June 26, 2024. NBA Draft Night. We’re in NYC, where else? AJ Storr is on a Zoom from… Athens, Greece!?! We’ll explain all that in a second. More importantly, he knows the meaning of tonight as a prelude to his future.

“Literally one year from tonight, is it crazy to think you will be up on the stage…” we say before Storr interjects excitedly, “…in a suit and tie!”

Ten points for honesty with this one. Storr, now a rising junior for the world-famous Kansas Jayhawks and a projected 2025 NBA Draft pick, is not dancing around a topic many college players with eligibility remaining play hot potato with. “Yes,” Storr confirms, “I’m planning to be in the draft next year.”

Now that we have that very logical business decision covered, let’s backtrack and share one of the most unique and thoroughly modern basketball journeys of any high-profile player in the world.

We’ll start with the world business. Storr is in Greece at the moment because the Bahamian national team, of which he recently made the roster (pending some lingering paperwork), is playing a couple of exhibition games before an Olympic qualifying tournament in Spain that will determine if the small island nation with the increasingly outsized basketball talent advances to Paris.

The 6-7 Storr, a smooth-shooting, scoring guard tied to The Bahamas because his father was born there, is excited to be in Greece. Partly for the experience of what he calls his “world tour,” but even more so for the chance to play with folks who have gotten where he wants to go. Bahamas basketball has quietly built an explosive roster featuring current NBA players Deandre Ayton, Eric Gordon, Buddy Hield, Kai Jones and Isaiah Mobley, as well as other talented college and pro players. The squad is coached by longtime Golden State Warriors assistant Chris DeMarco.

“It is a really great experience to be out there with all these pros,” Storr says, a day after scoring 15 points (on 7-9 shooting) in a 93-80 loss to Montenegro. “I played a couple of games with them last summer and then we had training camp in Houston earlier this month, and now I’m playing real games with them. It’s great to be around all this talent.”

Whenever The Bahamas’ run ends, the world is on notice that it’s a program to watch out for in the future, and then Storr will have more time to spend in his latest “home”—Lawrence, KS. And what a home it is. Perhaps the most storied program in all of college basketball—“I hadn’t known that James Naismith founded the program here. That’s who founded basketball!” Storr exclaims—and a program with typically high expectations for the ’24-25 season. As ESPN’s Jeff Borzello put it in his recent “Way-Too-Early Top 25,” the Jayhawks are No. 1 after Bill Self responded to a disappointing ’23-24 “with the most loaded roster in the country. He went into the portal and landed AJ Storr (Wisconsin), Zeke Mayo (South Dakota State) and Rylan Griffen (Alabama); then, All-American big man Hunter Dickinson opted to return for another year.”

It says here that Storr, with a shooting touch that the Jayhawks sorely missed last season, may be the biggest piece of the puzzle. As for all the places he’s been before Kansas, that unfolds like a bit of a puzzle in its own way.

This young man is in the sweet spot for a proper SLAM profile because he’s “big” enough—thanks to playing one year in New York City and another year going viral as the athletic leading scorer for B1G power Wisconsin—to be heard of but without his full story being known because he was not a super high-profile recruit. We’ll tell you the story now so you’ll be in the know when he blows up even more at Kansas and then flies into the NBA in 12 months.

Storr grew up in Rockford, IL, a city of nearly 150,000 about 90 minutes west of Chicago. It’s most relevant in modern hoops as the home of current Houston Rocket Fred VanVleet. AJ came up alongside one older sister, Ambranette, who scored more than 2,900 points in her high school career before playing in college, and five younger brothers, raised primarily by his mother, Annette Brandy—a former Chicago high school star who played in college as well—and his stepfather.

AJ attended Rockford Lutheran as a high school freshman, showing promise as a hooper who was still just 6-1. After that, a ride started that has yet to end. The family moved to the South Chicago suburb of Kankakee when his mom, a teacher, got a better job offer, and AJ spent his sophomore and most of his junior year at Kankakee High. Then Covid hit. As Brandy explains, it was time to make some decisions. “The whole state of Illinois shut down. He had some offers—Chicago State, IUPUI—but he still hadn’t gotten major looks. We knew he was a Power Five kid, he just hadn’t been seen,” she says. “His dad lived in Vegas, and AJ was hesitant about it, but I convinced him to go. Build a relationship with your dad and put yourself out there with basketball.”

It worked. Storr started playing for Vegas Elite and Bishop Gorman High School and his exposure—and ranking—skyrocketed. He was set to play his senior season for Bishop Gorman and then…Clark County, NV (which includes Las Vegas) announced there would be no winter sports due to Covid. “After Vegas shut down, he transferred to AZ Compass and they made it all the way to the GEICO Nationals,” his mom says. “By then he had gotten a lot of offers, but I thought he needed to mature a bit.”

So it was off to renowned IMG Academy in Florida for a post-grad year that went great. In the end, AJ had attended five high schools in five years, albeit for reasons that were outside his control. When the time came to make his official college choice, Storr enrolled at St. John’s, firmly hitting the (admittedly biased) radar of the #SLAMfam’s college fans by putting together a Big East All-Freshman campaign highlighted by 40 percent shooting from three-point range, 9 ppg and an exciting style of play. Alas, the Johnnies fired Mike Anderson and Storr decided to transfer back to the Midwest, putting together an All-B1G Second Team season (17 ppg, 4 rpg, 1 apg) in Madison and establishing himself as a future pro. Storr flirted with entering this year’s draft before instead deciding to transfer one more time. To the best team in the county. 

“Playing for all the different teams has really helped my IQ. I’ve learned different plays, different coaches, different cultures,” Storr says, explaining the benefits of his journey. “Off the court, every school has welcomed me and made it like a family. I’ve got friends from every school.”

In Storr’s mind, the ascension from unknown high schooler to likely first-round NBA pick is not because he recently got good at the sport. For better or worse, exposure still matters. “I’ve been pretty good at basketball my whole life, but I had to get around the right platform and coaches and take advantage of the opportunities,” he says. “St John’s is in a great conference. Then I went to the Big Ten and the Badgers, who have made Final Four runs and are known worldwide. Being there helped me a lot. Now I’m looking forward to taking my game to another level at Kansas.”

Storr describes himself as very coachable and has learned bits and pieces from all the coaches he’s played for, but none of them have been around him consistently enough to have developed a deep mentorship. For daily support as he pursues his dream, Storr points to the people who have been around the longest. “I’ve got a team with my mom, my sister, my management,” he says. “It takes a team to accomplish your dream. You can be the most talented player, but if you don’t have the right people around you, you’re not going to make it.”

For her part, Mom could not be prouder. “I’m so excited for him,” says Brandy, who recently got a new job—and bought a house—back in Rockford. “He has put in so much work to get here.”

And to reiterate, Storr himself views his varied experiences as a positive. “My game translates to a lot of different places,” he says. “I know how to buy into a program. I respect all my coaches. I’m a great teammate. Once you step on that court or in the weight room, you become brothers. Where I’m trying to go, you gotta be prepared. In the NBA, guys get traded all the time. So this could be an advantage.”

Portraits via Missy Minear Kansas Athletics.

The post From Undiscovered to Unrivaled, AJ Storr Has His Sights Set on the League After Transferring to Kansas appeared first on SLAM.

Check out the top 30-21 players here and 20-11 here.

10. Klay Thompson

“Buckets and Chill.” The cover line from SLAM 215—featured below an iconic photo of Klay Thompson rocking sunglasses and lounging in a beach chair—pretty much sums it up. Laid-back off the court, Thompson has always been an assassin on it. He’s won four championships, made five All-Star teams and scored over 15,500 points with the Golden State Warriors. When Klay (also known as “Game 6 Klay”) had the hot hand, it was a wrap for whoever was on the other side. In 2015, he set the NBA record for points in a quarter with 37.

9. Devin Booker

If we’re talking pure bucket-getters, Devin Booker’s name has to be mentioned. The dynamic guard from Grand Rapids, MI, has developed a complete offensive game. He can attack the basket and finish around the rim; his mid-range arsenal is elite; and he’s a serious threat from behind the arc. Just go watch the highlights from his 70-point masterpiece in 2017 or his 59-point gem in 2019 or his 62-point outburst this past season. At 27 years old, Book is a 4x All-Star with even more room to improve. Rest assured, there are a lot more buckets to come.

8. Derrick Rose

D-Rose graced the cover of SLAM while he was a freshman at Memphis in 2007-08. The cover line read: “Fresh to Death. Derrick Rose is the NBA’s next big star.” Truthfully, that prediction could have been made even earlier, when the explosive guard was lighting up the court at Simeon Career Academy (IL) and made his appearance at the Top 100 Camp. In 2011, at the age of 22, Rose became the youngest MVP in NBA history. His career has been filled with adversity due to numerous injuries, but the 3x All-Star has persevered through it all to leave a major imprint on the game. 

7. Anthony Davis

From Perspectives Charter (IL) to the University of Kentucky to the NBA, Anthony Davis has more than lived up to the hype. It all started when the kid from Chicago hit a major growth spurt in high school, maintaining his guard skills while adjusting to a new big-man frame. Davis went on to win the Naismith Award, Wooden Award and an NCAA championship in his sole season at Kentucky before getting drafted with the first overall pick by New Orleans. He’s been hampered by injuries throughout his 12 years in the League, but Davis has still accomplished basically everything there is to accomplish at the highest level, including getting a ring in 2020. 

6. Kyrie Irving

The man with arguably the greatest handles of all time attended the Top 100 Camp back when he was a high school sensation in New Jersey. Irving spent one year at Duke before entering the 2011 NBA Draft, where he was picked first by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He’s been an All-Star eight times and sunk one of the biggest shots in NBA history in 2016, helping the Cavs complete their epic 3-1 comeback to win the title. With that shot and countless ankle breakers, mind-boggling layups and cold-blooded game-winners, Irving’s highlight reel is a must-watch. Really, it’s the work of a basketball genius.

5. Dwight Howard

Not too long ago, when the role of center was viewed very differently, Dwight Howard was perhaps the most powerful and unstoppable force in basketball. A young superstar at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy (GA), Howard won Gatorade National Player of the Year and then was selected with the first overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic. He bounced around quite a bit after leaving Orlando in 2012, which led many to forget what he did during those early years in the League, including making five consecutive All-NBA First Team appearances and winning three consecutive Defensive Player of the Year awards. Consider this your reminder.

4. James Harden

From Artesia High School in Lakewood, CA, where he won two state championships and was a McDonald’s All-American in 2007, to now, James Harden has carved out an incredible career that frequently gets overlooked. This is a guy who averaged 31.7 points, 8.5 assists and 6.6 rebounds (!) over a five-season span from 2015-20—a stretch that included an MVP award in 2018. He was named to the NBA’s 75^th Anniversary Team in 2021, and deservedly so. 

3. Kevin Durant

Coming out of the DMV, Kevin Durant was one of the most hyped prospects in the nation. And since then, well, he hasn’t disappointed one bit. The future Hall of Famer has said that he probably would have gone straight to the NBA from high school if the one-and-done rule didn’t exist. Instead, he starred at Texas for one season and then got scooped with the second overall pick by the Seattle SuperSonics in 2007. Durant is undoubtedly one of the greatest offensive talents in NBA history, winning the League’s scoring title four times. When he has it going—which, over the past 17 years, has been a very common occurrence—there’s literally nothing anyone can do to stop him.

2. Stephen Curry

A slept-on prospect from Charlotte Christian School named Stephen Curry attended the Top 100 Camp before going to Davidson, where he became a 2x consensus All-American and led the Wildcats to the 2008 Elite Eight. The skinny kid with a baby face from North Carolina was still somewhat slept on, falling to seventh in the 2009 NBA Draft. But even those who foresaw greatness in Curry could not have predicted this: 10x All-Star and All-NBA, 2x MVP, 4x Champion and the all-time leader in three-pointers made. Oh yeah, and he completely changed the way the game is played.

1. Kobe Bryant

It was clear when he was dominating at Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania that Kobe Bean Bryant was special. He was one of the first future stars to attend the Top 100 Camp, jumping straight to the NBA in 1996. It wasn’t long before he was dominating at that level, too. The résumé is undeniable—18x All-Star, 15x All-NBA, 12x All-Defense, 5x NBA Champion, 2x Finals MVP, 2008 MVP, the list goes on—but Bryant was most defined by his relentless work ethic, remarkable determination and absurd competitiveness. The Mamba Mentality, as his approach to the game and other endeavors came to be called, continues to inspire people everywhere.

The post NBPA Top 100 Camp Top 30 Players: 10-1 appeared first on SLAM.

These guys are friends. 

Sounds obvious, right? For sure. Easy to acknowledge it sounds obvious. But SLAM is celebrating its 30th anniversary. We’ve been around NBA players for a while now. We’ve seen that a ton of them are colleagues, not friends. Ain’t nothing wrong with that. These guys spend months on the road together. Their team responsibilities pull them away from their families. So most players keep it cordial with each other, but in the same way that you leave your work environment, they do, too. 

We’re not here to burst any bubbles. You should still believe in Santa Claus. Hell, hopefully one day the Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot finally emerge. But we regret to inform you that most NBA players don’t kick it with each other outside of practice, even if they make it seem so when they’re in public. 

That’s why the genuine laughter of this trio, all three of them former Villanova Wildcats, was a much welcomed surprise. They seem to be friends off the court. There’s a ton of history between them, which we will get into. But you just never know what’s for the internet and what’s for real. 

SLAM 249 featuring the Knicks is available now. Get your copy here.

Josh pulled up first. He was early. He and one of his agency reps sat in the corner of the gym, with windows displaying the amazing manicured lawns outside the gym. It was the first day of March and the sun was reminding us it existed after a long winter. Finely-kept evergreen trees couldn’t block the natural light, so Josh, with his perfect braids and fresh white Ralphie tee, was illuminated. 

He deserves some of the spotlight. He’s the one who does the dirty work for Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau. Deflections, switches, backside call-outs all fall under his list of responsibilities. He also plays a lot of minutes. Like, a lot. As we go to press, he’s averaging 41 minutes a game over his last 22 contests. He even played the entire 48 against the Golden State Warriors on March 18. Hart’s role increased when the Knicks suffered injuries to two of their best players; he was called on to essentially be a 6-4 power forward. He has to get bruised up down low, fly around on rotations, jet back down to the paint and then grab rebounds. Over that same 22-game stretch, he pulled down an average of 11.3 boards a contest, way up from his career average of 6.5. Recently, his rebounding numbers have been major. In a stretch from late February to mid-March, he’s had one game of 18 rebounds and two with 19. And to make those two 19-board moments even more impressive, they were both part of triple-double performances. Triple-doubles are portraits of desire and technique—they require reading the game on a serious level. Hart has had five triple-doubles in his seven-year career. They’ve all happened in this current season. 

Hart’s a serious competitor on the court, which, according to Brunson, is the only time he’s ever serious at all. The two were roommates at Villanova and know each other very, very well. For example, Hart knows that Brunson’s favorite childhood player was Steve Nash. Brunson can counter that knowledge by adding that Mike and Ike is Hart’s favorite candy. Brunson, who was named an All-Star this season, says plainly that besides being about his business in basketball, Hart loves to joke around. There’s no arguing from Hart. In fact, Brunson and Hart only communicate in one way throughout the entire shoot.  

Brunson and DiVincenzo arrived together at the gym in Connecticut. It was starting to get dark when they walked in. No more individual spotlight on Hart. Instead, the three of them were the center of attention. Right from the jump, Brunson and Hart speak to each other through veiled inside jokes and outright insults. Sly smiles followed everything they said. Whenever Hart did or said something ridiculous, Brunson would look around helplessly, praying somebody else noticed the insanity. DiVincenzo, the youngest of the trio, consistently cracked up with laughter no matter what. 

DiVincenzo has had a winding road since making it to the League in 2018. The Bucks picked him 17th overall, but he didn’t get a ton of burn in that first season. To go from the height of winning the 2018 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player to only appearing in 27 games (a nagging heel injury can be blamed, too) is a fall off that would take the heart of most. That speed bump, however, gave us the first look at DiVincenzo’s resiliency. He came back the next season, played 66 games and averaged 9.2 ppg. The following season, he started every game he appeared in and upped his points average yet again. He would have been a huge part of the Bucks’ NBA Finals-winning group if not for an ankle injury that needed to be surgically repaired. 

Still, he has a ring. 

The Bucks traded him to the Kings in February ’22, where he suited up in only 25 games for then-coach Alvin Gentry. His next stop, the Warriors, reminded the NBA of how he plays when healthy. More resiliency. After fighting back from injury, he showed that he can run the 1 or play the 2. The Dubs had him dishing the ball to their Hall of Fame shooting duo. They had him filling the slots on cuts. He was one of the very few guards in the NBA allowed to crash the offensive glass (in this age of otherworldly athleticism and aerial acrobats, most teams prefer to send guys back for transition defense). When given the opportunity, he showed the ability to create his own shot off the bounce. 

He’s doing all of that now for the Knicks. This season, his three ball goes down nearly 40 percent of the time, above the League average. He has four games of more than 30 points this year, too. He had never had a 30-point game in his NBA career before this season. In his last 21 games, he’s going for 20.8 per. Big jump. Big, big jump. 

As most basketball players know, being on the same team as your friends usually increases production. There’s a foundational layer of trust that underlies everything when hooping with the bros. A portion of the stresses that come from playing with strangers get replaced by the fun of running around with your boys. Taking crazy shots or throwing stupid passes are usually followed by choice words from teammates. But sometimes those bad shots or wild passes result in strokes of genius. Genius is more likely to happen with brothers than it is with strangers, when people trust in those choices, when you really know the guy who has something to say after those shots and passes. And defensively, that trust shows up in the form of big rotational swings—a gamble in the passing lane getting covered by that dude who really enjoys Mike and Ike. 

Playing alongside friends is a treat. Winning alongside friends is a special privilege from the basketball heavens. 

These guys won together on the biggest collegiate stage. 

Hart was a junior by the time DiVincenzo and Brunson got to Nova. Though DiVincenzo didn’t play much in that 2015-16 season, Hart and Brunson were two of the Wildcats’ leaders. Along with Kris Jenkins and Ryan Arcidiacono, they guided the Wildcats to the 2016 national championship. They conquered close games, raced back from big deficits and survived the gauntlet together. Together is the key here. 

It’s a fact that the bonds we as humans form get deepened by stressful environments and heightened situations. When you’re 18-21 years old and the entire nation is watching your every step, giving you all their opinions, placing their hopes on your shoulders, that’s a stressful environment and a heightened situation. 

Then when Hart was playing for the Lakers in 2018, Brunson and DiVincenzo won the natty again. More stressful environments and heightened situations. 

So, of course these guys are actually friends. Their bond began in college, where young minds are shaped and formed without nationally-televised basketball games. Add in the games on TV, the thousands of screaming fans, the legacy of a Hall of Fame coach and that would’ve made for a deeper bond together. Now fast forward a few years and add the layer of Madison Square Garden, the generations-deep Knicks fandom and the pressure of possibly playing in May or June…that’s a lifelong bond. 

The three of them hit the bathroom together to change into their uniforms at our shoot. When they come back to the gym, Brunson’s no longer wearing DiVincenzo’s jersey. But they’re all still laughing. And they continue laughing. Hart is the ringleader. Brunson is the seemingly-innocent-but-actually- devilish instigator. And DiVincenzo uncontrollably laughs at it all. 

None of this happens without Brunson, by the way. He’s the All-Star, he’s the Knicks’ best player. He’s their floor general. He’s their clutch scorer. He’s the heartbeat of the Garden. All the numbers point to this being his best season yet. Those numbers actually become redundant because they all make it clear that he’s an elite player. One number, however, sums it up. Five. 

He’s fifth in the NBA in scoring, as of this writing. 

Nobody thought that the 33rd overall pick in the 2018 Draft would one day lead the Knicks’ franchise revival, be an All-Star or be near the top of the League in scoring. But the game is easy when playing with friends. 

Especially with friends who love to compete. All three of these guys are physical. They hustle hard. Hart hits the glass, DiVincenzo recovers from injury after injury and Brunson goes down into the land of trees despite his height. They relish the big moments. They love the challenge. It’s obvious they love playing together because they play together. 

Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau spoke about them after a big road win over the Golden State Warriors in March.

“Josh’s role expanded,” Thibs said at his postgame press conference. “Donte’s role expanded. And Jalen just keeps rolling. It’s a team, and that’s what we prioritize. We want guys to sacrifice and put the team first, but there has to be that belief. I think when your best players have that belief, then your entire team ends up having that belief.”

Even when they’re making fun of each other and laughing at each other, they do it together. After about an hour in front of our cameras in that Connecticut gym, they leave, together. 

Portraits by Marcus Stevens.

The post The Reunion of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo appeared first on SLAM.

We compiled a group of individuals (programming note: 30 entries, not 30 people total) who mean something special to SLAM and to our audience. Read the full list here and order your copy of SLAM 248, where this list was originally published, here.

Most players in the “SLAM 30” would, honestly, be in most basketball outlets’ rankings of the most relevant 30 players of the last three decades. Brandon Jennings, however, is a special case. Thanks to a truly symbiotic relationship made possible by Brandon’s love of SLAM, the people he surrounded himself with and our admitted bias to players who fuck with us as hard as we fuck with them, BJ is like “our” All-Star.

The relationship started regularly enough—not that it didn’t mean the world to a young Brandon. He got what we used to call a “little Punk” story in our high school section, shot in his Compton (CA) Dominguez uniform and interviewed by Ryan Jones. Just a sophomore at the time, Jennings remembers it fondly. “That was my first look in SLAM,” he says on a recent Zoom. “In the Dominguez locker room. I was so fucking excited! Like, Everybody is gonna see me. I’m known now. The SLAM thing was always the biggest thing in sports and basketball magazines. When you did the cover shoot with Sebastian [Telfair] and LeBron James and I was a kid in the 7th grade…I had to be like them. SLAM was always that stamp of approval.” 

Jennings’ path got more unique from there—as a player and a SLAM subject—as he transferred to Oak Hill Academy in VA for his last two years of high school. Not a shocking move, but to travel all the way from L.A. and go for two years was rather brave. BJ made a couple appearances in SLAM/related pubs while he was a Warrior. In August ’07, while in NYC for the second annual Elite 24 game (in which, he proudly reminds me, he set a record that was never broken for assists in the game with 23), he posed for the cover of our special PUNKS magazine alongside fellow top guards Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans and Lance Stephenson. Half a year later, back in the Big Apple for the Jordan Brand Classic, we shot Jennings at Grand Central Terminal for our High School All-American First Team. He’s got fond memories of both shoots but does share the one gripe he has with us in our long history. “I’m not gonna front—I was mad I didn’t get the diary that year,” Jennings says of the storied column that was penned by Evans that season.

Jennings’ path took two massively unexpected turns after high school. For one, the University of Arizona commit chose not to wait out any debates surrounding his academic eligibility and turned pro—in Italy! For another, he did so in Under Armours, becoming the first signing the famous “football” brand ever made in hoops. UA’s foray into basketball was largely led by Kris Stone, a former SLAM Advertising Manager who had a flair for marketing, a belief in Brandon and a loyalty to the Basketball Bible. We became, in many ways, the perfect place for UA to hype its move—with Jennings at the forefront. And since we’re always suckers for good access to a dope baller with personality—we were down. After a couple more small appearances in our pages, Jennings’ next SLAM hit was big time: the European adventurer was on the cover of SLAM 128 next to a more conventional Continental prospect—Spanish wunderkind Ricky Rubio. 

Future Shock, indeed.

“That was so unreal for me,” Jennings recalls today. “The decision I’d made. Ricky being who he was. I was a little nervous. The first time I met him was at that shoot, the night before we played against each other in Barcelona. I met his mom, too, rest in peace. Ricky and I just shared a little chit-chat that day. We knew we were about to do some big shit.”

Jennings’ time in the L came sooner than Rubio’s. A little while after that cover, he was in the 2009 Draft, going 10th overall to the Milwaukee Bucks. And soon after that, in just his seventh NBA game, Jennings dropped 55 points. On the Golden State Warriors and their rookie PG, Stephen Curry. What were we supposed to do? Put him on his first solo cover, of course. Behold SLAM 135, an Adam Fleischer-Atiba Jefferson production that featured Jennings bursting off the front page in a fire red Bucks uni. “That meant that I made it,” Jennings says. “I was that kid running to the store to get that magazine. Now I’m on the cover. That was a full-circle moment.”

Jennings played all 82 as a rook and copped a solo KICKS cover the next summer. He’d go on to play 555 games in the League, bouncing from Milwaukee to a few different spots before finishing his career as a Buck in ’18. It was an appropriate ending, because it connected Jennings to the Giannis Era in Milwaukee and greatly extended the lifespan of his #BucksInSix quote.

And even though he stopped playing, Jennings has stayed fresh and relevant. Most notably, he’s the founder of streetwear brand Tuff Crowd. And in another full-circle moment, the brand recently collabed with Under Armour and its current signature hooper, none other than Curry. 

You’ll never guess where you can read more about it…

Photo by Atiba Jefferson. Featured image via Getty Images.

The post THE 30 PLAYERS WHO DEFINED SLAM’S 30 YEARS: Brandon Jennings appeared first on SLAM.

We compiled a group of individuals (programming note: 30 entries, not 30 people total) who mean something special to SLAM and to our audience. Read the full list here and order your copy of SLAM 248, where this list was originally published, here.

Forget how Merriam-Webster defines “iconic,” here’s how it should be defined: someone who or something that makes an enormous impact not only through his or her or its presence but also through his or her or its absence. 

“Iverson left.” 

Those were the first two words I remember hearing from Tony Gervino when he called from the NBA’s rookie orientation in Florida where we were shooting what would become the 1996 Draft fold-out cover. This was a huge shoot for us, and now we weren’t gonna have the first overall pick. (This news overshadowed the far funnier story of us having to keep a curious Todd Fuller—11th overall pick, Golden State Warriors—from wandering into the shoot. As an aside to an aside, if we included Golden State’s Draft pick, we probably would have taken out Kobe and wow how things could have been different.) 

“Iverson left.” This wasn’t good.

Over the years, we became incredibly familiar with those words, with that happenstance. Iverson was always there on the court and almost never there for photo shoots. He was 12 hours late for the SLAM 32 “Soul on Ice” shoot, dipped from practice (yes, yes, I know) entirely before we were supposed to shoot him for SLAM 42 the following year. We’d driven from New York to Philly, Clay Patrick McBride had everything set up, done the test shots and for a while we just stood around, hoping beyond hope he’d come back. He didn’t. We finally broke it all down and drove back. Instead, we eventually shot him in a room off to the side at an arena—grabbed him for literally a minute before a game and shot maybe one roll. For the record, every frame was amazing.

But it’s that rookie cover I keep going back to, and how Iverson’s absence ended up defining it better than his presence ever could have. It helped of course that Kobe Bryant and Ray Allen and Steve Nash ended up Hall of Famers (and Stephon Marbury and Jermaine O’Neal should be). In a way, Iverson being on there would have completed it. But in another way, his not being on there makes it cooler. This might just be me after-the-fact rationalizing, but I don’t think so.

Iverson had already had his debut SLAM cover by then, an action shot while he was at Georgetown that Scoop had to convince Dennis would work. He’d get another in short order, “Who’s Afraid of Allen Iverson?” on the June ’97 issue. This was the proto-Iverson, a skinny little dude with one tattoo on his bicep, cornrows, a single long gold chain. This is who the mainstream sports media was railing against? By then he’d been Rookie of the Year, dropped 40-plus in five straight games, dropped Michael Jordan with a quick bap-bap, BAP-BAP crossover (and earned the GOAT’s ire in their previous matchup by proclaiming he didn’t have to respect anybody). Iverson loved Jordan, still does, but on the court? No love there.

Off the court though? I gave Iverson a copy of that “Who’s Afraid of Allen Iverson?” issue—we all used to carry copies of the latest issues to give to players—and in return he gave me a big hug. This was the first time I’d met him. But that’s how Allen Iverson was, and how he is. If he loves you, he shows it. I think of Sosa talking to Tony Montana in Scarface and saying, “There’s no lying in you, Tony.” There’s no lying in Iverson either. The last time I saw him, a couple years ago, he gave me a hug, too. “Who’s Afraid of Allen Iverson?” Someone who never interacted with him, that’s for sure.

The “Soul on Ice” cover, which came nearly two years later (March ’99) happened with the NBA still in the throes of a lockout (note the “84% NBA Free!” in the upper left corner). It—both the cover shoot and the story—were part of a larger Iverson media push, so both the shoot and the interview for it were slotted in right before The Source Sports (The Source’s sports offshoot). We had to hire his hairstylist to both unbraid and re-braid his hair so he wouldn’t go into the Source Sports shoot still sporting a blowout. Of course in those pre-social media days, it was actually possible to keep a secret, so when the cover hit, no one was expecting it (an editor at Sports Illustrated actually asked Tony how we got him to wear a wig).

The interview happened in the morning and was something he wasn’t late for—I rode around NYC in a limo as he went to Modell’s HQ with Reebok (and stopped in the diamond district to get a massive piece of platinum and diamond jewelry repaired) and then out to Teterboro Airport. There, a Source Sports guy would accompany him on the flight and I’d catch a car service back to Manhattan. Now, Iverson is clearly not and never has been a morning guy unless he’s coming at it from the other side and preferably from the Main Line TGI Fridays. But he was still cool and compelling and heartfelt and honest to a fault—asked if he could be any other NBA player, he eschewed his childhood hero MJ (by then retired again) and went with Latrell Sprewell, who had yet to be reinstated by the NBA after choking coach PJ Carlesimo. It’s kind of crazy to think that at the time, he was still just 23 years old and hadn’t even been an All-Star yet. That summer, when KICKS Magazine opened to include all brands (it launched as Nike-only), he was on the cover of that, too.

In 2001, Iverson became a god. There was the All-Star Game in DC in February, where he scored 15 of his 25 points in a furious fourth-quarter comeback from down 21 to win by 1. He was, of course, named MVP. On top of that he dropped 50-plus twice in the regular season and won MVP, dropped 50-plus twice more in a seven-game series against Toronto (and posted a season-high 16 assists in the closeout game), and took the undermanned Sixers to the Finals to face an undefeated Lakers juggernaut that he promptly defeated in Game 1 in Los Angeles with a 48-point masterpiece. To paraphrase then-SportsCenter anchor Dan Patrick, you couldn’t stop Allen Iverson or hope to contain him.

People tried, of course. That magical year in Philly did not lead to sustained postseason success, the clashes with Larry Brown did not cease, the local sports radio call-in types did not become rational. Iverson continued to be judged for what he didn’t do (show up to every practice, shoot at a high percentage) rather than what he did (carry a team on his back every f*cking game). I am half convinced that the analytic nerd obsession with “efficiency” was at least in part embraced because it discredited Iverson, a guy whose misses wouldn’t have even been shots for someone who didn’t have his crossover or first step or long arms or big hands or sheer fearlessness to drive again and again into the teeth of physical defenses.

Here was a guy who stood 6-0 (maybe), weighed 165 pounds (maybe) and led the League in minutes per game seven times! He averaged over 40 minutes a game for his career!

He was as superhuman as could be, but Iverson remained a hero to most for his humanity, in a way that even Jordan never was. Jordan always seemed to be above the fray even when he was in it, unreal even when he was standing right in front of you. The myth became the man. Iverson? He was the people’s champ long before Paul Wall, grindin’ out of VA before The Clipse. If you were a young NBA fan, Iverson was a guy who dressed like you, listened to the same music you did; he faced untold struggles and doubters and still he rose. He was a hip-hop icon who was himself of hip-hop, with the cornrows and the throwbacks and the jewelry and even the (unreleased) album. He did commercials with Jadakiss, pushed a Bentley, kept crazy hours and still dropped 45 whenever he felt like it.

Let’s talk about the throwbacks for a minute. His wearing his own Wilt-era No. 3 Hardwood Classics jersey on the cover of SLAM 32 was instrumental in kicking off the whole craze and making the Mitchell & Ness flagship store in Philly a must-hit spot for everyone (including us). AI even rocked throwbacks on the bench when he was out—I distinctly remember him wearing an Abdul-Jabbar Bucks joint in Milwaukee—but, despite the NBA brand synchronicity, the NBA commissioner didn’t love it. There were rumblings of an NBA dress code long before one was ever implemented. So when we were brainstorming ideas for Iverson on the February ’05 cover, I came up with this: What if we shoot Iverson in a suit? 

The first question was whether he’d be down to do it, which he was. Phew. The second question was, did he even own a suit? The last time he wore one was probably when he got drafted. The answer to that, at least in terms of whether he had one he’d be willing to be shot in, was no. So he had one made. If you look at that cover with its black-and-white Atiba Jefferson photo, you’ll notice the suit is kind of baggy. So is the fedora, somehow. He’s like a hip-hop Humphrey Bogart. I ran into Que Gaskins, Iverson’s long-time Reebok guy, some years later, and he told me that Iverson kept telling the tailor everything had to be bigger, no, bigger than that, so many times that the guy finally just threw up his hands and quit. Well, nearly quit anyway. In October of that year, David Stern finally instituted the long-anticipated NBA dress code and hey, at least Allen Iverson already had a suit.

AI’s career didn’t end the way anyone wanted it to, but it lasted long enough for him to get endless bouquets from the generation that came after his—fitting for someone who never hesitated to pay homage himself, once wearing Dr. J’s No. 6 instead of his own No. 3 in an All-Star Game. Traded to Denver, he teamed with a young Carmelo Anthony, his own 6-7 doppelganger complete with ink and braids and a headband. Their SLAM cover together in March 2008 is a frozen moment of laughter, two guys clearly delighted in each other’s presence. And it wasn’t just Melo; that whole class of 2003 was filled with Iverson fans, from LeBron—forced to cover up his own tattoos in high school—to Dwyane Wade, who wore No. 3 because of him.

Allen Iverson inspired us, too. Here was a guy who, from the very start, was uncompromising in what he believed, in what he did, in what he said. With apologies to the great Kool G Rap, he was the realest. It shone through in everything, from his on-court performances to photo shoots to Reebok commercials. There were layers to go through to get to him of course, but by the time you did get to him, you knew exactly where he stood.

Yeah, he could be exasperating, especially to photographers (and writers) with schedules and families and whatnot, but even they got past it when they realized AI wasn’t being malicious or big-timing them or anything, it’s just who he was. But his presence—or his absence—was always huge. We always did what we had to do to get him, no matter how many times we had to reschedule. After all, we knew what missing him was like, and we didn’t want that to happen again. 

Photo via Getty Images. Portrait by Clay Patrick McBride.

