Brickley initially named the runs “BlackOps” because he wanted the workouts and open runs to be discreet. Here, he gives us his breakdown of another year of BlackOps Basketball and his award picks.

The 2024 SLAM x BlackOps Awards

Breakout Season: Paolo Banchero

Photo by @kees2life

This was the fourth summer I worked with Paolo. His energy was laser-focused! We would go 60-75 minutes, and he did every drill at game speed. Coming off his first All-Star season and playoff run, he wanted more. I believe we will see Paolo in many more All-Star Games and many more playoff runs. The Magic will be very good this year.

Best Summer Shooter Award: Klay Thompson

Klay came in this offseason looking like a completely different player. He seemed a step quicker, and he shot incredibly well all summer. He literally broke every shooting record this summer. But, in CJ McCollum’s defense, Klay locked in with me in August/September, while CJ held many records and worked with me in May/June.

Best Middle Schooler I Have Ever Worked With: JJ Crawford

During the workout, JJ’s father (Jamal Crawford), Jordan Clarkson and Boardroom’s Nick DePaula were watching. Ju was hitting NBA three-pointers at a high percentage, picking up the ballhandling drills I was giving him and getting buckets on my interns! The internet always gives the interns a hard time, but they can really defend. After the workout, Jamal and I talked hoops for about an hour, and it was one of my favorite conversations of the summer. Jamal is a true student of the game. I’m calling it now: JJ Crawford will be a top-five pick one day!

Draft Day Award: Matas Buzelis and Tyler Kolek

I believe both of these guys will have long NBA careers. Matas will be a name we see on ESPN’s Top 10 plays many times this season. Tyler Kolek is my sleeper from this past draft. The Knicks got a great playmaker and scorer at No. 34. I think he’ll bring great energy with the second unit.

NCAA Award: lan Jackson

The best thing that happened to Ian Jackson was that to start his senior season, he dropped in the rankings. His entire workout approach changed at that moment, and Ian became a man on the basketball court. He worked out with me five days a week—sometimes twice a day—and went hard! I put him in situations where he played 1-on-1 with NBA players, and he more than held his own—he was wowing everyone in the gym. I can’t wait to see what he does at UNC this season.

High School Award: Kiyan Anthony & Chris Cenac Jr.

I’ve seen Kiyan Anthony develop from a little kid running around MSG to getting buckets in the NBA BlackOps runs. He is constantly texting me, showing his urgency to get in more workouts and keep improving. Chris Cenac played in the Brickley Invitational and shocked me during the workout portion. At 6-10, he can shoot the three, finish around the rim, play in the mid-post and try to dunk on you by the rim. It’s no surprise he’s skyrocketing up the rankings!

Chris Brickley Invitational Award: Tyran Stokes and Jasper Johnson

Tyran Stokes is ranked No. 1 in the Class of 2026 for a reason—he’s a matchup nightmare. He can shoot and find his teammates, and his motor is always on 100. Jasper Johnson went crazy in the game, hitting tough shot after tough shot. He really reminds me of D’Angelo Russell. Kentucky is producing high-level prospects right now.

Mentor Award: Russell Westbrook

People can say what they want about Russ, but the reality is he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer and one of the Top 75 NBA players of all time. This was the second offseason in a row where he took the time to mentor a younger player. Last summer, it was Azzi Fudd from UConn, and this summer it was New Jersey legend Isaiah Briscoe. Russ invited Briscoe to a few of his 6 a.m. workouts and shared some gems. Russ and I have developed a genuine relationship over the years, and I’m thankful to have him as a friend.

GOAT Award: LeBron James

I was blessed to help prepare LeBron for his Gold medal run. His work definitely paid off, as he ended up getting MVP of the Olympics at 39 years old! Aside from his great workouts, toward the end of the summer, I was offered a lot of NBA coaching positions, and I needed someone to talk to who knows the game and the business. I reached out to LeBron with no expectations—if he didn’t respond, I wouldn’t have been upset at all, knowing he has a million things going on. But he sent me some great advice, and it was exactly what I needed to hear. So, thanks to the GOAT for taking the time to do that.

Best Group Workout of the Summer: Kevin Durant and CJ McCollum

There was something special about the energy at The Summit, with music blaring through the Bose speakers. Normally, players gradually work up to game-speed actions, but this workout was different. KD caught the ball in the corner, ripped through hard with two dribbles and hit a beautiful pull-up–just like he was in a playoff game. Then I passed the ball to CJ, and he did the same thing. For the next 65 minutes, both players gave it their all. That was awesome.

Best Rapper Basketball Player: Russ

Russ decided to take basketball seriously and came to me after training with his Atlanta trainer. He became a knockdown shooter. The transformation in his game was insane. He had dribble moves, was hitting NBA threes with consistency and just played with confidence. I think Russ became the best rapper-shooter l’ve ever worked with.

Best BlackOps Matchup: Jalen Brunson vs. Immanuel Quickley

Immanuel Quickley, fresh off signing his $175 million deal with the Raptors, was playing with supreme confidence against All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson. There was definitely a sense of major competition. Quickley backed up Brunson for the Knicks before being traded to the Raptors, so it felt like Quick was playing with a chip on his shoulder. Watching these two go at it for almost two hours was super entertaining. It was like watching a great boxing match. They were giving it their all and not letting up. Man, that was a great run!

Photos by @nextsubject.

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It was everything we could have dreamed of. One by one, the 2024 NBA All-Stars from the East and West made their way from the tunnel to the court. It was February 18, 2024. Everybody was suited in their best. The King debuted a hybrid Nike LeBron 21 fused with Deion Sanders’ monochrome Nike Air DT Max. Stephen Curry was rocking his titular Curry 4 Low FloTro. The digs were clean. And then a metallic finish gleamed under the lights of Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Draped in the game’s half-red, half-blue striped warm-ups, Kevin Durant sent everyone—including us—into a fever pitch. The litany of social media posts that followed echoed the culture-shaking moments from the heyday of NikeTalk. Bright orange Swooshes stamped at the strap and the medial heel. A faint baby blue speckling littering the jet-black midsole that reflected the depths of deep space. A translucent, glow-in-the-dark outsole sitting just below. And under the hood, a picturesque galaxy of stars, big bangs and wormholes extending across the insoles.

For the first time since 2012, Kevin Durant was wearing the KD 4. And this wasn’t like him kicking it in a pair of Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 OG Lows from his beloved rotation. The two-time NBA champ was dropping buckets in the Zoom-cushioned silhouette just like he did 12 years prior.

For the entirety of the first half, we got to watch KD play in what’s continuously heralded as the best sneaker in his lengthy signature discography. We literally witnessed history repeat itself in real time. Top of the key threes, alley-oop reverse lays and no-look assists on the perimeter. Different jersey, different city and a few more grays in the beard, but the kicks stayed the exact same.

We’re serious, the exact same. Kevin Durant’s retro run is precisely that: a retro. This isn’t the same ethos that surrounds Kobe Bryant’s Protro pairs that have been retooled for the modern game. The 4s have the same smooth TPU strap, full-length Zoom Air bag and monomesh midfoot windows that Leo Chang masterfully cobbled together out in Beaverton.

On a hallowed night in Orlando over a decade ago, the world watched a 23-year-old Durant stamp his unyielding love for the game in his third-ever All-Star appearance. Thirty-six points, 7 boards, 3 dots and 3 steals = MVP. Fast forward 12 years, and the sneaker wasn’t just laced on KD’s feet as he poured in a surgically efficient 18 points; it also lay in a shielded display case at CORPORATE on McCrea St.

Everyone knows about the different hallmark moments in the NBA season. But for the sneaker brands, All-Star Weekend is the epicenter of the year. Budgets are allocated, plans are set in place and venues are booked months and months in advance. In-person activations are the name of the game, marrying newly released products with experiential moments. Customizable gear is like its own currency. Then there are the true sneakerheads, who are are searching through pop-up stores and local boutiques for the holy grail of the weekend.

This past February out in Indianapolis, everyone was hunting for the pair Durant would famously wear a few days later.

The tonal beige and brown “Year of the Dragon 2.0” colorway may have officially kicked off the silhouette’s revival in early February, but the “Galaxy” was the first original colorway from that iconic 2011-12 run that the Swoosh brought back to market. A shock drop on February 15 set the stage for the return of the community’s favorite ensembles.

Just as we spoke it into existence last year in KICKS 26, Nike wasn’t hanging it up like they
did with the 2018 release of the KD 4 “Thunderstruck” after Durant and the Warriors claimed the title. The Swoosh combed through the catalog and hand-selected the best of the best. Nothing but haymakers for months.

In late May, we were blessed with the topographical “Weatherman” joints as images of cargo pants and color-coordinated tees screamed of a bygone era. By the time you have this magazine in your hands, what some consider the most acclaimed colorway of Durant’s 17 signature sneakers will have returned, with the aesthetic of rubber-tipped bullets and plastic magazines. The KD 4 “Nerf” is upon us. And while it won’t be packaged in the same square box that held a cardboard mini hoop and foam basketball, those same pops of deep blue, gray, orange and volt will be transporting everyone back to memories of denting the closet door with All-Star-caliber dunk contests in their childhood bedrooms.

The releases have been timely yet staggered, allowing more than enough breathing room between each drop to reignite the deep-rooted passion that exists for that midfoot strap. Nike knows they’ve got us in a vice grip. It’s why they’re reportedly set to close out the 4s retro run with a duo of bangers, the copper and black “Christmas” colorway and the heart-tugging “Aunt Pearl” rendition—the first of a now 13-silhouette-strong series dedicated to KD’s late aunt.

