Gators

Devin Booker scored 28 points, Deandre Ayton added 20 and the Phoenix Suns beat the Dallas Mavericks 110-80 on Tuesday night to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
The Suns used a huge third quarter to turn a tight game into a comfortable win. Phoenix opened up the second half on an 11-4 run, highlighted by Booker&rsquo;s two 3-pointers, for a 61-50 lead.
Mavs coach Jason Kidd called for a timeout, but it did little to stop the onslaught. The Suns led 82-60 going into the fourth with Booker pouring in 12 points during the third.
While the Suns were finally finding some offensive continuity, the Mavs completely lost theirs, scoring just four points in the first six minutes of the third. At times, the Dallas offense regressed to mostly watching Luka Doncic try and work magic, but he couldn&rsquo;t do it all by himself.
The Mavs had 12 turnovers during the third quarter.
The top-seeded Suns bounced back after dropping the previous two games and can win the series in Game 6 on Thursday in Dallas.
Doncic finished with 28 points and 11 rebounds. Jalen Brunson added 21 points. The Mavs shot just 38% from the field.
The Suns took a hard-fought 49-46 lead into halftime. Booker scored 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. Doncic countered with 18 points, though it was a little less efficient after making 7 of 16 shots.
The Mavericks led for a majority of the first half before Booker&rsquo;s baseline jam tied it at 40-all with 3:47 before halftime. Mikal Bridges had a nifty steal and then scored on a fast-break layup for a 44-42 lead.
BOOK THE BUCKET
Booker now has 804 points in 30 career playoff games.
The 25-year-old is one of just 18 players in NBA history with at least 800 points in his first 30 postseason games.
He joins Anthony Davis, Donovan Mitchell, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter and Allen Iverson, who have all accomplished the feat since 2000.
HONORING GRINER
Chris Paul came to the arena wearing a shirt that had Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner&rsquo;s picture on the front and her name on the back.
Griner &mdash; a seven-time WNBA All-Star &mdash; was detained in Russia on Feb. 17 after authorities at the Moscow airport said they found vape cartridges that allegedly contained oil derived from cannabis in her luggage, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The Biden administration determined Griner is being wrongfully detained. A hearing in a Russian court is set for May 19.
The WNBA and and U.S. officials have worked toward Griner&rsquo;s release, but have yet to make any headway with the Russian government.
TIP-INS
Mavericks: Doncic made his first 3-point attempt in Game 5 after a 1-of-10 performance from long range in Game 4. ... F Dorian Finney-Smith was called for a flagrant 1 after a hard foul on Booker in the third quarter.
Suns: F Torrey Craig (right elbow contusion) was available to play. ... Ayton was called for an offensive foul on the first possession of the game. He missed a big chunk of the first half after picking up two quick fouls. ... Coach Monty Williams dropped backup G Cameron Payne from the playing rotation after two ineffective games in Dallas. ... The Suns hosted a sellout crowd for a 32nd consecutive game.

Devin Booker scored 28 points, Deandre Ayton added 20 and the Suns beat the Mavericks 110-80 to go up 3-2 in the series.

Booker scores 28, Suns rout Mavericks 110-80 for 3-2 lead

<a href="https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/33846524/us-reclassifies-wnba-star-brittney-griner-wrongfully-detained-russia-sources-say" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A new report from ESPN</a> states that the U.S. government has reclassified WNBA star Brittney Griner's status to "wrongfully detained" by the Russian government, making a major change in how officials will try to bring her home.
Griner's agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, <a href="https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/33846524/us-reclassifies-wnba-star-brittney-griner-wrongfully-detained-russia-sources-say" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told ESPN in a statement</a>: "Brittney has been detained for 75 days and our expectation is that the White House do whatever is necessary to bring her home."
This now means that the U.S. government will not wait for Griner's case to play out through the the Russian legal systen and will now try to negotiate her return home. Her fellow WNBA players along with NBA players and members of Congress now have the family's support to bring attention to this matter in hopes that it will help secure her release out of Russia.
"We feel really good about it," a source close to Griner said. "But we also know it can drag out, so we don't want to get our hopes too high."
The WNBA announced on Tuesday that it will put a floor decal on the home court sideline of all 12 teams featuring her initials and her number 42 this season.
The Phoenix Mercury star has been detained in Russia since early March over allegations that she was traveling with vapes and hashish oil. While she has not been formally charged, she is scheduled to have a hearing on May 19. The U.S. considers the legal proceedings to be irrelevant to her case now that Griner is being considered "wrongfully detained",&nbsp;

The U.S. government has reclassified WNBA star Brittney Griner's status to "wrongfully detained" by the Russian government.

Report: U.S. now considers Brittney Griner as 'wrongfully detained'

The NBA fined Miami's Jimmy Butler $15,000 for making what it described as an obscene gesture during the team's series-clinching win on Tuesday against the Atlanta Hawks.
The Heat were also fined $15,000 for turning a video of the gesture into a social media post. The league announced both fines Thursday.
Butler did not play in Tuesday's 97-94 victory, watching the game from the bench because of knee soreness. He made the gesture a few seconds after Max Strus connected on a second consecutive 3-pointer, part of a 10-0 run by Strus and a 17-0 run by the Heat that put them ahead in the game for good.
The social media post has since been deleted from the team account.
It is Butler's third known fine this season, totaling $70,000. He was fined $30,000 for his involvement in an incident during a Denver-Miami game in November and $25,000 for violating league rules governing media interview access at the All-Star Game in February.
Miami next plays Monday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The NBA fined Miami's Jimmy Butler $15,000 for making what it described as an obscene gesture. The team was also fined.

Jimmy Butler, Heat each fined $15,000 for obscene gesture

Watching the 2021-22 Denver Nuggets, it&rsquo;s impossible not to imagine what this team could have achieved had it been at full strength.
After all, how many teams could lose two max-level players and still manage to win 48 games and secure the Western Conference&rsquo;s sixth seed?
During the Nuggets' first-round series against the Golden State Warriors, even Denver head coach Mike Malone would catch himself wondering how this season could have played out differently if the team had Jamal Murray (who missed the entire season while recovering from a torn ACL) and Michael Porter Jr. (who played just nine games after undergoing back surgery in December).
&ldquo;I couldn't sleep one night. At 3 o'clock in the morning, I was looking at Jamal's stats in the Bubble. Wow,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;I knew he was good, but sometimes you forget how good he was (26.5 points, 6.6 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 3.3 threes on .505/.453/.897 shooting splits). That's the thing about Jamal: When the stakes are at their highest, he steps up. He's never afraid of the moment.
&ldquo;Michael Porter, what he did last year in 10 playoff games: 17 points, 6 rebounds and, more importantly, shooting a high clip from the three-point line (39.7%). Shooting makes up for so many things. Jamal and Michael can do that.&rdquo;
How good can the Nuggets be next season if everyone is healthy?
&ldquo;I think it's scary to think about that,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;I go back to last season before Jamal's injury in this building (Chase Center); we felt we had a legitimate chance to win a championship last year. Unfortunately, it just wasn't in the cards for us. Jamal suffers the ACL. Earlier this season, Michael Porter Jr. suffers a back [injury]. You're playing without two max players that have both helped us advance out of the first round the last three years. When they're back and they're healthy, I think that's going to make us a deeper, more talented team. I'm excited about that, I really am. I think the future is very, very bright for the Denver Nuggets.&rdquo;
&ldquo;The potential is scary,&rdquo; DeMarcus Cousins added. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re down two superstars. We took one of the most dominant teams of this past decade and we battled every night with them. The potential is scary. Obviously, it looks good on paper, but we got to put everything together. We'll see what happens.&rdquo;
Even though they were missing two of their three leading scorers, Denver finished the season with the NBA&rsquo;s sixth-best offense (scoring 111.7 points per 100 possessions).
&ldquo;We know when we're fully healthy, we can be even more dangerous,&rdquo; Will Barton said.
&ldquo;We're going to call in the reinforcements,&rdquo; Aaron Gordon said with a smile.
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&ldquo;It should be fun,&rdquo; Monte Morris added. &ldquo;A lot of people don't even know how well they're looking individually. It's going to be just like we never left. It was big-time when we was doing it [before] &mdash; made some great 3-1 comebacks, some big wins. I'm looking forward to it.&rdquo;
Fortunately for the Nuggets, most of their core is under contract for the foreseeable future, including Nikola Jokic, Murray, Porter, Gordon, Barton, Morris, Bones Hyland and Zeke Nnaji. Coach Malone isn&rsquo;t going anywhere either, as Denver&rsquo;s front office just gave him a multi-year contract extension last month.
While Jokic is entering the final year of his current contract worth $33,616,770, he made it clear that he wants to stay in Denver long-term and plans to sign a supermax extension this offseason (which would <a href="https://hoopshype.com/lists/nuggets-offseason-preview-nikola-jokic-extension-free-agents-and-more/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pay him</a> $260 million over five years, including $59.1 million in 2027-28).
&ldquo;I would like it, of course, but it's not something that I'm deciding,&rdquo; Jokic said. &ldquo;If [an] offer is on the table, of course I'm going to accept it because I really like the organization, I really like the people who work here. I'm in [a] really good relationship with everybody from owner to equipment manager. I think we have something that we're building. It actually feels really good.&rdquo;
For Denver, this offseason will mostly be about getting healthy and making moves around the edges.
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The Nuggets do have several players who will hit unrestricted free agency: Cousins, Bryn Forbes, Facundo Campazzo, Austin Rivers and Vlatko Cancar.
JaMychal Green and Jeff Green could become unrestricted free agents as well, as they each have a player option ($8,200,000 for JaMychal and $4,500,000 for Jeff).
Markus Howard and Davon Reed will be restricted free agents, assuming Denver extends a $1,576,305 qualifying offer to each player.
The Nuggets have $158,679,553 in guaranteed salaries committed for next season, and they are already $9.7 million over the projected luxury tax, per <a href="https://hoopshype.com/lists/nuggets-offseason-preview-nikola-jokic-extension-free-agents-and-more/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HoopsHype's Yossi Gozlan</a>. Denver&rsquo;s ownership has historically avoided paying the luxury tax, but that will change next season as the team tries to make its first NBA Finals run in franchise history.
Cousins&rsquo; free agency will be interesting, as he became a key contributor after joining the Nuggets in February, averaging 8.9 points and 5.5 rebounds in 13.9 minutes per contest. In Game 5, he had 19 points, 4 rebounds and a steal in 15 minutes, while shooting 8=of-12 (66.7%) from the field and 2-of-3 (66.7%) from three-point range.
After the Nuggets were eliminated, the 31-year-old admitted that he isn't sure whether he&rsquo;ll be back in Denver.
&ldquo;I honestly don't know what the future holds,&rdquo; Cousins said. &ldquo;A lot in this short time has transpired. I'm still trying to get over the fact that G.P. (Gary Payton II) hit that big shot, right? I'm extremely grateful for this opportunity. I'm happy to be a part of this group. I'm happy with the opportunity that was given to me from Mike, [Nuggets president] Tim [Connelly], [Nuggets general manager Calvin] Booth. To answer that question, I can't right now. I don't know what's future holds.&rdquo;
With that said, Cousins proved that he still has a lot to offer a team, and he should receive significantly more interest during this year&rsquo;s free-agency period.
&ldquo;I belong here; I belong in this league,&rdquo; Cousins said. &ldquo;I was given the opportunity. I'm thankful for Mike Malone. I spoke with him before. A lot of doors closed for me. Mike looked out, gave me an opportunity. I just tried to take the best advantage of it as I could. That's what I did.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I gave him a big hug in the locker room, and I gave him a shout-out in front of his teammates,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;He was a guy hanging out at home in Las Vegas after being released by Milwaukee. He goes out in an elimination game and puts up 19 points in 15 minutes. Nikola is in foul trouble, we need somebody to steady the ship; DeMarcus did that. The biggest thing is I'm just really, really happy for DeMarcus Cousins, and I'm so proud of him for staying with it. He had an impactful run with the Denver Nuggets. We'll figure out the offseason in the coming weeks as me, him and [Nuggets governor] Josh [Kroenke] sit down and talk.&rdquo;
Several fellow Nuggets players vouched for Cousins and stressed that they want him back.
&ldquo;Anytime you have a guy like that, you always want him back,&rdquo; Barton said. &ldquo;Like I say, he's still DeMarcus Cousins &mdash; a guy who, when he's healthy, is a very good player. Those are not my decisions; I'm not in management. Obviously, if I have a voice in the fight, I definitely would love to have him back. He was big for us on and off the court, [a] presence in the locker room. We'll see what happens.&rdquo;
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&ldquo;Signing Boogie, man... I love him to death,&rdquo; Morris said. &ldquo;A guy that would pick up 19 points in a do-or-die elimination game just shows how much heart he has, how much love he has for the game. I'm definitely proud of him... He's a great guy. He has a great family, great kids, an amazing wife. I look at things bigger than just ball. He's a guy that's been through a lot on and off the court, experience-wise. He can help anybody. It's a lot that he's seen. Having that around, I think, is big.&rdquo;
In addition to re-signing their own role players, the Nuggets will also have the taxpayer mid-level exception (worth $6,392,000) to attract talent. Last offseason, Patty Mills (Brooklyn Nets), Rudy Gay (Utah Jazz), George Hill (Milwaukee Bucks) and Justise Winslow (Memphis Grizzlies) are some examples of players who were signed using the taxpayer mid-level.
Also, the Nuggets have the No. 21 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, so they can either draft a prospect or trade the selection for more of a win-now piece. Considering their cap situation, it may make sense to keep the pick and select a rookie who can be a relatively cheap contributor.
In BasketballNews.com's latest <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 NBA Mock Draft</a>, Denver is projected to pick Baylor's Kendall Brown &mdash; a 6-foot-8 wing who's known for his athleticism, motor and defense.
Denver&rsquo;s front office hasn&rsquo;t been afraid to pull the trigger on trades in recent years &mdash; including the trade-deadline acquisition of Gordon last season. However, the Nuggets&rsquo; continuity is one of their biggest advantages, so don&rsquo;t expect many significant changes. Once Murray and Porter are back to 100%, they will basically count as Denver&rsquo;s big offseason acquisitions.
If Gordon can take the next step in his development, that would be huge for the Nuggets as well. Following the Game 5 loss, the 26-year-old told reporters that his focus this offseason will be &nbsp;&ldquo;working smarter&rdquo; and &ldquo;becoming more of a student of the game.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I'm playing with Jok, who is one of the smartest basketball players in the world, so I gotta raise my level of IQ to help him, to help everyone, to help the coaching staff,&rdquo; Gordon explained. &ldquo;I've relied on my talent for so long &mdash; just natural talent, not enough on the cerebral part of the game. So I think now is the time to switch.
&ldquo;[I&rsquo;ll be] studying film. Just study, study, study &mdash; everybody that's in the league, every game, every set, just leave no stone unturned. I feel like it will slow the game down even more for me and really allow my natural talent to excel. Obviously, I'm going to continue to work on the jumper and just rounding out my game. That's part of it. But the cerebral part, being a student of the game, that's my main focus for this offseason&hellip; That's the way that I'm going to help improve this team.&rdquo;
At the end of the day, the sky's the limit for the Nuggets. If Jokic continues playing at an MVP level, Murray and Porter can return to form and Gordon makes strides, another deep postseason run is certainly a realistic possibility.
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The Nuggets' 2021-22 NBA season came to an end on Wednesday. Now, Alex Kennedy previews what's next for Denver this offseason.