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Villanova Defeats UNC in the National Championship Game at the Buzzer (2016)

UNC’s Marcus Paige had just hit what would be one of the NCAA’s craziest shots in national championship history to tie the game at 74 a piece with just under 5 seconds remaining. Unfortunately for Paige, that shot is erased from many people’s memory bank because of what transpired shortly after. Coming out of a timeout with the length of the court to go and 4.7 seconds on the clock, Villanova’s Kris Jenkins inbounded the ball to Ryan Arcidiacono. He’d make his way up the court and pitch the ball back to Jenkins who was trailing the play. With 1.2 seconds left, Jenkins walked into an open three-pointer, let off a picture-perfect textbook release and the rest was history. Buzzer beaters are among the most exciting plays in basketball. But a buzzer-beater to win the national championship?! There’s a pretty good chance I’ll never see another walk-off buzzer-beater in the national championship again in my life. For that reason alone, I’ll savor this moment forever.

LeBron James Breaks the NBA’s All-Time Scoring Record (2023)

I’m just old enough to remember watching LeBron James when he was at St. Vincent-St. Mary. It feels like yesterday he was deemed “The Chosen One” as a 17-year-old junior in high school. Love him or hate him, there’s no true basketball lover who doesn’t respect the man. As a Kobe fan, I never rooted for LeBron growing up but I always respected his greatness. Quite frankly, he didn’t leave me with much of a choice. His journey from high school phenom to the Mount Rushmore of basketball has been admirable, to say the least. Watching him shoot one of his patented mid-range fadeaway jumpers to break Kareem’s all-time NBA scoring record is a basketball memory I’ll tell my kids about one day. At the rate he’s going, LeBron looks like he could play another 20 years. My future kids just might get to watch him for themselves.

Stephen Curry Breaks the NBA’s All-Time Three-Point Record (2021)

Every time Stephen Curry makes a three-pointer, he breaks a record. His own record. It’s no secret that Steph is the best shooter to walk this planet. On Dec. 14, 2022, under the bright lights of the world’s most famous arena Madison Square Garden, he stamped what was already a foregone conclusion. As he broke free from the Knicks’ defense, he caught a pass on the right wing from Andrew Wiggins and let it go with no hesitation like he’s done too many times to count over the course of his career. Nothing but net. Watching him lead his underdog Davidson Wildcats on an unprecedented NCAA Tournament run back in 2008 was mesmerizing. Experiencing watching him break the NBA’s all-time three-point record, and counting, is the epitome of what makes Steph the greatest show on earth.

Dawn Staley Becomes the First Black Coach to Win Two Division I Titles (2022)

I’m a fan of so many women’s college basketball programs, but since I was a kid UConn has been my favorite. I never ever root against them. This was the case in 2022 as they faced the South Carolina Gamecocks in the national championship. From the tip-off, South Carolina controlled the game and ended up pulling out a 15-point victory for what’d be Dawn Staley’s second national championship. As much as I would’ve loved to see Paige Bueckers capture a chip, I couldn’t help but be proud of witnessing history with Coach Staley becoming the first Black coach, male or female, to win two Division I titles. She’s known for no-nonsense approach to the game, but it’s evident how much she loves her players. In a sport that’s made up of mostly Black athletes, Black women coaches aren’t represented equitably. Coach Staley takes pride in her Blackness and carries that chip on her shoulder. Being able to watch her handle herself so gracefully on the way to making Black history is one of my favorite hoop memories that I can recall. 

Kobe Bryant Scores 60 in his Farewell Game at Staples Center (2016)

On April 13, 2016, basketball enthusiasts had a tough decision to make. You could either choose to watch the Golden State Warriors strive for their record-breaking 73rd victory or you could tune in to watch Kobe Bryant’s last game ever. As much as I love some Golden State, Kobe’s farewell was the easy choice for me. At this point, Kobe was fighting through a broken down body that he put on the line for two decades on his way to becoming one of the greatest hoopers to ever grace a court. The aura surrounding the game was charged with emotion as Kobe delivered a performance for the ages. He willed his way to 60 points, and most importantly a comeback win over the Jazz. Every basket felt like a poetic punctuation mark to an illustrious career. As the final buzzer sounded, the cheers of the crowd echoed gratitude, respect and a profound farewell to one of the game’s greatest icons. Kobe’s last game was more than a spectacle; it was a symphony of greatness that basketball fans will cherish forever.

Curtis’ Corner

Hoops: College Basketball “Feast Week” is underrated as a series of sporting events. This past week, we’ve seen some great hoop from some of the top teams in the country. Feast Week gives teams a taste of tournament-style play in preparation for March Madness down the road. The Zach Edey-led Purdue Boilermakers won the Maui Invitational for the first time in program history. Could this be the year they win the Big Dance, too?

Rap: Like most rap fans, Scary Hours 3 has been on constant rotation for me. Every track is barred up, and you hatin’ if you say otherwise. “Evil Ways” and “The Shoe Fits” are my go-to’s from the EP. Furthermore, I’m patiently waiting for Cole’s “The Fall Off” and really curious to hear what it will sound like. What are the chances we get it before the year is out?

Everything Black: André 3000’s “New Blue Sun” is beautiful. It’s the perfect background music for any occasion. I love how comfortable André is living in his truth. As much as I’d love one, he doesn’t owe us a hip-hop album. His legacy is set in stone as one of the culture’s greatest artists ever.

As always, here’s the official Hoops, Rap and Everything Black playlist. It’ll be updated weekly with each column. Add the playlist to your library to stay in the know, and be sure to follow SLAM on Spotify.

Photos via Getty Images

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To celebrate the moment, we got San Antonio Spurs superfan Shea Serrano to explain what this moment means: to him, to the Spurs fanbase, to the world. It’s time. 

Victor Wembanyama covers SLAM 247. Get your copy here.

This cover story will eventually be about Victor Wembanyama, a 7-foot-4 exaggeration of a human and the most exciting and enticing new basketball prospect in two decades. First, though, it’s going to be about Ralph.

Ralph is a security guard at the building where I office out of. He and I talk, were I to guess, for an average of about 45 seconds each day, almost always in the mornings when I first arrive at work and only ever about sports. 

The way our interactions typically go is: I arrive to the building around 8 a.m. I type an entry code into a keypad at the front door. I wait half a second to hear a tiny clicking sound that lets me know that the door, large and metal and otherwise impenetrable, is momentarily unlocked. I pull the door open. I walk into the building. I look to my right. And that’s where I see Ralph, who is stationed at a desk some twenty or so feet away. I say “Ralphieeeeeeeee,” and I always stretch the final “E” out long like that in hopes that it makes me appear more charming and interesting than I actually am. He says, “What’s up, Shea” back to me, but he says it in a normal way because he doesn’t have to pretend to be charming and interesting because he actually is charming and interesting. 

I walk over to him, we touch fists, and then I comment on something sports-related, to which he responds with something sports-related. Then there’s one more conversational volley (either a follow-up to the first sports thing, or the introduction of a new sports thing that is slightly less important than the first), and then that’s it. I smile and laugh and he smiles and laughs and then I walk away, both of us knowing we very likely will not see or talk to the other person again until the next morning, at which point we will reenact the entire scene again with only slightly different dialogue. We have done this each work day for nearly three years now. It’s the best relationship I have ever had with someone who carries handcuffs.

When the Spurs won the NBA Draft Lottery this past May (and with it, the chance to draft Victor Wembanyama later that summer), I texted Ralph in celebration. We had never texted with each other before that moment (in fact, I had to text a separate person in the building to even get Ralph’s phone number) or even spoken with one another anywhere in the world other than at his desk on a weekday morning. But I felt compelled to reach out to him that evening. 

I felt compelled to expand the conditions and parameters of our relationship, even if I didn’t realize that that’s what I was doing at the time. 

Victor Wembanyama bends and reshapes everything.

Basketball things, obviously.

But other things, too, it seems. 

***

It’s always been weird to watch a human who is 7-foot-3 or taller dribble a basketball, but it’s never been weird the way Victor Wembanyama makes it weird. And what I mean is:

Picture, say, for example, Hasheem Thabeet (7-foot-3) dribbling the ball up the court. Or picture, say, for another example, Boban Marjanovic (7-foot-4) dribbling the ball up the court. Or picture, say, for a third example, Chuck Nevitt (7-foot-5) dribbling the ball up the court. Or picture, say, for a final example, Tacko Fall (7-foot-6) dribbling the ball up the court. Those are all very weird scenarios and situations and circumstances, both in abstraction and in practice. The arms, the legs, the elbows, the knees, the ball, the bouncing, the walking—it’s just all a weird combination together. With regard to traditional basketball aesthetics, nothing is where it’s supposed to be, or moving the way it’s supposed to move. Somebody that tall bringing the ball up the court is something that, if you turned on your TV and happened to see it during a game, you would say to yourself some version of, “Okay. Well, clearly something has gone wrong with this offensive possession. This couldn’t possibly have been the first option.”     

But that’s not what you say when you see Victor Wembanyama bringing the ball up the court. What you say when you see Victor Wembanyama bringing the ball up the court is some version of, “Okay. Well. Fuck. We’re all dead.”

Because it’s smooth, the way he dribbles.

And fluid.

And coordinated.

And beautiful.

And devastating.

It’s like if God was looking at a picture of a guard on someone’s iPhone in heaven, touched the screen with his pinched-together index finger and thumb, expanded the image to make it bigger, and then was like, “Boom. There you go. That’s a person now.” 

Victor Wembanyama dribbles a basketball completely normally. 

That’s why it’s weird in a way that it’s never been weird before. 

***

The San Antonio Spurs played the Miami Heat on October 13, 2023. It was the first home game of the preseason for the Spurs, and so I guess that was a little bit why it was important, but also Victor Wembanyama was playing in it, and so that’s mainly why it was important. 

And I would like to tell you about one specific play from that night. 

So:

With a little under 40 seconds to go in the second quarter, Wembanyama dribbled the ball up the court. There was no rush. And there was no urgency. There was just a very tall person dribbling a basketball calmly and confidently and normally, which, again, was entirely weird. 

His defender, a 6-foot-10 League veteran named Thomas Bryant, waited for him in a defensive position a few feet beyond the three-point line.

As Wembanyama crossed the half court line, Tre Jones (point guard for the Spurs) hustled over and angled to set a screen on Bryant. Wembanyama, spying the action, sped up slightly as Jones approached, hoping to force Bryant into making some kind of defensive mistake.

Bryant didn’t, though. He did what you’re supposed to do when a smaller player heads over to set a screen on a bigger player out on the perimeter: you get ready for the smaller player to slip the screen at the last second so as to create a new second action to potentially exploit a suddenly out of position defense. 

And that’s exactly what happened.  

Bryant’s instincts were 100 percent correct.

And it made 0 percent of a difference.

Jones slipped the screen and slid over to the right bend area of the three-point line. Wembanyama passed him the ball. And Bryant sat back in the space waiting for Jones to make a decision. And that’s when everything turned to muck for him, and for the Heat, and (potentially) (probably) for the NBA. 

Before Jones had even fully gathered the ball, Wembanyama, still out past the three-point line, pointed to the sky. The gesture, while completely ludicrous in its implication, was impossible to misinterpret. Despite (a) still being 22 or so feet from the rim, and despite (b) having a defender to his immediate left, and despite (c) Bryant still being directly involved in the play, and despite (d) the other three Miami Heat defenders also being in the general area, Wembanyama wanted Jones to throw him an alley-oop.

Jones, suddenly an audience member on stage with a magician during the reveal of a big trick, decided he wanted to see what would happen if he did what Wembanyama was asking him to do, and so he did what Wembanyama was asking him to do. 

Right as the ball touched his hands, Jones tossed it up into the air. 

Victor dove into the paint, planted both shoes nine feet before the rim, jumped as four of the five Heat defenders converged in the area, snatched the ball out of the atmosphere with both hands, cocked it back, then thunderdunked it before anyone else could even jump. 

The arena, rightly, erupted.

The internet, rightly, erupted.

Reggie Miller, who was one of the commentators calling the game that night, rightly, erupted.

“LOOK AT THIS!” he shouted, his voice fat with astonishment.

Or: “LOOK AT THIS!” he shouted, his voice fat with surprise.

Or: “LOOK AT THIS!” he shouted, his voice fat with glee. 

Or: “LOOK AT THIS!” he shouted, because that’s the only thing you can shout when you’re in the middle of watching something as ridiculous as a 7-foot-4 Frenchman fly into the paint against a completely set defense, jump from several feet outside of the restricted circle, and then dunk an alley-oop that he called for from out past the three-point line.

It was such a wild play. 

And an unbelievable play. 

And a preposterous play.

It was also, at best, only the fourth most impressive thing Victor Wembanyama would end up doing that night. 

***

The San Antonio Spurs played the Golden State Warriors on October 20, 2023. It was the final game of the preseason for the Spurs, and so I guess that was a little bit why it was important, but also Victor Wembanyama was playing in it, and so that’s mainly why it was important. 

During the game, Victor Wembanyama: (1) caught a pass out past the three-point line, crossed over his defender off the dribble, pump faked a jumper, then pulled up for real as his defender floated harmlessly past him; (2) grabbed a defensive rebound, brought the ball up court, initiated the offense, then hit an and-one circus shot from behind the backboard while being pushed out of bounds (he also hit the accompanying free throw); (3) closed out from 10 feet away to block a Klay Thompson three-pointer and then sprinted down court to receive and dunk the post-block outlet pass (my favorite part of this play is that he caught the pass, hit the brakes, waited for a trailing Klay Thompson to zoom by, then waited an extra second so that a second defender could catch up and get dunked on); and (4) defended a smaller player on the perimeter, forced him into the paint, blocked his shot, ran down court as a Jeremy Sochan gathered the errant ball, caught a pass from Sochan, then pulled up for 3, splashing it in.  

It was four great plays that would look great on anybody’s full-game highlight reel.

Victor Wembanyama did them all over just a 90-second stretch in the middle of the first quarter. 

***

There is no precedent for Victor Wembanyama. 

There’s no single player you can reach backwards in time for and attach him to, like how when LeBron James showed up and people were like, “He’s the next Michael Jordan,” or how when Clarence Weatherspoon showed up and people were like, “He’s the next Charles Barkley,” or how when any white player shows up and people are like, “He’s like that other white player.”

There is no precedent for Victor Wembanyama. 

There are only amalgamations.

“He’s like if you mixed Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin Durant.” 

“He’s like if you mixed Kareem Abdul Jabbar with Tracy McGrady.”

“He’s like if you mixed a fighter jet and a jaguar.”

That’s the kind of shit you have to say when you talk about him.

I have no idea how Victor Wembanyama’s career is going to play out. 

I suspect there will be championship rings and MVP trophies and various other accolades. 

But that’s just a guess. 

What I do know, though, is that right now, right at this particular moment, it kind of doesn’t matter. 

What matters is what he’s already given us, which is to say: 

Joy. 

And excitement. 

Excitement for now and excitement for the future.

Excitement in imagining what might be; what he might do; what he might mean for basketball; what he might mean for everything.

Victor Wembanyama is here. 

SLAM 247 Cover Tees featuring Wemby are available now.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post He’s Here: What the Arrival of Victor Wembanyama Means to the World appeared first on SLAM.

Hot girl sh*t, never let ’em cool off…

To put it plainly, the Aces’ state-of-the-art practice facility is fuego. Located right next door to the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders headquarters, it’s a 64,000-square-foot facility equipped with everything an athlete could ever dream of. A pair of double doors leads you to their two practice courts, which are so shiny and new that you can see your own reflection in them (according to Front Office Sports, this area can seat more than 400 people). There’s a player’s lounge, a film room, an infrared sauna, a cryotherapy room and more. It’s hard to not just stop and stare at it all, especially knowing that most teams in the WNBA don’t have a facility like this (yet?). But then again, Vegas isn’t like anywhere else. 

And the Aces aren’t just any team.

WSLAM 3 featuring A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young is out now.

In a city full of flashing lights and high rollers, they’re the squad shining the brightest right now, with the best record in the WNBA (13-1) as we go to press. The night before our shoot, they had Michelob ULTRA Arena, also known as “The House,” rockin’ with a 31-point blowout win over the Minnesota Lynx. Afterward, a crowd of fans waited eagerly in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino lobby, holding posters and jerseys and hoping to take flicks with the reigning champs. Drive down The Strip and you’ll see that the Aces are modern-day rockstars. A poster of the starting five, including Candace Parker, hangs outside the arena. Nearby at the Aria Resort, there’s an entire Aces-themed cake and “sugar masterpiece” on display at the Patisserie, with a sign next to it that lists fun facts about the team, including: The Aces lineup boasts five US Olympic gold medalists in A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young and Candace Parker. 

“Everyone talks about the entertainment side, but you just knew that the sports side was brewing, and to be a part of it is truly amazing,” says Wilson. “It takes a village to build and grow anything, but when it comes to a sports team, I think Vegas really took us in. Vegas is my second home; I’m not afraid to say that I love it here.”

Vegas is now a certified sports town and has its WNBA franchise to thank for bringing the city its first-ever major professional sports title just last year. Now the other pro teams are catching up—the Golden Knights just won the NHL Stanley Cup last month, while NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has hinted at an NBA team possibly coming to Sin City, saying that Vegas “will make a great location for a franchise one day.”

Still, there seems to be some confusion about just how impactful the Aces are. When they started the 2023 season with a seven-game winning streak, the internet compared them to the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors. After the Knights won the Stanley Cup, President Joe Biden congratulated them on Twitter, calling the hockey team the “first major professional franchise in such a proud American city.”

Rather than diminish the Knights’ performance, let’s look at what the girlies have been doing for quite some time now. Plum, who was drafted No. 1 overall in 2017, has been a key piece of the franchise since it was located in San Antonio. She emerged from an Achilles injury in 2020 to become the 2021 Sixth Woman of the Year and is now an All-Star and All-Star Game MVP. Wilson was drafted No. 1 just a year after KP and has gone on to win Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, two MVPs the 2022 FIBA World Cup MVP and has been named an All-Star four times. Oh, and she also has an entire statue dedicated to her at South Carolina, where she won a national championship in 2017. 

Then there’s Gray, who was drafted in the first round back in 2014 by the Sun and is a four-time All-Star. She won a championship with the Sparks (alongside Parker) in 2016. After signing with the Aces as a free agent in 2021, CG got herself another chip last season and won Finals MVP. And then there’s Young, yet another former No. 1 pick, who won the Most Improved Player award and was named an All-Star last year. Add in the fact that one of the greatest players of all time, Candace Parker, signed with the team this past February, and the squad has reached a whole different level this year. They’re beating opponents by 20, 30 and, as we saw early on in the season against the Storm, sometimes by 40 points. Our four cover stars are all averaging double-figure points per game. 

With so much talent, how exactly does a team full of stars work so well together? Look no further than the set of our cover shoot. There’s a confidence to Wilson, Plum, Gray and Young that’s undeniable—the way they’re able to command a room and own the moment. As they pose for the camera, the four All-Stars collectively decide that they want to try a new formation, something no one else has done before on the cover of SLAM, let alone the past two WSLAM issues. In between takes, their chemistry is apparent, even if they might think no one is noticing. They help fix each other’s hair, they have a lot of inside jokes and seem to always be laughing and chatting about something. At one point, Gray starts vlogging and recording on Young’s phone; later, Plum jokingly interrupts Wilson’s interview about the Divine Nine.

First impressions are everything, though, and if they’re being honest, it wasn’t all laughs in the beginning for Wilson and Plum. Back when they were both playing on the USA Basketball U18 team, the two were roommates and didn’t exactly vibe. “We did not speak to each other at all,” Plum admits. “And it’s not because we [didn’t] like each other, but you know, it’s like a really awkward age. You’re just kinda like, Hi…” 

Flash forward to today, and their relationship has grown over the years into a “friendship and a bond,” Wilson says. They’ve watched each other grow from top recruits to stars in college to superstars at the pro level. “A and I, like, we just kind of been through it over the years,” Plum says. “There’s just a level of, like, what’s understood doesn’t need to be said, and I feel like that’s not just in basketball, but in life. And we relate on a lot of levels like that…I appreciate A’ja because I feel like she just remains true to who she is, regardless of the circumstances. And a lot of things are thrown her way—professionally, personally, things like that—but she just handles it with grace. And I just admire that.” 

There are moments when even those closest to you have to keep it a buck, and KP and A have been there, too. In Game 2 of the Finals last year, it was Wilson who told Plum to “get her shit together” amidst a rough shooting night. Real always recognizes real. 

“I’m gonna always push KP’s buttons, I don’t care how she’s feeling. I don’t care what’s going on, I want her to be the best,” Wilson says when asked about that game. “And if that means setting a bar so high that I know she probably can’t get to it, just like not missing a shot in a playoff game, I’m going to [hold] her to that standard. I want her to be that, even if I see her dipping down or feeling like she’s getting into her head, I’m gonna always be the first person to let her know, I’m not going for that shit. Like, Wake up. We’re in this together, and you’re not by yourself. You’re not alone.” 

Plum lets out a laugh and dishes it right back. “I mean, that’s nothing new. I be yelling at her, too! Y’all don’t hear it in the press conference, but it’s OK.” 

“KP always circles back,” Wilson adds. 

Plum, who was the second leading scorer in the League last season, has also figured out how to respond this year—even when opponents are trapping her on ball screens, she delivers with elite reads and assists to her open teammates. As their former competitor, Gray knows that firsthand. 

“Maaaaaaaan, it was just a lot of moving targets,” Gray says, when asked about the scouting report on the Aces. “You had to stay in front of Jack[ie]. KP was just, like, she’s a bullet down the court. A’ja can score in a bunch of different ways. If you have to just foul her, just foul her. I was just like, I just don’t want to switch. Let me have my matchup, let me just lock in on that. They just have so many weapons. They were really rebuilding, but at any given moment, they could just take off.” 

And they did. By 2020, the Aces finished with the best record in the League and made it all the way to the Finals. “I was just excited to join some great athletes. I’m here with people that are going to be in the Hall of Fame,” says Gray. “And I could confidently say that [about] everybody that I look to [on] my left or right, for sure.” 

The feeling is mutual when it comes to how they feel about Gray. “Being young in the League and having to guard somebody like [Gray], it was just tough every night,” says Young. “The only thing I could do was try to get up and pressure her. But, yeah, it didn’t really matter. It didn’t matter because, I mean, she’s gonna throw a behind-the-back pass, no-look pass.” 

Adds Plum: “Pretty much you don’t want to get caught on the wrong side of the highlight. I would just foul. Or when she turns her head, put your hands the other way.” 

Plum also spent most of the offseason with Young and saw firsthand how hard she works. While the guard out of Notre Dame might come off as being on the quieter side, her teammates admit that she’ll just be in her own world, for real—she stayed dedicated to putting in hours in the gym and conditioning. “People don’t realize the amount of time and work that she has put into her game, and I don’t think that she gets a lot of credit for that. People don’t really talk about that. I don’t know why,” says Plum. “Because there’s a reason that people hit her and bounce off.”

Young went from averaging just 6.6 points as a rookie to leading the team in scoring so far this year with 20.2 ppg (she’s also currently ranked sixth in the W). Gray used to call her “Silent Assassin,” and it makes sense why: she’s so lethal with the rock, whether that’s from three or beating defenders off the dribble. “She’s even talking and getting a little spicy a little bit more now,” Gray says. “She’s veering away from Silent Assassin, now she’s ‘30-point Nugget.’” New nickname alert. 

“We all had vital parts to the championship run last year, and then now where we are today…Jackie is a huge piece of that,” Wilson adds.

And then there’s Wilson, who has been an undeniable force on the Aces from the moment she arrived. Whereas most rookies need time to develop, She’s made an impact immediately by starting every game and averaging 20.7 points that season. Now in Year 6, Wilson is still bringing the heat to everything she does, all while ranking second in blocks this season with 2.2 per game. “A’ja [is a] whole bucket with personality on 10, but still hasn’t reached her potential either. I think I can say the same about all of them, like not reaching their ceiling,” Gray says. 

Individual talents aside, when asked what’s been the biggest factor in the team’s success—which includes leading the W in almost every major statistical category, from points to blocks to both field goal and three-point percentage—they each attribute it to something different. Ask Wilson and she’ll say it’s about accountability. Gray adds that they just don’t take things personally. KP feels like it’s two things, the first being that they each have that hunger within: “It just kind of permeates,” she says. “It’s just kind of like, Oh, Chelsea is on one today. I need to raise my level. You know what I mean? Or like Jackie—one day in practice, I’m like, Oh, you want to be Michael Jordan today?”

Then there’s how selfless they all are. “It’s really easy to have an ego,” Plum adds. “Because everyone is valid, like everyone could argue for why they should be able to get more, etc. And I just feel like people are just like, No, we want to win. And we understand that that little bit of sacrifice is probably the most important part to keeping this together.” 

As for Young, it’s also their “contagious” energy and the way everyone competes day in and day out. “I think that’s what makes us so great in general.”

If there’s one thing about the Aces that might surprise you, it’s their take on the whole narrative that they’re a superteam. “We were talking about it earlier, like people say superteam, super this, super that…I’ve never said that before,” says Plum.

“I feel like it’s more of the media and other people saying that, and [they’re] more worried about that than us,” adds Wilson. “Because our locker room, we ’gon keep it tight, we’re gonna be us [and] who we are every single time we step foot on that court. So when it comes to superteams and all this big rah rah rah, I don’t think we pay any attention to it, because at the end of the day, we have to perform at a high, high level, and we’re gonna do whatever it takes to do that.”

“We were picked fifth last year,” Plum also points out, to which Gray adds, “I don’t [remember] what it was, but it wasn’t top three.” 

Plum continues: “No one was saying superteam then, and we had the same exact roster, and we won. And then this year, you know, we add[ed] some pieces, but like…”

“Our core is still our core,” A’ja agrees.

Maybe that’s it, though. The sugar, the spice and everything that’s nice about the Aces is within them. All of them, from 2022 WNBA Coach of the Year Becky Hammon to every single person on the roster. There’s no secret formula to their success. 

“I think that’s also why people [are] always trying to figure out what’s going on in Vegas, because we just really have fun,” Wilson continues. “And it’s not for the cameras. It’s not—it’s just who we are. We make it fun because it’s our job, and we love what we do. But I think that’s a huge factor [for] people like, What’s going on over there? What y’all got going on? And it’s like, we have fun, but then on top of that, we win games. So it’s kind of like, what’s the secret sauce? We are.” 

Wilson’s words couldn’t describe the Aces’ momentum any better, especially as they look to capture another title and continue their reign as a dynasty in the making. Meanwhile, Vegas is hosting WNBA All-Star Weekend this year, and by the time you’re reading this, many of you will be there, holding this very magazine in your hands as the excitement and energy buzzes all around you.

After all, women’s basketball and the Las Vegas Aces are the greatest show on earth.

We’re tuned in, are you? 

Rise of a Dynasty. Exclusive WSLAM 3 Cover Tees are available now.

Portraits by Atiba Jefferson.

The post Aces Superstars A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young Open Up on How They’ve Built a Powerhouse in Vegas appeared first on SLAM.

“In tennis you can tell who has control of the point by the depth of the players,” Kerr told the media back in 2022. “If you’re pressuring (in basketball) and get them starting their offense well above the three-point line you’re controlling the possession.”

As someone who started playing tennis about 10 years ago, and still continues to love the game today, I’m pretty familiar with the ins and outs of it. But when I had the opportunity to intern for SLAM in New York City, that’s when I was fully introduced to the world of basketball. After researching different players, watching highlights and helping organize older issues of SLAM, I started to think more about what the two sports could possibly learn from each other. 

Let’s keep it real, professional hoopers are just as into other sports as they are basketball, whether it’s golf or even tennis. Charlotte Hornets forward Gordon Hayward used to play tennis as a kid and once said that if basketball didn’t work out, he would’ve tried going pro in tennis. He still credits tennis for most of his mental game and says he still enjoys playing at home in his free time.

Meanwhile, tennis players like Frances Tiafoe also have a love for the game. Tiafoe even played in the 2023 NBA All-Star Celebrity game this year. 

There’s a lot that both games have in common—from popularity to the fact that both basketball and tennis are global sports. But there’s also a lot they can learn from each other.

SLAM let me have some fun with it during my internship and think creatively about what they might look like. 

Give tennis fans more freedom at matches to make the experience more enjoyable

When you’re at a tennis game the rules are pretty strict. If a stadium worker sees you standing, they’ll immediately run over to tell you to take your seat. If the umpire hears too much talking before a point, they’ll make an announcement for it to be quieter. When these types of things happen while you’re trying to enjoy a match, it can make you feel annoyed and not want to be there instead of enhancing the live sports experience. In this case, tennis can look to the NBA and see how players feed off the crowd’s energy. Why do you think teams have an at home advantage? If the tennis world eases up a bit and lets the audience go as crazy as they please, the experience for the viewer will be on a different level. It might even encourage more people to attend. 

What if tennis had two-way contracts and a G League?

The two-way contact has been monumental for the NBA and its players. By giving the athletes the opportunity to bounce between two clubs, it allows them the chance to adapt to pro ball rather than just being dropped in and expecting to produce from Day 1. Tennis should try a concept like this, especially since it can be hard for an up-and-coming player to break through while playing against the best. Without high rankings, they end up playing the top seeds and losing right away. 

If there were some sort of starter league where they could play before, or even a two-way type of contract, that could be way more beneficial for a player’s career.

Tennis needs a set season and a championship

Without a set season like the NBA, a tennis “season” starts to feel endless. There’s a new tournament every two weeks or so, and at the end of November, they get about five weeks off before it just restarts. While the NBA has now become a year-round game in terms of coverage, there’s an ebb and flow to the season with the playoffs being the most exciting time to conclude the season. 

Perhaps tennis should look to the PGA in terms of a playoff and championship model outside of the majors to add to the storytelling and drama of competing for a title each year.

The NBA could benefit from installing the Hawk-Eye computer vision system to make calls

In the past few years tennis has installed a camera system that makes all the calls exact. It’s changed the game. If basketball were to install this type of technology it could save not only time, but any confusion/skepticism on certain calls. Whether it’s for fouls or who hit it out of bounds, this could also be highly beneficial for the refs. 

Tennis should have an All-Star Weekend

NBA All-Star Weekend is when the League’s best players come together and compete in games and skills competitions. Tennis desperately needs something like this, and it would certainly draw some much-needed attention for the sport’s up-and-coming stars. From the skills competition to legends playing doubles (or pickleball as we just saw in Florida), having fun with the game and putting individual rivalries aside for a weekend would help propel the sport forward.

Basketball should have more men’s and women’s overlap at events

In all tennis tournaments there’s a men’s and a women’s draw going on at the same time. That means the game’s biggest stars, regardless of gender, are all in one place. Tennis is able to incorporate men’s, women’s, doubles, juniors, and even wheelchairs all in the same tournament. So why can’t we see that in basketball? Could the NBA season overlap with the WNBA season and have more crossover type of events? We’ve seen it a little during NBA All-Star Weekend through the years, but in more of an exhibition vs. competitive format. 

Tennis stars need to engage the crowd more

NBA players like Jayson Tatum will hit a crazy shot or make a great play and then engage with the crowd. The audience lives for that, and that feeling between players and fans makes the game even more exciting. Tennis doesn’t have that as much because the players tend to stay locked in (sure, they may yell for a second after winning a big point, but it’s just not the same). It’s no surprise that tickets to Nick Kyrgios’ matches sell more than any top player, and it’s time for the rest of the tour to tap into that same energy.

Allow tennis fans to cheer and yell during points

Imagine a silent NBA game. Not the same, right? In tennis, you can hear a pin drop throughout the arena while a point is being played, and fans are immediately shushed if they start to yell during points. While the silence may sometimes make the point more intense, it’s about time we start letting the fans get more into the game.

Let tennis fans walk to their seats at any moment during the match

Tennis only allows people to walk to their seats on a change over, which is every odd-numbered game. If you run to the bathroom or go to grab a drink and get back as they restart, you could be waiting to get in for over 10 minutes (and no one wants to do that). While you may have to wait a second if you’re sitting courtside at an NBA game, you can walk to your seats at any given moment, which encourages fans to feel like every game is truly an experience. 

Find ways to get the next generation of fans more into tennis

How do we make tennis more exciting and get the next generation to love the sport just as much as the rest of us do? Let’s look to the NBA. By marketing marquee matchups and following the game’s biggest stars from high school to college to the League, players are building a fanbase before they ever step on an NBA court. By unifying youth tennis and with more consistent storytelling, the hype will match the talent by the time they take center court at their first major.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post 10 Things the NBA and Tennis Can Learn From Each Other appeared first on SLAM.

Quickley is actually so dialed in that he forgets to do his own warm-up entirely. “I was just watching him shoot the whole time, and he was making every single shot,” the Knicks guard tells us.

It’s been three years since, but this season, it’s Quickley who has had plenty of eyes on him. The Havre de Grace, MD, native emerged as a finalist for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award (finishing second in voting) while averaging career highs in field-goal percentage and points per game as the Knicks headed into the playoffs. As a starter, Quickley stepped up big in the final weeks of the regular season while Jalen Brunson was out with an injury: he had a career-high 38 points against the Celtics on March 5 and a 40-ball against the Rockets at the end of the month.

All that momentum continued when Quickley dropped 39 points and hit 7 threes against the Pacers on April 5. Two days later, his phone suddenly started blowing up with notifications of people tagging him on Instagram—Damian Lillard had just endorsed him for 6MOY. 

“Just knowing that [an] NBA superstar is vouching for you is something that’s pretty cool,” Quickly says. He first got connected to Dame during his rookie year through Knicks assistant coach Johnnie Bryant and says the NBA All-Star has given him advice on “working hard and believing in the work.” 

While the award ultimately went to the Celtics’ Malcolm Brogdon, the moment is a testament to Quickley’s commitment. 

Then there are the words of wisdom he received from Stephen Curry. During what Quickley calls a “tough time where I couldn’t make any shots,” he decided to reach out to Curry and pick his brain. He asked the four-time NBA champ for his opinion on shooting when a player thinks they’re in a slump or not playing well. 

He got a reply, and the recording is almost three minutes long. In it, Quickley can hear the sound of a car’s windshield wipers and blinker lights in the background as Curry recorded his message: 

“Honestly, shooting is all confidence. Even if you miss some shots, your confidence shouldn’t change because you could miss 50 shots in a row, but if you know you’re still a shooter, you’re still a shooter. That doesn’t change.” 

Quickley still has the recording saved on his phone. He says he listens to it all the time.

“He’s the greatest shooter ever, why would I not listen to it as many times as I can?”

In times when shots haven’t been falling like he’d want them to, Quickley has still managed to channel Curry’s advice. After going scoreless in Game 4 in the first round of the playoffs this spring, he dropped 19 points in a series-clinching Game 5 win against the Cavs. 

“It’s part of the game, as far as, you know, shots not falling,” Quickley says. “But that’s never a reason to not play hard or not play defense or keep encouraging your teammates and things like that. So that’s something I’ve learned at a young age, and it’s something I’ve kept with me through the NBA.”

