Blues

Now in his eighth season with the Indiana Pacers, Myles Turner is easily the team&rsquo;s longest-tenured player. In fact, no other Pacer on the current roster has been in town longer than four seasons.
Turner arrived in Indiana as a wide-eyed teenager who was selected with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. In the years that followed, Turner would watch as the team continually changed around him. He has played for four different head coaches &mdash; Frank Vogel, Nate McMillan, Nate Bjorkgren and Rick Carlisle &mdash; and witnessed a ton of roster turnover. But despite Turner&rsquo;s name surfacing in trade rumors annually, he has been the one constant in Indiana.
As a rookie, Turner suited up alongside stars like Paul George and Monta Ellis. During his sophomore campaign, he called Al Jefferson, Thaddeus Young, Jeff Teague and Lance Stephenson teammates. The following year, Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis, Bojan Bogdanovic and Darren Collison joined the squad. Turner has also played with veterans such as Tyreke Evans, Ty Lawson, Rodney Stuckey, Caris LeVert, Doug McDermott, T.J. Warren and C.J. Miles over the years.
However, one could argue that no teammate has had a greater impact on Turner&rsquo;s game than his current star running mate: Tyrese Haliburton.
When the Pacers <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-interview-tyrese-haliburton-indiana-pacers-chad-buchanan-bennedict-mathurin-myles-turner-sacramento-kings-domantas-sabonis-trade-drew-hanlen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acquired Haliburton from the Sacramento Kings</a> prior to last year&rsquo;s trade deadline, Turner was ecstatic. He was a fan of Haliburton&rsquo;s game and potential, and couldn&rsquo;t wait to team up with the pass-first point guard. Unfortunately, Turner wasn&rsquo;t able to play alongside Haliburton in the second half of last season due to a stress reaction in his foot.
This year, the Pacers&rsquo; one-two punch of Haliburton and Turner has been on full display, and they have become one of the most productive pick-and-roll duos in the NBA.
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pretty.😍 Tyrese Haliburton to Myles Turner for two. <a href="https://t.co/TupiSM909t">pic.twitter.com/TupiSM909t</a>
&mdash; Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Pacers/status/1629656051175026688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Turner has set 814 picks for Haliburton, which is the third-most of any pick-and-roll duo in the league, per Second Spectrum. The only tandems who have run the pick-and-roll more are Philadelphia&rsquo;s James Harden and Joel Embiid (893 picks) and Phoenix&rsquo;s Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton (897). Possessions featuring a Haliburton-Turner pick-and-roll have generated 1.063 points per possession &mdash; the fifth-best PPP of the 24 duos with at least 500 picks.
&ldquo;This has been a wonderful opportunity for Myles to play with a playmaking guard of Tyrese&rsquo;s caliber,&rdquo; Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle told Basketball News. &ldquo;A couple weeks ago, we checked and they were top-five or top-six in the league as a successful pick-and-roll connection, and that&rsquo;s pretty amazing. Myles is getting all different kinds of stuff &mdash; he&rsquo;s getting rolls for dunks, he's getting a little bit of mid-range, he's getting good looks for threes and he's getting some late passes underneath for dunks as well.
"I just love the force that he&rsquo;s playing with. Tyrese has had a wonderful impact on Myles and certainly the rest of the team, but the connection those two guys have has been special.&rdquo;
The partnership has been mutually beneficial. Turner gets easy looks from an elite floor general who ranks second among all players in assists per game (10.2) and assist percentage (46.9%), while Haliburton gets a unique big-man partner who can score inside (62.8% on twos) and out (40.3% on threes). It&rsquo;s no coincidence that both players are having career years.&nbsp;
Turner is averaging career-highs in points (18.2), rebounds (8.0), field-goal percentage (54.9%), three-point percentage (40.3%) and made threes (1.7), while also contributing 2.3 blocks, 1.4 deflections and 0.6 steals per game. Turner's dominance shows up in his analytics too, as he's posting personal bests in win shares per 48 minutes (.157), Box Plus/Minus (+2.6), True Shooting percentage (65.8%), Player Efficiency Rating (20.6) and total rebound rate (14.7%).
&ldquo;Myles has blossomed this year. We've seen the relationship with him and Ty; they're one of the best pick-and-roll [duos] in the league right now,&rdquo; Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said recently. &ldquo;This is the beginning of a nice core &mdash; no, a great core.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Meanwhile, Haliburton <a href="bit.ly/3AyPKHC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">became a first-time All-Star</a> after averaging career-highs in points (20.1), assists (10.1) and threes (2.8), while also contributing 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals per contest. Haliburton is also posting personal bests in advanced stats like assist percentage (46.9%), PER (23.0), VORP (3.8), BPM (+6.9) and WS/48 (.189).
&ldquo;It was unfortunate that I didn&rsquo;t get a chance to play with him last year and really start to develop that synergy, but I think we&rsquo;ve really picked it up quickly,&rdquo; Turner told Basketball News. &ldquo;Ty is someone who&rsquo;s easy to play with. Obviously, he sees the floor well. And as the season has progressed, we&rsquo;ve done a better job of communicating with each other. It&rsquo;s been a fun experience.&rdquo;
Despite the fact that they&rsquo;ve only played 44 games together, they have developed a strong connection and can often anticipate each other&rsquo;s next move.
&ldquo;I think I know what he&rsquo;s going to do before he does it in a sense,&rdquo; Turner said. &ldquo;I think that just comes with playing with him.&rdquo;
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this sequence.🔥 a huge block by Myles Turner followed by a huge dunk by Tyrese Haliburton.👀 <a href="https://t.co/4MpAf4Kp0B">pic.twitter.com/4MpAf4Kp0B</a>
&mdash; Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Pacers/status/1630770909442191360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2023</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;We just needed time together, that&rsquo;s all,&rdquo; Haliburton told Basketball News. &ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;ve had pretty good chemistry with my bigs throughout my NBA career, and I knew that playing with Myles wasn&rsquo;t going to be any different. He brings a different dynamic than what I&rsquo;m used to, with his ability to space the floor. And he&rsquo;s the best shot-blocker that I&rsquo;ve ever played with, so that gives me confidence on the defensive end to be able to take more risks and get into the ball a little bit more.
"I think it&rsquo;s a mutual relationship where he&rsquo;s got my back and I&rsquo;ve got his.&rdquo;
Not too long ago, Turner&rsquo;s days in Indiana seemed numbered. After all, the team traded away nearly all of its veterans last season (including Sabonis, LeVert, Torrey Craig, Justin Holiday and Jeremy Lamb), and Turner&rsquo;s name continued to pop up in trade rumors. However, since Turner is only 26 years old, the Pacers&rsquo; brass felt that he could be on a similar timeline as Haliburton, who is 23.
It certainly seems that the Pacers are building around this duo, especially after Turner was given a two-year, $60 million extension in January.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad that we got it done. I think it was a win-win for both sides,&rdquo; Turner said. &ldquo;I think I have a good relationship with (Pacers owner) Herb Simon, and I think he has a big belief in what I&rsquo;m capable of as well. I&rsquo;m glad that we were able to come to terms on an agreement. Behind the scenes, for me personally, I was open to the idea of free agency, but I also wanted to at least give Indy a fair chance, and both sides came to an agreement.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m comfortable. I&rsquo;m where I want to be. I&rsquo;m growing with a young team that&rsquo;s hungry. I think we&rsquo;re just trying to get better and better every day, and that&rsquo;s the main goal of this whole thing. I have a lot of belief in this city, a lot of belief in this program and a lot of belief in the guys in this locker room, so that was a big initial factor in me wanting to stay here.&rdquo;
Since Turner was a popular trade candidate, many fans of other teams got excited about the possibility of him joining their favorite squad. When Turner inked his extension with the Pacers, some of these fans reacted negatively &mdash; upset that he was no longer on the market.&nbsp;
&ldquo;What fans don&rsquo;t realize is that this is a business, and both sides have to do what&rsquo;s best for them,&rdquo; Turner said. &ldquo;Sometimes it doesn&rsquo;t work out where you&rsquo;re able to stay with the same team, but I&rsquo;ve been blessed and fortunate enough to be with the same team for my entire career. That&rsquo;s not something that happens a lot, and I never take that for granted. That was obviously something that went into my decision as well. For the casual fan, they have to realize that while basketball may be a fun game, the business aspect of it will always reign supreme.&rdquo;
As Turner mentioned, not many players stay with one NBA team for the entirety of their career. He admits that retiring in Indiana would mean a lot to him.
&ldquo;Yeah, obviously, it&rsquo;s something that would be very special,&rdquo; Turner said. &ldquo;Like I always talk about, the business of basketball always reigns supreme, but my loyalty is with the organization that drafted me and the city that took me in, and hopefully it&rsquo;s able to stay that way for years to come.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Turner has been a part of many different iterations of Pacers basketball. Now, looking at the current pieces around him, he&rsquo;s excited about the team&rsquo;s promising future.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen the growth in a lot of our young guys throughout the entire year,&rdquo; Turner said. &ldquo;The best thing for them was getting a chance to play early. For <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-feature-interview-indiana-pacers-rookie-andrew-nembhard-rick-carlisle-tj-mcconnell-gonzaga-florida" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Drew [Nembhard]</a>, Ben [Mathurin] and those guys, playing heavy minutes early was big for their development, and not every rookie has a chance to do that. The fact that they&rsquo;re getting battle-tested so early is going to bode well for them.
"I&rsquo;ve just enjoyed the overall spirit and fight of this team. We&rsquo;ve got a lot of guys who clock in and work hard day in and day out, and they&rsquo;re coming in here and getting a chance to compete after working their whole life to get here.&rdquo;
While playing alongside Haliburton has certainly helped Turner, the big man does deserve a lot of credit for the leap he has taken this season. He&rsquo;s put in a lot of hard work behind the scenes to maximize his potential and make the most of his opportunity.
&ldquo;I attribute [my career year] to patience and obviously the hard work I put in over the offseason to prepare for these moments,&rdquo; Turner explained. &ldquo;I also attribute it to just the years that I&rsquo;ve been in the league, where I&rsquo;ve been able to play out on the perimeter at the 4 position and now I&rsquo;m able to play my natural position (the 5).
"I&rsquo;m thankful that I was able to just stick it out those years that I was here and see what the other side of basketball was like, outside of just getting what you want when you want it. I think I waited my turn and, obviously, I&rsquo;m thriving now, and I&rsquo;m only hoping to get better from here.&rdquo;
Nekias Duncan contributed to this article.

Alex Kennedy catches up with Pacers big man Myles Turner to discuss his extension, playing with Tyrese Haliburton and more.

Pacers' perfect pairing: Turner, Haliburton form dominant 1-2 punch

For basketball fans, the NBA trade deadline is one of the most exciting days of the year. It&rsquo;s fun to track the rumors, react to trades and root for your favorite team to make moves.
However, for the players involved in these trades, it can be very stressful and emotional.
Most players spend deadline day looking over their shoulder, and there&rsquo;s a lot of anxiety and nerves around this time of year. There aren&rsquo;t many professions where your employer can ship you across the country without any notice, but that comes with being a professional athlete.
To get a sense of what it&rsquo;s like to be traded, Basketball News spoke to several former NBA players who opened up about getting dealt and what the process entailed.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtyqvPS02_Y&amp;t=2886s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RAY ALLEN</a>: &ldquo;When I got to Seattle, [here&rsquo;s] the way the trade went down. I was in Milwaukee playing for the Bucks and we flew to Seattle, and we had a practice that day. It was coming up on the trade deadline, and everyone was talking about Tim Thomas being traded. So we were on the Key Arena floor in Seattle and the media came rushing in. I'm sitting on the floor stretching and I'm looking around and as I turn [toward the media], all of these lights come on. And I'm like, 'What's happening? We're about to have practice.' And then I turn around and I'm like, 'What's going on?' And they're all looking and pointing at me. I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;Me?!&rsquo; [The media members] are like, 'Yeah! You!' So we're stretching on one end and the other team is stretching on the other end, and [Bucks head coach] George Karl is down there on the other end. I kind of look around and I&rsquo;m looking up [at Coach Karl], and he takes off. So, I walk over to the media and said, &lsquo;What&rsquo;s going on?&rsquo; They were like, &lsquo;There was a trade.&rsquo; I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;Who got traded?&rsquo; They were like, &lsquo;You.&rsquo; I go into the locker room and check my phone and it's blowing up. I got traded for Gary Payton. It was crazy to be traded to Seattle in the middle of the season. I go back [to Milwaukee], get my stuff, take my physical and fly back in. And my first game [as a Sonic] is against the Detroit Pistons.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I remember going out to lunch with Brent Barry, who was so great the whole time. He was such a jokester on the sly; he always had his little sarcasm that he'd add to any situation. He goes, 'Ray, just so you know, people aren't coming to the game to see you. They're coming to see the Barry brothers match-up.' Because Jon [Barry] was on Detroit. That was always Brett, with his dry humor. (Laughs) So, I'm watching the [Sonics'] film and Gary was &lsquo;The Glove&rsquo; &mdash; everybody knew how ferocious he was on defense. In Milwaukee, we had schemes, and I was used to that. But watching [the Sonics&rsquo;] film, Gary would come from one side of the floor and just start guarding a guy. And I was like, &lsquo;What scheme is that?&rsquo; And they were like, &lsquo;No, that&rsquo;s Gary&rsquo;s scheme.&rsquo; I noticed how the team was built around him, because a lot of the young players, they had kinda just waited on Gary to do whatever Gary did. So when I got there, Rashard [Lewis] was young and impressionable. We had Ansu Sesay, Reggie Evans, Jerome James and all of these young guys, and they all kinda just went as Gary went. So when I got there, I was like, 'Yo, get your shots up! I need you!' I was passing them the ball; I was flirting with triple-doubles like every other game. But I was like, 'You guys gotta [do something]!' They would just sit around, and I could tell the hole that Gary left &mdash; these guys were used to playing a certain way and kinda expecting him to do everything.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Rashard emerged because he started watching me come to the gym early every day and he would always say, 'Man, I want to make the money that you make and have the success that you've had. I really gotta start focusing in and taking this seriously&hellip;&rsquo; So, Rashard started getting to the gym early. He saw the work that I put in, and he saw that it was something that he could do and something he wanted for himself. I like to think that some of that money that he got from Orlando, he could have passed some of it [to me] on the side, but that didn&rsquo;t happen. (Laughs) But he was a great partner to have because he did get significantly better &mdash; so much better &mdash; from the time I got there to when we parted ways with him going to Orlando and me going to Boston. [I never talked to Coach Karl about him running away] and since then, George has always taken shots at me through the media or in writing his books. It's just the strangest thing because I always thought that we had a strong relationship as a player-coach.&rdquo;
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<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-etan-thomas-wpfw-dc-roundtable-drew-gooden-tony-massenburg-dave-zirin-john-wall-russell-westbrook-trade-washington-wizards-houston-rockets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ETAN THOMAS</a>: &ldquo;I have a story from when I was with the Wizards. I was in [general manager] Ernie Grunfeld&rsquo;s office. We&rsquo;re talking about me going to big-man camp because they used to send a big man down to Florida to IMG Academy to work out with Robert Parish and Clifford Ray. So I&rsquo;m in there in the summer, and I&rsquo;m talking to him about big-man camp. And I&rsquo;ve heard a little bit of trade rumors, I&rsquo;ve heard whispers and stuff like that, but nothing major. So he&rsquo;s telling me, 'Yeah, you&rsquo;re coming back from your injury, we&rsquo;re looking forward to next year. We want to send you down to big-man camp and you&rsquo;re doing all this stuff, and Robert Parish is great to work with and Clifford Ray is this, and we&rsquo;re looking forward to everything with you and we&rsquo;ll see how you and Brendan [Haywood] can work together,' and all this different stuff. It was this whole long speech, right?
"Now I&rsquo;m driving from the Verizon Center home to PG County. I&rsquo;m not even off Route 50 yet, and I get a call from my agent who says, 'You just got traded.' I was like, 'Are you serious?' I was like, 'No, that has to be a mistake! I was just in Ernie Grunfeld&rsquo;s office like 10-15 minutes ago!' So, I had to do a U-turn, go back to the Verizon Center, clear out all my stuff, and then he shook my hand and said, 'Thank you for everything,' like the whole conversation 15 minutes ago never happened."
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<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/heres-the-story-on-the-time-the-nuggets-traded-me-and-didnt-tell-me" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JAMES POSEY</a>: &ldquo;I was in my fourth season with the Denver Nuggets, and things hadn&rsquo;t really gotten off to the best start, to say the least. We were 6-18 and knew we were gonna have our hands full that night. Our opponent? The Dallas Mavericks. With Mike Finley, Steve Nash, Raef LaFrentz and Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas was no joke. They began the season 21-3, so in our morning shootaround, we were definitely engaged. Afterward, I showered and changed, went back home, took my pregame nap and was on my way back to the arena. I&rsquo;m driving and going over the gameplan in my head when I get a call from my agent. He said he was calling to 'check on me.' He asked me how I was doing and where I was. I thought the questions were a little strange, but didn&rsquo;t really think much of it. 'I&rsquo;m going to the arena, we got a game,' I said. 'You&rsquo;re going where?!' And that&rsquo;s how I found out I&rsquo;d been traded. We were both shocked, and for the same reason.
"Nobody communicated with me. I was literally a couple miles from the arena. Getting traded is a part of life as a professional athlete. And fortunately for me, I was young and, outside of the team, hadn&rsquo;t really had any family roots or ties to Denver. But that didn&rsquo;t completely remove the sting. I just considered myself lucky to not be in a situation where I also had to move a wife and three kids in the middle of the school year. Not every player is that fortunate. One minute, you&rsquo;re driving on the highway. The next minute, at a moment&rsquo;s notice, you have to start packing and prepare to make a new life in a new city. It&rsquo;s the hardest part of the job, and it&rsquo;s one that we all accept. But damn. When I got the news &mdash; again, I was literally five minutes from the arena and had done shootaround that morning with my teammates and coaches &mdash; I had mixed emotions. My initial reaction was just genuine shock, and even though resentment might be too strong of a word, I definitely felt some kind of way. 'They couldn't even tell me?'
"I can&rsquo;t speak for everybody, but I can definitely understand how being traded and not being told could make a player feel really disposable. Sometimes, people forget that players are people too. As far as I know, there&rsquo;s no specific rule about when you are no longer able to communicate with the coaching staff or the front office of a team that trades you, but in most instances, there would at least be a phone call or a text message from your old coach or GM or whoever. Just a, 'Thank you for your service, we wish you the best of luck,' something like that. From Denver, I got nothing. All those thoughts and feelings raced through my mind in the 30 seconds it took me to process everything and turn my car around. Then, naturally, I asked my agent the question everyone in my situation would ask. 'Where did I get traded to?' When he told me Houston, I perked up and immediately pressed the gas... I actually moved in with Nick Van Exel after the trade. He had a crib in Houston, so I stayed with him. When I found out about the trade, I just packed up as much of my clothes as I could and went to Nick&rsquo;s house. I stayed there until the end of the season, then I got my own spot. But yeah, if my agent hadn&rsquo;t called, I would've showed up at the arena and they probably wouldn't have even let me in.&rdquo;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-etan-thomas-wpfw-dc-roundtable-drew-gooden-tony-massenburg-dave-zirin-john-wall-russell-westbrook-trade-washington-wizards-houston-rockets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DREW GOODEN</a>: &ldquo;I got drafted as the No. 4 pick in Memphis. Jerry West, it was his first year being the president of basketball operations for the Memphis Grizzlies, and I was his pick at No. 4, and I would say three or four months into that season, we were stockpiled at my position. We had Stromile Swift (who was drafted as the No. 2 pick two years prior to me), Pau Gasol (who was the No. 3 pick the year before my draft) and Shane Battier (who was the No. 6 or No. 7 pick that same year) and then the following year, they picked me at No. 4. So we had a lot of young talent, but we just could not put the pieces together to make something right. I heard the trade rumors. Rumors are rumors until they actually happen. It&rsquo;s funny, this story, because when I was hearing the rumors about me being traded, me and my agent had the discussion with Jerry West.
"Jerry West said, 'Drew, this is ridiculous, we have no intentions of trading you. Don&rsquo;t read the papers, you&rsquo;re going to be here a long time. So plan on wearing a Memphis jersey for a long time.' So I was like, 'Alright, that&rsquo;s cool; Jerry West gave me a straight-up answer, man! We&rsquo;ve got nothing to worry about! Let&rsquo;s just see what happens, man, let&rsquo;s ride this season out.' A day later,&nbsp;less than 24 hours later, I get a call from Dick Versace, who was an assistant general manager at the time saying, 'Drew, we&rsquo;ve got some news.' He said, 'You&rsquo;re on your way to the Orlando Magic; we just traded you for Mike Miller, the reigning Rookie of the Year.' And I was like, 'Wowww.' I was happy, don&rsquo;t get it wrong, I was happy that I was traded, but I was like, 'Wowww, Jerry West just told me that I was not going to get traded less than 24 hours ago, and then he has somebody else call me to tell me I was traded?!'"
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-tj-ford-james-posey-interview-qa-milwaukee-bucks-toronto-raptors-indiana-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">T.J. FORD</a>: "The way I got traded, I felt it was just cold-blooded. Getting traded for the first time is just a unique experience. I got traded in the summer, I think after Hurricane Katrina and all that; it was when the Essence Festival was in Houston for the first time. Somebody bought my house and I was supposed to move out a week later, but they told me they wanted me out on Friday. Now, I've got an appearance in Milwaukee on Saturday that I'm supposed to fly to on Friday&hellip; So I get to Milwaukee and I speak at Michael Redd's camp, but he wasn't there. It was just a strange day. Who comes to somebody's campand then they ain't there? That just didn't make sense to me. [I&rsquo;m thinking], &lsquo;Gosh, something ain't right.&rsquo;
"I ended up having dinner plans with Skip [Robinson], the public relations guy. He helped me do a lot of great things in Milwaukee. We go to dinner and I didn't really have no power at my house, so at the restaurant I&rsquo;ve got my phone and my charger, but they&rsquo;re not next to me. Skip answered his phone and he's sitting directly across from me and I just hear him go, 'No! No! You've got to be kidding me.' Then, he's like, 'Here, the GM wants to talk to you.' So, I'm like, 'What's going on?' The GM's like, 'How do you feel about going to Toronto?' I'm like, 'What are you talking about? Stop playing with me. Stop fuckin' with me. Seriously, what's going on?' He's like, 'No, for real. We just traded you for Charlie Villanueva and it hasn't hit the news yet and it probably won't tonight.' I'm like, 'Yo, Skip, he just told me he f*ckin' traded me. He must be joking with me.' So, I handed him the phone. I get my phone and I've got a bunch of missed calls from my mom.
"So I called my mom and she's like, 'Your agent has been trying to call you! He's been saying something about a trade?' I was like, 'I know! The GM just told me that he traded me, so it must be a joke or something. I don't know. I'll call you right back.' I called my agent right away. But before I was able to do that, they got a TV at the bar in the restaurant. And, remember, the GM just told me that nobody knew about it. But it had just hit the news. Not ESPN, I'm talking about the local news at 10. I'm like, 'Ah man!' It was the worst day, man. Worst day. I was hurt. That was a tough one&hellip; I was fortunate to always get traded in the summertime. I probably would've been really shocked if I had to move midseason. I felt like I was pretty blessed to get traded in the summertime, when you can really process it."