The past seven months have been a bunch of nostalgia-induced trips down memory lane. We’ve been living in the parallel reality that we dreamed about just a few years ago. It’s back on the streets, on the courts and in closets all around the world. Lucky for us, the story of the 4 continues.

Photos via Getty Images and Nike.

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There’s an elite group of current NBA players who are Nike athletes with signature sneaker lines: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Devin Booker and Ja Morant. An argument can be made that none of those future Hall of Famers has the best Nike sig on the market at this exact moment. There’s a strong case that Sabrina Ionescu, the New York Liberty sharpshooter, currently holds the heavyweight belt.

Ionescu took the hoops world by storm in college and put together one of the best amateur careers ever. She was the first player in NCAA history with 2,000+ career points, 1,000+ career rebounds and 1,000+ career assists; she shattered the NCAA triple-double record; she broke the Pac-12 (RIP) all-time assist record…and those are merely a handful of her many accomplishments while starring for Phil Knight’s pride and joy, the University of Oregon.

Sabrina’s been killing shit for so long, and it’s scary to think she’s just now entering her prime. She’s proved that she belongs in any conversation in which the greats, men or women, are being discussed. She further solidified that when, after setting the all-time WNBA All-Star Weekend Three-Point Contest record in 2023, she went toe-to-toe with Stephen Curry at this year’s NBA All-Star Weekend.

Ionescu fell just 3 points shy of Curry in what was the first-ever NBA vs WNBA Three-Point Contest, but even a blind man could see that Ionescu was right where she belonged—under the brightest lights, front and center on a basketball court, representing both a group of women who’ve arrived and a group of young girls who are on the way.

“Just to be able to have this be the first of this kind of event and come out here and put on a show but understanding what this means,” said Ionescu. “I’m excited to change the narrative and be able to do it alongside the greatest to ever do it.”

It wasn’t just Ionescu’s sweet stroke that captivated the eyes of viewers; her kicks did, too. She was sporting her Nike Sabrina 1s in a clean colorway of Liberty hues.

On a few occasions, Ionescu spoke to the idea of the Sabrina 1s embodying a story about defying those who doubted her ability to play basketball, let alone with boys, when she was growing up.

Well, defy she did. With the Sabrina 1s, Nike and Ionescu laid the foundation of a gold mine for her signature line, as they quickly became one of the more popular on-court picks among the basketball community.

“Not a women’s basketball shoe or a men’s basketball shoe, but just basketball,” Ionescu said to ESPN this year, when describing the Sabrina 1s. “Being able to tell that story and have people authentically buy in and respect that, I think the time is now in terms of wanting that to be pushed.”

Everywhere you look(ed)—high school, college, the WNBA, the NBA, your local basketball gym—you are/were sure to see a fair share of feet in various colorways of the Sabrina 1. The model was the fifth-most played in sneaker in the 2023-24 NBA season, with players clocking a total of 17,209 minutes played in the silhouette.

And if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Ionescu and Nike are running it back and running it up.

Sabrina and the Swoosh launched Ionescu’s second sneaker, the Nike Sabrina 2, along with an apparel collection this past June. Instead of a complete design overhaul, they built upon the first silhouette, maintaining a similar shape, cut and cushion.

“At the center of the collection is the Sabrina 2 signature sneaker, built for players who want to accelerate and cut with quickness,” the brand said. “Nike design teams partnered closely with Sabrina to combine the best of the Sabrina 1 with fresh upgrades that create a sneaker that’s 28 grams lighter and doesn’t sacrifice support, stability or comfort.”

Some of these “fresh upgrades” include a Cushlon 3.0 foam midsole (the first ever in a Nike Basketball sneaker), a Nike Zoom Air Unit in the forefoot, an updated band system around the midfoot and a new “S”-inspired pattern that provides multidirectional traction for quick cuts. Additionally, select colorways will showcase mirror-finished Swooshes, which Nike explains are “an affirmation from Sabrina to the next generation to see themselves in the shoe.”

At first glance of the Sabrina 2, and even the Sabrina 1, it’s obvious where Ionescu’s inspiration comes from. Two sneakers in, and her signature line has drawn early comparisons to Kobe Bryant’s.

Throughout her storied college career and early years with the Liberty, Kobes were Ionescu’s go-to sneaker. The fact that Ionescu’s line is mentioned in the same breath as Bean’s says a lot about the WNBA All-Star’s cultural appeal, but more importantly, her ability and commitment to leading the push to elevate the women’s game to national, and ultimately global, mainstream relevance. It’s a vision she and Kobe shared.

Ionescu first met Kobe in 2019 when he and his daughter Gigi pulled up to watch her Ducks dismantle the USC Trojans. Ionescu developed a close relationship with the Bryant family shortly thereafter. Kobe kept tabs on her throughout the season, often sending words of encouragement as she continued to etch her name in the history books. That summer, Ionescu trained with Gigi and even helped Kobe coach his girls’ team, of which Gigi was a member.

“If I represented the present of the women’s game, Gigi was the future, and Kobe knew it,” Ionescu said during her tribute at Kobe and Gigi’s Celebration of Life service in 2020.

It’s over four years later, and Ionescu still “represents the present.” And at only 26 years old, she represents the future, too. Think Kobe rocking No. 8 for the purple and gold.

“I grew up watching Kobe Bryant game after game, ring after ring, living his greatness without apology,” she recalled. “I wanted to be just like him, to love every part of the competition, to be the first to show up and the last to leave, to love the grind, to be your best when you don’t feel your best and make other people around you the best version of themselves. And to wake up and do it again the next day. So that’s what I did: Wake up, grind and get better. Wake up, grind and get better.”

If you see Ionescu walking through the tunnel before a game, scroll through her Instagram feed or observe her demeanor during interviews, you’ll see a charming personality that everyone likes being around. But underneath that is a fierce competitor who approaches her craft with utmost seriousness and focus, with a long list of results to show for it.

As we go to press during the Olympic break, the New York Liberty are hitting on all cylinders and have the best record in the W by a comfortable margin. Ionescu is averaging 19.8 points, 6.1 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1 steal playing a career-high 33.7 minutes per game.

Ionescu’s impact on the court is undeniable, and her influence off the court is just as powerful. On the heels of the Sabrina 1 and with the latest release of the Sabrina 2, she continues to push the boundaries and create waves for those coming after her, like fellow Nike signature athletes A’ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark—each reported to have their first signature sneaker coming soon.

Ionescu is programmed for greatness—all she has to do is continue being confident and unapologetic about who she is and what she brings to the table, just like Kobe.

Ionescu is a blessing to the game of basketball, and her presence will transcend well beyond her playing days, just like Kobe.

Once, while in college, she said Kobe texted her. “Be you, it’s been good enough, and that will continue to be good enough.” He wasn’t lying.

“I wanted to be a part of the generation that changed basketball for Gigi and her teammates,” said Ionescu in her tribute, “where being born female didn’t mean being born behind, where greatness wasn’t divided by gender.”

From her consistently dominant play to the huge success of the Sabrina 1 and now the 2, there doesn’t seem to be a height that Ionescu can’t reach. For the younger generation who wasn’t lucky enough to watch Kobe in real time, just watch how Ionescu, one of his closest mentees, dissects her opponents with a relentless will to excel.

And in her new Sabrina 2s, she’s gonna look magnificent doing it.

Photos via Getty Images and Nike.

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Cam Thomas has always gotten his buckets in bunches…a lot of buckets in bunches.

He led the entire Hampton Roads area in scoring as a freshman at Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake, VA. He left Oak Hill Academy as the program’s all-time leading scorer despite having only played there for his junior and senior seasons. He then led all NCAA DI freshmen in scoring during his sole season at LSU. It didn’t matter who Cam played with or against. His responsibility was always the same: score, score and score some more.

That all changed when he fell into the Brooklyn Nets’ lap at pick No. 27 in the 2021 NBA Draft. Not only would he be joining an organization with championship-or-bust expectations, but he was also joining a roster that wasn’t hurting for scoring. Do the names Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden ring a bell?

On one hand, Cam had first-class access to work with and learn from three of the best offensive players in hoops history. On the other, he had to wait his turn and deal with inconsistent playing time, something he’d never experienced at that point in his young career. Even then, Cam never lost even the smallest bit of confidence. It was tested, but that confidence is what got him here. And there’s a tad bit of “crazy” mixed in there, too. All the greats have it. But we know how the phrase goes: It’s only crazy until you do it.

In the sparing minutes he was given, Cam showed flashes of his scoring brilliance. Yet, on any given night, he could play anywhere from four minutes to 17 minutes or even have a DNP. It was like this for most of his first two years in the League.

And then, in February 2023…he erupted. Amidst the Nets moving on from their big three of KD, Kyrie and Harden and trying to figure out what direction they’d move in, Cam got a few more windows of opportunity. And he took full advantage. With Harden long gone, Kyrie just traded to Dallas and KD in trade rumors, Cam was unleashed. It all came together as he made history, becoming the youngest player to score 40-plus points in three straight games. And these 40-pieces were efficient, the works of a true professional scorer.

This past ’23-24 season, it started to slowly but surely all come together. Cam started in 51 of the 66 games he played in, averaging 22.5 points in about 31 minutes per game, a 12-point increase and 15-minute increase from the season prior.

And now we’re here. The Nets just completed a massive trade, and there are many questions about which direction the team is headed. There’s also an entirely new coaching staff, including Jordi Fernandez at the helm. But even with all the questions, there’s one thing that is for certain. The Nets have a more than capable number one scoring option in Cam Thomas.

