau4/memphis_grizzlies_scorekeeper_posting_fraudulent/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an elaborate investigation</a>&nbsp;into the validity of Jaren Jackson Jr.'s block totals at home so far this season. The SparkNotes: This poster essentially accused the Memphis Grizzlies' scorekeeper of artificially inflating Jackson's block counts at home, leading to a massive chasm between his home and away stats. They cited examples they believed backed up the claim and then tossed out accusations of personal bias or financial motive.
The conspiracy spread like wildfire Saturday morning and the post had over 44,000 upvotes by the afternoon. Meanwhile, NBA media members across Twitter were fact-checking the claim, which looks more and more like a&nbsp;theory&nbsp;than an actual conspiracy under further scrutiny.
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I watched every block by Jaren Jackson Jr. in slow motion from alternate angles to investigate the NBA Reddit thread claiming the Grizzlies scorekeeper is "posting fraudulent numbers." But only 3 of his 66 home blocks are incorrectly labeled, a completely insignificant amount. <a href="https://t.co/84ZiE1rPVD">pic.twitter.com/84ZiE1rPVD</a>
&mdash; Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinOConnorNBA/status/1619400282953359360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2023</a></blockquote>

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There are already a&nbsp;lot&nbsp;of videos and threads like Kevin O'Connor's breakdown, including this one from <a href="&lt;blockquote%20class=&quot;twitter-tweet&quot;%20data-theme=&quot;dark&quot;&gt;&lt;p%20lang=&quot;en&quot;%20dir=&quot;ltr&quot;&gt;THEY%20ARE%20LYING%20ABOUT%20JAREN%20JACKSON%20JR.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;The%20Hoop%20ReView%20presents%20a%20full%20stat%20audit%20on%20Jaren%20Jackson%20Jr&amp;#39;s%20home%20block%20numbers&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;spoiler%20alert:%20HIS%20BLOCKS%20ARE%20VERY%20REAL&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;I%20went%20through%20every%20block,%20at%20most%20there%20were%204%20questionable%20or%20lacking%20video%20evidence.&lt;a%20href=&quot;https://t.co/w12jBHI8w6&quot;&gt;https://t.co/w12jBHI8w6&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash;%20A:A%20(@Swarlayzers)%20&lt;a%20href=&quot;https://twitter.com/Swarlayzers/status/1619379441364533250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&quot;&gt;January%2028,%202023&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;%20&lt;script%20async%20src=&quot;https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js&quot;%20charset=&quot;utf-8&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@swarlayzers</a>, this one from <a href="&lt;blockquote%20class=&quot;twitter-tweet&quot;%20data-theme=&quot;dark&quot;&gt;&lt;p%20lang=&quot;en&quot;%20dir=&quot;ltr&quot;&gt;Did%20some%20&amp;#39;investigative%20journalism&amp;#39;%20this%20morning%20into%20the%20Jaren%20Jackson%20Jr.%20scorekeeper%20saga%20(from%20this%20Reddit%20thread%20alleging%20his%20stats%20are%20padded%20at%20home:%20&lt;a%20href=&quot;https://t.co/XH6X5muYkP&quot;&gt;https://t.co/XH6X5muYkP&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Here%20are%20some%20of%20the%20more%20questionable%20blocks/%20steals%20JJJ%20is%20credited%20for%20&lt;a%20href=&quot;https://t.co/oeVKSJoImt&quot;&gt;pic.twitter.com/oeVKSJoImt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash;%20The%20Box%20and%20One%20(@TheBoxAndOne_)%20&lt;a%20href=&quot;https://twitter.com/TheBoxAndOne_/status/1619351079371829249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&quot;&gt;January%2028,%202023&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;%20&lt;script%20async%20src=&quot;https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js&quot;%20charset=&quot;utf-8&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adam Spinella</a>, this response from former stat-checker&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/findingneema23/status/1619365149902798848?s=20&amp;t=dHOSgXZXmSBeIIoZGaqgqw">Neema Djavadzadeh</a>.&nbsp;Most of the follow-ups reach the same conclusion: The initial poster either cherry-picked some narrative-suiting examples or was just plain wrong about their claims.&nbsp;
Furthermore, the post painted a picture that some corrupt mastermind is at the center of Jackson's absurd defensive season when that simply is not how NBA statskeeping works.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
This post is making its way around the league now, not just the internet. For what it's worth, I checked in, and the Grizzlies use the same official scorer this season as they used last season. <a href="https://t.co/DViGP4JMxO">https://t.co/DViGP4JMxO</a>
&mdash; Fred Katz (@FredKatz) <a href="https://twitter.com/FredKatz/status/1619369038202953729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Fred Katz of&nbsp;The Athletic&nbsp;gets the ball rolling with this thread, explaining that recording stats is not a one-person job anymore. In 2018, <a href="https://www.complex.com/sports/2018/04/how-nba-scorekeepers-track-player-stats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spencer Lund of </a><a href="https://www.complex.com/sports/2018/04/how-nba-scorekeepers-track-player-stats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Complex</a>&nbsp;took a peek at the life of an NBA statistician and the evolution of the process. This segment offers a brief explanation of gameday protocols:
"The four-man statistics crews is divided into primary and secondary inputters and callers. The primary caller does just that: calls out each play using numbers instead of names. The primary inputter marks 'a touch screen of a basketball court,' the Brooklyn statistician says. That screen is connected to the screen of the secondary inputter, who edits mistakes and double checks iffy plays. The secondary caller works the DVR, and they&rsquo;re connected to NBA headquarters in Secaucus, NJ. That connection to Secaucus during the game is new this year, as is the mandate that every arena have four statisticians for a game.
Despite that connection, it&rsquo;s still up to the discretion of the statisticians to decide an assist. The primary inputter makes the first read, but if the stat is unclear 'it&rsquo;s kind of a consensus, majority rule,' the Nets&rsquo; statistician explains. The NBA says that they audit every stat, and they&rsquo;ve always done it that way since they went digital in the late ​&rsquo;80s; this season they&rsquo;re just connected during the game."
The NBA backed this up in its own counter to the Reddit post:
&ldquo;In order to ensure the integrity of our game statistics, auditors, independent of the statisticians on-site, review all plays and stats decisions in real-time during NBA games,&rdquo; <a href="https://nba.nbcsports.com/2023/01/28/nba-refutes-viral-reddit-post-claiming-conspiracy-to-pad-jaren-jackson-jr-s-stats/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">league spokesman Tim Frank told NBC Sports.</a> &ldquo;If changes are necessary, they are made at that time or following a postgame review. All of the plays questioned in the post on Memphis games were scored consistently within the rules set forth by the NBA statisticians manual.&rdquo;
Today's technology also puts the NBA light-years ahead of the human error from a single set of eyeballs. "Using cameras installed in the catwalks of every NBA arena, Second Spectrum software tracks the movements of every player on the court and the basketball 25 times per second," <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/help/faq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the league's statistics database says on its tracking data.</a>&nbsp;
Still, some categories will involve judgement calls by nature. Even if some of Jackson's blocks are debatable, this isn't the first time the NBA fandom has questioned the integrity of the numbers. Matthew van Bommel and Luke Bornn <a href="http://www.lukebornn.com/papers/vanbommel_dmkd_2017.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conducted a massive study about scorekeeper bias in 2016</a>.&nbsp;The Athletic's&nbsp;Seth Partnow has pointed out repeatedly how the frequency of shot attempts at the rim are unusually low at Golden Warriors home games, while the volume just outside the restricted area is much higher, for both teams competing. It's not a result of some ulterior motive; there just appears a tendency by the Warriors' record-keepers to judge shot locations differently.
Assists are notoriously subjective. Folks often wonder if John Stockton really&nbsp;racked up his all-time record of 15,806 assists, and <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/sports/2019/05/17/its-an-nba-urban-legend/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Andy Larsen looked into the total</a> for the Salt Lake Tribune in 2019.&nbsp;Larsen's work supports Stockton, but at the same time, he noted that the very definition of an assist leaves gray areas. <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nba/2020/1/21/21074724/nba-home-court-assist-advantage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zach Kram wrote for The Ringer&nbsp;in 2020</a> about how even generous assist-crediting has changed in recent years.
So why is this suddenly captivating the league again? Three words: legalized sports betting.
Most basic NBA counting stats are now linked to video via the league's official database, with help from Second Spectrum. That opens up record-keeping to public eyes, including Redditors and people with money on the line.
Professional sports leagues, in marrying themselves to sports gambling, will face barrages of criticism about judgement calls because the stakes are higher than ever for viewers. The accuracy of block counts shouldn't be that big of a deal, nor should it factor so heavily into awards consideration as it is implied with Jackson. But it does now because millions of dollars can swing sides.
Maybe technological innovation renders human statskeeping obselete one day, and computers can track literal touches of a basketball with perfect precision. We're not there yet, though (and doesn't that get kind of creepy at a certain point?).
Defining assists and steals more clearly is one obvious pathway for improved transparency. For example, I firmly believe basketball should credit assists almost like hockey. Remove any subjective time measure or scoring difficulty component and automatically give an assist to the last passer of the score, provided the pass landed in the frontcourt. That's straightforward, and "good" assists are already up for debate anyway, so what would really change?
In general, today should really challenge the NBA fan base and betting base to understand the rulebook. At most, the major league analysts settled on 3-5 Jackson home blocks that were categorized questionably. The league itself backed up every swat. Amplifying a conspiracy theory like this one not only wastes a ton of time, but it means more ears will ignore future complaints, even if they do end up having merit.
It's great to hold pro sports leagues accountable, but you better be right when you do.
THE OUTLIERS (a.k.a. other random interesting numbers I found in the void):
<ul>
<li>For the record, <a href="https://twitter.com/SethPartnow/status/1619447671407738882?s=20&amp;t=V5yQjofyh8QAY1bsYGNRTQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jaren Jackson Jr. is as good a defender as any and all numbers say.</a></li>
<li>Another data point for this season's ridiculous NBA scoring:</li>
</ul>
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The number of players with a 30-point game in each NBA season. <a href="https://t.co/ur04gbctPu">pic.twitter.com/ur04gbctPu</a>
&mdash; Todd Whitehead (@CrumpledJumper) <a href="https://twitter.com/CrumpledJumper/status/1617260889497047040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2023</a></blockquote>