Another part of his approach is positive affirmations. Quickley says he’ll say things to himself while on the court, like, The next shot is going in. “I talk to myself like I’m my best friend,” he says.

But more than anything, it’s his faith that plays the most important role in his life. He still does 15 minute Bible studies with his mom whenever he needs and has pastors that he’s known throughout his life who give him words of encouragement throughout the season. He also has a scripture from Romans 8:28 as the screensaver on his phone: We know that all things work together for the good of those that love him and are called according to His purpose. 

In discussing the things he’s learned about himself over the last year, Quickly sounds wiser than his years: “I think the biggest thing for me is I’m just much more aware, spiritually, of when I’m not doing enough. Sometimes, we can get caught up throughout our day or throughout working out. We can get busy.”

Before games, Quickley will sometimes listen to a church service. “I think, for me, definitely just seeing the bigger picture [has] helped me to lock in and [to] always remember the reason that I’m playing basketball and who’s giving me the gift that I’m able to share with others.” 

He’s hip to legendary gospel singer Kirk Franklin and is an avid listener, comparing his game to Franklin’s music because of it’s upbeat style (“Just good vibes,” he says). He’s had moments this year—like his 38-point performance against the Celtics in double overtime—where he’s found his rhythm on offense and was simply just having fun with it all. That’s really when he’s playing at his best, and he is not the type to hesitate showing it. 

“Honestly, when I’m having those big games, it kind of feels like I’m at the park playing with my friends. There was a game against Boston, I made that layup and I was skipping down the floor. Some people think that I’m just, you know, being funny, but I was honestly just having so much fun that game that I just started skipping down the court.

“Before the game even started, I knew I was gonna have fun whether I played good or not,” he adds. “And that kind of just propelled me to have that game because I had that mindset of, you know, just having fun on a nationally televised game. I knew I was gonna have a fun night.” 

Since Day 1 of training camp, and even going back to the summer, Quickley says his mindset has always been to “just have a great year.” Despite what happens next or how far the Knicks go in this year’s playoffs, it’s a fact that the Knicks have become one of the most fun teams to watch this season—and Quickley is a major reason why. 

“Really, I feel like it’s the joy that I play with [is] where it shows the most—unselfishness, togetherness, unity,” he says” “All of those things kind of embody what it means to me to be playing and the gift that God has given me.”

Portraits by Marcus Stevens.

The post Immanuel Quickley Opens Up On How Faith Has Helped Him Level Up This Season appeared first on SLAM.

The 6-7 forward was the obvious choice for this month’s “G League Player to Watch”—not just because of his absurd individual production, but because he led the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on an impressive run to sneak into the playoffs.

First, a brief history lesson. Rio Grande Valley (RGV) has been the most successful franchise in the history of the NBA’s official minor league, reaching six finals and claiming four championships since 2010. Last season, an RGV squad led by MVP Trevelin Queen cruised to the title, going undefeated in the playoffs. The Vipers also won it all in 2019 with a roster that included Gary Payton II and Isaiah Hartenstein.

This year…it wasn’t looking good. Heading into March—the last month of the regular season—RGV had a 10-12 record. The team had dropped four of its previous five, including an embarrassing 26-point loss to the South Bay Lakers at home. If the Vipers wanted to keep their streak of six straight playoff appearances (excluding the season canceled due to COVID) alive, then they had to turn things around right away.

OK, back to Days. An undrafted rookie out of LSU, he signed a Two-Way contract with the Houston Rockets back in October. The 23-year-old is an extremely versatile forward, capable of filling multiple positions with his size, strength and mobility. He has spent most of this season with the Vipers and proven to be a reliable 3-and-D player. At the beginning of March, he stepped up big time…

27 points, 7 rebounds vs. Oklahoma City

33 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals vs. Birmingham

26 points, 10 rebounds vs. Greensboro

28 points, 11 rebounds vs. Iowa

32 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals vs. Iowa

22 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals vs. Memphis

The Vipers won all six of those games to climb back into the playoff picture, and after splitting their next four, they locked up the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference. Days posted 25.7 points, 9.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game across that stretch, shooting 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from three. He barely turned the ball over—just seven times in 10 games—despite averaging 38.6 minutes (the fifth highest mark in the league). Less than 72 hours after the Vipers clinched their playoff spot, he was named G League Player of the Month for March.

The Vipers upset the 2-seed Lakers in the Conference quarterfinals with guard Jalen Lecque sealing the deal with this tough game-winning lay-up. And Days? He delivered, of course: 21 points (on 7/13 shooting), 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. 

You can catch Days and the Vipers in the G League Finals as they face off against the Delaware Blue Coats. Tune in now through April 9 on ESPNU and ESPNews.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Luka Garza, Forward, Iowa Wolves: 30.5 points, 10 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.3 blocks, 68 FG%, 46 3P% (4 GP)

Carlik Jones, Guard, Windy City Bulls: 26.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 6 assists, 2.3 steals, 46 FG%, 35 3P%

Jahmi’us Ramsey, Guard, Oklahoma City Blue: 26 points, 4.4 rebounds, 58 FG%, 38 3P%

Lester Quinones, Guard, Santa Cruz Warriors: 24.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 46 FG%

Jack White, Forward, Grand Rapids Gold: 23.3 points, 10.8 rebounds, 55 FG%, 38 3P%

Trevelin Queen, Guard, Fort Wayne Mad Ants: 23.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 2.1 steals, 50 FG%

Mfiondu Kabengele, Forward, Maine Celtics: 21.7 points, 11.9 rebounds, 61 FG%, 41 3P%

Zavier Simpson, Guard, Lakeland Magic: 17.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 8.4 assists, 1.7 steals, 50 FG%, 43 3P%

REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS

Eastern Conference: Long Island Nets (23-9)

Western Conference: Stockton Kings (25-7)

Scoring Champ: Carlik Jones (26.1)

Assists Champ: Jacob Gilyard (9.7)

Rebounds Champ: Jayce Johnson (13.5)

Blocks Champ: Jay Huff (3.1)

Steals Champ: Jaden Springer (2.3)

3PT Champ: Mychal Mulder (129)

MARCH CALL-UPS

Luka Samanic, Forward, Maine Celtics to Utah Jazz

Xavier Sneed, Forward, Greensboro Swarm to Charlotte Hornets

Jay Scrubb, Guard, Lakeland Magic to Orlando Magic

Lester Quinones, Guard, Santa Cruz Warriors to Golden State Warriors (twice this month)

Trevor Keels, Guard, Westchester Knicks to New York Knicks

Lindell Wiggington, Guard, Wisconsin Herd to Milwaukee Bucks

Jamaree Bouyea, Guard, Sioux Falls Skyforce to Washington Wizards

Jared Butler, Guard, Grand Rapids Gold to Oklahoma City Thunder

Sam Merrill, Guard, Cleveland Charge to Cleveland Cavaliers

Jay Huff, Center, South Bay Lakers to Washington Wizards

Xavier Moon, Guard, Ontario Clippers to Los Angeles Clippers

More below:

Willie Cauley-Stein, Center, Rio Grande Valley Vipers to Houston Rockets

Kobi Simmons, Guard, Greensboro Swarm to Charlotte Hornets

Gabe York, Guard, Fort Wayne Mad Ants to Indiana Pacers

Skylar Mays, Guard, Mexico City Capitanes to Portland Trail Blazers

Shaquille Harrison, Guard, South Bay Lakers to Portland Trail Blazers

Jeenathan Williams, Guard, Salt Lake City Stars to Portland Trail Blazers

Justin Minaya, Forward, Mexico City Capitanes to Portland Trail Blazers

Photos via Getty Images.

The post G League Player to Watch (March): Darius Days appeared first on SLAM.

But the mind has ways of playing tricks on you. It starts to sense oxygen deprivation, triggering a response to the body’s nervous system. Feelings of fear and anxiety arise. But at that moment, as it started to feel like he was reaching a breaking point, what did the All-Star decide to do?

Brown chooses survival. Hurling the weights out of the pool, he accidentally tosses them in the direction of Hamilton’s wife, Gabby. “Almost drowning will for sure humble you,” Brown tells us while on set for his SLAM cover shoot. “Water is a great equalizer. You could have the most confidence in the world, [but] when you get in that water, it neutralizes [you]. It [doesn’t] care if you’re a billionaire or a normal person, that water treats everybody the same. It’s not forgiving, and if you don’t respect it, or think you’re above it, it’ll show you. You learn that you got to be humble. The humility will show in the water.”

Jaylen Brown is always a step ahead. Get your copy of SLAM 242 featuring the NBA All-Star.

The idea to do underwater training came to Brown this past summer, when he initially looked to hire a swim coach (at the time, he says, he wasn’t the greatest swimmer). Just a few months after losing to the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals, Brown shared a video on his Instagram account of one of the 20 sessions he did with Hamilton, doing everything from squat jumps to backflips. He learned how to stay calm and composed, even when his mind was telling him the opposite. 

“When you feel like you’re out of breath, that’s your mind sending alarms to the rest of your body saying you need air, but you probably still got 40-45 seconds left in reality before you actually run out of air,” Brown explains. “It just feels like that. [But] you don’t panic. You got time to set the weights down [and] compose yourself. Just swim back to the top.”

His words are almost prophetic for his own ascension. From averaging just 6.6 points as a rookie, to being on the bench, getting snubbed from the All-Star team last season and falling short in the NBA Finals to averaging the best numbers of his career this season: 26.9 points and 7.1 rebounds, as we went to press. Brown has been playing at a level so undeniably elite that by the time this magazine hits your hands, we expect him to be about to land in Salt Lake City for the All-Star Game. His name has even been mentioned in the MVP conversation (along with his teammate Jayson Tatum, of course). The symbolism is all there. 

And yet, Brown’s thinking goes way beyond just basketball. It’s bigger than that. “Everybody has those moments in life where adversity hits and you think, Why me? Adversity hits and you think, Oh, my life is over. Adversity hits and you think, This is the end. When, in reality, it’s just the beginning.” 

Jaylen Brown’s first introduction to Boston came during the 2016 NBA Draft. As a highly touted and gifted prospect out of the University of California- Berkeley, Brown took a master class in college, choosing not to be represented by an agent. One GM labeled him “too smart,” and the Celtics’ fan base made it clear how they felt about their No. 3 overall pick. 

“They booed me,” Brown recalls. “[Owner] Wyc [Grousbeck] was calling my name and he’s up there saying, Jaylen, he’s gonna be one of the best players the city has ever seen. He’s up there, like, defending the pitch. We’re sticking with it, y’all get over it. This is who we’re going with.” 

Any rookie might have felt some type of way, but Brown knew that there was a higher purpose for why he was selected by the Celtics. 

“Before I got drafted, honestly, I told God to put me where he needed me,” he says. “He chose me to be here, for whatever reason. I remember, distinctly, I didn’t care where I went, you know, I could have played basketball in Alaska. But I told him to put me where I needed to be and he placed me in Boston. So, instantly, I knew that it was bigger than my personal decisions. My personal happiness is about what you can do and how you can affect the community and how you’re going to use your platform. I really feel like that’s the only reason why I got talent. Our creator wanted me to do something with it. Bigger than just what I do on the court.”

There are signs everywhere. Brown, who is into astrology and believes in angel numbers, has a specific connection with the number 7, which symbolizes intuition and inner wisdom. He wears the No. 7 on his jersey and named his foundation 7uice. “Guardian angels showing me the right way to go,” Brown says. 

Now, in his seventh season, in the year 2023 (whose numbers, he points out, add up to seven), Brown has become just as revered for his impact within the Boston community as he has for his dominance on the court. Back in October, he surprised middle schoolers at the Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy in Dorchester with free backpacks. He’s taken the time to get to know the city, too. One of Brown’s favorite restaurants is a Black-owned Caribbean-Asian-Latin fusion spot called ZaZ, located right in Cleary Square in Hyde Park. This summer, amid trade rumors reportedly involving Kevin Durant, Brown pulled up to Harambee Park, also known as Franklin Field, for the Dorchester vs Roxbury basketball game. He even wore a green t-shirt that referenced his now-famous tweet, “The Energy is About to Shift.” 

While the Celtics did manage to completely turn things around last year after being under .500 midway through, Brown was actually referring to himself when he tweeted that on January 31, 2022. 

“A lot of times when I tweet stuff, it’s like I’m talking to myself. Posting, like, reminders for me. Sometimes it’s not for the world, it’s for me,” Brown tells SLAM. “There was a lot going on, and you know at certain times of the year where you feel like things aren’t going in your direction, where it just seems like everything is going wrong. It could be like Murphy’s Law, could be a retrograde, whatever you attribute it to…At that moment, that’s what was going on for me, and it felt like that not only for me, but kind of for our team. I just tweeted [it] out as a reassurance to myself. Like, don’t worry, the energy is about to shift.”

It’s been almost a full year since then, but Brown admits that he’s been tested “on different levels physically, emotionally and mentally” lately, too, but won’t go into too much detail on the latter. 

The Celtics have also been tested, from battling injuries and trade rumors to a very public coaching change this offseason. For Brown, though, it’s about finding balance. “Experience has always been my best teacher,” he says. “At times when you’re feeling yourself get out of balance, just remember that I’ve been here before. I’ve seen this before. I feel like I’ve seen the highest of highs, being able to go to the Finals, but I’ve experienced the lows—losing the Finals, losing games, being on the bench, not playing, being injured…I’ve been trying to remove all self-limiting beliefs.”

After that 33-point blowout loss to the Thunder on January 3, Marcus Smart revealed to the media that it was JB who offered him words of encouragement. He also let Smart know that he was going to shift the energy in the next matchup against Dallas. “[Brown] came out and said, Listen, this is how I want to start. I’m going to pick up Luka [Doncic] early. I’m going to get the energy going, so you can get going.” 

Interim head coach Joe Mazzulla said Brown told him the same thing about guarding Doncic. Despite getting in early foul trouble, Brown showed a level of composure in the 124-95 win against the Mavs, and Doncic was held to his lowest point total since December, and his lowest assist total of the season. The Celtics went on a four-game winning streak soon after, cruising past the Spurs, Bulls and then, on the night after our shoot, the Pelicans. No one could stop Brown or Tatum. The Jays proved that they are the best scoring duo in the League and combined for 72 points. Brown put up a season-high 41 points while JT delivered a smooth 31-piece. 

Brown says he prepares for those big matchups by studying the rhythm of his opponent’s game. “Every player plays with a certain rhythm, a certain cadence, plays at a certain pace. Luka, Steph[en] Curry plays with a certain cadence. Kyrie. When I watch the game and film, I study their rhythm.”

He’s always been into music, too, and at one point made his own beats. When asked about the tempo of his own game, Brown breaks it down: “I can be, like, more uptempo,” he says while snapping his fingers. Snap. Snap. Snap. “I can play like I just got shot out of a cannon. It depends on the matchup, the mood, the energy of the game. I think part of my game is being able to be versatile, where I can slow it all the way down or I can be run and gun, running down in transition. Being versatile is key.” 

Just as Jayson Tatum described him after Game 2 in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Bucks, it’s clear that Brown sets the tone. “I could be smooth jazz, I could be hardcore rap. Gangsta rap at the same time, too,” Brown says. “When that’s coming out, there’s nothing you can do about it.” 

Inside the Celtics practice facility, Jaylen Brown is posing for this cover shoot but dialed in on playing a game of chess entirely with himself. He once called the game “comparable to life,” and it’s easy to see why he’s so into it—chess is all about strategy and requires winning and losing pawns and pieces in the process. Eventually, though, those wins and losses lead to even bigger moments. “Small victories,” Brown says of his goals for himself right now. “It’s a blessing to be considered one of the best in the game right now, [but] I don’t think I’ve reached my peak. I have a lot to still learn, a lot to look forward to in this game.”

The No. 6 patch on his Celtics jersey, in honor of the late Bill Russell, is another reminder of powering through adversity. Spiritually, the number also symbolizes high ideals. “To be able to have this six on [my] jersey means the world to me. At times when I get overwhelmed, where my spirit is just being aggravated, or I just feel weak, I just remind myself that I have one of the greatest examples, Bill Russell, [who was] able to deal with all the controversy that he dealt with when he was here,” he says. He later added, “Today, you would think the way people speak on his name was that he was welcomed and he was accepted during the time that he was standing up for what he believed in. That wasn’t the case. People trying to make it seem like it was, in Boston.

“Nah. Bill Russell, they was trying to run him out of town, terrorizing his family, his house, calling him all types of names, being disrespectful. And worse, right here in the city of Boston. Now he has a statue, and I think it should be twice as tall as what it is now. How things can change—sometimes you’re not always gonna be accepted for what you think or what you believe, but hopefully, if people know the essence of your heart and your intentions, with time it’ll equalize itself out.”

Brown doesn’t hesitate to keep it real about the Boston community. There are issues that still need to be addressed.

“There’s misconceptions in Boston. There’s a lot of Bostonians who have lived there, who are great people, into the community, who devoted their [lives] to some of the issues—incarceration and wealth disparity. Our education system. There’s a lot of families that have been there for a long time in Boston that represent excellence, [but] you wouldn’t hear that, or see that, if it wasn’t for the narrative that there is in Boston. But there’s also a part of Boston where the shoe fits—I’ve seen where, subliminally, there’s a lot of issues that go on in our society that gets covered up…Somebody’s got to say something.” 

Building a brighter future for Boston, and delivering the city its first NBA championship title since ’08, is a lot of weight and responsibility. 

But this is Jaylen Brown we’re talking about. Rather than panic, he’s too busy making moves on his way to the top.  

SLAM 242 is available now in an exclusive Gold Metal Edition and Cover Tee.

Deyscha Smith is the Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter, @deyschasmith

Portraits by Marcus Stevens is a Content Producer at SLAM. Follow him on IG, @Marcus.stv

The post Celtics superstar Jaylen Brown is on a Mission to Fulfill His Higher Purpose appeared first on SLAM.

If you’re a true SLAM head, then you’ll have keenly observed that we drop team/multiple-player covers with a consistent frequency these days. Sure, some of our most iconic covers have been solo joints, but love simply has to be shown to our first duo.

Leading up to 1995, the Warriors were a team who’d had some great players, from the backcourt trio of Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin (aka Run TMC) to No. 1 draft pick Chris Webber, who would win Rookie of the Year. Which leads us to the cover of SLAM 5, and the unforgettable personalities of Tim Hardaway and Latrell Sprewell.

Spree was a ferocious dunker. He threw it down as though the rim owed him money, insulted his mother and looked at his girl all at the same time. Tim Hardaway was the OG ankle-breaker, putting dudes on skates and then telling them about it. As a duo, they should’ve been primetime, top-10 plays of the week type of stuff, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out that way.

Still, the cover of SLAM 5 remains historic for a couple of reasons. It was the first non-solo cover. In addition, Tony Gervino, SLAM’s editor at the time, once told me that the two weren’t on speaking terms when the cover was shot. Mean-mugging became a staple for players on SLAM covers after this, but in this case, the disgruntled faces were real. The cover was a trendsetting blueprint for covers in the years to come—namely, players not smiling. [FYI, we’ve never directed players to not smile! It’s just always been how they wanted to be photographed.—Ed.]

It’s crazy to think of the Golden State Warriors as a bottom-of-the-League team, but this is what they would be for the (almost) 10 years that followed this cover (an apparent SLAM curse was whispered about during this era, too). Both Warriors and multiple-player SLAM covers are common these days, as are Dubs championships. I hope that conversations between Spree and Hardaway happen more often than they used to do.

The post The SLAM Archives: SLAM 5 Featuring Tim Hardaway, Latrell Sprewell From May of 1995 appeared first on SLAM.

Mac McClung, a Delaware Blue Coats guard whose sensational dunks have gone viral, has accepted an invitation to compete in the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star Weekend next month in Salt Lake City, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.

McClung joins Shaedon Sharpe and KJ Martin so far in dunk contest, averaging 17.6 points, 4.4 assists, 63.8 percent shooting and 41.7 percent from 3 this season for the 76ers’ G League affiliate. The high-flying guard played in two NBA games for Bulls and Lakers last season. https://t.co/36wLVSRtx5

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 13, 2023

McClung averages 17.6 points and 4.4 assists on 63.8 percent shooting from the field and 41.7 percent from beyond the arc in seven games with the Delaware Blue Coats. McClung has gained a ton of notoriety due to his athletic exploits, going viral as a high school phenom thanks to his electric dunks. His high-profile playstyle helped him play college ball at Georgetown and Texas Tech.

McClung went undrafted during the 2021 NBA Draft and has played two games for the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. He won the G League’s Rookie of the Year while playing with the South Bay Lakers and Windy City Bulls. He signed with the Blue Coats after the Golden State Warriors released him in October.

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McClung will compete with Portland’s Shaedon Sharpe and Houston’s KJ Martin.

The post Mac McClung Will be the First G League Player in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest appeared first on SLAM.

The Spurs sold 63, 592 tickets for the record and could sell 68,000, including standing-room tickets. The Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks set the previous record of 62,046 that stood for nearly 25 years. The Eastern Conference rivals played the game at the Georgia Dome on March 27, 1998.

The biggest crowd in League history was at the 2010 All-Star Game when the AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, hosted 108 713 fans. Excluding that monster attendance, Friday’s matchup between the Spurs and Warriors will be the fourth NBA game with more than 50,000 in the stands. Two of those were at the Silverdome when Detroit hosted 52,745 fans against the Philadelphia 76ers on Feb. 14, 1987. On Jan. 29, 1988, the Pistons drew 61,983 fans when they played the Boston Celtics.

The previous Alamodome record for an NBA game was 39,554 fans when the Spurs hosted the New York Knicks for Game 2 of the 1999 NBA Finals.

The post San Antonio Spurs Set to Break Single-Game Attendance Record appeared first on SLAM.

However, the Warriors will likely look to play with more intensity and focus on meeting their goal of making the NBA Finals again and defending their 2022 championship. That much is clear to four-time champion Klay Thompson (29 points), who noticed that Golden State “relaxed a bit more than we should have,”

“I think with Steph and [Andrew Wiggins] back, we probably relaxed a bit more than we should have,” Gy Thompson said, per ESPN. “We thought with them showing up; we’d just get the dub.”

Meanwhile, Curry and Wiggins are looking to regain their rhythm and swag. Chef Curry dropped 24 points on 8-22 shooting from the floor and 5-15 from beyond the arc. Wiggins contributed 10 points on 5-16 shooting and was noticeably looking to find that aggression and rhythm he had before he suffered his abductor strain and illness that took him out for over a month.

Curry said that he wasn’t thinking about his shoulder while he played and that he didn’t think his conditioning took much of a hit due to the 11 games he missed after suffering a shoulder issue on Dec. 14. He also believed that playing under a minute restriction made finding his rhythm back a little more complicated.

He noted that there was a level of pressure to play at a high level of play within a certain amount of time on the court. He tried to balance regaining his form while trying to play within the flow of the game and said that his first game back was “hit or miss” as he tried to knock the rust off and play within the speed of the game.

“It’s hit or miss with how much rust you will have and how close you can get to the speed of the game,” Curry said. “The first quarter, it felt good just to be out there, running with our guys. I felt like I got stronger as the game went on. In the fourth, the intensity of the game picked up. We were playing very desperately, trying to come back and make some plays. I felt like myself again.”

The Warriors were encouraged by their play in the fourth quarter when they outscored the Suns 34-27 as they climbed back into the game as Curry scored 14 points in the final frame. The two-time MVP hit three consecutive triples to give the Warriors some momentum, then Jordan Poole (27 points) hit a layup, the Dubs got a stop, and Poole hit a three-pointer to pull Golden State to within six after trailing by 27.

“I’m hoping that fourth quarter was the team that I have come to know and love and recognize,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “But we have to show in the first quarter, not in the fourth quarter.”

At the halfway point of the season, Kerr and the Warriors hope they can consistently play as they did in the fourth quarter. They have another 41 games left in the season to see if that’s who they are or if this Jekyll and Hyde type of season is who they are.

“We’ve been talking about it for a long time,” Curry said. “Eventually, you have to do it, or else time runs out. We have 41 games to figure it out — or else we won’t.”

The post Stephen Curry on His Return to Play and Regaining His Rhythm appeared first on SLAM.

The Warriors have said they wanted Wiggins to be a full participant in practice before he can play again, and that stipulation has finally been met. Head coach Steve Kerr announced Wiggins participated in all practice activity on Thursday and that “there’s a chance he could play tomorrow,” according to ESPN’s Kendra Andrews.

Andrew Wiggins practiced in full today, Kerr said.

“There’s a chance he could play tomorrow.”

— Kendra Andrews (@kendra__andrews) January 6, 2023

Wiggins’ return comes on the heels of Kerr announcing Stephen Curry could come back from his shoulder injury as soon as Jan. 13 when the Warriors start their next road trip against the San Antonio Spurs next week.

The Warriors (20-19) are coming off a last-second loss to the Pistons. They look to return to their winning ways on Saturday when they take on the Orlando Magic. They’re two games back of grabbing fourth place in the Western Conference playoff standings.

The post Steve Kerr: ‘There’s a Chance’ Andrew Wiggins Could Return and Play on Saturday appeared first on SLAM.

Just one play before, Klay Thompson (30 points on 11-12 shooting) tied the game up at 119-all with one second left on the clock. Bey responded with an off-balance triple to stun the Warriors.

The former Villanova Wildcat scored 17 points on 6-17 shooting from the field and 4-10 from beyond the arc, including his game-winner to sink Golden State. Bey also contributed three rebounds and two steals off the bench.

“It was tough, I don’t even remember I kind of blacked out a little bit,” Bey said, per ESPN. “I had one second, so I didn’t have that much time to think, so I had to shoot it, so I’m just grateful it went in.”

SADDIQ BEY. GAME WINNER.#TissotBuzzerBeater | #TimingEmotions pic.twitter.com/JiIYbiNKQI

— NBA (@NBA) January 5, 2023

Bey has knocked down two game-winning three’s in his career, and both came in January. Bey hit an overtime game-winner to sink the San Antonio Spurs on Jan. 1, 2022.

The post Watch: Saddiq Bey’s Buzzer-Beater Shock the Golden State Warriors appeared first on SLAM.

On Wednesday, Myers shared that Curry was evaluated New Year’s Weekend and that the two-time MVP didn’t suffer any “setbacks or anything like that.” Myers believes Curry can return by Golden States’ upcoming road trip, which begins Jan. 13 against the San Antonio Spurs.

“He’s going to get evaluated this weekend, and he’s working out on the court,” Myers told 95.7 The Game. “The two-week mark to evaluate him was this weekend, but there’s been no, at this point, setbacks or anything like that. So that would be — what, the first road game is on Friday; I think it’s San Antonio.

That would be a hope. I mean, that will be what we’ll be shooting for — He’s been, not contact, but out there doing all this stuff, and he looks like the same guy. He’s got a sleeve on his shoulder and his arm, but that would be the plan. We’ve got to see what he looks like this weekend.”

Curry suffered a left shoulder subluxation on Dec. 14 when the Warriors took on the Indiana Pacers. The injury knocked him out of Golden State’s last nine games. The Warriors have been able to go 6-3 without the only unanimous MVP in NBA history and are riding a five-game win streak capped by Klay Thompson’s season-high 54-point outing against the Toronto Raptors.

The post Bob Myers Reveals Stephen Curry Could Return as Soon as Next Week Against San Antonio appeared first on SLAM.

 The five-time All-Star showed he’s another step closer to reaching those peak performances after dropping 54 points on 21-39 shooting from the field, 10-21 from the three-point line, leading the Warriors to a 143-141 double-overtime against the Hawks.

“It’s a huge accomplishment for me,” Thompson said per ESPN. “There were some hard days for me when I didn’t know that this would be possible in real-time. I am just going to embrace the heck out of it.”

Klay in the Warriors 2-OT win!

54 PTS
7 REB
10 threes pic.twitter.com/CdOB2SqCaT

— NBA (@NBA) January 3, 2023

The 54-point outing was his biggest scoring out since his career-best 60-point performance in three quarters on Dec. 5, 2016, against the Indiana Pacers. It was Thompson’s fourth career 50-point game and his seventh with at least 10 3s

“He just made shot after shot and play after play. He was incredible,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said.

After a prime-time performance like that, Thompson’s confidence will likely be at an all-time high. It’s the type of performance that can also set up some great things in 2023. Great news for a team looking to reverse their fortunes and make a run for a higher seed in the playoffs. However, teammate Draymond Green doesn’t want Thompson to not place too much pressure on himself.

“You don’t have to be the same Klay that you once were before,” Green said. “When you understand that, and you buy into that, then you become the Klay you were before.”

“When you’re as competitive as he is when you’re as good as he is, it’s tough sometimes,” Green said. “For two years, everybody is doubting you. That same fire toward that doubt is what made you, Klay Thompson — you don’t just lose that. That is embedded in you. It’s good to see him settle down. He’s not chasing it anymore, and it’s falling right in his lap. When you are that good, that’s usually what happens.”

Fourth career 50-point game.
Klay Thompson balled out last night.

» https://t.co/ocDF2EHeJH pic.twitter.com/anzqUguZj1

— VoteDraymond4AllStar (@warriors) January 3, 2023

Thompson says he’s in a place now than at the start of the season. The 32-year-old sharpshooter told reporters that wanting to prove everyone wrong was a disservice to himself, and now he has to remind himself that playing for the Warriors “is a dream” and that he’s shifted his mindset to “having fun and playing hard.”

“I have to remind myself daily that [playing for the Warriors] is literally the dream. What matters most is having fun and playing hard. All the numbers, all the big nights will come as long as I do those two things.”

The Warriors and Klay Thompson will play the Pistons on Wednesday.

The post Steve Kerr Calls Klay Thompson ‘Incredible’ After 54-Point Performance appeared first on SLAM.

On Tuesday, the former lottery pick continued to make his case for more minutes once with his fourth-quarter defense against Hornets swingman P.J. Washington, his opportune buckets, and his athleticism to finish plays on both ends of the floor. Being able to play the entire fourth quarter was proof of head coach Steve Kerr’s trust in his defensive play. He also found a way to contribute some timely buckets too.

“We went with him for his defense,” Kerr said, per The Athletic. “He’s playing really well defensively, and he was guarding LaMelo (Ball).”

“At the moment — fourth quarter,” Kuminga admitted, “I don’t usually get to be in the game.”

Here were the five big Jonathan Kuminga plays in crunch time tonight vs Hornets

*Rips away a steal from PJ Washington
*Traffic rebound over Plumlee
*Gets available for dunk
*Floater in iso vs Hayward
*Cuts open for another dunk pic.twitter.com/kEvGuzLhqg

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) December 28, 2022

During crunch time, Kuminga sat down, put a seat belt on Washington, and subsequently forced a turnover; he grabbed a traffic rebound out of Miles Plumlee’s hands and hit a floater over Gordan Hayward to give Golden State a five-point lead. Kuminga ripping the ball and collecting a steal garnered a lot of praise from Kerr and four-time champion Draymond Green.

“That was will,” Draymond Green said. “That was ‘I want the ball more than you.’ That was, ‘Our backs are against the wall. We’ve lost the lead. Let me go make a play myself.’ So he took the ball. He goes and gets a dunk. He goes and snatches a rebound in traffic. He made every play down the stretch. I think it all started with that play with PJ Washington taking the ball. He manhandled him.”

Here’s some of that Draymond Green sound on Jonathan Kuminga and individual vs team defense

“I don’t play defense within the team concept. I know most people think I do. But I don’t. When you’re good enough, the team concepts adapt around you.” pic.twitter.com/AnfplvJ63k

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) December 28, 2022

Kuminga put the finishing touches on the win with a cutting dunk in the lane and clamped up LaMelo Ball for 90 feet. Ball wanted a quick bucket with 10 seconds left, but Kuminga’s pitbull mentality forced Ball into a miss that sealed Charlotte’s loss. Kuminga’s effort is a welcome development for a Warriors team looking to reclaim the stingy defensive identity that former coach Mark Jackson built that led to four championships.

“It’s been a beautiful thing to watch,” Green said. “It’s his (improved) understanding on that side of the ball. He’s in the right spot more often than not now. I think his growth in that area has been absolutely amazing. Quite frankly, it’s been much needed for us. Because we haven’t guarded dribble penetration well. We haven’t been really good at the point of attack all year. He’s changing that for us.”

Although Kuminga isn’t a seasoned veteran yet, his physical acumen and embrace of being Golden State’s defensive hound dog will help the Warriors turn around a season that hasn’t gone quite as they expected. Getting stops and forcing timely turnovers like Kuminga caused will do the job. Draymond Green took the time to the point that, saying, “it’s a beautiful thing to watch,” Kuminga became a dogged defender in real-time.

“He f—ing locks up now,” Green said. “I think it’s very impressive to see. Not that you never thought he was capable, but to see the maturity and buying into a role. Like, ‘Oh, that’s my role; that’s what I need to do. I’m going to go do that better than anyone.’ We’ve seen his impact over the last few weeks. He’s hawking every point guard he gets on. … As a competitor, you lose your spot in the rotation; what are you going to do to get it back? Some sulk. Most sulk. Then some go and take it back. That’s what he’s done.”

Green also believes that if Kuminga can continue developing his defensive acumen and basketball IQ, he can play within and outside Kerr’s defensive concepts. Being disruptive on the ball and locking up his individual assignments will also help.

“I don’t play defense in the team concept,” Green said. “I know most people think I do, but I don’t. When you’re good enough, the team concepts adapt around you. That’s what he’s starting to show. We may not want him to pick up as high as he picks up all the time. But if you’re wreaking havoc, and it’s bettering us, and it’s worsening the opponent’s offense, who is going to say stop? When you’re good enough, and you’re capable, the team concepts adapt around you.”

The post How Jonathan Kuminga Impressed Draymond Green With His Defense appeared first on SLAM.

Golden State outlasted Memphis 123-119 due to Jordan Poole’s magical 32-point outing helping make Ja Morant’s 36-point effort mute. The win was highlighted by some heated jaw-jacking between the Warriors and Grizzlies, particularly between teammates Klay Thompson (24 points, nine rebounds, four assists) and Draymond Green (13 rebounds, 13 dimes, two blocks, one steal) and Grizzlies swingman Dillon Brooks.

#NBAXmas was a vibe.@MichelobULTRA || Joy Cam pic.twitter.com/N4sPUkAExM

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) December 26, 2022

At one point, Thompson hit a mid-range J from the free-throw line to put the Dubs up 16, and while he ran back to play defense, Brooks stumbled backward and fell. Replays showed Thompson leaning over Brooks and sticking his tongue out in Brooks’ face as he shuffled back to the other end of the court.

“Some good, old-fashioned trash talk,” Thompson said per ESPN. “It’s always fun to talk trash. We’ve been doing that since we were in middle school. You usually play your best, or you get frazzled. For me, it’s usually the former.”