It’s a warm Friday afternoon in July at SLAM HQ in New York, and the 6-3, 22-year-old combo guard who sits across from us is on the brink of what will be, one way or another, a defining season in his career. He sat down to discuss his offseason, proving doubters wrong, his love for Kobe Bryant and more.

SLAM: How’s the offseason been going?

Cam Thomas: It’s been good. Just laying low, resetting, getting ready for next season. It’s been real good.

SLAM: Have you developed some sort of routine, or do you approach each offseason differently?

CT: I usually try to go with a clean slate because you never know. Stuff changes from year to year, like coaches, schemes, etc. This summer was probably the longest I took off—about two or three weeks. Then I got right back to it.

SLAM: You’re mostly known for your ability to score at the highest level, and you’ve improved as a scorer each year since entering the League. Are there any specific things you’re focused on improving for next season?

CT: Nah, not really. I just want to keep working on everything. Last summer, I tried to put more emphasis on catch-and-shoot shooting, and I think I was way up in the League percentage-wise on catch-and-shoot [this past season]. So, just continue to work on that and fine-tuning the skills I had coming into the League, like my off-the-dribble stuff and finishing around the basket, [while] still improving on catch-and-shoot, trying to have the best percentage in the League.

SLAM: The Nets were part of one of the biggest moves this offseason when Mikal Bridges went across the bridge to the Knicks. This positions you for the biggest role of your career thus far. How have you begun to approach and prepare for this increased role, not only physically but mentally?

CT: Just knowing that and embracing it. Attacking it head-on. I’ve kind of been having those roles [as the leader of the team] ever since I was in high school and college. So, I’m not really worried about it. I’m just excited to get it going and to try to do it in the League. I’m not really worried about it at all; I’m just ready.

SLAM: You’re on a short list of the most talented young guards in the NBA. What do you think you need to do to get to that next level?

CT: Just doing everything—doing it consistently. I had the biggest jump in points from my second year to my third year. I was at 22.5 [points per game], so I think trying to get into that 25 ppg range, upping the playmaking and just trying to keep improving my all-around game. And hopefully, it leads to wins.

SLAM: Are you inspired by the doubters, or would you say you’re completely self-motivated?

CT: It’s a little bit of both…I don’t really worry about the doubters because I’ve always had them. Nobody really believed in my talent and scoring ability—even at Oak Hill, and even in college, and even in the League. So, I’m used to it. Now, it’s really just self-motivation. Even down to sliding in the draft all the way down to pick 27. I still carry that chip on my shoulder. And even with the Nets, not playing consistently my first two years. I have that in my back pocket so I can keep growing and keep improving…to show why you should have played me in my first two years.

I’m not focused on trying to prove myself anymore. Everybody knows I’m one of the top young scorers—top young guards—in the League now. So, it’s really just trying to maximize my ability, see where I can take it and become the best player I can be, this year, and for years to come.

SLAM: There’s clearly a lofty confidence you must have to be an elite scorer in the League, let alone as an undersized guard. What do you think is the main source of that mentality?

CT: I’d probably say growing up in [the Hampton Roads area]. It’s physical there. Everybody’s fighting for the same goal, sports-wise. I feel that helped me in a way. And really…Kobe Bryant. Just reading his mentality and idolizing him, that’s a part of it, too. That’s really how I shaped my mentality: Kobe and my hometown. At the same time, that’s just in me.

SLAM: Do you have any specific individual or team goals for next season? Are you concerned with All-Star, All-NBA and those types of individual accolades?

CT: Individually, I just try to stay in the moment. Whatever happens, happens. If I get it, I get it. If I don’t, I don’t. I just want to keep improving. As far as the team, the goal is to be better every day and try to win as many games as we can. Honestly, we don’t know what our team could look like going into next season. But whatever it looks like, we just want to be the best team we can be and try to put a good product on the floor for Brooklyn.

SLAM: What should Nets fans and Cam Thomas fans expect next season?

CT: Excitement. Entertainment. [I’m] hoping everything leads to wins at the end of the day. We’ll see. It’s different in the League. But I’m prepared, not worried at all. I’ve done it in the League, but I want to take it to another level, for sure.

Portraits by Marcus Stevens. Action photos via Getty Images.

The post Moment of Clarity: Brooklyn Nets Guard Cam Thomas Discusses His Offseason, Staying True to Himself and Proving the Doubters Wrong appeared first on SLAM.

A little over 24 hours before being drafted 17th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2024 NBA Draft, Dalton Knecht was in our office getting up shots on the mini hoop.

While the SEC’s scoring average leader from last season made his way around to the 10 designated shooting spots we’ve laid out across the floor, we realized that the final sticker got swept up in the hustle of the day. So instead, we gave him the option to shoot from anywhere on the floor. He could go back to the faux free-throw line, try another from the couch or hit a simple layup. Instead, with a pure shooter’s mentality, Knecht took several steps back into the hallway, putting at least 25 feet of distance between himself and the hoop that’s bolted to the opposing cement wall and netted the shot.

“I felt that confidence arise from the moment I touched a basketball,” Knecht says. “My parents have always made me super confident, always told me [to] trust your hard work. I always felt like that. So no matter what, when I step on that court, I’m gonna be the most confident player on that court.

Knecht is a gym rat, whether that’s on a regulation-sized hoop or not. He’s drawn to the hardwood and its sights and sounds; the screeching of herringbone traction patterned outsoles, the smell of repolished floors and the sound of the leather ball falling through aged nets. It’s an obsession that he’s fostered meticulously over the past five years while on a journey exclusive to him and him alone. 

“I’d say it’s just kind of like home. When you’re in the gym, playing your own music, whatever you want, and you just go out hooping, either with some friends or just by yourself, you just go there to fall out of reality, just being on your own, flow on your own stuff,” Knecht says.

Hailing from Thornton, CO, the 6-6 23-year-old, in a purely figurative sense, lit the Thompson-Boling Arena ablaze every single night as a fifth-year transfer at Tennessee. From JUCO to the Big Sky to playing under head coach Rick Barnes, Knecht stormed into the SEC with a chip carved into his shoulder this past season, averaging a team-high 21.7 points and 4.9 boards a game while shooting a ridiculous 39.7 percent from deep. He dropped a 40 burger on Kentucky in early March, became the first player in the SEC since Shaquille O’Neal to score back-to-back 35-pieces and took home SEC Player of the Year in unanimous fashion.

Knecht’s story is the annual reminder that there are guys all throughout mid-major programs who belong on the biggest stage in college basketball. All they need is a sliver of opportunity. And Knecht snatched his in an instant.

Without an influx of offers after graduating from Prairie View High School in 2019, Knecht elected to go the junior college route. Surrounded by acres of prairie fields in the high plains of Sterling, CO, he poured his days into the gym. After two seasons and a first-team NJCAA All-American selection to his name, he set his sights on the Power Five conferences. And then the pandemic happened. So he adjusted, transferring from Northeastern Junior College to Northern Colorado in the Big Sky Conference. 

As a junior, Knecht acclimated himself to DI competition amidst a nagging injury and a stacked roster filled with upperclassmen. Enter his senior year, where his 8.9 points per game from the season prior erupted into 20.2 alongside the Big Sky scoring title, only confirming what he’d believed for years: betting on himself was worth it. So he decided to do it again.

On March 23, 2023, with a year of eligibility remaining, Knecht entered the NCAA transfer portal. Colorado, Oregon, Indiana and Tennessee all came knocking. But there was a glaring difference between the Volunteers and the rest of the pack: head coach Rick Barnes had coached Knecht’s favorite player of all time, Kevin Durant.

Knecht will be the first to admit he’s painstakingly combed through all of KD’s highlights on YouTube. He may not have the same funky warm-up routine as the two-time NBA champ, yet Knecht has drawn an affinity between their games.

“I tried to apply as much as I can to my game, and it kind of just carried on to watching—at Tennessee with Coach Barnes—a lot of Kevin Durant’s highlights, as well as Devin Booker’s,” Knecht says. “So, I just try to take as many players as I can and put it in my game.”

Throughout the year, Barnes and his starting guard sat in the film room and dissected Durant’s highs and lows from his lone season in Austin. They studied his cadence with the rock, his mastery of time and possession and his fluidity in iso scenarios. But mainly, they’d watch Durant’s monumental game against Texas Tech that featured 37 points and 23 rebounds.

It didn’t even take a full game before Knecht started amassing his own mix of highlights that Barnes will surely show to his pupils in the future. “I’d say that dunk was Coach’s favorite memory.”

“That dunk” was actually a full-on poster. With 15 minutes left in the second half of a “friendly” exhibition against Michigan State in late October, Knecht found himself pushing the pace up the backcourt. In a moment’s notice, he turned on the jets, lost his defender with a clean wrap-around the back at the three-point line, took two steps, rose up with the ball cradled in his right arm and threw down a silencing dunk on another Spartan defender. Straight filthy. The epitome of a body.

“The first thought was…I don’t even know. To be honest, I can’t even remember. But I just know before the game, one of my coaches, Rod Clark, he told me to go punch it on somebody if you get the chance. And I had the chance in the first half and I didn’t,” he says. “Then the second time, you kind of saw what happened, and to see my teammates’ reactions, like Josiah [-Jordan James] running up to me, was priceless. It was fun, just putting on a show and showing what I could do to the world.”

The poster heard from East Lansing to the Rocky Top set the standard of what was to come from No. 3 in Knoxville. Knecht has a knack for leading conferences in scoring. Go ask the NJCAA, Big Sky and SEC. Lights out shooting was a constant, curls in the midrange were automatic, putback dunks came and went and dusting defenders at the three-point line while finishing contested lays became routine.