2022 NBA offseason preview: What's next for the Denver Nuggets?

After everything the Brooklyn Nets went through this season, they still entered the playoffs with the third-best championship odds (+600), which is a testament to this team's talent on paper. However, though they were considered a favorite to hoist the Larry O&rsquo;Brien trophy and boasted the NBA&rsquo;s second-highest payroll ($174,811,922), the Nets failed to win a single playoff game. &nbsp;
Multiple players blamed Brooklyn&rsquo;s lack of continuity. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving played just 17 games together this season after playing only 27 games together last year. Irving couldn&rsquo;t suit up in home games until late March due to New York City&rsquo;s vaccine mandate. A number of key contributors were acquired halfway through the campaign, including Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and Goran Dragic, making it even tougher for the team to get everyone on the same page.&nbsp;
Injuries also impacted the team&rsquo;s ability to play at full strength and develop chemistry, as Durant missed 27 games with a sprained MCL, Joe Harris suffered a season-ending ankle injury in November and Ben Simmons dealt with a herniated disc in his back after being traded to Brooklyn as the centerpiece of the James Harden blockbuster.
Now, after being swept by the Boston Celtics on Monday night, what&rsquo;s next for the Nets?
&ldquo;This summer is gonna be a very, very important summer for our organization,&rdquo; Durant said after the Game 4 loss. &ldquo;We'll see where we go next year."
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Durant is correct, as the Nets will be one of the most interesting teams to watch this offseason, and it&rsquo;s possible that their roster could look very different entering the 2022-23 season.
The Nets have only six players with guaranteed contracts for next season: Durant, Simmons, Harris, Curry, Cam Thomas and Day'Ron Sharpe. Brooklyn already has $144,555,667 in guaranteed money on their books for 2022-23. Next year&rsquo;s salary cap is projected to be $122 million and the luxury tax is expected to be $149 million, so they&rsquo;ll likely have one of the NBA&rsquo;s most expensive payrolls once again.
The Nets are already close to being a tax-paying team before factoring in any of their potential free agents such as Irving, Drummond, Dragic, Bruce Brown, Patty Mills, Nic Claxton, Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kessler Edwards and David Duke Jr.&nbsp;
Irving has a player option worth $35,328,700. On Monday night, Irving was asked about his future and said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really plan on going anywhere... There's no question where I'm going: I'm here with 7 (Durant)."
Either Irving will opt-in and cost quite a bit, or he&rsquo;ll opt-out and potentially cost even more if he signs a new, multi-year deal with the Nets.
Mills also has a player option, which is worth $6,184,500. He could opt-in, but it&rsquo;s also possible that the 33-year-old will prioritize his long-term security and try to ink a multi-year contract elsewhere. He's coming off a productive season, averaging 11.4 points, 2.8 threes and 2.3 assists while shooting 40.0% from three, so he will likely have other suitors.
Claxton and Duke will hit restricted free agency, assuming the Nets extend qualifying offers to both players ($2,228,276 for Claxton and $1,576,305 for Duke). Also, Edwards has a team option worth $1,563,518.
The rest of Brooklyn's players are unrestricted free agents including Brown, Drummond, Dragic, Aldridge, Griffin and Johnson.&nbsp;
Brown earned $4,736,102 this season, but he's going to get a significant raise after his career-year, averaging 9.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.7 blocks on .506/.404/.758 shooting splits. He was one of the Nets' most dependable and versatile players all season long. He stepped up in the playoffs, averaging 14.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks on .568/.429/.800 shooting splits. This is a relatively weak free-agency class, so don&rsquo;t be surprised if some team makes a big offer to the 25-year-old.
When asked about the possibility of re-signing with the Nets, Brown responded, &ldquo;Yeah, hopefully. The season just ended. I&rsquo;m not thinking about it. If there's a chance to stay, we'll talk about it. But we'll see."&nbsp;
It remains to be seen if Drummond, Dragic, Aldridge and Griffin will return.&nbsp;
Drummond played well as the Nets' starting center, averaging 11.8 points, 10.3 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.0 block and 0.9 steals (while shooting 61.0% from the field) in 22.3 minutes per game. When Drummond signed a one-year deal last offseason, it seemed like he wanted to showcase his value and then ink a larger contract this summer, so if he gets the kind of offer he&rsquo;s anticipating, he&rsquo;ll likely be too expensive for Brooklyn to retain.
In a shockingly candid moment back in March, Drummond <a href="https://twitter.com/krisplashed/status/1506663720931500046" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told reporters</a>: "If we're all being honest, I'm only here &lsquo;til the rest of the season. Who knows what&rsquo;s gonna happen in the offseason? So they need a guy like [Claxton].&rdquo;
Last season, the NBA world was outraged that a super-team like the Nets was able to add Griffin and Aldridge for nothing via the buyout market, putting them alongside their Big Three of Durant, Irving and Harden. At one point, Brooklyn&rsquo;s roster had a combined 41 All-Star appearances and 32 All-NBA selections. However, it didn't translate to postseason success. It remains to be seen if Griffin, Aldridge or Dragic will return. It&rsquo;s possible that Brooklyn will be able to attract other ring-chasing veterans to take their places.
After all, despite their first-round flameout, the Nets will once again enter next season as a top contender. If Simmons is able to return his All-NBA, Defensive-Player-of-the-Year-candidate form, it would be a huge addition that makes the Nets much scarier. And the more Durant and Irving play together, the more dangerous they&rsquo;ll become as a duo. Also, with Harris and Curry, the Nets will have two outstanding shooters to put around their Big Three. If this team is able to stay healthy and develop chemistry, Brooklyn has the talent to go on a deep postseason run.
Using the taxpayer mid-level exception and minimum deals, Brooklyn shouldn&rsquo;t have trouble surrounding its core with decent veterans.
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When asked specifically about who might be back and what the Nets need to add to their roster in order to contend, Durant shrugged.
"We just got done playing. You know I don't know the answer to that question right now,&rdquo; Durant said. &ldquo;I don't know the situations with the contracts. I just don't know. Obviously when you lose in the playoffs, you&rsquo;re looking toward next year and who may be on the team, and there's a lot of high expectations around the Nets so people want to have some hope of what may happen in the future. But at this point, an hour after the game, it's hard for me to say.&rdquo;
Another avenue for the Nets to improve is through the 2022 NBA Draft, where they&rsquo;ll have the No. 23 overall pick via the Philadelphia 76ers. In <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's latest 2022 NBA Mock Draft</a>, Brooklyn is projected to take Jaden Hardy of the G League Ignite with its late-first-round selection.
The Nets can try to find a diamond-in-the-rough with that selection, or they can attempt to trade that pick for a win-now piece. Since the Nets will be above the luxury tax and the rookie will be a relatively cheap contributor, it may make sense to keep the pick. Remember, this year&rsquo;s roster featured four rookies: Thomas, Sharpe, Edwards and Duke.
In recent years, players such as OG Anunoby, Darius Bazley and Rodney Hood have been selected at No. 23 overall. Other notable players drafted at that spot include Tayshaun Prince, A.C. Green, Wesley Person, Wilson Chandler, Bobby Jackson, Trevor Booker, DeShawn Stevenson and Tyronn Lue.
While the roster could look very different, don&rsquo;t expect the Nets to make a coaching change. Steve Nash expressed that he hopes to return as the team&rsquo;s head coach, and Durant got annoyed and shot down a question about whether Nash is still the right coach to lead the Nets.
&nbsp;&ldquo;Come on, man. Yeah,&rdquo; Durant said. &ldquo;Steve has been dealt a crazy hand the last three years. He&rsquo;s had to deal with so much stuff as a first-time head coach &mdash; trades, injuries, COVID, just a lot of stuff he had to deal with. I&rsquo;m proud of how he just focused and of his passion for us. We'll all continue developing over the summer and see what happens.&rdquo;
Durant did express that he wants to have some input over this offseason&rsquo;s personnel decisions.
&ldquo;Yeah, of course! I want to know who I'm playing with out on the floor. I want to know what we're thinking,&rdquo; Durant said. &ldquo;[Nets general manager] Sean [Marks] and the front office, we all just talk basketball regardless because we all enjoy basketball; sometimes our team may come up and what we need and what I see from a player&rsquo;s perspective. We always have conversations and that&rsquo;s what makes great organizations.&rdquo;
Irving made it clear that he wants to be involved in &ldquo;managing this franchise&rdquo; as well.
&ldquo;When I say I&rsquo;m here with Kev, it really entails us managing this franchise together alongside [Nets governor] Joe [Tsai], Sean and our group of family members that we have in our locker room and organization,&rdquo; Irving said.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just about me and Kev. We're cornerstones here, but we have Ben and a few other guys who are under contract [too]. I think we've just gotta make some moves this offseason and really talk about it and really be intentional about what we&rsquo;re building, and have some fun with it and make it enjoyable.&rdquo;
After a disappointing season, all eyes will be on the Nets to see how their decision-makers attempt to right the ship.
If the last year has been any indication, there won&rsquo;t be a dull moment.&nbsp;
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After getting swept by the Celtics, the Nets are poised for a very interesting offseason. What's next for the team?

