national-basketball-association Page 41 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The NBA retires Bill Russell’s number
The NBA retired its first number ever Thursday, and Bill Russell’s No. 6 couldn’t be a better choice — if it’s not the only choice. A transcendent figure as a player, as a coach, and as a civil rights leader, Russell’s legacy takes dictionaries’ to define. Of the four major professional sports in Am...
How bloated are the preseason win totals for the NBA teams fans love to hate?
When oddsmakers release NBA win-total futures, most casual fans scan right to their teams’ over/under and say, “My team’s better than that.” After a prolonged and misguided rant about sharps who do this for a living doing their job, the next move is to find the franchises they hate and bitch about t...
Brittney Griner sentenced to 9 years in Russian prison
After more than six months of incarceration since her February arrest for having less than one gram of cannabis oil in her luggage at a Russian airport, eight-time WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison on Thursday for drug possession and smuggling. That harsh but expect...
Do video games affect Kyler Murray’s play?
Sports fans, especially NBA fans, I’m sure are familiar with the family of viruses the “Miami Flu,” the “LA Flu,” etc. It can be caught in places with a pleasant year-round climate and a plethora of places for young, rich people with lots of energy to party when their teams visit. The result, especi...
The NBA found its pretense to probe the Philadelphia 76ers
Over the last few years, jilted NBA Governors have raised a bigger stink over their players mingling with other teams’ representatives before the free agency period has officially begun. In 2019, the NBA passed stricter tampering rules, including an increase in the maximum fine for tampering to $10 ...
Bill Russell, all-time NBA great and cultural icon, dead at 88
According to a statement released on social media, NBA legend Bill Russell died “peacefully” Sunday at the age of 88....
The WNBA is the league of ‘contract divorces’
The thing about marriage that most people don’t realize, or forget, is that it’s a binding legal document — thus making it a contract. But, despite how divorce is the breaking of a contract, and union, the thought of putting the two terms together has generally been a foreign concept — until the WNB...
Draymond Green’s chasing that farewell contract, but do the Warriors love him like that?
In the aftermath of Golden State’s 2022 NBA title, the expectation was that the Warriors and billionaire owner Joe Lacob’s Midas Touch would continue forever. While reporting on Golden State’s $171 million luxury tax bill, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst referred to its championship as a checkbook win. That ...
Bronny James might be in for a gap year if the NBA age limit isn’t lowered
The biggest hurdle Bronny James will have to clear to make the NBA might be one that his dad can’t boost him over. Partially lost in NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s many comments during the summer league a couple of weeks ago was his support for lowering the age limit from 19 to 18, something that ne...
The Charlotte Hornets have been linked to Russell Westbrook, Kemba Walker, and Isaiah Thomas this offseason — why?
Five years after Michael Jordan infamously told the world that “the ceiling is the roof,” his team looks to still be as confused as we are....
The two trains of thought are colliding on the Kevin Durant-Jaylen Brown trade
The Boston Celtics have reached their offseason garden of forking paths. After falling short in the NBA Finals, they now seem willing to break up their young tandem, and potentially a fulcrum of their asphyxiating defense. ...
How do you foul out in a Drew League game?
NBA stars have largely disappeared from the Rucker Park, Barry Farms and Drew League runs of the past they used to regularly lace up for. LeBron James’ 42-point show at The Drew League a week ago was a clarion call for his NBA peers. After two years of being disrupted by the pandemic, the Drew Leagu...
Karl-Anthony Towns saying ‘championship or bust’ was more for his teammates than the media
It’s always a good idea to consider all answers when an athlete opts to give a boneheaded response to a reporter. In some instances, the player goes off the rails on their own volition. In other cases, it’s a lose-lose situation, and Karl-Anthony Towns is forced to pick between getting scorched by t...
Which state can field the best starting 5?
Now that the Warriors have returned to glory post-Durant, NBA fans just survived one of the most unbearable periods of the NBA. One filled with superteams and razor-thin parity between the three to four coastal teams with stacked talent (Warriors, Lakers, Nets), and the rest of the small-market team...
Bring Brittney back: Griner needs to return to the U.S. ASAP
Brittney Griner is not forgotten, as she sits in a Russian jail cell after pleading guilty to having a tiny amount of cannabis oil in her luggage after playing basketball for UMMC Ekaterinburg in the WNBA offseason....
Danny Ainge has turned the Utah Jazz into a League Pass offseason team
Now in his third decade as a general manager or team president, Danny Ainge is in the next stage of what’s been a blessed NBA existence. As a supporting player on a pair of championship Celtics teams, he was one of the league’s first 3-point specialists, and reached the NBA Finals with Portland, the...
Stubbornness and health — that’s all Russell Westbrook has left
Short guards are notorious for aging poorly in the NBA. When quickness is your best asset, losing a step can be fatal. Only the craftiest players — think Jason Kidd, or Chris Paul — can remain effective. Whether it’s changing their playing style, using so many defensive tricks it borders on dirty pl...