nbatitle Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

What’s that saying about idle hands?
Imagine you’re James Harden — former league MVP, future Hall of Famer, and current member of the Philadelphia 76ers, a team with a legitimate chance to bring the City of Brotherly Love its first NBA title in 40 years, and you your first ring of a long career. What’s your main focus right now? After ...

New Balance wants us to believe Jack Harlow can ball with Kawhi Leonard
Amid all the talk about load management and the L.A. Clippers’ legit chances of bringing home their first NBA title, we’ve totally neglected one blemish on the résumé of Kawhi Leonard. The fact that New Balance tries to sell the world that rapper Jack Harlow is a formidable opponent to “The Claw” on...

You can’t be annoying AND miss both free throws
The Boston Celtics have had a pretty shitty go of it the past week or so. They’ve lost four of five — two to the New York Knicks (one in double OT), one to the Brooklyn Nets (where they got booed off their home floor), and an OT loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics are now two games behind t...

If Chris Paul, Suns can’t win a championship with Kevin Durant, it’s time to drop the 'Point God' moniker
Once the Phoenix Suns pulled off the blockbuster trade of the year for Kevin Durant, many pundits began to pencil them in as the Western Conference representative in the NBA Finals. Looking at their core of Devin Booker, Chris Paul, DeAndre Ayton, plus Durant, it’s easy to see why they’d be catapult...

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...

Which NBA title contender will Jae Crowder join?
Championship NBA teams have always revolved around star players, but the glue guys/role players make it possible for franchises to become title contenders. There are stars all over the Association, but only those with the best supporting casts can make deep runs into the postseason year after year. ...

I’m not ready to go all in on the Brooklyn Nets — no matter how good they look currently
After so much turmoil to start the 2022 campaign, the Brooklyn Nets have finally begun to look like the contenders many expected. The Nets have had two different four-game win streaks since Nov. 27, winning eight of their last nine. Suddenly Brooklyn is five games over .500 (17-12) and in fourth pla...

Steve Ballmer has got to be sick thinking about how good his Clippers could be
Coming into the season, the Los Angeles Clippers were viewed as one of the favorites to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. That pick was contingent on a healthy Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. The supporting cast that owner Steve Ballmer has assembled around his dynamic star duo is g...

10 NBA preseason takeaways that provide insight into the regular season
The NBA will give everyone their first real look at the league’s rapidly transforming landscape and its latest rookie class when the regular season tips off on Tuesday, but the preseason is a window into what to expect from certain teams. Wins and losses are mostly meaningless, so don’t read into th...

Jazz go young, Lakers go old
After weeks of stillness on the NBA free agency and trading front, due largely to Kevin Durant’s trade request and eventual decision to remain a Net, the Lakers and Jazz finally broke the silence....

Nets still feel like fool’s gold ahead of reunion tour
Welp. Here we go again....

Kamaru Usman and the other athletes who’ve been stopped at history’s doorstep
Kamaru Usman’s loss to Leon Edwards in the final minute of the fifth round was the fourth latest finish for a UFC championship fight. Usman, the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC will be granted a rematch to regain his title, but his chance to tie Anderson Silva’s 16 consecutive wins is likel...

IDIOT OF THE MONTH: Everything is on fire
Welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE MONTH, in which we start to worry that Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker might actually win. It’s a terrifying prospect, especially given that his strategy at the moment consists of “avoiding actual debate at all costs” in addition to his old standby, “say l...

Why would KD want to return to the Warriors?
It must be the summer of 2016 because Kevin Durant rumors are heating up and the Warriors are once again on the table it seems. ...

4 championships and a Finals MVP… NOW Steph Curry is worthy of respect from Davidson
Steph Curry isn’t your average, ordinary, everyday basketball player. What a hot take from me, right? Sizzling! I had to put my keyboard in an ice bath after typing out those words. He’s the greatest shooter of all time. He’s arguably a top-10 player all-time and cemented his legacy with a fourth NB...

Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James for an NBA title? It could happen in real life, just not quite the way you want it
It’s the 2043 NBA Finals. The erosion of the east coast is impossible to ignore, and it will be illegal to hold summer football activities outdoors because the average temperature in most places will be 115 degrees. But indoors, the matchup the world has been waiting for will finally take place. Tha...

LeBron James wants to play with Steph Curry
This year’s NBA postseason has been pretty good, minus all the injuries, even with the absence of LeBron James. While the era of James playing into June every year is over, that doesn’t mean we won’t hear from the King during the playoffs and especially once the NBA Finals roll around. And one thing...

NBA finally puts respect on Monty Williams’ name
Finally, somebody from the Phoenix Suns organization is getting the respect they deserve. This week, head coach Monty Williams was named NBA Coach of the Year, and it’s about damn time. Williams ran away with the voting racking up 81 first-place votes for a grand total of 458. Memphis Grizzlies head...

Robo umps can’t get here soon enough as unhinged humans remind sports fans that baseball still has worst officials
The MLB’s umpires are really milking their last few minutes of relevance, and in the process aren’t doing themselves any favors in the argument against robot umpires taking their jobs. No, Triple A isn’t testing out a robo-ump at the moment, but maybe they should be because what happened to Madison ...

Ranking the NBA’s first round matchups by how likely we are to see an upset
The NBA’s playoffs are easily the most predictable of the major American sports leagues. Without the variability of baseball or the single playoff game format like football, it’s pretty rare that there are any true upsets in the first round of the NBA playoffs. In most years you look at the bracket ...