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<ul>
<li>Caitlin Clark is one of the most mind-boggling scorers in the world:</li>
</ul>
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The longest range shooters in women's college hoops: <a href="https://t.co/b5x7zc4FVV">pic.twitter.com/b5x7zc4FVV</a>
&mdash; Synergy Basketball (@SynergySST) <a href="https://twitter.com/SynergySST/status/1617691933945782278?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>

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<ul>
<li>This is just over a week old now, but a really interesting graphic from SIS Hoops. Lauri Markkanen stands out to me:</li>
</ul>
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A player's shot diet can shift meaningfully from year to year. Here's a look at the players who have experienced the largest changes in median shot distance this year compared to last: <a href="https://t.co/OK8BLRqwt0">pic.twitter.com/OK8BLRqwt0</a>
&mdash; SIS Hoops (@SIS_Hoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/SIS_Hoops/status/1616461874622513153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2023</a>
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</blockquote>

Ethan Fuller breaks down the realities of the Jaren Jackson Jr. stats conspiracy theory and its implications.

NBA Stats Notebook: What happens if you don't believe the stats?

For the first time in the 47-year history of The Associated Press women&rsquo;s basketball poll no team from Texas is in the Top 25.
The Texas Longhorns fell out of Monday&rsquo;s poll, ending a 835-week run that had at least one team from the Lone Star state in the rankings. From Wayland Baptist, Stephen F. Austin and Baylor appearing in the first poll in 1976 to Texas&rsquo; No. 25 ranking last week, there has always been at least one team from the state in the poll until now.
&ldquo;Texas is the oil state and also has certainly been rich in women&rsquo;s basketball as well,&rdquo; said Mel Greenberg, who started the poll in the 1976-77 season while with the Philadelphia Inquirer. &ldquo;When I started, the state had some of the best teams with Wayland and Stephen F. Austin. Then Jody (Conradt) at Texas and eventually Kim (Mulkey) at Baylor continued the tradition.&rdquo;
Middle Tennessee entered the rankings for the first time in nine years at No. 23. The Blue Raiders (16-2) have won 14 consecutive games, including a victory over Louisville, which is the fourth-longest winning streak in the country behind the last three unbeaten teams.
That group is topped by No. 1 South Carolina (20-0), which has 26 consecutive victories dating to its run to the NCAA championship last season. The Gamecocks, who were again a unanimous choice from the 28-member national media panel, have been ranked atop the poll for 31 consecutive weeks &mdash; the fourth-longest streak ever. Only UConn (51 and 34 weeks) and Louisiana Tech (36) have had longer runs at No. 1.
Ohio State (19-0) remained No. 2 behind the Gamecocks going into a week that includes games against No. 11 Iowa and sixth-ranked Indiana.
Stanford flipped places with LSU for No. 3 after beating then- No. 8 Utah and No. 25 Colorado, which dropped a spot after the loss. LSU (19-0) is fourth and UConn fifth.
Notre Dame, UCLA, Utah followed the sixth-ranked Hoosiers. Maryland and Iowa were tied for 10th.
The Blue Raiders are making their first appearance in the A( Top 25 since the final rankings in 2014 when coach Rick Insell&rsquo;s team was 22nd.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a special group,&rdquo; Insell said. &ldquo;This year, we were able to beat (Louisville) which was a big win that showed we had a pretty good basketball team.&rdquo;
Insell credits his team&rsquo;s run to the WNIT semifinals last year for being a springboard to this season&rsquo;s success.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s big to be able to take your team in there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m fortunate I had a young team, give them that type of competition. You&rsquo;ll have good crowds and it&rsquo;s an atmosphere you can build on. That&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve done with that. That&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;re at where we are.&rdquo;
Florida State entered the poll at No. 24, its first ranking since 2021. Oregon fell out.
LONE STAR STRUGGLES
Baylor and Texas have been carrying the state flag over the past two decades in the women&rsquo;s Top 25; at least one had been ranked every week since Dec. 4, 2000. Teams from the state have won six NCAA titles (Baylor has three while Texas Tech, Texas A&amp;M and Texas each have one). At one point over the last 47 years, at least one of these teams had been ranked until the current poll: Baylor, Houston, Lamar, Rice, Stephen F. Austin, TCU, Texas, Texas A&amp;M, Texas Tech, UTEP and Wayland Baptist.
STREAKING
With Texas&rsquo; run over, Connecticut now owns the longest active run for a state thanks to the Huskies, who have appeared in 557 consecutive polls. California has the longest run for a state with more than one different team being ranked: 412 consecutive weeks, with Stanford, California and UCLA all spending time in the Top 25 over that stretch dating to the preseason poll in 2001.

For the first time in the 47-year history of The Associated Press women’s basketball poll no team from Texas is in the Top 25.