2022 NBA offseason preview: What's next for the Brooklyn Nets?

On Tuesday night, the seventh-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves found themselves in the NBA Play-In Tournament despite having a four-game lead over the Los Angeles Clippers, a 10-game lead over the New Orleans Pelicans and a 12-game lead over the San Antonio Spurs.&nbsp;
While the Wolves took care of business by beating the Clippers to secure the No. 7 seed and a date with the No. 2 seed Memphis Grizzlies, some people around the NBA feel that they had already done enough during the regular season to earn their playoff spot (given their double-digit lead over the Pelicans and Spurs).
If a team has a large enough lead in the standings, should it be exempt from the Play-In Tournament? Some NBA personnel have asked the league office to consider this change going forward.
Evan Wasch, the NBA's executive vice president of basketball strategy and analytics, acknowledged that this tweak is something that the league will discuss with the Board of Governors and National Basketball Players Association this offseason.
&ldquo;I would say that the league office's perspective is that it's working incredibly well in its current format, but we've heard suggestions from teams or others that some tweaks could be considered,&rdquo; Wasch told reporters on a Zoom call last week. &ldquo;For example, that we should bring back the trigger that we had in the [Orlando Bubble] Play-In, whereby the No. 9 and No. 10 seeds would have to be within a certain number of games of No. 7 and No. 8 in order to trigger the Play-In. There are pros and cons to that.&rdquo;
When the Play-In Tournament was introduced during the NBA Bubble in Orlando, such a scenario was only necessary if the ninth seed was within four games of the No. 8 seed. Due to this trigger in the Bubble, the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic didn't have to compete in a Play-In because they had a six-game lead over the ninth-seeded Charlotte Hornets.
The NBA has yet to make the Play-In Tournament a permanent addition to the postseason. Wasch explained that the league office wanted to see how the tournament would fare during a traditional 82-game season.
&ldquo;We approved it on a one-year basis as a trial,&rdquo; Wasch said. &ldquo;What we wanted to do is learn how it would impact the regular season as well as the playoff competition, and then we&rsquo;ll go back to our Board of Governors and Players Association to see if any tweaks are warranted.&rdquo;
Other changes have been suggested as well, such as changing &ldquo;how the top seeds are assigned their playoff opponent.&rdquo;
&ldquo;We've heard that perhaps it's actually a disadvantage now to be the No. 1 or No. 2 seed because a team could get hot through the Play-In to earn the No. 7 or No. 8 seed and then put those top seeds at a disadvantage. So we should consider things like pick-your-opponent models that would make it even more attractive to be the No. 1 or No. 2 seeds,&rdquo; Wasch said. &ldquo;As I said, the league office&rsquo;s view is that it&rsquo;s working well in its current format, but we&rsquo;ll certainly have that discussion with the stakeholders I mentioned this offseason.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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The possibility of expanding the Play-In Tournament to include more teams &ldquo;is not currently on the table,&rdquo; according to Wasch.
"The core of what we were trying to accomplish with the Play-In was driving regular-season competition,&rdquo; Wasch said. &ldquo;We use the word 'tiers' a lot to describe what that means. There's now a tier of the top-four teams, each of which get home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. There&rsquo;s a 5-6 tier, which gives teams a guaranteed playoff berth. There&rsquo;s a 7-8 tier, which gives teams two opportunities to win a game in the Play-In. And, of course, there&rsquo;s the 9-10 tier that gives teams a shot to win two in a row to get in the playoffs.&nbsp;
&ldquo;So, as we think about expanding, you just have to think about how you can create incremental benefits at each part of the standings so that a team always looks at the standings and says, &lsquo;I want to be one or two or three spots higher,&rsquo; because that&rsquo;s what drives that regular-season competition. I think our view is that if you expand that Play-In field too deeply, you lose some of that because now there's too much of a backstop for a struggling team to be 11th, 12th or 13th and still in the Play-In. We do want to maintain some of that competitiveness in the regular season to say that you have to reach some level of performance to have that playoff opportunity. So, again, it's something that we can certainly look at, but it&rsquo;s not on the table at the moment.&rdquo;
Wasch says that the success of the Play-In Tournament has &ldquo;heavily&rdquo; influenced the league&rsquo;s thinking when it comes to implementing other new ideas such as a midseason tournament.
"It's no secret that we've been focused on the potential implementation of an in-season tournament for many years. As Adam [Silver] said in his press conference, it&rsquo;s something that we continue to look at,&rdquo; Wasch said. &ldquo;In particular, we look at the Play-In as a great case study in how changes to the competition format can not just create exciting new competition (in this case, the Play-In games themselves), but also elevate the focus, prominence and engagement of other games in the regular-season schedule that otherwise may have had lesser interest. As we think about things like an in-season tournament, we think it's not just about any tournament games that we would implement, but how it would bolster different parts of our regular-season schedule to create a higher level of fan engagement and create more touch points with our fans throughout the year, having that competition of consequence (which we know is what the marketplace is really looking for).&nbsp;
&ldquo;So, where we're at now is that this is not [happening] in the immediate future &mdash; it&rsquo;s not something that we&rsquo;ll be doing next season &mdash; but we have been discussing with our Board of Governors and Players Association whether it&rsquo;s something to look at for the future, with the Play-In as a great case study for how to build a new property.&rdquo;
While fans were initially unsure about some of these recent innovations &mdash; such as the Play-In Tournament and the changes to the All-Star Game &mdash; they eventually became big hits.&nbsp;
&ldquo;[It gives us] confidence and, hopefully, credibility in the marketplace," Wasch said. "These ideas are not hatched overnight and then implemented. I&rsquo;ve been with the NBA for almost 11 years and the concept of the Play-In Tournament even predates my time with the NBA, so it was a long time in the making in terms of crafting the right proposal, the right timing, the right format. Same with the All-Star changes; that was a partnership with our Players Association. Chris Paul, the union president, is on our competition committee and had a bunch of suggestions for how we could improve competition there.
"These things build up over time as we discuss them, which ultimately makes the product better when we do implement them because they&rsquo;re thought through so effectively. We hope with our stakeholders and fans, that the credibility that comes with successful innovation sticks around as we look at future changes around season structure, including in-season tournaments.&rdquo;
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NBA teams have suggested some tweaks to the Play-In Tournament, which the Board of Governors and NBPA will discuss this summer.

NBA will discuss various changes to Play-In Tournament in offseason

While doing the media rounds for <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Last-Enforcer-Outrageous-Fiercest-Competitors/dp/1982175648/ref=asc_df_1982175648_nodl/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=532676525181&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=8339304955139487848&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=m&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9007723&amp;hvtargid=pla-1380126241639&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his new book</a>, "The Last Enforcer," Charles Oakley has been extremely vocal about his feelings towards his former New York Knicks teammate Patrick Ewing.
It has become abundantly clear that Oakley and Ewing are not currently on good terms in any way shape or form.&nbsp;This appears to have stemmed from the ugly Madison Square Garden incident of 2017 when Oakley was forcibly removed by security staff from a Knicks game.&nbsp;
The image of Oakley shoving a security guard prior being dragged away from his seat on live television stands as one of the ugliest moments the Knicks organization has ever seen.&nbsp;According to court papers, Oakley has since <a href="https://theathletic.com/2266870/2020/12/16/charles-oakley-wants-knicks-owner-james-dolan-named-in-assault-suit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accused Knicks governor James Dolan of orchestrating an attack on him</a>.
Oakley has long been beloved by New Yorkers as a whole, while Dolan has grown to be an incredibly unpopular figure among many Knicks fans who blame him solely for much of the team's struggles over the years.
This particular situation definitely didn&rsquo;t help Dolan&rsquo;s popularity. In fact, during the incident, Knicks fans chanted &ldquo;Oakley! Oakley!&rdquo; as he was being removed from the arena, so it was clear as day as to who the fans were supporting.&nbsp;
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To make matters worse, the Knicks released a statement that said, &ldquo;We hope [Oakley] gets some help soon," implying &mdash; without basis &mdash; that Oakley had a problem with drugs, alcohol or some type of mental issues. Dolan also subsequently banned the Knicks legend from MSG indefinitely.&nbsp;
Since then, Oakley has expressed his disappointment that some of his former teammates, namely Ewing, didn&rsquo;t have his back the way he felt they should&rsquo;ve.
&ldquo;My relationship with Patrick Ewing should be better," Oakley told Fat Joe in February. "I played with him for 10 years in the Garden. Fans saw how hard I played, had everybody&rsquo;s back. When I came to a situation and needed him, he didn&rsquo;t come out to represent me like he should have... He knows he hasn&rsquo;t been fair to me, and I was always fair to him."
&ldquo;That happened in 2017, he just said something 5 months ago," Oakley said on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpmqPkiSIm8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Rich Eisen Show</a>. "I played with him 10 years, had his back. They offered him a D League job about 7 yrs ago, I said how are you gonna offer a guy who played with you 15 yrs a D League job? That hurt me when he didn&rsquo;t speak up for me."
While <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-rematch/episodes/basketballnews-com-episode-48-nba-hall-of-famer-patrick-ewing-talks-knicks-days,-turning-the-hoyas-around,-charles-oakley,-more" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interviewing Ewing for The Rematch</a>, I asked him about Oakley and the chance of them patching their brotherhood back together again. He was honest and forthcoming about the fallout, the current status and the possibility for reconciliation.&nbsp;
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tdGWgeWlXdg" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Etan Thomas: How are you with all of your former Knicks teammates?&nbsp;
Patrick Ewing: "We all still talk, John [Starks] and I talk a lot. He works for the Knicks. He came to our game in the Garden. Herb Williams, we still communicate. Derek Harper, we still communicate. Doc Rivers. Me and Oak, we were still communicating; we&rsquo;re not communicating right now, but Oak was one of my best teammates. I respect everything he did on the court. Greg Anthony. So a lot of us are still in communication. We&rsquo;re all doing our own things, but we&rsquo;re friends, we&rsquo;re comrades, and we did a lot of great things together."
Etan: So, you mentioned Oak, and you said y&rsquo;all are not really communicating right now. It&rsquo;s interesting, I interviewed Oakley a few years ago, right after the thing with Dolan happened in the Garden. So I interviewed him about it, and he talked about it a lot. It was a really ugly scene, and I felt bad for Oakley because that&rsquo;s just not how you do a former New York ;egend and Knicks great when they come back to the Garden. I mean, I&rsquo;m no Washington Wizards great, but I go back to D.C. and they&rsquo;re not gonna do me like that. That&rsquo;s just not how you treat former players.
So we did the interview and we&rsquo;re talking, and he alluded to the fact that some players didn&rsquo;t support him the way he felt they should have. He didn&rsquo;t say that you were one of them, but he said to me, 'I really only knew you one year,' because he played that one year in D.C. And when I saw him in All-Star weekend in New Orleans after it happened, I gave him a big hug. 'Are you alright, do you need anything?' I thought that was messed up.
I went on a few shows and talked about it. I actually went on Michael Rappaport&rsquo;s show with Kenyon Martin and talked about how they did Oakley wrong, and I think I wrote about it as well. And he was like, 'Well, me and you, we only knew each other one year and you was kind of quiet to be honest for most of the year.' I mean, I had legends there so I was just watching and learning, but he said, 'Some of my other teammates that I&rsquo;ve known for years and played with and was in the trenches with and bled for, they didn&rsquo;t really come to back for me like I thought they should&rsquo;ve.' And he keeps saying it over and over again, and honestly, he sounded to me like he was really hurt by it. And I don&rsquo;t know if you were one of the players in that category because he didn&rsquo;t say you by name, but thinking back on that incident, do you think you and the other guys supported him as much as you all should&rsquo;ve?
Ewing: "I can&rsquo;t speak for others, all I know is what I did. When I saw the incident, I picked up the phone and called (Oak) and asked, 'Do you need anything?' I saw they took him and cuffed him, so my first question was, 'Do you need me to have someone come and bail you out? Whatever you need.' What else am I supposed to do? I was asked about it by the media. I told them it was wrong. Oak was an integral part of our team, and of the Knicks fabric, and something like that should never happen. I don&rsquo;t know what else I was supposed to do.
"I&rsquo;m still working in the NBA as an assistant coach (at the time). I&rsquo;m trying to work my way up the ladder to hopefully be a head coach in the NBA. So I don&rsquo;t know what else I was supposed to say, or what else I was supposed to do. All I could do was give him my support, let him know I was there for him and (do) anything that he needed. When I was asked about it, I gave my honest feelings that I thought it was wrong and that things like that cannot happen. And I supported him. Anything else that he may have wanted me to do... I guess I didn&rsquo;t do enough to show him that I thought about him as a friend more than just a former teammate, but I did."
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Etan: You know, as somebody who watched you all play your entire careers with New York, I personally hope that you all get back together and are back on talking terms and do like a public thing where y&rsquo;all are together as brothers. Because, when I tell you that I was a die-hard Knicks fan. Like after y&rsquo;all would lose a game, and I went to school, somebody better not say nothing about the Knicks. That&rsquo;s how seriously I took it. So even when you just mentioned that you and Oakley aren&rsquo;t really speaking now, that was like a jab to me, like, 'Aww, it&rsquo;s supposed to be like this (pounds fist together),' like the Knicks vs. everybody. 
Ewing: "Like I said before, he was one of my best teammates. I used to call him 'The Hitman.' He was the enforcer. Anything that happened on that floor, you always knew he had your back. And I wanted to let him know that I had his back in this situation. I supported him in every way I could. I talked to Mr. Dolan myself about the situation. I know other people tried to broker a peace as well, but I still respect Oak and always will."
Etan: Well, I&rsquo;m gonna still hold out hope that y&rsquo;all get back together and reconcile. 
Ewing: "Me too. Believe me, me too."
Etan: Okay, so that&rsquo;s great to hear. So if you&rsquo;re holding out hope about it and it&rsquo;s open, I&rsquo;m confident that it will happen when it&rsquo;s supposed to happen in due time. Sometimes brothers fight, sometimes brothers argue, sometimes brothers have disagreements. And then, they come back together as brothers are supposed to, so I&rsquo;m holding out hope for that.
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Etan Thomas speaks with Patrick Ewing about supporting Charles Oakley and how he hopes for the two to broker a peace.

