nba Page 49 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The NBA needs to check on Ja Morant during his absence
The 2023-24 NBA season is over for Ja Morant and, quite frankly, it barely got started. He began the season with a 25-game suspension for a second offense of inappropriate use of a firearm on social media. Morant played all of nine games before suffering a shoulder injury that the Memphis Grizzlies ...

The Atlanta Hawks have gone from up-and-coming to an Eastern Conference afterthought
It wasn’t long ago that the Atlanta Hawks were on the cusp of an NBA Finals appearance. They turned a 41-win campaign (in a 72-game season) into what many thought would be a launching point as perennial contenders. Now the Hawks’ halftime show announcements are more exciting than what’s happening on...

Michigan finally lives up to its view of itself
Ever since I got older than college, I have felt that college sports are a cesspool that should have been abolished long ago. At least the major ones. If the NBA and NFL want a developmental league, let them pay for it. But there are some pulls from childhood that never go away, including the one fr...

Sick, Sad World of Sports: Jumbo holiday edition
The holidays are a stressful time for everyone, including criminals, athletes moonlighting as criminals, and criminals moonlighting as athletes. ...

It's NBA trading season and these are the players who should be dealt next
Nobody expected the NBA trade season’s first domino to fall on New Year’s Weekend. When OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, and Malachi Flynn were traded from the Toronto Raptors to the New York Knicks for RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and a 2023 second-round pick (from Detroit), the trade season officia...

Tyronn Lue unplugged Kawhi Leonard before he could overheat in a playoff atmosphere
This year, the NBA claimed their findings are that load management mumbo jumbo is not supported by scientific data. Yet, the Clippers are still so concerned about Kawhi Leonard’s circuitry that they will unplug him before they risk him overheating and hurting himself when necessary. On Sunday night,...

Brandon Aubrey has suddenly given the Cowboys reason to be worried
The Dallas Cowboys are riding high entering the playoffs after securing the No. 2 seed in the NFC and a third consecutive 12-win season. That’s quite the feat for these Cowboys, but means nothing if they can’t break their unlucky streak of bowing out before championship weekend. While Dallas looks p...

Everyone has a gimmick in the NFL. Until they don’t
The NFL season zips by, which might be one of the hundreds of reasons it remains our national religion. There isn’t really time to get bored with it and everything that happens in it feels truly important. Which means any team that can string a few good weeks together has turned some mythical corner...

Stephen A. Smith may take a late night television jalopy out for a spin next year
It’s opening night for the 2025 NBA season. After Inside the NBA guffaws its way through the opening game, a portion of the audience siphons off to Apple TV or Prime Video, where Stephen A. Smith is starting his opening monologue. Except he isn’t ranting and raving about Donovan Mitchell and Jalen B...

Darvin Ham in crosshairs; Giannis thinks of Pacers during sex; James Harden, Clippers don't deserve your faith
News flash: The Miami Heat are a better coached team than the Los Angeles Lakers. It showed in the fourth quarter of their Wednesday night matchup. Erik Spoelstra has been with the Heat organization since 1995 — its head coach since 2008. Following nine seasons as an NBA player, Darvin Ham was an as...

In honor of the Magic retiring Shaq's number, here is every NBA team's retired jersey numbers
With the announcement that the Orlando Magic will retire Shaquille O’Neal’s jersey, the NBA has finally done it! All 30 teams have officially retired a jersey number for a specific player (Yes, before Shaq, the Magic’s only jersey retired was No. 6 for “The Sixth Man,” a.k.a the fans)....

Advice to sports media people: Hype any team but the Clippers
There are certain teams as a sportswriter that you simply should not trust. Despite the way the Detroit Lions are playing, their fans won’t hesitate to tell you a size-14 steel-toe boot is about to drop at any moment. We all know what tortured souls I’m talking about so let’s spare them further angu...

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 ...

Darvin Ham is not the reason the Lakers are losing
News flash: The Miami Heat are a better coached team than the Los Angeles Lakers. It showed in the fourth quarter of their Wednesday night matchup. Erik Spoelstra has been with the Heat organization since 1995 — its head coach since 2008. Following nine seasons as an NBA player, Darvin Ham was an as...

The NBA's participation policy wasn't meant for guys like Dorian Finney-Smith
The NBA likely implemented its player participation policy — read: anti-load management protocol — so that fans wouldn’t attend games only to see LeBron James and Anthony Davis, or Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, in street clothes. ...

Giannis Antentokounmpo says he thinks about the Pacers when he has sex
The Indiana Pacers have completely taken over Giannis Antentokounmpo’s brain. ...

Katt Williams channels his inner <i>Last Dance</i> Scottie Pippen on Shannon Sharpe's podcast
Katt Williams had some pissed-off at The Last Dance type of energy during his appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast. Before the episode had been entirely uploaded, clips of him skewering Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and Rickey Smiley were going viral on social media....

Want to reduce college football Bowl opt-outs? Pay the players
The bowl opt-outs are a letdown, but we all saw what happened to Jaylon Smith. During the 2016 Fiesta Bowl — which was not a playoff game — his leg was mangled. A projected top-five pick fell to the second round. Since then, many star players have made the intelligent business decision to not play i...

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is ascending into the MVP conversation
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the NBA’s dullest superstar, which has allowed him to sneak up behind the league while they sleep on his ascendance. On Tuesday night, SGA propelled the Oklahoma City Thunder to their latest signature win. After a two-week stretch in which they’ve made mincemeat of the NBA...
![Kyrie says he's not reason rabbi's 'I'm Jewish and proud' sign removed [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/413e61ea26d18f082de05cefffccb389.jpg)
Kyrie says he's not reason rabbi's 'I'm Jewish and proud' sign removed [Updated]
Updated Jan. 5: Kyrie Irving denied being why Jazz security asked a rabbi to put down his “I’m a Jew and I’m proud” sign despite an interaction between the two. ...