“He also taught me on the offensive side about showing where gaps are and reading my secondary guy, ’cause Coach [Barnes] always told me you can get by your guy at any time, you just gotta worry about the secondary people,” Knecht says.

With around 20 hours between him and his hometown, Knecht scored tons of buckets night after night, helping to lead the Volunteers to the Elite Eight, where they fell to Zach Edey and the Purdue Boilermakers, despite Knecht dominating with 37 points and cashing in 6 threes.

After long years spent honing his craft and waiting for the opportunity to place his bet, Knecht saw decades of self-belief and confidence validated by the highest entity in hoops on June 26, when the Lakers snagged him with the No. 17 pick.

Some say he came out of nowhere last season, but the good people of Thornton, Sterling, Greeley and Knoxville have been tapped in for years. Meanwhile, Rob Pelinka told reporters that new Lakers coach JJ Redick has already started drawing up pindown and ATO actions for his rookie sharpshooter.

“My journey’s not like everybody else’s, and that’s OK,” Knecht told reporters in his first press conference as a Laker. “Just creating my path is something special, and a lot of kids will look up to it. It’s really cool to write my own story.”

Portraits by Eli Selva. Photos via Getty Images.

The post Knecht Four: Lakers Rookie Dalton Knecht Talks About His Rise From Junior College, to Tennessee to the League appeared first on SLAM.

When the 1992 Olympic Dream Team used a ridiculous, 46-1 first-half run to turn its opening game against Angola into an emphatic statement of what was ahead for the rest of the world in Barcelona, it did more than just validate forward Charles Barkley’s prediction that Angola was “in trouble.”

It began a brand-new era for USA Basketball. After decades of sending the nation’s top collegians up against the world’s best, it was time to show everybody just how Dr. Naismith’s invention was meant to be played. From that point on, NBA stars populated teams that played in—and most of the time won—the biggest competitions.

But U.S. basketball domination didn’t start in ’92, and USA Basketball’s tradition isn’t just about the Dream Team. The country’s hoops governing body has created a legacy of success that has featured some of the game’s greatest players and most exciting results. The U.S. first stepped onto the international stage in 1936, when the sport was initially contested at the Olympics, and since that time it has been the world leader in the sport. As the nation’s governing body, USA Basketball has been the north star for the sport and has played a role in bringing basketball to America and the world. It has also provided an opportunity for U.S. fans to experience the game’s best playing together, as part of a vibrant red, white and blue tradition. 

In 1974, the Amateur Basketball Federation of the United States of America (ABAUSA) was formed to bring all of the nation’s various organizations under the same governing body. Fifteen years later, the ABAUSA changed its name to USA Basketball, but its mission remained clear: provide the best possible support and leadership for U.S. teams to compete and win on the world’s biggest basketball stages, while also growing the game throughout the country. To say that it has been successful in that mission is a gigantic understatement. 

Under USA Basketball’s leadership, the nation’s top players and coaches continue to dominate. The Men’s National Team has won nine of the last 11 Olympic Gold medals (the U.S. did not participate in the 1980 Moscow Games) and the last four. It has also captured four world championships over the last three-plus decades—in 1986, 1994, 2010 and 2014—and another in 1954. There have been numerous titles in competitions like the Pan Am Games and other tournaments worldwide. As the Paris Olympic Games approach, the U.S. is heavily favored to defend its Gold-medal status, thanks to a team of 12 NBA All-Stars that includes four MVPs and six NBA champions. It’s another example of the strong relationship between USA Basketball and the country’s greatest players, whose desire to represent their country is deep, and whose talent is overwhelming. Former NBA All-Star and 1996 Gold medalist Grant Hill, now USA Basketball’s Men’s Team Managing Director, selected the team and filled it with versatile standouts. 

“The United States is home to some of the best basketball players in the world, and I appreciate the vast interest in being part of this roster,” Hill said. “These decisions weren’t easy, but it was a pleasure to go through the process and reach this outcome.”

EARLY DOMINANCE

More than 40 years after Naismith invented his game, the International Basketball Federation (originally known as FIBB) was born in 1932, and plans were made for the sport to be part of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. A field of 22 squads played, but it was really only about one team: the United States, which finished the competition 4-0 (there were no medal rounds) to claim the Gold. 

Six straight Golds followed for the U.S., which was rarely challenged. The nation’s best collegians and recent graduates took on the world. Rival teams were often comprised of much older players, some of whom were paid—although no country would ever admit to it. It didn’t matter. From 1936-68, the U.S. went 55-0 in Olympic play, the type of dominance many expected from the country that invented the sport.

Among the standouts during that stretch were center Joe Fortenberry, who averaged 14.5 ppg in 1936, forward Clyde Lovellette (13.9 ppg) on the ’52 team, San Francisco big man Bill Russell (14.1 ppg) in 1956, 1960 standouts Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas, both of whom averaged 17.0 ppg, and Spencer Haywood, whose 16.1 ppg led the 1968 squad to Gold.

Haywood was the first college freshman ever invited to try out for the Olympic team, and the 19-year-old from tiny Trinidad State JC in Colorado proved he belonged. Not only did he score plenty—he had 21 in the Gold medal win over Yugoslavia—he also set an Olympic record for field-goal percentage (71.9) that still stands.

But Haywood, like so many of the great players who have represented the U.S. internationally, was part of a team. He could have scored even more, but he blended with other standouts to help continue a tradition that has defined USA Basketball: representing the United States.

For decades, the U.S. was the world’s supreme basketball powerhouse, but trouble was looming. The Soviet Union had invested heavily in its sports programs, with the goal of promoting Communism around the world. When Haywood stood on the podium and watched a giant American flag unfurl in the Mexico City arena, he could not have known the turbulence that lay ahead.

BIG CHANGES

The next 20-plus years were a time of great transformation for the nation’s top basketball organization. It all began in 1972, when the United States team suffered a crushing, 51-50 loss to the USSR in the Gold medal game in Munich. The contest featured enough confusion and controversy to fill an entire Olympiad. A U.S. protest was denied, and the American players refused to accept their Silver medals. It was the first Olympic loss in U.S. history, and it remains a dark chapter.

Two years later, the ABAUSA was created as a response to a decision by the international body (by then renamed FIBA) to revoke its recognition of the AAU, which had governed the sport in this country. The new organization brought together representatives from every amateur basketball confederation in the country and began its 50-year run of leading the nation’s basketball fortunes.

One of its first successes came in 1976 at the Montreal Olympiad, when the U.S. gained a measure of revenge for the ’72 debacle. The Americans rolled to a 7-0 record and the Gold medal. Although the final win came against Yugoslavia, which had upset the USSR in the semifinals, and not the Soviets, it was still a great first act on the largest international stage for America’s new governing body. 

Since the U.S. didn’t participate in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and the USSR boycotted the ’84 Games in Los Angeles, the two basketball superpowers didn’t meet again until 1988, in South Korea. The matchup didn’t take place in the final round, rather in the semis, and the U.S. was unable to overcome a loaded Soviet team that included future NBA standouts Arvydas Sabonis and Sarunas Marciulionis and fell, 82-76. Although the Americans won the Bronze by routing Australia, it was clear changes needed to be made, since the U.S. was using college players against teams with much older—and professional—competitors. 

In April of 1989, FIBA made the historic decision to allow countries to use professional players on its international teams. Although the U.S. delegation voted against the change, the 56-13 decision was emphatic and created the opportunity for the U.S. to bring its best players to the world. Then-ABAUSA president Dave Gavitt declared the move necessary “in this new, worldwide era.” That October, the ABAUSA changed its name to USA Basketball.

FIBA had taken the big step. It was time for the United States to show basketball fans everywhere, from one side of the world to the other, what that meant.

STILL DREAMING

Barkley’s pre-Olympics prediction that Angola “was in trouble” could have applied to every opponent the Dream Team faced in 1992. The U.S. roster, comprised of 12 future Basketball Hall of Famers, blitzed to the Gold medal and won its eight games by a combined 43.8 ppg. Croatia’s 32-point defeat in the Gold medal game was the closest any rival came. Head coach Chuck Daly, who never called a timeout during the Olympics, put it well afterward.

“You will see a team of professionals in the Olympics again, but I don’t think you’ll see another team quite like this. This was a majestic team.”

Daly was right. There have been other teams filled with NBA stars that have brought Gold medals to the U.S. The ’96 version was nearly as dominant, winning its eight games by an average of 31.2 ppg. But the first squad, which included some of the best players to walk the planet (Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird) and one of arguably the top five collegians of all time (Christian Laettner), remains the ultimate standard.

Yes, there was that hiccup in 2004 when the U.S. managed only a Bronze. But in every other Olympic competition since the Dream Team’s triumphant march onto the world’s court, the United States has been golden. The 2008 “Redeem Team” re-established the U.S. as the world’s best and began a run that American fans hope will continue this year in Paris.

Although the 2021 U.S. team dropped its first game to France, snapping its 25-game Olympic winning streak, it rebounded to roll into the Gold medal rematch with its group-stage nemesis. Thanks to 29 points from Kevin Durant, who averaged 20.7 for the tournament, the U.S. avenged its earlier loss and brought home a fourth-straight Gold medal, 87-82, over France. 

The tough road demonstrated how USA Basketball had helped spread the game across the planet. When Jordan, Magic and Bird formed the Dream Team and overwhelmed all comers in ’92, the sport of basketball was still germinating worldwide. Over the next 30 years, it has blossomed remarkably, with many different countries boasting the kind of talent capable of challenging the U.S. The game is now loved worldwide and its growth is encouraging, due in large part to USA Basketball’s ability to nurture it at home and export it around the globe.

