Los Angeles Clippers

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

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

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; LeBron James scored 26 points and Anthony Davis added 23 to help the Los Angeles Lakers to their first win of the season with a 121-110 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night.
Russell Westbrook had 18 points for the Lakers (1-5), who had lost their first five games of the season under first-year head coach Darvin Ham. Los Angeles was the last winless team in the NBA.
Ham celebrated in the locker room with his team and received a celebratory dousing of water.
&ldquo;We needed to prove something to ourselves,&rdquo; Ham said. &ldquo;Not to the world, not the media. We had to prove it to ourselves. I feel great about how we responded throughout the game.&rdquo;
Westbrook, who came off the bench again and has been accepting of that role, drove the lane and scored on a layup to extend the Lakers lead to 117-106 in the final minutes as the Lakers closed out the win.
In the third quarter, he raised his arms to get fans on their feet and he obliged.
&ldquo;Like I&rsquo;ve mentioned since Day One, whatever is needed from me to help the team win, that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ll do,&rdquo; Westbrook said.
Nikola Jokic scored 23 points and Jamal Murray added a season-high 21 for the Nuggets (4-3), who had four of their last five and two straight games before Sunday&rsquo;s loss.
Austin Reaves made a 3-pointer from the top of the arc and Lonnie Walker IV drove the baseline for a dunk to give the Lakers a 113-100 advantage. That 13-point lead was their largest of the season.
The Lakers made 13 3-pointers on 13-for-30 shooting after struggling with long-range shots this season in their previous five games. The Nuggets made 15 3-pointers.
Davis was aggressive early after missing one game with lower back tightness and was questionable Sunday but played. He tweaked his back in the game against Denver on Wednesday when the Nuggets beat the Lakers 110-99 in Denver.
Davis, who called Sunday&rsquo;s game a must-win, said he&rsquo;ll have to manage the pain.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s day by day,&rdquo; Davis said. &ldquo;One day, I feel great. The next day (it&rsquo;s hard). Just try to manage it and keep getting treatment.&rdquo;
The Lakers led 55-51 at halftime. They trailed by as many as 10 points in the first quarter but overcame that deficit by halftime.
&ldquo;They were playing with desperation and I felt like we had them and let it slip away,&rdquo; Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon said.
JOYFUL RUSS
Charles Barkley recently said that the Lakers are &ldquo;taking Russell Westbrook&rsquo;s joy out of basketball. When asked about the joy factor, Westbrook said: &ldquo;One thing I&rsquo;ll never let happen is people outside of my family and people that support me, take my joy. I always have fun and embrace this game and embrace the gift I&rsquo;ve been given. Losing is not as much fun. I love seeing my teammates flourish, honestly. I get joy by seeing others do great.&rdquo;
UP IN THE RAFTERS
Hall of Famer George Mikan had his jersey retired. His family was there to celebrate the honor and watch No. 99 be unveiled. He&rsquo;s the 11th player to have his jersey retired, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Jerry West, Jamaal Wilkes and James Worthy. Worthy was there Sunday and spoke about Mikan.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: G Bones Hyland missed the game with a left hip strain &hellip; G Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (sprained ankle) returned Sunday and had nine points &hellip; C DeAndre Jordan ran out of bounds on one play, leaned over a fan to stop his momentum and ate some of his popcorn.
Lakers: Pau Gasol, who won two championships with the Lakers, attended the Mikan Jersey unveiling and game on Sunday. His jersey will be retired by the Lakers in March

LeBron James scored 26 points and Anthony Davis added 23 to help the Lakers to their first win with a 121-110 victory over the Nuggets.