In a first, women’s AP Top 25 has no teams from Texas

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

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

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

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

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

Detroit Mercy guard Antoine Davis has a chance to end his career as one of the most prolific scorers and 3-point shooters in college basketball history.
Davis is more concerned with earning the NCAA Tournament berth that has eluded him thus far.
The 6-foot-1 Davis entered the transfer portal during the offseason but opted to play one more season for his father. Mike Davis took over Detroit Mercy after reaching the NCAA Tournament four of his six seasons at Texas State, but he still hasn&rsquo;t earned a bid at his current school.
&ldquo;I experienced it for myself as a spectator but not as a player,&rdquo; Antoine Davis said as he recalled those years watching his father coach Texas State. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been rough, but I look forward to this season. We&rsquo;re all on the same page. Everybody wants to do the same thing. I think we can make it happen.&rdquo;
Reaching the NCAA Tournament is just about the only thing Antoine Davis has failed to accomplish in his stellar college career. He enters the 2022-23 season as one of the most noteworthy players from mid-major or low-major programs.
Davis has scored 2,734 career points to rank 22nd in Division I history. He was the third-leading Division I scorer last season with 23.9 points per game, and that was actually the lowest average of his career. Davis averaged 26.1 points in 2018-19, 24.3 in 2019-20 and 24.0 in 2020-21.
If Davis matches his output from last season, when he scored 694 points, he would end his career second on the all-time list. Pete Maravich owns the record with the 3,667 points he scored in his three-season career at LSU from 1967-70.
His 429 career 3-pointers put him just 80 away from the Division I record. Fletcher Magee made 509 3-pointers at Wofford from 2015-19.
Davis has scored in double figures in 111 consecutive games. The Division I record of 115 is shared by Campbell&rsquo;s Chris Clemons (2016-19) and La Salle&rsquo;s Lionel Simmons (1987-90).
The extra season of eligibility Davis received due to the pandemic has helped him approach those records. It also gives him an opportunity to become a five-time, first-team all-Horizon League selection. Davis already is the first player ever to earn first-team all-Horizon League honors in four separate seasons.
Davis committed to Houston in high school but changed his mind and opted for Texas State to play for his father, who owns a 397-310 career record and coached Indiana to an NCAA Tournament final in 2002. When his dad took the Detroit Mercy job, Davis ended up enrolling there instead.
&ldquo;He knows my game better than anybody else,&rdquo; Davis said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been working me out for years and years. He just knows what I can do and everything. It wouldn&rsquo;t have to be anything different. I knew his system for the most part, and I really wanted to play for him, at the end of the day.&rdquo;
He thought about leaving Detroit Mercy and the Horizon League this year. Davis entered the transfer portal and strongly considered BYU and Kansas State before choosing to finish his college career where he started it.
&ldquo;It would feel a little off playing somewhere else or ending my career somewhere else,&rdquo; Davis said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what ultimately made me come back.&rdquo;
Some other players from mid-major or low-major programs who bear watching:
MAX ABMAS, ORAL ROBERTS
Abmas burst onto the scene in 2021 when he averaged 26.7 points in three NCAA Tournament games to help Oral Roberts beat Ohio State and Florida before falling to Arkansas in the Sweet 16. He led Division I with 24.5 points per game that season. Abmas followed that up by averaging 22.8 points last season to rank fifth. His 3.8 3-pointers per game ranked third.
SINCERE CARRY, KENT STATE
Carry, a Duquesne transfer, was the Mid-American Conference&rsquo;s player of the year in his first season at Kent State. The 6-1 guard ranked second in the MAC in assists (4.8) and fifth in scoring (17.9) and made the MAC&rsquo;s all-defensive team.
AARON ESTRADA, HOFSTRA
The Oregon transfer was the Colonial Athletic Association player of the year last season in his first year at Hofstra. Estrada led the CAA in scoring (18.5) and assists (5.0) and also had 5.7 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.
TOSAN EVBUOMWAN, PRINCETON
Although he&rsquo;s a 6-foot-8 forward, Evbuomwan actually led the Ivy League in assists last season with 5.1 per game. He was named the Ivy player of the year. Evbuomwan, who is from Newcastle, England, also ranked fourth in the league in scoring (16.0), rebounding (6.7) and steals (1.4).
DARIUS McGHEE, LIBERTY
McGhee has been named ASUN player of the year each of the last two seasons. He averaged 24.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 2021-22. He led all Division I players with 142 3-pointers and ranked second in points per game.
JORDAN &ldquo;JELLY&rdquo; WALKER, UAB
After starting his career at Seton Hall and playing two seasons at Tulane, Walker has found a home at UAB. Walker ranked eighth in Division I in 3-pointers per game (3.41) and 16th in points per game (20.3) last season while leading Conference USA in both categories. He was named Conference USA player of the year.

Antoine Davis of Detroit Mercy is one of many players from mid-major programs to keep an eye on in 2022-23.

NCAA records within reach for Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Upon review, Miami coach Erik Spoelstra had a good birthday. Jimmy Butler made sure of that.
Butler scored five straight points late to give Miami the lead, Max Strus led everyone with 24 and the Heat overcame a triple-double from Stephen Curry to beat the Golden State Warriors 116-109 on Tuesday night.
&ldquo;Huge for our confidence,&rdquo; Strus said.
Butler scored 23 points, including a go-ahead three-point play with 1:48 left. Bam Adebayo scored 19, Duncan Robinson had 17 and Kyle Lowry 13 for Miami, which won on Spoelstra's 52nd birthday.
Curry had 23 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists for the Warriors (3-5), who dropped their third straight and are 0-4 on the road. Andrew Wiggins added 21 points and Klay Thompson scored 19.
&ldquo;I thought our energy was better at times," Golden State's Draymond Green said. &ldquo;But we've still got to put it together and win games."
Curry had his 10th regular season triple-double. But a call that went Miami's way denied him a chance to tie the game with 1:39 left.
Curry was hit on the hand by Butler as he tried a 3-pointer, with the Warriors down three. A foul was called, and Butler argued. That convinced Spoelstra to challenge the call.
&ldquo;Just kind of went on a leap of faith," Spoelstra said.
It worked. The referees determined Butler hit Curry on the hand after the ball was gone; Butler said he also hit the ball first.
&ldquo;They had a high-five,&rdquo; referee Bill Kennedy said.
Said Curry: &ldquo;You've got to be allowed to finish your motion. ... There was a lot of contact. But what do I know about calls?"
The Warriors didn't score again, and lost a game they led by 10 in the second half. Golden State&rsquo;s 20 turnovers were turned into 28 Heat points &mdash; three of those turnovers being discontinued dribble calls against Jordan Poole.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said the NBA sent out an email Tuesday about that infraction. He didn't read it.
&ldquo;The whole league does that," Kerr said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been doing it ever since Allen Iverson convinced the referees that it wasn&rsquo;t a carry. It is a carry. What Jordan does is a carry. But the whole league&rsquo;s been doing it. I guess I have to start checking my email on game days.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Warriors: Curry extended his NBA-record streak of regular-season games with a 3-pointer to 197. He also owns the second-longest streak (157). ... The Warriors took 49 shots from 3-point range, 35 shots from 2-point range. ... Poole was minus-23 in 30 minutes.
Heat: Lowry hit his 1,989th 3-pointer, passing Jason Kidd for 12th in NBA history. ... Spoelstra is now 6-2 on his birthday. ... Miami lost Tyler Herro midway through the second quarter after he got poked in the left eye by Golden State&rsquo;s Moses Moody on a rebound. Herro said he lost vision briefly, but it was back by postgame. ... The Heat were 20 for 20 from the line, tying the second-most without a miss in team history. They were 30 for 30 against Boston in 1993.
STILL OUT
Miami teammates Victor Oladipo (left knee) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle), and Golden State&rsquo;s Andre Iguodala (left hip) all remained out. None have played this season.
Iguodala played in 109 games for Miami, helped it to the 2020 NBA Finals and hasn&rsquo;t faced the Heat since. Barring an NBA Finals matchup this season, he&rsquo;ll retire having played 45 games against Miami.
ON TO 2023
Heat-Warriors was the first season series to be completed in the NBA this season. The season series between the Heat and Sacramento ends Wednesday.

Jimmy Butler scored 23 points, including a go-ahead three-point late, and the Miami Heat beat the Golden State Warriors 116-109.

Butler takes over late, Heat rally past Warriors 116-109

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) &mdash; With two consecutive Elite Eight appearances in tow, Arkansas&rsquo; hopes for the Final Four aren&rsquo;t just a pipe dream.
Coach Eric Musselman, heading into his fourth season in charge of the Razorbacks, has two returning players from last year&rsquo;s rotation, only one of which is a starter in guard Devo Davis.
But he pulled in the No. 2 class in the nation, headlined by projected lottery pick and first-team preseason All-SEC guard Nick Smith Jr. He also picked up five players via the transfer portal to complete the reload.
Expectations aren&rsquo;t just high locally, either. Arkansas was tabbed No. 10 in the AP Top 25. Musselman knew he would have to have that conversation with his team about being the hunted.
&ldquo;We already have a target on our back,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I would love to say that whatever the polls say, making two Elite Eights back to back, that&rsquo;s something we haven&rsquo;t talked to our team much about, but it&rsquo;s something we will start to.&rdquo;
Musselman&rsquo;s biggest project, at least early, is determining how best to distribute minutes among a roster filled with talented youngsters and experienced veterans. He had to do something similar last year, too, as Arkansas dropped five of six games at one point from mid-December to early January before the team won 14 of its next 15 and earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
HITTING THE LOTTERY
Arkansas isn&rsquo;t short on next-level talent. Smith is a projected top-10 pick in nearly every 2023 NBA Draft board. Freshman guard Anthony Black is predicted to be a first-rounder. And swingman Jordan Walsh is currently listed as a borderline first-round choice next spring.
NEW-LOOK VETS
The Arkansas strength during the preseason was at guard and wing as the frontcourt remained a work in progress.
Forward Jalen Graham transferred from Arizona State where he was an All-Pac-12 selection. He&rsquo;s joined by former Missouri forward Trevon Brazile, twin centers Makhi and Makhel Mitchell from Rhode Island and reigning American Athletic Conference Sixth Man of the Year Ricky Council IV from Wichita State on the wing.
BEST SINCE
An NCAA Tournament appearance in 2022-23 would be the third in four years for Musselman. The Razorbacks were on the bubble in the 2019-20 season, Musselman&rsquo;s first year at the helm, before the postseason was canceled because of COVID-19. Arkansas hasn&rsquo;t made three straight NCAA tournaments since 2005-08.
OLD GUYS
Davis and forward Kamani Johnson are the only two regulars returning for Arkansas. Davis, a junior, has spent much of his career as the team&rsquo;s starting point guard. He averaged 8.3 points and was second on the team with 104 assists last year, starting about half the team&rsquo;s games.
Johnson is in his second year with the Razorbacks after transferring from Little Rock two seasons ago. He averaged just eight minutes ago in 26 games, but Musselman is expecting Johnson&rsquo;s aggression to carry over in likely more minutes.
&ldquo;His offensive rebound rate is incredible,&rdquo; Musselman said. &ldquo;His free throws attempted per touch and offensive rebounding rate are at a really, really high level.&rdquo;
SCHEDULE
Arkansas opens the regular season Nov. 7 at home against North Dakota State while nonconference foes include Oklahoma, Baylor, Louisville and either Texas Tech or Creighton. SEC play begins Dec. 28 at LSU.