Basketball News spoke to several former NBA players who opened up about getting dealt and what the trade process entailed.

NBA veterans open up about getting traded: 'It was the worst day'

Basketball News highlights the reporting, analysis and podcasts that defined a year of basketball in 2022.

Best of Basketball News: Spotlighting our top content from 2022

The Indiana Pacers have entered new, uncharted waters recently. Embracing a full-scale rebuild attempt for the first time in 30-plus years, the fresh energy surrounding the organization is palpable. An infusion of young talent headlined by Tyrese Haliburton and No. 6 overall pick Bennedict Mathurin suggests that a brand new vision is beginning to take shape in Indianapolis.
Stuck in neutral for a long period, the Pacers realized what had to be done and pressed the rebuild button. This decision is already showing immense promise, as they have a long-term outline that was simply nonexistent beforehand. Tearing down a veteran-heavy core that once featured Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis and Malcolm Brogdon was a step-by-step process, and now, Indiana has ultimate amounts of optionality after moving on from all three veterans.
The Memphis Grizzlies' blueprint has stood out to the Pacers&rsquo; brain trust. It's a model that the organization hopes to follow, according to Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard.
&ldquo;We looked at some of the teams that have really drafted well, and now that they&rsquo;re a pretty good team... You look at the Memphis&rsquo;s and the teams like that that have built and now they&rsquo;re going to be powerhouses for the next couple of years. So, I think what we came away from our studies [with] is there&rsquo;s no quick fix," Pritchard told Basketball News in a small scrum setting on Thursday. "We can&rsquo;t make a trade or two trades or three trades or use our draft picks and become what we want to become, which is great. So, how do you do it? You&rsquo;ve got to pay your dues, and you&rsquo;ve got to get everybody on board. And that takes multiple meetings and conviction from your head coach (Rick Carlisle), your president, your GM (Chad Buchanan) and your owner. Mr. [Herb] Simon is 100% on this. It can&rsquo;t be easy.
"Nobody wants to walk in and think rebuild, and I hate that word because we have some players that we really like that we can build around. It&rsquo;s going to take some time. We&rsquo;re going to enjoy the heck out of it. And we&rsquo;re going to build this team back up to make it a really special team, guys that have true character that want to have deep roots in this community. I think that is something we&rsquo;ve talked about. How do you do that? At the end of the day, you draft well, develop relationships. [It] is your best recipe for high-level talent, high-level characters and the ability to keep players for a long time. I don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s a secret to this.&rdquo;
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It&rsquo;s hard to avoid the "rebuild" phrase for the Pacers, but the upside is flowing into the facility with former lottery picks integrating. With one of the league&rsquo;s youngest rosters heading into the season, Haliburton quickly acclimated himself and is being labeled as the new face of the franchise. (Our Alex Kennedy <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-interview-tyrese-haliburton-indiana-pacers-chad-buchanan-bennedict-mathurin-myles-turner-sacramento-kings-domantas-sabonis-trade-drew-hanlen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke with Haliburton about this and his hopes for the upcoming season last month</a>.)
With Haliburton acclimating himself with a full offseason in Indianapolis, the Pacers are having fun building a roster around their point guard&rsquo;s unique traits.
&ldquo;It starts with Tyrese, don&rsquo;t get me wrong, his ability to make plays for others,&rdquo; Pritchard told Basketball News in the scrum. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll say this: By having Tyrese and having players say, &lsquo;You know, I really like playing with that,&rsquo; I think that was a big decision in Jalen [Smith] (re-signing). I think Myles [Turner] is really looking forward to playing with Tyrese. The league has changed in that the point guard position has turned into like score first, then maybe I pass. Well, Tyrese is unique; he&rsquo;d rather pass. It&rsquo;s like a quarterback. If you&rsquo;ve got a great quarterback that&rsquo;s hitting you in the chest every time, he is that.
"We&rsquo;ve got to build around that and he&rsquo;s gotta build us. There&rsquo;s going to be games where he looks amazing and he&rsquo;s going to get 15 assists. And we&rsquo;re going to need him to do a lot of things, we&rsquo;re going to ask a lot, but we&rsquo;re not going to put too much [on him]. I&rsquo;ve seen where teams put too much on players. It&rsquo;s going to be collective with our young players and our vets. The good thing is a lot of of players are going to play this year. You&rsquo;re going to see more athletic plays, and we&rsquo;re going to play harder than we&rsquo;ve ever played. From what I&rsquo;ve seen so far, it&rsquo;s easy to stand up here and say it. I want to be about actions. I think we&rsquo;re going to be a super-hard-playing team. I think you&rsquo;ll see a lot of growth.&rdquo;
There's plenty of internal optimism for Haliburton to take a massive jump within the Pacers&rsquo; organization. (A stat line flirting near 20 points and 10 assists wouldn&rsquo;t come as any sort of a surprise in Indiana.) Outside of Haliburton and the aforementioned rookie in Mathurin, their highest draft pick selected since 1988, many new-core players are taking notable steps forward in their development.
Chris Duarte, who was sidelined to end his rookie campaign with a nagging toe injury, is mentally processing the game at a different speed. Isaiah Jackson, who Pritchard said has gained 15 to 18 pounds, is poised for a massive breakout as well. Smith, who re-signed with Indiana, continues to flash his former top-10 pick upside following his exit from the Phoenix Suns.
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A gym full of athletes and prospects looking to improve provides a breath of fresh air compared to the all-too-familiar unknown of whether or not the team would make it past the first round of the playoffs.
&ldquo;We are giddy,&rdquo; Pritchard told Basketball News of their young core they&rsquo;re building together. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s interesting, when watching (scrimmages) and you throw them out there and let them play, what you find out is Tyrese, TJ McConnell, [Andrew] Nembhard are really fast players, and everyone kinda fills in. There have been times where I have been in awe about how fast our team is, which, that&rsquo;s young legs right? That&rsquo;s young, exciting legs. We&rsquo;ve seen more plays at the rim where it&rsquo;s a blocked dunk, sprint down, dunk on someone. We&rsquo;ve had more alley-oops &mdash; I think Chad Buchanan was joking with me the other day about three or four years ago we had two lob dunks in the whole year. We had 10 [on Thursday].
"The league is getting more athletic. A couple years ago we decided, 'We&rsquo;re going to look at this draft and trades, and let&rsquo;s get some of these athletes because they&rsquo;re fun to watch.' Balancing that... Coach Carlisle loves shooting. So, if you can find a great athlete that is a great shooter, I&rsquo;m all-in.&rdquo;
Not only are the Pacers all-in on their new long-term vision, one where patience is the most important part, but they&rsquo;re also in a new position as an organization &mdash; optimizing future flexibility via multiple avenues. Indiana still has oodles of cap space ($29.6 million per Cleaning The Glass), which allows for new opportunities to fall into their lap. The Pacers are open about their desire to continue bringing in more assets, either young players or future draft picks, to accelerate their plan.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve gotta do right now. We&rsquo;ve gotta capitalize on cap space, on picks,&rdquo; Pritchard said. &ldquo;In any way we can, we got to be gritty as a staff, if can we acquire more of those to have a chance to be part of our big core. And we&rsquo;re developing the core. People ask me all the time, do you have that core? Maybe, maybe not, but we&rsquo;re getting closer and next year we&rsquo;ll be closer.
"That&rsquo;s the fun part of our business is being creative and generating ideas. Look, we have three first-round picks it looks like next year. We have close to $30 million in cap space. And we&rsquo;ll be active to use that cap space to acquire more assets. That&rsquo;s just natural, but I think it gives us the ability to pivot in a lot of different ways. We have optionality out the butt. At the end of the day, I want to be able to sit in the room with Herb and management and coach and say, 'Alright, here&rsquo;s our possibilities. Where do we want to go?&rsquo; In the past it&rsquo;s been, 'We&rsquo;ve got to go down this path. This is the path we&rsquo;ve got to go down. It&rsquo;s only going to get us so far, we know there&rsquo;s only so far, we&rsquo;ve got a freaking ceiling.' What I want to do is remove a ceiling and that takes time. It&rsquo;s going to take time.&rdquo;
Outside of that excitement for the new-look youth taking over the roster, an uncertain future remains for veteran mainstay Myles Turner. A subject of trade rumors for the last few years, which picked up immense steam once the Pacers hit the reset button, Turner saw the organization openly flirt with replacing him by chasing Deandre Ayton in restricted free agency.
Entering a contract year, Turner&rsquo;s future feels murkier than ever in Indianapolis. And with the way the subject was broached on Thursday, it wouldn&rsquo;t be a stunner to see Turner play in another uniform before February&rsquo;s trade deadline passes. Pritchard admitted his recent conversation with Turner was one filled with emotions, and the ever-changing nature of the business leaves the door open for anything to happen there.
&ldquo;I sat down and talked with Myles for an hour, hour-and-a-half the other day. It was a heart-to-heart,&rdquo; Pritchard said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to tell you exactly what was said, but I&rsquo;ll give you the crux, and that is I think he&rsquo;s super excited about playing with Tyrese. I think he wants to play the 5 exclusively. I think he wants to be a defensive monster. And I think that he&rsquo;s okay planting deep roots here. But, you know, he&rsquo;s going to be a free agent next year. There&rsquo;s a lot of things that can happen. What we think today isn&rsquo;t something that we know is going to happen tomorrow. This is the most dynamic business in the world.&rdquo;
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Turner is eligible for a contract extension, but Pritchard didn&rsquo;t want to publicly say whether or not that route remains on the table with their starting center.
&ldquo;Respectfully, I&rsquo;d like to keep that between me and him,&rdquo; Pritchard said.
Based on the Pacers&rsquo; turn into a fresh era, one where internal development takes priority over the win-loss column in the meantime, veterans like Turner and Buddy Hield will be names to watch from a leaguewide lens throughout the season from a potential trade market perspective. Nowadays, optionality, flexibility and patience will be the key buzzwords heard out of Indiana. And it&rsquo;s for the best with how its roster was running into a brick wall over and over again before the light finally turned on to rebuild from the ground up.
With the Pacers armed with draft capital and cap space, on top of a roster filled to the brim with potential &mdash; including their tantalizing backcourt combination of Haliburton and Mathurin &mdash; the vision is as clear as day. It&rsquo;s a new era in Indiana, and a route that everyone internally acknowledges should have been explored even earlier. If all goes to plan for the Pacers, these tough times could soon turn into a sustained success that hasn&rsquo;t been witnessed for the organization since nearly a decade ago.
&ldquo;We were an aircraft carrier and it was really hard to turn. And right now, we&rsquo;re a little speedboat and we&rsquo;ve got all of these ways to maneuver,&rdquo; Pritchard said. "That&rsquo;s exciting. That&rsquo;s really exciting for us, because it&rsquo;s hard to turn the big boats. For better, we&rsquo;re all-in.&rdquo;

Pacers president Kevin Pritchard discussed the franchise's new era and focus on the long-term vision, Evan Sidery writes.

Pacers enter uncharted waters searching for long-term sustainability

Alex Kennedy goes 1-on-1 with Tyrese Haliburton, who opens up about getting traded, the Pacers' future, his offseason training, etc.

Tyrese Haliburton won’t let trade 'resentment' define new Pacers era

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

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

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

Identifying 5 sleeper NBA teams to trade for Kevin Durant

Bookmark this page and we'll keep you up-to-date on every NBA rumor. We'll continue updating this tracker over the next 24 hours.

NBA Rumor Tracker: Compiling the latest news and intel

The 2022 NBA Draft is only 10 days away. How will it all play out for teams hoping to change their long-term fortunes? Not only will the draft selections bring intrigue, but so will the endless amounts of trade rumors.
Buzz is already picking back up, but who are some players that are flying a little too far under the radar from a potential trade standpoint? Let&rsquo;s go ahead and dive into five names who make a lot of sense as potential movers on draft night.
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Buddy Hield
Buddy Hield was a revelation within Rick Carlisle&rsquo;s system in Indiana, posting a career-high 4.8 assists per game for the Pacers. Hield was already known as one of the NBA&rsquo;s most dangerous sharpshooters, but added offensive equity makes him even more of an attractive trade chip for the rebuilding Pacers to consider moving.
Every contender needs additional three-point shooting, and there&rsquo;s not a better potential option out there this offseason than Hield. With $39 million remaining over the final two years of his contract, it could be tough trying to find the ideal trade partner. However, some teams can get creative to fit the veteran into their salary sheet.
A potential fit for Hield that makes way too much sense is Philadelphia. Armed with the No. 23 overall pick they didn&rsquo;t plan on using, alongside Danny Green&rsquo;s expiring non-guaranteed $10 million contract, the Sixers could be an under-the-radar team to monitor over the next few weeks. Getting involved for someone like Hield, who adds even more gravity with Joel Embiid and James Harden, checks a lot of Daryl Morey-related boxes.
Hield doesn&rsquo;t fit the Pacers&rsquo; timeline, so don&rsquo;t be stunned if he&rsquo;s on the move after building back up his value for a few months in Indianapolis.
Pacers receive: Danny Green, Furkan Korkmaz, Shake Milton, No. 23
76ers receive: Buddy Hield, No. 58
Gary Trent Jr.
Toronto has been sniffing around on the top prospects in this year&rsquo;s draft, including names such as Arizona wing Bennedict Mathurin and G League Ignite playmaker Dyson Daniels. Both are projected to go within the first 10 picks, but the Raptors won&rsquo;t be on the clock until No. 33 overall. Whether it be OG Anunoby or Gary Trent Jr., Toronto has its trade chip available to move up the board.
It&rsquo;s been reported that it would take a hefty offer in order for the Raptors to even consider dealing Anunoby. Operating under that assumption, Trent feels like the more realistic bargaining chip on draft night. GTJ is a certified bucket-getter who is nowhere even close to his prime years. In a top-heavy class, Toronto could move into the late lottery by parlaying the former Duke Blue Devil as the price.
How about a hypothetical scenario involving the Washington Wizards? Washington is in win-now mode, especially with the future of Bradley Beal seemingly always up in the air. How would D.C. feel about Trent and Beal as a scoring combination paired with the inside duo of Kristaps Porzingis and Daniel Gafford? It&rsquo;s at least a start, and the board could be rather thin for Washington by the time No. 10 rolls around.
Raptors receive: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, No. 10 overall
Wizards receive: Gary Trent Jr., No. 33 overall
Bogdan Bogdanovic
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After reporting Landry Fields' promotion to general manager, ESPN&rsquo;s Adrian Wojnarowski relayed on Monday that the Atlanta Hawks are expected to be <a href="https://twitter.com/KLChouinard/status/1536466951832317959?s=20&amp;t=h-2FroyKYxbsEcKv3zAKfg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of the most active teams in trade talks</a> between now and free agency. Rumors of potential draft-night deals involving John Collins are out there, but there&rsquo;s also some smoke billowing around the future of Bogdan Bogdanovic in Atlanta. Having already paid Kevin Huerter, and with De&rsquo;Andre Hunter soon due a lucrative extension, could now be the right time to let go of Bogdanovic?
If the Hawks indeed plan on being aggressive, Bogdanovic and the No. 16 overall pick could get them a strong return package. The Athletic&rsquo;s James Edwards III shared that he&rsquo;s heard the Hawks have shown recent interest in Jerami Grant, which includes Bogdanovic and their first-round pick going to Detroit. Honestly, that&rsquo;s a fair, win-win trade for both the Hawks and Pistons.
Expect a lot of changes for the Hawks&rsquo; roster as they retool around Trae Young. Collins feels like he could soon be out the door, but watch out for Bogdanovic as well.
Hawks receive: Jerami Grant
Pistons receive: Bogdan Bogdanovic, No. 16 overall
Bojan Bogdanovic
Everyone around the NBA is waiting to see what domino falls next in Salt Lake City as the Jazz enter a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/an-awkward-offseason-looms-for-the-jazz-as-they-try-to-avoid-rebuild" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tumultuous offseason</a>. Uncertain futures of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert cloud what has been an impressive run over the last few years. Now, it seems to be reaching a decision point one way or another between Mitchell and Gobert. Going off multiple reports, if Mitchell gets his way, New York Knicks associate head coach Johnnie Bryant will be the new lead voice in Utah while Gobert is shipped off elsewhere.
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Outside of the star angles in Utah, the team's roster has a lot of talent that could net value for executive Danny Ainge. Bojan Bogdanovic immediately stands out as one of those premier assets to flip on a $19.2 million expiring contract. Entering his age-33 season, Bogdanovic could be the main piece utilized by the Jazz to bring in more all-around versatility and/or youth.
In this scenario, Utah and Atlanta strike a deal involving Bogdanovic for Danilo Gallinari&rsquo;s barely-guaranteed $21 million salary and Atlanta's first-round pick at No. 16 overall. The Jazz net a top-20 pick while Atlanta gets a win-now piece to surround its superstar point guard.
Jazz receive: Danilo Gallinari, No. 16 overall
Hawks receive: Bojan Bogdanovic
Luguentz Dort
Oklahoma City is already making moves before draft night arrives a little over a week from now. The Thunder acquired veteran forward JaMychal Green from the Denver Nuggets in a salary dump. OKC sent the Nuggets the No. 30 overall pick in exchange for a 2027 protected first-rounder and Green. With so many future draft picks at their disposal as they embark on this historic rebuild attempt, the Thunder need to consolidate some of them due to current roster construction. With so much young talent already on the roster, it was going to be impossible to fit in more than a few extra rookies.
Rumors have been picking up steam around Shaedon Sharpe, which easily could be a smokescreen because of OKC&rsquo;s history. Sharpe&rsquo;s fit with the Thunder actually makes a lot of sense, though, plus ESPN&rsquo;s Jonathan Givony said the interest is mutual. Operating under the assumption that Chet Holmgren is selected by them at No. 2, imagine if the Thunder could also snag Sharpe as well in a trade-up? Instantly, OKC would be a major draft-night winner.
Sharpe&rsquo;s arrival would probably mean Lu Dort could be sent out in the same deal, especially to make Portland move back five spots in this scenario. Dort is entering the final year of his deal and is extension-eligible. Although losing Dort would be a major blow, getting Holmgren and Sharpe to go with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey would bring immense hope to Oklahoma City.
Thunder receive: No. 7 overall, Keon Johnson
Trail Blazers receive: No. 12 overall, Luguentz Dort
Trade speculation is only beginning with the offseason cycle now picking up full steam. Stay tuned to BasketballNews.com as we&rsquo;ll have you covered all offseason.
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With the NBA Draft less than two weeks away and buzz picking up, are there any names who could be trade candidates?

Analyzing 5 players who could be traded during the 2022 NBA Draft

Once more, the Sacramento Kings are toiling in the NBA&rsquo;s version of no man&rsquo;s land. On the verge of missing the playoffs for the 15th straight season, when will a light finally shine at the end of this franchise's depressing tunnel?
After the Kings traded away very promising second-year guard Tyrese Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for All-Star center Domantas Sabonis at last month&rsquo;s trade deadline &mdash; a blockbuster deal for both sides &mdash; they decided the time was now to push some chips into the middle of the table. With the long-standing postseason drought still in full effect, the Kings are trying to capitalize on the new Play-In era of the Association. Although Sacramento is 20 games below .500 at 24-44, the team is within shouting distance of the final Play-In slot at No. 10 in the Western Conference.
The biggest beneficiary of jettisoning Haliburton and bringing aboard Sabonis has been the cemented face of the franchise, De&rsquo;Aaron Fox. Involved in trade rumors himself all season long before acquiring Sabonis, Sacramento&rsquo;s commitment to Fox has paid off in spades over the last month.
Since Feb. 9, the day Sabonis first put on a Kings uniform, Fox has put up some incredible numbers, averaging 28.2 points, 6.5 assists and 4.1 rebounds on an outstanding 59.2% True Shooting percentage. Functioning alongside a big man who can be the hub of an offense, plus creating for others around him, Fox is finally blossoming into an All-Star type of lead guard in Sacramento.
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When comparing Fox&rsquo;s stats before Sabonis, there&rsquo;s no wonder why the Kings decided to pull the trigger and take a real risk committing to Fox over Haliburton long-term as the No. 1 option.
Pre-Sabonis: 21.2 points, 5.2 assists, 3.8 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 53.4 TS%, 27.7 USG%
Post-Sabonis: 28.2 points, 6.5 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 0.8 steals, 59.2 TS%, 28.7 USG%
As you can see, the difference for Fox is massive now playing next to a legitimate running mate who can take the pressure off him. Sabonis has allowed Fox to be fully weaponized within the Kings&rsquo; fast-paced offense, getting downhill to the basket with ease thanks to the new gravity now provided to do his damage.
Now becoming a real legitimate sample size spanning over a month, Fox is showing the goods as to why Sacramento committed a rookie-scale max extension when he was first eligible. Fox was the only hope for Kings fans, as the team otherwise operated within a discombobulated environment. Now, with Sabonis forming a lethal 1-2 offensive punch with Fox, there&rsquo;s at least a foundational idea in place to build further around them.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Fox ➡️ Ox Sabonis is up to 15 points after sinking his first seven shots 🔥 <a href="https://t.co/qA12UGhFgK">pic.twitter.com/qA12UGhFgK</a>
&mdash; Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1500255932294434817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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What still remains an issue, though, with this tandem is the lack of defensive integrity. Sure, the offense has real potential to produce firepower on a consistent basis now, but it won&rsquo;t matter without getting stops on the other end.
Sabonis is the polar opposite of a defensive anchor, consistently worked by strong and aggressive bigs down low. Fox has also lagged behind in this department, really taking a step back the past couple of seasons with his effort as an on-ball defender. In the 299 total minutes Fox and Sabonis have shared the floor together, the Kings are still getting outscored by 2.4 points per 100 possessions. The sole reason for that is because of their horrific job of attempting to contain opposing offenses from doing whatever they want; it checks in at a 118.7 Defensive Rating. If you compare that to team-centric numbers on defense, Sacramento would rank last in the NBA for points allowed per 100 possessions.
Even if the Kings miss the play-in tournament, they are set up well in 2022-23 to finally make a real playoff push. Fox and Sabonis are already locked in, but so is versatile veteran forward Harrison Barnes. Davion Mitchell has flashed some promising potential in his rookie campaign playing on or off-ball alongside Fox. The cupboard is not completely barren in Sacramento, and one more swing of good lottery luck fortune could put them in position to add the much-needed third pillar to vault them into serious postseason discussions.
Just imagine how much better off the Kings would be long-term building a winning program around Fox and Sabonis if they brought in a tantalizing draft prospect like Chet Holmgren from Gonzaga. He&rsquo;s the ideal piece to the puzzle to place next to Sabonis, offsetting serious defensive concerns with a legitimate rim-protector. Very similar to the blueprint Sabonis already experienced with the Pacers, it seems necessary for this whole process to reach its max output down the road.
The Kings are not a laughingstock anymore, but trying to shed that label for over a decade has taken a toll on the organization. If the pendulum swings in the team's favor, Sacramento can finally escape proverbial basketball hell.
Fox&rsquo;s ascension since the arrival of Sabonis has brought clarity to how the Kings&rsquo; lead guard can operate next to a really talented secondary option. Some would argue Sabonis is a better player than Fox, but these flashes we&rsquo;re seeing on a more consistent basis from the former Kentucky Wildcat as of late are super promising for what&rsquo;s next regarding his career arc.
Although it seems far-fetched, the Kings are positioning themselves within their win-now window. The commitment has already taken place by shipping off arguably their most consistent player in Haliburton last month.
Sacramento&rsquo;s vision of building a dynamite offense with Fox and Sabonis is already showing positive results. Now, it&rsquo;s time to see whether it maintains for a last-chance play-in push or a full-on surge in 2022-23.
Fox is already benefiting from this new look in Sacramento, but what other pieces will soon fall into place for what will be a massive offseason once more for the playoff-starved organization?
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Since acquiring All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis, De'Aaron Fox is taking serious steps forward for the Kings as their No. 1 option.