THE FUTURE

The U.S. Olympic team may be the most visible part of the USA Basketball profile, but the organization promotes and grows the game at every level. That means sponsoring youth camps and clinics, coaching academies, regional and national tournaments and international teams that participate in a variety of competitions. 

It’s not all about winning. USA Basketball is committed to player development, safety and good sportsmanship. The organization continues to make sure the game thrives at all levels, and while it is fun to root on the U.S. teams against the world, it is also important to make sure all who play the game do so in environments that feature everything necessary for success and enjoyment of the sport.

As the 2024 Men’s National Team prepares for Paris, they carry with them all the years of training and development USA Basketball has given them. The world will be watching. And that includes the young athletes of USA Basketball’s development and junior teams, who might one day be a part of history.

SLAM PRESENTS USA BASKETBALL IS AVAILABLE NOW

Photos via Getty Images.

The post Winning Time: Chronicling the History of USA Basketball’s Men’s National Team appeared first on SLAM.

Twelve circular neon orange portals appear out of thin air. The citrus hues fly off the spheres’ edges in sparkling fashion, rotating in a clockwise direction as the views of various cities from across the U.S. grow wider and wider. Bellowing horns in the background build to a crescendo. You’ve probably seen this scene before, in a movie theater in 2019. Except this isn’t a movie: These are the greatest hoopers in the United States of America.

While USA Basketball representatives flew around the country presenting each player on the 2024 Men’s National Team with their USA threads in April, users on X flooded the timeline with the only comparison that made any conceivable sense: a 20-second clip from Avengers: Endgame.

In the film’s climax, the full totality of the Avengers team appears, journeying across the universe to join Captain America for one final showdown against Thanos. One by one, the greatest heroes in the galaxy stand shoulder to shoulder. It’s the perfect parallel for this year’s squad: one last ride with the best basketball powers ever assembled.

The USA Basketball’s Men’s National Team has descended on Paris with the sheer force of the Infinity Gauntlet. When the official roster was announced in mid-April, the basketball community erupted in excitement, and rightfully so. We couldn’t stop talking about it either. This amount of talent, all on one team, makes them the modern day Avengers: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Derrick White, Joel Embiid, Jrue Holiday, Bam Adebayo, Tyrese Haliburton, Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards and Jayson Tatum.

On paper, the roster is stacked. For the first time in USA Basketball history, the Men’s National Team will feature four former NBA MVPs: Durant, James, Embiid and Curry. Then there are the team’s 11 combined Olympic appearances, 10 total Gold medals, three FIBA World Cup titles, seven returning Olympians and a combined 84 NBA All-Star selections…yeah, the U.S. ain’t playing fair.

When USA Basketball’s Men’s National Team Managing Director Grant Hill set out to achieve a seemingly simple yet complicated task—construct the best basketball team in the world—what he put together was a 12-man roster, which will be led by head coach Steve Kerr, that can hold their own against one of the toughest Olympic fields in recent memory.

The path to glory and the highest view from atop the podium won’t be easy. It never is. But then again *checks roster* we haven’t seen anything like this before.

It’s been 12 years since we last saw LeBron James bounding down the court with the letters “USA” stamped across his chest. Olympic memories of tomahawk dunks, out-of-nowhere alley-oops and utter dominance from baseline to baseline haven’t been a reality for more than a decade.

James elected to rest his body and opt out of the 2016 and 2020 Games. Now, at 39 years old and with a catalog of accolades longer than Santa Claus’ wish list, he’s back. And 2024 is a different story; it’s his one last shot at Gold.

This isn’t the same LeBron who tore through London while debuting the legendary Nike LeBron X all those years ago, but don’t get it twisted. The explosiveness is still there, the low-post game is omnipresent, the court vision is still staggering and anyone can get clamped at any time. Coming off his 21st season—where he shot a career-high 41 percent from three—LeBron’s refined touch and years’ worth of wisdom will be the soul of the pack. And right next to him will be Kevin Durant, netting jumper after jumper.

The Olympics are KD’s playground. Every four years, the best scorer on the planet toys with defenders and lights nets on fire with a FIBA-certified ball. Durant boasts the most experience of this team with three Gold medals on his résumé, a journey which first started when he was the team’s go-to bucket-getter after stamping his arrival in 2012 at the London Games. He’s got the USA Basketball record books on lock: all-time leader in points (453), scoring average (19.8 ppg), we could go on and on. If this summer goes as planned, Durant will walk away as the most decorated player in USA Basketball men’s history with a record four Olympic Golds.

Stephen Curry, however, is shooting for his first. “We obviously want to go get the Gold, and for this being my first experience, I’m super excited,” Curry told Inside the NBA in mid-April. “I’m 36 now and I don’t know if I’ll have another one, so this is definitely the year.”

After back-to-back Finals runs in ’15 and ’16 and the continuation of the Covid pandemic well into 2021, Curry, much like James, has sat out the past two Olympics to rest and heal some nagging injuries. In the meantime, the country has patiently waited to see him reign down threes against the world’s best.

It may be his debut, but Curry has been instrumental in the team’s success on the international stage, winning Gold at the FIBA World Cup in 2010 and 2014. Now, the future Hall of Famer will get to check “Olympics” off his bucket list.

Anthony Davis was just 19 when he was selected to the 2012 USA Men’s National Team. After taking home the Gold, the five-time All-Defensive Team honoree is now responsible for manning the paint for the U.S. alongside his first-time Olympic teammate, Joel Embiid.

Embiid could have played for France—where he has citizenship—or Cameroon, his native country, but instead, the 2023-24 NBA MVP chose to play for the USA.

“After talking to my family, I knew it had to be [USA Basketball]. I want to play with my brothers in the League. I want to play for my fans because they’ve been incredible since the day I came here,” Embiid posted to X in October of 2023. “But most of all, I want to honor my son who was born in the U.S. I want my boy to know I played my first Olympics for him.”

This year’s team has a bunch of returning members from the USA Basketball’s last Gold medal squad, including one of the most underrated players in the game: Bam Adebayo. A point guard in the open floor, a small forward in the mid-range, a center on the block—the 2020 Olympian is a cheat code in international competition. While Bam, AD and Embiid preside down low, Jrue Holiday, another returning member of the team, lurks on the perimeter.

Holiday will pick your pocket, sneak into the passing lane and sit with the best of them. For years, the two-time NBA All-Star has been the glue for championship-winning and contending teams. He plays to win, and he leads by action. He’s tasked with much of the same in tandem with defensive stalwart Derrick White, who joins Embiid and Curry as the third first-timer on the Olympic team. The NBA is filled with a plethora of scorers, but the selection of various tacticians assembled for the U.S. Men’s National Team is what takes this roster from Gold to Certified Platinum.

“This guy next to me will be the next one,” Kevin Durant told The Boston Herald’s Mark Murphy after becoming USA Basketball’s all-time leader in points in July 2021. The “guy” he was pointing to was Jayson Tatum.

Tatum vividly remembers the 2020 team’s first scrimmage against the USA Select Team in Las Vegas. Someone kicked him the ball on the wing and, instead of getting his, the 23-year-old deferred to Durant who was to his right.

“I remember he got mad at me,” Tatum told Draymond Green on “The Draymond Green Show” in April 2022. “He was like, Yo, don’t look to me. Be yourself. I need you to kill. And I was like damn…he needs me to do me on this team.” So that’s what he did.

After dropping their first contest of the 2020 Tokyo Games to France, the U.S. won its second game in a 54-point blowout against Iran, and then in the third, Tatum led the U.S. squad with a team-high 27 points on 10-16 shooting from the field in a win against the Czech Republic. Point taken. The next talisman had emerged.

And so have Anthony Edwards, Devin Booker and Tyrese Haliburton. With Durant, LeBron and Curry gearing up for one last ride this summer, USA Basketball is looking toward the future of the country’s success on the world stage. It starts with building the next generation of flag bearers.

This past NBA season served as Ant-Man’s official inauguration as the League’s next superstar. When the offense falls flat and energy begins to dissipate, Edwards will smirk as he plans his next jaw-dropping display of athleticism that will ignite a 20-0 run. Haliburton’s arrival extends the country’s long line of offensive orchestrators and visionary passers in transition while Booker’s devotion to the mid-range and mastery of the iso routinely makes for instant offense in the most unlikely scenarios. The next generation of USA Basketball players is a not-so-subtle reminder of why this squad is so damn exciting. Everyone can make their claim for playing time. This isn’t just a 12-man roster, it’s a 12-man deep rotation.

The schedule will be grueling, but the experience will be unforgettable. Memories will be made, legacies enshrined and the next chapter of USA Basketball will be written. Meanwhile, Durant wants to see complete dominance.

“I want to really make a statement on how dominant our players are,” Durant said in his Boardroom cover story in February. “Like 40, 50-point wins. I want to do that.”

SLAM PRESENTS USA BASKETBALL IS AVAILABLE NOW

Photos via Getty Images.

The post Gold Rush: Previewing the 2024 USA Men’s National Team Ahead of the Paris Olympics 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.

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Less than 24 hours after suffering a foot injury at a CrawsOver Pro-Am league game in Seattle, Chet Holmgren had flown to Oklahoma City to get it looked at. And as he sat in the x-ray room in front of OKC Thunder GM Sam Presti, a wide range of emotions began to kick in. 

Hearing him describe it, it sounds like somewhere between guilt, pain, disappointment, sadness and distress. Probably a little hint of all of them. 