Patrick Ewing is hopeful that he and Charles Oakley can reconcile 

Spencer Dinwiddie looked a little puzzled at first over a question after a recent game about what changed when his scoreless first quarter was followed by 11 points in the second.
Once the Dallas guard had clarity, he flashed a quick smile. The answer was easy. Luka Doncic scored 16 points in that first quarter.
&ldquo;Oh, Luka was on a heater,&rdquo; Dinwiddie said. &ldquo;You get out of the man's way.&rdquo;
New to the Mavericks after a trade that sent Kristaps Porzingis to the Wizards, Dinwiddie didn't need any time to figure out that part of the formula for a franchise with the 23-year-old Doncic shining as the brightest star &mdash; by far.
Dinwiddie says he also had no trouble understanding the more complicated dynamics that come with trying to find his way in a new locker room. The eight-year veteran was stung by reports suggesting he was a problem in his old one.
His effort to prove otherwise is boosting the playoff-bound Mavericks, who play at Minnesota on Friday night.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been very receptive to coaching and to his teammates, and they trust him,&rdquo; Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the hardest things is, how fast will the trust take place? I think you can see the trust is at a very high level when he&rsquo;s on the floor.&rdquo;
Dinwiddie signed a $54 million, three-year contract with the Wizards in the offseason despite his final season in Brooklyn ending after just three games because of a torn ACL in his right knee.
Washington started quickly, but faded almost as fast &mdash; and Dinwiddie's production did the same. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/new-york-knicks-washington-wizards-dallas-mavericks-nba-sports-6f1f3dec69b9bcc857cc829835e817ea">After the deal with Dallas came together </a> a few hours before the Feb. 10 trading deadline, first-year Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. described his brief time with Dinwiddie as &ldquo;one of those things that you could say it didn't work.&rdquo;
Other reports weren't so kind, some suggesting his teammates didn't want to play with him.
&ldquo;I think that's what hurt the most,&rdquo; Dinwiddie said. "When the role changed and they wanted me to pass more, I did that. I took my foot off the gas scoring-wise because that's what the team felt like they needed.
&ldquo;To kind of get kicked out the door was a wild feeling. I hadn&rsquo;t really experienced that before. I still have nothing ill to say other than, yes, it hurt my feelings. Just like anything else, you become cautiously optimistic about your new situation.&rdquo;
Seven games into that new situation, Dinwiddie drew his first start when Doncic rested a sore foot. He scored a season-high 36 points in a 114-113 win over Sacramento.
Dinwiddie finished with 23 points in the game that included the scoreless first quarter, a crucial 111-103 victory over Utah.
When Doncic rested again Wednesday night, this time because of a sore ankle, Dinwiddie had his own heater. He scored 19 points in the first 16-plus minutes of a 110-91 win over Houston that pulled Dallas even with Utah for the fourth seed and home-court advantage in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
Among the nine games remaining for the Mavericks and Jazz is their final meeting of the regular season Sunday in Dallas. Utah holds the tiebreaker, and is in good shape to keep it even if the Mavericks win to split the four-game series.
Still, the Mavericks have a chance to go 2-0 against the Jazz since Dinwiddie arrived. The cautious optimism has turned to joy &mdash; something Dinwiddie expressed with in-person thanks to new general manager Nico Harrison moments after <a href="https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-nets-dallas-mavericks-nba-sports-kevin-durant-11808bb6b26d5c7351dc1d5eaab2843d">hitting a buzzer-beating 3-pointer </a> in a 113-111 victory at Brooklyn, where his career blossomed two years ago.
&ldquo;You still just kind of approach the situation with kid gloves, see what&rsquo;s going on,&rdquo; Dinwiddie said of the days after the trade. &ldquo;Everything that&rsquo;s been said to me so far has been authentic and everybody has bought into doing what they need to do to win. They encouraged me to be aggressive.&rdquo;
Dinwiddie is averaging 18.2 points per game with Dallas, almost six more than with the Wizards. He's shooting 50% overall and 41% from 3-point range, compared to 38% and 31% in Washington. Dallas is 12-3 in games he has played.
&ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t really talk about there,&rdquo; backcourt mate Jalen Brunson said. &ldquo;As soon as he came here, he just kind of talked about he just wanted to help us win. That was on his mind. That was what was most important. And he&rsquo;s doing it.&rdquo;
And he understands it's Doncic first and everything else second &mdash; except when Doncic isn't playing.
&ldquo;When I&rsquo;m with him, it&rsquo;s about being ready to shoot, being ready to catch and go and restart the blender as he kind of collapses the defense,&rdquo; Dinwiddie said. &ldquo;When he&rsquo;s out, it&rsquo;s kind of on me to start the blender.&rdquo;
And maybe go on a heater.

Dallas is 12-3 in the games that Spencer Dinwiddie has played in.

Dinwiddie thrives with fresh start, lifts playoff-bound Mavs

With the NBA trade deadline over and done with, the BasketballNews.com staff wants to share our thoughts on the moves that went down. Since Nekias Duncan thoroughly <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/grading-every-move-from-the-2022-nba-trade-deadline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">graded each and every trade from the past week</a>, we asked the rest of our team to react to the results of the ever-so-eventful week.
Here are our staff's thoughts on the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/roundtable-who-are-your-biggest-2022-nba-trade-deadline-losers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">losers of the 2022 NBA trade deadline</a>. Now, in our latest Roundtable, we asked our writers the following question:
Who are the biggest winners of the NBA trade deadline? 
Alex Kennedy: My trade deadline winners are the Philadelphia 76ers and Indiana Pacers. I was someone who believed that Daryl Morey should trade Ben Simmons sooner than later, because I thought Simmons' trade value would only decrease over time. I didn't think the 76ers would actually be able to land a star player for Simmons, but I was clearly wrong. Morey's gamble paid off and now he's reunited with James Harden. As for the Pacers, I love&nbsp;what they did over the last week. We all knew that they were going to make drastic changes, but I was really impressed with how much they were able to get back for Domantas Sabonis, Caris LeVert and Torrey Craig. I love the addition of Tyrese Haliburton, and I truly believe he's going to develop into a star in Indiana. I also liked the buy-low addition of Jalen Smith, who was the No. 10 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Kevin Pritchard and Chad Buchanan deserve credit for pulling off some smart trades and assembling an impressive young core.
Spencer Davies: I&rsquo;m going to be contrarian here, but good for the win-now teams who aren&rsquo;t really in a position to contend this season, yet still went for a swing. I&rsquo;m talking about the New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Clippers. The Pels acquired a 20 point-per-game scorer in CJ McCollum to put next to Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson (defense we&rsquo;ll worry about later; Herb Jones and his 10 arms have it all covered anyway). My thoughts on the Kings acquiring an All-Star such as Domantas Sabonis are well-documented, and now, they&rsquo;ve added an underappreciated two-way guard in Donte DiVincenzo, who&rsquo;s still finding his form since his playoff injury last year. Finally, as for the Clippers, Norm Powell and Robert Covington are championship-caliber veterans who will get acclimated the rest of the season as L.A. stays afloat &mdash; and fit like a glove in Tyronn Lue&rsquo;s rotation next year beside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Individually, I also have to give big-ups to Daryl Morey for sticking to his guns.
Ethan Fuller: The Celtics and Pacers each made the right moves for their franchise directions. Boston needed to find another ball-handling guard to fit with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and the team did exactly that by adding Derrick White. They also brought back a perfect third center in Daniel Theis while clearing roster space to pursue bench upgrades on the buyout market. Indiana is crushing its rebuild initiation. Tyrese Haliburton is obviously the headliner, but the Pacers also netted a first and second-round pick, plus a noteworthy flier in Jalen Smith and tradeable players like Buddy Hield. They also didn't overextend with any forced moves.
Bryan Fonseca: It would be silly to say Indiana, and as much as I do like Tyrese, I'm not a *full-blown* Haliburton hipster. He can be an All-Star, for sure, but Domantas Sabonis is already that. The deal isn't *that* one-sided. I could say Brooklyn or Philly for getting themselves out of a situation, but both teams might've just traded one set of problems for another. In fact, I'd say that's likely. So, you know what, I really enjoy what New Orleans did. You can't rebuild forever and Zion Williamson's already extension-eligible this summer. We'll have to see him again at some point, and with CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram, you should be competitive, especially next year &mdash; if you have mostly good health. To me, it's a diet version of the Chicago Bulls adding DeMar DeRozan.&nbsp;
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Evan Sidery: Exiting this year&rsquo;s trade deadline, it's rare to list both teams from the biggest transaction as winners. That's exactly what happened in the Sixers and Nets&rsquo; blockbuster when James Harden and Ben Simmons swapped places. Harden joins Joel Embiid forming a lethal, potentially transcendent one-two scoring combination. Philadelphia pushed the chips in as Embiid continues to display rare big man dominance. For Brooklyn, this situation was untenable with Harden&rsquo;s on-court pouting. The Nets&rsquo; Big 3 of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden will be looked back on with so many questions down the road. Both teams shook it up, and in the end it's fair to say both teams made weaknesses a strength. Harden is Daryl Morey&rsquo;s big moment in Philly, but Simmons could finally be fully maximized alongside Durant.
Mat Issa: Of course, the 76ers are &ndash; any time you can end an annoying, eight-month-old saga by securing a top-12 player in the world, you&rsquo;ve won immensely. However, the team that really stands out to me is their counterpart in the deal, the Brooklyn Nets. Despite having their back against the wall with very little leverage (thanks to Harden&rsquo;s displeasure being confirmed the morning of the deadline), the team netted a pretty nice return. Say what you will about him, but Simmons was a solid All-Star in a suboptimal situation in Philadelphia. Next season, he&rsquo;ll be operating with the perimeter gravity that the likes of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Joe Harris, and Seth Curry (another valuable piece from the deal) afford you. Also, adding a solid backup center and some draft capital is always nice, as well.
Justin Lewis: The Brooklyn Nets, because they just became a better team. The Detroit Pistons paid next to nothing for a shot at Marvin Bagley. The Memphis Grizzlies because Dallas got worse and no one in the West really made a move to pull closer or further away from them.
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Who are your biggest NBA trade deadline winners? BasketballNews.com's writers shared their thoughts.

Roundtable: Who are the biggest winners of the NBA trade deadline?

355.
That&rsquo;s the amount of combined regular season and playoff minutes the recently-turned 22-year-old Bol Bol has received since he was selected by the Miami Heat and rerouted to the Denver Nuggets with the 44th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
The 7-foot-2, 220-pound talent and enigmatic son of Manute &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/blk_career.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of the NBA&rsquo;s great shot-blockers</a> &mdash; Bol has spent most of the last three seasons chillin&rsquo; on the Nuggets bench. And just a few days ago, he was centered in one of our first potentially meaningful NBA trades of the 2021-22 season, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nuggets-trading-bol-bol-to-pistons-for-rodney-mcgruder-draft-pick" target="_blank" rel="noopener">going from the Nuggets to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Rodney McGruder and a future second-round draft pick</a>. (Editor's Note: The Pistons-Nuggets trade with Bol Bol was voided on Jan. 13 due to a failed physical, per <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2022/01/13/bol-bol-trade-detroit-off/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Denver Post's Mike Singer</a>).
You may recall that Bol was one of the country&rsquo;s best high school prospects in a 2018 senior class that famously included Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish, the three of which he directly followed in <a href="http://www.espn.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/playerrankings/_/class/2018/order/true">ESPN&rsquo;s Top 100</a>. It isn&rsquo;t full proof &mdash; you&rsquo;ll occasionally have a <a href="http://www.espn.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/playerrankings/_/class/2012/order/true">Kaleb Tarczewski</a> &mdash; but typically, you&rsquo;ll get an NBA rotation player more often than you don&rsquo;t in that top-four tier. 
And in Bol's lone season at the University of Oregon, where he committed to before the 2018-19 college basketball season, the big man averaged 21.0 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game while putting up .561/.520/.757 shooting splits. The common player comparison was Kristaps Porziņģis &mdash; <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nuggets-news-bol-bol-says-his-game-is-similar-to-mavs-kristaps-porzingis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one he even drew himself as a rookie</a> &mdash; and if you watched Bol work, you might&rsquo;ve arrived at the same conclusion.
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The issue is, even as he produced all of that in just 29.8 minutes per contest, many had questions about the sustainability of his game, largely for health reasons. Bol played nine college games before a season-ending foot injury cut his long year with the Ducks short. He then entered the 2019 draft, where he fell to round two after once being considered a top-five pick.
As a result, we knew Bol would be handled with kid gloves, caution tape and bubble wrap coming into the league, so much that he was signed to a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joelrush/2019/09/06/why-bol-bol-signing-a-two-way-contract-with-the-nuggets-is-raising-eyebrows/?sh=7516db26534e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two-way contract</a> after being drafted as opposed to inking a typical rookie-scale deal. For somebody who Nuggets president Tim Connelly claimed to have had in the <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2842235-nuggets-gm-tim-connelly-says-bol-bol-was-top-10-on-draft-board-despite-injury" target="_blank" rel="noopener">top-10 of the franchise's internal big board</a>, it was a hell of a way to show it.
We weren&rsquo;t supposed to see Bol in the NBA in his first year (and even in the G League, he <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/gleague/players/b/bolbo01d.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">only appeared eight times</a>), but it took a pandemic for him to hit the floor in the Orlando Bubble when the 2019-20 season resumed. Bol played in seven regular season games, averaging 5.7 points and 2.7 rebounds in 12.4 minutes per contest with 500/.444/.800 splits; he later added four garbage-time appearances in the Nuggets' blowout playoff losses. But as a rookie who sat for most of the year, we understood it.
After that, coming into his sophomore campaign, he was finally signed to a standard two-year contract worth over $4 million, a deal that expires after this season. For context, Bol is making over $2.1 million this season, which is more than the Miami Heat are paying Max Strus ($1.67 million), Gabe Vincent ($1.67 million), Omer Yurtseven ($1.49 million) and Caleb Martin ($462K), who are winning games for their shorthanded selves.
During the previous two seasons, we&rsquo;ve seen Bol for 247 of those 355 total minutes. This year, despite COVID and injuries to the Nuggets, he's only played 81 minutes in total.
And in these last two seasons in which Bol has played 49 games, including three playoff appearances and 14 contests this year, he&rsquo;s averaged around five minutes per game... That&rsquo;s it.&nbsp;
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As far as we know &mdash; beyond the foot injury at Oregon that lingered into Year 1 &mdash;&nbsp; Bol hasn't had any major injury setbacks, and even liked a tweet months ago <a href="https://www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/nuggets_bol_bol_hinting_he_wants_out_of_denver/s1_127_36259724" target="_blank" rel="noopener">calling for him to be traded and freed elsewhere</a>.&nbsp;
Reasonably, the Nuggets are wholly justified in essentially redshirting Bol the first season and being careful since. With that said, there are questions that need answers regarding his first two-and-a-half seasons in Denver.
Has he been playing hard in practice? Is he engaged behind the scenes? Have promises been made that the organization never kept? Given his lack of on-court visibility, has he developed or taken a step in ways we can&rsquo;t quantify?&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s even stranger that Denver didn&rsquo;t try him out for extended periods given all the team's injuries, specifically to Jamal Murray, who tore his ACL in April, and Michael Porter Jr., who had... something called lumbar spine surgery just over a month ago. (Jeez, fam.)
Merely on the court, it isn&rsquo;t uncommon for second-round picks &mdash; even guys who were previously projected in the lottery &mdash; to just not find a fit on the team that drafted them (or, in this case, traded for on draft night). It just usually isn&rsquo;t this&nbsp;way. And in Denver&rsquo;s specific case, people envisioned what 2020-21 NBA MVP Nikola Jokić, in particular, <a href="https://twitter.com/HarrisonWind/status/1477522949338923008" target="_blank" rel="noopener">could do in a frontline alongside Bol</a>.
Remember how excited the streets were when Bol started a Bubble scrimmage alongside Jokić, who ran point?
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Typically people wouldn&rsquo;t care about a guy riding the bench if he didn&rsquo;t belong, but with Bol, we don&rsquo;t actually know. We have had enough glimpses and warranted excitement to suggest that Bol could play, or just enough of a curiosity and want to see if he can.
This isn&rsquo;t all to say that Bol will definitively be the unicorn in waiting some projected heading into the 2019 NBA Draft. It is to say that still, three years later, we don&rsquo;t know how good he actually is. All we&rsquo;re asking is: Can we finally&nbsp;find out?