De'Aaron Fox is blossoming alongside Domantas Sabonis, but what's next?

Players like Andrew Wiggins make being a coach worth it.
The NBA&rsquo;s 2022 All-Star Weekend is in my hometown of Cleveland and even though I won&rsquo;t be there in person, I&rsquo;ll be paying close attention to the All-Star Game. I can&rsquo;t wait to see Wiggins take that court.
Being a coach can be a thankless job &mdash; long days, short nights and countless hours. Most of the time, coaches spend more time with their teams than they do with their families, and when things don&rsquo;t work out, we&rsquo;re usually the first to get blamed &mdash; whether fair or not. That&rsquo;s part of what makes it tough.
What also makes it tough is when you have players who don&rsquo;t want to be held to standards or don&rsquo;t want to work.&nbsp;
A good coach is supposed to push you and challenge you. A good coach is supposed to hold you accountable. And truth is, some players just aren&rsquo;t receptive to that&hellip;&nbsp;
But others? They&rsquo;re like Wiggins.&nbsp;
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I got to know him pretty well during our brief time together during the NBA Summer League in 2014, and I became a believer in him almost immediately.
Eight years later, I&rsquo;m going to be so proud to see him take the court as not only an All-Star from the Western Conference, but as a starter.
I first heard about Andrew when he was at Kansas, and I never imagined I&rsquo;d be one of his first NBA coaches &mdash; but that&rsquo;s how things worked out for us.&nbsp;
I was just coming off of my first season as an assistant with the Canton Charge, the Cavaliers&rsquo; G League affiliate. In May of that year, Cleveland won the draft lottery for the second year in a row (and third time in four years).&nbsp;
They had Kyrie Irving, who they picked first in 2011, and Anthony Bennett (selected first in 2012). Now, they had won the draft lottery again and were expected to select Wiggins first overall.&nbsp;
Me? I was fortunate to get the call to be an assistant coach for the Cavs in the Summer League. I was looking forward to it, especially to have the opportunity to help develop that young talent. I was still getting my feet wet as a coach, and when they did ended up picking Wiggins with the first pick, we were joined.&nbsp;
Andrew, believe it or not, made it easy for us.&nbsp;
With the hype surrounding him, it would have been easy for him to have an attitude or to have a big head or to not be receptive to being coached and pushed, but he was the total opposite. He was kind, patient and absorbed everything like a sponge. It was refreshing.
Even though I was an assistant coach, I worked with him a lot. I was constantly in his ear.
What I respected most about Andrew, and I&rsquo;m not sure I ever told him directly, was how he handled himself after LeBron announced that he was coming back to Cleveland. We had conversations about it, and I advised him &mdash; but he just handled himself like such an adult.
The main thing I tried to get him to understand was that there was going to be an adjustment period for him going from college to the pros and to not put too much pressure on himself. Focus on having fun and take your craft seriously. He did just that.
He was a rare combination of someone who was talented, gifted and confident &mdash; yet also calm, quiet and focused. That&rsquo;s not always the case with young players with promise.
Especially for those who have accolades and notoriety, those players can give off an impression that makes you wonder if they feel like playing in summer leagues or pickup games is almost beneath them. They don&rsquo;t give it 100% and don&rsquo;t seem like they&rsquo;re taking the lower levels of play seriously.
That wasn&rsquo;t Andrew.&nbsp;
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As a coach, you want the best for all your players, but there are some who you actually root for &mdash;&nbsp;whether it be because of their work ethic, their character or your personal relationship. And yeah, Andrew immediately became one of those players I rooted for.
In Vegas, after LeBron announced he was going back to Cleveland, Andrew immediately became the topic of discussion and rumors because everyone assumed that he would be traded for someone who could help LeBron win immediately.&nbsp;
During Summer League, he couldn&rsquo;t go anywhere without people asking him about the rumors, asking him if he was actually going to play for the Cavs and stuff like that &mdash; despite it all, he was so positive and upbeat. He remained focused on our common goal.
We had a few conversations about the situation and about his future in the NBA. I&rsquo;ll never forget Andrew&rsquo;s perspective. He considered himself blessed to be fulfilling his dream, and his sole focus was to become the best player he could be. He was looking forward to being LeBron&rsquo;s understudy and learning from him, but knew that it was possible that he wouldn&rsquo;t get that opportunity.&nbsp;
And if he got traded? He simply knew he was going to give it his all to become the best player he could be for that team that did acquire him.&nbsp;
Either way, he always wanted to be with his coaches in the gym. And he wanted us to push him. No wasted days.
I knew, even back then, that he was going to make it.&nbsp;
Attitude and humility &mdash; knowing that you&rsquo;ve got a lot to learn and taking what your coaches have to say seriously &mdash; that&rsquo;s a big factor when it comes to young guys becoming the best players they can be. And it often makes the difference between someone having a five-year career, and someone having a 15-year career.
Things didn&rsquo;t work out in Cleveland for obvious reasons, but Andrew developed nicely in Minnesota. There were a lot of questions about his drive and about his ability to fulfill his potential, and that probably contributed to Minnesota trading him to Golden State for D&rsquo;Angelo Russell.
At the end of the day, though, everyone lands where they&rsquo;re supposed to.&nbsp;
D&rsquo;Angelo is doing well in Minnesota with Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew looks like he just might be the piece that the Warriors need to get back on top.
The young Canadian kid, obviously &mdash; he&rsquo;s figured things out in San Francisco.
And you know what? I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m surprised.&nbsp;
I&rsquo;ve believed in him since fate brought us together in Las Vegas back in 2014.
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James Posey discusses the experience he had coaching Andrew Wiggins back in 2014, and how the young man made him a believer.

Coaching Andrew Wiggins in 2014 NBA Summer League made me a believer

It&rsquo;s been quite an unconventional season in Washington.
The summer in D.C. was drowned out by an onslaught of Bradley Beal trade rumors. Instead of discussion about Wizards president Tommy Sheppard&rsquo;s impressive offseason, questions like the ones below dominated the news cycle.
Could Beal be the missing piece for Golden State? What if Boston broke the internet to form an all-St. Louis duo with Brad and Jayson Tatum? Is this the Ben Simmons trade that&rsquo;s been sitting there underneath our noses?
Well, here we are. Seven months later, Beal is still a Wizard, and as it so happens, most of us missed the point. Washington has cobbled together a deep, impressive group of veterans, which <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/kyle-kuzma-montrezl-harrell-have-wizards-adopting-dog-mentality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hit the ground running with an Eastern Conference-leading 10-3 record</a> and the third-best defense in the entire league to start the season.&nbsp;
But then, the inevitable defensive regression hit like a <a href="https://www.mlb.com/video/miguel-sano-homers-22-on-a-fly-ball-to-center-field">Miguel San&oacute; deep-ball</a>; Washington has returned to its homey lair of a <a href="https://www.cleaningtheglass.com/stats/league/summary?season=2021&amp;seasontype=regseason&amp;start=10/1/2021&amp;end=01/15/2022">bottom-10 Defensive Rating</a>, and the Wizards overall record has deteriorated in harmonious fashion, with the team going just 12-17 since Nov. 15. With Beal having a down year and the vaunted defense appearing... um, suddenly not-so-vaunted, Washington has since looked rudderless following the hot start.
That is, until Kyle Kuzma started averaging a cool 26 and 11 over the Wiz&rsquo;s last nine games.
His output has largely been a byproduct of circumstance. Seven Washington players entered COVID-19 health and safety protocols at the turn of the new year, forcing the Wizards to go the substitute-player route like most other ball clubs. This left a hefty load to shoulder for Washington&rsquo;s mainstays, and Kuzma, in particular, made quite the impression while eclipsing 39 minutes in three straight games to ring in 2022.
The plat principal of the Kuzma experience this season has been his inspiring commitment to rebounding. He&rsquo;s finally at his rightful position &mdash; the 4 &mdash; and has seen his overall rebounding average jump by a colossal 2.6 per game while inhaling a career-high <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/advanced/?sort=GP&amp;dir=-1&amp;CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*kuzma">12.8%</a> of available boards.
As Washington&rsquo;s corps dwindled, Kuzma only dug deeper into the comfy niche he&rsquo;s settled into this season.
Kuz&rsquo;s rebounding rate has bumped all the way up to 14.5% since Dec. 27, when nearly half of his teammates entered protocols. He's keyed in on opponents&rsquo; misses with the hunger of Shaggy and Scooby Doo on a Whole 30 diet, his hands fastening onto the rock like a toddler leash. (Side note, who the heck uses those things?)
From there, Kuz is more than capable of initiating the offense in the open floor after ripping down a&nbsp; board, something he&rsquo;s been quite potent at as of late. No longer sharing the floor with LeBron James &mdash; whose resume alone obviously merits sole ownership of a fastbreak offense &mdash; Kuzma&rsquo;s now been empowered to push the pace like true-blue point-forward.
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But Kuzma&rsquo;s more than just a rebounder. He&rsquo;s a full-blown supersized slasher that knifes through coverages with X-Acto Blade precision, and he&rsquo;s only carved opponents up with more voraciously as Washington has suffered its availability crisis.
Kuzma&rsquo;s average drives per game have nearly doubled from 5.9 to 12.2 since December 27, and he&rsquo;s shot a supremely impressive <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/drives/?CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*kuzma&amp;Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;DateFrom=12%2F27%2F2021">63.5%</a> on those forays to the rim in that time (his accuracy on drives sat at just 45% beforehand). For context, the league leader in field goal percentage off drives is Giannis Antetokounmpo at 60.2%. So basically, Kuzma&rsquo;s been the personification of the &ldquo;He Don&rsquo;t Miss!&rdquo; meme when putting the ball on the floor in the Year 2022.
Perhaps it was out of pure necessity, but what&rsquo;s largely spearheaded Kuzma&rsquo;s torrential downpour of downhill scoring has been his aggression. He&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCwZqaHipqs&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">playing through contact</a>, devising the necessary counters &mdash; like the occasional <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iANdyk_EHA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eurostep</a> &mdash; to leave opponents loopy in a drunken state. <a href="https://youtu.be/LXyy_Z8Zy5g" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The glass</a> is the 26-year-old&rsquo;s friend if needed, of course. And his fabled <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkXmnXdURF4&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hook shot</a>, which earned him modest prominence during his rookie season, will peak through the blinds when applicable. (Rejoice, Laker fans, it&rsquo;s back!)
Most importantly, when he gets to that right hand, it&rsquo;s basically over. Kuzma&rsquo;s always been a sturdy at-rim finisher, and his <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4230#tab-shooting_accuracy">74% accuracy inside 4 feet</a> ties a career-high for the Flint native. His rim attacks have become a reliable source of renewable energy when Washington&rsquo;s bottom-tier offense trips up.
Here&rsquo;s a fun example of his decisiveness.
Washington sets up a pair of staggered screens for Beal, and Kuzma makes his move right when the help defender (Gordon Hayward) turns his head to bark out orders. Miles Bridges is left... miles behind (sorry) as Kuz stretches out for the layup.&nbsp;
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It&rsquo;s strange, but his size seems to stand out more now that he&rsquo;s a Wizard, no longer sharing the floor with a gaggle of giants in purple-and-gold threads. You really feel that Kuz is a full 6-foot-10 on his bull rushes to the rim. He's a towering thunderbolt of an athlete with G5 jets affixed to his highlight-blue sneakers.
Nothing is more emblematic of Kuzma&rsquo;s hot streak than his recent success from floater range. He&rsquo;s shot a hellacious <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4230?season=2021&amp;start=12/27/2021&amp;end=12/28/2022#tab-shooting_accuracy">55% on short-range middies</a> in his last nine games, a massive bump from the mere 36% he posted prior; it's also good for the 72nd percentile among his peers. Granted, it&rsquo;s unlikely that he&rsquo;ll maintain this level of preposterous efficiency on in-betweeners, as runners like the one below are a tricky diet to survive off of. But for now, I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;ll gladly take it.
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What makes all of this so impressive is that his handle &mdash; which can get a little rickety when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9t8NDEGJEE&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bothered by nearby helpers</a> &mdash; hasn&rsquo;t been especially fluid nor deceitful as of late. His vision has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmbA8HBzZl0&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">moments of genius</a>, though inaccuracy can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qmZXfjyI-Y&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plague him</a>. He grades out as a fairly average passer.
Most of all, his three-pointer remains a work in progress, and he&rsquo;s actually seen his efficiency from distance fall a percentage point to 33% during the recent hot stretch. He&rsquo;s pump-faking <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CuZ0O8dJOw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defenders out their shoes</a> without the requisite long-range weaponry typically required to make the seas part and open up the rim.
Kuz made his bed as a defensive-minded grinder in Laker Land, and that calling card is still very much intact. As mentioned before, the dude&rsquo;s mobile and huge. It&rsquo;s tough as nails to score on him in isolation, where he ranks within the 75th percentile as a 1-on-1 defender.&nbsp;
Kuzma uses his body well to shield opponents away from the rim, with his 7-foot wingspan handling the rest. It&rsquo;s tough to get him in the air on pump-fakes. His body control is pretty exceptional, and here, he uses a 2-foot jump to slow down and leap with precise control while contesting Chuma Okeke.
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Recently, he&rsquo;s even had to pick up the slack and play some 5. Montrezl Harrell was one of the many players held out due to health and safety protocols, leaving the Wizards with only one available big man, Daniel Gafford. Playing Kuz in the middle allows the Wizards to switch pretty much everything, and he&rsquo;s had some super impressive reps against the likes of LaMelo Ball, Terrence Ross, Cole Anthony and Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, just to name a few. Certainly a varied cast of opponents.
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Failing to mention Kuzma&rsquo;s legend inside of five minutes would be a disservice, because, well, you&rsquo;ll hear about it on nearly every single Wizards broadcast. Only a handful of people in human history have shown more exuberance about anything&nbsp;than Washington&rsquo;s play-by-play crew when discussing &ldquo;Klutch Kuz&rdquo;: Anthony Edwards when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Y2P-BQP5w&amp;ab_channel=DaHoopSpotProductions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ranking fast-food french fries</a>, JAY-Z the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aayZ9ybDTBw&amp;ab_channel=MardyMoves" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first time</a> he heard the &ldquo;Dirt Off Your Shoulder&rdquo; beat, and pretty much anyone who has ever done a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGJhjHw4sMM&amp;ab_channel=Whereuat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nardwuar</a> interview.
That&rsquo;s it. That&rsquo;s the list.
Having said this, it&rsquo;s easy to understand NBC Sports Washington's fascination with Kuz in crunch time. His <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/clutch-traditional/?sort=GP&amp;dir=-1&amp;Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;TeamID=1610612764" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3.0 points</a> per game lead the Wiz in the clutch, and he&rsquo;s posting a <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/clutch-advanced/?sort=TS_PCT&amp;dir=-1&amp;Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;TeamID=1610612764&amp;CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*kuzma">70.6% True Shooting percentage</a> when it matters most. He&rsquo;s already nailed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-cVQhyBvw0&amp;ab_channel=ChazNBA">not one</a>, but two game-winners as a Wizard, sending the Pistons' fans home with a cheery wave and a toothy smile after a cold-blooded three. Truly villainous stuff from the hometown kid, if I do say so myself.
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It&rsquo;s been quite the revenge tour for Kyle Kuzma this year. Dangled in trades for almost the entirety of last season, his former employer sent him to the nation&rsquo;s capital in the Russell Westbrook blockbuster. Shortly after, the Brooklyn Nets felt a trade exception (that will likely go unused) was more valuable than his services in the Spencer Dinwiddie sign-and-trade. In the moment, it seemed quite telling that two teams on the brink of a championship said, &ldquo;Nah, I&rsquo;m good&rdquo; to Kuz.
Now, I bet they&rsquo;d surely love a do-over.

Matt Brooks takes a deep dive into Kyle Kuzma's resurgence with the Wizards and his incredible production since Dec. 27.

Don't look now, but Kyle Kuzma is silencing the critics

Much has been written about Luol Deng&rsquo;s contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.&nbsp;
Deng signed a four-year, $72M deal with the Lakers in 2016, but played just 57 games with the team over two seasons. He inked the contract right after Kobe Bryant retired, but the Lakers leaned toward a youth movement despite signing Deng, and the veteran forward was relegated to the bench.&nbsp;
Deng retired from the NBA in 2019; however, due to his contract's cap hold, the Lakers had to stretch his deal after waiving him in Sept. 2018. This was done so that the team would have cap flexibility to be able to sign LeBron James over that offseason.
As a result, the Lakers have been paying him every year since, including $4.9 million this season, which continuously raises a lot of eyebrows. In fact, Deng&rsquo;s earnings in retained salary are around the same amount this season as DeAndre Jordan, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwight Howard, who will be making a combined $5,007,534.
Instead of listening to rumors that have been swirling since 2016 &mdash; accusations of taking the money and laying down or quitting on the team &mdash; I simply asked Luol to explain what exactly happened during his stint in L.A. Luol discussed this and much more on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-rematch/episodes/basketballnews-com-episode-41-luol-deng-on-his-nba-career,-lakers-contract,-misdiagnosis-with-the-bulls,-duke-stint,-more" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the latest episode</a> of "The Rematch."
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Etan Thomas: You alluded to it, so we can discuss it now. You went to Miami, and you went to Cleveland. But then, you went to the Lakers in 2016 and you signed up for a four-year, $72 million contract. And then, they didn't really play you. It was weird. It wasn't like you were hurt. You could [play], correct? I'm telling your story like I know. You tell. Were you hurt, or was it they just didn't play you?
You looked fine all before. It's like you were just sitting there just ready to go. And you had a good attitude. They didn't try to say that you were a problem. Everybody spoke very highly of you. They just didn't play you. So everybody was like, "Well, y'all just signed him to this big contract. Why wouldn't you play him?" Tell me, what was going on?
Luol Deng: "I think the people that were there, they will always know. I swear to you Etan, I worked so hard there, but it just didn't work out. When I first got there, the idea was I'm a bit older now, not even that old at the time, but we have a young team. We need you to play. We need to get to the playoffs. We need to get these guys right. We need to do this. And I said okay. I was convinced.
"But just to set this story straight, because everyone thinks I just went for the money. I had the same offer from Utah, and I had almost this closer offer from the Wizards. And I took the Lakers because I felt that what they pitched to me sounded better than what everyone else pitched to me at the time. So I wanted to go there and be a part of it. As I got there, right away, I knew we had a young team, and I was okay with that. I said, 'I'll play my role until we get going.' And the pitch was we're going to be better each year.
"I knew that they wanted to move some pieces, some young pieces, but they had to showcase them. So the first year, what happened was we moved from trying to make the playoffs to we are developing. We are a young team. And I sat down with the organization halfway during the season. A new GM came in and everything. So they sat me down and said, 'Look, we're going to go young. We're gonna play the young guys. We need your leadership. We need you to mentor them. And next year, we have a chance. We're not going to have a chance this year, but we want to really be competitive and get these guys to catch up to speed.'
"And I was like, 'Alright. Cool.' Never missed a practice. Never missed anything. The next year, that summer, I worked as hard as I can. And I came in, I was in shape. I was ready to play, and I thought that we're going to get going. We're going to get to playing. As you remember, I played the first game. The first game of the season. I played maybe 15 minutes, 14 minutes. I had two points. I got yanked out. I didn't play. So it was fine. It was the first game.
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"Right away from the first game, the decision was made that we're going to play the young guys again. So I was like, 'Okay, so what's the situation here?' So they're like, 'No, we're going to play the young guys. We're going to try to trade you,' this and this. So okay, how are you going to trade all this money without me actually playing? Everyone thinks I'm hurt or something happened or whatever. I can't showcase nothing.
"And so it's like, 'Okay, this is what we're going to do. We're going to try move you.' Try to move me, try to move me. I don't blame anyone why. Even if I'm a GM, I'm not moving for someone who hasn't played with all the money. Why would I? So the strategy wasn't right.
"But I always felt, okay, if I'm in the organization, and this is what I was telling you earlier, I had a mindset of just &mdash; be respectful, do the right thing, and get on. The people that are close to you is who matters and who needs to know.
"I didn't care about anything else outside. So the strategy wasn't right. So just kept going. Couldn't move me. Couldn't move me. There came a time in the season where they're like, 'Okay, we want you to play.' So I said, 'Okay, no problem. I'm ready to play.'
"So they said, 'Okay, we're going to just put you in. You've got to jump in with the team. Get more reps and everything.' So I started jumping in, getting more reps, getting ready and everything. Then, I was called upstairs. The coach wanted me to play, but the direction wasn't going that way. Because I was going to be playing, and they wanted these young guys to play. So then again, the decision was made right there, after three weeks of training and working out that, 'Okay, you're not going to play.'
"So at that point, I just got up. I said, 'You guys just let me know. I'm not going to skip no practice, no nothing.' All year again, I went the whole year; the whole year I was in the locker room. I worked out. I never missed a practice. I trained. Everything.
"And then it started becoming obvious to everyone that this is a big organization. So what everyone started focusing on was, 'Oh, he's getting paid all this money. And he's just staying there, whatever.' And then know, as an athlete and somebody who's crafted their skill for so many years, there comes a time where you're just like, 'Okay, this is the image that you're portraying me as now. I've never been this guy.' But I'm like, 'Okay. It is what it is. I'm just going to do what's right.'
"So then came the summer. And that's the year, actually, when they moved some pieces and LeBron came on the team. When LeBron came on the team at that time, I spoke to whoever was in charge at the time. And I said, 'Look, I'm just going to trust you guys. So let's make something happen here. I'm just going to trust you guys.' So they're like, 'Okay, what's the best way to make something happen?' And I said, 'Let's come to terms with something. I don't care if I have to leave money behind.'
"And everybody's talking about the money that I'm making. I gave a lot of money back to get out of L.A. A lot of other people, they just said, 'Nah, F that. I'm going to stay around. I don't care what, whatever.' And people could post whatever they want to post, but the Lakers were not posting how much I gave them back. But I'm always going to be the guy who just took the money, but I could have been somewhere else with the same money playing. I made a decision to go there [to L.A.], and I never said I don't want to play. They made that decision.
"Even if you don't like the way I play, or even if I'm struggling, there's no way I wasn't good enough to play on that team. No way. And I showed it in practice. I showed it every day. It's a decision that you made that you didn't want me to play. There's a lot of other teams in the league that I could have been playing for. So that's really the situation with that. And that's how it went down."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
What was it like for Luol Deng to deal with criticism about his contract with the Lakers? He shares on The Rematch with <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@etanthomas36</a>. Full episode:<a href="https://t.co/w8fbQsogBr">https://t.co/w8fbQsogBr</a> <a href="https://t.co/bAw8dLeY5o">pic.twitter.com/bAw8dLeY5o</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1476184871877890050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Etan: Do you think that they put the narrative out there? Because sometimes things, I want to say, "leak," but they're purposely placed. And narratives were out there, but they could have easily cleared it all up. I thought the Lakers organization could have cleared up the false narratives about that you didn't want to play, that you were injured, that you were sitting down, that you didn't... They could have easily cleared that up, but they never did. Did you ever question why they never told exactly what happened while you were in the middle of it happening?
Deng: "I don't think they wanted to. One, I think everybody was trying to protect themself. I think, as a GM, you don't want to explain why you're not playing him. So it's easier to just, okay, whatever you want to put out there, whatever people think. And then as a coach, you are caught in, 'Oh, we want to go young.' You just say, 'Right now, we're focused on the young guys. We want to play the young guys. We got to give them minutes.' So there's always excuses and an outlet.
"But I think what's happening is with social media, and you see it all the time &mdash; if you are about the people, or if you really care about individuals or even athletes, or whoever, or you're just on the right side &mdash; I like to say the right side of history &mdash; I think you always stand with people that you know are trying to do the right thing. Or what you think is the right thing. I think what happens now, people are just so quick never to question their teams.
"And the thing with teams is teams make so much money that, for me, for any person, as they should, the rest of the world &mdash; the money that I'm being given is crazy. It a lot of money. To these organizations, that's nothing, and people need to understand that. It's just, 'Play it out there. Go.'
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"And people complain about athletes taking off a day, or doing this. 'They're getting paid all this money. Why are they taking off a day?' But fans never actually question teams that tank for a year while your money is being used. But at the end of the day, the owner can tank for a year, and they still get paid. But nobody really says anything about... 'We just paid tickets for this when we are losing just to get a pick.' But you don't question all that money, all that billions that the teams are making, or the owner are making, when they're having a bad season also. It's always the players, and it's the players' fault.
"You have to be okay with that, and you have to move on. But if you ask me, honestly, it was such a blessing the way it went. And I try to explain to people, everything that I'm doing off the court is really a result of everything that I was going through on the court. And you know how it is. We give it so much and playing and the pressure and wanting to perform. They told me I wasn't going to play, so I focused on my business. I focused on other things that I got. I focused on my foundation. And I really think that with God's way, just telling me that, 'You got so many other things going on for you. You can't just dwell and stress on one thing. Take that opportunity and make something else out of it.' And that's really what allowed me to focus on other things."
Etan: And you did an amazing job with it. A lot of people will be hearing this, and haven't heard you tell this story this way ever. They don't know this story. They look at, "Okay. Oh, Luol Deng is still getting paid for the Lakers. How's that possible?" And they tell that story. Or they say, "Oh, he swindled them. How's he still getting?" And I was like, "Yeah, I'm sure there's more to the story than that."
And that's why it's good that now you're telling this because it shapes people's perception of athletes when they're only told one story. And everything that so many guys from all your teams that you've played on, they talk about you in such glowing descriptions. You're this great teammate. And you come work hard, and you do all this. And you help everybody out.
Joakim Noah said he felt like he lost a brother when you left, when you got traded from the Bulls. The way that guys are talking about you, they wouldn't talk about you like that if you were someone who was the media depiction of you. Somebody who just laid down, didn't want to play anymore, got your money. It's completely different. So without even knowing all the details, I knew that there was more to the story. So I'm glad that you told this.
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Luol Deng set the record straight about his shortened stay with the Lakers and why he didn't play many games for the team.