James, Davis help Lakers win for first time this season

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

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

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

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Greg Lee, who helped UCLA to consecutive national championships in 1972 and &rsquo;73 as a starting guard under coach John Wooden, has died. He was 70.
Lee died at a San Diego hospital on Wednesday from an infection related to an immune disorder, the university said Thursday after being informed by his wife, Lisa.
Lee became a starting guard on the varsity team as a sophomore in 1971-72, alongside Bill Walton and Jamaal Wilkes. The Bruins had a 30-0 record while winning games by an average margin of over 30 points. They beat Florida State 81-76 in the national title game.
The following season, the Bruins again went 30-0 and won the national championship, 87-66 over Memphis State.
During Lee&rsquo;s senior year in 1973-74, UCLA&rsquo;s 88-game winning streak was snapped in a 71-70 loss to Notre Dame. The Bruins&rsquo; run of national titles also ended at seven when they were beaten by North Carolina State 80-77 in double overtime in the NCAA Tournament semifinals.
Lee averaged 5.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in 88 games with the varsity, which compiled an 86-4 record during his three seasons.
In that era, freshmen weren&rsquo;t allowed to compete, so Lee, Walton and Wilkes helped UCLA&rsquo;s first-year team to a 20-0 record while Lee averaged 17.9 points.&nbsp;
Lee grew up in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Reseda. His father, Marvin, played basketball at UCLA under coach Wilbur Johns, who preceded Wooden.
After leaving UCLA, Lee played professionally in the ABA and NBA. He briefly played for the Portland Trail Blazers in 1975-76, reuniting with Walton, before playing in Germany for several seasons.
Throughout the 1970s, Lee competed on the professional beach volleyball circuit. He won 29 titles while appearing in 39 finals during his career.
After his playing days ended, Lee earned a teaching credential from UCLA. He taught math at Clairemont High in San Diego and coached varsity basketball and tennis.
Besides his wife of 48 years, Lee is survived by his son Ethan, daughter Jessamyn Feves, and his brother Jon.

Lee, who helped UCLA to consecutive national championships in 1972 and ’73 as a starter under John Wooden, has died. He was 70.

Greg Lee, UCLA guard under coach John Wooden, dies at 70

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced today the list of Hall of Famers scheduled to present the Class of 2022 at the Enshrinement Ceremony to be held Saturday, September 10 at Symphony Hall. More than 50 Hall of Famers are expected to be in attendance for the ceremony, including all presenters.
Members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022 were asked to select previous inductees to accompany and present them to their peers. The choice is solely the decision of the incoming Hall of Famers, or their family members if recognized posthumously.
This year&rsquo;s class includes nine honorees from the North American and Women&rsquo;s committees: two-time NBA All-Star and four-time NBA champion Manu Ginobili, five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway, two-time NCAA National Coach of the Year Bob Huggins, the NBA&rsquo;s sixth-winningest coach of all-time George Karl and longtime NBA referee Hugh Evans. On the women&rsquo;s side, the Hall of Fame is proud to welcome five-time WNBA All-Star, three-time WNBA Champion, and two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Lindsay Whalen, four-time WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Swin Cash and NCAA national champion and WNBA Coach of the Year Marianne Stanley.