With two consecutive Elite Eight appearances in tow, Arkansas’ hopes for the Final Four aren’t just a pipe dream.

Arkansas aiming for Final Four in Musselman’s fourth year

Charles Barkley will not be leaving TNT or the &ldquo;Inside the NBA&rdquo; crew for the foreseeable future.
Barkley has signed a 10-year extension with Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, which owns TNT. Barkley's agreement coincides with contract renewals for host Ernie Johnson and analysts Kenny Smith and Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal.
Barkley has been with TNT since retiring as a player in 2000. He had floated the idea of doing commentary for Saudi-funded LIV Golf this past summer.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re all a big family &mdash; Ernie, Kenny and Shaquille are brothers to me &mdash; and I wouldn&rsquo;t still be here if it wasn&rsquo;t for them and all the amazing people who work on our show,&rdquo; Barkley said in a statement. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not gonna lie, though, this is a life-altering deal ... and I&rsquo;m blessed to be able to do live television for a living.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Inside the NBA&rdquo; begins its 34th season on Tuesday. Johnson has been with the show since the beginning while Smith became a studio analyst in 1998. O'Neal joined the quartet in 2011.
The deals with Johnson, Smith and O'Neal are &ldquo;long term,&rdquo; but last well beyond the end of Turner's current deal with the NBA in 2024-25. The league is expected to begin rights negotiations soon. Turner has been carrying games since 1984 while ESPN/ABC replaced NBC in 2002.
The other major sports leagues have recently negotiated new rights deals. Amazon is in its first season carrying the NFL, with the rest of the league's renewed contracts with other networks kicking in next season. Major League Baseball's new contracts with Fox, ESPN and Turner began this year while the NHL's with Turner and ESPN are in its second season.
Major League Soccer's deal with Apple TV+ begins next season. Besides the traditional networks, the NBA should see increased competition from streaming services trying to get a package of games.

Charles Barkley has signed a long-term extension to stay with TNT's "Inside the NBA" along with other members of the popular show.

Barkley, 'Inside the NBA' crew agree to contract extensions

Shams Charania of&nbsp;The Athletic&nbsp;released his latest <a href="https://theathletic.com/3526628/2022/08/22/kevin-durant-donovan-mitchell-trade-talk-shams/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA trade slop drop Monday morning</a>, and it restated several points on the Boston Celtics' involvement in the Kevin Durant sweepstakes. Notably, according to Charania, Boston has not made Marcus Smart or Robert Williams III available.
Smart is entrenched in the Celtics franchise as its longest-tenured player, emotional leader and reigning Defensive Player of the Year. But the withholding of Williams also speaks to how highly regarded he is on the roster and how critical he was to Boston's NBA Finals run last season.
Williams broke out big time in 2021-22, averaging 10.0 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game with a stunning 73.6% clip from the floor. He landed on the All-Defensive Second Team and anchored one of the best defenses in the league. A year ago this Wednesday, Williams signed a four-year contract that could be worth up to $54 million. He's already made that look like a massive bargain.
The 2018 first-round pick thrives in his classically-defined archetype as a rim-protecting center, two-way rebounder and lob finisher. Williams has already showcased elite traits in that role &mdash; traits that, if he never improved even fractionally, would still be among the best in the world for the next several years.
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However, Williams' role also clouds viewers' visualizations of his next steps. At age 24, and, with one healthy-ish season under his belt, Williams still has plenty of room to grow with the Celtics. But if he's already so good at what he does, and Boston rarely asks him to do anything else, what is the trajectory for his impact?
Fortunately, between Williams' additional skills and his functional areas of improvement, he can continue to shoulder more responsibility as a young big man.
Celtics fans have continuously marveled over Williams' passing flashes during his first few seasons in the league. His assist-to-usage rate has been in the top 20% among centers in each of the past three years, per Cleaning the Glass. And, despite receiving few touches outside of play-finishing chances, Williams can dazzle with his vision.
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I love watching Robert Williams pass the basketball. Always makes such rapid decisions for the Celtics. These are two assists from today, the one-handed midair redirect to Pritchard after the rebound is silly <a href="https://t.co/bWf4V9Rf3a">pic.twitter.com/bWf4V9Rf3a</a>
&mdash; Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinOConnorNBA/status/1497657823945060355?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2022</a>
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When Boston tapped into Williams as a passer, they often set him up at the top of the arc or slightly offset on the wings. It's amazing how imposing he is from that range despite posing zero threat as a shooter or driver. Having Williams quarterback the offense from here also opens up opportunities for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to move off the ball and use their strength and speed to get open instead of ball-handling and creating.
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It's almost like Tatum is running a wide receiver option route in the above clips. In the first two plays, Jayson is slipping screens and cutting to the basket while Williams rifles passes in for layups. In the third clip, Tatum is using a Payton Pritchard flare screen and hitting a three. The fourth clip is another flare screen, but Williams and Tatum both recognize the open space, and the former leads the superstar into a driving layup. For good measure, the last clip is Brown faking off a similar pindown and cutting to the basket.&nbsp;
With "Timelord" running the show, off-ball defenders have to key in on Boston's dynamic duo, and it opens up easy reads for him to make, like this one to Grant Williams:
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Letting Robert Williams direct from the arc is a great way for the Celtics to leverage Jayson Tatum off-ball. He drew three Bucks defenders with his cut and that created an open three for Grant Williams <a href="https://t.co/Mw3K2qqorL">pic.twitter.com/Mw3K2qqorL</a>
&mdash; Ethan Fuller (@ethman43) <a href="https://twitter.com/ethman43/status/1521891105486352385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2022</a>
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The gripe here isn't with Williams III; rather, I wish the Celtics would put him in these positions more often. He has a high overall turnover rate, but rarely gives the ball away in these situations. It places less of a load on Tatum and Brown as self-creators and gets more players moving around the half-court in general.
There's also untapped intrigue with him at the high post. According to PBP Stats, Williams III had 84 elbow touches across the entire 2021-22 regular season. His 16.7% assist rate ranked second among the 99 players with at least 75 elbow touches, behind only Memphis Grizzlies big man Steven Adams. Now, some of these touches are mere handoffs. But others are Williams connecting with shooters on a short roll, or directing traffic out of a post touch.&nbsp;
Jared Weiss of&nbsp;The Athletic&nbsp;detailed how <a href="stories" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boston's offense drifted away from post-ups</a> as the season went on, and how adding more back with Williams involved could make sense. Given Williams' vision and the success that comes when players orbit around him, I would agree.
Any individual scoring development like a mid-range jump shot would be icing on the cake, as <a href="https://www.celticsblog.com/2022/8/16/23302020/robert-williams-boston-celtics-center-jump-shot-analysis-what-if-week-celticsblog" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trevor Hass of Celtics Blog wrote.</a> But head coach Ime Udoka already has untapped potential right in front of him in the form of Williams as a passing hub. Manifesting more touches for a tertiary option is much easier said than done, but integrating Williams further could seriously juice a Celtics offense that often stagnated.&nbsp;
Defensively, however, the onus is on Williams to improve his switchability.&nbsp;
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The 6-foot-9-inch center is a remarkable roamer and shot-blocker &mdash; in the highest echelon of rim-warping players across the league. He hit his defensive stride strongly down the stretch because Udoka and the coaching staff put him in defensive positions to be successful. Sporting News writer Stephen Noh intricately broke down <a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/hidden-gems-robert-williams-celtics/zw4cxlj1httzlmdwnkyw6ayz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how the Celtics kept Williams out of the on-ball limelight</a> whenever possible and made his job all about rotating and swatting.&nbsp;
That's great, and it proved to be successful enough to get Boston to within two games of a championship. It also required some luck and some heavy lifting from Al Horford, who used a stretch of good health to play some of the best switching defense we saw all season at age 35.&nbsp;
Horford, now 36, can't be expected to carry the same burden throughout another title push, and the Celtics only have one other center in line for possible rotation minutes in Luke Kornet. Williams will have to defend in ball-screen coverage and switch onto guards at certain points.
Last year, it didn't go so well. Boston started out switching 1-through-5 on defense and changed that as the year went on. Who knows if it was Williams who caused the shift, but his struggles certainly played a part.
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As shown in the clip above, Williams can't move with the necessary lateral quickness to stop drives at the root. He has to rely on his length to catch up when he gets beat, and while that leads to some highlight-reel recovery blocks, it's not a fail-safe he should want to lean on. Williams is also historically a foul-prone perimeter player who bites on pump-fakes far too often, though he tempered those temptations last year.
I'd claim that Williams improved in the moments he did have to switch onto isolations later in the season. It seemed he played those possessions more conservatively and was willing to give up the three-ball, knowing he has the vertical pop to reach shots like this:
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Don't expect Williams to become some unicorn-like defender who can smother players all over the court. If Williams can at least contain drives and keep defenders thinking about the threat of a block, that's a win for Boston. He's got the all-world rim-protection in his pocket already.
Williams is already a high-end starting center whose talents can help Boston get back to the Finals. If he breezes through a heavier passing workload and makes some progress as an on-ball defender, we could be talking about a sub-All-Star type of center next season.
Robert Williams III only underscores that the Celtics, even after reaching June, still have room for progress.