It was late August 2022, and the start of training camp was just about a month away. For Holmgren, that signaled the highly anticipated debut of his rookie season after being selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the NBA Draft earlier in the summer. Fans had already gotten a glimpse of his talent at Summer League weeks earlier. But it appeared that his real debut would have to be put on hold for the foreseeable future. The prognosis didn’t look promising. 

“I’m doing imaging, I’m sitting on the doctor’s table and I’m talking to Presti, and I’m just falling apart because he just drafted me two months, month and a half prior, and it’s like, you want to kind of validate his belief in you and the organization’s belief in you. And then you get hurt and you feel like you let everybody down, even though I wasn’t wrong for it, I was trying to get better and trying to hoop,” says Holmgren, who was ultimately diagnosed with a Lisfranc injury to his right foot. “But I just remember sitting there and just falling apart. Not like apologizing, because I knew I had nothing to apologize for, but I was just so hurt by it. And then he was giving me advice, and he’s a big, big process guy. So, he was just reminding me, like, the process is going to win in this. And that’s part of why I took everything so serious and didn’t cheat any corners or anything. Just because I had people reminding me that the process is always going to win in the end.”

SLAM 248 featuring Chet Holmgren is available now. Shop here. 

Nine days later, he’d have surgery. The recovery timeline meant he’d have to miss the entire upcoming season. And for the following eight weeks post-surgery, he’d have to wheel himself around on a scooter. Not like that was ever going to stop him from hitting the hardwood and getting up some shots. 

“I was out there on the court, standing on one leg with the other leg up on a scooter, just shooting as many shots as I could shoot before they made me go sit down—they’d be telling me, like, Go home!,” he recalls. “But when you’re just standing on a scooter, you’re not getting tired, so I was like, I can do this all day.”  

Setbacks help put things into perspective, and this particular one was no different for Chet. Mundane everyday tasks all of a sudden became the most challenging and time-consuming missions ever. But it’s the ability to reflect back on those moments, unpack them and articulate the frame of mind derived from the experience that makes it all worth it for the 21-year-old.  

“I was literally wheeling around on a scooter for the first eight weeks post-surgery. You know, it really makes you realize what you’re taking for granted when just the ease of life is taken away—I couldn’t drive anywhere, it was my right foot, so I’m pretty much relying on other people to get me around. Everything’s harder,” he says. “I gotta hop around, getting in and out of the shower, everything’s more difficult. So, it really makes you appreciate all the small things that you can really do every single day with ease. And I feel like I didn’t take it for granted before, but [I] definitely don’t now.” 

His first game back would be almost a year later at Summer League in Salt Lake City last July. A light 15 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks.

“I just remember I was so amped to get out there and play. And I was just so ready. And I remember the first time I touched the ball, I got so excited [that] I just put up a terrible shot,” says Holmgren, laughing. “It was an awful shot. And nobody looked at me wrong for it—cause I feel like everybody understood—but at the same time it was a terrible shot. I just wanted to make sure I came out aggressive, ’cause I was ready to play. I’d been waiting 13 months to play. I hadn’t played a game in 13 months. There was a lot of emotion around it. I had my family out there watching me and all my teammates were supporting me in that moment, but they’d been supporting me throughout the whole process.”

It wouldn’t take long for him to start turning heads in the regular season. In just his second outing, Holmgren set the franchise record for most blocks in a single game by a rookie with 7. This came as no surprise to anyone who saw him play at Gonzaga, where in his college debut, he matched the program’s single-game blocks record—which, coincidentally, was also 7.  

By the time Chet was one month into the NBA’s regular season, he had also become the first rookie in franchise history to have multiple 30+ point outings in the first month of his career. In fact, he dropped 30+ twice within a four-game window.    

To no one’s surprise, he was named Rookie of the Month in the Western Conference for October/November. And in December, he showed no signs of slowing down, averaging 17.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in 13 games on his way to yet another Rookie of the Month nod. 

He ranks top four in the NBA in blocks per game as of late January. 

In retrospect, trusting his foot wasn’t an issue at all upon returning. If anything, it became the least of his worries. 

“The biggest thing that I learned from injuries is, like, where you got injured, you’re working so hard to strengthen it, that part of your body is going to be good. It’s more all the things around it that get deconditioned so much when you’re sitting out and just letting your body heal,” says Holmgren. “So, your foot’s good now, but now your back’s weak, so your back is getting tight, and then now your knee hurts ’cause you haven’t been putting that pressure on it and keeping it as strong. And then you got shin splints ’cause you’ve been sitting out for so long that that needs to recondition. So, it’s like all the little things around it pop up. But if you’re able to manage that and then kind of stay on top of it, over time it’ll go away.”

The impressive early start to his career has him in a tight race with San Antonio Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama for Rookie of the Year.   

Not only has Chet put up big numbers—tune in to a Thunder game and you would think he’s been part of their rotation for a handful of years based on the way he’s been able to seamlessly fit in. The impeccable chemistry has helped propel the franchise to the top of the Western Conference standings. At a little over the halfway mark of the season in late January (as we head to printers), the Thunder find themselves half a game from the No. 1 spot in the West. 

“I mean, I don’t have expectations, but at the same time, I’m not surprised by anything that I do,” says Holmgren. “I feel like whatever I go out there and do is an accumulation of the work that I’ve put in. I know what I can do. I know what I need to work on. And what I go out there and do are things that I’ve been working on my whole life. So, am I surprised by what I’m doing? No.”  

It’s not often that a team has one player in serious contention for the MVP award while another one is doing the same in the ROY race, but that’s exactly where this OKC franchise finds itself with its duo of Chet and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Nor is it often that a team that didn’t even make the playoffs the prior season is now vying for the No. 1 seed in the conference. This is undoubtedly a new era for the franchise, and Chet is poised to help bring back that same aura that he remembers the Thunder having in middle school when Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook were all teammates during their early years in the League. 

“I remember watching their playoff series back in, like, ’11, ’12, ’13 and everybody’s wearing the same color shirt, screaming [in the stands],” says Holmgren. 

“We’re gonna get back to that point.” 

SLAM 238 IS OUT NOW! 

Portraits by Atiba Jefferson.

The post Chet Holmgren Reflects on How He Propelled Past Season-Ending Injury to Assemble Historic Rookie Season 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.

The post SLAM Presents: 30 Players Who Defined SLAM’s 30 Years 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.

I knew right away. Even as the words were escaping Kevin Durant’s mouth. It was the spring of 2007, and the 18-year-old Durant was in the mix to be the first pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. He was tall and lanky, and in one year at the University of Texas had flashed his developing scoring chops, averaging 25.8 ppg. The other candidate for the first pick was Greg Oden, who had led a stacked Ohio State team to the NCAA title game and looked to be the next big man in a long line of next big men. 

For SLAM 110, we had the idea of putting Durant and Oden on the cover together, like one of those old boxing posters, a play on the choice NBA teams had to make. Kevin and his mom showed up to the photo studio just outside Washington, DC, and they were game for our concept, although I remember them wanting to be sure we didn’t frame it as KD and Oden not liking one another; they were rivals, sure, but it was a friendly rivalry between two kids who’d played against each other on the AAU circuit for years. 

For the cover story, I decided to separately ask Oden and Durant the same set of questions, as if I were an NBA team conducting pre-draft interviews, and then put their answers side-by-side, as a way to compare and contrast their personalities and mindsets. We’d report, you’d decide. I interviewed Oden over the phone while he was traveling around for pre-draft workouts, and he was perfectly fine to talk with, answering everything politely and thoughtfully, saying all the right things you would want to hear from a potential No. 1 draft pick. 

The question that cracked the code, at least for me, was when I asked them each why they should be the first overall pick. Oden talked about working hard, being a good person, fitting in and making whatever sacrifices were needed for his team to win. His answer was perfectly fine.

But when I asked Kevin Durant why he should be the first overall pick, he said, “I think I have a winning mentality. Even though I’m young, I can bring leadership to an organization. I’m just cold-blooded. I really don’t care. Whoever’s in front of me, I’m going to do my best to destroy them. Younger people might back down sometimes, but I think I’m a tough player and I won’t back down from anything—I accept challenges. I know it’s going to be hard, but everything you have to face is hard. I’ll be young, and I’m sure people will write me off and say I’m too small or not ready, but I’ve been going through that my whole life.”

That was when I was certain. What else could you want from a kid about to make the leap to the toughest professional sports league available to him? I’ll take all the confidence you can muster. And in retrospect, looking back at all the accolades Durant has compiled, from an MVP to two rings to a few Olympic Gold medals, we all should have known what was on the horizon. 

The rest is his story. The Blazers took Oden first overall, while Durant went to the SuperSonics (who quickly became the Thunder). Kevin Durant fulfilled the promises of so many. During a time in the ’00s when basketball was creeping toward becoming positionless, Durant pressed fast-forward on that evolution and made a series of suggestions into a reality, scoring easily from all three levels, adding defense, ballhandling, turning players like Wemby and Chet into archetypes instead of unicorns.

Durant made his journey with SLAM alongside, from the photos of him in high school as an impossibly skinny kid to the championship covers. When KD launched his own podcast, he devoted an entire episode to SLAM. “SLAM was so important to us because it was all basketball,” he said. 

Today, at 35 years old, KD is currently fourth in the NBA at 30.8 ppg and has settled into life in the desert, teaming with Devin Booker and Bradley Beal to form what should be a formidable squad in Phoenix. Durant also recently slid into the NBA’s all-time top 10 in points scored, and he doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

From beginnings that were somewhat uncertain, Kevin Durant has more than made good on the promise he showed almost two decades ago when he first appeared in SLAM.

