basketball Page 29 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Charlotte Hornets are a soap opera
Throughout the history of NBA teams that have called Charlotte, North Carolina home, a second-round trip to the playoffs has been the furthest point any franchise has made it. And while this iteration of the Hornets has nothing to do with the ones from yesteryear, they do feature something that prob...
Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier’s spinoff league offers a platform for WNBA stars
Every offseason, women’s basketball’s finest head abroad to take part in leagues that run concurrently with the NBA schedule. Unfortunately, that often creates a problem for the WNBA teams that have them under contract between May and the completion of their respective seasons in early fall. That’s ...
Where should expectations be set for Victor Wembanyama’s summer league dress rehearsal?
Victor Wembanyama’s career prologue is almost as long as he is. It already feels like Wembanyama’s in his second NBA season doesn’t it? It feels like just yesterday, when he was in the (French) Finals at the exact same time as Nikola Jokic. According to Marc Stein, Wembanyama’s scheduled NBA debut h...
LeBron James, Rajon Rondo coaching Nike Elite youth team
Imagine being 16 years old, warming up for a youth basketball game, then you look up, and LeBron James and Rajon Rondo walk through the door. There are only a few realistic scenarios to cause such an event. You’re either a teammate or opponent of Bryce James, The King’s youngest son. Or you’re dream...
It’s the summer of Grant!
The NBA Playoffs were not nearly as kind to Grant Williams in 2023 as 2022. However, the summer has been his oyster, specifically this month. He spent Independence Day weekend at the event of the summer — Michael Rubin’s White Party. A couple of days after mingling with A-Listers, the Boston Celtics...
The 15 Most Valuable Professional Sports Franchises
This story was corrected and revised on July 6, 2023. ...
The Rockets have become the NBA’s most polarizing team
The Houston Rockets have been stuck in zero gravity since their post-Harden rebuild began two years ago. Despite their lottery successes they still have no direction. The Rockets lit the fuse this summer expecting a controlled explosion and witnessed the creation of the NBA’s most opulent sparkler....
Will the NBA’s new flopping rule really change anything?
The NBA is testing a new rule to dissuade players from flopping every time down the court. Flopping has become so common over the past 20 years that it’s part of the association’s culture. However, the league has finally decided to make an attempt to cut down on guys flopping all over the court....
Hey, at least the Houston Rockets are trying
We laughed at Dillon Brooks’ unceremonious exit from the Memphis Grizzlies, but it will be him with the cheshire grin plastered to his face every time that a direct deposit hits his account. On Saturday he signed a four-year, $80 million contract with the Houston Rockets. The day before, Fred VanVle...
ESPN breaks up its broadcast superteam-in-slacks as Jeff Van Gundy enters NBA free agency
As ESPN reaches the end of its fiscal year today, the Worldwide Leader has commenced its semi-annual purge of top talent. On Wednesday, the pink slip Russian Roulette landed on Jeff Van Gundy, after 16 years with the network....
James Harden is chasing an ideal that doesn’t exist
It’s fair to ask the question, what does James Harden want? Is it a ring? Is it a lifestyle? Is it his own team? The 33-year-old former one-man wrecking crew is no longer an indestructible pinball, bouncing off of everything, and amassing high score after high score. No team is going to hand him the...
Taurean Prince finds out about own free agency from Woj tweet
Adrian Wojnarowski’s sources inside front offices might be a little too eager to share with him. ...
Lakers have their sights set on key Nuggets role player
Free agency and the drama surrounding it in the NBA officially begins Friday at 6 pm EST. We’ve already heard of some of the trades set in motion and rumors about certain free agents and where they might end up, but June 30 is when the frenzy really jumps off. The Los Angeles Lakers will be in the s...
The NFL and NBA players associations are taking questionable leadership routes
The first collective bargaining agreement in the history of professional sports was signed by the MLB and MLBPA in 1966. At that time the executive director of the MLBPA was the late Marvin Miller, formerly a union negotiator for workers of U.S. Steel. His fierce advocacy for labor rights is largely...
The Spurs like to mess with us, but it would have been unwise to use Victor Wembanyama to do so
Look at the San Antonio Spurs doing their part to properly sell the NBA. For a time there was a chance that Victor Wembanyama might be making his handful of NBA Summer League games in Sacramento and not during the league’s big event in Las Vegas....
Stop hating on the NCAA for being spineless
Criticizing the NCAA is the lowest of low-hanging fruit. You can essentially pick the apples up off the ground, and have a roiling take. The latest punishments, or lack thereof, handed down to LSU football and men’s basketball last week were predictably lax and anything but a hindrance for schools t...
Team USA Basketball needs to bring back multi-year commitments
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And if it does break, fix it the same way you did after you originally broke it. Grant Hill, this is for you....
Immaculate Grid was designed for the unsalvageable like me, and the LA Kings try to convince themselves
There almost certainly is a sordid side to Immaculate Grid, just as there is to Wordle, or Numble, or Framed. In just the week I’ve been playing the Grid, I’ve probably given away my birth certificate, passport, and most of my DNA. And yet I’m not going to stop, and neither are you. ...
LSU's baseball title, Oklahoma's softball dominance should be a breakthrough in the collegiate ranks
In the fall, college football reigns supreme. The Power Five’s monopoly of collegiate competition is so fearsome that only March Madness in the spring can break through the chase and receipt of a gridiron national championship. And while the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments captured the nati...
Damian Lillard’s tune appears to have changed since April
I’ve heard that the Pacific Northwest is gorgeous. Waking up every morning with a spectacular view can do wonders for self-esteem. Maybe the view of the luscious greenery surrounding whatever palatial estate that $40 million per year can buy in the Portland area, makes it difficult for Damian Lillar...