Get hype, #DubNation pic.twitter.com/0Ao8iD1njD

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) December 26, 2022

Although the Warriors and Grizzlies may not call it a rivalry, it’s hard not to call it with all the evidence in front of us. The contention started after the Grizzlies outlasted the Warriors during the 2021 play-in tournament to get a first-round matchup with the Utah Jazz. The following year, the Warriors beat the Grizzlies 4-2 in the second round of the Western Conference semifinals.

That playoff rematch lit the flames of a burgeoning rivalry as Green got ejected in Game 1 for a Flagrant 2 foul on Brandon Clarke, and then he got elbowed in the eye during Game 2.

Brooks earned a one-game suspension for his role Gary Payton II missed extensive time after he fouled Payton hard on a fast break resulting in Payton suffering an elbow injury that knocked him out of 10 postseason games. The damage only seemed to stoke some flames as Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called Brooks out for violating an unwritten code.

From there, the second-round playoff series only got more heated and physical as Golden State tried to prove the old grizzled (no pun intended) vets had some juice left in them and could outlast the young and hungry Grizzlies. Once the series was over and Golden State marched on to win their fourth title in eight seasons, the Warriors, specifically Thompson and Green, took offense to Memphis talking trash and called them out for what they perceived to be disrespectful comments.

Way to bring the energy tonight, #DubNation

pic.twitter.com/pFXTGubWTj

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) December 26, 2022

After the championship parade, Green and Morant had a back-and-forth on Twitter, with both parties declaring their excitement for a primetime Christmas. The anticipation and hype did not fail as the Dubs and Grizzlies put on a show. However, the Grizzlies will have to wait a little longer to exact their revenge after losing on Sunday.

The post The Memphis-Golden State Rivalry Continued with ‘Trash Talk’ on Christmas Day appeared first on SLAM.

Here’s what happened across the L over the weekend. Let’s get it.

James Harden is Reportedly “Seriously Considering” Returning to Houston:

According to NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski at ESPN, Harden is reportedly considering a reunion with the Rockets if he doesn’t re-sign with Philadelphia as a free agent in July.

However, after the Sixers’ win over the Knicks on Christmas Day, Harden addressed the media and let them know how he really feels about being in Philly.

“I’m here, we’re playing very well, and I don’t know where that report came from,” Harden said, per NBC Sports Philadelphia. “But I’m excited to be here, and we’re playing well. We’re continuing to get better.”

Meanwhile, Harden caught everyone’s attention with this colorful holiday fit. Hide y’all presents.

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Joel Embiid and Harden Combine to Score 64 Points against the Knicks:

The Beard (29 points and 13 dimes) and Joel Embiid (35 points) put up a combined 64 points, 12 rebounds, and 14 assists to help the 76ers extend their win streak to eight games with a 119-112 dub over the Knicks on Sunday.

The Sixers outscored the Knicks 24-9 to open the fourth and turned a one-point deficit into a 116-102 lead late in the fourth quarter.

“It was one of those games where you’ve just got to stick around,” Harden said per ESPN. “Like, stick around, stick around, and then fourth quarter, you give yourself a chance.

64 PTS | 12 REB | 14 AST @JHarden13 & @JoelEmbiid‘s combined Christmas Day stat line. vote both for NBA All-Star: https://t.co/kNf5hhEIQx.

presented by @palottery pic.twitter.com/Lu2cQROE6c

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) December 25, 2022

Jayson Tatum Torches the Bucks For 41 Points while Jaylen Brown Takes Over:

Jayson Tatum posted 41 points, including a ferocious first-half yam over Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Jaylen Brown scored 29 points to help Boston (24-10) reclaim the top record in the League with a 139-118 win over the Bucks (22-11).

Boston grabbed a 100-86 lead after Tatum scored 20 points in the third quarter, and Brown brought the Celtics home with 13 points in the final frame; he also refused to back down after posting a screen that sent the Greek Freak to the ground. Brown and Antetokounmpo had a back-and-forth, but y’all know it’s only basketball. The players don’t take it seriously, and neither should basketball fans.

Boston gave Milwaukee their first three-game losing streak, while the Celtics have now won back-to-back contests after losing five out of six recent games.

HE CAUGHT ONE @jaytatum0 hammered it home in tonight’s @JetBlue Play of the Game pic.twitter.com/ZU6oCbvRB0

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 26, 2022

Jordan Poole Put Up a Dominate 32 Points to Lead Golden State Past Memphis:

Jordan Poole did what he had to do to play Grinch and ruin the Grizzlies’ Christmas after he dropped a team-high 32 points to lead the Warriors past Memphis on Sunday. Draymond Green (13 rebounds, 13 assists, two blocks) and Klay Thompson (24 points on 8-25 shooting) also put up some solid performances. They played up the burgeoning rivalry they have with Memphis with some sublime shi*t talking toward Dillon Brooks as well.

“He knows that he can’t get a second one. He’s still a young player,” head coach Steve Kerr said per ESPN. “Jordan was fantastic tonight, and we needed his offensive firepower.”

Dray Jordan

» https://t.co/ocDF2EGGU9 pic.twitter.com/HL0YggMOBa

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) December 26, 2022

Nikola Jokic Drops a Christmas Day Triple-Double Against the Suns:

Nikola Jokic (41 points, 15 boards, and 15 dimes) dropped his 83rd career triple-double and led the Nuggets to a 128-125 win over the Phoenix Suns. The two-time MVP recorded a 40-point, 27-rebound, 10-assist performance a week ago. It was the fourth 40-point, 15-rebound, 15-assist game in League history. Oscar Robertson (1961, 1962) accomplished it twice, and James Harden did it in 2016.

“Sick,” Aaron Gordon said of Jokic’s outing, per ESPN. “Those are video game numbers.”

Another MVP performance

41/15/15. Triple-Double 8⃣3⃣ pic.twitter.com/W5PNYlDFar

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) December 26, 2022

Jamal Murray (26 points, five rebounds, and five assists) forced overtime with a game-tying dunk, and Aaron Gordon put the exclamation point on the win with a poster over Landry Shamet.

“Yeah,” Gordon said. “Because of the time and score.”

Nuggets Nation BROUGHT THE ENERGY tonight. For that, we leave you with this

Goodnight, Wuggets Wation pic.twitter.com/WOYUm1twk7

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) December 26, 2022

The post NBA Weekend Recap: Elite Christmas Day Matchups and James Harden Addresses Reports of His Return to Houston appeared first on SLAM.

His game—and his legacy, if it’s not too early to discuss such things—lies at a unique intersection of old and new, historic and cutting edge. Jayson Tatum is 24 years old, and it seems simultaneously as if he’s been in the League a decade, or barely any time at all. The truth, as he begins his sixth NBA season, is that Tatum is a three-time All-Star and one of the most complete forwards in the game.

The old and historic date back to his schoolboy days in St. Louis, where his family connections spoke to future success. He’s the godson of Larry Hughes and a cousin of Tyronn Lue. After a college year in Durham at Duke, he landed in Boston, the NBA’s most history-obsessed city, where like all great players, he’s compared to the legends (Larry and otherwise) who wore the green and white before him. At the same time, he also developed a deep connection with one of the iconic legends of the Celtics’ greatest rival. With Tatum, the connections to the past run deep, and in multiple directions.

But his game? That’s thoroughly new school, and already truly elite. He showed it during the 2019-20 season, when his per-game scoring jumped from nearly 16 ppg to better than 23 points per. Last season, in his third straight All-Star campaign, he averaged 26.9 points, 8 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game, establishing himself in that rare tier of players who do everything very, very well.

Tatum chose the playoffs, as all Boston greats must, to truly announce himself to the basketball-watching world. He led the Celtics past Giannis and the defending champs from Milwaukee, then past a relentless squad from Miami and into the NBA Finals, where it took Stephen Curry and the healthy, resurgent and reloaded Golden State Warriors to keep Boston from another title and Tatum from his first. He settled for Eastern Conference Finals MVP honors and the gift of understanding what it will take to lead his team to a championship.

You don’t have to believe in destiny to like Tatum’s odds. He’s everything an NBA standard bearer needs to be: immensely talented, intensely focused on improving and a joy to watch, owner of one of the smoothest and most complete offensive games of his generation. He may not have the high-wattage personality of most of the rest of the new Starting Lineup generation of which he’s so deservedly a part, but Tatum has the quiet swagger and a definite sense of style—those Taco Js, immortalized on his figure, are already iconic—to go with it. Most importantly, he’s got the game.

Simply put: He’s already so good and probably not yet close to his peak. More All-Star picks, more MVP consideration and many more deep playoff runs seem all but inevitable. The green and white, and the game in general, are in good hands.

The post Starting Lineup’s Jayson Tatum NBA Action Figure Captures the Celtics Superstar’s Elite Game appeared first on SLAM.

They’re also 1-5 on their latest trip, highlighted by back-to-back blowout losses to the Knicks (132-94) and Nets (143-113).

“You are what your record says you are,” Kerr said, per ESPN. “It was a bad road trip. We are 15-18, so we’re a below-.500 team, and we’ve got to find a way to reverse that.”

Steve Kerr: “Bad road trip. We are 15-18. We’re a below .500 team. Gotta figure out a way to reverse that.” pic.twitter.com/FdgK0TZH7O

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) December 22, 2022

The Warriors gave up a 29-point lead in the first quarter, the second-worst deficit in franchise history, and they scored 17 points, the second-fewest in an opening frame this season. The Dubs also allowed the Nets to score a Brooklyn-record 91 points in the first half, becoming the third time in League history to score 91 points through the first half.

The 40-point lead Brooklyn held over Golden State was also a franchise record. The point differential is also the largest halftime deficit by a defending champion in the history of the NBA.

“That first half, it was kind of a shock,” Draymond Green told ESPN.

One way the Warriors can address their struggles is by cutting down on turnovers. They turned the ball over 13 times in the first and finished the night with 21, with Brooklyn scoring 36 points off those miscues. Another would be picking up the energy and allowing it to help them play more organized fashion on both ends of the floor.

Those changes will likely have to come from Jordan Poole (13 points on 4-17 shooting, 1-11 from beyond the arc, and seven turnovers) and James Wiseman (30 points on 12-14 shooting in 27 minutes). That means Wiseman will likely have to continue to play at a consistently high level as he did on Wednesday. The Warriors can deal with Poole figuring out how to adjust to playing as a scouting report focus, but they likely need him to refind the magic he possessed last season.

“The simpler [he] plays, the easier shots [he] gets. It sounds like a bit of a paradox, but it’s been an issue here for us the past few games,” Kerr said. “The last couple of nights [he was] just trying way too hard.”

For now, the Warriors are stuck in a weird place while they figure out their win-and-develop-now ethos. For Green, that means Golden State must keep their cool over this stretch without Curry in the lineup. As well as Donte DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green, and maintaining Klay Thompson for the long haul.

“You have to have that understanding because you don’t want to overreact,” Green told ESPN. “In saying that, the most important thing is always playing right; as long as you’re not making effort-related mistakes, you live with the results — we just have to understand where we are.”

The post Steve Kerr On the Golden State Warriors’ ‘Bad Road Trip’ appeared first on SLAM.

HE DID NOT JUST RIDE THE WARRIORS’ BUS.

Contrary to what some NBA fans and a certain Inside the NBA commentator may believe, KD was still a main source behind the Warrriors winning a consecutive titles. That doesn’t mean he did it by himself tho. Durant will tell you himself that he “never done anything I want to do on this Earth of significance by myself.”

In fact, Durant believes whatever success he achieves with the Brooklyn Nets comes due to a “contribution from everybody.”

“I never made winning about me, even when I was at Golden State,” Durant said per Washington Post. “I could’ve easily stepped out and said, ‘Yeah, this is my s—.’ I never did that. I didn’t even come here to prove to people that I could win on my own.” I can’t put all the pressure on myself, I did that before. You want it all, you want to experience it all, but it wasn’t good for my sanity trying to put everything on me.”

Which is why the suggestion that he rode Golden States’ coattails to immoratlity strikes such a nerve. Like he said, KD never did anything by himself.

“I hated that,” Durant says. “Riding coattails? That’ll never happen when I’m playing basketball. Either I’m going to step back, so you can go ahead and do your thing, or I’m going to take control.”

It’s probably why he’s been so adamant about seperating the time he’s spent with the Warriors to what he’s doing now with the Nets. And why he’s known for challenging basketball fans that like to give him a hard time about his controversial decision to sign with Golden State in 2016 and believe his sensitive because he has a burner account or takes time to talk to fans who want to talk about basketball with him.

The former MVP and Brooklyn will take on the Warriors on Wednesday.

The post Kevin Durant Refutes Narrative He Rode the Coattails of the Warriors appeared first on SLAM.

On Tuesday, their 132-94 loss to the Knicks in Madison Square Garden can be chalked up as a mixed result as they never led and played without Stephen Curry for the third straight game since he went down with a shoulder injury on Dec. 14. Golden State never led after the Knicks opened the game with an 8-0 run and never looked back during a wire-twire-win that gave New York their eight straight win.

The Warriors made it as close as 35-33 in the first-half but the Knicks pulled away over time and entered halftime with a 69-56 lead.

“The Knicks are in a good groove right now. They totally outplayed us,” Kerr said per ESPN. “We sank tonight. We’re trying to hang in there and we will. Another game tomorrow.”

When Anthony Slater of The Athletic asked about the fourth quarter effort Kerr got from Jordan Poole (26 points), Moses Moody (11 points), Jonathan Kuminga (13 points, four rebounds, and four assists) James Wiseman (four points, three rebounds, one steal, two blocks), the nine-time champ said that Golden State’s young guys are “working their butts off” and that they have “to keep our energy and our spirit up” when “things don’t go well.”

Steve Kerr on the struggles from the younger portion of the roster tonight vs Knicks pic.twitter.com/6B5u1T5sj4

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) December 21, 2022

As the Warriors continue to mesh their maxamzie both their present and future lineups, they will have to see that Poole, Moody, Kuminga, Wiseman, and Andrew Wiggins (when healthy) are capable of taking the torch Curry, KlayThompson, and Draymond Green lit and continue to build on the championship DNA and culture that’s led to four titles since 2015.

The post Steve Kerr on Young Players Keeping Their ‘Spirits Up’ During Tough Times appeared first on SLAM.

Five straight losses are detrimental to any franchise, but to some, it’s a learning curve to championship success.

Warriors forward Draymond Green has been a contributor on four title teams in the last eight years, and within that time period, the Bay Area had to get accustomed to playing a majority of a season without their star players in Green, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson.

The Golden State dynasty was struggling after missing the playoff two years in a row in 2020 and 2021, but the Warriors trusted their core to figure it out and find a way to win another title this past season, and they accomplished just that. Given Green’s veteran leadership, the former defensive player of the year shared advice on how to overcome the challenges, starting with their “commitment.”

“You start hearing noise about trades, and this guy shouldn’t be here, and that guy shouldn’t be here, but you have to stay committed to each other. You can’t let the outside noise dictate how you act or essentially your attitude towards the same or, more importantly, towards your teammates,” Green said per Sports Illustrated. “I think for us, you just always want to re-center yourself and re-center your focus to the game, and if you do that, the game rewards you.”

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A post shared by Golden State Warriors (@warriors)

The struggles for the Raptors have come in crucial areas of the floor. Thus far, the Raptors rank as the third-lowest three-point shooting team at 32.6 percent. Meanwhile, defensively, the group gives up the fifth most fast break points (15.6) and averages the lowest defensive rebounds across the League (30.1).

There’s plenty to like for the Raptors as well, as they currently lead the League in steals at 9.6 per game, but capitalizing off those forced turnovers hasn’t been on full display as of yet.

“I don’t think that we haven’t shown that this group of guys can play the way we want to play,” said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse.

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A post shared by Toronto Raptors (@raptors)

There are still a lot of games left to do in the season, but the turning point for the Raptors, as Green eluded to, is the team sticking through the thick and the thin of a losing stretch.

The circling trade rumors can’t become a distraction in the locker room if the team hopes to find post-season success; therefore, it’s up to the championship pedigree of the Raptors veterans to invoke a mindset to their young talent.

“We gotta play better; that’s the main thing,” Pascal Siakam said. “We[‘ve] got to get wins, and we[‘ve] got to figure out a way to get a win and then kind of build on it. Yeah, it’s hard for me to try to analyze everybody, but just us, we have to get a win.”

The post Draymond Green to the Struggling Raptors: ‘Stay Committed to Each Other’ appeared first on SLAM.

The Sunday night effort puts him just 60 points short of passing Hall-of-Famer Tim Duncan (26,493) for 15th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Durant will have a chance to break into the top 15 when the Nets host the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday and the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.

KD scored 26 points in the quarter? Sheesh. (via @BrooklynNets) pic.twitter.com/MPSkiKBDu7

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) December 19, 2022

Durant is averaging 30.4 points per game; if he matches that production, he can pass Duncan on Friday and enter the Top 10 of the all-time scoring list by the end of the regular-season if he scores 973 points over the next 32 games. KD will join seven other players that rank in the Top 14 in both total career points and career scoring average.

The club members are LeBron James, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, and Dominique Wilkins. For his career, Durant averages 27.3 points per game, fourth behind Jordan, Chamberlain, and Elgin Baylor.

The post Kevin Durant Set to Enter Top-15 All-Time Scoring List appeared first on SLAM.

Let’s get it!

Anthony Davis (right foot) is Out At Least One Month After Suffering A Foot Injury On Friday:

According to NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic, Antony Davis will reportedly miss at least one month after suffering an undisclosed right foot injury.

AD has been dominant this season while helping the Lakers surge to a 6-4 stretch over their last 10 contests. The Brow is averaging 27.4 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game on 59.3 percent shooting from the field and has dropped 19 30+ games with one 44-point game against the Bucks and a dominant 55-point effort against the Wizards.

Before he got hurt, AD had a three-game streak of scoring at least 30 points that were broken when he suffered his foot injury against the Nuggets.

Lakers are bracing for an indefinite absence for the Lakers star, sources say, after he sustained the right foot injury in Friday’s win over Denver. Davis has played arguably the most dominant ball of his career this season. https://t.co/WCTr2y7eNp

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 18, 2022

Devin Booker Puts Up a Historic 58-Point Effort to Beat New Orleans:

Devin Booker lifted the Suns over the Pelicans 118-114 after dropping a season-best 58 points. It was the second time this season that Book scored 50 points after he posted 51 against Chicago on Nov. 30.

He’s now the sixth-youngest player to score 12k points in his career, trailing only LeBron, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, and Tracy McGrady.

“Once I get it going a little bit, shooting over a hand is the right play,” Booker said per ESPN.

.@DevinBook‘s second 50-point game of the season. pic.twitter.com/CMwBniJ5Mv

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) December 18, 2022

Nikola Jokic Posts His 81st Career Triple-Double After Dropping 40-27-10 Against the Hornets:

Nikola Jokic (40 points, 27 rebounds, and 10 dimes) f***ed around and got his fifth triple-double of the season to lead Denver to a 119-115 win over Charlotte on Sunday night.

The two-time MVP sealed the W with two game-winning free throws with 13 seconds left on the clock. Nuggets head coach Mike Malone said he didn’t know Jokic was putting up massive numbers but knew that Jokic was having “another Nikola Jokic stellar performance, efficient,” and praised Jokic for his “ability to make every one of his teammates better,” and called Joker a “generational talent.”

“To be honest, I think it’s because of our defense, and I was just in the right spot to rebound the ball,” Jokic said per ESPN. “It’s not that I was grabbing for them or whatever, chasing for them. It just happened, you know? I wish it could be every night, to be honest.”

Triple double # 8️⃣1️⃣

40-27-10

m.v.p pic.twitter.com/ljQpTIVCHl

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) December 19, 2022

Jordan Poole has a Career-High Night For the Ages:

Jordan Poole hung a career-high 43 points on 14-23 shooting from the field and 5-11 from beyond the arc. He also handed out six assists and scored career-best 25 points in the first half to lead the Warriors past the Raptors. The 126-110 win was the Dubs’ first win in five attempts without Stephen Curry in the lineup. ˝Golden State also snapped their three-game losing streak and are now 3-14 on the road.

“He was incredible on both sides of the ball,” Draymond Green (17 points and nine rebounds) said per Yahoo Sports. “And when you connect the game like that, things will go your way. We all know what a special talent he is. He’s been going through some growing pains. To see him come out tonight and have the game that he had – especially with Steph being down and us needing to get a win – was really huge.

“His effort on the defensive end carried over to the offensive end.”

What a night for 3️⃣.@googlecloud || Player of the Game pic.twitter.com/lKxkgmnlJz

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) December 19, 2022

WNBA Won’t Expand in 2024:

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert told The Athletic that the League’s plan for franchise expansion will be delayed until at least 2025. The commission is in touch with 10 investor groups discussing potential arenas, practice facilities, season ticket markets, and potential corporate partners.

Engelbert said that a new team would need around 18-24 months to hire coaches and executives and bring on players through an expansion draft, among the many preparations it takes to build a professional basketball franchise. Although expansion is delayed, Englerbet said it’s still a part of the W’s long-term plans and reiterated that the WNBA is on a growth trajectory.

Toronto, Nashville, and the Bay Area (Oakland and San Francisco) are on the short list of expansion cities.

“I’m a big, big believer in: let’s transform the economics, and then we’ll expand, not expand and then hope that economics transform,” she said per Front Office Sports. “We want to bring new owners in that are going to be successful in standing up a franchise that can compete for a championship.”

The post NBA Weekend Recap: AD is Out, Devin Booker and Jordan Poole Put Up Season and Career Best Performances appeared first on SLAM.

Golden State's Steph Curry is expected to miss "a few weeks" with his left shoulder injury, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 15, 2022

Stephen Curry will undergo MRI testing on his left shoulder while Golden State is in Philidelphia on Thursday. Curry injured his left shoulder during Golden State’s 125-119 loss against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.

The two-time MVP suffered the injury late in the third quarter after attempting to strip the ball from Pacers center Jalen Smith who was going up for a layup deep in the paint. Chef Curry immediately grabbed his shoulder and held it as he went down the court. The injury seemed worrisome, and the Warriors subsequently called a timeout so Curry could be examined in the locker room by Dubs head trainer Rick Celebrini.

Curry was ruled out of playing just moments later and was seen with ice wrapped around his ailing left shoulder postgame.

“I checked in with [Curry] briefly but haven’t had a chance to go into detail,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said per ESPN. “Steph is always a guy with a great outlook on life, so he’s in good spirits.”

Curry will get an MRI tomorrow, Kerr says. Kerr checked in with Curry briefly postgame, said he was in good spirits.

— Kendra Andrews (@kendra__andrews) December 15, 2022

When he suffered the injury, Curry was primed to guide the Warriors to a dramatic finish after scoring 38 points on 1–19 shooting from the floor, knocking down five triples, and was 11-11 from the free-throw line through the first 34 minutes of the game. He scored half of Golden States’ first-half points, 27, and nearly half of the Warriors’ total points (80) when he went down with a shoulder injury.

“He was just stunning,” Kerr said. “He put us on his shoulders in the minutes he was out there. Generating so much offense, getting to the line, getting the ball to other people. He was brilliant.

Beast Mode

: @NBCSAuthentic pic.twitter.com/5kWkbsG7oB

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) December 15, 2022

The Warriors are 67-133 all-time without Curry in the lineup. Golden State may struggle without the greatest shooter of all time during a season where they’ve struggled to combine their youth movement with their veteran core led by Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and the rest of their “foundational six.”

The post REPORT: Stephen Curry Expected to Miss ‘A Few Weeks’ Due to Shoulder Injury appeared first on SLAM.

However, the two threes that Thompson hit moved him into some very elite NBA company. Coming off a recent game where he had just moved up to 13th in the NBA’s all-time made three-pointers list, Thompson is also the 13th NBA player ever to make 2,000 career three-pointers.

Thompson now joins Stephen Curry, Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, James Harden, Kyle Korver, Vince Carter, Jason Terry, Jamal Crawford, Damian Lillard, LeBron James, Kyle Lowry, and Paul Pierce as the only NBA players ever to accomplish such a milestone.

Becoming a part of such an elite group of sharpshooters must feel great to Thompson after battling his way back to form after suffering an Achilles injury in 2020 after just returning from an ACL injury in 2019.

This 2023 season has been sort of a “revenge tour” for Thompson, as he has trying to block out the noise and prove to the doubters that he’s still got it. Admittedly Thompson has come out and said that comments about his game “slipping” have hurt, but he knows that he can’t please everybody.

While it is a great career moment for Thompson, he and the Warriors look to get back on the winning track Thursday against the Indiana Pacers.

The post Klay Thompson Becomes the 13th NBA Player to Knock Down 2K Threes appeared first on SLAM.

Let’s get it.

Golden State proves (AGAIN) that championship DNA matters:

Klay Thompson scored 34 points, and Stephen Curry added 32 on six triples to help Golden State beat the League-best Boston Celtics, 123-107, on Saturday. Thompson scored 12 of 34 in the first quarter and went into halftime with 24. The win over Boston came despite Jaylen Brown (31 points and nine rebounds) cutting Boston’s 17-point deficit to seven points after scoring five straight midway through the fourth quarter.

However, the Celtics weren’t able to capitalize. They missed their final seven shots and managed to score just four more points after Brown’s flurry of buckets. Boston has been held to less than 110 points just five times after Saturday. The Warriors held Boston’s League-best offense to 43.7 percent shooting, including 12-40 from the three-point line.

It was the sixth time Boston was held below 45 percent shooting this season and the sixth time there were limited to 12 made three-pointers. Boston’s 17 assists were tired of a season-low effort.

“I just thought we competed and did a really good job defensively, tried to make things as tough as possible for them. And we gutted it out,” Steve Kerr said, per The Athletic. “I thought we needed a game like that. We’ve been a little bit stuck in the mud. And it feels like we’ve gotten better over the last few weeks but not a whole lot to show for it. So this was an important win for us.”

Some wins mean more.

Stephen: 32 pts, 6 reb, 7 ast
Klay: 34 pts, 5 reb, 2 stl

(via @nba) pic.twitter.com/7ggWupi8x6

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) December 11, 2022

Don’t forget about MVP threat Joel HIMbiid:

Joel Embiid is a DAWG, and don’t you forget it. The five-time All-Star dropped 53 points, 12 rebounds, and three assists to lead the 76ers to a 131-113 win over the Hornets. Embiid is the third 76er to post multiple 50-point games in the same since Allen Iverson and Wilt Chamberlain. It’s also the 30th game Embiid secured a 40-point, 10-rebound double-double.

Embiid scored 15 of his 28 first-half points over the final three minutes of the second half. Wells Fargo Arena showered Embiid with MVP chants as he became the first player in the NBA this season to score 50+ points after his League-best 59-point performance against Utah on Nov. 13.

“We have a saying that you have to feed the hot hand,” Embiid said, per ESPN. “You got to keep feeding them until the defense stops it once or twice or three times in that situation. I just kept scoring, and they just kept giving me the ball.”

53 PTS | 12 REB | 3 AST

Joel HIMbiid.

presented by @palottery pic.twitter.com/4qgsrvXcd3

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) December 12, 2022

Times may change, but one thing remains true: D.C will always love John Wall:

An emotional John Wall received the standing ovation from Wizards fans that he expected during the offseason. The city’s favorite point guard returned to Capital One Center for the first time as a visiting player and posted 13 points, three assists, and two steals to help the Clippers win 114-107.

JOHN WALL is really like that pic.twitter.com/g2lSBKZ0he

— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) December 11, 2022

The highlight moment of the night came when Wall hit a signature pull-up from mid-range. After Wall dropped the jumper, he yelled out that the nation’s capital is “still my city.” Although the former No. 1 overall pick said he wouldn’t say goodbye to D.C., he was happy the city showered him with love as their favorite son finally came home.

“This is something I’ve been waiting for four years,” Wall said per ESPN. “The first time I got traded, I came back with Houston; it was COVID, so you couldn’t be here. Then last year, I wasn’t playing. I’m glad I got the opportunity to appreciate it and be here, and get the love that I think I deserved. I feel like I got my flowers.”

John Wall on ‘Still My City’

“In that moment and electrifying the crowd. That’s what I’ve been doing for a lot of years in my career when I was here…. To see the crowd stand up, I’m like, ‘damn I might feel like I’m still in a Wizards jersey now.’ It was a dope moment for me.” pic.twitter.com/GuAcxqEURk

— Hoop District (@Hoop_District) December 11, 2022

Victor Wembanyama continues to solidify his spot as the potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft:

SLAM 240 cover star Victor Wembanyama is a force to be reckoned with, and the NBA is beyond ready to see him dominate in the States. The 18-year-old superstar has an eight-foot wingspan capable of blocking everything in sight and a deadly jumper that makes him uniquely equipped to thrive in today’s NBA.

This weekend, Wembanyama posted 27 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, and three steals against Monaco. Despite the strong outing, Metropolitan 93 lost 95-82; their next game will be on Dec. 17 against Paris Basketball.

Wemby in action for @Metropolitans92 today:@vicw_32: 27 PTS, 11 REB, 3 STL pic.twitter.com/ep7cc4etFd

— NBA (@NBA) December 11, 2022

Brittney Griner set to announce her future plans soon:

Brittney Griner is back in the States and has no immediate plans to leave Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, according to her agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas. Colas told ESPN that Griner recently put herself through a light contest, with her first shot being a dunk. Griner will reportedly release a statement sometime this week, per Colas.

Colas revealed Griner isn’t ready to say when or if she plans to resume her WNBA career with the Phoenix Mercury.

“If she wants to play, it will be for her to share. She has the holidays to rest and decide what’s next without any pressure,” Colas said. “She’s doing really, really well. She seems to have endured this in pretty incredible ways.”

The post NBA Weekend Recap: the Warriors Are Still Dangerous While D.C. Still Loves John Wall appeared first on SLAM.

Stephen Curry delivered another brilliant Finals performance, this time against the Boston Celtics, with his typical distance shooting and desire to get his teammates involved in the flow of the offense. Although Curry had solidified his legacy, it couldn’t have been done without the contribution of Andrew Wiggins.

In that series against the Celtics, Wiggins made his case for Finals MVP by shutting down the opposing superstar in Jayson Tatum and being the team’s second-best scorer at 18.3 points a game. He even led the team in rebounding with an 8.8 average and blocks with 1.5, ahead of Draymond Green and Kevon Looney.

The 2014 first overall pick had himself a series that cemented his name into NBA history, but in their title defense season, a rematch with the Celtics at Chase Center will feature Wiggins on the bench due to a right adductor strain, according to head coach Steve Kerr.

It's a bird.
It's a plane.
It's Andrew Wiggins! pic.twitter.com/DCpMYWfLBT

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) November 28, 2022

Wiggins had missed the last two games resulting in losses for the Warriors, but before his absence, in a win against the Houston Rockets, the forward dropped 36 points in the 34 minutes played. He went 14-19 from the field while shooting 80 percent from three (8-10), showcasing his improvement as an offensive threat once more.

Klay Thompson, the usual Robin to Curry as Batman, has struggled to get to form this season, averaging 18.9 points on the lowest field goal percentage shooting of his career at 39.6 percent. However, Thompson has found his rhythm lately, scoring 20+ points in five of his last seven games. With Wiggins sitting out this primetime matchup, Thompson will have to carry just a little more weight to make up for that missing production.

In Tatum and Jaylen Brown‘s revenge tour, the duo is currently averaging over 25 points each and have led the Celtics’ best record in the NBA at 21-5. The Finals rematch is shaping up to be completely different than last season after the Celtics added another scoring talent in Malcolm Brogdon, and interim coach Joe Mazzulla has created a League-leading 119.9 offensive rating.

The Warriors will have to find some defensive answers to figure out against the Celtics, but Kerr is “hopeful” that two of his four-time champions will be able to suit up, in Green and Curry. Dub Nation will undoubtedly miss what Wiggins can bring to the table, being one of the best two-way players in the game, but there should be no doubt in an NBA fan’s mind that the dynamic Warriors can find a way to steal a victory.

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June 17, 2022.

The morning after.

The iPhone is downstairs, on the counter. The screen lights up every few seconds as texts pour in. They’ve been rolling in for hours. Those will go unanswered for a while. If answered at all. 

It’s only been a few hours since the 2022 NBA Finals ended, and the gut-wrenching feeling of knowing that he was a couple of wins away from claiming an NBA title is starting to sink in for Jayson Tatum. 

He spent much of the night staying up trying to process what had just happened, lying in bed upstairs and replaying some of the pivotal moments of the series against the Golden State Warriors in his head. 

His mother, Brandy, who lives next door, spent the late-night hours after the game and the next morning at his home, trying to get him to snap out of the mental funk. 

But nothing seemed to be working that night, or the next day, or the day after that. 

“The day after [when] you wake up, it’s like waking up from a bad dream and realizing that you’re not dreaming and that you actually, you know, you lost. How mentally and physically exhausting the season was, the playoffs, that series was, and you just, you don’t want to do anything, you don’t want to go anywhere, you don’t want to be seen, you don’t want to talk to anybody,” says Tatum. “I was miserable. I never got my heart broken, but I could imagine if somebody got their heart broken, or anything like that, that’s how it felt. When I got home, I didn’t even want to eat. Left my phone on the counter downstairs. I had hundreds of messages, people checking in on me, I just laid in the bed—it took me a long time to go to sleep. I was just laying there. I was mad, I was upset, I was exhausted. And I just stared at the ceiling for hours until I fell asleep. That night and the next day waking up, like, Damn, we really lost the championship.” 

“Very uncharacteristic [of Jayson]. Jayson is known for having a short memory. He can shake whatever off, good or bad, high or low. He normally doesn’t hang on to anything like that. But this was different…Everybody knows, I’ve gotten up at two in the morning if he’s hungry, especially [for] tacos. He didn’t want that. That’s when I knew it was serious,” says Brandy of one of Jayson’s go-to meals, which up to that point he had never turned down. “He didn’t want to be bothered. He didn’t want to talk. He was devastated. I understood. I know firsthand how much work he puts in.”

Although the season was over, Tatum found himself on the clock the morning after. A decision needed to be made.

SLAM 241 featuring Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum is out now.

For the past few years, Tatum and his fam have flown out of the country for Father’s Day weekend. It’s become an annual tradition. A way to unwind with loved ones as the summer kicks off and before he starts ramping up his preparation for the following season. But this spring, with the Celtics making a deep run into June, the family had not made any travel arrangements for the annual getaway. They had decided to wait it out. If the Finals went all the way to a Game 7, the decisive game would fall on Father’s Day. And if the Celtics closed out the Warriors earlier, the parade in Boston could very well fall on that weekend. 

But once Golden State won Game 6 in Boston, Jayson had about 48 hours to make a decision before Father’s Day and plan out an itinerary in order to keep the annual excursion alive. Except there was one problem: Jayson had no desire to step out anywhere that weekend, let alone go on a trip. He had decided to call off the tradition. He just couldn’t get himself to go on a vacation so soon after coming so close to helping Boston get its 18^th championship banner.   