Luol Deng on short Lakers stint: 'I never said I didn’t want to play'

The Sacramento Kings are once again on pace to stay "in neutral" throughout the 2021-22 season, nowhere closer to the longstanding goal of snapping their current 15-year playoff drought. However, one bright spot is beginning to peek through in Sacramento, and it might be able to turn the tides soon enough for the organization.
Tyrese Haliburton, the Kings&rsquo; No. 12 overall pick from the 2020 NBA Draft, is flourishing while the main rotation is being decimated by COVID-19. Over the last week, Haliburton&rsquo;s averages are eye-popping: 23.5 points, 11.3 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game across four contests. On top of that, Haliburton is also carrying an elite 63.8% True Shooting percentage.
Haliburton&rsquo;s emergence for Sacramento could be the exact blessing this franchise has needed, especially when having to juggle guard minutes for De&rsquo;Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield and rookie Davion Mitchell alongside him.
This isn&rsquo;t a hyperbolic take, especially when watching him during his collegiate career at Iowa State, where he became an advanced metrics darling, Haliburton is the exact antidote to cure the Kings&rsquo; woes. A savvy playmaker who brings innate basketball IQ on both ends of the court, Haliburton is beginning to find his footing in the league as a lead ball-handler. All he needs is more confidence and reps, which will result in obvious growing pains (averaging 4.5 turnovers over the aforementioned four-game stretch).
The plus with Haliburton is he can play both on and off the ball, which allows him to play heavy minutes meshing alongside the three other guards, who all bring different qualities to the table. Also, Haliburton is a well above-average three-point shooter, currently hitting those opportunities at an above-40% clip on the season.
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Haliburton&rsquo;s chameleon-like ability to fit wherever is needed makes him an ultimate glue guy who can become so much more if the keys are passed to him more often in Sacramento.
Take a look at Haliburton&rsquo;s head-to-head statistics when he plays with and without Fox during his short professional career:
With Fox: 11.5 points, 5.7 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 1.8 steals, 54.2 TS%, 15.5 USG%
Without Fox: 23.5 points, 11.3 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 2.0 steals, 63.8 TS, 24.7 USG%
The difference for Haliburton when he&rsquo;s not playing alongside a high-usage lead guard in Fox is absolutely jarring. When his own usage rate is bumped up, in this case almost 10%, the results have been magnificent.
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Seeing Haliburton in more control of the Kings&rsquo; fast-paced offense, led by interim head coach Alvin Gentry, should make Kings fans giddy for the future. And one intriguing angle really not discussed enough is how Sacramento has approached the NBA Draft over the last two years.
After drafting Haliburton and Mitchell in the lottery, it certainly put Hield on notice (a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers for Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell was <a href="https://theathletic.com/2740307/2021/07/29/kings-left-exploring-their-buddy-hield-options-after-deal-with-lakers-doesnt-materialize/?source=emp_shared_article" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly nixed</a>), and our Mark Schindler took a look at <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-buddy-hield" target="_blank" rel="noopener">possible landing spots for the veteran sharpshooter</a>.
However, what about Fox? The former Kentucky Wildcat has been the primary building block in Sacramento for five years now, but there&rsquo;s only been one season over that span that the Kings have even been in contention for a playoff spot in March.
With Fox and other guards sidelined by COVID-19 health and safety protocols, Kings general manager Monte McNair has gotten a glimpse up-close of a potential road he can travel down when envisioning his future roster construction.
What if McNair decided to shake things up in a major way before February&rsquo;s trade deadline? Kevin O&rsquo;Connor of The Ringer mentioned earlier this month he&rsquo;s heard from other executives that Sacramento is more open to the idea of trading Fox after drafting Haliburton and Mitchell in consecutive years. Meanwhile, ESPN&rsquo;s Tim Bontemps said a few days ago that he&rsquo;s heard Fox isn&rsquo;t off-limits in trade discussions anymore.
Where there&rsquo;s smoke, there&rsquo;s usually fire, especially as it relates to trade rumors. If two notable national NBA reporters are hearing the same type of intel revolving around Fox&rsquo;s future in Sacramento, Haliburton&rsquo;s recent play could put this potential scenario into realistic overdrive.
At this current rate, the Kings are nowhere close to being a true threat to even make the play-in tournament, barring a sudden surge to an improbable run later on. Also, team owner Vivek Ranadive seems to be <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=newssearch&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwi36-7Mw_r0AhW1lYkEHekSAg8QxfQBKAB6BAgOEAI&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sacbee.com%2Fsports%2Fnba%2Fsacramento-kings%2Farticle256698727.html&amp;usg=AOvVaw0s36AipjhR0J_iB3JuScTF" target="_blank" rel="noopener">getting impatient with the current roster in place</a>. It seems inevitable that something big happens in Sacramento between now and the 2022 offseason.
Haliburton&rsquo;s on-court wizardry as of late makes it easy to imagine how he could lead pushing the break for Sacramento alongside ample floor-spacing and athletic wings who thrive in transition. Two names in particular would be very strong fits alongside Haliburton, and the cost would likely revolved around Fox: Ben Simmons and Pascal Siakam.
Both players would instantly step in and provide an ideal buffer for what&rsquo;s needed to help the Kings reset and properly build out their roster to competent levels. Another idea I&rsquo;ll throw against the wall and see if it sticks for both sides: What about Fox to the New York Knicks for RJ Barrett? If the Knicks are in true win-now mode, as evidenced by their offseason, Fox could be a much-needed jolt to their stagnating hopes of making the playoffs once more.
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Sacramento resetting around Haliburton as a primary option, likely as the No. 2 behind someone like Simmons or Siakam, for example, isn&rsquo;t a far-fetched idea at all. Haliburton is a great shooter, playmaker, defender and high-character player. He checks all the boxes you want to see from a young prospect beginning to find his way in the NBA. Haliburton is beginning to soar forward in his own development, allowing the Kings to see an upgraded version during an interesting portion of their season due to a COVID outbreak within the organization.
As Haliburton dazzles, it&rsquo;s going to bring some very tough questions that have to be answered for the Kings&rsquo; front office. Even if Haliburton continues his stretch of play once Fox returns, it will be with fewer touches. Hield is another player who could soon be on the move, maybe freeing up more minutes for Haliburton and Mitchell as one last attempt to make it work alongside Fox for the three-guard lineups.
With the Kings&rsquo; recent team-building strategy &mdash; plus Haliburton showing the goods as a legitimate two-way weapon who can be multi-faceted running an offense &mdash; maybe the best scenario is to make a major move.
Shooting for Simmons or Siakam alongside Haliburton would likely lead to a better on-court product for the Kings to potentially break through in a loaded Western Conference.

Tyrese Haliburton's dazzling performances are giving the Kings hope, and a shakeup elsewhere in the guard room makes sense.

Tyrese Haliburton could force Kings' hand on backcourt decisions

On the Liberty Ballers podcast, "The Gastroenteritis Blues," Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report said that the Sixers have scarcely been in touch with Ben Simmons all summer.
"They haven't really been able to get in touch with Ben since the season ended," Fischer said. "There was an intent to have a workout plan or whatever, like in any offseason, and that's always been the case -- that the Sixers haven't really been able to align with the development plan.
"It just doesn't sound like there's ever been movement to come together on the same page on that, and it hasn't really worked this summer, either."
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Per <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeLFischer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JakeLFischer</a> on today&rsquo;s <a href="https://twitter.com/GastroBluesPod?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GastroBluesPod</a>, the Sixers have been unable to get in touch with Ben Simmons this offseason. <a href="https://t.co/35ptpoy1jl">https://t.co/35ptpoy1jl</a> <a href="https://t.co/ijKxlc8TJS">pic.twitter.com/ijKxlc8TJS</a>
&mdash; The Gastroenteritis Blues (@GastroBluesPod) <a href="https://twitter.com/GastroBluesPod/status/1419633510592221188?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 26, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Simmons averaged 14.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game with the Sixers in the regular season, but floundered during the playoffs, leading to widespread rumors of Philadelphia making him available for trade.
According to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, a Simmons trade appears <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/sixers/sixers-ben-simmons-trade-rumors-nba-preseason-20210726.html?utm_source=t.co&amp;utm_campaign=edit_social_share_twitter_traffic&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_term=&amp;int_promo=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"inevitable"</a> at this point, but that the Sixers could wait until closer to the start of next season to better determine their needs and understand what's available from other teams.

Simmons is reportedly on the trade block for Philly this offseason.

Report: Sixers have barely been in touch with Ben Simmons all summer

Let's start here: We don't know if Damian Lillard wants out of Portland.
There have been recent reports, notably from Henry Abbott of the True Hoop network, that Lillard is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/report-damian-lillard-plans-to-request-trade-from-blazers-in-next-few-days" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on the verge of asking out</a>. The Blazers' stretch of good-but-not-good-enough productivity has begun to weigh on Lillard; a first-round loss to the injury-riddled Denver Nuggets may very well have been the final nail in the coffin.
Lillard has denied wanting to leave, for the most part. Following a recent Team USA practice, Lillard <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/damian-lillard-says-report-he-plans-to-request-a-trade-is-not-true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denounced the wanting-out rumors</a>. What he didn't do, however, was give the Blazers a strong vote of confidence.
"The best way to put it is be more urgent about our next step and how we move forward,&rdquo; Lillard <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/damian-lillard-says-report-he-plans-to-request-a-trade-is-not-true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told reporters</a>.
&ldquo;We made [the] playoffs a lot of years in a row. We&rsquo;re not a bad team. We&rsquo;re a winning team. We got a great environment, great city, great fans. But we&rsquo;ve reached that point where it&rsquo;s not enough. Do we actually want to win it all? Is that what we&rsquo;re shooting for? We have to do things to show that. We got to put action behind that desire to win at that level."
Lillard has been steadfast in his desire to stay in Portland throughout his career, but it does seem that the wall the Blazers hit this past postseason is weighing on him. If the Blazers aren't able to follow through with a strong summer, they risk falling (further) behind in the Western Conference hierarchy. Any slip may be enough for Lillard to push his way out.
In the event that Lillard does ask out, you'd be hard-pressed to find many teams that wouldn't check in on his availability. We're talking about one of the most dynamic pull-up threats the NBA has ever seen, a strong finisher and a proactive passer with the vision necessary to make scrambling defenses pay.
Shot creation reigns supreme in today's NBA, particularly in a playoff setting. Adding a guy like Lillard, an offense in and of itself, could boost quite a few teams into legitimate contention.
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Beyond that basic premise, The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/sixers-knicks-heat-among-five-aggressive-suitors-for-damian-lillard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that five teams in particular -- the Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, Houston Rockets (I would assume they're more likely to be a third team than a landing spot, but who knows?) and Sacramento Kings -- have been the most aggressive in their pursuit of Lillard.
None of this guarantees that the Blazers will make a move, but there's enough smoke to examine what a potential Lillard deal would look like. Here are a few teams that are -- or at least should be -- in the mix for the six-time All-Star.
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
We can dub this, "the Ben Simmons section." Simmons-to-Portand has been a popular rumor for a while now; the quibbling is over which backcourt mate he'd be moved for.&nbsp;
If it's for Lillard, more than Simmons would be required. One of Tyrese Maxey or Matisse Thybulle. One of Seth Curry or George Hill. Multiple firsts. It'd take a haul, but it'd be difficult to think of many better duos than Liillard and Joel Embiid.
The half-court scoring prowess of Lillard, Embiid and Tobias Harris could go toe-to-toe with just about anyone in the Eastern Conference. Replacing what Simmons brings defensively would be tough; honestly, it's been a bit undersold when brought up on the interwebs. Retaining Thybulle would help. Bringing back Danny Green, slip as he may, would also help. Scouring the free-agent market for wings and bigs would become a priority.
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For the Blazers, you'd get a strong building block in Simmons. That's slightly different than being a centerpiece; Simmons may not be as bad as his showing in the Atlanta series, but his half-court limitations are real. Still, he remains a transition demon, a strong finisher, one of the best passers in the sport and an elite multi-positional defender.&nbsp;
The Sixers could replicate the James Harden/Brooklyn Nets package in terms of draft picks and swaps with the Blazers. In Maxey or Thybulle, you're either getting a speedy guard with budding pull-up and point-of-attack chops, or one of the most absurd off-ball defenders to hit the league in quite some time. Curry could replace a portion of Lillard's pull-up/movement shooting equity, while Hill could provide a steadying presence on both ends.
NEW YORK KNICKS
The Knicks have all of their picks, plus an extra first from the Mavericks (2023 top-10 protected, extends thorugh 2025 before turning into two second-rounders). They have interesting prospects, headlined by burly wing RJ Barrett.&nbsp;
If they <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-knicks-should-prepare-to-go-allin-for-damian-lillard-new-york-trade-rumors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">want to go all in</a>, they very well could: picks and swaps through 2027, Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Obi Toppin. Kevin Knox if the Blazers want him. A literal all-in move could make fans and the front office alike a bit queasy, but that can be alleviated by the cap space the Knicks would still have this summer.&nbsp;
A Randle-led team gritted its way to a first-round appearance, then sputtered when forced to play more half-court basketball. Adding Lillard would change the math in a very real way. With those two in tow, I find it hard to believe that the Knicks would struggle to attach vets to fill things out.
Barrett began to pop this season, improving as a rim threat while making incredible strides as a spot-up shooter. Being able to force close-outs will only complement the rim pressure he already provides; that added rim volume will open more windows to showcase his underrated passing chops. The Blazers can work with that.
Beyond that, Quickley has already flashed #FloaterGawd potential, and a quick-trigger from deep if defenders don't track him closely enough over screens. I'm intrigued by Toppin playing one, with more pull-up shooters, and two, playing the 4 -- his best position. His upside is a bit lower to me because of where he is defensively, but there's a productive NBA player in there with a better roster construction around him.
OTHER LANDING SPOTS
MIAMI HEAT
The Heat are always sniffing around these kind of rumors, even when they don't have the assets on the surface.
If Portland wants to blow things up, the Heat will be at a massive disadvantage in terms of pick capital. They could get creative and work out a side deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder to try to free up some of their future picks.
Beyond that, the Heat are a bit stuck. Tyler Herro is intriguing, but falls a bit short of "blue chip" status. Precious Achiuwa had an uneven rookie season, though some of his Olympic exhibition flashes should raise some eyebrows.
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What makes the Heat intriguing in the Lillard sweepstakes is that they have the true trump card. They may be stuck if their goal is to create a Big Three with Lillard, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.
If the Heat prioritize maximizing Butler's window, however, then the option of using Adebayo as a centerpiece becomes available. And if that big red button is pressed, it's hard to imagine there being a better centerpiece on the table.
DENVER NUGGETS
The Nuggets are likely content with their core. They have the MVP in Nikola Jokic, an All-Star caliber guard with high-level playoff flashes under his belt in Jamal Murray and a bona fide shot-creator in Michael Porter Jr. that can't really be defended when he has it going.
They're mentioned here because Lillard is flat-out better than Murray, and you'd need a 99th percentile outcome from Porter Jr. to reach Lillard status. With Murray coming off an ACL injury and Porter Jr. having questions about his back -- and quietly approaching his pay day -- this would be a unique opportunity for the Nuggets to cash in those chips for a legitimate All-NBAer.
Of course, those health (and money) concerns could turn off the Blazers.
Also, hey, the Nuggets just beat the Blazers and potentially pushed the Lillard situation to the brink to begin with. It's probably nothing; I'm just intrigued by this possibility.
TORONTO RAPTORS
It's worth the call if you're the Raptors. They have their picks moving forward, including the No. 4 pick in this year's draft. The fourth pick, two of Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet or OG Anunoby and swaps is a (starter) package that could be eclipsed by... how many teams, exactly?
BOSTON CELTICS
The Celtics don't have the pick bounty they had a couple of years ago. They do, however, own their picks from 2022 onward. They also have Jaylen Brown, one of the best wings in the NBA on a contract that would classify as a steal at this point.&nbsp;
Portland would ask for more -- I'd guess one of Marcus Smart or Robert Williams plus Payton Pritchard at least -- but the Celtics have enough to make talks interesting.

Nekias Duncan explores potential landing spots for Damian Lillard if he's officially put on the trading block.

