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Out of shape? James Harden says absolutely not after returning home for Christmas to pound on the Lakers and Clippers
Christmas at home might be the turning point in James Harden’s 2021-22 season. The Brooklyn Nets played at Crypto.com arena against the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day, against the Los Angeles Clippers on Dec. 27, and in between those two games, Harden’s high school in Lakewood, Calif., retired ...

IDIOT OF THE YEAR #7: Kyrie Irving, who dunked mercilessly on rational thought
Welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE YEAR festivities! Nos. 50 through 11 are available for your enjoyment here. And our top 10 thus far:...

Lakers on their way to wrong kind of history
Injuries and the novel coronavirus have played a role in it, to be sure, as has the fact that they’re now up to 22 players used this season and it’s not even January, but the Lakers stink....

Monday night's Bulls-Hawks game showed how Omicron is owning the NBA
Just two days after the Omicron variant ruined the highly-anticipated Christmas Day lineup that the NBA unveiled months ago, the Chicago Bulls traveled to Atlanta to face the Hawks in a game that had the communications staff of both teams Googling the names on their rosters....

Week 16 NFL Powerless Rankings: Jacksonville is still real bad
Welcome to this week’s NFL Powerless Rankings. The end of the NFL season is near, and we know all the cellar dwellers at this point. So, let’s check out the worst of the worst from Week 16....

Week 16 Takeaways: If your holiday season was dampened by your favorite NFL team, buck up, 2022 just might return some holiday cheer
As I gather myself after watching the Insecure series finale, I’m also confronted with the fact that the 2021 NFL season is also nearly complete. Of course there’s a five-week postseason awaiting us football fans, but less than half of the NFL teams will play in that tournament. Fans in Chicago, New...

All the ways Urban was about ‘team team team’
Usually when someone fails it’s an opportunity to reflect, to see where things went wrong so that you can improve. Was I bad at my job? Do I not get along with others? Do I have an odor unsuitable for the workplace?...

Week 16 NFL Betting Primer: Best Over/Under, Spread, Teaser and Prop Bets
Merry Christmas. May our holidays be filled with more profits through Week 16....

IDIOT OF THE YEAR: 40 of the dullest tools from 2021's shed
Happy holidays, you filthy animals, and welcome to Deadspin’s annual IDIOT OF THE YEAR extravaganza. Within these hallowed slides are 50 of the year’s least bearable dorks, whose transgressions range from “just kinda silly,” to “dangerously stupid,” to “Trevor Bauer.”...

Some great wrestling matches from the year that was
That time again. This year’s list feels a little more genuine, as wrestling (outside of Japan at least) was able to get out of the TV-studio era and back in front of the crowds it so desperately needs. Whether that was or is a really good idea at the moment, we’ll save for another time. Trying to ju...

2021's most inspiring sports figures
Just a few short years ago, there was a push for athletes to be nothing more than mute entertainers. Luckily enough, they refused to “shut up” or “stick to” whatever sport they played....

Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson have underwhelmed, but maybe they can overwhelm against each other this weekend? Maybe?
Don’t turn off that Jags-Jets game this Sunday by default. Yes, watching that matchup may be causing the waves of nausea you’re feeling, but you also may have just eaten too many candy canes on Christmas Day, so wait it out for a quarter at least. Hear me out....

Check it out: The reason we know what players get paid
Just before Major League Baseball’s lockout began, the Mets signed Max Scherzer to a three-year, $130 million contract, a $43.3 million annual average that set a new record and also set a talking point for the labor dispute to come....

Centers aren’t extinct, they’ve just evolved
As humans, we tend to eulogize the extinct with reverence. The Dodo Bird. The Rocky Mountain Locust. The Golden Toad. And why wouldn’t we? It was us who eradicated these precious, sentient creatures. Some theorists would argue it had to do with their inability to adapt. But what if things are adapti...

The best from bowl games with non-New Year’s Six names
Making fun of lesser bowl games is easy and fun. Do we really need a Boca Raton Bowl? Or a LendingTree Bowl? Or a Gasparilla Bowl? Or a Cameilla Bowl? Or a Hertz Bowl? Or a Guaranteed Rate Bowl? (Only one of those is fake.) No, probably not. The answer to “Who’s better: Eastern Michigan or Liberty?”...

Ja Morant says he’s taking social media break after being heckled at home
The internet leaked into real life again as living, breathing faceless Twitter profiles took human form, came to FedEx Forum and told Ja Morant to go back on the injured list during the Grizzlies’ loss to the Thunder on Monday. If you missed it, Memphis won 10 of 12 against an easy schedule, includi...

Kevin Durant takes his bad guy persona to new heights
Ever since Kevin Durant abandoned Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City, he’s worn the black hat and played the heel role as well as anyone we’ve seen in recent memory. Sometimes he gets in his feelings and can go a little far with it, but now Durant has gone to a whole other level of jerkness on Twitt...

Thursday Night Football, Week 16: San Francisco vs. Tennessee in 2021 finale
It’s a battle of hot and cold teams fighting for postseason positioning tonight as the 49ers travel to Tennessee for the final Thursday Night Football matchup of the year. The 49ers have averaged over 28 points per game over their last four. Meanwhile, the Titans have averaged under 15. The Titans c...

IDIOT OF THE YEAR 2021: Cole Beasley, Enes Kanter, Ron DeSantis, and more doofs
Happy holidays, you filthy animals, and welcome to Deadspin’s annual IDIOT OF THE YEAR extravaganza. Within these hallowed slides are 50 of the year’s least bearable dorks, whose transgressions range from “just kinda silly,” to “dangerously stupid,” to “Trevor Bauer.”...

Hate Jake Paul all you want, but at least he’s about to get Amanda Serrano what she deserves
Amanda Serrano has been lighting up her opponents for many years. At 33 years old she has been a professional fighter since 2009 and has only lost one fight. She has a 42-1-1 record for her professional boxing career, and has a 2-0-1 MMA record. Her calling card: pure power. ...