Ethan Fuller breaks down the next phases of growth for Celtics center Robert Williams III.

What the next level looks like for Celtics big man Robert Williams III

As the Kevin Durant saga reaches its latest chapter, both sides are digging in for what could be an even more drawn-out process. He's already told Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai to either trade him or fire head coach Steve Nash and general manager Sean Marks, so his desires to leave Brooklyn are clear.
There's a lack of trust in the organization&rsquo;s direction moving forward, but the Nets already have shown they won&rsquo;t bend to every demand the future Hall-of-Famer makes.
But unless Brooklyn eventually lowers its asking price &mdash; which is presumably what many interested teams are betting on &mdash; there&rsquo;s no reason to believe this process won&rsquo;t drag into the regular season. If so, the next step will be Durant sitting out games away from the team until his next destination is found.
From the beginning, Durant&rsquo;s desired destination was the Phoenix Suns to team up alongside Devin Booker and Chris Paul. Six weeks later, we don&rsquo;t know whether Durant has backed off that stance. If not, that could be the reason why this is dragging out even longer. Phoenix is seemingly falling off many radars, but we shouldn't rule them out of the sweepstakes just yet. Brooklyn holds power, but so does Durant to keep this tug of war going as long as possible.
As the Suns' noise quieted down, new suitors emerged &mdash; the Miami Heat and, most recently, the Celtics. SNY&rsquo;s Ian Begley mentioned the Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers as new choices atop Durant&rsquo;s updated wishlist.
&ldquo;Our front office and coaching staff have my support,&rdquo; Tsai wrote on Twitter in response to his meeting with Durant. &ldquo;We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Our front office and coaching staff have my support. We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.
&mdash; Joe Tsai (@joetsai1999) <a href="https://twitter.com/joetsai1999/status/1556791235427405824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2022</a></blockquote>

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With Tsai picking his side, we'll all wait to see what offers are truly in the best interest of the Nets&rsquo; murky long-term outlook. In the meantime, it&rsquo;s hard not to let the mind wander on what that could entail.
What if the Nets look back upon the Pacers&rsquo; situation with Paul George in 2017, taking the best offer on the table for their disgruntled superstar in a non-preferable destination? While it seems far-fetched, anything at this point seems possible within this ongoing battle at the bargaining table for who gets what in the end.
When it was over, Indiana acquired two blossoming All-Stars in Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, even when it felt like leverage wasn&rsquo;t on its side. George wanted to go to the Los Angeles Lakers, but the Pacers stood firm on getting a proper return for their star forward.
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Who could come out of nowhere and surprise us all as the Nets' possible trade partner a la the Thunder to the Pacers five years ago? Excluding the known top contenders for now &mdash; Phoenix, Miami, Boston and the Toronto Raptors &mdash; let's try to find a potential team lurking in the shadows who would also check off both parties' boxes.
Philadelphia 76ers
This all comes down to the possibility of including Tyrese Maxey. If you&rsquo;re in the position of Sixers president Daryl Morey, with your chips already all-in on winning a championship with Joel Embiid and James Harden, Durant certainly makes you think for a moment. Knowing Morey&rsquo;s aggressive nature, a blockbuster centered around Maxey for Durant works well within their win-now time frame. The allure of Maxey is there (only 21 years old and blossomed upon Harden&rsquo;s arrival midseason), but this is arguably the greatest three-level scorer ever we&rsquo;re talking about.
Forming a trio consisting of Durant, Embiid and Harden is simply unfathomable to envision. The possibilities are endless, and hopefully the third time would be the charm when it comes to the former Thunder teammates reuniting less than a year removed from their split.
Philadelphia can quickly make salaries work for Durant by adding in Tobias Harris, who reportedly has been on the trading block since Morey&rsquo;s arrival. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Brooklyn&rsquo;s asking price for Boston was a young player on a star trajectory (Jaylen Brown), a solid starter (Marcus Smart), another role player and multiple draft picks. The Sixers check every box in that scenario, which should automatically make them a viable dark-horse candidate.
Would a package centered around Maxey, Harris, Matisse Thybulle and Philadelphia&rsquo;s 2029 first-round pick with little to no protections be enough for the Nets to accept? For the Sixers, there&rsquo;s a real pathway to getting a top spot at the table once the dust settles sometime on Durant.
New Orleans Pelicans
In any superstar-type trade rumor, the Pelicans tend to pop up one way or another because of their newly assembled war chest of assets. Following the Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday trades, New Orleans sits on a treasure trove of draft capital spanning the next five years.
At any point, Pelicans executive vice president David Griffin could decide to cash in on the last piece of the Pelicans&rsquo; puzzle to become the next version of the Suns &mdash; acquiring an established veteran star to take a talented young core over the top. CJ McCollum could qualify as such following the Pelicans&rsquo; deadline move for him, but what if Durant was intrigued enough to play alongside Zion Williamson in the Bayou?
Boston putting a player of Brown&rsquo;s caliber on the table makes this debate even more interesting. In my opinion, Brandon Ingram would be a better return in comparison to Brown for Durant. Both are on the same tier, but Ingram gets the slight edge for me. Witnessing his ascent on the postseason stage, Ingram is poised to take another step forward in his rapidly climbing career.
If the Nets desire a player who meets or exceeds Brown in trade talks, Ingram is the one who'll get the job done. The question in the end, of course, would be Durant&rsquo;s blessing. If Durant doesn&rsquo;t want to play the next four years in New Orleans, these thoughts would quickly dissipate into fantasy.
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However, you can&rsquo;t deny the Pelicans as a legitimate jaw-dropping destination because they have the list all checked off for Brooklyn&rsquo;s needs as well. Ingram is the young star, and Larry Nance Jr. qualifies as the ideal veteran role player. Maybe New Orleans would have to throw in either Herb Jones or Trey Murphy III on top of draft picks too. It's a massive asking price, but one that would be necessary to make something like this go down.
Until the Pelicans eventually cash in on what they've worked so hard to build, they will always be a sneaky contender for any eventual disgruntled superstar. And if the Pelicans rise as expected in 2022-23, they will become a destination anyway for win-now veterans.
Chicago Bulls
Outside of Philadelphia and New Orleans, we now reach the organization that would truly shock everyone. What about the Bulls? Would they be willing to throw an All-NBA player into another superstar deal?
DeMar DeRozan is only 11 months younger than Durant, but he is the best chip they could bring forward to Brooklyn. On top of DeRozan &mdash; whose salary wouldn&rsquo;t be enough in a straight-up swap &mdash; Chicago would presumably include a key piece of its young core. The obvious candidate is Patrick Williams; the former No. 4 overall pick flashed promising two-way potential before sustaining a wrist injury early last season, reentered the fold in late March and became a crucial component in the postseason. Then, Chicago would probably need to throw a solid role player into the mix. Either Lonzo Ball or Alex Caruso fit the Smart type of role we discussed previously.
Although Chicago gutted its draft capital in separate deals for DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic, the organization still owns a future pick from the Portland Trail Blazers that could convey as early as next season. The Bulls&rsquo; next eligible draft pick that can be included in a trade is their own 2027 first-round selection.
As I wrote earlier this offseason, the Bulls feel one big splash away from truly taking the next jump in the Eastern Conference. Rudy Gobert made so much sense to complete their defensive overhaul, but Durant represents a roster upgrade of seismic proportions &mdash; a bump that might be necessary to become a Finals contender the next few years. Why not push the chips in and see what happens with Durant and Zach LaVine as a 1-2 punch?
For a team that has to remain in win-now mode because of its draft picks being sent elsewhere, Brooklyn might be intrigued enough to listen to something centered around DeRozan, Williams and other assets.
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Atlanta Hawks
Fresh off making their own blockbuster trade to improve before the new league year, could the Hawks make sense as a Durant out-of-nowhere landing spot? There are very slim odds on that possibility, but it's a scenario worth exploring because Atlanta's roster still feels a move or two away.
Trae Young and Dejounte Murray will bring fireworks to the Hawks' backcourt on a nightly basis, but is the core right now strong enough to take the necessary steps forward in the reloaded East? We know at this point what John Collins and Clint Capela bring to the table. Bogdan Bogdanovic is a solid third guard for Atlanta, but injuries have become a problem as of late.
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Atlanta's young collection of players is what makes this thought interesting, at least for a moment. Would the Nets be intrigued by De'Andre Hunter, Onyeka Okongwu, A.J. Griffin and one of Collins, Capela or Bogdanovic to make salaries match? Compared to the other known suitors and ones already listed, it really isn't in the same stratosphere unless Brooklyn bets big on Hunter taking a huge leap. Based on Hunter's postseason performance, don't rule out the 24-year-old becoming more of a two-way focal point in Atlanta.
It might not be enough to be a real threat to swoop in for Durant, but it'd be wise to keep an eye on the Hawks as we get closer to February's trade deadline. If the Young/Murray backcourt gets off to a hot start, maybe Atlanta will go for broke and decide the time is now for a Finals push.
Milwaukee Bucks
Milwaukee is not a destination market for superstars, but Giannis Antetokounmpo brings enough pull to make it such. Giannis is nowhere close to escaping the prime of his career, but could you imagine him playing next to Durant? My goodness, that's basketball heaven right there.
Before we go too deep down that rabbit hole, though, it feels almost impossible regarding the actual odds of this happening. Not only are the Bucks starved of draft capital because of the Holiday trade, but Brooklyn would need to believe Middleton could replace Durant long-term. Only a few years younger than KD and deserving of a max contract next offseason, it might not make much sense for either side to even explore this potential thought.
For the Bucks to even bring a respectable offer to the table compared to everyone else, they would likely have to include Middleton and Holiday in a massive blockbuster that sends back both Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Yeah, that's for sure fantasy land right there, but I do appreciate the few minutes we had talking about Durant and Giannis playing on the same basketball team.
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With no end in clear sight right, who knows how long this standoff between Durant and the Nets lasts? As time continues to drag on, maybe some front office executives from teams we're not even thinking of decide to call Brooklyn to inquire about an all-time great.
George wanted the Lakers, but he ended up in Oklahoma City. Kawhi Leonard's desired destination was Los Angeles upon asking out of the San Antonio Spurs franchise, but he was sent packing to Toronto instead. There is a precedent where a superstar doesn't get what he wants in the end, but a player of Durant's caliber takes it up a whole new level.
The best interest of the Nets might not be what Durant wants, and vice versa. The next steps are falling into place regarding how this could all end, and a new pseudo deadline of training camp looms around the corner.
Whether Kevin Durant remains in Brooklyn by then remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain: The NBA has shown us time and again that anything is possible when it comes to superstar movement.

