NBA Page 444 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Second Coming of Dennis Smith Jr.
Maybe all he needed was to come home. Smith is from Fayetteville, North Carolina, and is now playing with the Charlotte Hornets, just a mere three hours from his hometown. The Hornets are Smith’s fifth team in six seasons. Last year, he split time between three teams, including the Hornets. So why h...
Waiving Josh Primo demonstrates why the Spurs are still a first-rate franchise
The Spurs’ announcement that they had released Josh Primo was the ultimate Friday evening news dump that caught the entire league by surprise. Lottery picks don’t get waived heading into their second season, and definitely not an hour before tipoff for a regular season matchup without forewarning. T...
Anti-vaxxer, flat earther...anti-Semite?
Do you know how easy it is to not promote antisemitism? If you’re even uncertain as to whether a tweet or a message of any kind would be controversial and alienate the Jewish people, Google it. Give a little bit of effort. And Kyrie Irving didn’t do that, or didn’t care to. And both are awful. ...
A decade after the Thunder traded James Harden, regret should linger
A decade after Oklahoma City traded James Harden on the eve of the 2012-13 regular season, it still stands as an atrocity upon the art of dynasty-building. As the central players involved in that deal wind down their Hall of Fame careers in bleak situations, there is no more denying it, Oklahoma Cit...
Westbrook definitely needs to be traded, but he’s far from the only reason Lakers are losing
Russell Westbrook was out Wednesday night with a hamstring injury as the Lakers were soundly defeated on the road against a Denver Nuggets squad missing Michael Porter Jr. and featuring a sub-100 percent Jamal Murray. Truthfully, the Lakers could have used Westbrook’s energy. Someone needed to stand...
Washington Wizards trying to relive glory days of mid-2000s mediocrity
The Washington Wizards of the mid-aughts will always be remembered more for how their time together ended than the actual run itself — and for good reason. The team only won one playoff series, and that was the year before it traded Kwame Brown for Caron Butler, who would make his only two all-star ...
Early returns for NBA stars… returning
While it’s too early to define the theme of this NBA season, the first week-plus has showcased stars returning from serious injuries. Damian Lillard, Zion Williamson, Jamal Murray, and Kawhi Leonard all saw their first action after lengthy absences, and the reviews have been all over the place....
Don’t applaud Jaylen Brown and Aaron Donald for severing ties with Kanye West
You know you’ve f*cked up when the head of your former agency is run by a clown like Antonio Brown....
Will have some more of this, thank you
Tuesday night was Klay Thompson’s 651st regular-season game as a Golden State Warrior. When you add the 145 playoff games, Thompson’s been a part of 796 games in his career, and he’d never been ejected from one — until Tuesday night in Phoenix. ...
Early NBA season superlatives: Let’s hope this version of the Knicks lasts longer than ‘Bing bong!’
It’s hard to get a vibe on the NBA after one week of games. The Wizards started last 10-3, and New York fans were excitedly yelling “Bing bong!” before both came to depressing finishes. Klay Thompson didn’t return until midseason, and it looks like it may take Jamal Murray and Kawhi Leonard some tim...
Ten players that teams in the 'Lose-O-Rama for Wembanyama' should ship
After the matchup between Victor Wembanyama’s Metropolitans and Scoot Henderson’s G League Ignite teams earlier this month, where the projected No. 1 and No. 2 picks faced off in must-see-TV, half the NBA should have shifted into full-on tank mode. Why meddle in mediocrity if you’re the Orlando Magi...
![Jaylen Brown has cut ties with Kanye West [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/541992806d3cc59c75d12f2a54b3a59e.jpg)
Jaylen Brown has cut ties with Kanye West [Updated]
This piece was posted nearly two hours before Jaylen Brown announced he was leaving Kanye West’s Donda Sports marketing firm. It has been updated with the latest news....
Is Ben Simmons the most overrated player in NBA history?
Ben Simmons fouled out again Monday night. He’s fouled out of two of his first three games as a member of the Brooklyn Nets and has nearly as many fouls as points. So far, Simmons has posted 17 points, 14 fouls, 18 rebounds, and 21 assists in three games. This is the guy who was once touted as the “...
Wouldn’t you love to hear what executives for the Panthers and Jazz are honestly thinking right now?
Professional sports are like many other industries. The goals of management and the employees are not always aligned....
The NBA’s tanking problem is more perception than reality, and a relegation system won’t fix that
During NBA Commish Adam Silver’s apology tour session with beleaguered Phoenix Suns employees this weekend, he was confronted with another concern. In addition to apologizing for suspended team Governor Robert Sarver and his decades of misconduct, Silver was also besieged by a flood of questions abo...
Chris Paul has another NBA rule change to get used to
At the beginning of the 2021-22 NBA season, the rule changes were irksome to players used to getting touch fouls by lunging into unsuspecting defenders to draw contact and a whistle. Trae Young, Damian Lillard, and James Harden were just a few stars to sound off about the changes, but as the season ...
The NBA has a load management problem that Commissioner Adam Silver has done nothing about
The battle of La La land renews Thursday night when the Clippers take on the Lakers for the first time this season. This has recently been a critical matchup in the NBA, especially in Los Angeles. But reports have already surfaced that Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, who’s returning from an ACL tear th...
I hope Evan Mobley is as true as he is in my dreams
While often depicted, lamented, and sanctified as liberating, hope can also be a virus. It can rot rationality from the inside. It can lead to danger, injury, and death. As Ellis Boyd Redding, best known by his friends and fellow convicts at Shawshank State Prison as Red, once said… “Hope is a dange...
It’s time for sports media personalities like Stephen A. Smith to jump off the Brooklyn Nets train
The NBA world finally got its first look at the Brooklyn Nets’ new big three, and most are already disgusted with the return they’ve yielded. It was only the first game of the season, but if lack of motivation (LOM) were a stock, this team would rise in a bullish market. Brooklyn came out on its ope...
LeBron James has something in common with Tom Brady this season
While talking to the media following the Lakers’ 123-109 loss to the defending champion Warriors, LeBron James was measured. When asked about the Lakers’ shooting problems, he spoke matter-of-factly, about how the 3-pointer is not a team strength....