Brandy, concerned, wanted to make sure that Jayson didn’t get too caught up in the loss and that he took the proper time to clear his head and unwind before he transitioned to offseason training. She knew it was important for him to take the trip now more than ever. But since Jayson was adamant about not going anywhere, she deployed the one thing she knew would work when all others failed: Deuce. 

“I just let him have his moment, his time, but once I felt like enough was enough, we’re not gonna sulk all summer, that’s when I used my secret weapon,” says Brandy of Deuce, Jayson’s 5-year-old son, who has become a celebrity of his own. “Deuce can win him down with anything. Deuce makes all things good, so I used my secret weapon—sent Deuce in there to ask him. It always works.” 

“It took some convincing, because I didn’t want to leave the house for a couple of days. I was glad I did. I think that’s the best part about being a dad, taking your mind off things [and] going out [of] the country with him. He’s 4 [at the time], so he doesn’t really know or, for lack of better words, care that we just lost. He wants me to help him build a sand castle and go swimming with him. In the midst of all of that, he kind of took my mind off things, especially so close to us just losing,” Tatum recalls. “He’s spoiled, he gets whatever he wants. So, him coming and asking me, Daddy, can we go somewhere? I want to go to the beach! It’s hard to say no. He ultimately got his way.” 

And so off to the Cayman Islands they went. Brandy says they ended up booking travel just 24 hours before the plane took off. And although he was no longer stateside, there was no escaping the Finals chatter, as Jayson soon found out. 

“Everywhere I went this summer, somebody mentioned something about the Finals,” he says. “Being in the Cayman Islands, four or five days afterward, everybody—whether it was the driver, or the waiter, or the other guests at the resort—it was nonstop. And not that they meant anything wrong by it. They were just true fans and they saw somebody that played in the Finals. But it was something I had to deal with every day of the summer.”

When he got back from the trip, Jayson immediately turned his focus to the upcoming season. He knew he wanted to approach the offseason very differently from past years. A focal point became his diet. He admits that up to this past summer, he was never truly conscious about what he ate and didn’t follow any kind of regimented diet. He ate whatever he pleased and then just went out there and earned All-NBA First Team last season. But the deep playoff run in 2022 made him reevaluate everything. It had taken a toll on him physically and mentally. He logged 983 minutes in the playoffs last season—the most minutes played in a single postseason since LeBron James played exactly 983 in 2012. Tatum played the most cumulative minutes overall last season, too, when factoring in the regular season: 3,714. It’s a testament to his ability to stay healthy, to be counted on to stay on the floor and play through pain and fatigue.

And although he’s not one to make excuses, we’ll do it for him here. After playing exceptionally well down the stretch in the regular season and carrying his team to the Finals, the wear and tear started to become noticeable in certain moments against the Warriors. He had run out of gas. A feeling he vows won’t ever happen again.  

“I really had a different mindset [this summer]—I knew what it took to get to the Finals and I know how much more it takes to get over that hump. And I need to separate myself. I need to do something different. I need for my summer to be different than it was last year and the year before that. I need to prepare better. I hired a chef. I started to eat better. Started working on my body even more than I previously was because I knew playing until June, your body has to be prepared for that,” he says. “First, coming into the League, I didn’t really have a routine. I ate whatever I wanted to and I just went out there and played basketball. But now I’m very routine-based, and even though I’m only 24, I’ve played a lot of basketball, so [I was] trying to find the different ways to give me an edge.”  

Tatum spends part of every summer training in L.A. It’s his own six-week training camp before the start of Celtics training camp. And being in sunny SoCal, he’s always tried to have some fun while out there. But Brandy, who stayed behind this year, says word quickly got back to her on the East Coast that Jayson was using his time in L.A. much differently this time around. This summer, it was all business.

“Everybody that was there, trainers, any friends that visit, everyone, they were calling and they were like, It’s something different [this year]. This is like bootcamp! He’s so locked in,” she recalls. 

Jayson adds: “It was like, I didn’t really have time for other things. I love to play golf [but] I didn’t play golf not one time when I was in L.A. Just ’cause after everything we did every day, by the time we got back to the house and watched some film, did treatment, put ice on my legs, it was six, seven o’clock. The sun is going down, I’m exhausted, and I’m just preparing to get ready for the next day. The guys that were with me, they could attest to it that this summer was just different. I was determined to not have that feeling again of losing in the Finals…That’s all I cared about coming into the season—getting back to that point and not feeling like that again.” 

The 6-8 star’s first five seasons in the NBA have arguably been as successful as anyone’s first five years in the League over the past decade. Three Conference Finals appearances—including his rookie year in 2018, where he came within one win of reaching the NBA Finals. A trip to the Finals in 2022, where he fell just short of capturing a championship against a team that will go down as one of the game’s dynasties. He’s made the playoffs every year of his career so far. He surpassed 1,500 career playoff points earlier this year. The only player in NBA history to do that at a younger age was Kobe Bryant.

But Tatum’s definition of success is different from the rest of us. In his mind, when it comes to this, there is no glass half-full. His competitive side won’t allow him to find solace in the deep playoff runs or record-breaking numbers. If anything, it’s had the opposite effect. 

“And that was the toughest part this summer, everybody coming up and saying, You’ll be back. You were so close. You made it to the Finals. And it’s like, only one team won last year, right? We got to the Finals but you come to our arena or practice facility, we only hang up banners if you win. No conference champions or division champions—we don’t care about those. You either win or you lose,” says Tatum. “And that’s the mindset that I have and the group has. So, it’s not like a moral victory. We play this game to win, and you’re never satisfied until you do.” 

Despite the NBA Finals run, the Celtics found themselves with lots of question marks coming into this season. The drama around the offseason coaching change—Tatum’s third head coach in three years—was one. Then a couple of their core guys—Danilo Gallinari and Robert Williams—suffered major injuries before opening night, adding extra obstacles to the list. The result? The Celtics have the best record in the NBA and they were in the midst of a nine-game winning streak when we did our cover shoot with Tatum. 

“I think with having a new head coach, along with Gallo tearing his ACL and not knowing when he’ll be able to come back, and Rob missing the first part of the season until he gets back, it obviously didn’t look how we thought it would look coming back into the season. But I think all those things in a way made us buckle down even more, made us come together, knowing that there was a lot of things stacked up against us,” Tatum admits. “And we coulda chalked it up to a new coach, we have guys out, we played late into the season, or we could really buckle down because nobody is going to feel bad for us. We got a target on our back every night, we’re going to get other teams’ best shot because they know we went to the championship and they know the talent level that we have. So, every night is going to be tough regardless of whatever their record is, home or away. I think that has made us a better team.” 

As for Tatum individually, he’s enjoying the best numbers of his career thus far, averaging a career-best 30.5 ppg. He’s also averaging career-highs in assists and blocks. After a 43-point, 10-rebound performance the night before our shoot in Detroit, a common phrase started trending next to his name on Twitter: MVP season. It’s a sentiment that has been repeated a lot more since, including by TV personalities. A few days after our shoot, Vegas had him as an early favorite to earn the honor. “It’s something me and [my trainer] Drew [Hanlen] talked a lot about this offseason. He was telling me, I really want you to be MVP this season. And I think, of course, growing up as a kid, winning MVP was a goal. You know, I want to get to the NBA, win an MVP, win a championship, all those things,” Tatum says. “But I more so approached this season as, I just want to play at an MVP level, which means I’m playing as one of the best players, playing efficiently [on] both ends of the ball, and we’re winning. We got one of the best records and we’re on pace to get back to where we were. And all that matters is that we do that and get over the hump. I would love to win MVP, of course, but I just want to play at that level…And that we remember how we felt when we came up short, and that we’ll do whatever it takes not to feel that way again.”

SLAM 241 Gold Metal Edition and Cover Tees are available now. Tap in.

Portraits by Marcus Stevens.

The post Jayson Tatum is on a Mission to Handle Unfinished Business appeared first on SLAM.

The coolest MFer in the NBA scored 28 points on 8-16 from three, reaching 13,000 career points and catapulting himself into the No. 13 spot on the all-time made 3-pointers list. Thompson passed Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki with a total of 1,989 threes. 

“Grew up loving both those guys, especially Dirk because he’s a shooter and JK, just as a baller, Bay legend,” Thompson told reporters per Yahoo. “So yeah, it means a lot to me. I don’t take that for granted. Two of the all-time greats right there, so that means a lot to me.”

After missing consecutive seasons with a torn Achilles and ACL, the Golden State guard has been vocal about how his appreciation of the game has grown. Fellow Splash Bro and all-time made three-pointer king Stephen Curry echoed Thompson and expressed his hope that more people stop to appreciate the milestone.

Rather than taking Thompson’s shooting for granted and calling this moment just “a matter of time,” Curry wants fans to understand that “just being able to play these games after what he’s been through is amazing and something that you shouldn’t just gloss over,” Curry hopes Thompson continues to climb up the list.

“There will be a lot of respect for him as a shooter, him as a clutch guy, to knock it down no matter where he’s at. He set a high standard for what shooting the basketball is in today’s game.”

Let’s enjoy and appreciate Thompson’s milestone with a few clips of shooting beauty:

The post Lucky 13’s: Klay Thompson Climbs Up All-Time Made Three-Pointers List in Warriors Loss appeared first on SLAM.

The aggressive play of star center Bam Adebayo and the leadership of Kyle Lowry have brought the team to four victories in their last five games, with the most notable one being this past Friday against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.

A game that featured the return of Miami superstar Jimmy Butler saw the forward shatter the hearts of the 19-5 Celtics by hitting one clutch shot after another. After the game, he posed high confidence in the Heat and its resiliency in tight situations but most notably made a promise to team President and all-time NBA legend Pat Riley, as he hopes this season shapes up to be Riley’s 10th championship run.

“When you’re talking about the Heat,” Butler said. “Deep run into the playoffs, championship caliber, that’s the second two is about. You put the two together, Pat Riley; we’re getting your 10th championship.”

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A post shared by Jimmy Butler (@jimmybutler)

Butler came within reach of Riley’s 10th title on two separate occasions, as in the 2020 NBA Finals, the Heat came up short against the Los Angeles Lakers, losing the series 4-2. Last season, the Heat were once again in the Eastern Conference Finals against the rivaled Celtics, and in Game 7, Butler missed a critical go-ahead three-point shot in the final 18 seconds to give Boston the opportunity to ice the game and move on to the championship series against the Golden State Warriors.

Though the Heat hasn’t looked themselves this season, when Butler is on the court, his elite level of play places him in the upper echelon of star players across the League. He’s currently averaging 21.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.7 steals.

The Heat Culture embodies a ‘bounce back’ mentality through their grit and determination on the floor, and Butler has certainly embraced it. However, at 33-years-old, time is certainly closing on him to achieve the dream of winning a championship.

Butler is capable of taking on the challenge on his own, but basketball is a team game, and Heat fans know that if a championship comes to South Beach, it’ll have to be a high-level team effort.

“We’re still going to win the championship, and I don’t care what nobody says,” Butler said on the early struggle of the Heat. “Count us out. We’re going to win the f—— championship. I’m telling you.”

The post Jimmy Butler to Pat Riley: ‘We’re Getting Your 10th Championship’ appeared first on SLAM.

After the loss, Kerr addressed the media about the NBA’s lack of enforcement on travel calls this year.

“I think only based on consistency,” said Kerr on Thursday via 95.7 The Game’s “Damon and Ratto” when asked if travel calls are currently being enforced in the League. “On tape, all seven of ours were definitely travels. There was one on Dallas that I did not think was a travel — But there were also five or six other plays in the game that were definitely travels, including where Luka (Dončić) carries the ball in the post when he’s backing you down, and he puts his hand all the way underneath the ball. That’s a travel, and you’ve got to enforce it all — especially if you’re going to call the one on Steph (Curry) at the end with the game on the line when it’s a tiny little shuffle.”

By all means, the nine-time champ is not disagreeing with travel calls being called more since players are somehow getting away with them nowadays. He is just saying that these rules have to be called both ways during games, and it has to happen with all the other 29 teams in the NBA. Kerr made sure to reiterate this point too.

“You know me; I’m Mr. Travel. I’m all for enforcing traveling,” Kerr pointed out. “But it just has to be done all the time. And it can’t just be sort of selective.”

These comments on there being more balance with which teams are being called out more for travels trace back to what Kerr touched on earlier in November after a game with the Miami Heat. Warriors guard Jordan Poole had more travel calls called on him than the entire Heat team by the final buzzer. 

“Jordan Poole has been called for, I would guess, seven or eight palming violations over the last month since the League decided to really enforce all that stuff,” Kerr said following the Warriors’ loss to Miami on Nov.1. “And if that’s the case, then we’ve got to call it on everybody – And that’s my only beef, is that these things are happening a lot. We got called for a bunch of them. I have no problem with it. Like I said, a rule’s a rule, but let’s just be consistent. That’s all I ask.”

The Warriors will be back in action on Friday in a showdown with the Chicago Bulls.

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Doncic was in his bag last night, scorching the visiting Golden State Warriors with his hot hand and impressive playmaking abilities. Doncic sealed the 116-113 victory with 41 points shooting 14-27 (51.9 percent) from the field, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists.

Unreal performance from Luka.

41 PTS, 12 REB, 12 AST, 4 STL.

(via @nba) pic.twitter.com/2YBzHUSDVB

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) November 30, 2022

This is Doncic’s third 40+ point triple-double this season, and every other player in the League currently has zero. Performances like what we witnessed last night on national television are why many would agree that Doncic is a front-runner for MVP this year. I mean, with the way he has been playing at such a high level, how could you argue against him right now?

“It’s getting boring,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd jokingly told ESPN postgame. “I mean, let’s see something different. Maybe do it with his left hand. I’m just joking. Look, he’s one of the best in the world, and that’s what he does. Some of us can take him for granted. The man is special.”

Warriors Superstar Stephen Curry also chimed in postgame with some high praise for Doncic as well;

“His size and his ball-handling skills keep you on edge the entire game, that plus him being a three-level scorer, you’ve got to worry about everything,” Curry said. “Then obviously, his court vision is unreal. It’s an offensive package of being a playmaker and scorer, and when he’s knocking down shots like he did tonight, it’s tough. You want to take something away from him, but he can make play after play.”

Tuesday’s game just continues to add to what has been a spectacular season for Doncic, whose performance yesterday also landed him in the history books. Doncic is now the sixth player in NBA history to record five or more 40-point triple-doubles. The five other big names he joins on that list are Oscar Robertson, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Wilt Chamberlain, and LeBron James.

In addition to his new piece of NBA history, Doncic made franchise history after tying Dirk Nowitzki’s franchise record for most 40-point games as a Maverick.

There just doesn’t seem to be anything anyone in the League can do to stop Doncic. With the All-Star break quietly approaching, we will just have to wait to see if Doncic and the Mavericks can continue to sustain their current level of play.

The post Jason Kidd On Taking Luka Doncic ‘for Granted’ After His 40-Point Triple-Double appeared first on SLAM.

ICYMI: 

Most of the fireworks on Friday night happened in Houston in an absolute shoot-out between the Rockets and Atlanta Hawks. Trae Young and Dejounte Murray combined for 83 points, but it wasn’t enough. After leading by as much as 16 points in the third quarter, Atlanta squandered the lead, and the Rockets surged late to capture their fourth win of the season, 128-122.

Despite Murray scoring a career-high 39 points and making a career-high eight threes, the Hawks couldn’t get the job done. A big reason for this was their performance on the boards in the absence of Clint Capela, who was out due to dental pain. Houston outrebounded Atlanta 59-28. This included a 22-6 drubbing on the offensive boards and a 37-22 advantage on the defensive boards.

Most of the headlines after the game were about the aftermath of a third-quarter scrum between each team’s respective backcourt. Young and Murray did plenty of showboating on the way to scoring a combined 83 points, and you get the sense that Green and Kevin Porter Jr. didn’t like it one bit. Green and Porter took to Instagram to mock Young following the game. Green waved goodbye to the Hawks after their 18-point fourth quarter. 

Ja Morant messed around and dropped a triple-double in Madison Square Garden, dropping 27 points, 10 rebounds, and 14 dimes. He’s been highly productive during Desmond Bane, who suffered a sprained big toe injury on Nov. 15 and won’t be back for at least another week.

Postgame, Morant credited New York Knicks point guard and Chicago/Memphis legend Derrick Rose for paving the way for hyper-athletic guards by saying; 

“He really made it to where people believe in guys like me,” Morant told the Commercial Appeal. “Coming in, athletic guards, I felt like he was pretty much the one who kind of made it more famous. With how acrobatic his finish is, his touch around the rim, and how explosive he was. Coming in, he was my comparison. It’s crazy to be out there on the floor sharing a court with him.”

Klay Thompson was off to a rough start on the offensive side of the ball to begin the season, but he’s beginning to get on track. He shot 61.5 percent from the field in Sunday’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Golden State scored 47 points in the first quarter and never really looked back. They had crisp offensive execution the entire game. 

The Boston Celtics continued their winning ways. They have won 12 of their last 13 games. They are a League-best 16-4 on the season. Jaylen Brown had 36 points in their most recent win sans Jayson Tatum against the Washington Wizards. The Celtics are poised for a return to the NBA Finals if they keep playing the way they’re playing. 

Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and the Brooklyn Nets are now only a single game under .500 following their 111-97 win against the Trail Blazers on Sunday night. Seth Curry was a big factor in the win against his former squad, with 29 points on 11-15 shooting. 

Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox has been playing out of his mind and is turning some heads. Fox has been shooting a career-high 53 percent from the field, helping him average 25.1 points per game, 4.9 rebounds, and 6.1 assists per game.

Fox has the Kings sitting in sixth place in a jammed Western Conference with a record of 10-8. Fox’s play has been so good that this past weekend, he inked a deal with one of the biggest and most well-known sports agencies in basketball Klutch Sports. For Sacramento, Fox’s recent play and lead role in the Kings’ resurgence could be just what the team needs to end their 16-year playoff drought.

The Kings have the talent and youth to be very disruptive if given a postseason opportunity. The team’s additions of Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk (in addition to Fox’s play) have been a great fit. Hopefully, Fox and the team can continue this momentum.

Over the weekend, the Lakers played the San Antonio Spurs for the third time in their last four games. During the third quarter of Saturday’s game, Russell Westbrook was going up for a layup after previously grabbing a rebound and was fouled on the way up by Spurs center Zach Collins. When Westbrook rose up from the ground heated from the foul, you could see that he had a cut and was visibly bleeding from his forehead.

The two teams got together for what seemed like a couple of seconds after the foul, but everyone was calmly escorted to their respective benches. Westbrook, who was fuming for a good reason, was taken away by LeBron James, who quickly compressed Westbrook’s head wound with a towel and walked him over to the bench to be further examined by the Lakers team doctors.

Once the situation calmed down, a Flagrant 2 foul was given the Collins, and a tech was given to Westbrook. Postgame, James commented on the altercation, saying;

“I saw where the cut was immediately. It was just common sense to put pressure on the cut right away. Don’t let it continue to go. Before we became teammates, we’ve always been like brothers and cool and things of that nature. His health is more important than the game of basketball. We were just trying to stop that and let the training staff do their job after we got him over to the bench.”

Miami center Bam Adebayo has had a quiet yet phenomenal stretch over the Heat’s last six games averaging 25.5 points per game and 10.2 rebounds on 52 percent shooting from the field. However, in Adebayo’s last two games, he has scored over 30 points and has been a key contributor toward the end of games on both the defensive and offensive sides.

The Heat are currently on a three-game win streak led by Adebayo’s diverse and consistent play, and the team looks to carry that momentum into their Wednesday matchup with the 2022 Eastern Conference Champion Celtics. 

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND:

Ja Morant’s father asked for his son’s jersey for the first time in Morant’s career. Morant stated that it was “special” for him to get a triple-double in the Garden and that it was a place that he always had a special feeling for.

Morant admitted after Sunday’s game that MSG was special for him to have a triple-double since it was a place he watched in so many games on television as a kid — which was why his father made the unusual request for his jersey.

“It’s just the bright lights, man,” Morant told ESPN post-game. “Having a triple-double in the Garden is crazy. Growing up actually watching teams come here and play, watching the Knicks play — everybody loves the Garden. We really called it the bright lights. Everybody is watching. So for me to be able to go out and play like I played tonight was big-time for me.”

The post ICYMI: We Got You Covered With Thanksgiving Weekend News appeared first on SLAM.

As impressive as his resume may be, fans, as well as Doncic himself, realize the importance of what a championship will do to the Slovenian’s legacy. While he came up short last season when he faced the Golden State Warriors dynasty in the Western Conference Finals, the roster improvement the front office made over the summer has Doncic hopeful of remaining in Big D for a long stretch of his career.

“I don’t think they’re worried about it right now,” Doncic tells WFAA on the state of his contract to Mavs’ fans. “I got what, five years left here, so I don’t think they should be worried about it.”

pic.twitter.com/mCKB00HCTD

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) November 21, 2022

Doncic recently signed a $207 million contract extension with the Mavs to keep him until 2027. Being a 10-year veteran by that time will undoubtedly put pressure on Dallas in the next five years to place the missing pieces for a title. Though Doncic tells fans not to worry about exiting, a player of his caliber may change his position depending on how the front office builds the team around him.

Similar to LeBron James‘ first exit in Cleveland or Kevin Durant‘s departure from Oklahoma City, the talent centered around the superstar can truly shift his commitment towards the organization’s plan.

He can't be stopped pic.twitter.com/b60Lk1U87x

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) November 21, 2022

Recent rumors indicate that the Mavericks are looking to make a splash on the trade center, specifically for Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons. The two-way presence of Simmons can help alleviate the pressure off of Doncic and allow him to be hidden on the weakest offensive presence on any given opponent’s lineup.

No one can tell what’s to come, but for a generational player like Doncic, a championship roster has to be built from the mud up to make the talent’s story all the more impressive and, of course, avoid a heartbreaking exit. While Doncic is complaining yet about roster construction, the onus will remain on Dallas’ front office to build a championship-caliber roster around their MVP candidate.

His legacy, and the franchises, will be tied around it.

“Basketball is my peace place,” Doncic said. “I always want to go there. I forget about everything that’s going on off the court.”

The post Luka Doncic On Worries About Him Leaving Dallas: ‘I Got Five Years Left Here’ appeared first on SLAM.

Wiseman hasn’t been the pivotal factor to the aging Dubs lineup as head coach Steve Kerr would’ve hoped for. With Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green nearing the end of their prime years, Kerr’s response was to send Wiseman down to the G League to “get more reps” in the G-League.

“Every player needs a foundation,” said Kerr, per NBC Sports, on how Wiseman jumpstarts his true potential. “but when you have a guy who missed all of that time with the circumstances and hasn’t been able to really build that foundation, you have to try and do the right thing to help him get going. This is what we’re thinking.”

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The Warriors have put their young talent in circumstances where they have to prove themselves individually, and the Wiseman project rides the same boat, even after a two-year absence.

Kerr suggests that a defense’s attention on the lottery pick will help expose Wiseman to a brighter offensive play style.

“I think it’s just all part of natural evolution of a young player who doesn’t have much experience, who happened to come into the league as the pandemic started and then missed a year-and-a-half with an injury. That’s it; that’s the bottom line.

“Practice is the big thing,” Kerr said. “When you get individualized attention like the guys do in the G League, it’s easier to make more progress, I think, rather than the stops and starts that happen during the NBA season when you’re not in the rotation.”

It’s inevitable that the Warriors will move on from their Big Three that has them four championships. However, good franchises build toward the future to keep the motions of title contention. Kerr and Golden State are making the proper adjustment towards making Wiseman a dominant presence as he was once projected to be.

The post Steve Kerr Won’t Rush James Wiseman Back: ‘Every Player Needs a Foundation’ appeared first on SLAM.

ICYMI:

Stephen Curry dropped an impressive 33 points and a season-high 15 assists (one shy of his career-high) on 11-12 shooting from the field, 7-14 from long distance. Curry hit the below triple to give the Warriors an insurmountable nine-point lead and gave the Toyota Center his signature GTS celebration.

“I surprised myself with that shot,” Curry said, per ESPN. “Me and Draymond put our hands above our heads like we really won something, kind of making fun of ourselves for our slow start.”

Lol Stephen really different. (via @nba) pic.twitter.com/hFcJv1N1F1

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) November 21, 2022

Anthony Davis became the Laker in franchise history to record 30+ points and 15+ rebounds in three consecutive games, joining Elgin Baylor (17 streaks) and Shaquille O’Neale (two streaks). The Lakers also secured their fifth win of the season after dispatching the Spurs 123-92.

“AD, he has to be the focal point,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said, per ESPN. “He has to spearhead the charge. That’s the way we’re built. He’s embraced it. When Bron gets back, if AD can sustain that level, we’re going to be as good as our preparation makes us.”

@AntDavis23 put up another MONSTER double-double in the @Lakers win!

30 PTS | 18 REB | 3 STL pic.twitter.com/0seK32EUc2

— NBA (@NBA) November 21, 2022

Trae Young (33 points and 12 assists) and AJ Griffin (17 points and five board) executed one of the more creative game-winning buckets in recent memory with this ally-oop game-winner to beat the Toronto Raptors on Sunday 124-122.

“I was in the right place at the right time,” Griffin said, per ESPN. “I had a feeling they were going to pressure up. I saw it and broke early. I said, ‘I’ll just sneak up behind them.’ That’s exactly what happened.”

This is one of the best ran plays to win the game I’ve seen in a minute. (via @ATLHawks) pic.twitter.com/af4bUCchaL

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) November 20, 2022

Anthony Edwards dropped a stunning 25 points, five rebounds, and five assists in a 112-109 win over the 76ers. The three-point win is Minnesota’s third consecutive.

“We took a lot of bad shots, I definitely did, but we got the win, though,” Edwards said of a 7-of-21 effort.

Anthony Edwards vs Philly last night:

25 points
5 rebounds
5 assists.

Too good. (via @Timberwolves) pic.twitter.com/oHZAJE44Bn

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) November 20, 2022

Bol Bol posted 22 points, 11 boards, and two blocks during Orlando’s 114-113 loss to the Pacers on Saturday. During the second quarter, Bol went into his bag tricks to score a tough layup over Pacers defensive anchor Myles Turner.

How do you even stop this? (via @OrlandoMagic) pic.twitter.com/EXIdRfJfAH

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) November 20, 2022

Quote of the Weekend

Klay Thompson pulled up to Houston with some bad intentions after dropping a season-high 41 points on 10 triples to help Golden State secure their first road game of the season. The Warriors lost eight road games in a row heading into Sunday’s contest, a first during the most successful era in franchise history.

Thompson exorcised some demons hanging around during a slow start to the season that has led to many around the League saying Thompson’s best days are behind him. On Sunday, he proved that wrong and let it be known that “it’s only up from here.”

“It feels amazing. I’m hard on myself, so I’ve been wanting one of these. And to get one and kind of open the floodgates, it’s only up from here. I promise you,” Thompson said in his postgame interview. “I finally feel like myself. My legs feel great. I’m cutting to the rim, taking great shots, and I’m just excited for what’s to come. Man, I’m not gonna lie, guys, that felt amazing. Wow. I don’t care if it’s a mid-November game. That felt great.

@KlayThompson WENT WILD in the @warriors win! He went off for 20 PTS in Q1 on his way to a season-high 41 PTS and 10 triples! #DubNation

41 PTS
10 3PM (10-13) pic.twitter.com/qHWVlFTE9d

— NBA (@NBA) November 21, 2022

The post ICYMI: Here’s What Happened Across the League Over the Weekend appeared first on SLAM.

The defending champs have heard all the noise, and last night, one player, in particular, stepped up and gave us an offensive performance for the ages. Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson had a vintage shooting performance last night versus the Houston Rockets on the road.

Thompson dropped 41 points on 14-23 shooting from the field, which included 10 threes! It was an absolutely unconscious offensive performance, the likes of which many basketball fans have missed from him. Not only was this a huge win and boost for Thompson’s confidence, but his supernova night helped to snap Golden State’s eight-game road losing streak.

Thompson has had to overcome some major injuries over the past few NBA seasons, from a torn Achilles and ACL. So when hearing that, some people thought his game was slipping coming back this season after fighting for two seasons to get back hurt.

In a postgame interview with CBS Sports following the Warriors’ win, Thompson had this to say about his night:

“It feels amazing. I’m hard on myself, so I’ve been wanting one of these. And to get one and kind of open the floodgates, it’s only up from here. I promise you,” Thompson said in his postgame interview. “I finally feel like myself. My legs feel great. I’m cutting to the rim, taking great shots, and I’m just excited for what’s to come. Man, I’m not gonna lie, guys, that felt amazing. Wow. I don’t care if it’s a mid-November game. That felt great.”

Shout out to Klay Thompson, a true warrior; the game has missed you!

The post Klay Thompson’s Big Night Helps Golden State Secure Their First Road Win appeared first on SLAM.

The 2022-23 campaign was supposed to be a referendum on the Warriors successfully fulfilling their dual timeline of focusing on winning now while developing for the future after letting several key veterans walk away in free agency. The results early on feature the Warriors playing less than stellar on defense and their bench play struggling to maintain the leads that the starters built.

The unexpected losses come despite Stephen Curry playing up to his usual superstardom. Furthermore, there is no reason to write off the Warriors dynasty just yet. Especially when a defensive anchor like Green plays with all-time great shooters in Curry and Klay Thompson.

During the first 14 games out of the 82 game-season, Green believes the struggles couldn’t come at a better time, but the learning curve (through the wins and losses) must be addressed because of the difficulty in the profession.

“You’d rather have them sooner rather than later,” said Green to The Athletic on the Warrior’s unexpected losses. “But in saying that, to build what we’re trying to build, we do understand that it takes time. —We’ve been in this position before, where we’ve had struggles and things that we needed to work on and that we had to fix.”

Defense Offense pic.twitter.com/Ngr6zxOyQh

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) November 15, 2022

Outside of the MVP-caliber play of Curry, the Warriors haven’t played to their’ Strengths in Numbers.’ The team’s leading rebounder, Kevon Looney, is averaging 6.9 rebounds a game, and as a team, they’re the 7th worst in the League in that category. Not to mention, they’re averaging the sixth most turnovers (15.7), and their five-time All-Star in Thompson has struggled to find his shooter’s touch.

Is age starting to be a factor for the Dubs? Head coach Steve Kerr indicated that was a possibility.

“We know this isn’t going forever,” said Kerr. “This could be the last year; maybe next year is the last year. We’re in the final stages. We know that.”

Basketball is a beautiful game.

@NBCSAuthentic pic.twitter.com/XumncvBDX9

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) November 15, 2022

The Warriors are currently four games behind the Western Conference’s top seed. Although the playoff picture isn’t the current thought of the team, Green uses the record of his rival opponents to motivate the group towards reaching the throne they have been accustomed to seeing in four of the last seven years.

“In the West, I was looking at the other day, and it’s like no one has stood out,” said Green. “It’s right there for us. If we get ourselves together, which we will, it’s right there for us.”

The post Draymond Green On Having Golden State Struggle ‘Sooner Rather Than Later’ appeared first on SLAM.

This time, arguably their best player, Kevin Durant, spoke out on the blockbuster trade request he made in late June; the two-year drama centered around point guard Kyrie Irving and where their roster currently rests.

Durant essentially took the biggest challenge of his career by joining the Nets in 2019 after winning two titles as a member of the Golden State Warriors. Since then, Durant has only made it as far as the second round of the playoffs, and he believes former coach Steve Nash wasn’t able to bring out the best of the Nets.

“Ask Steve Nash; you can go call him right now. I would say, ‘Yo, I need more closeout drills. We need to practice more.’ That’s what I was on,” Durant told Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report. “I wasn’t feeling that, and nobody was on that same vibe with me.”

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The team’s commitment towards success last season was the breaking point for Durant. A team unwilling to spend extra hours in practice to improve their play resulted in No. 7 considering a run towards the exit.

“I had some complaints in the summer, and my complaints were not about just me; it was about how we are moving as a unit,” Durant said. “I want us to be respected out here in the basketball world. I don’t want players to look at us and say, ‘Oh man, these [expletive] are full of s—. That’s not the type of team I want to be on.’

“So when we’re all playing like s—, you know the one person they’re going to look at. That’s why I requested a trade.”

The Nets were able to keep Durant in the fold after a summer meeting with Brooklyn’s front office. It didn’t help that Brooklyn faced much scrutiny surrounding Durant’s trade request and free-agent negotiations with Irving.

Irving, who has refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine and was recently mired in controversy for posting a movie filled with anti-Semitic messaging that forced Brooklyn to suspend him indefinitely after he declined to apologize and disown the antisemitism in the film.

Irving’s constant sideline absence left Durant to defend his teammate and flex his leadership, telling reporters that he “can’t tell a grown man what to do.” Durant is making it clear he has accepted Irving’s availability, and it’s time to stop deeming the Nets as championship contenders. Durant subsequently asked, “what do you expect” from Brooklyn’s starters, and bluntly said the Nets are expected to win because he’s in the lineup.

“You expect us to win because I’m out there. So if you’re watching from that lens, you’re expecting us to play well because No. 7 is out there.”

The post Kevin Durant Reflects on Trade Request and Brooklyn’s Roster Moves appeared first on SLAM.

The other half of the legendary Splash Bros has been going through a tough start to begin the season. However, Thompson believes that that shouldn’t discredit the four championships he’s contributed to the team and his legacy as one of the greatest shooters of all time.

11th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft
Grew up in the 11th house on 11 Lane
K is the 11th letter in the alphabet
Wears number 11

11.11 || @KlayThompson pic.twitter.com/OzZTyxSEEf

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) November 11, 2022

He’s currently averaging the lowest points per game since his rookie season (12.5) at 14.7. The 20 points per night that NBA fans are accustomed to seeing for years has come in the way of his red-hot three-point shooting or his point totals at the foul line. This season, however, Thompson is shooting career lows in both statistical categories; his three-point percentage currently rides at 33 percent, while his free throw shooting takes a significant drop to 75 percent.

Doubters will have a field day with numbers like this, but there’s plenty of hoop action for Thompson to redeem where his strengths are.

“You just can’t please everybody,” Thompson said in an interview with Bleacher Report. “But for myself individually, it’s about rediscovering that form of efficiency and that two-way play that made me great. And I feel like I’m well on my way there.”

It wouldn’t be the first time Thompson plans on shutting the critics down. On Jan. 9, when he returned to action after two seasons missed due to a torn Achilles and ACL, Thompson dropped 14 points on the Cleveland Cavaliers, showing promise that the injury did not hold him back. The five-time All-Star played a pivotal role in Golden State advancing to their sixth NBA Finals since 2015.

The Warriors ultimately won the 2022 NBA Finals after beating the Celtics in six games. Despite winning his fourth title after an arduous journey just to get back to the hardwood sanctuary, Thompson believes that his injuries weren’t accounted for enough in their title victory.