As the Kevin Durant trade saga reaches six-plus weeks, could teams come out of nowhere in potential negotiations? Evan Sidery dives in.

Identifying 5 sleeper NBA teams to trade for Kevin Durant

Let the talking begin. The trading, too, and eventually the signing.
Free agency officially opens Thursday in the NBA, with teams able to begin negotiating at 6 p.m. Eastern with players who are not under contract &mdash; although, in reality, free agency and the slew of offseason movement is already off and running.
James Harden declined his $47 million option for next season with Philadelphia on Wednesday and became a free agent &mdash; but told the team he intends to stay on a new deal that will allow the 76ers the flexibility they need to sign other players this summer, according to a person with direct knowledge of that situation. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither Harden nor the 76ers confirmed those plans publicly.
And Harden's decision came almost simultaneously Wednesday with another massive move &mdash; the San Antonio Spurs are trading All-Star guard Dejounte Murray to the Atlanta Hawks for Danilo Gallinari and three first-round picks, according to another person with direct knowledge of the terms of that deal who spoke to AP with anonymity because the trade had not been announced by either side. ESPN first reported the completion of that deal, which pairs Murray with another All-Star in Trae Young in the Hawks' backcourt.
Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook have already made their decisions; both could have been free agents this summer and found a combined 84 million reasons not to hit the open market &mdash; <a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-lakers-nba-sports-basketball-russell-westbrook-f04900c25b080a4d97a37a8fbf355f0b">$47 million for Westbrook</a> to opt-in for the last year of his deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-nets-nba-sports-kyrie-irving-f07bead702771069df05809872a7ae85">nearly $37 million for Irving</a> to do the same with the Brooklyn Nets.
Jalen Brunson will be in demand early, with the expectation that he&rsquo;ll quickly agree to leave Dallas and become the new point guard in New York. And there will be players who might decide to look elsewhere, or accept huge $200-million-plus deals with their current teams &mdash; opportunities that are presenting themselves to Zach LaVine with Chicago and Bradley Beal with Washington.
The largest deal, in terms of actual dollars, coming in the next few days almost certainly won&rsquo;t have anything to do with a free agent: All signs point to two-time reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic being offered a supermax extension in the $260 million range by the Denver Nuggets. The only question there will be how quickly he finds a pen to put to that paper.
Minnesota can give Karl-Anthony Towns a supermax of about $210 million this summer, as can Phoenix with Devin Booker.
Other players are restricted free agents, meaning their current teams will have the right to match offers from other clubs. The most notable name on that list is Deandre Ayton, the Phoenix center who was the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft but watched others in his draft class get their first extensions last summer.
Some players will be free agents in name only. John Wall, for example, will get $41 million in a buyout from the Houston Rockets, and has already decided that he wants to play for the Los Angeles Clippers next season. The Clippers are expected to use a $6.4 million exception to sign Wall, and that figure matches the money that Wall gave back to make the buyout of what would have been the final year of his contract happen.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see what happens as free agency opens up and everything else,&rdquo; Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said. &ldquo;I think the sky&rsquo;s the limit for our team. The sky is the limit. ... And of course, you&rsquo;ve got to have a little bit of luck to win the Larry O&rsquo;Brien Trophy, which is what we&rsquo;d really like.&rdquo;
That will be everyone&rsquo;s goal come 6 p.m. Thursday, to find ways to get closer to the Larry O&rsquo;Brien, whether that&rsquo;s in 2023 or beyond.
Such thinking even applies to the champion Golden State Warriors, who have a slew of rotation players &mdash; Kevon Looney, Otto Porter, Gary Payton II among them &mdash; who just last week were enjoying a parade through San Francisco and are now free to go elsewhere if the opportunities and dollars are right.
&ldquo;We still do need to surround the team with vets and that&rsquo;s the plan in free agency,&rdquo; Warriors general manager Bob Myers said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easier to get some of the older players, we think, in free agency than young players. Young players are probably the most in-demand in free agency.&rdquo;
True, and that&rsquo;s another element of this time of year: Young players, and not grabbing them in free agency this year, but keeping them out of free agency in future years.
Ja Morant will surely be offered a max rookie extension by Memphis, one that will kick in with the 2023-24 season. The Zion Williamson situation in New Orleans will be interesting, as the Pelicans decide how much to offer to &mdash; or safely structure a deal for &mdash; a No. 1 pick who has missed the majority of his first three NBA seasons because of injury issues. Miami is planning to offer sixth man of the year Tyler Herro an extension, though the Heat will have to determine what number makes the most sense for them going forward.
And, of course, there is a LeBron James angle: The Los Angeles Lakers were a disaster last season and will aim to revamp their roster, plus can give James a two-year extension in August worth nearly $100 million. But before he signs, they have far more pressing concerns.
Officially, it all starts Thursday. A new season is already here.

NBA free agency officially opens Thursday, with teams able to begin negotiating at 6 p.m. ET with players who are not under contract.