Examining potential trade destinations for Damian LIllard

The New York Knicks are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2012-13, and they are the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Back in the summer of 2019, Elfrid Payton signed with the Knicks and felt confident that this group would return the franchise to glory.
&ldquo;I feel we embody what New York basketball was about back in the day &ndash; just being grimy, tough guys who play with a chip on their shoulder and have something to prove,&rdquo; Payton <a href="https://hoopshype.com/2019/07/04/nba-free-agency-rumors-knicks-new-york-elfrid-payton-randle-barrett-durant-kyrie-irving/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told me</a> prior to last season. &ldquo;I feel like we have a lot of talent at every position. I think we are way deeper than people think.&rdquo;
It took an extra year&nbsp; -- the Knicks won 21 games in 2019-20 -- but Payton was right. This team is physical, tough and deep, and they have one of the best defenses in the league (allowing just 105.7 points per 100 possessions, which is third-best in the NBA).&nbsp;
This season, Payton has averaged 10.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 0.7 steals in 23.6 minutes, while starting all 63 games that he appeared in. He has played in the second-most regular-season games without a playoff appearance (450), behind only Washington's Alex Len (531). Both will make their playoff debut on Sunday.
Before Game 1 against the Atlanta Hawks, BasketballNews.com caught up with Payton to discuss the Knicks&rsquo; success, his first playoff appearance, the matchup against Atlanta, Tom Thibodeau&rsquo;s impact, Julius Randle's development, the criticism he&rsquo;s received from some Knicks fans and more.
Over the years, we&rsquo;ve talked about your playoff aspirations and how making it to the postseason was your top goal. Now, you&rsquo;re about to experience playoff basketball for the first time. What emotions are you feeling? What&rsquo;s going through your mind?
Elfrid Payton: &ldquo;Excited. Anxious. I&rsquo;m just trying to take it all in, man. It took so long, and it takes a lot to get here. You gotta be good, you gotta have good coaching, you gotta be injury-free as a team and you gotta have a little bit of luck. I&rsquo;m just taking it all in and I&rsquo;m excited, man. I&rsquo;m excited for this opportunity.&rdquo;
When you signed with the Knicks, you called this! You said that the team would &ldquo;embody what New York basketball was about back in the day &nbsp;&ndash; just being grimy, tough guys who play with a chip on their shoulder and have something to prove.&rdquo; You also raved about the team&rsquo;s depth. How nice is it to prove the doubters wrong?
Payton: &ldquo;It means a lot for us, I&rsquo;m not gonna lie. Everything you do is going to be doubted, but it&rsquo;s great to finally see this team do what we&rsquo;re here to do, and for what I said to be true. We pretty much brought the same team back. Obviously, there were key additions as well, but for the most part, it&rsquo;s the same team back. We still have some more [doubters] to prove wrong, to be honest. We&rsquo;re still hungry. We knew what we had, but it still felt good to go out there and prove it.&rdquo;
And it&rsquo;s not like you guys snuck into the playoffs either. You guys finished fourth in the East and have dominated all season. Do you feel like that&rsquo;s a statement to the rest of the league?
Payton: &ldquo;For sure. There&rsquo;s probably going to be people who say, &lsquo;Oh, it was a wacky year with COVID...&rsquo; And it was. But, nah, we&rsquo;ve been beating people all year. Since the beginning of the year, if you look at those games early on, [we were winning]. And then throughout the season, we just got better and better. We didn&rsquo;t sneak in, we&rsquo;re the fourth seed. We earned that.&rdquo;
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Tom Thibodeau is a big part of this team&rsquo;s success, and he has been a huge supporter of yours. He's praised your physicality, ability to switch, toughness and size. What is your relationship with Thibs like and what does it mean to have that kind of support from him?
Payton: &ldquo;We have a good relationship, for the most part -- we&rsquo;re just like any player and coach. But it means a lot to have that kind of support from him; he&rsquo;s obviously very good at his job. As you can see, he always wins wherever he goes. He has a certain way that he likes the game to be played. You&rsquo;ve gotta respect that. And you&rsquo;ve gotta respect his consistency; he&rsquo;s the same every day. Nothing changes. He&rsquo;s been a big help to this team.&rdquo;
Immanuel Quickley has exceeded all expectations. It wasn&rsquo;t long ago that you were the young point guard picked in the first round; now, you&rsquo;re the vet who&rsquo;s mentoring the young guys. What is your relationship with IQ like and, given everything you&rsquo;ve experienced, have you tried to mentor him?
Payton: &ldquo;Oh yeah, for sure. I try to talk to him as much as I can without, like, over-talking, you know what I&rsquo;m saying? (laughs) Just little things that I might see or things that I come across. I [tell him about] things that I&rsquo;ve been through. I tell him all the time how blessed he is to come in and have a coach like Tom Thibodeau as his first head coach. He&rsquo;s going to be light years ahead of his class, just because of the culture he&rsquo;s part of. He gets to be in the playoffs during his rookie year! For me, it took seven years! To be able to come into the league and make the playoffs in his first year, that&rsquo;s been a blessing. He&rsquo;s gonna be really good, man.&rdquo;
It seems like the acquisition of Derrick Rose had a big impact on this team -- not only on the court but also in the locker room and from a leadership standpoint. What did acquiring D-Rose do for this team?
Payton: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been huge. One of the reasons why we&rsquo;ve been successful this year is this: Obviously, Julius is gonna get his, but that next guy, you never know who it&rsquo;s going to be. Quick has had multiple good games, I&rsquo;ve had multiple good games, Alec Burks has had big games, RJ [Barrett] has had big games, [Reggie] Bullock&hellip; you go down the line and each guy has stepped up and had big games. And then you have D-Rose and he comes in and does the same thing. He gives us another dynamic. And it's good to have someone around who has a longer relationship with Thibs because he&rsquo;s able to relay certain things from him back to the players. And just being around him, he&rsquo;s a humble dude. He makes it easy, man.&rdquo;
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Some people may forget that you played with Julius Randle on the New Orleans Pelicans during the 2018-19 season. I know you guys are close and he played a big role in your decision to sign with the Knicks. Randle was really good with the Pelicans, but it&rsquo;s amazing to see how he&rsquo;s elevated his game and become an elite player. What has it been like watching Randle&rsquo;s development over the last three years?
Payton: &ldquo;I mean, you see how well he&rsquo;s shooting the ball and how he&rsquo;s had a lot of triple-doubles this year, and I think it&rsquo;s a perfect storm. He found a coach who wants to put the ball in his hands. And then being ready for the opportunity; he works like no other, he&rsquo;s always watching film and things like that. He&rsquo;s in a great mental space. The game seems to be slowing down for him a lot. Everything that he&rsquo;s getting, he deserves it. He definitely deserves it. He&rsquo;s a huge part of our team. Huge.&rdquo;
How do you feel you matchup against the Hawks in the first round, and how have you been preparing for the series?
Payton: &ldquo;I think we matchup well against them. They have a lot of weapons over there, a lot of guys who can shoot the three; John Collins is playing well, [Clint] Capela is a force inside and they&rsquo;ve got a good bench with Lou Will and [Danilo] Gallinari. I think we&rsquo;re just a little bit deeper and a little bit more physical, and that&rsquo;s going to make it tough for them. As far as the preparation, it&rsquo;s been crazy. It&rsquo;s my first playoffs, so&hellip; It&rsquo;s kinda what I expected, but having so much time off, we were able to really dive into a lot of film and a lot of their tendencies.&rdquo;
I would imagine one of your biggest responsibilities in this series will be guarding Trae Young, who does such a great job in the pick-and-roll and can score from anywhere. What are some of the keys to guarding Trae?
Payton: &ldquo;The first thing is just keeping him off the foul line. That&rsquo;s one of the biggest things; he does a good job of drawing fouls. So just not letting him go in from the free throw line and find his confidence and his rhythm there. We just gotta make everything tough -- make it as tough as possible. It&rsquo;s a team thing. I always tell our guys that when we&rsquo;re going against really good players -- whether it be Trae Young or Jayson Tatum or Giannis Antetokounmpo or whoever you want to name. It&rsquo;s not just one person, it&rsquo;s a team thing. We&rsquo;ve been [going] over this a bunch of times, so I think we&rsquo;ll be fine.&rdquo;
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As you mentioned, Trae is great at stopping on a dime and drawing fouls. He uses your momentum against you. How do you defend that?&nbsp;
Payton: &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t want to get caught up in it. You can get lost in it and frustrated by it, [and you don&rsquo;t want that]. So we&rsquo;re just watching film, trying to study his tendencies and hope that the refs don&rsquo;t put it in their hands and kinda let us play a little bit. And you&rsquo;re kinda just reading the game. Sometimes, I believe that it is a foul. But more times than not, I feel like it&rsquo;s an offensive foul. So you hope that the referees read it right, but you don&rsquo;t get into it. We&rsquo;ll just let the chips fall where they may.&rdquo;
I&rsquo;ve seen some tweets and articles about the criticism you&rsquo;ve received from Knicks fans. How have you dealt with that?
Payton: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m gonna be honest, man. I have a great relationship with God, and I feel like everything is already written and everything happens for a reason. And I&rsquo;m able to live with myself because I know the work that I put in. I know how much I put into this game, so if it doesn&rsquo;t work out, I&rsquo;m okay with that because I know I&rsquo;ve exhausted everything that I possibly could. And another way I&rsquo;ve been [able to live with myself] is: We&rsquo;re playing well, man! We&rsquo;re playing really well right now. My teammates are killing it and I&rsquo;m happy for them. We&rsquo;re winning! I don&rsquo;t know, man. It&rsquo;s just funny. People always have stuff to say.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see any of that stuff; I don&rsquo;t read about myself. I&rsquo;m so focused on us and how we get better; I don&rsquo;t hear a lot of that stuff. But it&rsquo;s crazy because I&rsquo;ve done a couple of interviews over the last couple of days and they&rsquo;ve been asking kind of similar questions and it&rsquo;s not shocking, but I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;Dang...&rsquo; I was oblivious [to it]. I feel like I had a pretty good season, man. This is the most games that I&rsquo;ve ever won and I feel like I had a pretty good season. I&rsquo;ve had better numbers in the past, but I would take this any day. This season that we had? I would take this [over better stats] any day, being able to compete in the playoffs.&rdquo;

Elfrid Payton speaks to Alex Kennedy about NY's success, his playoff debut, Julius Randle, Thibs, the criticism he's received and more.

Elfrid Payton Q&A: Knicks 'still have more doubters to prove wrong' in playoffs

Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal is known for being one of the most approachable athletes. In fact, he might even be one of the nicest celebrities in general.&nbsp;
Recently, Shaq was trending on Twitter because he <a href="https://youtu.be/5cNACbapZNU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paid off an engagement ring</a> for a random stranger that he ran into at a jewelry store.
Over the years, O&rsquo;Neal has done many good deeds for strangers. He&rsquo;s also gone out of his way to help many of his teammates, as several former Lakers recounted <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-shaquille-oneal-shaq-los-angeles-lakers-best-teammate-jeff-pearlman" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in this Basketball News piece</a> by Jeff Pearlman.
When Shaq recently appeared on Basketball News' <a href="https://youtu.be/tFpqDEITaJE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&ldquo;The Rex Chapman Show,&rdquo;</a> he was asked about this.
&ldquo;Life is about being lucky. One, I&rsquo;m just lucky,&rdquo; Shaq told Basketball News. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m lucky that people still recognize a guy who hasn&rsquo;t played basketball in 10-11 years. Secondly, it costs you nothing to be nice. Third of all, I&rsquo;m blessed that a little 5-year-old kid that&rsquo;s never seen me play basketball says, &lsquo;I know him!&rsquo; Four, why would I be mean to a kid? Why would I be mean to a lady? Why would I be mean to a person who wants to take a picture? 
"I&rsquo;ve seen a lot of people in our world just dog people out. I&rsquo;ve never been like that... Growing up in a military family, you&rsquo;re not allowed to make two mistakes. So, if I&rsquo;m out in L.A. and I see one of my favorite actors and he dogs a kid out, I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;You can&rsquo;t do that.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Shaq then told the story of the first time he met Kobe Bryant, which was another good-guy moment. Bryant was around 13 years old at the time.
&ldquo;True story, and Kobe never told me this until after we played: A little kid comes into the locker room in Orlando and he wants to see Penny Hardaway. It&rsquo;s Kobe!&rdquo; Shaq said. &ldquo;I never knew this until Kobe told me this story. He wants to see Penny, and Penny&rsquo;s not a bad guy, but I don&rsquo;t know what was going on that day and he was just [like], &lsquo;Whatever.&rsquo; And Kobe was standing there. I actually remember this day, the kid was sitting there and I grabbed him like, &lsquo;Come on, little fella; I&rsquo;ll take a picture with you!&rsquo; 
"I never knew that kid was Kobe until he told me. We played together, had our fights and battles together, and then when we did that Lakers sit-down interview, Kobe said, &lsquo;Hey man, you remember when I came in the locker room and wanted to see Penny and he blew me off?&rsquo; I was like, &lsquo;That was you?!&rsquo; He&rsquo;s like, &lsquo;Yeah, that was me.&rsquo;&nbsp;
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&ldquo;And then I said to myself, I want to be the guy that when you see my face, I want to make you smile. Because when you smile, it releases endorphins in your face and hopefully that can jump start your day and you can be a little stress free&hellip; I want to be the guy that can make you laugh.&rdquo;
When Shaq gets stressed out or upset, he has a go-to method to cheer up.
&ldquo;When I get stressed out? &lsquo;Step Brothers,&rsquo; that&rsquo;s the movie I&rsquo;m watching,&rdquo; Shaq said with a smile. &ldquo;&lsquo;Don&rsquo;t touch my f*cking drum set!&rsquo; I watch that part. It makes me laugh then I calm down and I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;What&rsquo;s the problem?&rsquo; And then I can figure it out. But I want to be the guy that can make you laugh.&rdquo;

Years before they were teammates, Shaquille O'Neal met a 13-year-old Kobe Bryant in the Orlando Magic locker room.

Shaquille O'Neal tells crazy story about meeting 13-year-old Kobe Bryant

If you search &ldquo;Marcus Zegarowski&rdquo; on Google, you will see &ldquo;Michael Carter-Williams&rsquo; brother&rdquo; in the top results.
Perhaps a fact known among basketball circles, but not likely quite as well-known by the greater public, is that Zegarowksi -- Creighton&rsquo;s leading scorer this season and a 2020-21 All-Big East First Team member -- is much more than an NBA Draft prospect in the shadow of the 2014 Rookie of the Year. Zegarowski was a steady force and a key leadership piece for a very successful Bluejays team this year, in one of the most competitive and deep conferences in America.
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A 6-foot-2 guard, Zegarowski hails from Hamilton, Massachusetts, which is about 40 minutes north of Boston. He comes from a family of basketball players; beyond the aforementioned Carter-Williams, his older sister Masey plays Division I at Bryant University, and his mother Amanda (Mandy) is a former collegiate player, as well as high school head coach.
Maybe the most important person in his career arc is his twin brother Max (a player at Division II Franklin Pierce and formerly Lynn University). The twin brothers played at Hamilton-Wenham High School, and led the Generals to a perfect 25-0 season and a Division IV state title during their freshman year. They then transferred together to Tilton School (NH), a New England powerhouse that was once the home of current NBA players Nerlens Noel, Terance Mann and Georges Niang. In their junior year at Tilton, the brothers led the team to the NEPSAC (New England Preparatory School Athletic Council) Class-AA Finals, but came up short; Marcus was named to the NEPSAC First Team. Heading into their senior year, they took the Rams back to the Class-AA Finals, this time winning 99-92 against St. Andrew&rsquo;s School (RI), a game in which Marcus dropped 24 points and took home NEPSAC Player of the Year for his efforts.
Upon his graduation, Zegarowski committed to Creighton University. It would be the first time in his life that he didn't play on the same team as his brother. In his freshman season, Marcus earned Big East All-Freshman honors, posting 10.4 points, 3.4 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 42.9% from three-point range. In the 2019-2020 season, Zegarowksi paired with Ty-Shon Alexander (currently on a two-way contract with the Phoenix Suns) for a potent 33 points per game combined, leading the Bluejays to a 13-5 record in the Big East (24-7 overall) and a first place finish. As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic dashed the team's postseason hopes, as they seemed poised to make a run in the 2020 NCAA Tournament.&nbsp;
With Ty-Shon Alexander moving on to the NBA, Zegarowski stepped into a larger leadership role for Creighton this season. Although his overall statistical profile was nearly identical to his sophomore year, he did cut down his turnovers and produced a two-point improvement on his individual defensive rating. Creighton went into March with a 22-9 record and a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Fresh off of averaging 16 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists per game during the Big East Tournament, Zegarowksi and Creighton faced No. 12 UC Santa Barbara out of the Big West. He rose to the occasion by posting 17 points and 8 assists, and was pivotal down the stretch, scoring or assisting on 7 of Creighton&rsquo;s 9 points with the Gauchos taking them to the brink.
Zegarowski only got better as the stakes became higher. In the Round of 32 matchup against Ohio University and fellow draft prospect Jason Preston, Zegarowksi scored 20 points while holding Preston to only 4 points on 1-for-10 shooting from the field. Against an undefeated Gonzaga, which was the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament field, Zegarowski went for an impressive 19 points.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been intrigued by Marcus Zegarowksi since last season," added Matt Babcock, BasketballNews.com's Lead NBA Draft Analyst. "Although he does not have physical tools that blow you away, he&rsquo;s a player that&rsquo;s hard not to like as he shoots the ball with range, provides toughness, and is just a good point guard overall."
Since the season ended, rumors have swirled about Zegarowksi&rsquo;s next move, but on Tuesday, Zegarowski put an end to the speculation over his future by declaring for the NBA Draft and indicating that he won&rsquo;t be returning to Creighton next season.
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Bluejay forever 💙🙏🏽 <a href="https://t.co/fUJLcI1TxH">pic.twitter.com/fUJLcI1TxH</a>
&mdash; marcus zegarowski (@MZegarowski1) <a href="https://twitter.com/MZegarowski1/status/1382039277803016196?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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"We will take him very seriously as a prospect. He is currently No. 39 on our 2021 NBA Draft Big Board,&rdquo; Babcock added.
I&rsquo;m really not sure which jersey Marcus Zegarowksi will don next season, but I&rsquo;m looking forward to watching him regardless of where he ends up.

Grant Aqui shares how Marcus Zegarowski's family has influenced his basketball career and details his impressive years at Creighton.

Basketball runs in Marcus Zegarowski's blood

During an interview with BasketballNews' Etan Thomas,&nbsp;former NBA player Stephen Jackson revealed that Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving recently bought a home for George Floyd's family.
Jackson and Floyd were close friends, and Jackson used his platform to raise awareness about Floyd's murder and fight for justice. Jackson is helping raise Floyd's daughter, Gianna.
When asked how Gianna is doing these days, Jackson provided an update and thanked some of his celebrity friends who have shown support.
"She's getting so much love &ndash; not just from us, but from people all around the world who are showing support," Jackson said. "I'm just continuing to do what I said I was going to do; I said I was going to be my brother's keeper and take care of his daughter and make sure that her next days are her best days. A lot of my friends [have helped]. Kyrie Irving bought them a house. Lil Wayne's manager bought them a Mercedes Benz. Barbra Streisand gave them stock in Disney.
"I think God has definitely blessed her. I think she's doing the best she's ever done; she's happy. We're just waiting for this trial to get out of the way, so she doesn't have to keep reliving the situation and she can go about living her life."
On Tuesday afternoon, Irving was asked about this and confirmed that he helped purchase a house for Floyd's family.
"It was a team effort," Irving told reporters on Zoom. "Just continuing to fulfill our purpose and serve the underserved communities that don't get as much attention from others. Just trying to do my part. Selfless service, that's all."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
On <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@etanthomas36</a>'s podcast, Stephen Jackson revealed that Kyrie Irving (<a href="https://twitter.com/KyrieIrving?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KyrieIrving</a>) bought a home for George Floyd's family. <a href="https://twitter.com/DaTrillStak5?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DaTrillStak5</a> also thanked <a href="https://twitter.com/lilbaby4PF?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@lilbaby4PF</a> (who paid for Gianna Floyd's birthday party), <a href="https://twitter.com/BarbraStreisand?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BarbraStreisand</a> and more. FULL EPISODE: <a href="https://t.co/b7PS3C4Y6h">https://t.co/b7PS3C4Y6h</a> <a href="https://t.co/tHHe2T9Kyy">pic.twitter.com/tHHe2T9Kyy</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1351211365445337097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 18, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Check out the full interview with Stephen Jackson <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-stephen-jackson-etan-thomas-podcast-all-the-smoke-player-media-transition-george-floyd-racial-injustice-black-lives-matter-social-change-the-rematch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>:
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Stephen Jackson thanked Kyrie Irving for supporting George Floyd's family and recently buying them a house.

Kyrie Irving recently bought a home for George Floyd's family

Like an inadvertent Serge Ibaka elbow to the face, we all got struck in the mouth by something on Christmas Day: the imbalance between the really, really good teams and the hoi polloi.
Five games, five blowouts. And if you watched every minute of every single game, let&rsquo;s just say that you could have had a better Christmas by getting out of the house/apartment and going for a walk. Fresh air is good for you, folks. Pandemic or no pandemic, we all need some outdoor time to get through this toughest of years.
Kawhi Leonard needed eight stitches to close a gaping wound in his mouth after he was left bleeding all over the court following an inadvertent collision with his Ibaka&rsquo;s elbow in the fourth quarter of the Clippers&rsquo; 121-108 victory over the Denver Nuggets, providing the bloodiest moment of the young season. Furthermore, the Clips' 13-point margin of victory over Denver tied Pelicans-Heat for the closest game of the day.&nbsp;
Brooklyn was once again a beast with a 28-point victory in Boston, Milwaukee was 39 points better than Golden State (and would have won by 47 had Giannis Antetokounmpo made all of his free throws), the Lakers left Rick Carlisle shaking his head in a 23-point victory over the Mavs, and all of the new uniform color schemes made our children (or at least my children) wonder whatever happened to sticking with tradition?&nbsp;
All we wanted for Christmas was one close game, Santa. How could you let us down like that?
There have been 19 games since the season began, and a dozen of them have been decided by double-digit margins. Yes, it is a small sample size, but going 5-for-5 on Christmas Day did not do the folks at ESPN any favors in terms of increasing TV ratings. At least their beancounters had a good day by having four of the games called remotely, the Mavs-Lakers game at empty Staples Center being the exception.&nbsp;
The new season is going to take some getting used to, especially after we all had so much familiarity with the bubble over the summer. We knew what all of those games would look like on TV. This season? There are 30 new courts (many with new designs) and 29 different arenas, but only six with actual fans in attendance. One of those is the court in Tampa where the Raptors have relocated. 
We are only on Day 5 of the 2020-21 season, and uncertainty preponderates. We still do not know where James Harden will finish the season, but barring a trade sometime before tipoff tonight, we know he&rsquo;ll make his season debut in Portland with a Rockets team that will be missing six players, including three starters, because of COVID safety protocols. Not even Santa knows whether the Rockets' &ldquo;good list&rdquo; of&nbsp; players -- John Wall, Harden, Eric Gordon, Christian Wood and DeMarcus Cousins -- will ever play a single minute together.
Here are a few more things we learned on Christmas Day and what's to come next:
- Safe to say Kyrie Irving is stoked. Forget about what the sportsbooks are telling you. This guy is the leading Most Valuable Player candidate in the league right now, and it is not even close. He dropped 37 points and eight assists on the Celtics in his long-awaited return to Boston, overshadowing the 29 that teammate Kevin Durant dropped quite effortlessly. Kyrie is averaging 31.5 points, shooting 62 percent from the field and is 11-for-18 on threes with 12 assists against just two turnovers. Steve Nash&rsquo;s team is a machine, and we get to see them on NBA TV on back-to-back nights Sunday and Monday, as they travel to Charlotte and then are back in Brooklyn to play the Grizzlies to complete the first week of the season.
- LeBron James has plenty of bounceback left despite airballing a free throw that he facetiously blamed on drinking wine only from the left side of his mouth. (But there is no truth to the rumor that he is buying governor Gavin Newsome&rsquo;s winery tomorrow.) Despite that opening night loss to the Clippers, we saw Friday how much better this year&rsquo;s version of the Lakers is, as Montrezl Harrell went 10-for-13 and had 22 points in 29 minutes. The guy is shooting 80 percent from the field in two games while establishing himself as probably the third-best player on that team behind LeBron and Anthony Davis.
- The weekend includes 10-game slates both Saturday and Sunday that should provide some guidance on which teams are most worth watching on League Pass. Russell Westbrook, coming off a triple-double in his Wizards debut, plays a pair of games against the Orlando Magic. Thank your lucky stars that you do not have Markelle Fultz&rsquo;s job this weekend.
- Ja Morant and Trae Young play only once each, but Terry Rozier plays twice, and by Monday morning we&rsquo;ll find out whether anyone can begin the workweek with a scoring average above 40.0 points per game, earning the unofficial Jamal Murray Player of the Week award. Myles Turner goes twice this weekend, too, so we&rsquo;ll find out whether his eight blocked shots in the Pacers&rsquo; opener was an aberration or a precursor to someone becoming a legitimate threat to break Mark Eaton&rsquo;s record of 5.56 blocks per game set for Utah in 1984-85.
- Andre Drummond plays his alumni game tonight in Detroit against the Pistons, which gives us an opportunity to remind the young folks that Wilt Chamberlain holds the record for most rebounds in a game with 55 early in his second season...that coming after he grabbed 40 or more rebounds four times as a rookie. Still have a ways to go, James Wiseman.
- The Knicks will play twice at an empty Madison Square Garden, which means we won&rsquo;t have James Dolan sitting baseline, Spike Lee sitting courtside or, unfortunately, Immanuel Quickley leading the offense and giving fans of the blue and orange hope. Quickley had the misfortune of banging his hip into Turner in the opener, and it should not go unreported that Tom Thibodeau left Elfrid Payton, Dennis Smith Jr. and Frank Ntilikina sitting on the bench and played without a point guard in the second half of the opener at Indiana. Note to Knicks fans: Jonathan Kuminga G-League Elite scrimmage highlights are available <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtt22dNF4PE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
- Random things we want to see more of: Kelly Oubre Jr. dunking, Boban Marjanovic and Luka Doncic running the pick-and-roll, the evolution of the new State Farm commercials starring Chris Paul, James Wiseman shooting threes, Ricky Rubio getting playing time, Slovenia-Slovakia World Cup hockey games and fans in the stands.
Keep your fingers crossed on that last one. We&rsquo;ve made it this far in 2020, y&rsquo;all. Less than six days &lsquo;til 2021. We&rsquo;ll get there.