“Yeah, that’s true, but I feel like I deserve more credit for battling through all that injury s—,” said Thompson. “I helped a team win a championship last year, and people still want to discredit what you do.”

An 82-game season has its ways of bringing the lows of a player, but for Thompson, his Hall-of-Fame career can be a testament to how quickly he can flip the script on his struggles. In doing so, the Dubs may be competing in mid-June once more for a back-to-back title, solidifying the greatest dynasty of the new generation.

“On the bright side, I’m happy to go through this now compared to a few months from now,” said Thompson. “I have no doubt in my mind I’ll get back to form; I was there last year. We won a championship – The proof is in the pudding. But there’s one more thing I’ll say: You can’t take away the hardware.”

The post Klay Thompson Addresses the Latest Backlash Towards Him and the Warriors appeared first on SLAM.

Kerr made the announcement on Monday following Golden State’s 132-95 win over the San Antonio Spurs. Wiseman played nine minutes and posted two points, two rebounds, and assists. He didn’t play in any of Golden’s Staes’ previous three games.

“Yeah, he going to go to Santa Cruz tomorrow, and we will keep him there for an extended period to get really good practice time and some games,” Kerr said per NBCS Warriors. “It’s not going to be one game and bring him back; we want to give him 10 straight days, something like that, and then come back.”

Steve Kerr said James Wiseman will go to the G-League tomorrow and stay down there for an extended time. Warriors want to get him reps. Said it could be 10 consecutive days or longer. pic.twitter.com/zIMOKAK8J6

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 15, 2022

Wiseman was expected to be a meaningful contributor on a Warriors team looking to prioritize winning and developing their young studs like Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody. The former No. 2 played 39 games before he suffered a season-ending knee injury that forced him to miss the entire 2021-22 season.

Wiseman first played in the G League in March before the Warriors shut him down. This season, the former Memphis Tiger is averaging 6.8 points and 3.8 rebounds on 58.8 percent shooting from the field. When Jordan Poole was asked about Wiseman getting a G League assignment, the Michigan Man said he told Wiseman not to see it as a demotion or punishment.

Furthermore, Poole believes that Wiseman will be “a-okay” and that the G League assignment will allow Wiseman to get back into his bag and work on shots and moves he doesn’t get to utilize while being on the main roster.

Jordan Poole on James Wiseman going to the G-League (which Poole once did): “I told him it’s not a demotion. It’s not a punishment. He’s going to go down there and shoot as many shots as he wants, get as many touches as he wants, work on as many moves as he wants.” pic.twitter.com/ISivLSigjn

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 15, 2022

From a former player and coach’s perspective, Kerr knows it’s tough being a young player falling out of the rotation. However, the veteran coach has confidence that Wiseman will “find his way back to the rotation at some point.” Most of all, Kerr believes that the G League stint is “the best thing for him” since he’ll get “play a lot of minutes.”

“It’s really hard. It’s really hard for anybody to be in and out of the lineup, but for a young guy who’s been through a lot already, it’s a lot to go through,” Kerr said. “But this is part of his journey. Everybody’s got a different one. Part of his is he barely played any basketball before he got to the NBA, and he had a major injury. What I love about James is that he’s got incredible character, work ethic, and care for the team.

The Warriors will look to build on their latest win and build a winning streak when they play the Suns on Wednesday.

The post James Wiseman Headed to Santa Cruz For ‘Extended Period’ appeared first on SLAM.

The team comes off a 117-112 overtime victory over the Charlotte Hornets Thursday night. In a game that featured the Heat forcing 20 turnovers, nine of them steals, the team just could not put away the Hornets in the regular period, even when their lead was as big as 15.

“Not where we need it to be,” Butler said on the state of the Heat’s defense, per Sports Illustrated. “It’s not all bad, but there are a lot of mistakes, miscommunication, not getting back easily correctable stuff. Hopefully, we start doing that pretty soon and stacking some Ws because we’re in dire need of some wins.”

35 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists last night… and his teammates appreciated every bit of it. #HEATCulture

Popular Moment of the Week // @popularbank pic.twitter.com/Dptz8fiddc

— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) November 11, 2022

Their 110.8 defensive rating puts the Heat near the middle of the pack across the League. It’s not a dramatic drop, but the team did have a 108.4 defensive rating last season, fourth-best behind the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, and Boston Celtics.

The Heat was defeated at the buzzer against the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday, a game where the Heat also had a chance to run away with a sizable victory.

Butler had 16 points to go along with six steals, but leaving Blazers guard Josh Hart open at the corner three-point line left the FTX Arena stunned as he knocked in the winning trey.

HART FOR THE WIN #RipCity | @joshhart pic.twitter.com/kTTLL5dcam

— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) November 8, 2022

Though they’ve managed to give up close ones, the Heat seems to be finding their defensive approach to avoid living in those late-game circumstances, according to head coach Erik Spoelstra.

“It’s part of our identity that we really need to be disruptive and get teams out their comfort zone in a lot of different ways, which requires a big energy and focus commitment,” Spoelstra said. “To be able to be active, get our hands on balls, deny passes, play multiple schemes, that’s our lifeblood defensively.” 

The Heat have a chance to prove they’re back to their pesky defensive habits again against the Hornets tomorrow night.

The post Jimmy Butler Says the Miami Heat Defense is ‘Not Where it Needs to Be’ appeared first on SLAM.

However, Boston’s All-Star duo changed that narrative and blossomed into the mature stars that Celtics fans had been hoping for since 2010 when they beat the Miami Heat to advance to the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

A credit to their dynamic run was the message shared by former teammate Kemba Walker, who spent time with the team from 2019-2021. During an appearance on NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski’s podcast, Walker talked about the importance of the duo playing team basketball in order to reach new heights.

“They’ve always seen the talks and people saying they can’t play together. But I always just tried to tell them, ‘Just block that out,'” said Walker. “I always told them, ‘This organization ain’t going nowhere without you two.’ Literally.”

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The two frankly needed each to go on the journey they did last season. In the games Brown missed, the team went 8-8; without Tatum, the Celtics had a record of 2-4.

Of course, the stud defensive unit of Al Horford, Marcus Smart, and Robert Williams may have contributed to a portion of those victories, but the team certainly doesn’t match the post-season threats of a Brooklyn Nets or Milwaukee Bucks without the star power and intangibles of Tatum and Brown.

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“My main thing to those guys was that they had to love each other,” said Walker. “Those two guys, Jayson and Jaylen — you two guys have to come together as much as you can and lead this team to the promised land. They can’t go anywhere without those two guys. Those two guys are so special, and they’ve shown it.”

The chemistry they’ve developed has grown into this season, as the Celtics currently have an 8-3 record, tying the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second-best in the conference.

The road towards another shot at a championship remains long for the Celtic. If Tatum and Brown still look to win the ultimate prize, they must still consider the leadership-quality messages of Walker.

The post Kemba Walker: Boston ‘Won’t Go Anywhere’ Without Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown appeared first on SLAM.

A win against teams like that can build a spark to the locker, but being on the losing end creates questioning on where the Kings need to improve their roster.

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The Kings find ways to look solid for four quarters by relying on the two-way prowess of former all-star Domantas Sabonis and the point guard wizardry of De’Aaron Fox. He currently averages 16.3 points, 11.1 rebounds (8th best in the League), and 6.1 assists per game. In the three games played in November, the center has averaged 36 minutes a game which is the most amongst others in his position.

In this case, the Kings’ frontcourt depth isn’t as solid as Brown would have hoped to start the season. However, their 2010 fifth overall pick DeMarcus Cousins believes he has the intangibles at 32-years-old to push the Kings out of their 16-year playoff drought in a recent Twitter reply.

In his seven years with the Kings from 2010-2017, Cousins averaged 21.1 points per game. His last two seasons with the franchise were one of the most dominant showings of a big in the modern era, as he averaged over 25 points a game to pair with a double-double in rebounds. Not to mention, Cousins also recorded a 56-point outing, the third most among active NBA centers.

Boogie hasn’t been the same since tearing his quad and ACLbut is still capable of turning back the clock to his All-Star level of play. In his current form, Boogie is a reliable force down low; he can spread the floor as an occasional floor spacer and rebound at a fearsome pace off the bench.

Cousins has become a journeyman in the latter stages of his career due to the injuries above. However, being a significant contributor on a playoff squad could help him become a franchise legend and help him land a job on another team if he so chooses.

The post DeMarcus Cousins Believes He Can Contribute to Kings Making a Playoff Push appeared first on SLAM.

Despite the alarming losses and their incomplete defensive performances thus far, Steve Kerr isn’t pushing the panic button just yet.

“There are times in the NBA season when things can go off the rails a little bit,” Kerr said, per ESPN. “A big part of being a great team, being a solid organization, is just understanding how to work through that.”

Last season, the Warriors had a 2-9 slump that stretched from February to March, but they went on to win the championship a few months later. Things change quickly in the NBA. 

Draymond Green said a few days ago that the Warriors can’t fix all their problems right now, but they need to zero in on their biggest ones. At the moment, the biggest problem is the defense. The Warriors rank 25th in the NBA in points per shot allowed in transition and 23rd in field goal percentage allowed in transition, according to Second Spectrum tracking. Last season, they allowed the lowest field goal percentage in transition.

Golden State is also 24th in defensive rebounding after being sixth last year.

The Warriors Dynasty has had its fair share of ups and downs (mainly ups), but it is reasonable to surmise that they will bounce back and reclaim their excellence. 

“We just need to bring more of a sense of urgency,” Thompson said. “We had a long run last year, but 2022 is over. It’s time to kick into high gear and play that championship level of basketball that we’re used to. I fully expect us to do that.”

The Warriors, just like every other NBA team, will play tonight and get a chance to end their losing streak. 

The post Steve Kerr Believes the Warriors Will Bounce Back From 5-Game Losing Streak appeared first on SLAM.

With the 130-129 loss yesterday, the Warriors now sit at 12th in the Western Conference. While it is still early in the season, through their nine games played thus far, the Warriors’ defensive and bench production struggles have been glaringly apparent.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr spoke on the team’s struggle postgame per ESPN, stating;

“We have to save us because nobody else is coming.”

When asked what was the “first step” to save the team, Kerr added;

“We’ve had nine games now, so we’ve had a decent look at combinations. It’s time to try something different. Everybody’s going to get a chance to play. We’ve got guys who are dying to get on the floor, and we’ve got to find combinations that play. We will look at that as a staff.”

Warriors veteran Draymond Green also chimed in postgame on the team’s struggles, saying;

“It’s our defense; we have to correct our defense.”

Whatever adjustments that need to be made, best believe Kerr and the Warriors staff will figure things out. The Warriors have found diamonds in the rough before through their G-League system. Two prime examples are Jordan Poole and former Warrior, now Portland Trailblazer Gary Payton II.

There is no doubt that Golden State will turn things around. The only question is when? The Warriors look to bounce back Friday versus the New Orleans Pelicans on the road in the final stop on their current road trip.

The post Steve Kerr: Warriors ‘Have to Save’ Themselves Amidst Four-Game Losing Streak appeared first on SLAM.

Last night’s 116-109 victory versus the Golden State Warriors was a huge statement win for Miami, as Kyle Lowry (13 points, nine assists, five rebounds) made history, passing Jason Kidd for 12th on the NBA’s all-time made three-pointers list after going 3-8 from beyond the arc. The Heat’s sharpshooters Max Strus and Duncan Robinson also came alive off the bench to combine for 41 points to power Miami to the win!

Lowry finished the game with 13 points on 50 percent shooting (5-10), nine assists, and five rebounds. The Strus got loose and went for 24 points to lead the team in scoring, making eight of his seventeen shots and shooting forty percent from deep. Then the icing on the cake was Robinson, who contributed 17 points on 62.5 percent shooting from three.

“For us to get a win like that is huge for us with how our season has gone thus far,” Strus said in a postgame interview with Bally Sports Sun’s Will Manso. “To grind one out, out of the mud, and win one like that is huge for our confidence, and hopefully, it pushes our momentum forward.”

Manso also caught up with Robinson postgame and asked about the Heat’s “next man up” mentality. Robinson had this to say following his hot shooting night;

“We’re a deep team, so somebody goes down, different guys are going to step up and try to contribute.”

Miami seems to be heating up at the right time and is looking to keep things rolling tonight versus the Sacramento Kings at home. There are still a lot of games left, which means that the Heat can only continue to improve from here on out.

The post Kyle Lowry Moves Up to 12th On All-Time Made Three Pointers List appeared first on SLAM.

While Vanderbilt has been productive on the glass and in the scoring department, his versatility and ability to defend multiple positions make Miami interested in the 23-year-old.

“They hoped to get Utah to give up Jarred Vanderbilt—they want defense at that spot,” said the executive to Heavy Sports.” They want to see what they have with guys like Caleb Martin, see how he handles that spot.”

Losing P.J. Tucker during the offseason was a significant loss for the Heat, and not bringing in any critical players on top of that did not help their case either. Tucker’s absence is starting to show after Miami opened up the campaign with a disappointing 2-5 record. 

Adding Vanderbilt to this struggling roster can work wonders, and it may just be what this team is missing. The young forward has even shown signs of his new and improved three-point shot, shooting it at a career-best 42.9 percent. Undoubtedly, he would adapt nicely alongside Bam Adebayo in the frontcourt, which operates mainly in the paint. Nevertheless, the Heat have time to make this call. The NBA trade deadline is on Feb.9.

Miami is back in action on Nov. 1 when they take on the defending champs, the Golden State Warriors.

The post REPORT: Miami Interested in Acquiring Jarred Vanderbilt appeared first on SLAM.

Bogdanovic has scored over 20 points in his last three appearances and is shooting 52.6 percent from the field and 50.9 percent from deep for the season. Although the season is just beginning, it is a great sign to see Bogdanovic shooting lights out early and with great confidence.

Bogdanovic’s stellar shooting made him a huge trade target for other teams, and that specific skill was vital in many of the Utah Jazz‘s playoff runs these past few years.

You could tell that Bogdanovic is worth every penny to the Pistons, as his most recent offensive masterpiece helped to lead the Pistons to their second win of the season against the reigning champs, the Golden State Warriors. Bogdanovic finished with 21 points, three rebounds, and three assists on 5-8 shooting from the field and shot 50 percent (3-6) from three on Sunday.

Cade + Bojan = @BELFORGroup | #AssistOfTheWeek pic.twitter.com/N9TfqUd5Ba

— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) October 30, 2022

After being in rebuild mode these last few years, it seems like the Detroit Pistons are turning the corner. By making moves like drafting former OSU standout and SLAM 238 cover star Cade Cunningham with the No. 1 overall pick in 2021, extending Bogdanovic, and adding an explosively offensive rookie Jaden Ivey, along with keeping defensive pressure with Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart, the Pistons seem to have certainly put their foot on the gas this year.

Detroit vs Everybody is the motto.

Cade Cunningham covers SLAM 238. https://t.co/P0L78ZkhIu pic.twitter.com/hqxiGN8J1r

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) May 26, 2022

Earlier this season, Cunningham said he was confident that the Pistons could “turn the corner.” Although the season has not gotten off to the best of starts for this young Pistons squad, there is still plenty of time left in the season to turn things around. That win against the Warriors proves that this Pistons team has what it takes to play and win against any team they face. They are scrappy, hungry, talented, and young, which is a great combination.

The post REPORT: Bojan Bogdanovic and Detroit Agree On A Two-Year Extension appeared first on SLAM.

The one thing that got the legendary shooter out of character were some recent comments Charles Barkley made suggesting Thompson’s game was “slipping” despite it being less than a year since he returned from a torn achilles. Unprompted, Thompson addressed those critics after the Warriors beat the Miami Heat, 123-110, on Thursday night.

“I’ve got one thing to say,” Thompson said. “So, it hurts when someone like Charles Barkley, with the platform that he has, says you’re not the same player prior to the injuries you had. It’s like ‘No, duh, man.’ Consecutive years, like. I tore my ACL and Achilles in consecutive years and still helped the team win a championship. It hurt hearing that because I put so much freaking effort to get back to this point. It’s hard to even put into words what I had to do to be the player I am today.

“I played 55, 57 games in three years. Give me some freaking time to get that back. To hear someone say ‘Oh, he’s not the same player as he was prior to the injuries.’ Like, duh. Who goes through that and comes back…I don’t know, it just hurt my heart hearing that. But you know, I’m going to internalize it and it’s going to be fuel for me to be even better. I’m very proud of what we accomplished last year and I feel like I was a huge part of it. I’m not going to let these injuries be a crutch for me. I’m just going to keep going and I’m going to have a great year. You can bet on that.”

Thompson cont.: "I played 57 games in three years. Give me some freaking time to get that back. Who goes through something like that and comes back — it just hurt my heart. But I’m going to internalize it and it’s going to be fuel for me." https://t.co/VnhRTy7atz

— Kendra Andrews (@kendra__andrews) October 28, 2022

Barkley’s comments came after Thompson was ejected for the first time in his career during the third quarter of a blowout loss to the up-and-coming Phoenix Suns. Thompson and Devin Booker were jaw-jacking during a tension-filled third quarter that featured the Suns and Warriors drawing a record-tying seven technical fouls in one quarter.

During halftime of the nationally televised Warriors-Suns game, Barkley suggested that Thompson and Draymond Green are “slipping” and suggeseted that “Father Time is knocking on the door of a couple of those guys.” The comments come during a time when Coach Steve Kerr and the Warriors medical staff placed the four-time champs on a minute restriction to start the season.

On Tuesday, Thompson responded with season-high numbers nearly across the stat sheet. The five-time All-Star posted 19 points on 6-19 shooting from the field and 5-14 shooting from beyond the arc in 29 minutes, all season-high marks for Thompson.

“It’s so great and it’s a huge building block for me” Thompson said about his workload. “It’s the best I’ve feld conditioning-wise.”

Thompson on playing a season-high 29 minutes: "It's so great and it's a huge building block for me. It's the best I've felt conditioning-wise."

— Kendra Andrews (@kendra__andrews) October 28, 2022

When Stephen Curry was asked about Thompson’s postgame reponse, he noted that his Splash Brother was in a good mood all day long, but believes that Barkley’s remarks fueled Thompson to put on his 19-point performance.

“The comments are part of our success, like you’re always going to be in a spotlight and people care about how you’re playing and care to comment positively or negatively because they know that will move the needle,” Curry told reporters after the win Thursday. “And when you say certain names, people are going to pay attention. But it’s interesting because certain guys forget what their careers looked like on the back end. So you can kind of cast and throw those stones but Klay’s still in here, like you said, helping us win a championship after the two hellish years that he had.

“And now, it’s just balancing, for him, the expectations of what he was before the injuries and what he can get back to, all the while maintaining his impact on winning. I’m sure he’s comparing to the stat lines and percentages and all that, but I think I heard coach [Steve Kerr] talk about it earlier. He’s gone through this, even before the injuries, where slow starts don’t really hold him down, don’t kill his confidence. But when you come off a championship, you have such a hunger and a desire to get back to what he wants to be personally. And he’s going to get there. It’s just a matter of sticking with the program, the time that he puts in. His competitive fire that comes out every single night. And he’s going to make shots. We’re not worried about that. It’s a long season.”

Thompson, Green, and the Warriors will have another chance to dispute Barkley’s observations when they take on the Charlotte Hornets to start a five-game Eastern Conference road trip.

The post Klay Thompson ‘Hurt Hearing’ Comments That His Game Is ‘Slipping’ appeared first on SLAM.

There is nothing like a regular season NBA game with a playoff atmosphere, and basketball fans watching on television and in attendance got a real treat watching these two teams go at it so early in the season.

With the Warriors coming off yet another impressive championship run and a young seasoned Suns team on the rise knocking at the door trying to get back to the Finals, things got a bit heated between the two teams.

Can’t. Be. Stopped. @DevinBook with his 3rd straight 30-point game! pic.twitter.com/bFQdtuNsMC

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) October 26, 2022

In the third quarter, Warriors legend Klay Thompson was ejected for the first time in his professional career after picking up two quick technical fouls. These techs were given after Thompson was seen visibly taunting the Sun’s bench and jawing back and forth with Suns guard Devin Booker.

In that third quarter alone, a record-tying seven technical fouls were given out between both teams in one quarter. Postgame, Stephen Curry had the following to say per ESPN in regard to Thompson getting tossed.

“After he got thrown out, he had a lot more to say, which I love,” Curry said. “The back and forth is a part of the game, and I like that he’s engaged in that respect because it matters to him.”

Curry added that since the Warriors are the defending champs, teams will try to come at them, especially on the road, to get their home crowd into it. Curry and the Warriors know they have a target on their back coming off their fourth championship win in the last seven years and that every team going against them will have something to prove.

When Dubs Coach Steve Kerr weighed in on Thompson’s ejection postgame, he downplayed the altercation, and talked about how D-Book and Thompson had a similar incident when Booker was first breaking into the League.

“He and Book have gotten into it a little bit over the years; they’re just competitors, both great players — I remember four or five years ago when Book was first coming up, Klay was in his prime, he went at it one night in Oracle, and the same type of thing happened,” Kerr said. “There were no ejections, but they’re both competitive, they’re guarding each other, and this is the NBA. Highest competition in the world, stuff like that happens.”

Suns Coach Monty Williams also downplayed Booker and Thompson’s interaction when spoke to the media after the game. Williams believes that the championship veteran Warriors will always bring the best out of an up-and-coming team like the Suns.

“I think both teams want it. I don’t think it’s personal at all. I think we respect them. They’re the champions,” Williams said. “So, they’re going to get our best because they are the best. So, I think a lot of the emotion is just about being competitive. We don’t take it personally at all; we just understand better that once all that stuff happens, we got to get back on focusing on being competitive and trying to win the game.”

When Booker said his two cents, the former Kentucky Wildcat said that he admires Thompson and that he’s trying to become a champion like his shooting guard contemporary.

“We’re just two competitors; I love Klay Thompson,” Booker said. “I have for a really long time. But it’s not going to excuse from us being competitive and talking to each other. I’ve always admired his game, how he plays on both ends of the ball. And obviously, the rings speak for themselves.”

Devin Booker spoke on the situation with Klay Thompson. Went on to say Klay was probably frustrated by the off night he was having and noted he kept going back to the 4 rings, which is what he wants pic.twitter.com/vInEsJcJnp

— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) October 26, 2022

This situation is not one that needs to be overanalyzed or blown out of proportion. It is just a simple case of two teams and two top players going at it; this is nothing new, especially in sports. We have all seen it repeatedly; it’s just basketball. At the end of the day, both teams and players have a great deal of respect for one another and will not let this deter them from accomplishing their true goal, a championship.

These two teams have two more matchups this season on November 16th and January 10th. If that first game did not make things clear enough, their next matchup is one that you do not want to miss!

The post Phoenix and Golden State Downplay Altercation Between Devin Booker and Klay Thompson appeared first on SLAM.

Wiggins’ improvement comes after he joined a Warriors team that allowed him to take a lesser role as a valuable third scorer and premium defender tasked with defending any opponent’s top perimeter threat. It’s the kind of role that’s allowed him to prevent anybody from saying he didn’t live up to his potential as Maple Jordan.

The rapid development caused Coach Steve Kerr to rave about how “confident” he looks this season and how he’s used his role on the ’22 title team to “springboard” into possibly having a better year than he did last year. During the Finals, Wiggs averaged 18.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game while primarily being a thorn in Jayson Tatum’s side. He also played tough defense against Luka Doncic and Ja Morant while being a go-to scorer late in the shot clock.

“I think (Andrew) Wiggins — this is I’ve ever seen Wiggs,” Kerr said. “He’s an All-Star last year; he helped us win a championship. I think he’s used that momentum that he gained a year ago to kinda springboard into this season, and I don’t think he’s ever looked more confident.”

"This is the best I've ever seen Wiggs." pic.twitter.com/XopHFZCytm

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 24, 2022

As of Tuesday, Maple Jordan is averaging 22.3 points, a career-high 6.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.3 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game on 52.0 percent shooting from the field and 38.1 percent from downtown. It’s a small sample (three games), but it’s the type of production that justifies Golden State’s commitment to its future while prioritizing its veteran championship experience.

“Not only in his own game but with what we’re doing, the way we play. You saw the extra pass last night that he made to (Stephen Curry) for the three. He’s making those simple plays, but then he’s attacking when he needs to attack and playing just really efficient basketball, playing great defense. So a lot of good stuff, but we have to put it together as a team, and that’s gonna take some time.”

Draymond Andrew pic.twitter.com/GDNRYHOHSR

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) October 24, 2022

The post Steve Kerr Believes ‘This Is the Best I’ve Ever Seen’ Andrew Wiggins Play appeared first on SLAM.

White did just enough for Boston to turn their early struggles around, and it reconciled into a second seed in the Eastern Conference standings. The success went on into the playoffs as the Celtics secured their first NBA Finals appearance since 2010.

White couldn’t have imagined this surge from the Celtics after being acquired, but personal issues and adjustments to the new squad became a mind-racing experience for him, leading to a championship series loss to the Golden State Warriors.

“It was crazy. I mean, from February to June, it felt like I was on the move nonstop,” White tells NBC Sports Boston. “This year, I feel much more settled in and comfortable. Last year was a great experience, and I loved it all. But I’m feeling much more settled in this year.”

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Although most of the statistical categories took a slight decline for White, his Celtic tenure can be remembered by the elite shot-making and defending he displayed in Games 5 and 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat. In those games combined, White totaled 35 points off the bench while securing nine rebounds and nine assists.

Just days before that stellar play, White’s wife, Hannah, gave birth to their son Hendrixx which attributed to him spending time away from the team. Of course, the Celtics still found ways to win due to the offensive eruptions from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. White shared his recognition of the unorthodox duo and how their commitment is a significant aspect of the team’s success.

“From the outside, you see the games, and you’re impressed,” said White on Tatum and Brown. “But it’s all the stuff on the practice court, the things they do after practice — They’re obviously super talented, and their work ethic is a big reason why.”

After the Finals loss, White needed to settle into Boston with his family and team properly. Including the adjustment to fatherhood over the summer, White spent hours in the facility working on his craft as a perimeter shooter, to which interim coach Joe Mazzulla noticed he was shooting far differently as he did in the series against the Warriors.

“I love where he’s at from a confidence standpoint,” said Mazzulla. “I think when he plays with confidence, I think that’s important for all of us to make sure he’s confident because he’s really good for us. When he’s shooting with confidence, I think he’s a threat at all three levels.”

Now comprehensive of his career-changing, White looks to be that x-factor off the bench that the Celtics had wished he would’ve been just four months before. With White’s emerging presence in the gym, he feels the team has gotten much closer, with the taste of revenge lingering on their minds.

“I mean, everybody’s frustrated. Just be so close and not finish it,” said White. “You just want to have another opportunity at that. But you just have to keep getting better and understand the things that you need to work on and work on them. We can’t skip any steps.”

The post Derrick White Discusses the ‘Crazy’ Struggle He Faced After Getting Traded to Boston appeared first on SLAM.

Right off the bat, Coach Steve Kerr has decided to put four-time champions Klay Thompson and Draymond Green on minute restrictions to start the campaign for conditioning. In the team’s season opener versus the Los Angeles Lakers, Thompson played only 20 minutes, while Green finished at 25.

Kerr told reporters that the two veterans’ that he thinks their minute restrictions will be lifted slowly to their normal regular season minute level in a “couple of weeks.” 

Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins will be expected to step up during the process. In fact, they did exactly that on Tuesday. Poole dropped 12 points and seven assists in 28 minutes, while Wiggins scored 20 points in 29 minutes.

The Warriors will take on the Nuggets on Friday for their second game of the season. Perhaps Thompson and Green will see a slight increase in their playing time then.

The post Steve Kerr Expects to Lift Klay Thompson and Draymond Green’s Minute Restriction Soon appeared first on SLAM.

The talent may not be elite on the roster, but that’s what makes Lakers Coach Darvin Ham even more impressed with Brown’s start.

“Mike [Brown] is a great ambassador for the game and a great coach in his own right,” Ham told the Sacramento Bee after the Lakers lost to the Kings to end the preseason. “making sure they’re detail-oriented, making sure they’re consistent. He’s a guy that’s passionate but not emotional — At the end of the day, he’s going to make sure he has all of his resources in order — to reemphasize why they should be doing exactly what he’s asking of them to do.”

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Brown is at the helm of a team in a 16-season playoff drought, the longest of any franchise in the history of the NBA. It may be a mountain to climb in this new tenure, but Brown has been through the highest and the lowest of being an NBA head coach.

Notable moments of Brown’s career were when he led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a trip to the 2007 NBA Finals, surrounding the team’s former superstar, LeBron James, with various shooters and stout defenders. Later in his tenure with the Cavs, Brown orchestrated back-to-back 60+ win seasons, earning Coach of the Year honors in 2009.

Although his coaching career took a slight bump with the Cavs and Lakers in the early 2010s, Brown picked his name right back up as an assistant coach on Steve Kerr’s coaching staff, winning three championships in five years (2017-2022) with the Golden State Warriors.

One of the philosophies Brown has seemed to incorporate into the Kings from the Warriors is the expectation of relentless defense from the young assets. Kings star De’Aaron Fox believes Sacramento has benefitted from Brown’s heavy ‘attention to detail’ defensively. James noticed that playing defense is also a tenet of Brown’s coaching philosophy.

“He’s someone that, if you don’t defend, you won’t get on the floor,” James said. “When he came to Cleveland, we became one of the best defensive teams in the League every single year. That gave us a chance to win every single night. Offensively, some nights we weren’t that good, but we were always in games because we defended.”

IT’S GAME DAY! #RoarWithUs pic.twitter.com/2CsVAhTlTi

— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) October 19, 2022

Sacramento fans could be heavily intrigued by that, considering Fox hasn’t returned to that pesky defender he once was in the 2018-19 season, where he attributed 133 total steals (sixth best). Of course, Brown first wants to see stout defensive teamwork before jumping into individual accolades.

“Although we want everybody to bring it defensively as an individual, it’s not one guy guarding the ball,” said Brown, per Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee. “It’s five guys guarding the ball, so we want to see five guys on a string. We want to communicate — Those are some of the things which are staples that we want to see on the defensive side of the ball, but the biggest thing is competing.”

The Kings aren’t expected to become the NBA’s best defensive team or break the 16-year curse of missing the playoffs, but wilder things have happened from first-year coaches, and Brown looks to fill the hearts of the many Sacramento fans that have been desperate for a team built towards long-term success.

The post ‘Detail-Oriented’ Mike Brown Inspiring Confidence in and Out of Sacramento appeared first on SLAM.

When the Lakers were set to play their preseason finale, multiple reports said Ham intended to bring Westbrook off the bench against the Sacramento Kings. Westbrook has started every NBA game he has played since his rookie year. 

In what later became a 47-point loss, Brodie only played 5 minutes off the bench. He strained his hamstring early on and never returned. After the Lakers suffered an opening day 123-109 loss to the Golden State Warriors a few days later, Westbrook told reporters that he “absolutely” attributed this injury to his temporary bench role. 

“I’ve been doing the same thing for 14 years straight. Honestly, I didn’t even know what to do pregame. Being honest, I was trying to figure out how to stay warm and loose — That’s something I just wasn’t accustomed to,” Westbrook said after their regular season debut 123-109 loss against the Golden State Warriors. 

Westbrook has played in 1,022 career games and has started 1,005 of them. A bench role later this season is not off the table with improved depth at the point guard after the additions of Patrick Beverly, Dennis Schröder, and the return Kendrick Nunn.

However, in last night’s game, Westbrook showed flashes of why the Lakers traded for him in the first place. In 31 minutes, Westbrook had 19 points and 11 rebounds on 58 percent shooting. He kicked in three assists and a steal as well. 

Both his coach and his teammate, Anthony Davis, maintain the game against Sacramento was just an experiment and an exploration of their options. When asked about his decision to start Westbrook on opening night, Ham was complimentary of Russell Westbrook. 

“You want to start the game off the right way in terms of your energy and being in attack mode, and no one better than him,” Ham said, who spoke to reporters before Westbrook did after the game. “I mean, it’s what we have, and we got some key guys hurt. It’s Game 1; give them a chance to go out and compete at the highest level. I thought he was solid. I thought he was solid. A couple possessions I wish I can get back, but overall, I thought he was solid.”

AD stated he didn’t think Westbrook’s realignment to the bench was ever intended to be a real option. Despite the loss, the Lakers Big 3 looked more fluid in their offensive execution, and they thought so too. 

“I think we played well,” Davis said. “We wanted to come out, and everybody be aggressive.”

LeBron James added, “I thought we all just kind of played free. And it resulted in all three of us pretty much being efficient from the floor.”

If the Lakers are to right the ship, Westbrook must be healthy and play well. He’s sending the message that he does that best from the starting five.

The post Russell Westbrook Believes Coming Off the Bench ‘Absolutely’ Caused Hamstring Injury appeared first on SLAM.

As you can see below, based on the average list price on the secondary market, the Golden State Warriors are once again the most expensive team for the 2022-23 season. At $611 the Warriors are the only team with an average list price of over $600 heading into the 2022-23 season. The Los Angeles Lakers ($518) are the only other team with an average price of $500 or more, and rank second on the list. The New York Knicks ($346), Boston Celtics ($303), and Phoenix Suns ($285) round out the top five.

Least Expensive Teams:

On the other side of the spectrum, the Indiana Pacers are this year’s least expensive team with an average list price of $138. Four other teams have average prices under $160; the Oklahoma City Thunder ($148), Detroit Pistons ($153), San Antonio Spurs ($157), and Houston Rockets ($159). Below you can see the rest of the least expensive teams heading into the 2022-23 season. 

Biggest Year Over Year Price Changes:

In terms of teams that have seen the biggest price jump since last season, the Memphis Grizzlies (+111%) top the list. They’re the only team in the NBA whose ticket prices have more than doubled since the start of last season. The Trail Blazers (+56%), Mavericks (+56%), Magic (+55%) and Pistons (+50%) round out the top 5. 

Where and How to Buy 2022-23 NBA Tickets

Primary market NBA tickets are available for most teams via Ticketmaster.  Some teams offer their primary market tickets via other sites like Seatgeek or AXS. Most teams sell out quickly.

On the secondary market, TicketIQ has Fee-Free NBA tickets which also include a Refund Guarantee. Our Refund Guarantee states that if an event is canceled or deemed unfit for fans to attend, TicketIQ will refund ticket buyers in as soon as 15 days. That means that you can buy from TicketIQ worry-free. Customers on TicketIQ save between 15%-25% compared to other secondary market ticketing sites.  

The post 2022-23 NBA Tickets: Warriors and Lakers Remain the Most Expensive appeared first on SLAM.

Scratching that championship quest was the Golden State Warriors, who came back down 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals against the Thunder. A stunning turn of events in the series led to Durant departing from Oklahoma City, to join that same Dubs squad.