Distinguished committees focused on preserving all areas from the game also selected eight directly elected enshrinees. They include Lou Hudson from the Veterans Committee, Larry Costello and Del Harris from the Contributor Committee, Theresa Shank-Grentz from the Women&rsquo;s Veterans Committee, Radivoj Korac from the International Committee, and Wyatt &ldquo;Sonny&rdquo; Boswell, Inman Jackson, and Albert &ldquo;Runt&rdquo; Pullins from the Early African American Pioneers Committee. &nbsp;
The 2022 Hall of Fame Inductees and Presenters:
Tim Hardaway, presented by Isiah Thomas (&rsquo;00), Mitch Richmond (&lsquo;14), Chris Mullin (&lsquo;11), Yolanda Griffith (&lsquo;21), Nate Archibald (&lsquo;91)
Manu Ginobili, presented by Tim Duncan (&rsquo;20)
Lindsay Whalen, presented by Dawn Staley (&lsquo;13), Charles Barkley (&rsquo;06) &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Swin Cash, presented by Tamika Catchings (&lsquo;20), Teresa Weatherspoon (&lsquo;19), Tina Thompson (&lsquo;18), Isiah Thomas (&rsquo;00), Geno Auriemma (&lsquo;06)
Bob Huggins, presented by Jerry West (&lsquo;80), Rod Thorn (&lsquo;18)
George Karl, presented by Roy Williams (&lsquo;07), Gary Payton (&lsquo;13), Bobby Jones (&lsquo;19)
Marianne Stanley, presented by Cathy Rush (&lsquo;08), Lisa Leslie (&lsquo;15), Nancy Lieberman (&lsquo;96)
Hugh Evans, presented by Reggie Miller (&lsquo;12), George Gervin (&lsquo;96)
Theresa Shank-Grentz, presented by Cathy Rush (&lsquo;08), Charles Barkley (&rsquo;06), Vivian Stringer (&lsquo;09)
Del Harris, presented by Nancy Lieberman (&lsquo;96), John Calipari (&lsquo;15), Sidney Moncrief (&lsquo;19)
Lou Hudson, presented by Spencer Haywood (&lsquo;15), Jamaal Wilkes (&lsquo;12)
Larry Costello, presented by Billy Cunningham (&lsquo;86), Wayne Embry (&lsquo;99), Bob Dandridge (&rsquo;21)
Radivoj Korac, presented by Spencer Haywood (&lsquo;15) &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Tickets for the 2022 Enshrinement Ceremony and all Enshrinement events are on sale now and available online at www.hoophall.com or by calling the Basketball Hall of Fame at (413) 231-5513.
For more information and the latest updates, visit http://www.hoophall.com/Enshrinement or follow @hoophall on Twitter and Instagram.
About the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame 
Located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the city where basketball was born, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting, preserving and celebrating the game of basketball at every level &ndash; men and women, amateur and professional players, coaches and contributors, both domestically and internationally. The Hall of Fame museum is home to more than 400 inductees and over 40,000 square feet of basketball history. Nearly 200,000 people visit the Hall of Fame museum each year to learn about the game, experience the interactive exhibits and test their skills on the Jerry Colangelo "Court of Dreams." Best known for its annual marquee Enshrinement Ceremony honoring the game&rsquo;s elite, the Hall of Fame also operates over 70 high school and collegiate competitions annually throughout the country and abroad. For more information on the Basketball Hall of Fame organization, its museum and events, visit www.hoophall.com, follow @hoophall #22HoopClass or call 1-877-4HOOPLA.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the list of Hall of Famers scheduled to present the Class of 2022.

