ward Page 12 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Minnesota and New York listened to the NBA on load management and guess what happened
The NBA’s annual battle of attrition that precedes the playoffs struck again as Minnesota Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns is out indefinitely with a torn meniscus. It’s the same ailment that forced Philadelphia Sixers center Joel Embiid to the sidelines, and one that should be treated with a...

Big men are back in style in the NBA
The 1995-96 season was the end of the golden era for big men in the NBA. Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, and Shaquille O’Neal were stuffing opponents into lockers with their unstoppable back-to-the-basket games. They were the superstars in the paint, but Alonzo Mourning, Rik Smits, a...

15 NBA players we wish competed in the Slam Dunk Contest
The NBA Slam Dunk Contest is on life support. The G-League’s Mac McClung has won the contest for a second year in a row. Despite Boston’s Jaylen Brown attempting to bring stars back to the iconic event, his dunks were relatively unimpressive. ...

Charles Barkley went from 'dying to vote' for Nikki Haley to wanting to punch Black Trump supporters. Make it make sense
Nobody asked for this, but, yet, here we are. In the middle of a volatile election year where Charles Barkley has free rein to spew his illogical political takes on TV. True bipartisanship looks like viewers from both parties working together to make this end....

Daryl Morey is Oppenheimer for the NBA’s nuclear offensive age
It’s Oscars Week, which feels like as good a time as any to draw up the NBA storylines and characters which could double as Oscar nominees. ...

The latest scapegoat for Ben Simmons’ back issues? His agent
Remember when NBA Twitter, now NBA X, spent an entire season obsessing over where Ben Simmons would be traded? It ended up being Brooklyn, and that ended up being the last time he was relevant to professional basketball. The latest update is there is no update, just Simmons’ agent, Bernie Lee, falli...

If you can’t trust Anthony Edwards, you can’t trust the Timberwolves
I’m not anti-analytics, because data matters, but there’s no way to factor in things like your best player missing tipoff because he was a late arrival, or a coach pulling his second-best player when he’s on pace for a 70 burger. The Minnesota Timberwolves are a very good basketball team, by record,...

Braylon Edwards saved an 80-year-old man's life during YMCA attack
Updated March 5: The suspect in the YMCA attack — 20-year-old Malik Ali Smith of Farmington Hills, MI — has been charged with assault with intent to murder. ...

Kevin Garnett accuses LeBron James of doping; 'Cream Abdul-Jabbar' rises to the top; Jordan Poole hits rock bottom
Could Bronny James score a bucket against his father, LeBron? Kevin Garnett certainly doesn’t think so. - Criss Partee Read More...

Caitlin Clark declares for the WNBA draft
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has declared for the WNBA draft today, forgoing her final year of eligibility, she confirmed in a post on her social media account. ...

NBA defenses can't keep up with the record-setting highest-scoring offenses
Complaints about NBA defensive intensity have littered sports debate television, podcasts, and columns all season. As of Tuesday, the top five teams in offensive rating will have the five highest marks in that category in NBA history. Six players have scored 60 or more points this season. Luka Donči...

Might be time for Trae Young to get shoved out of the Hawks' nest
It’s tough to know when to know when to throw in the towel on an era, but the bruised and bloodied Trae Young era Atlanta Hawks are beginning to look like they should throw in the towel. The Hawks are now six years into Young’s tenure as their cornerstone and all they have to show for the rollercoa...

When NFL teams say they have salary cap problems, don't believe them
It’s that time of year in the NFL when you’ll hear the term ‘salary cap’ about 100 times per day. Former Super Bowl-winning offensive lineman Mark Schlereth recently spilled the beans on the cap being fake and how the league/teams use fear tactics to make fans think it’s more significant than it is ...

Juwan Howard and John Beilein finally have something in common — 20-loss seasons at Michigan
One guy did it in his first season in Ann Arbor — before going on to win a pair of regular-season and conference tournament championships, along with appearing in two national title games. The latest guy is doing it in what might be his last season in Ann Arbor — with one regular-season championship...

Vince Carter spilled the beans on a $1 million dunk contest
Many of the festivities were up for discussion following the NBA’s All-Star Weekend, with none more talked about than the slam dunk contest. Former dunk champion and current TNT NBA analyst, Vince Carter, appeared on “Run it Back” on Fanduel TV and confirmed a legendary rumor. Carter said he was app...

Fans preparing for March Madness should know that women’s college basketball is the main draw
Football is finished and the NBA is coming off of a horrific All-Star break. That only means one thing — it’s the time of the year when the masses start paying attention to college basketball. However, many “fans” will be in for a rude awakening when they realize that the men’s game isn’t that excit...

The Minnesota Timberwolves are the NBA’s best redemption story
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ bounce back from their 2023 nadir has been the NBA’s most remarkable redemption story. The Association may have discontinued its Comeback Player of the Year award, but the Twin Cities’ finest would deserve consideration if that were not the case. Before October, the outlo...

Ranking the major sports networks from most elitist to Fox Sports
Prestige and journalism shouldn’t go hand-in-hand together. Sure, there are outlets with enough history and money to have ethics departments, fact-checkers, and paying subscribers, but the omnipresent tier — the ones controlling the rights to the big sports — are cost-cutting corporate slugs like th...

We need to talk about MLB's ugly new uniforms
By now, you’ve probably seen the pics of MLB players posing in jerseys and pants that look like little more than toilet paper draped to fit a human form. The uniforms are designed by Nike and manufactured by Fanatics, who appear to be doing a really great job of cornering the market on sports mercha...

5 increasingly unhinged solutions to the NBA All-Star Game
As the NBA has observed its golden era of efficiency proliferate from more streamlined offenses to load management run amok, elements of the league have fallen by the wayside. Marquee hoopers play fewer minutes, fewer games and now they barely expend energy or cross halfcourt during All-Star Weekend...