Bryan Fonseca revisits Bol Bol's odd stint with the Nuggets and is hopeful that he can find a role in the near future.

Can we just finally see Bol Bol play basketball, please?

TORONTO (AP) &mdash; Fred VanVleet scored 19 of his season-high 35 points in the third quarter, Pascal Siakam had 20 points and 14 rebounds, and the Toronto Raptors extended their home winning streak against the Knicks to 11 games by beating a depleted New York team 120-105 on Sunday.
OG Anunoby scored 14 points, Scottie Barnes had 13 and Chris Boucher 12 as the Raptors won back-to-back games for the first time since home wins over New York and Sacramento on Dec. 10 and 13.
&ldquo;I thought we were pretty locked in for most of the game,&rdquo; VanVleet said.
Barnes returned after missing Friday&rsquo;s win over the Clippers because of a sore right knee. He sat out the previous two games while in the health and safety protocols.
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&ldquo;I felt pretty good out there,&rdquo; Barnes said. &ldquo;I really had my wind. I wasn&rsquo;t so tired.&rdquo;
Toronto, which had 10 players in the protocols for a Dec. 26 loss at Cleveland, had its eight most-used players available for the first time all season.
&ldquo;This is kind of where you want to be,&rdquo; VanVleet said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve just got to continue to get better individually and collectively. I think we&rsquo;ll be a tough team to beat if we can keep growing towards the end of the year.&rdquo;
VanVleet shot 11 for 17 and made a season-high seven of his 13 attempts from 3-point range. He went 6 for 6 at the free throw line and finished with five rebounds and five assists.
&ldquo;It makes us tough to guard when he&rsquo;s coming down, hitting in transition, coming off screens,&rdquo; Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.
Evan Fournier scored 20 points and RJ Barrett and Obi Toppin each had 19 for the Knicks, who lost their second straight after winning the previous three.
&ldquo;Overall, I thought some guys stepped up and played good but you&rsquo;re short-handed, your margin for error is small, and we didn&rsquo;t get it done,&rdquo; Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Fournier returned after missing Friday&lsquo;s loss to Oklahoma City because of a sore right ankle, but the Knicks were without starters Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson, who joined Nerlens Noel, Jericho Sims, and Wayne Selden in health and safety protocols.
Another starter, guard Kemba Walker, sat for the second straight game because of a sore left knee.
&ldquo;We have three starters down,&rdquo; Fournier said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a lot.&rdquo;
Toppin&rsquo;s point total equaled his career high. He also had 19 against Toronto on Dec. 10.
&ldquo;It means something,&rdquo; Toppin said of matching the milestone, &ldquo;but obviously the loss sucks. We&rsquo;re just going to learn from this game and get better.&rdquo;
After scoring a season-low 80 points Friday, New York topped 100 for the first time in four games.
The Raptors played before a mostly empty arena for the second straight game after Ontario&rsquo;s provincial government reduced capacity limits to a maximum of 1,000 people in an attempt to control the spread of COVID-19. No tickets were sold, and only friends and family were allowed entry.
Toronto led 56-45 at halftime and used a 40-point third to take a 96-74 lead to the fourth.
SHARP SHOOTING
The Raptors shot 15 for 22 in the third. That was one fewer made baskets than the Knicks had in the first half. VanVleet had six made baskets in the quarter, while the Knicks had seven.
SHORT STINT
Rookie G Miles McBride started for the Knicks but was subbed out after five minutes and didn&rsquo;t return until the fourth quarter. Alec Burks started the second half.
&ldquo;Just the way the game was going, I felt we probably needed a little more offense to try to get things going,&rdquo; Thibodeau said.
TIP-INS
Knicks: Associate head coach Johnnie Bryant and assistant coaches Kenny Payne and Daisuke Yoshimoto were absent after entering the health and safety protocols. &ldquo;Everyone has added responsibility right now,&rdquo; Thibodeau said. &hellip; Play eight of their next 10 at home.
Raptors: Siakam finished with seven assists but had six turnovers. &hellip; F Isaac Bonga exited health and safety protocols but was not available (conditioning). &hellip; Outrebounded New York 44-30.
UP NEXT
Knicks: Host Indiana on Tuesday.
Raptors: Host San Antonio on Tuesday.
___
More AP NBA:&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://apnews.com/hub/NBA">https://apnews.com/hub/NBA</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://twitter.com/AP_Sports" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://twitter.com/AP_Sports</a>

Fred VanVleet scored 19 of his season-high 35 points in the third quarter.

Fred VanVleet scores season-high 35, Raptors rout Knicks 120-105

According to The Athletic&rsquo;s Shams Charania, Detroit Pistons wing Jerami Grant is one of the NBA&rsquo;s most sought-after players in potential deals as February&rsquo;s trade deadline approaches. This shouldn&rsquo;t come as a surprise, even with Grant sidelined due to torn ligaments in his right thumb. Once Grant is fully healthy, which should be around February anyways, he can provide a huge boost to just about any team that's looking to compete this year.
Since taking on more of an expanded role with the Pistons, he has averaged 21.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 blocks per game on a respectable 55.2% True Shooting percentage. Presumably on a winning team in his next stop, Grant should slide back into the coveted-role-player spot he thrived in during his stints with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets.
Detroit is 4-21 this season, and No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham is beginning to blossom and showcase his superstar upside. With Grant&rsquo;s injury, now is the perfect time to let Cunningham spread his wings even further and recoup some assets for the Pistons&rsquo; best trade chip.
Charania mentioned many teams have been calling Detroit consistently about Grant, including the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers. So, which teams should be blowing up the Pistons&rsquo; phone lines trying to acquire a souped-up three-and-D wing who can fit like a glove on any roster? Let&rsquo;s examine some potential blockbusters revolving around Grant.&nbsp;
Utah Jazz
Excuse me, because the idea of a potential Rudy Gobert and Grant frontcourt pairing would be filthy for Utah. Immediately, this trade vaults the Jazz into the Western Conference&rsquo;s top tier of Finals contenders alongside the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns.
If the Jazz wanted to make an all-in Finals push, getting aggressive for Grant is the perfect scenario. Imagine them trotting out this starting lineup: Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic, Grant, Gobert. Wow, I can&rsquo;t stop thinking about how lethal that would be on top of their copious amounts of depth.
But how can the Jazz get into the Grant sweepstakes? Here&rsquo;s where it gets interesting.
Pistons receive: Royce O&rsquo;Neale, Joe Ingles, Jared Butler, draft compensation
Jazz receive: Jerami Grant
Detroit receives a culture-setter in O&rsquo;Neale, a young asset in Butler, plus some future draft capital. Ingles likely never suits up for the Pistons and either gets flipped or hits the buyout market to join another win-now contender.
In the end, Utah trades two fan favorites. However, the risk-reward ratio certainly leans heavily toward the latter. Grant in Utah is one of my favorite fits.
Washington Wizards
The Wizards are beginning to fall back down to Earth after their hot start to the season. With pressure building as Bradley Beal inches closer to unrestricted free agency this offseason, Washington could be a sleeper team to watch out for when it comes to making an aggressive move to appease their superstar.
Grant alongside Beal and Spencer Dinwiddie would be a lot of fun in D.C., but what&rsquo;s the cost? It won&rsquo;t be cheap for the Wizards, who would have to give up one of their top young assets in the process.
Pistons receive: Deni Avdija, Aaron Holiday, Thomas Bryant, draft compensation
Wizards receive: Jerami Grant
For a team in win-now mode, acquiring Grant makes a lot of sense for the Wizards. He would slide right into the starting lineup and provide two-way versatility they desperately need. Although giving up a prospect like Avdija is a tough pill to swallow, getting aggressive could be what seals the deal on Beal staying long-term in the nation&rsquo;s capital.
Dallas Mavericks
Luka Doncic is a superstar. Kristaps Porzingis is playing with <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/kristaps-porzingis-renewed-confidence-leading-to-resurgent-season-with-mavericks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confidence we haven&rsquo;t seen since his New York Knicks days</a>. However, the Mavericks are in desperate need of another reliable long-term piece. Grant would be such a fun fit alongside Doncic and Porzingis, providing exactly what they need as look to make noise in the Western Conference playoffs.
Detroit likely asks for a player like Jalen Brunson in return, but Dallas should be very wary of doing that. Brunson is earning himself a hefty pay raise as he moves toward restricted free agency, but he&rsquo;s more than worth that price after his recent stretch of excellent performances for Dallas. The Mavericks could still make an interesting offer, countering with the following package:
Pistons receive: Dwight Powell, Dorian Finney-Smith, Josh Green, draft compensation
Mavericks receive: Jerami Grant
Detroit nabs an intriguing prospect in Green on top of two ideal complementary pieces to go alongside Cunningham. Powell would be able to stretch the floor, plus Finney-Smith is a bulky wing who can add some defensive value.
Dallas would be such an interesting team if they were to get serious on chasing Grant as their third option behind Doncic and Porzingis.
Minnesota Timberwolves
For years, Minnesota has been missing a complementary frontcourt piece to pair with Karl-Anthony Towns&rsquo; elite offensive ceiling. Well, the answer could be poached on the open market with Grant.
Grant is the perfect piece to fit alongside Towns, Anthony Edwards and D&rsquo;Angelo Russell. On a solid contract that won&rsquo;t break the bank (although a long-term extension should soon be in the cards wherever he lands), Grant provides exactly what is missing in Minnesota.
However, the cost could be a gut punch to some Timberwolves fans who are enjoying the recent development of their young role players:
Pistons receive: Taurean Prince, Jaden McDaniels, Leandro Bolmaro
Timberwolves receive: Jerami Grant
As you can see, no draft compensation goes back to Detroit here because they receive arguably the two best young assets listed thus far in McDaniels and Bolmaro. Both would certainly fit Detroit's long-term plan of building around with Cunningham as their No. 1 option. Meanwhile, Minnesota gets a much-needed boost in terms of two-way versatility.
This feels like a true win-win scenario for both sides, another deal I absolutely love the more I look it over.
Sacramento Kings
The Kings are in desperation mode and seem like a strong candidate to shake things up sometime soon. Adding a piece like Grant would help alleviate some serious defensive concerns, plus add a true No. 2 scoring option alongside De&rsquo;Aaron Fox.
The question is, would the Kings&rsquo; likely offer be enough to entice Detroit?
Pistons receive: Marvin Bagley III, Tristan Thompson, draft compensation
Kings receive: Jerami Grant
There has been smoke billowing around a potential Bagley-to-Detroit deal for quite sometime. If the Pistons still wanted to explore that possibility, now could be the perfect time. The only way this package gets Sacramento into the final conversations is the draft picks. Would the Kings be willing to give up two future protected first-round picks to acquire Grant? If so, Detroit would certainly listen intently.
Detroit brings back the 2018 No. 2 overall on top of some eye-opening draft picks, which could become gold mines soon enough. Is this a trade that makes sense for both sides?
Portland Trail Blazers
Blazers superstar Damian Lillard is frustrated, and he&rsquo;s begging for more help. Portland is stuck in the bottom-end of playoff contenders with no real chance to climb the Western Conference rankings anytime soon. With one of the NBA&rsquo;s most inconsistent defenses, Grant would be a much-needed spark to place alongside Lillard and C.J. McCollum as a true third option.
The question is, what makes sense for Detroit in a potential return package for Grant? As mentioned, the interest around Grant is robust, so Detroit will demand a pretty compelling package in exchange for the 27-year-old. Perhaps this three-for-one swap could be compelling for both sides:
Pistons receive: Robert Covington, Nassir Little, C.J. Elleby, draft compensation
Blazers receive: Jerami Grant
Detroit lands an intriguing young asset in Little as well as some additional future draft capital. Who knows if Covington even plays for Detroit, but for including him is necessary for salary-matching purposes. I love this deal for the Blazers, and I bet Lillard would appreciate it as well.
Los Angeles Lakers
Somehow, the Lakers always make their way into discussions for any potential impact player. From the Pistons&rsquo; point of view, does Los Angeles even have enough to make an enticing offer for someone like Grant? I would say it&rsquo;s doubtful, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean the Lakers won&rsquo;t try.
The Lakers&rsquo; best trade asset at this point is Talen Horton-Tucker, who signed a three-year extension this past offseason. THT is their lone remaining young asset as well, so he would certainly need to be included in a deal for Grant. Horton-Tucker is an intriguing fit to think about alongside Cunningham in Detroit, but does it really move the needle for the Pistons' front office? Unless the Lakers toss in some serious draft assets, the Pistons likely hang up the phone and look elsewhere without hesitation.
For Los Angeles, this is probably the best offer they can come up with in this scenario:
Pistons receive: Talen Horton-Tucker, Kendrick Nunn, Rajon Rondo, draft compensation
Lakers receive: Jerami Grant
So, it&rsquo;s really a package built around THT and a little draft capital. Rondo would immediately get bought out, and Nunn wouldn&rsquo;t be in the Pistons&rsquo; rotation. This trade feels very one-sided, which makes a Lakers offer very low on the potential totem pole. Since Charania did mention the Lakers&rsquo; interest, though, it&rsquo;s intriguing to see what they could actually offer.
***
Every team in the NBA could use a player like Grant, who provides endless amounts of versatility and winning qualities. After proving he can handle an expanded role in Detroit, Grant&rsquo;s price has increased significantly.
Stay tuned for the latest on the Grant situation, plus what should be a very explosive trade deadline. Also, check out recent articles breaking down potential trade destinations for <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-ben-simmons-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ben Simmons</a>, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/exploring-trade-destinations-for-domantas-sabonis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Domantas Sabonis</a>, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-myles-turner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Myles Turner</a>, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-caris-levert" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Caris LeVert</a> and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/finding-the-perfect-team-and-deal-for-terrence-ross" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Terrence Ross</a>.

