the-nba Page 41 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The James Harden and Houston Rockets reunion is a pie-in-the-sky dream
James Harden is a deeply unserious franchise cornerstone. However, in the midst of a pivotal, legacy-defining season for his career, Harden may be eyeing a return in free agency to the Rockets franchise he forced his way out of two years ago, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. ...

True Basketball Crime: Aaron Gordon hit-and-run dunk over Landry Shamet shattered the Suns
Christmas Day 2022 will always be remembered for how we nearly lost Landry Shamet to a senseless posterization....

IDIOT OF THE YEAR No. 10: John Stockton
For a player with such a high IQ on the basketball court, John Stockton’s lack thereof when it comes to science is simply astonishing. Stockton’s public image took a hit with many in 2022 for his vaccine idiocy, especially early in the year....

The NBA’s poverty franchises
The competitive lifespan of an NBA franchise is delicate. A team’s championship relevance depends on many factors, including the front office’s competence, coaching staff, and the totality of star power on the court. “Poverty” in the NBA sense can be defined by the corrosion of the team’s ethics and...

Who is the NBA’s most clutch player of the season?
The first-ever Jerry West Clutch Player of the Year will be awarded this season. Arguing over clutch players has become a staple of sports shout-talk TV, so it was probably only a matter of time until the NBA introduced an official award hoop heads could scream about. This wasn’t a thing we wanted, ...

Devin Funchess is thinking about going back to his first love
Long before he signed on to play football for the Michigan Wolverines, and eventually become a second-round draft pick for the Carolina Panthers, Devin Funchess was a basketball player....

We really need to be more measured in how we discuss testy exchanges between players and media
The result of ESPN’s Jenna Laine posting the video of Giovani Bernard’s locker room exchange with media, following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 34-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, was proper accountability being taken....

Lillard nominating himself as the second-best shooter in NBA history was the ultimate heat check
Damian Lillard’s Trail Blazers career has reached an inflection point where his legacy is solidifying. We feel it, fans feel it, the record books are feeling it and Dame is sensing it. On Monday night, Lillard eclipsed Clyde Drexler to become the franchise’s all-time leading scorer. Lillard’s career...

Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan could be the NBA’s next big eccentric personality
There hasn’t been much excitement in San Antonio for Spurs fans this season, but rookie forward Jeremy Sochan is doing his part to change that. He’s got a somewhat eccentric style to San Antonio not seen since the days of Dennis Rodman. Sochan’s dyed hair, tattoos, and No. 10 jersey are a throwback ...

The Nets soap opera has been replaced by prestige drama
Previously on The Brooklyn Nets…...

The Cowboys need to come to grips with the fact that Dak Prescott just isn’t that dude
Oops, Dak did it again. He played with your heart, and Dallas lost the game. Shocker....

Exploring how a 1-0 advantage in soccer compares to leads in other sports
The World Cup comes to a conclusion this weekend with the third-place game wrapping up earlier today — Croatia defeated tournament Cinderella Morocco 2-1 — and the finals between Argentina and France taking place tomorrow. Lionel Messi’s legacy is on the line, meanwhile, Kylian Mbappé is attempting ...

The NBA’s war on load management is pointless
Load management is going to happen in the NBA regardless of the league’s best efforts. Organizations have been taught to value the postseason over everything because of ringzzzzz culture, and that mindset only gets reinforced by teams like the Phoenix Suns busting their asses to win 64 games a year ...

Best in the West
The Golden State Warriors lost again last night. On Tuesday, the Phoenix Suns dropped a game to the lowly Houston Rockets for the second time this month. Those two wins account for 22.2 percent of the Rockets’ victories this season....

NBA answers G.O.A.T. debate by picking MJ over LeBron for MVP trophy’s namesake
LeBron James’ fans must simply concede. The charade is over. That flimsy argument is washed. James isn’t the G.O.A.T. And who said so? Who settled this long-running barbershop debate? Well, the NBA, itself....

Could the Knicks already unload Cam Reddish after recently acquiring him?
As the trade market heats up as the NBA’s Dec. 15 moratorium nears, allowing players who signed new contracts this league year to be traded, the Knicks are expected to be active on the trade market. During this cycle, they’re on the other side of the Cam Reddish sweepstakes. Before the 2022 trade de...

The San Francisco move has been Golden for the Warriors
This Golden State Warriors in San Francisco thing will never sit right with me. ...

Hey Adam Silver, glossy new trophies won’t fix the NBA’s regular season
They say millennials are obsessed with trophies, but our elders have been expanding the ones propping up that industry. Commissioner Adam Silver’s quest to revitalize the regular season’s infrastructure has been his pet project for almost his entire eight-year stint. One day after Kawhi Leonard expr...

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...

Culture isn’t going to fix the Miami Heat’s offense
When trying to illustrate how much a team is struggling, one of sportswriters’ favorite go-to’s is, “If the season ended today…” As in, “If the season ended today, the Miami Heat would need to win two play-in games only to face the team that beat them in 2022 in the first round.”...