Forming a Big 4 in San Francisco with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, Durant dealt with his own criticism when he made the move. Now, KD has shared his thoughts on the negativity surrounding his former teammate for Westbrook’s recent play with the Los Angeles Lakers.

“The dialog around our game is just so toxic at this point,” said Durant on the ETCs podcast. “I get criticism [on the court] but it’s starting to turn into something else now.”

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At age 33, Westbrook averaged 18.5 points, the third lowest average in his career. While the Lakers’ performance last season wasn’t entirely on Westbrook, critics (and haters on the internet) have placed a lot of the blame on him.

“When you’re playing alongside the biggest figure in L.A in LeBron James everything you do is gonna be magnified,” said Durant. “…If people don’t trust that your team is gonna be good…you have to be on point every time.”

Both Westbrook and Durant, as of now, have remained with their respective team’s of last season, but the expectations they are assumed to bring to the table remain.

Photo via Getty Images.

The post Kevin Durant on Criticism Towards Russell Westbrook: ‘Dialog Around Our Game is Just so Toxic’ appeared first on SLAM.

After winning the chip, the veteran forward draped himself in a Mexican flag, proudly honoring his Mexican heritage. 

Toscano-Anderson broke many Warriors fans’ hearts after he decided to sign with the Lakers for the 2022-2023 season.

In five preseason games, he averaged 5.0 points, 3.0 boards, and a whole lot of competitive fire in 18.3 minutes.

“Juan is doing some amazing, competitive basketball-playing,” Lakers Coach Darvin Ham said, per Andscape. “You need those kinds of guys that can get you 50-50 balls, take charges, and put bodies on bodies knowing that they may not be the one who gets the rebound or stat or whatever.”

“They still sacrifice for their teammates. You can’t have enough of those guys in your locker room. And Juan Toscano-Anderson is at the top of the list of everything he does. His attitude, [the] energy [he] brings to work every day. His teammates are very fond of him.”

Not only does JTA’s character shine on the court and in the locker room, but he is trailblazing a path for Mexico and basketball. 

“Things don’t happen overnight,” Toscano-Anderson said. “Basketball is a growing sport in Mexico, there; there’s a lot of financial interest in it — I know there are guys that can do it for me, but it’s a different world now in regard to marketing and advertising. I’m opening doors to bridge the gap between the U.S. and Mexico.”

Toscano-Anderson is the first Laker of Mexican descent. For a city that is 75 percent ethnically Mexican, is populated by over five million Mexicans, and has the largest Hispanic, JTA’s arrival is momentous. While the Lakers have aired Spanish-speaking broadcasts since 1993, the franchise has not had a Spanish-speaking player since Kobe Bryant retired in 2016.

Although he was not Hispanic, Bryant energetically embraced the Mexican community in Los Angeles.

“If there was a guy that understood the love, the passion, the loyalty of the Hispanic community, especially towards the Lakers, it was Kobe.” former Lakers Spanish television announcer Adrian Garcia Marquez said. 

Being the first Spanish-speaking player since Kobe and being half-Mexican, JTA can connect to L.A’s Hispanic and Latino roots.

“There are probably more Mexicans watching the Lakers than any other demographic. That’s very important, not only for myself in the Lakers, but in L.A. for [the] Mexican community, the Latino community,” Toscano-Anderson said. “I don’t want to call myself an ambassador, but somebody who’s representing and who can speak the language. I’m representing full throttle. I can speak the language; I represent my culture, everything.”

Toscano-Anderson is embracing the L.A. community, and the L.A. community is embracing him. Known for murals of Laker greats – Kobe, Shaquille O’Neal, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, and more – the city recently added a Juan Toscano-Anderson mural. On the outside wall of a Mexican bakery, JTA dons a Lakers jersey with a Mexican flag wrapped around his shoulders, and Mexico City’s Tenochtitlán pyramids and downtown L.A. in the background.

“I went to the reveal of the mural. That was really dope,” Toscano-Anderson said. “I’m very appreciative of that. It’s LA, man, City of Champions. That was really cool. I couldn’t believe it, to be honest. I didn’t have anything, nothing like that before. It was more than just the sports thing. It was about that community embracing me there.”

Born to an African American father and a Mexican mother, JTA wants to be a positive role model for both Mexican American and African American kids. 

“It’s been magnified that I’m Mexican, but I also want people to know that I’m just as proud of being Black.”

“I’m Black every day. The way I dress, the way I talk. My sauce. I’m a Black man when I step out on America — Black is beautiful; I’m proud of being Black as well. Being Black makes me who I am.”

For Oakland, Los Angeles, and Mexico, Toscano-Anderson’s impact has not gone unnoticed. The community-oriented forward plays in his first game as a Los Angeles Laker tonight against the Golden State Warriors. The second NBA player of Mexican descent to win a title, Toscano-Anderson will be honored and receive his championship ring.

The post Juan Toscano-Anderson On the Love He’s Received From L.A.’s Latino Community appeared first on SLAM.

The energy has truly shifted around the Association since the Golden State Warriors put the haters to sleep and won another NBA championship. This offseason, there was a sudden coaching change in Boston, a reported trade request in Brooklyn by Kevin Durant (that didn’t actually happen), and some major moves during free agency, from Donovan Mitchell teaming up with Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley on the Cavaliers to Jalen Brunson becoming a New York Knick. Then there’s the highly-anticipated return of Zion Williamson, Ben Simmons and SLAM 240 co-cover star Kawhi Leonard, who is sure to be a scary sight alongside Paul George now that they’re both healthy.

While we’ve dished out some bold takes in the past, this year’s preview might feature our boldest takes yet. Here’s the official 2022-23 SLAM Staff NBA Preview:

Anthony Holt, Slam Goods Apparel Designer

The Cavaliers will emerge as a top three seed in the East. 

With the blockbuster trade for Donovan Mitchell, the Cavaliers will claim the No. 3 seed. The championship experience of Kevin Love and Luke Walton will evolve Mitchell into the leader the franchise needs to make a playoff run. The Cavs will reach the second round of the playoffs before being eliminated by the Celtics, who will face the Bucks in the ECF.

NBA Finals Matchup: Bucks vs Grizzlies

Deyscha “Sway” Smith, Associate Editor

Ben Simmons will make a case for winning Most Improved Player of the Year.

Before any of you mention me on Twitter or pop off in the comment section, hear this one out. We all know what happened last year, and by no means is Ben Simmons, a three-time NBA All-Star, any sort of “up and coming player.” But if this preseason showed us anything, it’s that Ben is actually back and playing basketball again. After averaging 15.9 points per game during his time in Philly, if he brings that same energy and presence (both literally and in terms of his defensive game) to the Nets this year, by technicality, it’s really only up from here in terms of his overall improvement.

Will he win MIP? Unlikely, but then again, just imagine if he actually did put himself in the running for the award.

PS: When I predicted the Celtics would make the ECF in our season preview last year, y’all called me real bold for that take back then. If Ben gets active and starts playing at that All-Star level again, just make sure your apology is as loud as the disrespect has been.

ECF Matchup: Celtics vs Nets

Joshua Tapia, Editorial Intern

Damian Lillard takes the Portland Trailblazers to a top 5 seed in the West while securing his first MVP. 

Damian Lillard will finish the season above 32 points a night with eight assists. If he disciplines himself defensively, Dame could become a reliable defender against the League’s best scorers.

Here’s my playoff prediction: Lillard will lead the Blazers past the No. 4 seed Mavericks in the first round, the Warriors in round 2, but get defeated in Game 6 against the Clippers.  

Adam Figman, Chief Content Officer

The Sixers are winning the championship.

Everything is coming together at the perfect time in Philly: James Harden is healthy and more motivated than ever, Joel Embiid has a better understanding of how to treat his body to make it last a full season plus playoffs, Tobias Harris is the perfect starter to play next to two stars, Tyrese Maxey is making a leap, and Daryl Morey is going to be aggressive adding role players throughout the season to put around this group in order to ensure the team has everything it needs come postseason time. The 76ers: 2023 Champs. 

Michael Harris, Editorial Intern

The Lakers will make the Western Conference Finals.

The Los Angeles Lakers will figure it out this season. Russell Westbrook will embrace his role off the bench, Anthony Davis will be healthy and be a top three candidate for MVP, while Patrick Beverley will bring the defense at the guard spot necessary to help the Lakers lock down shooters. The Lakers will also finish as the top three seed in the West and make it all the way to the WCF to face the Grizzlies.

NBA Finals Matchup: Heat vs Lakers

Ajayi Browne, Editorial Intern

The Dallas Mavericks will win the NBA Finals.

The Dallas Mavericks will reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011 and Luka Doncic will average career-highs across the board while having his most efficient season on his way to winning MVP. The team’s new additions, Christian Wood and Javale McGee, will give this team what they were missing last year, while Tim Hardaway Jr’s return will be vital, too.

Theus McBee, Co-Host of No Pump Fakes

Anthony Edwards will make his first All-Star Game and the Minnesota Timberwolves will make it to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in nearly 20 years. 

The conversation of Ant Man “possibly” being a part of the top five under 25 group will come to an end and we will finally give him his rightful title of “Best Shooting Guard in the NBA.”

Check out the latest episode of No Pump Fakes below:

Najee AR Fareed, Editorial Intern 

Trae Young will make First Team All-NBA, lead the League in assists and take the Hawks all the way to winning a championship. 

The Hawks had a down year last season but their defense should be bolstered by a resurgent Clint Capela, Dejounte Murray’s arrival, and the rise of Onyeka Okongwu. The offense? Ice Trae might hold it down on the offensive end, but the Hawks have much more than just him. Deandre Hunter is taking big steps and John Collins’ lesser offensive load, with the addition of Murray, should free up his game for lobs and catch-and-shoot threes.

The Hawks will win one this season. For 3 Stacks and Lemon Pepper Wings and Zone 6 and Old Nat and everything else we love.

Colby Cusano, Brand Partnerships and Analytics Intern

Zion Williamson will bring the New Orleans Pelicans from an No. 8 seed to a No. 4 seed in the Western Conference and take home the Most Improved Player Award. 

After a decent season that saw them squeeze into the playoffs, the Pelicans are ready to make another run and with a healthy Zion Williamson. They now contain one of the most talented trios in the League.

NBA Finals Matchup: Mavs vs Celtics

Delon George, Marketing Manager SLAMgoods

The Brooklyn Nets will win the title.  

Though a lot of politics surround the Nets’ Big 3, I believe they have a lot to prove individually and together as a team this season. With Kyrie Irving will playing full-time from the start of the season and Kevin Durant avoiding injuries, the Nets are bound to have momentum this year. 

Brooke Brennan, WSLAM Intern

Lonzo Ball will return mid-season and take control of the Bulls’ offense, pushing them to be a top four seed team in the East.

While injury plagued his 2021-2022 season, Lonzo’s return mid-way through this year could give the Bulls the point guard anchor they need to take control on offense. After losing in the first round to the Bucks last year, the Bulls proved that they can be a playoff team, but have to make those adjustments. Returning key players, rising young talent, and added veteran depth will help to develop this team unit.

As for Zo, I project he’ll make an All-Star team in the near future. 

Andrew “Pitt” Pitagorsky, VP of Brand Partnerships

RJ Barrett will win Defensive Player of the Year. 

RJ Barrett will become an NBA All-Star and win Defensive Player of the Year. Going into Year 4 of his young career, RJ will take the next step in his growth and make the leap to the All-Star player we all know he could become. With the help of the coaching staff, and a pure point guard in the lineup, RJ can focus more on the defensive side of his game, and be an elite defender of the League.

Andres Puerta, Social Media SLAMFTW 

The Miami Heat will win the Eastern Conference Finals. 

The Miami Heat have a solid starting lineup. They are coming off a great season, with a solid performance in the playoffs from Jimmy Butler who showed what he can do in the playoffs. Tyler Herro showed out as the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year. They have a competitive group of guys and it doesn’t matter who is on the court. With the Heat being one of the top teams in the East last year, this will be the year they win the Eastern Conference Finals.

Arvind Pitchai, VP of Social Media

Luka Doncic will average a triple double and win MVP. 

Here’s another Luka Doncic prediction: when he averages a triple-double this season, he’ll definitely win MVP. We all know about Luka’s scoring prowess and ability to see the floor, but he also can clean the glass at a high clip. Will this lead the Mavs to the Finals? Who knows but it’s going to be a fun season watching Luka regardless.

Marcus Allen, Social Graphic Designer

The Knicks will make the Eastern Conference Finals.

A big season from the New York Knicks is upon us as they will make the ECF in 2023. Future star, RJ Barrett will have the best season of his career with his new backcourt partner Jalen Brunson and ultimately earn Most Improved Player and or Defensive Player of the Year. Let’s get it.

Dave Schnur, President

The T-Wolves and the Cavs will go on a playoff run and make the Conference Finals.

Karl-Anthony Towns moving to the 4 full time will be a matchup nightmare for opposing teams. He’ll hit a career high number of threes this season, Ant Edwards will make his first All-Star Team, Rudy Gobert is gonna Gobert and D-Lo will get his, too. The Cavs already have a great young core with Garland, Mobley and Allen. Adding a perennial All-Star SG like Spida that can stretch the floor and facilitate will bolster an already potent offense. Garland and Donovan may be the best backcourt in the East. 

Max Resetar, Editor 

Stephen Curry will break his own record of 402 threes in a season. 

The Dubs finally have everyone healthy. Every player on the roster has a clearly defined role and they each understand that their number one target on offense is No. 30, whether that means passing to him, screening for him, or getting the f— outta his way when the reign starts to rain. With a complete season of all the major hitters, their offense is gonna hum all the way to an easy 450 threes for the most recent Finals MVP. 

Celebrate the return of the NBA season, the 2022 WNBA champs and the future of the game with SLAM 240.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post SLAM’s 2022-23 NBA Preview: Crazy Bold Takes for this Season appeared first on SLAM.

Andrew Wiggins’ deal includes a player option, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/V51QrQ7tkr

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 15, 2022

When Wiggins came to Golden State, he had a complicated resume as a “empty-calorie” scorer that hadn’t lived up to the massive contract he signed to be the leader in Minnesota. There was also questions about his intensity and whether or not he would live up to the moniker of Maple Jordan.

Since then, Wiggins has evolved into a first-time All-Star, two-way star, and third-scoring option who helped Golden State win their fourth title since starting their dynasty run in 2015. Maple Jordan took a paycut to stay in Golden State, going form making $33 million this year and will earn up to $24 million in 2023. Wiggins is set to make $15 million less than the max he could’ve made if he tested the open market next summer.

What makes this extension even sweeter is the fact that it cames just hours after teammate Jordan Poole signed his contract extension over the weekend. Golden State being able to lock down two of their young stars bodes well for a franchise that is looking to make the most out of their “foundational six” still being on the roster while aiming to develop the stars that they hope will carry the Warriors into the future.

“You never know what the future holds. I’m happy here,” Wiggins said. “We have a chance to do something special. I believe in the guys, the organization. So we have a deal done and I’m happy about it.”

Heading into the 2022-23 season, Wiggins will be asked to reprise his role as the ideal wing next to Stephen Curry. Namely being a primary defender against opposing teams’ best offensive players that attacks the boards at a high clip while filling in as the third option capable of being a strong shotmaker when the shot clock is winding down. In fact, it was

That’s the role he mastered on the way to his first title, and that’s the role he can be expected to refill while the Warriors look to successful defend their title.

“What I see with Wiggs is just a comfort level with his daily routine and our style,” Coach Steve Kerr said. “The way we play is very different from the way he played his first years. So he looks relaxed and ahead of the game compared to the first years where ehe had to figure out how we played, he’s comfortable in it because he’s got a couple of years of work within the style.”

When asked about that he wants to bring over from the playoff run of his life, Wiggins said that his main priority is continuing to rebiund the ball and play defense at a high level. Wiggins believes that he “took a step with the playoffs” that’s capable of continuing to play at that level. Heading into his second full year with the Warriors, Wiggins will look to prove Kerr’s thoughts about him correct.

“There are a handful of guys like Steph or LeBron (James), Giannis (Antetokounmpo) who are going to be great no matter where they are,” Kerr said. “But most of the league, you have to find a good spot. And Wiggs found a good spot.”

Photos via Getty Images.

The post Andrew Wiggins: Warriors ‘Have a Chance to Do Something Special’ After Signing Extension appeared first on SLAM.

Dennis Schroder underwent a procedure to repair a ligament in his thumb today, according to Lakers coach Darvin Ham. He is expected to be sidelined 3-4 weeks, per Ham.

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 17, 2022

Schröder didn’t travel with the Lakers for their preseason finale against the Sacramento Kings due to the injury. The Lakers were reportedly concerned that the thumb injury could be a long-term issue for Schroder.

Schröder is back in Los Angeles after signing a one-year deal. He left the Lake Show in free agency to sign with the Boston Celtics. Schröder averaged 13.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 4.6 rebounds during the 64 games he played between Boston and Houston. He missed the last seven games of the season due to a shoulder injury.

The Lakers open the 2022-23 season against the defending champion Golden State Warriors.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post Dennis Schröder Out 3-4 Weeks After Undergoing Thumb Surgery appeared first on SLAM.

The former Michigan Wolverine went from showing a lot of promise during his rookie year to being demoted to the G League because he played so little during the 2020-21 season. He played 11 games with Golden State’s G League affiliate before they recalled him.

“His rookie year, he was lost, frankly,” Kerr said, per The Athletic. “But most rookies are. The game is different. The pace is different, the athleticism. What I admired about JP from the start was his understanding of how much work it would take to get where he wanted to go.”

How it started How it’s going pic.twitter.com/jOi0SbRkMy

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) October 16, 2022

Poole started the first 28 games of the 2021-22 season, with the Warriors going 23-5 before Coach Steve Kerr benched him to make way for Klay Thompson’s triumphant return from a two-season absence. Poole has repeatedly answered adversity through his first three seasons in the League.

When his rookie season was cut short by the pandemic, Poole reportedly lived at the gym and fully dedicated himself to improving his skillset. When he was sent down to the G League, Poole took full advantage of the opportunity by dominating on the court with his shifty handle and automatic jumper. Poole came back with unshakeable confidence and a chip on his shoulder when he came back.

Last year, Poole responded to coming off the bench by becoming an invaluable walking bucket capable of taking over games and being a significant part of Golden State’s title run.

“You go through different stages — high school, AAU, college,” Poole said. “There’ll be adversity. You just gotta have faith and have confidence. Self-belief will take you a very long way. Obviously, you mix that in with hard work and an open mindset, and anything is possible.

“Obviously,” he continued, digging into his bag of perspective, “people will try to write you off, and they’ll have things to say. That just comes with it. People will say good things. People say bad things – But as long as you focus and you have tunnel vision, and you lock in. Once you set your mind to something and you come up with a plan to do it, everything else takes care of itself. So it was just an amazing feeling not only for me but for my family. They put in so much time, so much money, and a lot of things that you can’t repay them for. So it’s just amazing to have them be a part of this as well. And my teammates who helped me get here. We can go down the entire line just talking about it. But it was a very, very special, life-changing moment.”

The @warriors dropped a 10 min video of Jordan Poole highlights. Watch this and be inspired the next time you hoop. pic.twitter.com/BYuNmijTfP

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) October 17, 2022

Now, the Warriors have rewarded his ability to persevere with a four-year, $140 million dollar extension. When Poole signed the contract, he couldn’t help but smile as he put ink to paper in Myers’ office.

“I couldn’t stop smiling,” Poole said Sunday. “I really tried to stop smiling. But I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.”

Bag earned. : @_JordanJimenez pic.twitter.com/YljCsDiPHO

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) October 15, 2022

Poole’s deal signifies Golden State’s dedication to solidifying its future. It’s also a sign of things to come as the Warrior starts to contemplate their future without the foundational members of the dynasty. Stephen Curry is locked in for four more years while Draymond Green and Klay Thompson wait to see how their extension negotiations go.

When asked about the fallout of his altercation with Green, Poole responded diplomatically, only saying he and Green our professionals and that they “plan on handling ourselves that way.”

“In regards to the Draymond situation,” Poole said, addressing the altercation publicly for the first time, “you know, he apologized, and we’re professionals. We plan on handling ourselves that way. We’re gonna play basketball, and everybody in the locker room and on our team knows what it takes to win a championship. And we’re gonna do that on the court. I mean, that’s really all I have to say on the matter. We’re here to win a championship and keep hanging banners.”

It remains to be seen just how the Warrior’s dynamic will be changed, if at all, this season. Kerr called the situation” the biggest crisis that we’ve ever had” Knowing that the Warriors have been able to wither plenty of storms is a testament to their culture. What happens this season will be the ultimate test of the Warrior’s way and their”Strength in Number” mantra that resulted in four championships.

The post Jordan Poole ‘Can’t Stop Smiling’ After Signing Contract Extension appeared first on SLAM.

The sides are reportedly close to crossing the Ts and dotting the Is on the rookie scale extension. According to Poole’s representatives, a formal agreement is expected to be completed later on Saturday. Poole’s extension comes days before Monday’s deadline for 2019 Draft class members.

Golden State Warriors guard Jordan Poole is finalizing a four-year, $140 million contract extension, his agents Drew Morrison and Austin Brown of CAA Sports tell ESPN. Sides are completing final details today and formal agreement expected soon. pic.twitter.com/hIP8MaOhzp

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 15, 2022

Poole’s extension solidifies the Warrior’s commitment and belief in Poole as a franchise cornerstone. At 23-years-old, Poole has become one of Golden State’s more solidified offensive weapons as they look to defend their fourth championship in eight seasons.

How to make the stadium explode 101: be like Poole.

(via @NBAUK) pic.twitter.com/P3LagLBtHC

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) June 6, 2022

Last season, Poole averaged a career-high 18.5 points, 4.0 assists, and 3.4 rebounds per game. During the Warriors’ run to the 2022 NBA championship, Poole averaged 17.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game and scored 25 points on 60 percent shooting six times, according to ESPN. That run of 25+ point outings Poole tied with Jerry West (1968 postseason) for second-most in a single-postseason, right behind Andrew Toney in 1982.

The post REPORT: Jordan Poole Finalizing Four-Year Extension appeared first on SLAM.

After back-to-back disappointing seasons since their championship win in the 2020 NBA Bubble, the Lakers aren’t considered title favorites for this upcoming season. Reasons for it include an aging LeBron James, key talents being injury prone, and the distraction around Russell Westbrook and his play.

The list goes on, but Davis believes it comes down to the trust of each individual to perform at a high level.

“We just go out there and play basketball and perform, but it’s also the truth,” said Davis when talking about the criticism towards the team. “I mean, no one has us winning it this year besides us in this organization.”

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Last season, Davis played 40 games averaging 23.2 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks. His play wasn’t much of a factor, as the Lakers had a 17-23 record with him in the lineup. The numbers may look impressive for Davis, but the durability must be there to win his second championship in three years.

New additions like Patrick Beverley and Lonnie Walker IV should improve the offensive and defensive load if either of the Lakers stars goes down. Davis is confident Beverly, Walker IV, and other team members are satisfied with their roles and will do whatever it takes to succeed and help the Lakers make a deep playoff run.

“We feel like we’re the underdogs,” Davis said. “And I think everybody on this team has something to prove. I feel like everyone on this team has a chip on their shoulder and is going to come out ready to play this season.”

The Lake Show starts a new season away from home against the NBA champion Golden State Warriors, a game that could determine how well the team has improved through the off-season.

The post Anthony Davis Confident in ‘Underdog’ Lakers Heading into New Season appeared first on SLAM.

Curry, arguably the greatest shooter of all time, has four titles under his name with a Finals MVP to back up his coveted career. The Warriors superstar believes there’s another teammate who was playing for the legacy he has submitted in Golden State.

In a recent interview with NBC Sports’ Kerith Burke, Curry remarks on the legacy of his longtime teammate, Andre Igoudala, who he believes was a significant contributor to the Warriors’ four titles and is a sure shot at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

“Absolutely, I didn’t know that was much of a debate,” said Curry on Igoudala being labeled a Hall of Famer. “He’s kind of the mature vet that’s still putting up solid numbers but impacting winning at a level that is a difference maker.”

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Igoudala’s four championships with the Warriors may be underestimated by playing with Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry through the years. However, his defensive tenacity in the 2015 NBA Finals against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers kicked off Golden States’ illustrious dynasty.

Igoudala scored 16.3 points, four assists, and 5.8 rebounds per game and won the 2015 Finals MVP. In that series, Curry and Thompson averaged 34.2 percent shooting from their three-point distance, but Igoudala’s heroics kept James shooting at 38.1 percent from the field when guarded by him.

Iggy is now in the later stages of his career. He rejoined the Dubs over the summer and averaged 4.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game during the regular-season. When it came down to the postseason, Coach Steve Kerr trusted the 38-year-old to play during the 2022 Finals. Iggy rewarded that trust by posting seven points and three assists during Game 1 and played spot duty the rest of the Finals as a 3-and-D wing.

“I hope there’s a keen eye part of just watching his career unfold,” said Curry. “Seeing the different iterations of himself that impact winning, that’s what it should be about.”

Igoudala enters his 19th season in the League, more importantly, his last go at defending a championship for the Warriors. The farewell tour starts against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at Chase Center.

The post Stephen Curry Believes Andre Iguodala is ‘Absolutely’ An Hall of Famer appeared first on SLAM.

Green stayed home for the last week to help cool down and mitigate the wounds caused by his controversial squabble with Poole. Since then, Coach Steve Kerr announced that the Warriors fined Green and decided not to suspend the four-time champion. Kerr put an exclamation point on the incident by calling it “the biggest crisis that we’ve ever had.”

“We had the conversations about what we need to do moving forward, and we’re going to do that,” Green said per ESPN. “We are not going to continue to hold on to the past.”

Swoosh@Oracle || Game Ready pic.twitter.com/wzOQcZBAqu

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) October 13, 2022

Before Green came back, the Dubs had meetings with the front office, coaching staff, and prominent players like Poole, Looney, Stephen Curry, and Andre Iguodala. Once players, specifically Poole, gave the thumbs up, the Warriors decided it was time to bring Green back.

Green is set to play in Golden States’ final preseason game against the Denver Nuggets on Friday. He will also be available when the Warriors have presented their rings ahead of their opening night contest against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.

GAME DAY pic.twitter.com/Mi74ILE99s

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) October 14, 2022

Green didn’t tell reporters what he was up to during his self-imposed break from the team, but he did say he was in a better mental state on Thursday than when he left. According to Green, Kerr, and Kevon Looney, Thursday’s practice was business as usual, and there was no on-court awkwardness between anyone.

Despite the public backing from Kerr and his teammates, Green admitted there would be lingering feelings about his quarrel with Poole. Kerr touched on the moment on Wednesday when he said that the Warriors’ “culture had been damaged by the incident. You have to work to repair that.” Kerr added that Green broke the team’s trust but also said that Green deserves the benefit of the doubt due to the relationship they’ve built since 2015.

“It’s about making sure our team camaraderie is right,” Green said. “You can tell when you’re playing against a team, and they have good camaraderie — if not, they can be broken easy — if you have that, you can build through anything. [Our camaraderie doesn’t] get very shaken.”

Although Green acknowledged that he had some work to do when he stepped away from the team, Green seemingly had some contention with the notion that he had to rebuild trust with his teammates. The Warriors have been victorious because of the trust the Warriors’ “foundational six” has built over the last eight seasons. Not to mention their desire to win and knowing what it takes to win.

Green will use that mindset to navigate his relationship with Poole for the foreseeable future.

“Jordan is a professional, and I am a professional. We have a job to do — we’re going to do just that,” Green said. “[As far as a personal relationship], I’m not sure. That’s not up to me, nor do I think there is much relevance. We’re paid to do a job, and we are going to do that job to the best of our abilities.”

The post Draymond Green: Warriors Won’t ‘Continue to Hold On to the Past’ appeared first on SLAM.

“Definitely not a good feeling that I’ll never forget,” Tatum said per Sports Illustrated.

He shot 36.7 percent from the field in the Finals, down from 45.3 percent in the regular-season. The 2021-2022 NBA season was an eight-month slog for Boston, and after a rocky start, they almost came out on top. Tatum was exhausted toward the end of their run. Tatum went from averaging 35.9 minutes a night during the regular-season to playing 41.0 per game during the playoffs.

The physical tool he took manifested into a fractured wrist that forced Tatum to tape his wrist during games and a soft cast off the court, only taking it off when there were cameras around. When the Finals concluded with a Game 6 loss to the Warriors, Tatum went ghost for nearly two weeks, according to his trainer Drew Hanlen.

“I was exhausted. Didn’t feel like talking to anybody. Didn’t feel like being bothered. It’s hard to explain if you’ve never been in that situation but losing a championship was fucking miserable,” Tatum said on why he didn’t hit up Hanlen for two weeks after the Game 6 loss. 

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After the two-week sabbatical, Tatum went to work on improving his game.

Per Hanlen, Tatum was “intense’ during workout sessions and “became obsessed with winning.” Hanlen said he didn’t lose a one-on-one game all summer and famously barked at his teammates when they fell 0-2 during a five-on-five session. After winning their third game of the session, Tatum and his teammates went undefeated for the rest of the day.

weekend work pic.twitter.com/Ov23iLkMgd

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 9, 2022

He also wanted to improve his burst while attacking the rim to create contact and put more pressure on defenders. He was only fouled on 9.8 of his total drives. He adjusted his posture, embracing a lower base on his face-up. He tried to find ways to combat fatigue by changing his diet and increasing his conditioning drills. He shot hundreds of floaters.

He picked the mind of frequent workout partner and future Hall-of-Famer Kevin Durant. Tatum studied Durant’s ability to protect the ball, mainly how Durant uses his hips and shoulders to shield the ball from defenders and can protect it when he attacks the rim. Durant also gave Tatum advice on his hesitation dribble and side-step jumper.

“I’m still young enough where I feel like I can learn from a lot of guys,” Tatum said. “And he’s one of the best to ever do it.” 

Despite his expected increased role, Tatum seems to be looking forward to the opportunity to improve on the Celtics’ dee 2022 playoff run in this upcoming season, and this time, he hopes he can take the lessons he learned this summer with him. 

The post How Jayson Tatum Attacked the Offseason Following Boston’s Finals Loss appeared first on SLAM.

Kerr made the announcement after the Dubs’ preseason game against the Trail Blazers on Monday. He distinctly called the contentious moment “the biggest crisis that we’ve ever had.” Kerr also said Green would return to the team on Thursday and expects Green to play Golden State’s last preseason game and their opening night contest against the Lakers.

“It’s been an exhaustive process,” Kerr said per Yahoo Sports. “We feel like this is the best way after assessing everything for us to move forward. It’s never easy, no matter what decision you make in a situation like this. It’s not going to be perfect.”

Kerr said that key figures in the organization, including Green, Poole, Stephen Curry, and GM Bob Myers, were involved in the decision-making process leading up to Kerr’s announcement. Kerr added that he trusts Green and that the former Michigan State Spartan has earned the benefit of the doubt following Green’s lapse in judgment.

“I trust him,” Kerr added. “He broke our trust with this incident. But I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt because I think he’s earned that. I think our team feels the same way.”

Kerr added Green and Poole had played a role in deciding Green’s punishment and that the two veterans have “had a great discussion” that he believes will help them “move forward” from the incident.

Poole has yet to address what happened, but Kerr said that the franchise would make the former Michigan Wolverine available to reporters soon.

According to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports, the tension between Green and Poole had been simmering since the start of the training camp. Although both players are eligible for contract extensions, Green flat-out denied that the dispute was over money. Green also said that he was “wrong for my actions that took place” last week and that he’s apologized not just to Poole and his teammates but to Poole’s family for “the embarrassment” he caused to the team. He also declared that: “I failed as a leader. I failed as a man.”

“I was wrong for my actions that took place on Wednesday,” Green said. “For that, I have apologized to my team. I have apologized to Jordan.”

The Warriors open their regular season at home on Oct. 18 against the Los Angeles Lakers, where they’ll celebrate their 2022 NBA championship with a ring ceremony.

The post Steve Kerr: Draymond Green Will ‘Come Back to Practice On Thursday’ appeared first on SLAM.

In his first preseason game with the team versus the Charlotte Hornets, the veteran notched seven points and nine rebounds in sixteen minutes. With Robert Williams still out due to a knee injury, Griffin should see the court a lot despite just recently arriving.

According to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, the veteran praised the maturity of this Celtics squad and pointed out similarities of this team to his old Clippers team. Or shall we say, “Lob City.”

“The intensity in those (preseason) games and in practice and shootaround has been something I haven’t seen in a while,” said Griffin. “Probably since my Clipper days when we were really making a run for it. The maturity of this team, and some of us sat down in the meal room for probably 2½ hours and just talked, and more and more people came, and it was a group of like 10 of us.”

It should be no surprise how hungry the Celtics must be after making it all the way to the NBA Finals last season, but falling short to the Golden State Warriors in six games. To Griffin, this team is very ready.

“That’s something you don’t really see a lot, as well, on teams that I’ve been on,” said the veteran, throwing a little shade on the other teams he’s played for. “From those aspects, this team is very ready. We still have work to do like everybody else, but I’ve been impressed by where they’re at as a team.”

This team knows they have what it takes to get there again. Perhaps Griffin’s experience can propel Boston to the same feats this season and maybe beyond.

The post Blake Griffin Compares ‘Intensity’ of Boston to ‘Lob City’ Clippers appeared first on SLAM.

“Look, it’s the NBA in professional sports these things happen, nobody likes it we don’t condone it,” Myers said. “Draymond apologized to the team this morning, Jordan was there in the room.

Head coach Steve Kerr added: “I’m not going to answer anything more because Bob already answered what needed to be answered. The only thing I will say is that Jordan has been fantastic throughout camp. There was a report that I was made aware of last night that someone put out there that Jordan had an attitude in camp. Nothing could be further from the truth, he’s been fantastic. So, disappointing to see this information out there, but I wanted to make sure I set the record straight on that. Everything else, we will handle internally and go from there.”

Stephen Curry also reiterated Kerr’s sentiment about Poole’s behavior, saying, “JP’s been great. There’s nothing that warrented the situation yesterday. We made that clear, but it’s also something that we feel like will not derail our season and what we’re trying to build and that’s with Draymond as a part of that.”

It seems that for now at least, the Warriors have it under control and we’l; have to wait and see what comes about from the situation.

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What the 37-year-old was referring to was what he has been foreshadowing since June on an episode of The Shop: James wants to own an NBA team in Sin City. 

Silver has previously touched on the League expanding in the near future.  “At some point, this League invariably will expand, but it’s not at this moment that we are discussing it,” said the commissioner in June. “Las Vegas, where we will be at our Summer League in July, has shown itself to be a great sports market as well.”

Following the game on Wednesday, James declared Vegas as having the best fanbase in the world. 

