Basketball Page 821 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Disastrous season for the Phoenix Mercury ended with Las Vegas dropping a piano on their heads
Mercury has been in retrograde all season long. At least that’s been the theme of the 2022 WNBA season. Shortly after getting bombarded by an WNBA record 23 3-pointers in a 37-point loss to the Las Vegas Aces, the Phoenix Mercury had to be breathing a sigh of relief. That record-breaking performance...

Ben Simmons handles 'heckler' while candy shopping
If you’re looking for Ben Simmons, you won’t find him on an NBA court, that’s for sure. If you’re lucky enough, you just might sneak up on him in a candy store rummaging through the selection. Comedian Gerald Huston walked up on Simmons and decided to give the NBA star a hard time calling him Russel...

LeBron James is all about L.A., not the Lakers
LeBron James has changed....

Pau Gasol is absolutely an all-time Laker great
Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals was a rock fight....

The NBA is still trying to polish turds
The NBA is trying its best, guys, give them a break. Schedule releases are only a big deal in the NFL, where teams have to play their best players every week, save for a possible late-season rest. So even though Roger Goodell and his cronies show up every year with pictures of presents like a twiste...

The Knicks shouldn't agree to a trade with Danny Ainge
The New York Knicks are in a tough spot. They recently gained some future first-round draft capital, but all three picks are lottery-protected next season. In fact, only one of those picks – the first-rounder from the Washington Wizards — can be at best the 11th pick by 2025. ...

Skip Bayless tries to dunk on Bronny James
Here we go again, one more time, Skip Bayless getting under people’s skin....

The Lakers playing on opening night is the best choice, despite complaints
It was a reasonable argument last February to want the Los Angeles Lakers off what seemed to be every other NBA nationally televised broadcast. Their season was unpleasant almost from the start, and Anthony Davis missed 42 games. His longest stretch was when he went down with an ankle injury just be...

Hey Coach Cal, Kentucky isn’t just a basketball school anymore
Standing up for your program and athletes is commonplace for a college head coach, especially one with the pedigree of John Calipari. Coaching one of the royal bluebloods of college athletics in Lexington, with a lifetime contract no less, certainly skews his view of things from the mountaintop. A l...

Retiring Russell’s jersey number should have happened a long time ago
Shame on the NBA....

NBA players way too excited over fellow pros balling out in ProAm leagues
It’s become a tradition more irrelevant than any other....

The NBA retires Bill Russell’s number
The NBA retired its first number ever Thursday, and Bill Russell’s No. 6 couldn’t be a better choice — if it’s not the only choice. A transcendent figure as a player, as a coach, and as a civil rights leader, Russell’s legacy takes dictionaries’ to define. Of the four major professional sports in Am...

How bloated are the preseason win totals for the NBA teams fans love to hate?
When oddsmakers release NBA win-total futures, most casual fans scan right to their teams’ over/under and say, “My team’s better than that.” After a prolonged and misguided rant about sharps who do this for a living doing their job, the next move is to find the franchises they hate and bitch about t...

Welcome to Blah-gust, the worst time of the sporting calendar
Mark it down: 9:35 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 10. We’ve reached the peak (nadir?) of sports’ slow season. You know it’s the doggiest of dog days when ESPN is killing time with Little League World Series coverage. No disrespect to the youth, but I’m not going to subject myself to watching children’s athlet...

Sorry Joe Tsai, you already gave Kevin Durant front office sway, you can’t take it back now
Joe Tsai, the horses have left the stable, the train is off the track, and there is no time left on the clock. You went all in to get Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant and it has not produced the return that you wanted on the basketball court....

Dejounte Murray serving up some spicy beef for No. 1 overall pick Paolo Banchero
Atlanta’s newest basketball star has been doing a lot over the last couple of days. Dejounte Murray has been on a tear both on and off the court since his matchup in a ProAm game with Orlando Magic rookie and No. 1 overall pick Paolo Banchero. Murray put a nice move and ball fake on Banchero, then t...

Brittney Griner sentenced to 9 years in Russian prison
After more than six months of incarceration since her February arrest for having less than one gram of cannabis oil in her luggage at a Russian airport, eight-time WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison on Thursday for drug possession and smuggling. That harsh but expect...