Chris Sheridan takes a look back at the lopsided slate of Christmas Day games and what teams and players came out as winners.

Post-NBA Christmas review: Can we please have a close game?

It is official: Cooper Flagg has been selected by the Dallas Mavericks as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday night, June 25, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.&nbsp;
Flagg, a 6-foot-9 wing out of Duke University from the US State of Maine, has been the consensus top overall pick for over a year, and he finally gets to hear his name called officially at the draft.
Flagg had a one-of-a-kind college freshman season at Duke, leading the team in every category (points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks). He also won the National Player of the Year award and led Duke to the Final Four in the NCAA tournament.
ANALYSIS: The Mavericks have lucked out on the chance to select Flagg after they had only just the 11th-best odds in the draft lottery. This also seems to be a blessing in disguise for Dallas after the fans&rsquo; outrage in February after GM Nico Harrison traded away franchise player and superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis.
Now, Flagg lands in Dallas, bringing his winning mentality and the factor that stood out to most coaches and scouts: defense. This has been Harrison&rsquo;s blueprint for building a team around Davis, and Flagg immediately blends in with the team, complementing his versatile skillset on offense.

It is official: Cooper Flagg has been selected by the Dallas Mavericks as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday night.

Dallas Mavericks snag Cooper Flagg as first overall pick in 2025 NBA Draft

The Houston Rockets have re-signed veteran point guard Fred VanVleet to a two-year, $50 million contract that includes a player option for the 2026&ndash;27 season, according to ESPN&rsquo;s Shams Charania.
The new deal replaces his prior $44.9 million team option, giving VanVleet increased security while providing Houston with cap relief and flexibility&mdash;a strategic move amid a flurry of offseason transactions.
After declining his previous option, the Rockets negotiated a shorter-term extension that maintains VanVleet's veteran leadership without hampering the team's financial structure. By lowering his annual hit, the Rockets dropped comfortably below the first luxury-tax apron and unlocked the $14.1 million mid-level exception, enabling future roster moves without overcommitting financially.
ANALYSIS: VanVleet has been instrumental in Houston&rsquo;s rapid ascent over the past two seasons, helping the team evolve from a rebuilding project into a 52-win playoff contender. Last season, he averaged 14.1 points, 5.6 assists, and 1.6 steals in 60 games, then elevated his performance to 18.7 points per game during their seven-game first-round series against Golden State. His vocal presence and savvy playmaking remain vital to Houston&rsquo;s championship aspirations, now bolstered by the arrival of Kevin Durant and continuity under coach Ime Udoka.
By balancing financial prudence with roster stability, the Rockets demonstrate a clear blueprint for sustained growth. VanVleet remains a cornerstone of that vision &ndash; a stabilizing force leading a core aiming for deeper postseason success.

The Houston Rockets have re-signed veteran point guard Fred VanVleet to a two-year, $50 million contract.

Fred VanVleet resigns with Rockets on two-year, $50M deal

The Houston Rockets have formally extended head coach Ime Udoka to a multi-year deal, making him one of the highest-paid coaches in the NBA, according to ESPN&rsquo;s Shams Charania.
Initially set under contract through 2026&ndash;27, the new extension reflects owner Tilman Fertitta and GM Rafael Stone&rsquo;s commitment to Udoka&rsquo;s leadership following consecutive seasons of marked progress.&nbsp;
Udoka, the former Celtics coach turned Spurs assistant, guided Houston to a franchise-best 52‑30 record this past season, earning them the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference and a first‑round playoff appearance &ndash; their best performance since 2018&ndash;19.&nbsp;
Alongside his impressive turnaround, Houston ranked fifth in defensive efficiency, with rookie Amen Thompson making All‑Defense and All-Star center Alperen Sengun blossoming under his system. According to Charania, the deal places Udoka among the NBA's top‑paid coaches, with "an eight‑figure annual" salary making him one of the league's richest at his position.
The extension arrives as Houston fends off interest from other teams, including the New York Knicks, who were denied permission to interview Udoka following their coaching vacancy. The Rockets have prioritized staff continuity, recently securing veteran center Steven Adams on a three‑year extension and weighing future options for Fred VanVleet amid potential Kevin Durant trade chatter.
Over two seasons, Udoka has led Houston to a combined 93‑71 record &ndash; an impressive leap from the 59 wins posted in the three years prior to his hire. His defensive mindset and emphasis on discipline transformed the young core into a playoff contender and earned him finalist consideration for the NBA Coach of the Year Award.
ANALYSIS: Ime Udoka&rsquo;s extension underscores Houston&rsquo;s belief in his vision to transform the Rockets into a modern contender. As the franchise eyes further growth, his leadership remains central to their blueprint for success.
The extension is Houston&rsquo;s second major offseason move, following the re-signing of Steven Adams and preceding key decisions on cap space and possible trades targeting major stars.

The Houston Rockets have formally extended head coach Ime Udoka to a multi-year deal, making him one of the highest-paid coaches.

Ime Udoka Nets Multi-Year Extension as Rockets’ Architect of Success

SGA takes over late as Thunder tie NBA Finals at 2-2 with tactical switches
The Oklahoma City Thunder are built on poise, patience, and principles. So when they found themselves staring down a 2-1 series deficit against the Indiana Pacers in the 2025 NBA Finals, they didn&rsquo;t panic. They adjusted, and they simplified. And then, they unleashed their superstar.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, already in the midst of a historic postseason run, delivered another defining performance in Game 4 &ndash; one that swung the Finals and cemented his status as the alpha on basketball&rsquo;s biggest stage. Down late in the fourth quarter, SGA scored or created nearly every crucial bucket, finishing the night with 35 points, with one transcendent takeover.
But this wasn&rsquo;t just about a scoring outburst. This was high-level basketball IQ, surgical execution, and coaching precision from Mark Daigneault wrapped into a four-minute flurry that may ultimately define the 2025 NBA Finals.
The adjustment that shifted the game, and possibly the series
With 3:54 left in the fourth quarter and the Thunder trailing by five, head coach Mark Daigneault called a timeout. Up to that point, Indiana&rsquo;s defensive scheme &ndash; centered on Andrew Nembhard defending Gilgeous-Alexander &ndash; had largely held up. Nembhard, who&rsquo;s known SGA since their childhood days playing in Canada, was disciplined and physical without fouling, staying grounded against SGA&rsquo;s deceptive fakes and change-of-pace moves.
But Daigneault didn&rsquo;t overcomplicate things. Out of the timeout, he made one small yet powerful tweak: Oklahoma City began actively hunting switches to get Aaron Nesmith onto Gilgeous-Alexander.
It worked like clockwork. The Thunder ran repeated ball screens involving Jalen Williams, with Nesmith as the on-ball defender. Once the switch occurred, SGA went to work.
What followed was a brilliant stretch of controlled basketball dominance.
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">3:35 left &mdash; SGA attacks Nesmith off a switch, draws a foul, and calmly sinks two free throws.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">3:01 left &mdash; With Williams initiating, SGA spaces out on the right wing. Nesmith switches onto him. One dribble pull-up three. Splash. Thunder cut the Pacers&rsquo; lead to one.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">2:23 left &mdash; In transition, SGA motions for an isolation. Williams clears out, Nesmith stays on him. Stepback fade from the left wing. Money. Thunder take the lead.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">1:38 left &mdash; Thunder run the same switch at the midpost. SGA attacks again, drawing Nesmith&rsquo;s sixth foul &ndash; and he&rsquo;s done for the night.</li>
</ul>
This was completely broken down from a video by Steph Noh:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
With 3 min 52 sec remaining, Mark Daigneault called timeout and made the adjustment that won the Thunder Game 4. Nembhard had been guarding SGA extremely well. Thunder used the same action 3x to get Nesmith to switch, Shai kept scoring/getting the foul call. <a href="https://t.co/6g4GnhA0RU">pic.twitter.com/6g4GnhA0RU</a>
&mdash; Steph Noh (@StephNoh) <a href="https://twitter.com/StephNoh/status/1933735227999810014?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2025</a>
<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</blockquote>
These weren&rsquo;t just buckets and free throws &ndash; they were calculated, unhurried, and inevitable. And just like that, the Thunder took control of the game and the momentum of the series.
Daigneault&rsquo;s postgame comments echoed the calmness his team displayed during that decisive run, which has been the Thunder&rsquo;s blueprint all season. The Thunder rarely stray from their core principles. They space the floor, they move the ball, and they trust Gilgeous-Alexander to dissect whatever coverage comes his way. But this time, they leaned into the moment. They fed their MVP the exact looks he needed and let him take it home.
The beauty of OKC&rsquo;s late-game offense was in its simplicity. Instead of running elaborate sets or off-ball actions, they flattened the floor, used one screener to create the mismatch, and let their best player read the floor. No wasted motion and no hesitation, just straight up takeover from their superstar.
SGA's Finals legacy is taking shape
Gilgeous-Alexander has now scored 30+ points in three of the four Finals games, and he&rsquo;s doing it efficiently and under control. He&rsquo;s not just a volume scorer &ndash; he&rsquo;s manipulating defenses, managing pace, and bending the game to his rhythm.
Game 4 wasn&rsquo;t just a highlight reel of clutch plays. It was a masterclass in reading matchups, knowing personnel, and executing a plan. There&rsquo;s a reason why Indiana put Nembhard on him and not Nesmith. The moment the Thunder exploited that switch, it turned the game around, and possibly the series.
And it&rsquo;s worth remembering: this is Gilgeous-Alexander&rsquo;s first trip to the Finals. Yet he plays like he&rsquo;s been here before.
&ndash; &ndash; &ndash;
With the series now tied 2-2, the pressure swings back to the Pacers. They&rsquo;ve been remarkable all postseason, and Game 4 was no exception &ndash; they executed their game plan for 44 minutes. But when the game slowed down and turned into a star duel, SGA stood tallest.
Game 5 looms large. And if the Thunder keep finding ways to free their MVP, it&rsquo;s hard to bet against them.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took over late as the Thunder tied the NBA Finals 2-2, punishing switches to seal Game 4.

SGA TAKES OVER: How the Thunder overcame the Pacers in Game 4 to even the series

The Orlando Magic have announced a significant rebranding initiative set to debut in the 2025&ndash;26 NBA season. This comprehensive overhaul includes updated logos, refreshed uniforms, and new marketing campaigns, all designed to honor the franchise's storied past while embracing a modern identity.
Central to the rebrand is the revival of the iconic "streaking ball with stars" logo, a nod to the team's original emblem from 1989 to 2000. The updated design modernizes this classic symbol, aiming to resonate with both longtime fans and new audiences. Complementing the logo is a revamped uniform set that reintroduces the beloved pinstripe motif from the 1989&ndash;1998 era. Notably, the silver star replaces the "A" in the "Magic" wordmark, reinforcing the team's connection to its heritage.
The uniform lineup features:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Icon Uniform: A return to the classic blue base, reminiscent of the team's early years.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Statement Uniform: A black design paying homage to the road warmup gear worn between 1991 and 1997.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">City Edition Uniform: Introduced for the 2024&ndash;25 season, this platinum-colored jersey features a background pattern evoking a suit of armor, symbolizing strength and resilience. The gothic-style "Magic" script and retro star in the wordmark further tie the design to the team's roots.</li>
</ul>
In tandem with the visual rebrand, the Magic have launched the "Make It Magic" marketing campaign. This initiative emphasizes the collective effort of players, staff, and fans in creating memorable experiences both on and off the court.The campaign aims to foster a deeper connection with the community and reinforce the organization's commitment to excellence.
Additionally, recognizing the importance of their diverse fan base, the Magic have introduced the "&iexcl;Dale Magic!" campaign to engage and celebrate their Hispanic supporters. This culturally relevant initiative underscores the team's dedication to inclusivity and community engagement.
The Orlando Magic's rebranding efforts signify a strategic move to blend tradition with innovation. By honoring their rich history while embracing contemporary design and inclusive marketing, the Magic aim to usher in a new era of identity and connection as they approach the 2025&ndash;26 season.

The Orlando Magic have announced a significant rebranding initiative set to debut in the 2025–26 NBA season.

Orlando Magic unveil team rebrand ahead of 2025–26 NBA season

The New York Knicks didn&rsquo;t just beat the Boston Celtics. They unmade them.
It was never just about winning a series. It was about proving a point. About silencing the doubt that crept in after four straight regular-season losses. About validating every roster move, every inch of grit, and every ounce of sweat poured into this season. It was about showing the basketball world &ndash; loudly and unmistakably &ndash; that this team wasn&rsquo;t just trying to contend. They were trying to conquer.
When the final buzzer sounded in Madison Square Garden and the scoreboard read 119&ndash;81, the Knicks had done just that &ndash; burying the defending champions in a Game 6 demolition and clinching their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 25 years.
But the mission is far from over.
A blueprint forged in Celtics&rsquo; green
From the jump, New York&rsquo;s front office operated with one adversary in mind: Boston. The Celtics were the gold standard, the defending champions, and the measuring stick for anyone serious about owning the East.
Leon Rose and company tailored this roster to match up directly with Boston&rsquo;s strengths. They re-signed OG Anunoby and traded for Mikal Bridges &ndash; two of the league&rsquo;s premier wing defenders &ndash; to neutralize Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Then came the blockbuster deal to acquire Karl-Anthony Towns, who gave the Knicks a stretch big man to go toe-to-toe with Kristaps Porzingis.
Everything was calculated. Every move had Boston&rsquo;s name on it.
And yet, the regular season was a humbling reminder of how far they still had to go. The Celtics swept the Knicks 4&ndash;0, and did so with such ease that New York&rsquo;s grand design felt naive. What good was a plan if the execution failed? If Boston could anticipate every counter, every scheme, every attempt at disruption?
But that&rsquo;s the thing about belief &ndash; it doesn&rsquo;t disappear with setbacks. It adapts. It evolves. It waits for its moment.
A series that changed everything
Heading into the second round, the Knicks were underdogs by every metric. They had a seven-man rotation, an ailing Mitchell Robinson, and a superstar in Jalen Brunson carrying an enormous load. Boston had depth, pedigree, and the confidence of having dismantled them all season.
But the Knicks weren&rsquo;t interested in narratives. They were there to rewrite them.
New York stunned the Celtics by taking Games 1 and 2 in Boston &ndash; punctuated by two clutch defensive stops from Mikal Bridges. In Game 1, it was a strip of Jaylen Brown. In Game 2, it was a game-sealing closeout on Tatum. That was the turning point&mdash;when the Knicks wrestled control from the defending champs and refused to let go.
OG Anunoby was nothing short of sensational. His defense on Tatum was suffocating, but it was his offensive output that tilted the series. He punished Boston with timely threes, strong drives, and unrelenting pressure. By the end of Game 6, he had cemented himself as one of the best two-way performers of the postseason.
Karl-Anthony Towns reminded everyone why the Knicks traded for him. He provided invaluable floor spacing, softening Boston&rsquo;s paint defense and making their double-big lineups less effective. His rebounding and decision-making gave the Knicks versatility they sorely lacked in previous playoff runs.
Josh Hart, the team&rsquo;s emotional engine, played like a man possessed. He chased every loose ball, battled for every rebound, and made hustle plays that sent the Garden into a frenzy. In Game 6, he notched the franchise&rsquo;s first playoff triple-double since 1972. He was the spirit of the Knicks personified.
Mitchell Robinson, matched against the veteran Al Horford, was a force on the glass and in the paint. His size and activity made Boston work for everything. And the Towns-Robinson pairing &ndash; while unconventional &ndash;&nbsp; at times gave New York an edge in rim protection and rebounding.
Miles McBride, the fan favorite, was the exclamation point. His clutch shooting and relentless defense made the most of his minutes. The Garden roared every time he touched the ball, and in Game 6, he gave fans even more to cheer for with 10 points and relentless pressure on the perimeter.
And, of course, Jalen Brunson. The league&rsquo;s Clutch Player of the Year showed why he earned that title. Whether it was a floater in traffic, a step-back jumper, or a drive through contact, Brunson delivered in every critical moment. He averaged 26.2 points in the series and captained the Knicks with poise, toughness, and swagger.
He was, and continues to be, the heart of New York&rsquo;s renaissance.
More than just a win &ndash; it&rsquo;s a revival
The impact of this series win goes beyond the scoreboard. It reverberated through the city. New York, a basketball town starving for success, erupted in celebration. Celebrities poured out of the Garden. Streets were flooded with fans chanting &ldquo;Go New York Go New York Go!&rdquo;. Timoth&eacute;e Chalamet &ndash; yes, even the &lsquo;Lisan Al Gaib&rsquo; &ndash; joined in in support of his favorite NBA team
It lit up the NBA world. What was supposed to be Boston&rsquo;s coronation turned into a Knicks uprising. The defending champs were outclassed, outcoached, and outworked. And the league took notice.
It reaffirmed the Knicks&rsquo; vision. Every decision, every gamble &ndash; they were worth it. This wasn&rsquo;t just a team that got hot. This was a team that executed its plan to perfection when it mattered most.
&ndash; &ndash; &ndash;
However, the job is not yet done.&nbsp;
The Knicks have their work cut out for them from here on out. Two series down, two series to go. Now, it&rsquo;s on to Indiana.
The Pacers are no easy out. Led by All-NBA guard Tyrese Haliburton and a deep, versatile supporting cast, they&rsquo;ve steamrolled through the playoffs with pace, ball movement, and shooting.
The Knicks, meanwhile, continue to rely on a tight, seven-man rotation. They&rsquo;ll enter the series with the same urgency, the same intensity &ndash; but also with heavier legs.
It&rsquo;ll be a clash of philosophies: New York&rsquo;s top-heavy, defense-first grind versus Indiana&rsquo;s spread attack and bench firepower. But if the Celtics series proved anything, it&rsquo;s that the Knicks are more than just a system. They&rsquo;re a team that believes &ndash; fiercely and completely.
They believe in each other. They believe in the plan. And now, for the first time in decades, the entire city believes alongside them.
So no, the job&rsquo;s not done, but the Knicks are exactly where they believed they&rsquo;d be.
And they're just getting started.

The Knicks finally beat the Celtics in a dramatic 6-game series, validating their season-long mission, but the job's not finished yet.

The Knicks were built to beat the Celtics – now they’re built for more

After a recent chatter following a controversial NBA ballot amongst the players, Tyrese Haliburton wanted to shake out a shadow that has been cast over him.
&ldquo;Overrated.&rdquo;
Some people say, Haliburton is too unselfish, too pass-first, not a &ldquo;killer&rdquo;, and not a &ldquo;real&rdquo; No. 1 option.
But on a loud night in Cleveland, with the result all but raining down and the Indiana Pacers securing a second straight trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, Haliburton didn&rsquo;t have to say a word. The scoreboard, the series tally, and the stunned expressions on the 64-win Cleveland Cavaliers&rsquo; team and crowd spoke loudly enough.
The Pacers have won in 5 games against a team that was supposed to outclass them. This wasn&rsquo;t just an upset &mdash; it was a dismantling. And it was proof that Haliburton&rsquo;s style, and this Pacers team, are not just good enough. They&rsquo;re built the right way, and they&rsquo;re built to last.
A system that works, a star that believes
Haliburton didn&rsquo;t need 40-point nights to make his impact felt. He orchestrated, he read the floor two steps ahead, and he elevated everyone around him. In the closeout Game 5 win, his stat line &mdash; 31 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 6 threes &mdash; was a masterclass in control. What he did was subtle, surgical, and suffocating for Cleveland.
Indiana picked apart the Cavaliers with relentless pace, smart spacing, and constant movement. Kenny Atkinson&rsquo;s squad, known for its defensive tenacity during the regular season, looked overwhelmed trying to keep up. Evan Mobley was stretched thin. Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell were hunted. The Cavaliers had no answers for the tempo.
And it wasn&rsquo;t just Haliburton. Andrew Nembhard&rsquo;s two-way brilliance, Myles Turner&rsquo;s timely rim protection, Pascal Siakam&rsquo;s veteran calm, and Obi Toppin&rsquo;s injection of energy all contributed to a five-game win that felt like a statement. Indiana is not just fun anymore. They are contending.
The blueprint of a contender
This isn&rsquo;t a superteam. This is a team that became great through vision, patience, and precision, led by brilliant veteran head coach Rick Carlisle.
The foundation was built through the draft: Turner, the lone holdover from the Paul George era, grew into a versatile anchor. Nembhard, Sheppard, Mathurin &mdash; all young players with composure beyond their years.
They traded smartly: getting Haliburton in exchange for Domantas Sabonis felt controversial at first, but it&rsquo;s now one of the most lopsided deals in recent memory. Adding Siakam at the deadline was a masterstroke &mdash; he brought championship pedigree without disrupting the flow. He didn't just buy into the system; he elevated it.
And their free agent signings were understated but vital. TJ McConnell remains the heartbeat off the bench. Aaron Nesmith has become a true 3-and-D weapon. Thomas Bryant and Obi Toppin give this team depth and versatility.
There&rsquo;s no ego here, there is just cohesion and belief.
&ldquo;We know what we have,&rdquo; head coach Rick Carlisle said after Game 5. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got guys who care more about the next pass than the last shot. That&rsquo;s special.&rdquo;
Tyrese Haliburton&rsquo;s rise wasn&rsquo;t fueled by noise. It&rsquo;s been built quietly, piece by piece, through reading defenses and manipulating tempo, through making stars out of role players and rhythm out of chaos.
He&rsquo;s not a flamethrower like Steph. He&rsquo;s not a bulldozer like Giannis. He&rsquo;s something rarer: a point guard who makes everyone better without needing to dominate. And for some, that doesn&rsquo;t fit the mold of a superstar.
But to call him overrated? That&rsquo;s lazy.
The Pacers are an elite team this season when Haliburton hits double digits in assists. He led the NBA in transition assists. He&rsquo;s made Nembhard and Mathurin look like seasoned playoff guards. He&rsquo;s allowed Siakam &ndash; a two-time All-NBA forward &ndash; to shine even more.
In Game 4, when Cleveland tried blitzing him high to take the ball out of his hands, Haliburton calmly hit roller after roller. In Game 5, when they sat back in drop, he punished them with floaters and kick-outs. Every adjustment they made, he countered not with bravado but with brilliance.
The overrated label was never about him. It was about people misunderstanding the kind of greatness he brings.
The road back to the Eastern Conference Finals
A year ago, Indiana reached the Eastern Conference Finals and ran headfirst into a Boston Celtics juggernaut. They seemed like they weren&rsquo;t ready after faltering multiple times in the clutch in the series. The moment felt too big, and the lights were too bright.
But this year, it&rsquo;s different.
They&rsquo;re deeper, smarter, and hungrier. And perhaps most importantly, they know exactly who they are.
Back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals appearances might not come with parades, but in a small market like Indianapolis, it&rsquo;s validation. This is a franchise that didn&rsquo;t bottom out or chase shortcuts. They stayed the course, invested in character and chemistry, and trusted a 6-foot-5 guard with a quirky jump shot and a genius-level basketball brain to be their face of the future.
And Haliburton has delivered splendidly, and he continues to strive for more.
In an era where teams try to fast-track success with star pairings and flash, the Indiana Pacers remain the outliers. They&rsquo;ve built a contender by doing the little things right, over the years, not months.
This win over Cleveland &ndash; a team with one of the league&rsquo;s best records, a suffocating defense, and a very good team with three all-stars &ndash; isn&rsquo;t just an upset. It&rsquo;s a coronation of the Pacers&rsquo; philosophy, and it's a resounding reminder that basketball is still a team sport.
Tyrese Haliburton may never be the kind of player who drops 50 on any given night or leads the league in scoring. But he&rsquo;ll control the game, he&rsquo;ll lift his teammates, and he will try to win.
That&rsquo;s his style, and that will be his greatness. Overrated? Maybe to those who only see box scores. But to those watching closely &ndash; the coaches, the peers, the Pacers&rsquo; faithful &ndash; Haliburton is redefining what it means to be a superstar.
And as Indiana marches back to the Eastern Conference Finals, it&rsquo;s clear: You can doubt Tyrese Haliburton if you want. Just don&rsquo;t bet against him.