“It’s the best fanbase in the world,” said the Lakers star. “I would love to bring a team here at some point. That would be amazing.”

The Lakers will open up their season on Oct.18 against the Golden State Warriors.

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“So, I just wanted to go relax. Long season, clearly,” Tatum said in an interview with Andscape. “Enjoy some time with my son and the family. Get away from it. The Finals were so fresh in my mind.

And every time we walked out the room, somebody saw me and said, ‘Oh, man, we wish you would’ve … ’ ‘Good luck next year.’ And that’s even said to this day. But it was just three or four days afterwards, so it was really fresh.”

Two seasons after being eliminated from the Eastern Conference Finals by the Miami Heat in 2020, the Celtics came back this past season to win a pivotal Game 7 in Miami to clinch their first NBA Finals berth since 2010.

“It was just a learning experience, learning a lesson,” he added. “Maybe do some things differently next time if you get to that point. Obviously, it’s tough to learn a lesson that way, but it is what it is …It just fuels you. Motivates you to get back to that point.”

While Tatum has using the moment as “fuel,” his all-around game is enough to catch the attention of even his own competitors. Four-time NBA champion and Warriors forward Draymond Green recently called JT the ‘Young GOAT.’

“Resiliency allows teams to show their true characters,” said Green on The Draymond Green Show. “We’ll get to see the true character of the Boston Celtics led by none other than the young GOAT, young next greatest Jayson Tatum.”

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That persistence paid off as the third-year big man played well at Summer League, where his tantalizing skillset shined. Wiseman said he felt good after Summer League play and Coach Steve Kerr recently raved about Wiseman gaining a lot of confidence in his knee.

In the Golden State Warrior’s first preseason game in Tokyo, Japan, versus the Washington Wizards, Wiseman sure looked like his old self finishing the game with 20 points on 72.7 percent shooting from the field while grabbing nine rebounds and one block as well.

“This is my first game out of two years,” Wiseman said. “But I just went out there and just played my game. I wasn’t trying to do as much; I wasn’t trying to do something that was outside of my boundaries, just keep the game simple and just be myself out there.”

Wiseman’s preseason debut lasted a little over twenty-three minutes a. The brief stint filled Warriors fans’ minds with optimism as the Dubs look to win back-to-back championships. Given the Golden State Warrior’s strong foundation, a budding young core of talent, and a roster full of elite vets, there talented is no reason why the Warriors should not be top favorites to win it all again this season.

With the 2023 NBA season set to tip off in just a few more days, the Warriors start their long journey to become the back-to-back champs Tuesday, Oct. 18, versus the Los Angles Lakers.

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With Father Time catching up, no one knows how long the four-time NBA champion can carry the load for the Lakers. In fact, The King made it known not long ago that he is ready to take a backseat.

In 2017, he was ready to “give the keys” to his former teammate Kyrie Irving when they played against the Cleveland Cavaliers. When things didn’t end up working out, James made his way to LA, where you can now see him having that same trust in his current teammate Davis.

AD recently told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports that the future Hall of Famer has been “in his ear about taking over the reins of the team.” The 29-year-old is most certainly capable of doing so. It’s all about staying healthy and getting his three-point shot back to its standard form. As a career 30.3 percent shooter from behind the arc, Davis shot the deep ball at 18.6 percent last season.

With these hurdles standing in the way of the former NBA champion, he has accepted the challenge.

“I’m excited for this challenge and what’s ahead,” said Davis. “I think we have a great group of guys to get the job done. It’s now about putting in the work – I went into this summer focusing on strengthening my body. I have to be on the court and at my best to put us in position to be our best. I’m ready to do that.”

The Lakers will open up their season on Oct.18 versus the Golden State Warriors.

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This team looked destined for glory once more.

However, in a game against the Golden State Warriors on Jan. 14, Ball would suffer a catastrophic injury to his left knee that would keep him sidelined for the rest of the 2021-2022 NBA season.

Concerning news for Bulls fans came from Ball himself as he made it clear his injury still bothers him, and it may be possible he’ll be sidelined to start the season. Ball told reporters he is unable to run or jump as of yet, and it’ll be up to his arthroscopic debridement on Sept. 28 that will determine whether he’s eligible to play.

“This is something I’ve never dealt with,” Ball said. “Even the doctors are surprised a little bit.”

Ball’s contribution is a must-have in order to find success for this Bulls team. Doubts will continue to rise if Ball is unable to return, but proper conditioning may see him reach his elite status once more.

“That’d be the worst-case scenario,” said Ball when asked if there’s a possibility he’ll miss this entire upcoming season. “I’m at a point now where I can’t get back out there until I’m comfortable playing and can actually play. When that day comes, I’ll have the jersey back on.”

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Every time Doncic fell hard during a game or got bumped, Dorian Finney-Smith had a completely relatable thought process, yelling at Doncic through the tv to “get up” or “get him out of there” during physical moments. The Mavericks coaching staff felt the same way as they watched the 23-year-old MVP candidate play in the international tournament.

”We’re going to start a little light,” Coach Jason Kidd said per the Dallas Morning News. “But as we all know, in this room, Luka loves to play basketball, so he’s ready to go, and he’ll probably tell you that today. But we want just to start slow.

“This is a marathon. He just got done playing [for Slovenia]. But anytime he sees the game plan for practice, and he sees scrimmage, he’s ready to play.”

Doncic first reported to the Slovenian national team in mid-June, two weeks after the Mavericks dropped the Western Conference to the eventual champion Golden State Warriors. After he prepared and played in two FIBA World Cup games in early July, he took a month off before playing in the Eurobasket tournament.

Luka Legend averaged 26 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per EuroBasket game — the only player to rank in the top-10 for each category in the tournament — and played 233 of a possible 280 minutes through Slovenia’s outings. Doncic played more minutes per game during Eurobasket (35.6 minutes per game) than when he played with the Mavericks (35.4 minutes per game). International games are 40 minutes long vs. 48 in the NBA.

Between Eurobasket and flying back to Dallas for Media Day and training camp, Doncic had eight full days of rest. When Kidd and Doncic met up at Dallas legend DirNowitzki’s celebrity charity tennis tournament, Kidd told Doncic that he won’t participate fully in training camp, and would take a ramp-up approach as camp took place. This is the plan of action because Dallas doesn’t want to fatigue Doncic too much to start the season.

“Luka’s in a great place,” Kidd said. “You can see his spirit is high. He’s smiling. He feels great. He looks great; he’s ready to play — We ask a lot of him, and we have to — as a staff and teammates — try to find a way to make it easier for him; that’s going to be a great challenge that everyone’s up for.”

Doncic also revealed that his injured wrist had healed as well as the stitches in his head after he got elbowed by a French big man during Slovenia’s game against France. He told reporters with a smile that he’s “good now” and has the same season individual goals as always.

“Always the goal is the same for me, for the team we’re trying to win the championship,” Doncic said. “That’s the only goal we have, and that’s what we’re going to work for.”

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The main question the Clippers will face, besides health, will be what happens with Wall. The four-time All-Star will be playing for the first time since getting shut down in April 2021 due to a grade 2 hamstring injury. When Leonard was asked about the Clippers’ offseason acquisitions on Media Day, he spoke well of Wall, letting the world know that Wall has “been looking great” this summer.

“John, all I can really go back (to) is the two years I seen him against us in Houston, ” Leonard said. He was playing well — that’s the last time I probably seen him in person in a live-game action other than the practices here, but he’s been looking great so let’s put it all on the floor and see what we could do. Like I said, we got a lot of talent here, and I think we can make something happen.”

We back, #ClipperNation! pic.twitter.com/OAVM0SV2tp

— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) September 27, 2022

When Wall was interviewed, he gave assembled reporters and fans a resounding message as training camp and preseason loom over the basketball world.

“Just let the world know — you’re gonna see a dog; that’s what you got when you signed me.”

Wall will have plenty of opportunity to prove he’s got that dog in him in his first games since Houston unceremoniously moved on from him and asked him to stay at home so they could focus on developing their young core of talent.

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At that moment, the 33-year-old admitted that he had some uncertainty with the team last year. To Durant, the franchise’s direction was going away from a championship culture, which is important to be a part of at this late stage of his career.

“As the season went on, you seen what happened with our season,” said Durant on Media Day. “Guys in and out the lineup. Injuries — just a lot of uncertainty, which built some doubt in my mind about the next four years of my career. I mean, I’m getting older. I want to be a place that’s stable and trying to build a championship culture. I had some doubts about that. I voiced them to Joe (Tsai).”

“There was a lot of uncertainty around our team last year… We came to a mutual agreement that we should keep moving forward.”

-Kevin Durant on his offseason with the Nets. #NBAMediaDay pic.twitter.com/dlYEGmeoPP

— NBA TV (@NBATV) September 26, 2022

A change of scenery seemed like the only thing that could have done the 2014 NBA MVP justice. Teams such as the Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics, and even the Golden State Warriors were rumored as possible destinations for Durant. To the relief of many Brooklyn fans, the sweepstakes for the Nets star ended in late August after a meeting between Durant and the front office. 

After the meeting, both sides agreed to move forward, and Durant emphasized this on Media Day. When asked if he was surprised to be a Net going into the season, the twelve-time All-Star said he wasn’t because the Nets know how valuable he is.

“Nah, I mean … I know I’m that good that you just not going to give me away. That’s one thing that I did appreciate about Sean (Marks) and Joe (Tsai). It’s like, ‘You’re too great for us to give you away. Just that easy and that simple.’ I get that. I know who I am.”

KD and the Nets begin the season with a matchup against the Pelicans on Oct. 19.

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Former Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo started the festivities with some interesting comments about who he believes is the best player in the world.

“I think the best player in the world is the person that is the last one standing, the person that takes his team to the finish line and helps them win games and become champion.”

“Two years ago when we did that, yeah, when I was sleeping in my bed, I was like, ‘Ah yeah, maybe I’m the best player in the world.’ But now, no. In my opinion, the way I view it, the winner is the best. The guy who wins is the best — I believe that the best player in the world is Steph Curry until the next player.”

When reigning Finals MVP and defending champ Stephen Curry heard the Greek Freaks’ comments, he was appreciative and said he would’ve said the same thing.

“I don’t know if it was gamesmanship to set the table for — I would say the same thing when you’re facing the champions,” Curry said. “That’s part of like the nature of the league. We all want to win the championship, and when you look at the team that’s the last team standing and who was playing the best, I was thinking the same thing about him last year, coming off their run.

“So I appreciate the compliment. It’s not going to soften me up to get complacent at all. But you do appreciate the respect of your peers to say stuff like that, and I’ve been in the situation where I’m complimenting guys around the league a lot as well.”

Curry will look to defend his fourth championship and go back-to-back for the first time since the Warriors did it in 2017-2018. Antetokounmpo will look to avenge Milwaukee’s second-round exit and return to the Finals for the second time since their championship run in 2021.

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One of the NBA’s most elite dynasties, the Golden State Warriors, has reached the top of the mountain once more. With the brilliant play of Stephen Curry and company, the franchise has won four championships in a 7-year span. It’s quite remarkable, to say the least, but it all starts with one of the veteran pieces that keep the locker room in check and comes up big on the biggest stage.

The 38 year old Andre Igoudala may not be the pivotal factor to decide a championship series, but there’s something about his presence in the locker room that leads to success. It’s not just with the Warriors too, Igoudala took part in the Miami Heat‘s incredible 5th seeded run to the NBA Finals in the 2020 Bubble. His high IQ on defense was a major contributor to the Heat’s success, but the team ultimately fell to the LeBron James led Los Angeles Lakers.

The matchup between him and LeBron James is always considered one of the more unexpected rivalries in League history. However, in 2015 with the Cavaliers up 2-1 in the NBA Finals, Igoudala stepped up to attribute 16.3 points a game with 5.8 rebounds and 4 boards. What carved his name into the Bill Russell Finals MVP award, was his teriffic defense on a LeBron James who’d been dominating all post-season long.

“I’m letting you know now Steph,” said Igoudala. “This the last one.”

Though the Warriors haven’t come to terms with a deal for Igoudala, it seems clear he’s comitted to signing a veternan minimum deal. If so, Igoudala will play his final season, in a quest with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green at their fifth ring.

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pic.twitter.com/ySo5wGKrfX

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) September 23, 2022

Editor’s Note: According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, Ime Udoka has decided not to resign from his head coach position with Boston and will wait for whatever ruling the franchise comes to instead.

Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka will not be resigning from his position as he awaits sanction from the organization, league sources tell @NBAonTNT.

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) September 22, 2022

The Boston Celtics are reportedly likely to suspend Coach Ime Udoka for the entire 2022-23 season due to his alleged role in a consensual relationship with a female staff member, according to NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski.

Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka is likely facing a suspension for the entire 2022-2023 season for his role in a consensual relationship with a female staff member, sources tell ESPN. A formal announcement is expected as soon as today.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 22, 2022

Boston will name assistant coach Joe Mazzulla as interim coach while Udoka serves his suspension per Woj. Udoka led Boston to a runner-up finish in the 2022 NBA Finals, falling in six games to the Golden State Warriors. Boston went from being a .500 team in January to finishing as the second-seed in the Eastern Conference Finals thanks to their top-ranked defense.

Assistant coach Joe Mazzulla is likely to become Boston’s interim coach for the season, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/GKEiMemnFN

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 22, 2022

After Boston announced its season-long suspension of Udoka, the embattled coach released the following statement where he apologized for putting the Celtics “in this difficult situation” and to the players, fans, and his family for “letting them down.”

NEW: Statement from Celtics coach Ime Udoka pic.twitter.com/MFutFx7c3l

— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) September 23, 2022

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The procedure looks to remove the broken down cartilage and tissues that would help him get back to form. The Bulls announced Ball’s surgery nine days after multiple reports stated he would miss the beginning of the season due to injury. Chicago will further evaluate him in 4-6 weeks to see if there’s any progress.

Ball has dealt with several nagging injuries since his arrival to the League, but none look more complicated than this one on his left knee. On Jan. 20, the Bulls’ starting point guard was found to have a bone bruise and small meniscus tear on his left knee after a blowout loss to the Golden State Warriors, resulting in the surgery he had during last season.

Chicago had hoped that Ball would be able to make progress in the four-month span between his diagnosis and the playoffs. However, Ball struggled to put weight on the knee, resulting in extra rehabilitation and a season-ending announcement before the series against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The gentleman’s sweep in favor of Milwaukee led to many headlines around Chicago as to what could have happened if the Bulls could’ve deployed Ball’s elite playmaking and defending. He questioned that himself as well and knew that his play would generate at least some good end to the Bulls, as he said in a press conference.

“Every time you watch the game, you feel like you can leave an impact on the game. I feel like my shooting could’ve for sure helped. And also obviously defensively versus the guys they have on the other side that are All-Stars.”

When Ball’s recovery timeline is up, the Bulls and their medical staff will determine the best course of action. Before he was injured, Chicago was a top-two seed in the Eastern Conference, without him they finished with the sixth-best record in the East.

The post Bulls Point Guard Lonzo Ball To Have A Arthroscopic Debridement On Left Knee appeared first on SLAM.

Sarver was caught using several offensive languages around his respected organizations. With reports coming out stating he used the ‘N-Word’ frequently, as well as misogynistic comments, Draymond Green opened up about how this makes a representation of the NBA.

“That’s bulls–t. You can’t continue to represent way more people than yourself with those views,” said Green. “With speaking to people the way he did, with treating African Americans and women the way he has. That’s not OK.”

The NBA has been able to address racial justice matters pretty seriously; however, this recent polemic on behalf of Sarver has the basketball community believing he should be removed from his position and banned for life.

The support of the Black Lives Matter movement since 2020, and the termination of former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling back in 2015 make this case look rather simple for League commissioner Adam Silver. However, he ponders the idea that removing the rights to Sarver’s ownership of the teams is too much to get behind. Essentially, Silver believes the $10 million fine and one-year suspension will serve as a lesson for the inappropriate acts caused by Sarver.

“What it would take to remove that team from his control is a very involved process,” said Silver. “and it’s different than holding a job. It just is. When you actually own a team, it’s just a very different proposition.”

Green called on League governors to vote on Sarver’s position. A vote is required from at least three-quarters of the board to remove him, per Baxter Holmes of ESPN. Draymond Green continues to shed light on matters that need to be discussed around the League, and his input will certainly re-adjust the decision of Adam Silver.

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Boston Celtics center Robert Williams is undergoing arthroscopic procedure on his left knee and is expected to need 4-to-6 weeks for recovery, sources tell ESPN. Williams had meniscus surgery in March and played through the playoffs

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 20, 2022

Williams underwent knee surgery in March after suffering a regular-season-ending meniscus tear. He returned during the playoffs, missing seven games as Boston made a run to the NBA Finals, ultimately losing in six games to the Golden State Warriors and earning a runner-up finish.

Last season, Robert Williams III held opponents to 50.7% shooting at the rim per NBA Advanced Stats.

That ranked 4th among players to defend 200 shots, trailing Isaiah Hartenstein, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Rudy Gobert. https://t.co/59T2uxwPfC

— Matt Williams (@StatsWilliams) September 20, 2022

Time Lord averaged 10.0 points and 9.6 rebounds per game on 73.6 percent shooting from the field. During the playoffs, he averaged 7.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game on 67.9 percent shooting.

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The Warriors decided to go all in on maximizing their championship window by keeping their “foundational six” around and choosing to develop Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, and James Wiseman by throwing them in the fire after deciding to let Porter Jr., Payton, and Juan Toscano-Anderson walk away to the Raptor, Trail Blazers, and Lakers respectively.

Column on my pre-camp conversation with Warriors president Bob Myers…https://t.co/A4eNHKKBeD

— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) September 16, 2022

The Warriors have yet to come to terms with a deal with Green, Poole, and Wiggins this summer. Wiggins can become an unrestricted free agent next summer, Poole can become a restricted free agent next July if he doesn’t sign a rookie extension by Oct. 17 per rookie extension rules, and Green can become a free agent if he decides to opt out of the current deal he’s currently on.

When Bob Myers was asked about keeping Wiggins and Poole, Myers included Green in his question, making it clear that he wanted to keep “all three as long as we can have them.”

“I think with both those guys and Draymond, the goal, we want all three as long as we can have them,” Myers said, per The Athletic. “We’ve had conversations with all three players, their representatives. I’m not going to get into the likelihood or not of any of them getting done. But we know how important they are — I don’t know that we win a championship last year if you take any of them away. Draymond, his pedigree here, he’ll go down as one of the best Warriors ever to put on a uniform.

“So we know the value of all those guys. Too early for me to say what will happen or won’t happen. But the goal is to keep those guys, all three of them, as long as we can. But again, there’s financial components.”

Being able to sign Green, Poole, and Wiggins will be a costly endeavor for the Warriors. Golden State currently has a $380 million payroll; unless the Warriors make cuts, Poole’s extension will take them over $400 million during the 2023-24 season. A scenario that Warriors owner Joe Lacob doesn’t see as “remotely possible.”

If there are any cuts to make, fans would think that Draymond Green fits that role as someone who doesn’t produce monster numbers. However, Stephen Curry wants to play the remainder of his career with Green, who is a part of that “foundational six,” he’s consistently healthy and has embodied the Warriors’ non-positional greatness and defensive prowess since 2015.

According to Myers, the Warriors see Green as “not a guy we look at and say he’s not going to be around,” but he did leave the door open about Golden State possibly having to make a difficult decision in not re-signing Green whether or not he opts-out of his player option.

“No, no, I would definitely, unequivocally say (he’s) not a guy we look at and say he’s not going to be around,” Myers said. “Now, at some point, decisions are going to have to be made. But as far as his importance to this organization and what he’s done, we’re going to do everything we can to keep him in the fold.

“We don’t make these decisions definitively, ‘This guy’s going to be here, this guy’s not.’ We don’t do that. Because right now, we’re not making those decisions today. So everything’s on the table. And you really have to, in my position, do your best, and you owe it to the fans and the organization, to players that have helped in the way that all of those players have.

“Draymond, certainly it’s obvious to anybody what he’s done for us. I could never sit here and say, ‘Well, he’s not going to be around.’ I can’t even get the words out of my mouth.”

The Warriors will celebrate their 2022 title on Oct. 18 when they host the Lakers for ring night.

The post Bob Myers: ‘We Want’ Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, and Jordan Poole ‘As Long We Can Keep Them’ appeared first on SLAM.

Though many believe the acquisition of the former MVP has yielded disastrous results, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green thinks it’s just a matter of time until Westbrook returns to form and contributes to an 18th banner.

“Who wouldn’t ask for Russell Westbrook?” Green said, per the Checc’n In Podcast, after being asked whether he believes LeBron James asked for Westbrook to be traded to the Lakers. “You’d be out of your mind not to ask for Russell Westbrook.”

Westbrook, who is due $47 million this season, has been involved in many trade talks just one year after being sent from the Washington Wizards for Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, and the No. 22 overall pick of the 2021 NBA Draft from the Lakers. The deal hasn’t worked out thus far, but Green believes the reason for that is because of how on-the-ball dominant each of the three superstars is.

“I 100 percent think the fit is terrible,” said Green. “I don’t think you could talk to Russell Westbrook right now, and Russell Westbrook wouldn’t think the fit is terrible — just, because the fit is terrible, don’t mean you don’t go for it. Because guess what, if you go for it and it works, then you got a championship.”

The star power of the Lakers is undoubtedly one of the best in the League, but the Lakers finished 33-49, 11th in the Western Conference. Many Lakers fans worry Westbrook’s turnover issues and inability to hit shots at the rim will hold back the Lakeshow.

Health issues were also a more significant issue last season. James and Davis missed a significant amount of time sitting on the sidelines last season, missing a combined 68 games without one of them appearing on the court.

Meanwhile, Westbrook averaged 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 7.1 assists last season, per ESPN. Coach Darvin Ham has confirmed that he thinks Westbrook “has a ton left in the tank” and that he has a “wholehearted plan” to utilize Westbrook to the best of his abilities. Davis, James, and Westbrook also chopped it over the phone to reconfirm their commitment to each other as well

Green may be a rival, but he certainly notices the potential this squad has. With former MVPs and defensive player of the year caliber players, the Lakers are expected to make a playoff run this upcoming season, but if all fails again this season, the NBA world will likely call for the Lakeshow to move on from Westbrook and trade him elsewhere.

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The pivotal match-up would define the Bull’s season, but not as Chicago hoped. In the first quarter, Zach Lavine left the game with a knee injury that bothered him for the rest of the season. Lonzo Ball followed him, exiting with a knee injury in the fourth, and the Warriors left United Center with a decisive 138-96 victory.

While his injury seemed minor then, Ball’s left knee injury developed into a long and arduous recovery process. The UCLA product was ruled out of the Bulls’ game against the Celtics the following day, officially diagnosed with a bone bruise and small meniscus tear on Jan. 20. On Jan. 28, he underwent surgery with a recovery timeline of six to eight weeks.

Ball’s initial recovery timeline post-surgery was eight weeks. It has now been eight months. Ball suffered a couple of setbacks due to his knee not responding to his recovery program from his January surgery. Ball’s ramp-up process to make a return in the playoffs was cut off due to him suffering some knee discomfort in his knee during his rehab process.

Lonzo Ball’s elite defense and high-IQ, high-pace style played a critical role in Chicago’s 27-13 start to the 2021-22 season. Ball shot a career-high 42.3 percent from beyond the arc, ranked in the top 10 in the League in transition assists, and according to DeMar DeRozan, brought “swagger and excitement to the team.” With Ball at point guard, the Bulls ranked sixth in points per game off turnovers and connected on 38.6 percent threes. 

Vice President Arturas Karnisovas stated it clearly: “We missed [Ball] greatly this year. We missed his size, we missed him pushing the break”.

Lacking Ball’s defensive presence and his creation of easy transition buckets, the Bulls fell to 26th in points per game off turnovers, 22nd in the League in three-point percentage, and went 19-23 without Ball in the lineup. 

While his precise return timeline remains unclear, Ball is expected to miss the start of the regular season. The Bulls begin their push back to the top of the East on Oct. 19 against the Heat.

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When Matt Sullivan of Rolling Stone asked Curry how much longer he’d like to play in the NBA, the Baby-Faced Assasin revealed that he’d like to “at least” play through his current four-year deal before contemplating retirement. Golden State’s main focus going into next season will be maximizing their championship core while developing their young hoopers like Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, and James Wiseman.

“The championships are just getting in the way,” Curry told Sullivan.

GOODNIGHT. (via @warriors) pic.twitter.com/dkNo4Pv8lf

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) June 17, 2022

Curry averaged 25.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game while shooting 43.7 percent from the field and a career-low 38.0 percent from beyond the arc. Curry has the type of game that ages gracefully, relying more on finesse than physicality. However, Curry was able to unlock another level of physicality alongside his legendary stamina that helped him dominate when it mattered most in the playoffs.

Heading into his 14th season, Curry says that the hardwood remains “his safe space” even as his veteran status increases. The eight-time All-Star is renowned for his conditioning and can lean on his improved physicality to ward off the lengthy wings that match-up against him. Although he shot a career-low from three last year, it’s likely an outlier, not a sign of things to come. Curry is a career 42.8 percent shooter from three-point territory.

“There are more thoughts, as you get older, of that healthy insecurity: ‘How long can this go?’ ” Curry told Sullivan. “I’m not afraid of what’s next, but the invisibility — the fact that when you’re in your actual prime, you’re not thinking anything else — now I have a healthy balance of both.”

Curry and the Warriors will look to start their title defense against the Lakers on Oct. 18.

The post Stephen Curry Reveals He Wants to ‘at Least’ Play Four More Years appeared first on SLAM.

The four-time NBA champ won three Big 10 titles with Michigan State and led the Spartans to two Final Four trips. Green’s efforts for the program were recently recognized after MSU notified him would be inducting him into the Athletics Hall of Fame. Upon finding out the news, the former Spartan was in complete shock.

“Absolutely insane,” said Green on his podcast “The Draymond Green Show. “Hall of Fame? That’s forever. We won’t be here forever. We’ll leave, we’ll leave this world. But that’s a forever thing as long as this world is here — As a kid that went to Michigan State, everybody told me I was dumb for going there. That I would never play there, well, I’m going to the Hall of Fame.”

It’s official

Draymond Green is the newest addition to the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame. pic.twitter.com/71pY5FoXwO

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) September 9, 2022

Green, along with the other members of the Michigan State Hall of Fame Class of 2022, was acknowledged at halftime for their legendary contributions during halftime of the Spartans’ 52-0 win over Akron.

Moments of work, for a lifetime of memories @united || Champions Tour pic.twitter.com/uVM9zL9xa4

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) September 10, 2022

Green was inducted into the Hall of Fame over the weekend. The Warriors start their title defense against the Lakers on Oct. 18.

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On Sunday, Rolling Stone revealed that the reports of a potential Warriors-KD reunion were being seriously discussed within Golden State, according to reigning Finals MVP and four-time champ Stephen Curry. Curry told Rolling Stone that he and the Warriors’ front office had a “conversation” about his thoughts on acquiring Durant.

“There was a conversation internally amongst us about ‘If he was available, would you?'” Curry said three days after Durant made his trade request. “Every team has those conversations, and obviously, in our situation, they’re gonna call me and ask me, ”How do you feel about it?”

However, Durant and the Nets made up last month despite Durant reiterating his trade request and giving team owner Joe Tsai the ultimatum of choosing him or Coach Steve Nash and GM Sean Marks. Curry sees the narrative around his future Hall-of-Famer teammate and says that Durant is “misunderstood” and that he would have welcomed Durant into Golden State with open arms.

When Curry sat down with Rolling Stone on Aug. 9, he told the magazine that he was “never hesitant” about playing with KD again and that he had “so much fun playing with him those three years.”

“I was never hesitant. The idea of playing with KD and knowing who he is as a person, from our history in those three years, I think KD’s a really good dude. I think he is misunderstood. I think he has had certain things happen in his life that hurt his ability to trust people around him, in a sense of making him feel safe at all times. So all of those things, I understand, having played with him and gotten to know him. I love that dude.”

Curry also gave the Warriors a resounding yes to acquiring Durant but understood it would take a lot of finesse to trade for KD.

“And if you said, ”Oh, KD’s’ coming back, and we’re gonna play with him,” I had so much fun playing with him those three years, I’d’ be like, ”Hell, yeah!” Then you have to think: What does that actually mean? What does it look like? You tell me I’m’ playing with [current Warriors teammates Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, and Draymond Green], I’m’ like, ”Hell, yeah!” There’s all types of emotion and things that happen to the league. And if anybody’s saying that you wouldn’t entertain that conversation—no disrespect to anybody on our team—but you don’t know how things work. But you also understand, like, if we run this thing back, I’ve’ got complete confidence in my team that we can win it again, as constructed.

“So, all those things were true. And it started with me wanting to play with KD at the beginning. Yeah, it’s about winning, it’s about having fun, playing the game of basketball. And that was part of the reaction of, like, ‘Yeah; it’d be amazing.”’

Curry also talked with his younger brother Seth, Durant’s teammate in Brooklyn, about a potential Durant deal that could put both the Currys on the same roster for the first time in their careers. When the prospect of Durant going to Phoenix or Boston came up, Curry suggested that it would be unrealistic for Durant to think any team he went to outside of Brooklyn could retain a championship roster around him.

He specifically stated that it would be a mind-blowing transaction if Boston did indeed swap Jaylen Brown for Durant. Curry does believe that Durant made the right move in staying in Brooklyn.

The Warriors begin their title defense on Oct. 14 against the Lakers after being presented with their championship rings.

The post Stephen Curry Reveals Warriors ‘Internally’ Discussed Trade for Kevin Durant appeared first on SLAM.

According to Windhorst, the Lakers have had several talks on possible three-way deals, just not with Utah or New York.

“From what I am told, while it would make sense for the Knicks to have done a three-way deal with the Jazz and Lakers, I am told that that was never part of the talks,” Windhorst said on The Hoop Collective Podcast. “There were three-team constructions between the Jazz and Knicks for Donovan Mitchell where players would go to a third team. They obviously didn’t do a deal, but the Lakers were never directly involved with that.”

The Lakers instead have reportedly been involved in negotiations with the Pacers, Spurs, and a few other unnamed teams that are reportedly interested in acquiring the all-time triple-double king. The Lakers are reportedly persistent in not attaching their next two trade-eligible first-round picks, from the 2027 and 2029 NBA Draft, in a Westbrook deal.

At this point, it’s more likely that the Lakers will keep Westbrook and his expiring $47.1 million contract this season and explore their options once the trade deadline approaches in February.

“I just don’t think the Lakers believe right now there’s a Westbrook trade that they have, even with their picks, that elevates them,” Windhorst said. “The feel around the league is right now, and that can change in a week; the feel around the league from executives I talk to right now is that they’re going to try to make the best of what they have and hope for situations to change in their favor.”

The Lakers missed the playoffs r after finishing the injury-riddled 2021-22 season at 33-49. During the offseason, the Lakers relieved Frank Vogel of head coaching duties and hired Darvin Ham.

The Lakers hope that Ham can help the team improve defensively, build the offense around Anthony Davis, and find a way to help Westbrook thrive after he averaged 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 7.1 assists per game on 44.4 percent shooting from the field. Ham has told reporters that he believes Westbrook has a “ton left in the tank” and has a “wholehearted plan” to utilize Westbrook to his full potential.

Ham also believes that recently acquired Patrick Beverley and Westbrook can start games together if they both play defense. Beverley believes he can mesh “perfectly” next to Westbrook when the 2017 MVP plays out of the post and in transition.

The Lakers open the season against Golden State on the same night the Warriors will receive their 2022 NBA championship rings.

The post REPORT: Lakers Haven’t Found Russell Westbrook Trade That ‘Elevates’ Team appeared first on SLAM.

Despite his personal and team success in South Beach, Hardaway decided not to ask former Coach Pat Riley or Alonzo Mourning to be his presenters at this Saturday’s Hall of Fame ceremony. That honor will instead go to the figures that fostered his love for the game from before his time in Miami teaming up with Mourning and Riley.

Tim Hardaway explains bypassing Pat Riley, Alonzo Mourning as Hall of Fame presenters. https://t.co/mBJsfMaNHQ No, not a Miami Heat snub, but rather a tribute to those who were there for him at the beginning.

— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) September 8, 2022

Hardaway’s presenters will be Isiah Thomas (Class of 2000), his Run-TMC teammates Mitch Richmond (’14) and Chris Mullins(’11), longtime friend Yolanda Griffith (’21), and former college coach Nate Archibald (’91).

“There’s one thing I do know I want to tell you; it takes a village to raise a kid; Chicago South Side raised a kid. This is Chicago South Side. This is for them,” Hardaway said of his decision, per Ira Winderman.

“Isiah Thomas, I grew up watching him play, my basketball idol, no question, from the city of Chicago,” Hardaway explained. “Nate Archibald, my college assistant coach, came back to his alma mater and coached me [at Texas-El Paso] and helped me understand. Yolanda Griffith, we went to high school together. We graduated in the same class. And I wanted to acknowledge her as being the first before me and wanted people to understand that. She was a Hall of Famer before me, and she needs to be recognized.”

The choice to bypass Riley, Mourning, and former Coach Don Nelson was difficult. Hardaway knows it and even admitted that he “can’t even mention a lot of people that I want to mention.” As a result, Hardaway’s speech will likely not “mention a lot of people” that he wants to mention.

Instead, the UTEP two-step creator will make a point to mention critical figures during his time in Miami during his HOF media session that’ll be aired on NBA TV.

“I’m sorry, everybody can’t be there,” he said of those standing alongside on stage. “And I’ll tell you this, in my speech, I can’t even mention a lot of people that I want to mention because it’s a lot of us going up this year. So I can’t mention a lot of people I want to mention.”

Hardaway’s Hall of Fame induction class includes four-time NBA champion Manu Ginobli, two-time college Coach of the Year Bob Huggins, sixth-winningest NBA coach George Karl, and veteran NBA ref Hugh Evans. Five-time All-Star Lindsay Whalen, four-time All-Star Swin Cash, and NCAA national champion and former WNBA Coach of the Year Marianna Stanley will be inducted on the woman’s side.

Mourning will attend the HOF ceremony, as well as Coach Erik Spoelstra, GM Any Ellisburg, assistant GM Adam Simon, scouting director and former teammate Keith Askins, and multiple other Heat front office members. Rily will not be able to attend due to a scheduling conflict but heaped heavy praise on Hardaway when he was interviewed for the HOF’s event program that’ll be passed around at the ceremony.

“I had just come from New York, and we had a team that was noted for defense and things of that nature, you know, rough and tumble. I needed to get a point guard, and Tim was available,” Riley said of acquiring Hardaway for the Heat from the Warriors in 1996.

“He was not the explosive, up-and-down-the-court kind of a player. He could keep a team really organized. He was tough as nails, and we were fortunate to have him.”

Hardway’s Hall of Fame induction will begin this Saturday evening.

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