the-nba Page 9 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

As the NBA season approaches the halfway point, let's look at the winners and losers so far
With 2024 in full swing, let’s award the winners and losers of the first half of the NBA season. It’s been a banner year, but not without controversy and major development. Many questions are left unanswered. Will the Lakers regain their contender status? Can the Thunder compete this year? Are the K...

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 ...

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...

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,...

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...

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. ...

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. ...

What’s going on at Harvard with Claudine Gay is similar to how the NFL, sports, and America operate
Claudine Gay is the new Nikole Hannah-Jones in the same way that Eric Bieniemy is the latest version of Sherman Lewis. And while there’s a big difference between being a leader at an institution of higher learning and coaching football, the common denominator remains the same — excluding Black peopl...

Immanuel Quickley is the key to Toronto winning the OG Anunoby-RJ Barrett trade
On Saturday morning, the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors put their litigation aside long enough to agree on a trade exchanging OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, and Malachi Flynn with RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and a 2024 second-round pick....

Youth is wasted on the young, unless you are these NBA teams
So, who has the hottest young talent in the league? We’re analyzing the five teams who have built the best through the draft across positions and skill sets. No room for wannabes here – gotta be 25 or below to even join the party. We’re also looking for impact players, not DNPs, with dreams bigger t...

Here are the New Year's resolutions I'd like to see for the NBA
The NBA has never been more fun. Three-point bombing, higher-than-ever talent, a global player pool and the best product in professional sports. But it’s far from perfect. We’ve pinpointed five resolutions we want to see in 2024 that can improve the game on and off the court. ...

This week in the NBA: Kevin Durant unhappy in Phoenix?; Ja Morant in more hot water; Cade Cunningham can't save Pistons
Well, it didn’t take long for Kevin Durant to find something to complain about it on his new super team....

IDIOT OF THE YEAR 2023: The complete rankings
Welcome to the grand finale of Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE YEAR festivities. Here’s hoping 2024 will be better. It probably won’t....

A-Rod set to become majority owner of Timberwolves, Lynx
A-Rod’s transition from tape-measure shots to three-point bombs seems to be complete....