It was written. 

Photo via Getty Images. Portrait by Rachael Golden.

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

Every June, my former AAU team, Hoop Booth, would travel to Old Dominion University for their team camp to play a handful of games against some of the best high school and AAU programs in the area. And every year, there was one team I’d look forward to playing as a marker for where my game was: I.C. Norcom High School out of Portsmouth, Virginia. They were talented across the board, well-coached and flat-out tough. But Dorian (or Doe Doe as they called him) was the piece that really made this team go. Dorian was ahead of his time. This was back in 2010, so Kevin Durant had only been in the League for three years. It wasn’t yet the norm for hoopers taller than 6-7 to have the skill and fluidity of guards who played below the rim combined with the athleticism and length of true bigs. 

Today, Dorian Finney-Smith is one of the most coveted role players in the L. During a time where the average career length is about 4 and a half years, it’s not an accident that Dorian is in his eighth NBA season with what seems like many more ahead of him. Sure, he was blessed with physical gifts but it’s his unwavering refusal to take these gifts for granted that got him here.

Dorian pulled up to the SLAM HQ in Queens and we sat down to discuss his upbringing, going undrafted, his outlook on fatherhood, which includes helping his own father get released from prison recently. He also opened up about the legacy he hopes to leave behind and his community service efforts.

This interview has been slightly edited for conciseness and clarity.  

Curtis: Growing up in Portsmouth, it would have been so easy to adopt a small-town mentality; can you speak to the commitment you made at an early age to do something special?

Dorian Finney-Smith: Well, my older brother [Ben Finney] played as well, so I was able to watch his process. And his best friend, who’s like family to me, Vernon Macklin, was like the first person from my city to make it to the NBA and that was motivation for me. To be able to touch somebody who got drafted–to be able to have conversations with and see somebody who I know got drafted made me know it was possible. With him being highly ranked and being from my small city, that was all the motivation I really needed.    

Curtis: I know you had a target on your back as a major athlete in a small trouble-ridden area. How did you keep on a narrow path and not fall victim to the peer pressures that plagued a lot of the Portsmouth youth?

DFS: My momma being on our ass [laughing]. But also, one of my older brothers was killed and my pops was in prison, so I had all the motivation I needed to know that I didn’t want to live that type of lifestyle. Everybody my brother grew up with who I would use to call the big bros was getting locked up. I realized by eighth or ninth grade that the life that rappers and everybody glorified was only gonna lead you to two places, either death or jail. They’d just fall into the system. I also had a best friend, Jeremy Canty, and his pops was a real stand up man who was good for me. His pops took me to all my workouts and stuff like that when my momma couldn’t. She had to work and she got five other kids, so she couldn’t get us to practice and stuff like that. I had a great community around me, man. I had a good support system. A lot of people wanted to see us win, wanted to see me win.

Curtis: Most highly coveted prospects like you choose to go the private school or prep school route. What went into your decision to stay home and play for Norcom High School, your local public school?

DFS: I wanted my friends to get looks, too. I wanted the college coaches to come see them when they came to our practices. I wanted them to get some notoriety. I just wanted everybody to eat, that’s just the type of person I am. I always said, ‘if you’re good enough, they’re gonna find you.’ And back then it was different; we wanted to play public school. And we still got the opportunities to play against the James McAdoos and the Findlay Preps once we won our first state championship. I ain’t easily influenced, so it wasn’t like my mom and them were trying to get me out the city.

Curtis: After a steady and consistently improving college career that began at Virginia Tech and ultimately Florida, filled with honors like ACC All-Freshman Team, SEC Sixth Man of the Year and 2x Second-team All-SEC, you went undrafted in 2016. How would you say your upbringing and experiences prepared you for adversity and helped you stay the course to earn an opening day roster spot for the Dallas Mavericks after going undrafted?

DFS: My mom used to have this saying, ‘it don’t matter, we gonna always end up on top.’ That was the mentality I always had. I never really got the immediate results I wanted; I always had to work for it. Even in high school, I didn’t play my freshman year. My friends were playing, and I sat on the bench the whole year. I never pointed my fingers at nobody; I always looked in the mirror and worked on my game. That’s exactly what I did. I ain’t feel sorry for myself or nothing, I just started working. And I wanted them to feel my presence whenever I got on the court. I knew whatever [NBA] team I was going to, they weren’t gonna have me there to shoot all the balls. I knew playing defense was probably what was gonna get me on the court. I just wanted my energy to be felt as soon as I stepped on the court. So, when I got to training camp, I felt like I did that.

I didn’t even have the best summer league. I remember sitting in my locker just being appreciative like, ‘man, this might be my last day here.’ D-Will was just smirking at me like, ‘I don’t know rook, this might not.’ But I was just appreciative. C’mon, man, I’m from Portsmouth, Virginia and I got Dirk Nowitzki sitting beside me, bro.

Curtis: Piggybacking off your decision to stay at Norcom in high school, you mentioned you wanting everybody to eat. Now, you’re doing that, literally, with your community service efforts. Can you speak to the inspiration to give back to your community and what that means to you, especially as a Black person coming from where you come from?

DFS: It means a lot to me, man. It wasn’t just my mom, it was the whole community who helped raise me. I grew up in an era when you may see somebody at the store and you’re doing something hard-headed, and they might say, ‘man, chill before I tell your momma.’ The community cared, especially when you’re doing something positive and they know you’re working hard to get out of that situation. They all encouraged me. If they saw me hanging with someone they even thought was a bad influence, they’d pull me to the side and tell me, ‘watch yourself when you’re around him.’ So I always felt like this was bigger than me, especially when I started looking back at it. Even my brother’s friends–when they used to do all the little hard-headed stuff, they’d be like, ‘Doe, stay home tonight.’ So, I just wanted to pay my dues, man. Because any one of those times they could’ve just said ‘come on,’ and that could’ve been it for me. 

But again, my upbringing, too. My mom always gave back, even when we stayed in the projects. It’d be another house full of kids that we’d be passing and we’d be giving them hand-me-downs or vice versa. We were a little older and bigger so we would be giving away our clothes to other kids. My mom always had that family-type feel, you know. She’d feed the whole neighborhood–make a big pot of spaghetti and feed everybody, all of our friends. There’s six of us, so if everybody got two friends, it was a lot [laughing]. So, I just took after my mom. My first year doing my camp, I was on the training camp deal but to everybody else, it was like, ‘he’s on the team and he’s from Portsmouth.’

Curtis: This past holiday season, you got an early Christmas gift–your father was blessed to come home after doing almost 28 years in prison. Even though he was away, he was still a part of your life, so can you speak to your relationship with him?

DFS: When my brother passed, and when I had my first daughter, it made me want to build that relationship with him. Shout out to Coach D, Billy Donovan, who used to always push for me to have that relationship with him. During my redshirt year at Florida after I transferred there, Coach D and my mom thought it was best that I talk to someone about my brother and stuff. So working with them and talking about my life, we came up with the plan of trying to reconnect my relationship with my pops and staying consistent with it. That’s pretty much how it happened.

Curtis: Can you touch on the process of helping him get released?

DFS: When I got to the NBA, Jamahl Mosley, who coaches the Orlando Magic–we were talking and I told him about my dad’s situation and he was like, ‘man, you should hit up Cube (Mark Cuban) and see if he knows someone who could help you with that.’ After I got my first deal (with Dallas), I ended up saying something because I knew I was gonna be there for another three years. Cube got me in contact with Jason Lutin–shout out to him. And Lutin just attacked this thing like a full-court press, man. He dove into it. He hit up his contacts–Jerry Kilgore, shout out to him, too. And once they read the case, they said he should’ve been got out, or at least on his way out. I was able to talk to the parole board last year, probably, like, a week before the trade [to Brooklyn]. It was a lot going on, it was a dope experience for it all to happen and come to fruition. He got here, and the first probably 10 minutes was just a staring contest, just me looking at him, checking him out. My kids are all over him. And that’s who he really wanted to see. Not saying he didn’t want to holla at me, it’s just he wanted to be with his grandkids.

Curtis: Has your relationship with your parents shifted your mindset of fatherhood?

DFS: Of course. Like I said, it was six of us and four of us played Division I basketball. She used to be at three games in one day. She’d go from my game, to my sister’s game, to Old Dominion to see Ben. She’d leave at halftime; but you’re going to hear her voice, you’re going to see her and she’s gonna wave to you when she leaves, you know what I’m saying? She used to try her best, man. That’s who the real GOAT is. My mom was very determined. She didn’t let us make any excuses. Anything that happened at home–once we on the court, we on the court. She helped us with that mentality, and I still use it today. You know, I just never wanted my kids to grow up like I did. I want them to be able to say I was there.

Curtis: When all is said and done, how do you want to be remembered–by the basketball community, by your kids, by Portsmouth?

DFS: I always say God-fearing family fam, but I’m going to elaborate on that a little more. I just want my kids to know their dad loves them and I want them to appreciate life. I try to lead by example because any day this shit can be taken away, at any time. I learned that at an early age with my brother, and hopefully it don’t gotta be to that extent with them. I always try to tell them, ‘get what you can get out of each day.’ As far as the community, I just want to do my part, man. I want them to know that I care, I care about my community, I care about the generation after me. And like I said, it’s bigger than me. If I could change the mindset of one kid each year, then I did my job. I just try to be who I would’ve needed when I was young, or who more of my friends could’ve used when they were younger.

Action photos via Getty Images. Portraits by Marcus Stevens

The post Hoops, Rap and Everything Black: Dorian Finney-Smith Talks Fatherhood, Helping Dad Get Released From Prison and Going Undrafted appeared first on SLAM.