As trade winds begin to pick up around the NBA, Jerami Grant is a hot commodity. Which teams make sense as a landing spot?

Examining potential trade destinations for Jerami Grant

Enes Kanter Freedom opened up to Etan Thomas on "The Rematch" on being a U.S. citizen, his Fox News interview, LeBron and more.

Q&A: Enes Kanter Freedom on U.S. citizenship, Fox interview, LeBron

The <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/gary-payton-is-proud-of-his-sons-performance-with-the-warriors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/giannis-antetokounmpo-shares-why-he-doesnt-associate-or-practice-with-other-nba-players-in-the-offseason/" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">following article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="http://basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://BasketballNetwork.net" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">BasketballNetwork.net</a>:
Gary Payton II&rsquo;s father needs no introduction. The OG Payton is part of the NBA&rsquo;s 75th Anniversary Team, which speaks to his impact and contribution to the game. With Gary Payton II&rsquo;s recent performances for the Golden State Warriors, it looks like the apple does not fall from the tree.
(Editor's Note: Kelsea O'Brien spoke with Gary Payton II last season about his unconventional path, time in the G League and being a legend's son. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-g-league-raptors-905-gary-payton-ii-on-growing-up-in-fathers-shadow-we-have-two-different-paths" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read the exclusive feature here</a>.)
GP on GP II&rsquo;s Recent Performances
Payton II&rsquo;s success right now is a feel-good story. The Golden State Warriors decided to sign him to a non-guaranteed contract, and it looks like the gamble is paying off. So far, GP II is averaging a career-best 5.9 points, 2.2 rebounds, an assist, and 1.3 steals&nbsp; per game. His energy on the floor rubs off on his teammates, and his plays excite the crowd.
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RISE UP, GARY PAYTON II 💥💥💥<a href="https://twitter.com/warriors?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@warriors</a> and Hornets head into Q2 on ESPN! <a href="https://t.co/ey6rq5ahBF">pic.twitter.com/ey6rq5ahBF</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1456088626421501952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Payton II is providing his best to contribute while the Warriors await Klay Thompson&rsquo;s return. He knows his role and sticks to it. The ability to knock down shots and attack the rim brings the fans in.
His Hall-of-Fame father, Gary Payton, couldn't be prouder either.
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Payton II started his NBA journey in 2016, but now he has the chance to show what he&rsquo;s made of. It&rsquo;s easy for the sons of former basketball players to expect favors handed to them given their famous surnames, but this is not one of those cases. GP II bounced off teams and played with multiple G League affiliates. Even so, "The Glove" he knew what his son could do.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy that it&rsquo;s in the Bay Area, it&rsquo;s with a good Golden State team and they really found a place for him,&rdquo; Payton <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/warriors/gary-payton-proud-son-impressive-warriors-start-continues" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said via Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area</a>. &ldquo;They gave him the opportunity he needed. Those other teams wouldn&rsquo;t let him. I knew he could play in the league. He just had to have the right opportunity, and now he does.&rdquo;
(Editor's Note: Gary Payton guested with Kenyon Martin on Neat &amp; Unfiltered last season to talk about being their sons playing professional basketball. Watch below or read what was discussed via <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-legacy-gary-payton-discusses-being-nba-dad-with-kenyon-martin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moke Hamilton's article on NBA dads</a>.)
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Payton II: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
Having experienced the harder route in the NBA, "The Mitten" wastes no time in proving his worth. Naturally, a father throws support to his son, but Payton II puts the work in, which shows in his recent performances. This season, he is top-five on his team in plus/minus (+9.2). In this past four games, he's averaged 10.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 2.8 steals while only playing 19 minutes a night.
With Payton II's electrifying performances as of late &mdash; and that Steph Curry fellow &mdash; it looks like Golden State is on the right track of returning to its former glory. It also looks like the Warriors may have another hidden gem on their hands.
But only time will tell.
Check out more articles from BasketballNetwork.net <a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Gary Payton spoke with Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area about his son's recent stretch of success with the Warriors.

Gary Payton on son's success: 'I knew he could play in the league'

I still remember back when the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History were named in 1996. And at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, 47 of the 50 players got together, in my hometown at that.
From Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson, seeing all of those greats in one place was truly inspiring. As a freshman at Xavier, it made me think about the future possibilities.
It&rsquo;s hard to believe that was 25 years ago, and in those years, obviously, a lot has happened for me &mdash; both personally and professionally. I think back about where I was then and where I am now, and am truly humbled.
For more reason than one.
When it was all said and done, all 50 of the Top 50 players were selected in the Top 75 that was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced at the beginning of the season</a>, and when I saw that list, I realized something incredible: I played with seven of those guys, and coached an eighth (LeBron James).
But winning at the highest level, for me, started in Miami. There, I had the honor of playing with Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton.&nbsp;
So I can&rsquo;t really think about the Top 75, the Top 50 or my own career without remembering where it all came together for me. And every one of my teammates there will have at least a story or two about Shaq.
What I remember most about Diesel was how motivated he was to win. Winning three championships in a row is borderline impossible, and there&rsquo;s a reason why nobody&rsquo;s been able to do it since Shaq and Kobe. Most people overlook the fact that the Lakers actually made it back to the Finals in 2004, but they lost to Detroit. Four Finals in five years? Incredible.
Anyway, whatever happened in L.A. happened, but what we all knew was that Shaq saw something special in D-Wade, and wanted to team up with him.
The front office in Miami did what it had to do and traded for Shaq, but the Heat sacrificed their depth to do so, and they ended up falling short in their first year. They couldn&rsquo;t get past Detroit; they lost to them in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005.
That summer, Pat Riley and the front office down there got real busy. They brought in a bunch of new pieces, including myself, Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and Jason &ldquo;White Chocolate&rdquo; Williams.
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At this point, we all knew that D-Wade had a chance to be a really good player, but Shaq and GP were already legends. There were lessons every single day, but I think the biggest one I took from Shaq was what it meant to be on a mission.
Regardless of what anyone wanted to say about him, Shaq was always a winner, and he was so motivated to prove to everyone that he was capable of winning without the late, great Kobe Bryant. At that time, he was the only player on our squad who already won a championship, so when he spoke, we listened. He wasn&rsquo;t only our leader, he was like everyone&rsquo;s big brother. You looked up to him and didn&rsquo;t want to disappoint him.
Along with Pat Riley (who <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-james-posey-as-long-as-pat-riley-is-in-the-picture-the-miami-heat-have-a-shot-nba-championship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventually became our coach</a>), we had two great leaders who not only encouraged us to be great or expected us to be great. They demanded that we be great, and they both led by great example.
From the mindset to the preparation, the two of them gave us great confidence to go out there and get the job done, even though we faced some trials and tribulations.
To put it simply, Shaq was our team&rsquo;s leader, and we all trusted him to show us the path because we knew that he&rsquo;d gotten to where we were trying to go. Even in our team&rsquo;s greatest moment of desperation &mdash; when we were down 0-2 to Dallas in the 2006 Finals &mdash; he preached accountability, but more importantly, he encouraged us to stick with the game plan and made us all confident that we would come out on the right side of history. And we eventually did.
Today, he often talks about guy panicking and being confident, and I can tell you: Diesel never lost his cool.
But yeah, Shaq... he was on a mission in Miami. In each our own way, we all were, I guess. But his motivation was different, and it impacted our team in a positive way.
I only spent two years as his teammate in Miami, but Shaq showed me what being a champion looked like. I carried that with me to Boston and for the rest of my career.
Now, one thing about most NBA locker rooms is that cliques form. That&rsquo;s not to say that there&rsquo;s any division within the team or anything like that, it&rsquo;s just natural that guys who have things in common might end up spending more time together than others. Some guys are really into fashion, some are into video games, some guys end up getting close because they have kids that are the same age, whatever.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2006-nba-champions-miami-heat_1xmxx9x7enf2b10ltxnugv0a83_lg.png" alt="" width="650" height="325" />
In Miami, Udonis Haslem, Antoine Walker and GP were the guys I got close with, and playing with GP was awesome as hell.&nbsp;
At that point in my career, I was mostly regarded as a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; guy, and even though he was at the tail-end of his career, GP had so much knowledge and wisdom that he shared with me.
From the start, GP knew that I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to play defense and that I wanted to guard the guy in front of me. And you know he was known for the gift of gab. I still remember GP teasing me in our very first conversation as teammates.
&ldquo;Here go this long-sock-wearing, harassing, defensive ass dude,&rdquo; he said. 
&ldquo;I like you, because you be all up in a dude face.&rdquo;
Obviously, for GP, being &ldquo;all up in a dude face&rdquo; was a compliment, and I was honestly flattered because I was surprised he even knew that I wore long socks, felt that way about me or knew me like that!
From that first convo, the rest was history. Most of the time we were on the court, we worked hand-and-hand. As a tandem, we were usually trying to stop the other team&rsquo;s perimeter players, and we spent so much time together off the court that working together on the court was actually pretty easy. Riles coached us, of course, but once we were done with practice, GP was always in my ears giving me little nuggets of info. And of course, talking smack.
The truth is I understood why they called him &ldquo;The Glove.&rdquo; He had instincts, know-how and the ability to read and defend actions. Best of all, he had the will and want to pass along his knowledge to a younger player because he saw something in me and trusted me. I think the best lesson I learned from working with him is what it really meant to have faith and trust in another person on the court. And also, what it means to actually make your teammates better and smarter.
In a way, a lot of us on the 2006 Miami team felt like it was GP&rsquo;s last good shot to win a championship. He got to the Finals twice, once in Seattle and &mdash; a lot of people forgot &mdash; he was with Shaq and Kobe on the 2004 Lakers team that lost in the Finals. So he was 0-2, and we wanted to change that.
Together, we did.
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And what can I say about D-Wade?
I think we all remember his first playoff run in Miami and how he was able to put the team on his back in some big moments as a rookie. Shaq saw it, which is the main reason he wanted to go to Miami in the first place. And by the time I got there, they&rsquo;d already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals. So even though D-Wade was only entering his third year by the time I got to Miami, I knew I had to give him his respect.
He ended up earning it from me, anyway, though.
If there&rsquo;s one word that comes to mind for me when describing him, it would be &ldquo;competitor.&rdquo; I honestly felt like everything he did on the court, he did with such pride. He wanted to be great and it was just inspiring to witness. Despite having all that talent, his work ethic was even crazier. He was literally the first to get to the gym and the last to leave.
D-Wade was actually in the TNT studio when they announced that he made the NBA 75. He said it felt &ldquo;surreal&rdquo; for him to make the cut. He mentioned that he only got three scholarship offers coming out of high school, and thanked Shaq (who was sitting five feet to his right) for coming to Miami and telling him that he had the potential to be great. He thanked the other greats that he had around him and said he made the cut because he was surrounded by greatness.
I can relate to that feeling.
But D-Wade also made the cut because he dedicated every minute of every day to maximizing his ability and striving to become great. It was no accident.
As I advance in my coaching career and even teach my children about perseverance, D-Wade is someone who will always be top of mind, because it&rsquo;s not easy for a 6-foot-4 guard to end up becoming one of the Top 75 players of all-time.
Like GP and Shaq, we can all learn something valuable from D-Wade. I know I certainly have.
As I looked back on my career, I remember the night I was drafted, and even before then, I remember the Top 50 players standing together at the 1997 All-Star Game.
And now, I can proudly say I can look back on my time in Miami and know that I played with three of the greatest ever.
I&rsquo;m better for it.