Basketball Hall of Fame reveals 2022 Enshrinement Ceremony presenters

It&rsquo;s an annual occurrence in the NBA. Teams change head coaches and the roster of candidates who should get those jobs starts getting bandied about, and especially in recent years those lists almost always included Black candidates.
Case in point: Ime Udoka, who is of Nigerian descent.
For five years, he was one of those can&rsquo;t-miss candidates but never got hired. That is, until the Boston Celtics gave him the opportunity. And all Udoka did in Year 1 was reach the NBA Finals.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand what took so long, to be honest,&rdquo; Celtics guard Jaylen Brown said.
Udoka&rsquo;s hiring by the Eastern Conference champion Celtics, who open the NBA Finals on Thursday night against the Golden State Warriors, was part of a transformative year for the league when it comes to diversity within the coaching ranks. In the last 12 months, eight coaching jobs have been filled by Black candidates &mdash; and for the first time, half the league&rsquo;s franchises, 15 of the 30, have Black head coaches.
&ldquo;It means a lot,&rdquo; said Golden State assistant Mike Brown, one of the eight recent Black hires; he&rsquo;s taking over the Sacramento Kings when this series ends. &ldquo;When my son, and my oldest son&rsquo;s about to have his first son, when they turn on the TV and they see people that look like them leading an NBA team on the sidelines, it can be inspiring.
&ldquo;For me, carrying the torch and then passing it to the next generation is something that I think about often &mdash; not just for my family, but for others out there.&rdquo;
Detroit&rsquo;s Dwane Casey, Phoenix&rsquo;s Monty Williams, Cleveland&rsquo;s J.B. Bickerstaff, Philadelphia&rsquo;s Doc Rivers, the Los Angeles Clippers&rsquo; Tyronn Lue, Houston&rsquo;s Stephen Silas and Atlanta&rsquo;s Nate McMillan are the seven Black coaches who had their current jobs last season. They&rsquo;ve been joined in the last year by Udoka, Brown, Portland&rsquo;s Chauncey Billups, Dallas&rsquo; Jason Kidd, Orlando&rsquo;s Jamahl Mosley, Washington&rsquo;s Wes Unseld Jr., New Orleans&rsquo; Willie Green and last week, the Los Angeles Lakers hired Darvin Ham.
Mosley interviewed for nine jobs before getting hired in Orlando. Ham, like Udoka, had been a can&rsquo;t-miss name for years, but never got a chance until now.
&ldquo;Darvin is about as good a guy as you&rsquo;re going to see, a big competitor,&rdquo; Boston&rsquo;s Al Horford said. &ldquo;Extreme competitor. The Lakers are really lucky to have a guy like him. He&rsquo;s the kind of guy that you want.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s been nearly 60 years since Bill Russell broke the NBA coaching color barrier when he became the first Black man to coach a team; he accepted the role as player-coach of the Celtics starting with the 1966-67 season and won a championship in his second season.
Al Attles and Lenny Wilkens were the next two Black coaches to get opportunities; they would eventually become champions as well. There have been roughly 260 different coaches in the NBA, excluding short-term interim fill-ins, since Russell was hired, and 1 out of 3 of those coaches have been Black. But most of those Black coaches have either lasted in their first job no more than three years or not gotten a second chance at leading a team.
Players wanted that to change. Evidently, so did other coaches.
&ldquo;For many years qualified young coaches of color like Ime Udoka, Jamahl Mosley, Willie Green, Wes Unseld Jr., Darvin Ham and Stephen Silas, to name just a few, were not getting consistent opportunities to interview for NBA head coaching positions,&rdquo; said Indiana coach Rick Carlisle, the president of the National Basketball Coaches Association. &ldquo;The last two years changed everything. The league office has tirelessly made franchises more aware of the qualifications and journeys of these talented young coaches. This increased awareness has led to qualified coaches of all backgrounds having greater opportunity to interview and the numbers speak for themselves.&rdquo;
Part of that awareness came from a meeting that three league officials &mdash; Commissioner Adam Silver, chief people and inclusion officer Oris Stuart and president of social responsibility and player programs Kathy Behrens &mdash; had with Carlisle, representing the NBCA, in February 2019.
Out of that meeting, the NBA Coaches Equality Initiative was born. The NBCA worked with the league in many ways to get it started, including the building of a database; in a couple of clicks, teams in need of coaches could get information, including qualifications, experience and even an on-camera interview in some cases, on every available candidate.
&ldquo;You have to talk about these issues all the time,&rdquo; Silver said Thursday. &ldquo;If you care about diversity and inclusion in your workplace ... it has to become a focus.&rdquo;
There are still areas where the NBA can improve in terms of diversity. Most front-office positions are not held by people of color and Michael Jordan is the lone Black principal owner of a franchise; Jordan leads the Charlotte Hornets, the only team that has a coaching vacancy right now.
It&rsquo;s an issue, and while there has been improvement in some areas, Silver wants more.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s more work to be done,&rdquo; Silver said.
That said, the numbers in the NBA wildly exceed the other major U.S. pro leagues.
There are three Black coaches in the NFL: Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Mike Tomlin, Houston&rsquo;s Lovie Smith and Tampa Bay&rsquo;s Todd Bowles. That does not include Miami&rsquo;s Mike McDaniel; his father is Black, but McDaniel identifies as biracial. The person McDaniel replaced in Miami, former coach Brian Flores, is suing the Dolphins and the NFL for what he says is racial discrimination in hiring practices.
&ldquo;Our league leads the charge,&rdquo; Mike Brown said. &ldquo;Hopefully other leagues will follow suit.&rdquo;
But he also points out that he longs for a day when 50% of the coaches in a league being Black won&rsquo;t seem like a milestone, saying that&rsquo;s &ldquo;the dream.&rdquo; And Silver echoed those sentiments.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m particularly proud of numbers and roughly 50% of our head coaches are Black now, the goal is that that&rsquo;s not newsworthy,&rdquo; Silver said. &ldquo;And when people are hired, the first reaction isn&rsquo;t the color of their skin.&rdquo;

“Our league leads the charge,” Mike Brown said. “Hopefully other leagues will follow suit.”