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Damian Lillard finally played like the superstar the Bucks expected him to be
It is tempting to say that the Milwaukee Bucks turned a corner on Monday night. Without Giannis Antetokounmpo in the lineup, they were still able to defeat the Los Angeles Clippers, 113-106, and remain undefeated since the All-Star break. Damian Lillard did not play his best game of the season in An...

The NBA was on fire in its return to Thursday night on TNT
My original plan was to write about Giannis Antetokounmpo and Victor Wembanyama going head-to-head on Thursday night. These two skyscrapers, who were born on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, played basketball like the Empire State Building if Dr. Octopus’ metallic arms were attached. Those two ...

How to hate-watch the rest of the NBA's In-Season Tournament, Part 2
Human nature drives us to dump on new concepts and the IST has inspired a whole host of reasons for the NBA Cup to receive hate. There’s a lot not to like including the scoring differentials playing a role in who advances, sneakers sliding around on the NBA’s personalized ice rinks, the 30-team fiel...

NBA Weak Links: Milwaukee‘s 2-guard position could be a sinkhole on their road to a title
A great team is only as strong as its weakest link. At least that’s the consensus among every motivational coach I’ve ever heard. But for the sake of this space, it’s true for NBA contenders as well. I’ll examine the weak spots in some of the most iron-clad lineups in the NBA entering the 2023 seaso...

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...

Damian Lillard was finally traded — just not where you expected
In a move nobody saw coming, the NBA has stolen the NFL’s thunder one more time with a blockbuster trade. As reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Damian Lillard is headed to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of a three-team trade, along with the Phoenix Suns. ...

Giannis Antetokounmpo continues to throw down the gauntlet when it comes to re-signing with Milwaukee
The 2022-23 season was supposed to be the revenge of the Milwaukee Bucks. Their championship defense in 2022 was cut short when Khris Middleton was injured in the first round against the Chicago Bulls. A season that had already been dampened by Brook Lopez missing all but 13 regular-season games. Gi...

Giannis Antetokounmpo sounds more excited to play in Saudi Arabia than Milwaukee
Giannis Antetokoumpo is already the savior of pro basketball in Milwaukee. Bucks ownership was threatening to relocate to Seattle while the city hedged on providing the funding for a stadium upgrade before The Greek Freak singlehandedly yanked them out of basketball purgatory. Nearly a decade later,...

The $100M questions for the NBA free agents who cashed in
Before anybody evaluates contracts or shouts that Fred VanVleet is overpaid from the mountaintop, let’s take a moment to congratulate all of the free agents who just guaranteed themselves and their families generational wealth. Tyrese Haliburton, Jerami Grant, Desmond Bane, Kyrie Irving, Cam Johnson...

The idea of Kevin Durant was always better than the real Kevin Durant
Whenever someone talks about Kevin Durant, they bring up what he is capable of doing a lot more than they bring up what he actually does. I could retire if I had a dollar for every time Stephen A. Smith has said “6-foot-11, can pull up from 30.” But he doesn’t actually get the job done very often....

Boston was bad but the Celtics are far from finished
Boston Celtics fans, I saw the looks on some of your faces as you filed out of TD Garden early on Tuesday night. With the series tied at 2-2, there was no way you all expected the Philadelphia 76ers to pulverize your team in the second half on the way to a 115-103 victory....

Here's which NBA playoff teams will boom or bust
NBA fans are preparing for one of the most equitable and competitive playoffs in recent memory. The lack of an active dynasty or superteam has the door open for nearly any team to make a Finals run. We’ve highlighted five teams headed toward playoff glory and five teams destined for despair. We cons...

The new NBA CBA does nothing for the entertainment value of the game
The NBA this season is arguably more competitive than it has ever been. The Western Conference is up for grabs and the Eastern Conference has three heavyweights at the top, each capable of knocking out the other with a mighty blow. While there is no single dominant roster that the rest of the league...

This is what every guy proposing at a ballpark deserves
I don’t know if that’s what this horse’s ass was actually doing, but man it’s fun to just go ahead and think he thought he could get away with proposing on the field:...

The best NBA games on this week’s schedule
Focus, people. There are only two weeks remaining in the NBA season....

The NBA old heads have spoken — and they think LeBron is currently the Association's best player
It’s official, the old heads of the NBA heads have welcomed LeBron James as one of their own. The Athletic recently polled 101 former NBA players, asking which current player is the best player in the Association. In a league that has an abundance of under-30-year-old talent that it is bursting out ...

Nuggets’ All-Star power outage is either disrespect from the league or a playoff omen
Nikola Jokić’s season has been one for the ages. The Denver Nuggets are first in the West, first in offensive efficiency, Jokić is a god according to almost every analytics metric as well as the runaway favorite to become the first MVP in three consecutive seasons since Larry Bird ran the table betw...

NBA Schedule: The best games to watch for All-Star Week
Did you take a puff of your inhaler? A shot of dark liquor?...

The best games on the NBA schedule this week — only one back-to-back
Don’t let anyone tell you the NBA schedule during the regular season is a poor entertainment product. Of course, a single game does not impact a team’s overall record the same way that it does an NFL team. In the NBA teams play multiple games per week. That is not changing anytime soon, especially w...