James Posey recalls when he won an NBA championship with Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton on the Heat.

Thanks to 3 legends, in Miami, I learned how to become a winner

The NBA informed its teams Tuesday night that it is finalizing an agreement with the National Basketball Players Association on a set of health and safety protocols for the upcoming regular season, according to information in a memo obtained by ESPN.
The protocols will require unvaccinated players to be under many of the same restrictions that the entire league played under for the vast majority of last season, before the COVID-19 vaccine was available.
Source: <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32301923/in-memo-teams-nba-crafts-protocols-requiring-unvaccinated-players-many-same-restrictions-rest-league" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tim Bontemps of ESPN</a>
ANALYSIS: Bontemps went on to say:
"Unvaccinated players must undergo daily testing prior to entering a team facility, participating in team-organized activities, or interacting with other players and Tier 1 personnel. They will also have to undergo lab-based game day testing, as they did last season."
"Unvaccinated players will have to also live under a strict set of rules similar to the ones that governed their movements last season. Those include being: prohibited from dining indoors in the same room at the same time as any other player or Tier 1 personnel; required to maintain at least six feet of distance from any other person (and required to wear a facemask at all times); required to maintain at least six feet of distance during treatment sessions from any other player also receiving treatment at the same time (and required to wear a facemask at all times); required to be given a locker that is as distant from other players as possible and not next to another non-fully-vaccinated player."
Baxter Holmes of ESPN reported earlier that there's tension in the NBA among some mandated to be vaccinated against those who aren't (players). "It&rsquo;s very concerning to everybody involved,&rdquo; said one GM. &ldquo;I'm out of energy trying to convince somebody to save themselves and their loved ones.&rdquo;
And Adrian Wojnarowski added that league spokesman Mike Bass told ESPN that, &ldquo;A vaccine mandate for NBA players would need an agreement with the Players Association. The NBA has made these proposals but the players&rsquo; union has rejected."
The NBA will hope that the incentives to be vaccinated will encourage the rest of its players to get the vaccine at some point.

According to ESPN, the NBA and NBPA are finalizing an agreement on the health/safety protocols for next season.

NBA, NBPA finalizing an agreement on health/safety protocols for the season

As a lyricist, Lil' Kim was light years ahead of her time.
When the Brooklynite released her debut album "Hard Core" in 1996, it was unlike anything we'd heard before. Here was this woman rapping unapologetically about sex, her own prowess in that arena and what she demands. Every bar she dropped oozed confidence, seduction and sex-positive empowerment. Kim was the Queen Bee. Her aura, style, grace and swagger backed up her provocative lyrics and showed why she brought the "workers" to her hive.&nbsp;
Ironically, Kim didn&rsquo;t embody that same confidence and bravado off the stage. Sometimes, beauty and glamour hurt, and for Kim, her scars were subcutaneous with a superficial edge. She listened to men who were beneath her. She bought into their narratives of not being enough. Her complexion wasn&rsquo;t light enough. Her features weren&rsquo;t keen enough. For as long as she could remember, her boyfriends kept cheating on her with those &ldquo;European-looking&rdquo; women, &ldquo;the long-hair type.&rdquo; Even her father verbally humiliated her. Former lovers. All of them taught Kim how to hate herself.
She bought into the notion that she couldn&rsquo;t compete &ldquo;as is&rdquo; &mdash; a &ldquo;regular around-the-way, black girl&rdquo; with extraordinary charm and charisma. After an ex broke her nose, Kim became addicted to plastic surgery. She was trying to find liberation and acceptance through reconstruction, only for her not to recognize her own face when she looks at her reflection in the mirror.
The NBA, just like Lil' Kim, has a narrative of inadequacy around it. There&rsquo;s a notion that the league as we know it isn&rsquo;t enough &mdash; isn&rsquo;t exciting enough, isn&rsquo;t entertaining enough and in need of a "makeover."
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According to The Athletic&rsquo;s Shams Charania, the league is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-discussing-midseason-tournament-with-1-million-prize-per-player" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discussing the addition of an in-season tournament</a> with $1 million per player in prize money. This is also coming off the heels of exploratory talks about a &ldquo;Field Of Dreams&rdquo; game. If the NBA implements these concepts and variations, the league will run the risk of not recognizing its own face and ruining what makes it great.&nbsp;
Usually, botox and nose jobs are considered &ldquo;gateway&rsquo;&rsquo; procedures in plastic surgery. A subtle tweak, nothing too dramatic. The NBA had its version of such an enhancement with the inaugural play-in tournament. Initially introduced in the NBA Bubble to help sort out seeding in the restart after the shutdown, the league brought it back this past season. The play-in was intriguing since it put the last two playoff seeds up for grabs and made the games more meaningful.
Adding the play-in, even though it can be considered as a &ldquo;gateway&rdquo; enhancement, was fine and organic. It only enhances intrigue in terms of the playoffs, giving off vibes of wildcard matchups, which can potentially alter the trajectory of the playoffs and make the games more exciting. Adding a midseason tournament and &ldquo;Field Of Dreams&rdquo; game, on the other hand, is gimmicky and unnecessary &mdash; extra enhancements that the league doesn&rsquo;t need.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has discussed his proposed midseason tournament at a number of events in the last few years. He reiterated that idea two months ago during the NBA Finals in his annual state-of-the-league press conference. His logic for the tournament is recouping lost revenue that stemmed from the pandemic and having another &ldquo;goal&rdquo;&nbsp; for teams to shoot for. According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski via Bleacher Report, the concept looks something like <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10003528-jamal-murray-on-possible-nba-midseason-tournament-no-need-to-make-season-complex" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this</a>:
&ldquo;Original midseason tournament proposals centered around a European soccer model event that would tie into the NBA&rsquo;s traditional schedule... An eight-team single-elimination tournament that would be incentivized with $1 million per player payouts to the winning team. The NBA had discussed a scenario of pool play embedded in the regular-season schedule to determine the teams.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
A midseason tournament with a $1 million prize per player? 👀 The NBA reportedly discussed this today, per Shams Charania:<a href="https://t.co/h8kQXdRshg">https://t.co/h8kQXdRshg</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1437536505094975489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

A midseason tournament does nothing for the players. The only goal that matters to them is hoisting the Larry O&rsquo;Brien trophy in June and unveiling that championship banner on opening night. That is what they are playing for... not some &ldquo;Stern Cup.&rdquo;&nbsp; Also, this tournament does nothing for the fans. There is already a play-in and the playoffs. A midseason cup is taking a page from soccer by having multiple titles up for grabs. The premise is exciting. The execution, however, is distracting.
If I wanted to be distracted by multiple cups and storylines highlighting the promise of reaching said cups and titles, I&rsquo;d watch soccer. In the NBA, all that&rsquo;s needed is a regular season &mdash; regardless of the length and the playoffs following to determine a champion. Why is there a need to make matters complicated? The Larry O'Brien is enough, and it is what matters to both the players and the fans. "The David" will never compare, no matter how much money Commissioner Silver is willing to throw at creating it.
The "Field Of Dreams" game is also not needed. Again, another enhancement only for the sake of it. To make matters worse, it&rsquo;s a copycat enhancement. In order to inspire and renew interest in the league and the sport of baseball as a whole, MLB recently came up with a &ldquo;Field Of Dreams" game. Taking a page from the classic sports film last month, the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees played in Dyersville, Iowa. The game drew the highest ratings for a regular-season telecast on FOX. Okay cool, but what works for MLB may not work for the NBA.&nbsp;
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For one, the interest in the NBA is already there regardless of what the ratings say. Secondly, it worked for MLB because it leaned into nostalgia; the NBA doesn&rsquo;t need that. Thirdly, sometimes, it&rsquo;s not what you do, but how you do it. If the NBA leans into hooper culture and sets up a game at Rucker Park or any other legendary court or slab of blacktop in the country, it's easy to see how it would work. But these gimmicks don&rsquo;t drive the interest of the game, and they never will.&nbsp;
It is the players that drive the interest of the NBA. Fans are entranced by seeing their unmatched skill and athleticism night after night in all of their vivid intimacy. You can see these players do what they do. You can see their emotions. You can see their grit, their swag and their grace running up and down the court without the armor of their major sports counterparts. The narratives, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-discourse-around-nba-superteams-is-tiresome-stars" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as tired and burdensome as they are</a>, serve a purpose. The players&rsquo; skill, athleticism and charisma are just enough to draw you into their individual storylines &mdash; not gimmicks with the hopes of a rating spike or a money grab.&nbsp;
The NBA is beautiful just the way it is, with perceived flaws and all. If there are any enhancements that should be made, they'll be superficial. The league can stand a field-of-16 playoff format regardless of conference or rules that help defenses out in the interest of balance, but nothing like what&rsquo;s being proposed.
The league has what it needs to succeed: current and future stars, and their storylines and their style, on and off the court. Dedicated and invested fans regardless of team and individual player. The ratings are what they are, and they can climb again &mdash; but no matter what the ratings say or what people say, the NBA's still got it going on.

Jannelle Moore argues that the NBA's recently proposed midseason tournament and "Field of Dreams" game are not needed.