NBA free agency opens Thursday, starting deal-making season

At first glance, the Boston Celtics seem gridlocked in their ability to bring an NBA Finals contender over the top for next season. The Celtics will likely reside as a luxury tax-paying team, meaning they're already out of room to sign players aside from a modest $6.3 million mid-level exception, and their entire main rotation is under contract for next season.
So what can Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens do in his role as lead team-builder? Stevens has a few more cards to play in the form of Traded Player Exceptions, commonly abbreviated as TPEs.
Boston has been a TPE merchant in recent seasons, and the franchise's salary-cap dexterity has allowed it to make impactful moves on the fly without raw cap space. The Celtics are Exhibit A of how these exceptions can keep contenders flexible. With well over two-thirds of the league filled to the salary-cap brim this summer, TPEs are like a secret staircase for teams as they try to ascend to NBA glory.
So how exactly do they work, and which squads can take advantage this summer?
Trades in the NBA don't go down with perfectly balanced salary scales. So if one team sends out more salary, under the collective bargaining agreement, the difference becomes a Traded Player Exception. Teams can then absorb future player salaries from future trades into the exception, bypassing any constraints from the salary cap boundaries.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.nba.com/news/trade-exceptions-what-they-are-and-why-they-matter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA.com's Steve Aschburner</a> compares the TPE to a gift card. The simile tracks in that TPEs can sort of "buy" player salaries, but they also expire one year after the trade initally creates them.
Here's a current example: Boston completed a sign-and-trade with the New York Knicks on July 18 of last summer, sending Evan Fournier to New York with a second-round pick in exchange for cash considerations. Because Boston traded Fournier's salary and received only the bag of cash back, it created a TPE that Spotrac values at around $17.1 million. The Celtics can now absorb a player (or multiple players) into that TPE via trade until July 18.
Seems like a smart move, right? Well, it is, but a TPE isn't just hacking the CBA. Rules and consequences exist. Here are some important ones (and check out a larger breakdown from <a href="https://www.sportsbusinessclassroom.com/listing-the-current-nba-trade-exceptions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eric Pincus</a>:
<ul>
<li>Teams cannot stack TPEs. For example, if the Celtics want to trade for LeBron James, they cannot combine all of their various exceptions into one super-TPE to absorb his salary. There is one trade exception per player salary.</li>
<li>TPEs do not supersede the hard cap (tax apron). This will particularly affect the Celtics because they are already approaching the hard cap, and might make the Fournier TPE, for example, less valuable than it's worth.</li>
</ul>
Though not a rule or a certainty, teams seeking to create a trade exception likely have to trade additional pieces to create it. The Knicks weren't going to simply let Boston make a TPE, so they managed to pick up an additional draft pick. Similarly, when Boston dealt Gordon Hayward to the Charlotte Hornets and created a massive, $28.5 million TPE, Charlotte also swiped two second-rounders from the Celtics.
Sometimes, trade exceptions are a natural byproduct of a deal. In other cases, they're the prize. Dozens of trade exceptions are littered around the league, but most are too small to be a realistic sponge for any player contract.
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Here are the teams with exceptions valued at over $5 million (figures provided by Spotrac), which could theoretically net a rotation-caliber player.
BOSTON CELTICS
So we've discussed the Celtics a bit already, but returning to the Fournier TPE, it's unlikely they use up the full $17.1 million (<a href="https://heavy.com/sports/boston-celtics/evan-fournier-trade-exception/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matt John elaborated on this at Heavy.com</a>). It could still add a rotation player who fulfills needs such as movement shooting, center depth and bench scoring. The Celtics also hold TPEs valued at $6.9 million (from trading Juancho Hernangomez to San Antonio) and $5.9 million (from trading Dennis Schroder to Houston).
Boston pulled this stunt last summer where it traded Tristan Thompson for Kris Dunn in a three-way trade with the Sacramento Kings and Atlanta Hawks. The Celtics used a $5 million TPE to absorb Dunn's salary, thus creating a larger TPE from Thompson, which they then&nbsp;used to absorb Daniel Theis' salary. That's one example of them finessing the system. But again, when you're up against the tax apron, your options become limited.
BROOKLYN NETS
The Nets have two plausible TPEs to use. One is an $11.3 million TPE in the fallout of the James Harden blockbuster. Brooklyn also holds a $6.3 million TPE created when they dealt DeAndre Jordan to the Pistons.
Brooklyn has some time to use the Harden TPE; it expires in February 2023. But the Jordan TPE perishes on Aug. 19.&nbsp;
Obviously, Brooklyn's roster situation is in flux with the rumors flying around <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-destinations-for-brooklyn-nets-kyrie-irving-nba-trade-rumors-offseason-los-angeles-lakers-la-clippers-new-york-knicks-wizards" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kyrie Irving</a> and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-trade-kevin-durant-brooklyn-nets-possible-destinations-rumors-phoenix-suns-miami-heat-boston-celtics-new-york-knicks-memphis-grizzlies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kevin Durant</a>. Should the Nets extend Irving, they'll likely be hard-capped out, and won't be able to maximize these exceptions. Sean Marks and the front office cap-crunching team have their work cut out for them.&nbsp;
CHICAGO BULLS
Chicago has one trade exception, valued at $5 million, from when it sent Daniel Theis to the Rockets. It's unlikely this TPE becomes an asset of significance, but if the Bulls want to use it, they must do so by July 7.
DALLAS MAVERICKS
By trading Josh Richardson to Boston last summer, Dallas created a trade exception worth just under $10.9 million. That could be a helpful tool for the Mavericks, but it's literally expiring today! The Mavericks are flirting with being a hard-capped team, so unless something changes within minutes of writing this, the TPE will not yield a player.&nbsp;
DETROIT PISTONS
Detroit is going to, very briefly, hold a $9.2 million TPE by trading Jerami Grant to the Trail Blazers, according to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/detroit-pistons-acquire-veteran-kemba-walker-york-knicks/story?id=85620180" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN's Bobby Marks.&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;However, Marks reports that Kemba Walker, acquired in the draft-night move that also landed Jalen Duren, will have his salary absorbed into that TPE before being bought out. That's some quick maneuvering by the Pistons to acquire an exciting lottery talent in Duren.
INDIANA PACERS
Here's an interesting case. The Pacers have two notable TPEs in their holster: a $10.5 million exception from trading Jeremy Lamb to Sacramento, and a $7.3 million exception from trading Doug McDermott to San Antonio. Indiana is projected to be a rare team with significant cap space this offseason, and as a will-they-won't-they rebuilding squad, they could take several pathways with these exceptions.
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Perhaps Indiana sees an opportunity to add two rotation players to the roster and make a push for the postseason. The playoffs feel unlikely with the current 2022-23 roster, but you never know, and Indiana does have a reputation for being stubbornly competitive.
Or &mdash; maybe the Pacers have a long-term vision and use these exceptions to take players on undesirable contracts, attached with draft picks or young players. It's a way for Indiana to build its draft chest without sacrificing flexibility. The McDermott exception expires on July 7, while the Lamb TPE poofs away in February 2023. I expect at least one, if not both, to be used.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
The Clippers are another franchise that is essentially hard-capped out. But they do have two TPEs worth monitoring. One is a $9.7 million exception created in the Serge Ibaka deal this past February. The other comes from sending Rajon Rondo to the Memphis Grizzlies and is worth $8.3 million. Again, I'm skeptical of these being used, but they are worth mentioning for a playoff contender that won't be players in free agency for a while.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS
The Pelicans created a $17 million trade exception last offseason when they sent Steven Adams to the Grizzlies. They've already reaped the rewards with their acquisition of Larry Nance Jr. New Orleans absorbed his $10.7 million salary into the TPE when it traded for him this past season. There's still about $6.4 million remaining, though, so the team could use it to add another player.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
In acquiring Jerami Grant on his $20 million salary, Portland maximized its large TPE from the CJ McCollum trade. The Blazers still have one more $6.9 million exception that could be of use. They're projected to have some cap space to work with, so it might be an opportunity to take extra advantage.
TORONTO RAPTORS
The Raptors have a few smaller exceptions, with the most notable being a $5.2 million TPE stemming from the Goran Dragic trade. Toronto is over the salary cap, but might be able to squeeze in a player with these constraints while staying under the luxury tax apron.&nbsp;
UTAH JAZZ
Trading Joe Ingles to Portland gave Utah a $9.7 million trade exception. Given that they need to find a spark after yet another disappointing playoff exit, the Jazz should find a way to use this exception, ideally on a perimeter defender or frontcourt player behind Rudy Gobert.
WASHINGTON WIZARDS
Washington owns three trade exceptions ranging between $3-6 million. While they can't stack them, the Wizards could use the $5.2 million TPE (created in dealing Montrezl Harrell to Charlotte) to add some guard or wing depth. As long as Bradley Beal is around, this franchise is hunting the playoffs, and the TPEs can help them get there.
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Ethan Fuller breaks down which NBA teams hold significant trade exceptions entering the 2022 offseason.