Tyrese Haliburton leads the Pacers past the 64-win Cavaliers in five games to reach their second straight Eastern Conference Finals.

Tyrese Haliburton silences critics as Pacers dominate Cavs to reach ECF again

Cooper Flagg is now set to take his talents to the NBA and the Dallas Mavericks after the franchise won the NBA draft lottery and the No. 1 overall pick on Monday night.
This is the first time the Mavericks have won the lottery in their 45-year history.
After losing franchise superstar Luka Doncic in a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas will have an immediate replacement after lucking out with the 1st overall pick. The Mavericks entered the night with the 11th-best odds to land the No. 1 overall, at just 1.8 percent.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
COOPER FLAGG, YOU ARE A DALLAS MAVERICK. Dallas (1.8% chance) has won the 2025 NBA Draft lottery. 🤯 <a href="https://t.co/HzEIlg649i">pic.twitter.com/HzEIlg649i</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1922070620168233131?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2025</a></blockquote>

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The Mavericks are primed to almost certainly use the pick on Flagg, the Duke University freshman standout. The 6-foot-9 Flagg, who is regarded as one of the best prospects in recent NBA history, led the Blue Devils to a Final Four appearance in his lone college season and won the national player of the year award.
Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists while shooting 48.1% from the field, 38.5% from 3-point range, and 84% from the foul line. If the Mavericks end up drafting him, Flagg will join a core that includes Anthony Davis, Dereck Lively II, and the injured Kyrie Irving.&nbsp;
San Antonio also moved up the draft boards to pick second, while Philadelphia and Charlotte rounded out the top 4.
Utah and Washington, which were tied with Charlotte with the best chances to land 1st overall with 14 percent, will pick fifth and sixth, respectively.
Full order of the draft lottery (according to the sequence announced by NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum)
14th pick - San Antonio Spurs (from Atlanta Hawks)
13th pick - Atlanta Hawks (from Sacramento Kings)
12th pick - Chicago Bulls
11th pick - Portland Trail Blazers
10th pick - Houston Rockets
9th pick - Toronto Raptors
8th pick - Brooklyn Nets
7th pick - New Orleans Pelicans
6th pick - Washington Wizards
5th pick - Utah Jazz
4th pick - Charlotte Hornets
3rd pick - Philadelphia 76ers
2nd pick - San Antonio Spurs
1st pick - Dallas Mavericks

Cooper Flagg is now set to take his talents to the Mavericks after the franchise won the No. 1 overall pick on Monday night.

Mavericks earn 2025 NBA 1st overall pick, right to draft Cooper Flagg

&ldquo;We&rsquo;re gonna find out what we&rsquo;re made of&rdquo; &ndash; SGA, Thunder responds to Game 1 heartbreak with historic Game 2 statement
After a crushing Game 1 loss at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stood in front of the media and delivered a challenge &ndash; not to his teammates, but to the identity of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re gonna find out what we&rsquo;re made of,&rdquo; SGA said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s about responding to how you get knocked down, and we gotta do that next game.&rdquo;
That&rsquo;s exactly what they did.
In a complete 180 from their fourth-quarter collapse just days earlier, the Thunder responded with one of the most dominant postseason performances in NBA history &mdash; a 149-106 blowout that not only evened the series but sent a resounding message across the league.&nbsp;
This wasn&rsquo;t just about getting even. This was about establishing who they are &mdash; and who they&rsquo;re becoming.
Game 1 was an uncharacteristic collapse. Something that was not OKC Thunder-like after a dominant regular season. Call it whatever you want, but there&rsquo;s no sugarcoating what happened. It was a meltdown.
The Thunder led for most of the contest, had control of the pace, and looked poised to steal Game 1 at home in OKC. But late in the fourth quarter, the wheels came off. Chet Holmgren missed two crucial free throws that could&rsquo;ve given them a three-point cushion. On the next possession, Aaron Gordon drilled a left-wing triple that proved to be the game-winner.
It was the kind of loss that could shake a young team&rsquo;s confidence. After all, this is a Thunder squad that boasted the best defense all season long and one of the most efficient and disciplined fourth-quarter units in the NBA. After dispatching the Memphis Grizzlies in a clean sweep during the first round, featuring both start-to-finish wins and gritty comeback victories, this was not the version of OKC fans had come to expect.
But instead of folding, they responded. Game 2 was an all-out masterclass and domination.
From the opening tip, Oklahoma City was a team on a mission. After surrendering the first two points of the game, the Thunder went on an absolute rampage, opening up a 45-21 lead after one quarter. By halftime, they had tied an NBA playoff record with 87 points and looked every bit like a team that had taken their Game 1 loss personally.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was virtually flawless, finishing with 33 points, 8 assists, and a pristine 11-of-13 shooting from the field. He went a perfect 11-for-11 at the line, never forcing, never rushing &mdash; just dissecting Denver&rsquo;s defense at every level. His +51 plus-minus rating was the highest in an NBA playoff game in more than 25 years.
The supporting cast showed up in full force. Jalen Williams poured in 17 points. Chet Holmgren bounced back with 15 points, 9 rebounds, and stellar rim protection. Lu Dort hounded Jamal Murray into an inefficient night, and the Thunder&rsquo;s bench kept the pressure on even with the starters resting.
Oklahoma City dropped 149 points &mdash; the most in Thunder playoff history &mdash; while limiting the defending champs to 106. Denver looked stunned. By the time the third quarter ended, Nikola Jokic had fouled out after a frustrating night filled with turnovers and defensive breakdowns.
The Blueprint: Defense, Desperation, and a Different Gear
What makes this Thunder team special isn&rsquo;t just talent &mdash; it&rsquo;s the way they defend with cohesion, fly in transition, and crank up their energy level to a place that very few teams can reach.
In Game 2, they turned 14 Denver turnovers into 27 fast-break points. They had 12 steals and contested virtually every shot inside the arc. The Thunder didn't just beat the Nuggets &mdash; they overwhelmed them with speed, length, and tempo.
Postgame, Gilgeous-Alexander was candid about their mentality coming in.
&ldquo;We came out here desperate,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We knew how it would look like down 0-2 on the road. That wasn&rsquo;t really an option for us &mdash; we knew that. We did the necessary things to get a W.&rdquo;
That desperation manifested itself in all the right ways. The Thunder were locked in defensively, showing quick hands, active feet, and swarming help rotations. Offensively, they played with freedom and flow, getting into their early offense and attacking mismatches. Head coach Mark Daigneault kept the rotations sharp, empowering his players while keeping the pressure on Denver&rsquo;s second unit.
They looked like a team that had flipped a switch and revealed a gear that most teams in this league just don&rsquo;t have.
<h2>&ndash; &ndash; &ndash;</h2>
When you get beat in the fashion OKC did in Game 1, you don&rsquo;t always recover. Especially not against a team like the Denver Nuggets, who are NBA champions in 2023, led by a three-time MVP, and known for their playoff poise. But what the Thunder proved in Game 2 is that they are no ordinary upstart. They&rsquo;re built differently.
This isn&rsquo;t just about scoring margin. It&rsquo;s about mindset. It&rsquo;s about identity.
SGA&rsquo;s post-Game 1 comments weren&rsquo;t just talk &mdash; they were a window into how this group approaches adversity. What followed was a historic night that reminded everyone that Oklahoma City isn&rsquo;t just a team ahead of schedule &mdash; they&rsquo;re a legitimate problem for anyone standing in their way.
They&rsquo;re young, sure. But they&rsquo;re organized. They&rsquo;re fearless. And they have arguably the league&rsquo;s most dangerous defense when it's firing on all cylinders.
As the series shifts back to Denver for Game 3, the Nuggets will be looking to respond. Jokic, who had 16 points, 5 assists, and 6 turnovers in Game 2, will need to be sharper. Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. will have to rediscover their shooting stroke. And interim head coach David Adelman must find a way to slow down OKC&rsquo;s downhill attacks and counter their switch-heavy schemes.
But make no mistake: the Thunder now have momentum and belief. They've shown the world that, after the sting of Game 1, they can regroup, reload, and punch back harder.
They found out what they&rsquo;re made of, and the Nuggets and the rest of the NBA did too.

After a Game 1 collapse, the Thunder responded with a 50-point win over the Nuggets. Inside OKC’s dominant Game 2 performance:

Thunder crush Nuggets in Game 2 to tie series after historic blowout

When the New York Knicks gave up five first-round picks to acquire Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets, the move was met with shock, skepticism, and scrutiny. Five first-round picks. For a player whose offensive role had diminished, whose stats were down, and whose place in a new system seemed more complementary than central.
It was one of the most bizarre returns for a player in recent NBA history, which is borderline unprecedented. Bridges was no superstar scorer, nor a perennial All-NBA selection. He had gone from being Brooklyn's first option to, arguably, New York's fourth. Questions swirled: Was this a reach and an overpay?
But New York seemingly knew what they were doing. They were reuniting Bridges with former college teammates at Villanova, Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart. All three won an NCAA national championship playing together, and the Knicks were hoping this could translate into a good winning culture in the NBA and eventually a title.
Then, as the Knicks stunned the defending champion Boston Celtics in back-to-back games to start their 2025 Eastern Conference Semifinal series, those questions disappeared. Because Mikal Bridges answered every single one of them.
People often forget that the Knicks didn&rsquo;t bring in Bridges to average 25 points a game. They brought him in to defend the NBA&rsquo;s biggest, strongest wings. They brought him in for this very moment.
The Celtics, with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown leading the charge on the way to their title last season, are the blueprint every other contender is trying to crack. Long, physical wings who can score from anywhere, who can switch everything, and who have been to the NBA Finals twice in the past three seasons. To compete with them, you don&rsquo;t just need offense. You need answers.
New York&rsquo;s answer? Stack the deck with perimeter stoppers. Bridges. OG Anunoby. Josh Hart. Two-way warriors with toughness and length. And in a matchup where margins are razor-thin, where late-game execution determines the outcome, the Knicks&rsquo; investment has already paid dividends.
With the game tied in overtime and the final seconds ticking down, the Celtics had the ball in Jaylen Brown&rsquo;s hands. But as Brown caught the ball on the left wing, Bridges was there to read the play and anticipate the move.
He ripped the ball from Brown&rsquo;s hands in one swift motion, wrestled it away as Brown scrambled to recover, and held on as the buzzer sounded. Ball game in Game 1, Knicks steal Game 1 in the Boston Garden.
Bridges didn&rsquo;t just make a great play &ndash; he made the play. The one that changes the conversation, and the one that likely swings a series.
Two nights later, the stakes rose again. Boston had a huge 20-point lead late in the third quarter, and New York was running on fumes. That&rsquo;s when Bridges flipped the switch, not just defensively, but offensively too.
He scored all 14 of his points in the fourth quarter alone, rallying the Knicks back into the game. It was the highest-scoring playoff quarter of his career. The energy inside the Boston Garden shifted, as if life were sucked out of the arena.
And with the Knicks clinging to a slim lead and seconds left, Jayson Tatum had the ball on the left wing. As he tried to make his move toward the baseline, he found himself trapped, smothered by both Bridges and Anunoby. There was nowhere to go.
Tatum tried to make the right play and pass out of the double. But Bridges read it. He stuck out his arm, deflected the ball, and threw the ball to the backcourt to a streaking Jalen Brunson, and it sealed the victory. Game over, Knicks 2, Celtics 0. The seemingly invincible defending champion Celtics looked every bit of human that they could be, dropping two straight at home on both comeback occasions.
Bridges&rsquo; role and the Knicks&rsquo; vision
Bridges&rsquo; offensive dip since arriving in New York has been noticeable. He&rsquo;s no longer the guy who averaged 26.1 points per game in Brooklyn post-KD and Kyrie. With Jalen Brunson scoring and orchestrating, Karl-Anthony Towns spacing, and OG Anunoby slashing, Bridges has often been the third option, sometimes fourth.
But that&rsquo;s not the full picture. Basketball is bigger than the box score. And Bridges, even in a quieter offensive role, is impacting winning at the highest level.
The Knicks gambled on a vision: a roster designed to slow down elite wing scorers in high-stakes games. And with just two playoff games against Boston, that vision has materialized.
They didn&rsquo;t need Bridges to carry the offense. They needed him to carry the moment, to guard the other team&rsquo;s best guy, and to make the winning play. And he did.
Bridges didn&rsquo;t ask to be traded. He didn&rsquo;t lobby for five first-round picks to be attached to his name. But he embraced the responsibility. He leaned into the expectations. And now, he&rsquo;s delivering on the biggest stage against the defending champions. He&rsquo;s defending like a star and playing like a closer, all while doing it without the spotlight demanding he score 30.
There&rsquo;s something poetic about a player making his greatest impact on the defensive end in a league that so often celebrates offense. In a series where Boston's stars were expected to take over, Bridges is writing a different script &ndash; one that says defense still wins games, and that the &ldquo;other guy&rdquo; can become the hero.
The job isn&rsquo;t finished, and Boston definitely isn&rsquo;t going away. They&rsquo;re too good and battle-tested. But with the Knicks up 2-0, the tone has been set for the rest of the series.
And if this series is the war New York built their roster for, then Mikal Bridges is one of their weapons to go to war with. Game 3 awaits. But you better believe the Celtics will be seeing No. 25 in their nightmares.

Mikal Bridges' two game-winning defensive plays vs. Boston proved his worth in the Knicks' stunning 2-0 series lead over the Celtics.

Mikal Bridges proves his worth with clutch defense late against Boston

Over the past few years, the NBA world has waited for Kawhi Leonard to stay healthy long enough to remind everyone exactly who he is. On Monday night in Denver, that reminder came thundering down like a sledgehammer.
Leonard dropped a masterclass &ndash; 39 points on an outrageously efficient 15-of-19 shooting &ndash; to lead the Los Angeles Clippers to a 105-102 Game 2 win over the Denver Nuggets. The series is now tied 1-1, but more importantly, Leonard&rsquo;s performance was a powerful statement. Not just to the Nuggets or this postseason, but to the basketball world that may have started to forget what peak Kawhi looks like.
This is why you never give up on Kawhi Leonard.
At his best, Leonard is still one of the most dominant two-way forces in the game. He doesn&rsquo;t need flair or flash &ndash; his game is built on precision, footwork, and a suffocating calm. That&rsquo;s what makes nights like these so devastating for opponents. There's no rhythm to disrupt, no emotion to exploit. He simply shows up, gets to his spots, and buries you.
But performances like this don&rsquo;t just spring out of nowhere&mdash;they arrive after years of battling through injuries, setbacks, and the ever-looming question: can Kawhi ever be Kawhi again?
The list of injuries Leonard has faced is extensive. From the quad issue that derailed his final year in San Antonio, to the torn ACL that wiped out his 2021-22 season, and even the meniscus injury in last year's playoffs that once again left the Clippers short-handed. It&rsquo;s been a cruel cycle: hope, recovery, flashes of brilliance, then heartbreak. Some began to wonder if the two-time Finals MVP had already seen his best days behind him.
But that&rsquo;s the thing about greatness &ndash; it doesn&rsquo;t just disappear. It waits. It recalibrates. And sometimes, it explodes at just the right moment.
In a league that has been defined by LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant over the past 15 years, Leonard&rsquo;s career has often moved in a more muted lane. He doesn&rsquo;t dominate the news cycle. He doesn&rsquo;t post cryptic tweets or chase headlines. He just plays. And when he&rsquo;s healthy, he wins.
Leonard&rsquo;s playoff resume speaks volumes. He was the Finals MVP in 2014 at just 22 years old, when he helped the Spurs dismantle the Heat&rsquo;s Big Three. He was the architect of the Toronto Raptors&rsquo; 2019 championship run, delivering one of the most iconic postseason buzzer-beaters in NBA history along the way. And now, at age 33, he&rsquo;s showing he&rsquo;s not done writing playoff chapters.
For the Clippers, this kind of performance is more than just a win&mdash;it&rsquo;s a glimpse of what could be if Leonard can stay on the floor. The franchise has built everything around him, hoping that health and timing would finally align. Last night was a reminder that the blueprint still works, as long as Kawhi is the one holding the pen.
The road ahead won&rsquo;t be easy. Denver is a champion for a reason with Nikola Jokic still being a generational force. But with Leonard in this form, the Clippers have something even the best teams fear: a closer who can turn the tide of a series with ruthless efficiency.
Kawhi Leonard might not speak much, but Monday night he said everything that needed to be said.
Don&rsquo;t ever count him out.

Kawhi Leonard had 39 points in the Clippers’ Game 2 win over the Nuggets. A reminder why Kawhi remains one of the best in the NBA.

Kawhi Leonard’s playoff masterclass proves greatness doesn’t fade

It&rsquo;s no longer about the future in Oklahoma City. The Thunder are here &ndash; now. With a league-best defense that has drawn comparisons to all-time great units, an MVP-caliber season from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and a supporting cast built on versatility, youth, and hunger, the 2024-25 season has shifted from promising to pressurized. For the first time in over a decade, it genuinely feels like title or bust in OKC.
The Thunder have shattered expectations, and more importantly, they&rsquo;ve shattered records. Their defense, the foundation of their rise to the top of the Western Conference, has drawn widespread acclaim for its unique blend of modern switchability and classic intensity. Through 70+ games, Oklahoma City leads the NBA in defensive rating (106.3), opponent field goal percentage (43.1%), deflections per game (18.9), and points allowed in the paint (41.2). They&rsquo;ve held opponents to under 100 points more often than not every night in a league where pace and scoring have exploded.
The core of their defensive identity lies in their guard- and wing-heavy rotations. While other teams rely on traditional centers to anchor the paint, the Thunder have gone the other way, trotting out lineups that feature interchangeable defenders from 1 through 5. Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace, Luguentz Dort, and Alex Caruso form a perimeter nightmare &ndash; long arms, lateral speed, and high IQs. Add versatile and switchable big man Chet Holmgren and offseason acquisition Isaiah Hartenstein who is finally healthy, and OKC just has enough size to make this strategy sustainable deep into the postseason.
This season, they became the first team in NBA history to record three separate games where they held opponents to under 80 points. They also broke the franchise record for most games with 10+ steals (38 and counting), showing how their defensive pressure creates instant offense. That&rsquo;s what separates this Thunder team from past defensive stalwarts &ndash; this isn&rsquo;t a grind-it-out, slow-it-down system. It&rsquo;s a high-speed, deflect-and-run machine that turns defense into points within seconds.
And it&rsquo;s not just the defense. The Thunder currently boast a historic net rating of +12.8, which is on pace to be the second-best in history just behind the 1996 Chicago Bulls (+13.4) and surpassing the 1972 Los Angeles Lakers (+12.3) &ndash; two of the most dominant teams in NBA history. That&rsquo;s how well-rounded and complete this squad has become on both ends of the floor.
Their dominance isn&rsquo;t just on one side of the floor either. Gilgeous-Alexander continues to elevate his game with an even more efficient scoring arsenal and a career-high in assists. He has the poise of a ten-year vet and the footwork of a ballet dancer, carving up defenses while setting the tone with his own relentless on-ball defense that averages a whole lot of steals. Around him, players like Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren have fully embraced their roles, combining skill with selflessness.
Holmgren&rsquo;s presence has given OKC the luxury of rim protection without sacrificing mobility. His timing and instincts allow the perimeter defenders to gamble, knowing there's a shot-blocking safety net behind them. And with the addition of Hartenstein, the Thunder finally have some physicality and depth in the frontcourt &ndash; something they sorely lacked during last year&rsquo;s playoff run.
Last season's first-round exit to the Mavericks was a learning experience. Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving exploited mismatches and punished OKC&rsquo;s lack of rebounding. But this year feels different. The team has internalized those lessons, retooled accordingly, and stormed into the postseason with purpose. They&rsquo;ve secured a top seed, a historically elite defense, and momentum. The only thing left is the ultimate validation &ndash; a championship.
And with the Western Conference as wide open as ever, the opportunity is right in front of them. Denver is still dangerous with 3-time MVP Nikola Jokić, but OKC's defensive blueprint gives them a legitimate shot. The Warriors, Lakers, and Clippers are dangerous, but OKC has the superior age and athleticism factor and can match up well with them. Minnesota is still heavily reliant on shot-making by Anthony Edwards, and Houston is just scratching the surface. It&rsquo;s not an easy road, but it&rsquo;s navigable&mdash;and for the Thunder, anything less than a Finals appearance would feel like a disappointment.
That&rsquo;s what happens when you build a monster on defense. Expectations rise. Patience fades. And this young team is growing up fast right before our eyes.
The Thunder aren&rsquo;t just knocking on the door of contention anymore&mdash;they&rsquo;ve kicked it open with a suffocating defensive identity and a fearless approach to the game. And with everything they've accomplished this season, it might not be too far-fetched to say that it&rsquo;s officially title or bust time in Oklahoma City.

