basketball Page 23 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Beard's ego has him stuck between a Rock(et) and a Harden place
James Harden is in limbo. Last season, he was all in on taking a pay cut in an effort to give the Philadelphia 76ers cap flexibility to sign glue guys who would put them over the edge come playoff time. A year later, he’s the acetone on their franchise continuity. His constant bellyaching stemming f...

Did Joel Embiid commit to Team USA just for the tampering?
Apparently, all it takes to convince American hoops players to represent their country is an insult or a loss at the FIBAs. Whether it was Noah Lyles, the B team’s fourth-place finish, or the human instinct to ape the cool kids, Team USA looks to be loaded for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. ...

Evan Neal learned quickly that fighting with fans will get him nowhere
It is not easy being Evan Neal. Yes, he is a young and wealthy starter for the New York Giants, a dream for many. However, search his name in Xwitter during a Giants game and it gets ugly....

Anthony Davis says he wants to play all 82 games this season — how long until he sits?
Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis is ready to rock and wants all the smoke with the defending NBA Champion, Denver Nuggets, and their MVP Nikola Jokić. Davis also claims to have a goal of playing 82 games this season. Neither of those things are likely to end well for the eight-time All-Star....

Kawhi Leonard thinks the NBA’s new Player Participation Policy is aimed at him
Kawhi Leonard is not happy about the NBA’s new Player Participation Policy. In fact, Leonard seemed to take it as a personal jab by the association when asked about it during the Clippers media day. The so-called “king” of Los Angeles is not impressed with the new rule and says it won’t help him pla...

A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart are the WNBA’s Bird and Magic
There’s nothing worse than an ending that doesn’t offer a definite ending. Think The Sopranos cutting to black in the diner or Emmy-winning GLOW being canceled on a cliffhanger during the pandemic as the ‘94 MLB strike-shortened season of series finales. Last month, Winning Time ended with the Bosto...

The NBA doesn’t take bad behavior against women seriously when stars aren’t involved
If Jayson Tatum, Kyrie Irving, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, LeBron James, Paolo Banchero, or Victor Wembanyama did what Josh Primo did, it would be the talk of the NBA as Media Days took place this week. But the NBA knows that, which is why most sports fans have no idea that the free-agent guard is ...

Was that Jimmy Butler or Jared Leto at Heat media day?
Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler turned heads at the team’s media day on Monday with his new “emo Jimmy” look. Butler walked in with his hair straightened, covering one side of his face, which included piercings above one eye and lips, complete with black fingernail polish. ...

Will NBA2K put the WNBA MVP on the next cover?
To the victor go the spoils, unless you’re an MVP in the WNBA....

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard are about to become masters of the basketball universe
For years, the NBA Republic imagined a union of Steph Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo. However, the partnership of basketball’s greatest gravitational forces would only happen unless Antetekounmpo initiated a desire to play in Golden State before he signed a supermax contract in 2020. Six months lat...

This Jimmy Haslam-Milwaukee Bucks storyline could lead to some interesting developments
Before Wednesday, it wouldn’t have been crazy to think that some Bucks fans were on the precipice of panic. Their star — Giannis Antetokounmpo — had publicly stated that he won’t sign an extension until he gets a title commitment from the front office. And their new co-owner — Jimmy Haslam, who is a...

MVP controversy takes center stage in Liberty-Suns playoff series
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Do not say Liberty forward Breanna Stewart didn’t deserve the WNBA’s Most Valuable Player award. Not after the way she backed it up against the Suns Tuesday night in an 84-77 win over the Sun at the Barclays Center in Game 2 of their playoff series....

Kim Mulkey’s willingness to share her recent health scare is good for college sports
On the court, there’s no doubt as to what Kim Mulkey is capable of. She’s one of the best in women’s basketball, college sports, and probably sports in general. That’s why she signed a 10-year, $36-million contract with LSU recently. Off the court, her reluctance to comment on Brittney Griner’s deta...

Get ready for lavish sports-themed resorts in college towns, as the expense of fandom continues to increase
Since America encourages maximum luxury that is far too expensive for the average person, of course, a project combining sports and extravagance is headed for college towns. Sports Illustrated has already built a sports-themed resort in the Dominican Republic, where the 2023 Swimsuit issue was shot....

Hakeem Olajuwon charges $50K to teach what cannot be taught — good for him
One of the best/least consequential storylines in all of sports is of the big man who goes to Hakeem Olajuwon’s Dream Shake academy to learn one of the most lethal, and unteachable, moves in the history of the NBA. At $50,000 a session, it’s as close to a Ponzi scheme as you’re going to get without ...

Welcome to the Pac-12 funeral procession
Stating “we’ve never seen something like this before” in sports is usually overused. ...

The secret to Giannis' success: No fraternizing with the enemy
Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the brightest stars the NBA has to offer. He’s a two-time league MVP, NBA Champion, Finals MVP, seven-time All-Star, and All-NBA selection, among many other accolades. You might wonder how a guy who’s accomplished so much before age 30 keeps the fire lit to come back ...

LeBron James, wife and 2 associates named in federal PED investigation
There hasn’t been a performance-enhancing drugs scandal in basketball. At least, not to the level of, say, the likes of BALCO and Major League Baseball. As close as we came was when the NBA started testing players for HGH before the beginning of the 2015-16 season. The trendy thing to do online at t...

Art Briles is still hanging around college football because idiot coaches keep bringing him around
For the second year in a row, Art Briles’ name has been associated with a college football program. And for the second year in a row, it’s because an idiot, posing as a coach, brought him around. Hue Jackson, meet Jeff Lebby....

The NBA can try all it wants, player rest is impossible to stop
Remember when the Dallas Mavericks concluded an embarrassing 2022-23 season by not dressing Kyrie Irving and Luka Dončić instead of attempting to qualify for the Play-in Tournament? The Mavericks were fined $750,000, and I think that the NBA reached a breaking point in its never-ending saga of star-...