How does a trade exception work, and which NBA teams can use them?

We&rsquo;re officially two months away from 2022 NBA Free Agency officially kicking off. Although the class is rather shallow &mdash; especially on superstar movement &mdash; the headliners provide some intrigue and there are endless possibilities in terms of the potential domino effects.
Will Zach LaVine and Deandre Ayton be viewed as max-level talents by their respective organizations? What will happen with James Harden and Kyrie Irving? Will Bradley Beal once again commit long-term to the Washington Wizards?
Let&rsquo;s dive into my predictions on what the top-five projected free agents will likely do this offseason, and how those moves could alter the calculus of the entire NBA.
James Harden
Player Option ($44.7 million)
Philadelphia 76ers president Daryl Morey accomplished his long-awaited dream when he helped James Harden and Joel Embiid join forces in Philadelphia earlier this season. When Harden wanted to get out of Brooklyn (an era we'll look back on as a huge "what if" in NBA history), the Sixers pushed their chips all-in on the dominant inside-out duo&rsquo;s potential.
However, having sent out Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and future draft capital to the Nets, it hasn&rsquo;t gone as smoothly as many expected for Harden. After a fast start with his new team, Harden's production has tailed off. Now, with Embiid's postseason status in jeopardy due to an orbital fracture, can Harden recapture his form before another important career decision?
Harden averaged 21.0 points, 10.5 assists and 7.1 rebounds in 21 regular-season games with the Sixers, and through six playoff games, has produced to the tune of 19.0 points, 10.2 assists and 5.0 rebounds.
Since these numbers aren't anywhere close to vintage-Harden levels of offensive production, does Morey feel comfortable shelling out a gigantic long-term extension to the 32-year-old, high-usage guard? It feels like we&rsquo;re entering into the next phase of Harden&rsquo;s career, and if that&rsquo;s the case, he&rsquo;s probably not a $40-plus-million player.
It seems like Philadelphia is backed into a corner in this situation though. After shipping off Simmons and future assets to Brooklyn, the Sixers have committed to Embiid and Harden hopefully delivering a championship within their short-term window.
Prediction: Harden opts out and re-signs on three-year max contract
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Kyrie Irving
Player Option ($36.5 million)
Who knows what the future holds as it relates to Kyrie Irving? Unwilling to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Irving cost the Nets a realistic chance at competing for an NBA championship this season; this should've never been an issue, but he had to try to catch up and learn on the fly with his teammates.
Brooklyn still holds those championship expectations moving forward, especially with Kevin Durant and Simmons alongside Irving.
Irving is the true wildcard to watch this summer. If he decides to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/why-the-nets-should-part-ways-with-kyrie-irving" target="_blank" rel="noopener">move on from the Nets</a>, it wouldn&rsquo;t be a surprise at all. Honestly, even retirement wouldn&rsquo;t be a complete surprise with Irving. In the end, though, the Nets are also married to this idea of competing for rings over the extended window with Durant.
The reason why Durant joined the Nets was to play with his best friend in Irving. It&rsquo;s hard to envision Irving leaving Brooklyn, and he echoed similar sentiments after the Nets&rsquo; disappointing first-round exit against the Boston Celtics.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no way I&rsquo;m leaving my man 7 anywhere,&rdquo; Irving said after the series.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
"I don't really plan on going anywhere.... when I say I'm here with Kev [Durant] I think that it really entails us managing this franchise together alongside Joe [Tsai] and Sean [Marks]... we're cornerstones here but we have Ben, we have a few other guys..." -Kyrie Irving on FA <a href="https://t.co/ulk86MzHTK">pic.twitter.com/ulk86MzHTK</a>
&mdash; DaveEarly (@DavidEarly) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidEarly/status/1518782963579867138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2022</a></blockquote>

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The Nets should definitely reconsider their stance on handing out a potential five-year max extension to Irving though. Understanding his unpredictability, who knows what could happen in the future with him? With Durant still dominating, Irving will likely align his next contract on a similar path.
Prediction: Irving opts out and re-signs on four-year max contract
Bradley Beal
Player Option ($36.4 million)
Will Bradley Beal really decide to stick around in D.C. for the long-term? I have serious doubts on that idea, and Beal should as well for his legacy. Even in a down year for the Washington Wizards &mdash; one in which he was shut down due to a torn ligament in his left wrist on Feb. 8 &mdash; he&rsquo;s still a star-level player in the NBA. Capable of dropping 30-plus points with ease at anytime, Beal has consistently shown the team around him has been the main issue. Carrying subpar teams on his back since John Wall left, Beal needs to consider doing the greater good for his own individual outlook.
From Beal&rsquo;s perspective, looking around at other options to win right now would be the best-case scenario. While he's been very loyal to the Wizards since being drafted by the organization, this could become very awkward rather quickly once the offseason window opens.
Washington has done a fantastic job retooling its team on the fly since trading away Russell Westbrook. Rolling the dice on Kristaps Porzingis at the trade deadline is a massive risk, but he&rsquo;s the closest thing to a star-level player who would be willing to stay long-term. With Porzingis and a plethora of young talent led by Kyle Kuzma, will Beal lock himself into this situation for another four or five years?
The trade market will be the most realistic route to see star movement in the summer. Beal is one of those names to watch via sign-and-trade. If Beal opts out, don&rsquo;t be surprised to see him sign elsewhere while not leaving the Wizards high and dry with nothing back in return. Beal seems destined to spread his wings elsewhere and serve as the cherry on top of a true title contender's roster.
Prediction: Beal opts out and the Wizards pull off sign-and-trade to recoup some assets
Zach LaVine
Unrestricted Free Agent
Zach LaVine is one of the more underrated players in the league. He&rsquo;s a highlight reel on the offensive end, but his defense leaves so much to be desired. We&rsquo;ve seen incremental improvements with LaVine on that end with better talent around him, but will the Bulls view him as a max-level player? Committing that type of money to LaVine could be risky &mdash; especially with an upcoming offseason knee surgery &mdash; but it&rsquo;s the Bulls&rsquo; best bet to keeping their core together long-term.
If the Bulls balk at paying LaVine, many teams with cap space will come knocking on his door. San Antonio Spurs point guard Dejounte Murray has already started <a href="https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1519870631180791808?s=20&amp;t=vGdMwWWoEEc20-pQbx0udg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recruiting LaVine on social media</a> with photoshops of him in their jersey, for example.
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LaVine and DeMar DeRozan showed throughout this season that they are a lethal scoring combination that is very difficult to contain. Before injuries ravaged Chicago&rsquo;s roster, they were one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Maybe the Bulls try to move Nikola Vucevic, who has a $22 million expiring contract; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-rudy-gobert" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rudy Gobert could be a name to watch</a> if the Bulls try to take their team to another level.
But LaVine is a different story.
A core in Chicago of LaVine, DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, Patrick Williams and Alex Caruso is a fun one. Chicago runs it back and doesn&rsquo;t hesitate coughing up huge money to its star shooting guard.
Prediction: LaVine signs a five-year max extension with Bulls
Deandre Ayton
Restricted Free Agent
This is one of the more interesting situations to follow heading into the offseason. After the Phoenix Suns shockingly decided not to pay 2018 No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton before the season began, questions are still bubbling under the surface on his long-term future with the organization. Ayton hasn&rsquo;t let this impact his on-court performance though, as he's continued to be a two-way anchor to the Suns&rsquo; immense success. The Bahamian big man keeps proving his game is tailor-made for the postseason as well.
Will the Suns actually allow Ayton and his representation to test the open market as one of the top free agents available? It would be stunning, but it feels like we could be heading in that direction.
ESPN&rsquo;s Adrian Wojnarowski has mentioned that, in negotiations, the Suns didn&rsquo;t view Ayton as a max-level player at the time, which stunned many executives around the NBA. Has Phoenix&rsquo;s stance changed after Ayton&rsquo;s consistent performances throughout this season and the playoffs?
Here&rsquo;s a little nugget: According to a league source, Phoenix is more than comfortable paying up and going deep into the luxury tax as long as its roster is competing for championships. Ayton is part of that puzzle, and 2019 lottery pick Cameron Johnson is eligible for an extension this offseason. Do with that information what you will, but it would truly be stunning to see Ayton playing elsewhere in 2022-23.
Prediction: Ayton tests the market and signs four-year max offer sheet elsewhere, which includes a player option; Phoenix eventually matches the offer sheet and keeps him long-term 
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