basketball Page 160 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Milwaukee Bucks Fined For Observing That Reigning MVP, Whom They Employ, Will Be Offered Lots Of Money Next Summer
The possibility that the NBA’s dumb new tampering rules would be enforced in the dumbest possible fashion has quickly come to fruition. Per a league press release today, the Milwaukee Bucks have been fined $50,000 for “violating league rules governing the timing of discussions regarding future playe...

Candace Parker Was Peeved After Derek Fisher Benched Her In An Elimination Game
Down 2-0 to the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA Semifinals, the Los Angeles Sparks played out the last quarter and a half of their season Sunday night without Candace Parker, to the surprise of everyone involved, including Candace Parker....

Dennis Smith Jr. May Have Fultzed His Shooting Form
Here’s Dennis Smith Jr. taking some free throws which bear the troubling artistic influence of Markelle Fultz. The clip comes from a Redditor who claimed to spot the Knicks point guard at school—judging by the banners, it’s the Manhattan private school Avenues—and some credibility is gained from the...

The NBA's Dumb New Tampering Rules Are Rolling Out
So, this is silly: The NBA Board of Governors unanimously passed a stricter package of anti-tampering rules. Small-market teams scared of voracious big-market rivals, teams recently burned in free agency, and teams who just want to vote in lockstep so as not to look suspicious—whatever their varying...

Andrew Yang Wants You To Know He Can Score Inside
Andrew Yang has a dream. “I’d challenge Donald Trump to any physical or mental feat under the sun. I mean, gosh, what could that guy beat me at, being a slob?” the presidential candidate wondered last month. His eventual conclusion: “Something that involved, like, trying to keep something on the gro...

Kobe Bryant Clarifies Rob Pelinka's Story About Meeting With Heath Ledger, Who Had Already Died
An ESPN article published this past May recounted a strange story: Lakers GM Rob Pelinka bizarrely claimed that Kobe Bryant was inspired by the depiction of the Joker in The Dark Knight, sought out and enjoyed dinner with Heath Ledger (who was dead), and then channeled that inspiration to drop 61 po...

As Tony Bennett Gets Good PR, What Do His Players Get?
Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett makes more money from just a few years of work than an average person can hope to earn in a lifetime. Going off numbers obtained by USA Today, Bennett has been paid at least $17,457,050 over his past six seasons as a coach, plus 2012; if you factor in the...

NBA Considers Raising Fine For Tampering To Four Times The Fine For Being Donald Sterling
Tampering is the gripe of the hour among NBA owners, which explains why the league’s board of governors will vote on new measures this coming Friday. “It’s pointless, at the end of the day, to have rules that we can’t enforce,” reads a quote by NBA commissioner Adam Silver in the middle of an ESPN s...

Dearica Hamby Wins Playoff Game With Absurd Steal-And-Heave
The Las Vegas Aces and Chicago Sky went back and forth throughout today’s highly entertaining single-elimination playoff game, and as the final seconds were ticking away, it looked like the Sky were on their way to escaping with a 92-90 win. That is not what happened....

Shaun Livingston Outlasted Everything
Given everything we know and can reasonably surmise about where the organization was and the people in charge of it, it seems safe to say that the Los Angeles Clippers didn’t have anything specific in mind when they drafted Shaun Livingston out of an Illinois high school with the fourth pick of the ...

Luc Longley Mad That Spain Keeps Getting "Kissed On The Dick By The Basketball Gods"
Australia just lost a tough game to Spain in the semifinals of the FIBA World Cup. The Boomers led most of the way, but lost their lead at the end of regulation, thanks in part to a few dodgy calls that went against them. They eventually lost in double-overtime, 95-88....

Report: Spencer Dinwiddie Gives Me A Migraine With Complex-Sounding Contract Conversion Plans
Spencer Dinwiddie, a cool basketball man, is planning to sell bonds secured by his contract with the Brooklyn Nets in order to raise up-front investment capital, or anyway that is how I have chosen to make sense of this gobbledygook-ass report from Shams Charania of The Athletic....

Big Boban Engulfs Donovan Mitchell On Jump Ball
Team USA lost to Serbia, 94-89, in a consolation round matchup at the FIBA World Cup today, ensuring their worst-ever finish at any international tournament. The underperformance of an talent-depleted national team is less interesting to me than the physical prowess of one of basketball’s very large...

Team USA Embarrasses Itself At FIBA World Cup, Jerry Colangelo Follows Suit
Team USA lost its second straight FIBA World Cup game this morning in China, falling 94-89 to Serbia in a fifth-place consolation game, after yesterday’s embarrassing loss to France eliminated the American team from championship contention. Now the team cannot finish higher than seventh place in the...

The Story Behind The Biggest Brawl In WNBA History
Last month, Brittney Griner of the Phoenix Mercury and Kristine Anigwe of the Dallas Wings got into a fight, which resulted in six ejections and five suspensions. It was the largest WNBA fight since 2008, when the Detroit Shock (now the Dallas Wings) and the Los Angeles Sparks were part of brawl tha...

Jordin Canada Might Just Be The Heir To Sue Bird's Throne
The defending champion Seattle Storm took the expected fall that came with a pair of devastating preseason injuries, going a mere 18-16 in 2019 after dominating the league with a 26-8 record last year. But even without reigning MVP Breanna Stewart or living legend Sue Bird, the Storm managed to snea...

Dwight Howard Has A Purple Car For The Most Dwight Howard Of Reasons
There are plenty of perfectly good reasons to enjoy the color purple. Among them, I look quite fetching in purple shirts, which is no small matter. It’s a lovely color. If I tell you that Dwight Howard enjoys the color purple, right away you are going to assume that it’s for a dumb and bad reason. W...

Kobe Bryant Finds Outlet For Passive Aggression In Youth Basketball Team
Kobe Bryant, when not sloppily cosplaying Michael Jordan, has been sharing occasional updates on his Mambas youth team. Two days ago, the retired Laker congratulated the girls after they beat an opponent by 88 points. Yesterday, he shared an image of a fourth-place trophy they received two years ago...

Kevin Durant Wishes To Separate Himself From "The Machine," But Plugs Into It Daily
J.R. Moehringer has a rich profile of Kevin Durant, in the middle of his Achilles rehab, up at the Wall Street Journal today. The new Brooklyn Net drains deep threes in a swimming pool, explains the decay of his relationship with Oklahoma City, details the purported offensive limitations of the Gold...

FIBA Officials Missed A Call So Bad They Got Kicked Out Of The World Cup And Inspired A Ferocious Coach Meltdown
Lithuania’s run at the FIBA World Cup ended this morning against the Dominican Republic, though their chances of advancing through the second group stage were killed on Saturday when they lost to France by three points. The nature of that loss was highly controversial....