Basketball Page 949 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Damian Lillard’s 71 felt hollow
If a tree falls in a forest, and nobody is around, does it make a sound? What if it drops 71? That age-old question describes how empty Damian Lillard’s explosion of points felt — but not because of anything Lillard himself did wrong....
What the Cavinder twins’ infraction means for the future of college sports and NIL
Last week, we saw the NCAA hand out its first-ever NIL ruling — the result of an infraction between twins on the University of Miami’s women’s basketball team — Haley and Hanna Cavinder — super-rich donor Canes donor John Ruiz....
These are the top 10 young cores in the NBA right now
The “middle class” of the NBA is slowly eroding. Surprisingly, it’s not totally a bad thing. Almost every team has a talented young core with potential, raising parity within the NBA. Even the teams at the bottom of the standings have enough young players to have something to look forward to in two ...
The Kings-Clippers 351-point bonanza won’t help the NBA like they want us to believe
The NBA continues to follow down this path they’ve been on, where people think more scoring equals more interest in the product. On Friday night, the Kings and Clippers combined to score 351 points. LeBron James’ All-Star team scored 175 points the previous weekend, and the Kings and Clippers both m...
Philadelphia is the NBA’s bridesmaid until further notice
Joel Embiid is the Second Coming. That is, he’s perpetually in second place, whether it’s to Nikola Jokić in MVP battles, playoff battles, or on the All-NBA team. Count the Boston Celtics as another circumstance where Embiid finishes second. On Saturday night, Embiid continued his second-place tradi...
Brandon Miller and Alabama just don’t get it
In the age of social media, we see people misbehaving and exhibiting an egregious lack of self-awareness every day. Alabama men’s basketball standout Brandon Miller is the latest athlete to show the world just how tone-deaf one person can be. During Saturday’s pregame introduction against Arkansas, ...
Darvin Ham says Lakers' goal is playoffs — but the team faces a post-All-Star break gaunlet
The Los Angeles Lakers are entering a critical time in their schedule after the All-Star break. With just 23 games remaining in the regular season, the Lakers are five games under .500 (27-32) and have a seven-game stretch where they’ll play all Western Conference foes, starting with the Golden Stat...
JJ Redick is taking the path less interesting
I never thought I’d say, “You know what, maybe J.J. Redick doesn’t suck,” but he’s surprisingly insightful in his post-playing career gig at ESPN. The former Blue Devil understands how the current iteration of the game is played as well as any analyst for the network and takes a refreshing approach ...
The last thing Alabama should be concerned about right now is basketball
Alabama hoops star Brandon Miller hit the game-winning shot against South Carolina in Columbia last night, amidst chants of “Lock him up! Lock him up!” raining down from the rafters. The chant referred to Miller’s presence when 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris was allegedly shot and killed by a longti...
The NBA has a ratings problem — Exhibit A: The All-Star Game
There was a time during the midst of 2020 in which Adam Silver and the NBA owned the world. The combination of an amazing All-Star Game in Chicago with a new dramatic ending, the sad and tragic death of Kobe Bryant, and the league’s decision to shut things down — becoming the first warning that this...
ESPN’s top draft analyst is mocking mock drafts by anointing Bronny James as a future top-10 pick
There’s no high school basketball LeaguePass — yet. Aside from the Bronny James hypebeast machine, the top prospects in the upcoming draft are previewed to the general public through the diligent scouting done by professional analysts or scouts who scour camps, national showcases, and high school gy...
If Chris Paul, Suns can’t win a championship with Kevin Durant, it’s time to drop the 'Point God' moniker
Once the Phoenix Suns pulled off the blockbuster trade of the year for Kevin Durant, many pundits began to pencil them in as the Western Conference representative in the NBA Finals. Looking at their core of Devin Booker, Chris Paul, DeAndre Ayton, plus Durant, it’s easy to see why they’d be catapult...
Nate McMillan was a <i>Major Payne</i> to Trae Young, so who should be the Hawks' next coach?
Nearly two years to the day the Atlanta Hawks fired Lloyd Pierce, his replacement Nate McMillan met the same fate. We knew his coaching position was terminal two months ago when an argument between McMillan and Young spilled out into the public sphere. And while Young’s poor relationship with McMcMi...
Alabama’s Nate Oats can’t defend Brandon Miller
Alabama’s men’s basketball program thought it had left its ties to the January murder of Jamea Jonae Harris in the past when it dismissed Darius Miles. It might’ve for about a month, until Tuesday, when a Tuscaloosa Police Department detective testified that the Crimson Tide’s best player, Brandon M...
Meyers Leonard took the steps Kyrie Irving hasn't
At first, without thinking, rage is the appropriate response to seeing Meyers Leonard’s re-entry back into the NBA, as it was reported on Tuesday he’ll sign a 10-day contract with the Milwaukee Bucks after being out of the league for nearly two years after uttering an antisemitic slur on a video-gam...
Which former Los Angeles Lakers guard is going to hurt their new team the most?
The Los Angeles Lakers’ first half of the 2022-23 season was so putrid, they spent it trying to offload their backcourt. In the end, there were takers for Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley. It wasn’t the teams that traded for Russ and Pat Bev at the deadline though as each guard was promptly bo...
The top five landing spots for post-buyout Russell Westbrook
Do we still have to take Russell Westbrook seriously? I mean, if you can’t play with LeBron James or Kevin Durant, who can you fit next to? Whichever franchise signs him next will be his fifth in six years (unless he ruins it back with the Wizards), and we’re firmly in “This guy might be out of the ...