No enhancement necessary: NBA should leave well enough alone

There have been plenty of fireworks during the 2021 offseason. From blockbuster trades to notable free agents changing teams, the 30 teams around the Association have given us plenty to talk about.
Recently, our staff discussed <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-roundtable-breaking-down-this-offseasons-most-underrated-moves" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this summer's most underrated moves</a>. Today, we asked our writers:
Which NBA team had the best offseason?
Nekias Duncan: They&rsquo;re another minor move away from rounding out the roster, but I think the Heat were pretty big winners. Being able to snag Kyle Lowry without giving up a pick or their best prospect is a win. Adding frontcourt depth, young (Omer Yurtseven) and old (P.J. Tucker, Markieff Morris) was smart. Bringing back Victor Oladipo on the minimum is the kind of <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-roundtable-breaking-down-this-offseasons-most-underrated-moves" target="_blank" rel="noopener">low-risk, moderately-high-reward move</a> that could swing some games in the second half of the season.
Alex Kennedy: After being super aggressive at last year's trade deadline, Nikola Vucevic <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/bulls-nikola-vucevic-qa-were-built-to-be-successful-for-years-to-come" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told me</a> that the Chicago Bulls "sent a strong message to the rest of the league that they really want to win now." This offseason, they doubled down and were even more active &mdash; adding <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lonzo-ball-chicago-bulls-form-a-perfect-marriage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lonzo Ball</a>, DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ayo-dosunmu-ready-to-seize-the-moment-as-he-becomes-complete-player-nba-draft-prospects-2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ayo Dosunmu</a> to their core of Vucevic, Zach LaVine, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/chicago-bulls-evolved-patrick-williams-offensive-game-at-nba-summer-league" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Patrick Williams</a>, Coby White and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-freeagency-destinations-for-lauri-markkanen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lauri Markkanen (RFA)</a>. Prior to the Vucevic trade, there was a month-long stretch where LaVine was averaging nearly 33.0 points. While it was incredible to watch LaVine put the team on his back, it was clear that he needed help. Now, just five months later, the roster looks completely different and the supporting cast is significantly better. This is the most talent that LaVine and Vucevic have ever had around them, and Chicago seems like a lock to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016-17 (and perhaps win a series for the first time since 2014-15). Last year, LaVine <a href="https://hoopshype.com/2020/04/28/nba-zach-lavine-chicago-bulls-michael-jordan-the-last-dance-season-workout-staying-shape-paul-seattle-arturas-karnisovas-marc-eversley/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told me</a> that he's "extremely hungry" to make his postseason debut and now it's absolutely within reach. (Also, getting Derrick Jones Jr., a lottery protected first-rounder and a future second-rounder back in the Lauri Markkanen sign-and-trade is a win.)
Jackson Frank: The Heat acquiring Kyle Lowry and P.J. Tucker, while retaining Victor Oladipo, give them the nod in my eyes. They went from a first-round out to a team that could make a deep playoff run. Lowry is a fringe All-Star and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/what-kyle-lowry-brings-to-the-miami-heat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offers significant offensive versatility</a> that should help reignite a stagnant attack. Tucker, although circumstantial defensively and rather limited offensively, remains a useful rotational big who helps maintain Miami&rsquo;s defensive ethos. Oladipo&rsquo;s offense is highly dependent on his jumper these days, but the defense was quite good last season and he clearly seems to want to be in Miami. Health is a looming question mark, but he can help them when out there.
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Jesse Blancarte: The Los Angeles Lakers entered the offseason with Dennis Schroder hoping to leverage the team&rsquo;s limited cap flexibility into a $100 million contract. The Lakers passed on Schroder, opting to trade for Russell Westbrook, re-sign Talen Horton-Tucker and fill out the roster with solid veterans on minimum deals (including Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore and Wayne Ellington). The Lakers even snagged a few talented, younger players with upside in Malik Monk and Kendrick Nunn. L.A. loses some points for reportedly not doing much to re-sign Alex Caruso, but the team added significant depth. Age will be an issue for this roster, but the talent and depth are there for another championship run.
Spencer Davies: This may be an unpopular opinion since all of their additions came via trades, but the Washington Wizards intrigue me as a playoff contender in the Eastern Conference. Spearheaded by the acquisition of Spencer Dinwiddie &mdash; who should fit like a glove next to Bradley Beal and take some of the playmaking load off the three-time All-Star &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/wizards-retooling-led-to-a-competent-roster-surrounding-bradley-beal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the team has retooled well</a>. Something tells me that Kyle Kuzma will be able to breathe a little easier in D.C., and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is easily the best sniper with defensive upside that Washington has thrown out there in years. Montrezl Harrell is going to be highly motivated after being dealt away, and perhaps he can develop a rapport with Aaron Holiday as a part of an energetic second unit. Let&rsquo;s not forget that Deni Avdija and Thomas Bryant will return at some point from their injuries too. Throw in a growing Rui Hachimura and Daniel Gafford &mdash; plus a new head coach in Wes Unseld Jr. &mdash; and the Wizards have some real firepower and could make a solid push.
Imman Adan: It&rsquo;s definitely the Nets; they managed to get better despite already being the favorites. However, I&rsquo;m going with the Miami Heat because they got their guy &mdash; Kyle Lowry &mdash; and didn&rsquo;t have to give up very much to get him. They also managed to pick up P.J. Tucker and, if he has anything left in the tank, he can help fill the void Jae Crowder left.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Evan Sidery: Although it remains to be seen how exactly all the new parts fit together, credit to the Chicago Bulls for finally going for it. Lonzo Ball is a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lonzo-ball-chicago-bulls-form-a-perfect-marriage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">perfect backcourt complement</a> for Zach LaVine, while DeMar DeRozan provides a legit scoring punch as well. If 2020 No. 4 overall pick Patrick Williams takes a leap &mdash; and Summer League is showing that&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/chicago-bulls-evolved-patrick-williams-offensive-game-at-nba-summer-league" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a strong possibility</a> &mdash; Chicago looks the part of a top-six team in the Eastern Conference. Ever since Derrick Rose&rsquo;s prime, Chicago has been yearning for a competitive team. In 2021-22, they have an opportunity to make noise.
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Ethan Fuller: The Miami Heat reeled in the biggest available free-agent name in Kyle Lowry without giving up a treasure trove of talent. Sure, Precious Achiuwa is a tough loss for an aging team, but Lowry is a clear upgrade over Goran Dragic in the short-term. The Heat also signed two underrated additions in P.J. Tucker and Markieff Morris without losing rotation players of consequence. Miami is older, more expensive and potentially injury-prone, but the squad is also more talented and more potent as a defensive unit.
Drew Maresca: Shockingly, the Washington Wizards. Most importantly, they got out from under Russell Westbrook&rsquo;s contract, swapping Westbrook for Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Montrezl Harrell. They also added Spencer Dinwiddie, who better complements Bradley Beal than Westbrook did &mdash; a hugely important aspect of his addition. If Dinwiddie bounces back to his old self, the Wizards will compete for a playoff spot in a newly competitive Eastern Conference &mdash; and that might enough to convince Beal to extend.
Chris Sheridan: It is a close call between the Nets, Heat and Lakers... so close that I am going to make it a three-way- tie. I absolutely love Brooklyn's acquisition of Patty Mills. He is a fourth star, if you ask any Australian. They needed a second perimeter defender aside from Bruce Brown, whom they were lucky to keep, and they needed someone off the bench to replace Jeff Green. Miami got Kyle Lowry, which is HUGE, along with Markieff Morris on a one-year deal, which should incentivize him to play to his full potential. Also, they got P.J. Tucker, which I feel is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-roundtable-breaking-down-this-offseasons-most-underrated-moves" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the offseason's most underrated move</a>. For the Lakers, acquiring Russell Westbrook may go down in history as the biggest and best move they could have ever made to facilitate another championship run with LeBron James. He is a vast upgrade over Dennis Schroder, who ended up being too greedy for his wallet's own good. The other role players the Lakers added seem to fit nicely, especially Carmelo Anthony, Kent Bazemore and Wayne Ellington for perimeter shooting and Dwight Howard for messing with the minds of opposing centers. They will miss Alex Caruso's defense (and it remains to be seen who can provide that), but they had an impressive offseason.
Jannelle Moore: The Lakers had the best offseason because they knew they didn&rsquo;t have much salary-cap space, but they got creative and still managed to land a star in Russell Westbrook. Many people doubted whether the Lakers could make a splashy move, but they managed to pull off a blockbuster trade with the Wizards. Carmelo Anthony and the role players they brought in were great additions as well.

Which team is the big winner of the 2021 NBA offseason? Our writers share their thoughts.

Roundtable: Which NBA team had the best offseason?

The New Orleans Pelicans have officially announced Phoenix Suns assistant Willie Green as the team's new head coach in the following press release:
The New Orleans Pelicans have named Willie Green the team&rsquo;s new head coach, it was announced today by Pelicans Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin. Green becomes the eighth head coach in franchise history.
&ldquo;After an extensive and collaborative search, Willie stood out among an impressive group of candidates as the best person to lead our team moving forward,&rdquo; said Pelicans Governor Gayle Benson. &ldquo;We are very happy to welcome Willie as our new head coach and we look forward to working with him to guide our team on the court as we work towards bringing a championship to New Orleans.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Willie has established himself as one of the most respected assistant coaches in the NBA. In large part, this is due to a tireless work ethic and authenticity of character,&rdquo; said Griffin. &ldquo;He brings a vast amount of basketball knowledge and experience to our team as both a coach and former player, along with exceptional leadership qualities and an innate ability to connect with players, staff and fans alike. We could not be more excited to welcome Willie and his family to New Orleans.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I want to thank Mrs. Benson, David Griffin, and the entire Pelicans organization for having faith in me to lead this talented group of players moving forward,&rdquo; said Green. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a blessing and an honor to get this opportunity in a special place like New Orleans. I look forward to getting to work and immersing myself and my family into the local community.&rdquo;
Green joins the Pelicans after spending the previous two seasons (2019-21) as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns. As a part of head coach Monty Williams&rsquo; staff, Green helped guide the 2021 Western Conference Champions to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1993. As the Suns&rsquo; defensive coordinator, Phoenix finished the regular season with the NBA&rsquo;s sixth-best defensive rating. He also served as the Phoenix&rsquo;s head coach for NBA Summer League in 2019, leading the Suns to a 3-1 record in Las Vegas.
Prior to joining Phoenix, Green spent three seasons (2016-19) as assistant coach/player development for the Golden State Warriors. While on head coach Steve Kerr&rsquo;s staff, Green helped the Warriors win back-to-back NBA Championships in 2017 and 2018 before returning to the NBA Finals in 2019. He also served as the Warriors&rsquo; head coach for NBA Summer League in 2018, leading Golden State to the California Classic&rsquo;s only 3-0 record.
Green, a 12-year NBA veteran as a player, was selected with the 41st overall pick by Seattle in the 2003 NBA Draft. He appeared in 731 regular season games (297 starts) with Philadelphia, New Orleans, Atlanta, the LA Clippers and Orlando from 2003-15, and qualified for the playoffs seven times in his 12 seasons.
A native of Detroit, Green was a four-year standout at the University of Detroit Mercy, where he won Horizon League Player of the Year as a senior in 2003 and helped the Titans to two NIT appearances in 2001 and 2002, including a trip to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden in 2001. Green remains fifth in program history in career points scored.
Note: An introductory press conference will be held at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on Tuesday, July 27 at 11:00am CT.

Green becomes the eighth head coach in Pelicans franchise history.

Willie Green officially named Pelicans head coach

Shortly after the crowd began chanting &ldquo;U-S-A, U-S-A,&rdquo; Damian Lillard snuck behind Ricky Rubio and poked the ball free on a drive. Team USA recovered and was off to the races, and Kevin Durant hit Zach LaVine with a perfect alley-oop pass for a breakaway dunk.
All was more or less right for the Americans in Las Vegas on Sunday night in their final tune-up before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, an 83-76 victory over the Spanish national team that closed an eventful week.
More drama and adjustments are to come, as three players competing in the NBA Finals &ndash; Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker &ndash; get ready to board a charter flight to travel halfway around the world and then go into quarantine for an American men's national team that is heavily favored to win the gold medal. Durant, LaVine, Lillard and six other roster players were scheduled to fly into the time machine known as Tokyo on Monday prior to the opening of the Olympics on Friday.
The games will be played at an empty arena in Saitama, Japan, as that country hosts the Olympics amid a state of emergency that will keep the American players largely confined to their hotel rooms and the arena for nearly three weeks.
&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll figure it out. They&rsquo;re dangerous if they play as a team,&rdquo; Rubio said.
This was a momentous training camp for the Americans, who lost Bradley Beal to health-and-safety protocols and replaced Kevin Love with JaVale McGee after losing their first two exhibitions against Nigeria and Australia. Keldon Johnson is now among the players who will be wearing red, white and blue between now and the gold medal game on Aug. 7, and this American team will be continue to undergo a familiarization dynamic as the tournament plays out.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve bonded great. We all like each other,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to keep learning and get ready."
The Americans open against France -- a team that the U.S. lost to the last time they faced them in the 2019 FIBA World Cup -- before playing Iran and the Czech Republic. France is also the reigning bronze medalist from the World Cup.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been preparing for France for two years,&rdquo; head coach Gregg Popovich said. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t start preparing the day before. I think about it every day.&rdquo;
When not practicing, the Americans will be sequestered at the Tokyo Hilton to comply with lockdown rules instituted by the Japanese government and the Olympic organizing committee.
So there will be no more crowds like the one that came to the T-Mobile Arena on Sunday night. Team USA will be flying into a country where polls have shown the population is opposed to holding the Olympics, and this will be one of the toughest hands Popovich has ever been dealt.
The whole dynamic changes once the team gets overseas. Comfort food becomes a little harder to find, the language barrier complicates things and the isolation that comes with being holed up in a hotel room for days on end is a constant mental challenge. But the other teams will be enduring the same obstacles between now and the gold medal game on Aug. 7.
Popovich said he was especially looking forward to getting on the practice court three or four times after having done so five times in Las Vegas. The American team always must go through a familiarization process every time there is a FIBA tournament because the national roster turns over so often. Other nations do not have that problem, and it&rsquo;ll be on Team USA to blend in three new players as seamlessly as possible after the NBA Finals conclude, which might not happen until Thursday night if the Phoenix Suns can win Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.
But for what it is worth, the Americans' chemistry looked a whole lot better after they went to the locker room down by two at halftime. A third-quarter surge all but put the game away.
Spain outrebounded the Americans 42-29, but shot only 8-for-29 from three-point range. Rubio had a team-high 23 points, going 10-for-10 from the line as Spain took 25 free throws to the Americans&rsquo; 13.
A three-pointer by Lillard gave USA a 48-46 lead in the third quarter, followed by a dunk by Johnson, and Spain called a timeout at 2:22 with the USA in the lead 50-46. LaVine made a three out of the break, and the USA led 57-50 with 10 minutes remaining.
It is unknown whether the Americans will see the Spanish again. Spain, the defending world champion, is grouped with Argentina, Slovenia and Japan.
Before the three players from the NBA Finals are worked into the rotation, the Americans will be led by Lillard, Durant and LaVine. Lillard scored 19 points and dished out six assists against Spain; Johnson had 15 points, Durant contributed 14 points and LaVine had 13.

Chris Sheridan recaps the U.S. Men's National Team's last exhibition win before heading to Tokyo for the Olympics.

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