The OKC Thunder are dominating the 2024-25 NBA season with a historic defense and record-breaking net rating.

Historic defense sets OKC Thunder’s championship expectations

The 2025 NCAA Final Four delivered thrilling outcomes, setting the stage for compelling national championship games in both men's and women's basketball.​
Men's Final Four: Houston's Dramatic Comeback Against Duke
The Houston Cougars orchestrated a stunning 70&ndash;67 comeback victory over the Duke Blue Devils. Trailing by 14 points with just over eight minutes remaining, Houston closed the game on a 9&ndash;0 run in the final 42 seconds. Junior guard Emanuel Sharp ignited the rally with crucial baskets, while J&rsquo;Wan Roberts sealed the win with decisive free throws. Duke's standout freshman, Cooper Flagg, contributed 27 points but was held scoreless during the critical final minutes.
This victory propels Houston to the national championship game against the Florida Gators, who secured their spot by defeating Auburn 79&ndash;73.&nbsp; Florida was led by star guard Will Clayton Jr., who had 34 big points in the win.
Women's Final Four: UConn and South Carolina Advance
In the women's bracket, the University of Connecticut Huskies, led by standout guard Paige Bueckers, advanced to the national championship game after a commanding 85&ndash;51 victory over UCLA. Bueckers, projected as the top pick in the upcoming WNBA draft, showcased her exceptional talent throughout the tournament.
UConn will face the defending champion South Carolina Gamecocks, who earned their place in the title game by defeating Texas 74&ndash;57. The championship matchup features two powerhouse programs with a history of intense competition, each vying for the national title.&nbsp;
The women's national championship game is scheduled for Sunday at 3 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ABC.&nbsp;
Both championship games promise to deliver high-stakes action as these teams compete for collegiate basketball supremacy.​

The 2025 NCAA Final Four delivered thrilling outcomes, setting the stage for compelling national championship games.

Houston stuns Duke; Bueckers and UConn set up title game with South Carolina

The 2025 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament has culminated in a formidable Final Four lineup, featuring UCLA Bruins, South Carolina Gamecocks, Texas Longhorns, and UConn Huskies. These teams will compete for the national championship at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, with semifinal games scheduled for Friday, April 4, and the title game on Sunday, April 6. ​
UCLA Bruins
UCLA secured its inaugural Final Four appearance by defeating LSU Tigers 72-65 in the Elite Eight. The Bruins showcased resilience and strategic play to overcome a formidable LSU team bannered by Aneesah Morrow, Flau'Jae Johnson, and Mikaylah Williams.&nbsp;
South Carolina Gamecocks
Maintaining their dominance, South Carolina reached its fifth consecutive Final Four by edging out the Duke Blue Devils with a 54-50 victory. The Gamecocks' tenacious defense and experience were pivotal in this hard-fought win. ​
Texas Longhorns
The Longhorns earned their first Final Four berth since 2003 by defeating TCU Horned Frogs 58-47. Madison Booker led Texas with 18 points, while Rori Harmon contributed 13 points. The team's robust defense forced 21 turnovers, nine steals, and six blocks, effectively neutralizing TCU's offensive threats, most particularly TCU star guard Hailey Van Lith.
UConn Huskies
UConn continued its storied tradition by advancing to its 24th Final Four, overcoming USC Trojans 78-64. Paige Bueckers delivered an outstanding performance with 31 points and six assists, marking her third consecutive 30+ point game and surpassing 100 points over three tournament games&mdash;a first in UConn's history. Bueckers also moved up the UConn scoring records after surpassing Napheesa Collier for third all-time, only trailing Breanna Stewart and Maya Moore. As for USC, the loss of star guard Juju Watkins due to injury in the Sweet Sixteen was too much to overcome the determined Bueckers and her Huskies.
Final Four Matchups
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Texas Longhorns vs. South Carolina Gamecocks: This semifinal pits Texas' robust defense against South Carolina's seasoned tournament experience.​</li>
<li>UConn Huskies vs. UCLA Bruins: UConn's offensive prowess, led by Bueckers, will be tested against UCLA's resilient defense led by Lauren Betts in a highly anticipated matchup.</li>
</ul>

The 2025 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament has culminated in a formidable Final Four lineup.

March Madness 2025: Top seeds converge in women’s Final Four

In a remarkable display of superb basketball, the 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament will feature all four No. 1 seeds&mdash;Florida Gators, Auburn Tigers, Duke Blue Devils, and Houston Cougars&mdash;advancing to the Final Four. This marks the first occurrence since 2008 that all top seeds have reached this stage.​
The Final Four matchups are set to take place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday, April 5. The semifinal games feature Florida facing Auburn at 5:09 p.m. ET, followed by Houston against Duke at 7:49 p.m. ET. Both games will be broadcast on CBS and streamed on March Madness Live and Paramount+.​
Each team's path through the Elite Eight was marked by decisive victories. The Florida Gators secured their Final Four berth by defeating the Texas Tech Red Raiders with a final score of 84-79. The Auburn Tigers overcame the Michigan State Spartans in a 70-64 contest despite a scare from star player Johni Broome, who suffered an elbow injury during the game. Broome returned to contribute crucial points, helping Auburn advance and keep dancing in March Madness.
The Duke Blue Devils dominated the Alabama Crimson Tide with an 85-65 win led by standout freshman Cooper Flagg. The Houston Cougars delivered a commanding 69-50 victory over the Tennessee Volunteers. The Cougars' strong defense and cohesive play have been instrumental in their journey, and this will once again be needed for them to win in the Final Four.
In the Final Four, each team will bring a compelling narrative to the tournament.
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Florida Gators: Making their first Final Four appearance since 2014, the Gators aim to capture their third national title.&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Auburn Tigers: Under the leadership of Coach Bruce Pearl, Auburn seeks its first national championship, adding to the excitement surrounding their journey.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Duke Blue Devils: Led by standout freshman Cooper Flagg, Duke continues its storied tradition in the tournament, with insights from Coach K and current coach Jon Scheyer highlighting their path to the Final Four.&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Houston Cougars: With a strong bond and loyalty praised by alumnus and legendary broadcaster Jim Nantz, Houston aims for its biggest achievement since the 1980s.</li>
</ul>
This convergence of top seeds sets the stage for an electrifying conclusion to March Madness 2025, as fans eagerly anticipate which team will emerge as the national champion.​

In a remarkable display of superb basketball, the 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament will feature all four No. 1 seeds.

March Madness 2025: All No. 1 Seeds Advance to Final Four

The 2025 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament has come to the Elite Eight stage, featuring the best of the best among the women&rsquo;s basketball teams.&nbsp;
UConn's star guard Paige Bueckers delivered a historic performance in the Sweet Sixteen, scoring a career-high 40 points to lead the Huskies to an 82-59 victory over Oklahoma. Now, the Elite Eight matchups are as follows:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">South Carolina Gamecocks vs. Duke Blue Devils</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">UCLA Bruins vs. LSU Tigers</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Texas Longhorns vs. TCU Horned Frogs</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">UConn Huskies vs. USC Trojans</li>
</ul>

The 2025 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament has come to the Elite Eight stage, with Paige Bueckers at the center of it all.

March Madness 2025: Paige Bueckers explodes as Elite Eight is set in women's bball

The 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has reached the Elite Eight stage, featuring a mix of top seeds and formidable challengers. The matchups are as follows:​
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">South Region: #1 Auburn Tigers vs. #2 Michigan State Spartans​</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">West Region: #1 Florida Gators vs. #3 Texas Tech Red Raiders​</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">East Region: #1 Duke Blue Devils vs. #2 Alabama Crimson Tide​</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Midwest Region: #1 Houston Cougars vs. #2 Tennessee Volunteers​</li>
</ul>
This after the respective teams defeated their opponents in the Sweet Sixteen. Duke superstar freshman Cooper Flagg took the center of the spotlight with an outstanding performance of 30 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 blocks against Arizona.
Notably, all four No. 1 seeds&mdash;Auburn, Florida, Duke, and Houston&mdash;have advanced to the Elite Eight, underscoring their dominance throughout the tournament.
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) boasts a strong presence, with four teams&mdash;Auburn, Florida, Alabama, and Tennessee&mdash;competing in this stage. ​\\
These matchups promise high-caliber basketball as teams vie for a coveted spot in the Final Four, as fans anticipate the intense competition and memorable moments as the tournament progresses.​

The 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has reached the Elite Eight stage, featuring a mix of top seeds and formidable challengers.

March Madness 2025: Elite Eight set for NCAA Men's Basketball

The 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has reached the Sweet Sixteen stage, highlighted by Duke's commanding victory over Baylor and the elimination of reigning champions UConn.​
In their second-round matchup, the No. 1 seed Duke Blue Devils showcased their dominance against the No. 9 seed Baylor Bears. The game, played on March 23, 2025, saw Duke's offense and defense operating at peak performance, leading to a decisive win. Fans can view extended highlights of this game on the NCAA's official website.
Conversely, the University of Connecticut Huskies, aiming for a third consecutive national title, faced a narrow defeat against the No. 1 seed Florida Gators. The intense game concluded with a 77-75 victory for Florida, ending UConn's bid for a third consecutive national title.&nbsp;
The tournament now advances to the Sweet Sixteen, with matchups scheduled as follows:​
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Purdue Boilermakers vs Houston Cougars</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Michigan Wolverines vs Auburn Tigers</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Kentucky Wildcats vs Tennessee Volunteers</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Ole Miss Rebels vs Michigan State Spartans</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Arkansas Razorbacks vs Texas Tech Red Raiders</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Arizona Wildcats vs Duke Blue Devils</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Maryland Terrapins vs Florida Gators</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">BYU Cougars vs Alabama Crimson Tide</li>
</ul>
As the competition intensifies, fans eagerly anticipate the forthcoming games that will determine the teams advancing to the Elite Eight.​

The 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has reached the Sweet Sixteen stage, with the games starting today, March 28, 2025.

March Madness 2025: The Sweet Sixteen commences

Many people were pleasantly surprised to hear the news that Michael Jordan opened his fourth free health clinic in his home state of North Carolina. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/in-this-trump-era-michael-jordans-free-health-clinics-are-very-much-needed-">This new clinic, established in collaboration with Novant Health, focuses on providing care to uninsured and underinsured patients.</a>&nbsp;
This is a stark contrast to the overall perception of Michael Jordan as the athlete who doesn&rsquo;t care about his community or anything outside of himself.&nbsp;
I figured it was a good time to revisit an interview i conducted with Athlete Activist Legend Craig Hodges for <a href="https://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/police-brutality-and-white-supremacy-the-fight-against-american-traditions/">my book Police Brutality And White Supremacy &ldquo;The Fight Against American Traditions."</a>
Here is an excerpt of our interview in which Craig Hodges goes back to 1991 when the Rodney King beating happened and he was frustrated that Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson in particular were reluctant to make a public statement during the NBA Finals.&nbsp;
During the interview, I made the correlation to the movie &ldquo;One Night In Miami&rdquo; in which Malcolm X was frustrated with Sam Cooke, but was proud to see the eventual maturation and realization of the power of his voice. This was really a powerful discussion. I condensed the interview for the purposes of this article.
Etan: What were your thoughts after you first saw the Rodney King beating ?&nbsp;
Craig Hodges: The biggest part was just the shock. Seeing four or five policemen pummeling the brother mercilessly with their night sticks. And the manner in which they did it was just left me speechless. It was beyond brutality. I looked at it and said regardless to what the Brotha did, no human being deserves to be beaten like that. You had 4 or 5 cops surrounding him, he was on the ground, there are measures you can take to subdue him without beating him like that. But unfortunately, this has been the mentality of policing in America for generations and nothing has changed but with Rodney King that was one of the first times everyone could see it happening in real time. And the fact that someone was smart enough to tape it brought it to America.
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Etan: I remember being in middle school and the first thing I thought was they wouldn&rsquo;t treat a dog like this.
Craig Hodges: Exactly, and this happened right at the beginning of the NBA Finals and some athletes were speaking about it others weren&rsquo;t but I was like, any and everybody should be able to speak to this because this could be your brother this could be your father or your uncle. And it was just too obvious and blatant what was going on as far as the racism and the evil of police brutality right there for all of America to see&nbsp;
Etan: It was really horrifying like traumatizing for me seeing that as a kid.
Craig Hodges: It was traumatizing for me as an adult. Things like this is what made me feel the need to have to be vocal while I was playing in the league. I was an athlete but this goes for everyone no matter what your occupation is, you have to be able to stand on truth and for what is right and to call out what&rsquo;s wrong. We as a society have been collectively letting so much slide and we just can&rsquo;t allow it anymore. And we have left a lot on the table for the next generation to fight for, and they are fighting for now. &nbsp;
Etan: The frustrating part is the bar is set so low. We&rsquo;re starting the discussion just fighting for our humanity.
Craig Hodges: We get caught up so much of our differences whether we&rsquo;re Republican, Democrat, Christian, Muslim, all of these different labels that divides us. Yes we are all humans and that&rsquo;s the basis that we should be unified on. Kwame Ture told us it&rsquo;s all about organization and we have to all bring what we can to the table and we all have different strengths and attributes and we have to use all of them for this fight.
Etan Thomas: It&rsquo;s interesting you say that, there is this movie One night in Miami, fantastic movie, that depicts a night in Miami with Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke. There is a part where Malcolm X and Sam Cooke are having a back and forth and Malcolm X is challenging him, and you&rsquo;re the first person I thought of when I saw this, he&rsquo;s telling Sam Cooke listen, you&rsquo;re the most talented Brotha on earth, your voice can captivate audiences both Black and white, you have all this power, you can play in white venues and be accepted, other musicians can&rsquo;t do that. And then he told him, you&rsquo;re not using the power for good. You&rsquo;re not challenging what is happening to us in society. Malcolm X said to him Black People are dying in the streets and we cannot afford to straddle the fence anymore. We have to pick a side, either you&rsquo;re on the side with us or you&rsquo;re on the side with them. And it was this intense discussion with them. And you know where I&rsquo;m going with this. Did you ever feel that level or frustration in relation to what we&rsquo;re talking about now with Rodney King and everything that was happening to us at that time. And you want to do that recruiting that Kwame Toure was talking about and that unification and strength in numbers but you see some people just not on board with it and thus the frustration.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2-etan-thomas-3_690w.jpeg" alt="" width="732" height="732" />
Craig Hodges: Yes I know exactly where you&rsquo;re going with this and to answer your question yes I did. And trying to get someone to see it is one hurdle, but to get someone to feel it is a whole nother mountain to climb. I feel blessed that i was raised the way I was raised so a lot of things, I didn&rsquo;t have to figure out. We&rsquo;re at that point now where there is enough information out for people to be able to easily educate themselves as to what&rsquo;s going on. There&rsquo;s really no excuse right now. You can&rsquo;t say, I didn&rsquo;t know about this anymore because it&rsquo;s everywhere. During the 90s when Rodney King happened, we had great athletes who were similar to Sam Cooke as far as their leverage in white communities and not nation wide but world wide, and the option was, do I make a stand or do I get paid ? And that&rsquo;s what it boiled down to and people were hesitant because they were afraid that it would hamper their ability to earn. And that has been the common denominator in us coming up short. Those who have been in position to really make a difference don&rsquo;t. And what I saw from a lot of athletes was I&rsquo;ll play my career and then come back after and revisit Black people and Black Issues after. And from my standpoint, during the time where you are making the wealth and you have the bully pulpit to speak from, utilize that. You may not be able to be all out Malcolm X with it, but you can definitely have impact. The Rodney King incident really brought to life what Black People have been facing for centuries and that&rsquo;s something that not just athletes, but everyone should be able to speak on.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2-etan-thomas-4_690w.png" alt="" width="738" height="414" />
Etan Thomas: And one thing that was great about the movie One Night In Miami was at the end it showed Malcolm&rsquo;s impact on Sam Cooke. He was on this program, and was singing the songs that they liked, and then he said he wanted to sing a song that hadn&rsquo;t been released yet and it was A Change Is Gonna Come. And it was passionate and moving and Sam Cooke dropped a tear at the end and they showed Malcolm X looking and he was smiling and it was beautiful to see because even though they were arguing and they were really arguing like almost came to blows arguing, but you saw that he heard Malcolm X. Now, I want to make this correlation to you and Michael Jordan because people still write it now and say Craig Hodges was talking bad about Michael Jordan and no it wasn&rsquo;t that and it wasn&rsquo;t personal but you saw MJ and the impact he could have had the same way Malcolm X saw the impact Sam Cooke could have had in particular after Rodney King happened.
Craig Hodges: When Rodney King happened it was a galvanizing time. Right before the 91 NBA Finals with Michael and Magic and we can have an impact, we have the whole world watching, all eyes are on us.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2-etan-thomas-5_690w.jpeg" alt="" width="729" height="926" />
And to think about how my Mom was organizing in the early 60&rsquo;s, she was having this tremendous impact with no resources, and here we are with all of the resources of the NBA Finals with the two biggest athletes in the game and the impact you can make just from your voice would be amazing. And that&rsquo;s what I was trying to talk to Magic and MJ about especially after Rodney King. And here&rsquo;s the thing, in private, we all were having discussions about what was going on, but then in public, we went quiet and we simply can&rsquo;t be private anymore. And now we&rsquo;re at the point where people outside of our community are feeling our pain. And that&rsquo;s what Malcolm was telling Sam Cooke, hey to talk to them white folks at their clubs and that was my position with MJ on a lot of things. I would say hey, you have the ear of a lot of people that I can&rsquo;t reach. So yea that&rsquo;s a very good comparison.
Etan Thomas: Now I&rsquo;mma make one last correlation, I said how Malcolm X watched Sam Cooke on the program singing A Change Is Gonna Come and he was smiling, did you ever feel that after watching Michael Jordan in the last 10 years or so as MJ has become more vocal, spoken out against police brutality on numerous occasions, he even put together a whole fundraiser for Obama and brought 50 different NBA athletes to join him. That&rsquo;s a long way from &ldquo;Republicans Buy Shoes Too."
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Craig Hodges: Oh yes. I love it. People have to understand that everyone grows at different points in their lives and I definitely feel like that (proud) every time I see not only MJ and Magic but all the young athletes like Lebron and this current generation of athletes, it&rsquo;s great to see.

I figured it was a good time to revisit an interview i conducted with Athlete Activist Legend Craig Hodges for my book Police Brutality And White Supremacy “The Fight Against American Traditions."

Craig Hodges discusses the  maturation of Michael Jordan

The Philadelphia 76ers' 2024-2025 NBA season has been marred by injuries and setbacks, culminating in the recent decision to shut down star center Joel Embiid for the remainder of the season due to persistent left knee issues.&nbsp;
While this move might initially seem like a significant blow to the team's aspirations, it could ultimately serve as a blessing in disguise for the franchise.
The Sixers entered the season with high expectations, especially after acquiring veteran forward Paul George in the offseason to complement Embiid and emerging point guard Tyrese Maxey. However, the team's plans were quickly derailed by a series of injuries. Embiid, the 2023 NBA MVP, managed to participate in only 19 games, averaging 23.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game before being sidelined indefinitely due to his knee problems.&nbsp;
George also faced his share of health issues, missing significant time because of an injury to the extensor tendon in his left fifth finger. Maxey has also been out for some stretches during the season with some minor ailments.
Promising rookie Jared McCain, selected 16th overall in the 2024 NBA Draft, showed flashes of potential but was also limited by a season-ending injury, hindering his ability to make further impact.
As a result of these setbacks, the Sixers have struggled to find cohesion and consistency on the court. Currently holding a 20-38 record, they sit 12th in the Eastern Conference, 2.5 games behind the Chicago Bulls for a potential Play-In Tournament spot.&nbsp;
Given the team's depleted roster and lack of chemistry, even if they were to secure a play-in spot, a deep postseason run appears unlikely with top seeds Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, and New York Knicks all waiting at the top.&nbsp;
The lack of on-court time together has prevented the development of the necessary chemistry among the team's core players. The trio of Embiid, George, and Maxey has had limited opportunities to gel, which is crucial for a newly constructed team aiming for playoff success. By shutting down Embiid and allowing other injured players ample time to recover, the Sixers can prioritize building team chemistry during the offseason and enter the next season with a fully healthy and cohesive unit.
After all, Embiid was just playing on another level just over a year ago, before that unfortunate injury vs the Warriors. He was playing even better than in his MVP season, including scoring 70 points against the Spurs when he was fully healthy. If the Sixers could somehow manage to get that version of Embiid next season, they would be one of the strongest championship contenders in the East.
Amid the challenges, one bright spot has been the emergence of forward Guerschon Yabusele. At 29 years old, Yabusele has proven to be a valuable asset, showcasing physicality, scoring instincts, and the ability to stretch the floor with his three-point shooting. Defensively, he brings a scrappy and gritty presence, making him an ideal fit alongside Embiid in the frontcourt. Embiid has never played with a player of Yabusele&rsquo;s caliber at the 4 position, and it will be interesting to see them meshing on the court with Embiid fully healthy.
As Yabusele approaches free agency, it is imperative for the Sixers to prioritize re-signing him to maintain and build upon the positive aspects of their roster.
But perhaps the most significant silver lining in this challenging season is the potential impact on the team's draft prospects. The Sixers' 2025 first-round pick is top-6 protected; if it falls beyond the 6th spot, it will convey to the Oklahoma City Thunder.&nbsp;
With the team's current trajectory, they are positioned to secure a high draft pick in what is anticipated to be a deep 2025 draft class. This opportunity could allow the Sixers to add a talented young player who can contribute immediately and bolster the team's future alongside a healthy Embiid and George.&nbsp;
Even further, the Sixers could also decide to move off that pick and acquire even more win-now pieces to maximize Embiid&rsquo;s remaining prime years. There are a lot of ways and possibilities for the Sixers to build and eventually contend with Embiid, and it starts with this season-ending surgery to make ample time to bounce back for the season after and beyond.
While the decision to shut down Joel Embiid for the season is undoubtedly disappointing for fans and the organization, it offers a chance to regroup and focus on long-term success. Prioritizing player health, building team chemistry, retaining key contributors like Guerschon Yabusele, and capitalizing on a favorable draft position could set the stage for a resurgent 2025-2026 season.&nbsp;
By embracing these challenges and opportunities, the Philadelphia 76ers can transform this season's setbacks into a foundation for sustained success in the Joel Embiid era.

The Sixers' season has been marred by injuries and electing to shut down Joel Embiid. However, this could be what's best for them.

Bluefield State Blues