The closest public court to Maluach was a 45-minute walk away and shared by multiple areas. “It was always packed,” he says. “If you had to go work on your skill set or work by yourself, you had to come maybe at 2:00 pm, when nobody’s there because it’s hot.” 

Such limited access led Maluach to pursue other hobbies as a kid—primarily soccer. “The lack of facilities is the main thing,” he tells SLAM. It wasn’t until the end of 2019 when Maluach, then 13 years old, was persuaded to attend a basketball camp organized by former NBA All-Star Luol Deng, who also hails from South Sudan. Merely a spectator that day, Maluach was encouraged to see people his height (6-8) thriving on the floor. Basketball seemed like a game that he, too, could dominate. He had always been taller than his peers, eventually sprouting to a towering 7-2.

Not long after, a chance encounter in Kawempe launched Maluach’s own basketball journey. He was walking home one afternoon when Akech Wuoi Garang, a local high school coach at Bethel Covenant College, spotted him. Mesmerized by Maluach’s stature, Akech slammed the brakes on his bike and immediately went into recruiting mode. It mattered little that this rail-thin teenager had basically no basketball experience—Akech urged him to come play at Bethel Covenant, where his tuition would be taken care of. 

“I trusted Akech because he was a South Sudanese coach,” Maluach explains. “He gave me a scholarship to go study at school. By then, school tuition was hard, so I took the scholarship and it motivated me. That’s how I got into the game.”

Maluach arrived at Bethel Covenant in January 2020, determined to make the most out of the opportunity. “As soon as I knew I could get a scholarship to a high school in Uganda, I knew that basketball could change my life,” he says. But a few months later, COVID-19 shut down life in the country, disrupting Maluach’s training. Stuck at home, he found creative ways to keep working. A big tire served as his hoop. He dribbled the ball Akech gave him everywhere. He watched clips of the NBA, studying stars such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Joel Embiid. By the time he returned to school, Maluach was a completely different player.

The NBA Academy program, a year-round basketball development initiative, provides top high school prospects from outside the U.S. with elite coaching. Through a vast network of scouts and relationships with federations around the world, the academy is able to identify promising young athletes, all of whom receive full scholarships and become full-time students. NBA Academy Africa was founded in 2017 in Saly, Senegal, at the same time that academies opened in India and Australia. Since then, it has uncovered emerging talents like Thierry Darlan and Babacar Sané, both of whom play for G League Ignite, and Portland Trail Blazers center Ibou Badji. 

“All over the world there’s so much talent,” says Chris Ebersole, head of international basketball development at the NBA. Other prominent NBA Academy graduates include Josh Giddey (Australia), Dyson Daniels (Australia), Bennedict Mathurin (Latin America) and Olivier-Maxence Prosper (Latin America). Ebersole continues: “If we can be proactive in making sure that that talent has the resources, the coaching, the infrastructure, and the competition, that helps make sure that there’s not a gap for people to slip through, which is a real thing in a lot of places around the world. For us to have a small part in trying to do that and build a pipeline—build a pathway—so that no matter where you’re born you have a shot, it’s really meaningful for us.”

On Wednesday, April 16, 2021, NBA Academy Africa offered Maluach a scholarship. For the next three nights, as he prepared for his trip to Senegal (and his first-ever plane ride), Maluach barely slept, overwhelmed with excitement. When he arrived, the jovial and driven South Sudanese kid—who’s always wearing a smile—made an immediate impression. 

“He’s one of the most impressive young people you’ll ever meet,” Ebersole says. “It’s amazing how he carries himself with humility, with respect. That’s the thing that we love the most about him.”

Adds Franck Traore, head of basketball operations for NBA Africa: “Khaman is one of the most genuine and wonderful kids that we’ve ever seen. We’ve never had any single issue or complaint from a coach—from anyone—since he joined the academy. Always trying to do the right thing, always on time, always wants to do extra, have to kick him out of the gym.”

Days at the academy are long and busy—six hours of school plus four hours of training—but Maluach doesn’t mind the work. He has embraced a holistic approach to his development, which includes an emphasis on nutrition as well as strength and conditioning. “I never spend a day without working on my skill set,” Maluach says, “so that I can catch up with the guys who started way before me.”

Alfred Aboya, head coach of NBA Academy Africa, was born and raised in Cameroon and played at UCLA (2005-09) before a six-year professional career that included stints in France, Japan, Venezuela, Turkey, and the G League. Aboya knows firsthand the obstacles African players face without the support of the academy. 

“I think the Achilles heel of African basketball has always been infrastructure,” he says. “We don’t have a lot of it. With NBA Academy being in Africa and having a gym open 24/7, you can go there and work and work. I think hard work works. If you’re in the gym all the time working on your craft, it will just be a matter of time until you start flourishing.”

For Maluach, improvement came at an unbelievably fast pace. He has developed a skill set that’s unique for seven-footers, especially those who just picked up the sport in 2020. On defense, he protects the rim with his 7-6 wingspan and has the versatility to switch onto smaller guards. He runs the floor exceptionally well, finishing fastbreaks with thunderous dunks. According to Traore, player development at the academy has started to focus increasingly on shooting. The evidence is clear with Maluach, who displays a smooth stroke and launches three-pointers without hesitation.

Those around the academy have been struck by how easily Maluach seems to pick up new skills. To call him “a sponge,” Traore says, undersells it. What Maluach has is “a gift,” an extremely rare ability to see something, replicate it and excel at it very quickly. “You take this kid and you put him next to Embiid—just put him there for a week. Every single thing that Embiid is doing, he will perfect it in a shorter period of time,” says Traore. “He watches and he listens to the coaches. Very smart kid.”

I never spend a day without working on my skill set.

— Khaman Maluach

Ulrich Chomche, a 6-11 forward from Cameroon also considered an NBA prospect, was at the academy before Maluach. The two have grown close since Maluach’s arrival. “He came when he was a baby; now he looks like a man,” Chomche says. “He has improved a lot. Before, when he just got to the academy, he was a mismatch for me. But now… he’s not anymore [laughs].”

The experience Maluach has received over the past few years is remarkable. He has traveled far and wide with the academy, competing against top talent from around the globe, and played a handful of games in the newly established Basketball Africa League (BAL). He was named MVP of the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders camp in early August. Later that month, he joined the South Sudan senior national team and became the third-youngest player in FIBA World Cup history. During BAL qualifiers in November, he averaged 21 points, 15.5 rebounds and 4.5 blocks, shooting 40 percent from behind the arc. 

Maluach’s height alone made him an intriguing prospect, but his budding talent has turned him into a potential top-five pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

“In Africa, we have a lot of seven-footers. Being a seven-footer is not special—definitely when you go to South Sudan,” says Traore, a former center himself who was born in Koudougou, Burkina-Faso, Africa, and went on to play at Manhattan College. “I was in South Sudan three weeks ago, where the security guard who is telling you don’t go this way is like 7-0; where the police officer who stamped my passport is 6-8. It’s incredible. When you [look] left and right, it’s like, What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be rebounding somewhere [laughs]. It’s the craziest thing. But [Maluach], he has that—obviously genetically—but he has other stuff. In South Sudan, being tall is not enough. What he has is the character piece and the work ethic piece and the talent. I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of tall guys that are not talented. He is that and he’s willing to really harness that [ability] and continue to work.”

Adds Ebersole: “There’s definitely high-end talent that’s come through the [NBA Academy] program but he’s right up there with any of them when you talk about Ben Mathurin, Dyson Daniels, Josh Giddey and O-Max. He’s in the mix with all those guys.”

Fans are not allowed at the annual G League Winter Showcase, so the event is always oddly quiet. Scouts, coaches, executives, and reporters seated at small tables around the court can hear all the action. On this Thursday morning at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, no voice stands out more than that of Khaman Maluach. NBA Academy Africa is playing an exhibition game against NBA Academy Latin America. Two days ago, on this same floor, Maluach had 22 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks—including four dunks and three three-pointers—against NBA Global Academy. The scouts are back to watch the blossoming big man, and he is once again making his presence known. His size is striking, yes, but also his energy and communication. 

“He’s our leader on the team,” Chomche tells SLAM. “He’s the one who teaches me how to talk on the court. The day before, I was very quiet when I was playing defense. He told me, ‘You know if you start talking more on defense, you will impact more on the defensive side.’”

Maluach hit three more threes and held down the paint in a win over Latin America, leaving little doubt that he’ll be ready to make the leap to the NBA in 2025 (previously slated to graduate high school that year, Maluach reclassified just prior to the Showcase, per ESPN’s Jonathan Givony). Until then, he could stay with the academy and become the first player drafted directly from Africa, commit to one of the many blue bloods recruiting him (Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, Baylor), or turn pro (both the G League Ignite and NBL Next Stars program have expressed interest, according to Givony).

“I think it’s the right decision because why not now?” Maluach says of his choice to reclassify. “That’s what I was asking myself. Why not now? I feel like it’s the right decision and I feel like it’s God’s plan.”

Alex Squadron is a writer from New York. His byline has appeared in SLAM, the New York Post, The Athletic, Sports Illustrated, Defector and SB Nation. His first book, Life in the G: Minor League Basketball and the Relentless Pursuit of the NBA, was released in October 2023. 

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. 

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Photos via Getty Images.

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So, right now, here we are. 

We’re in an empty room in the bowels of the Paycom Center in downtown Oklahoma City. Good energy is flowing freely. These five players are in sync with each other. There’s a lot of laughter, a lot of jokes, a lot of compliments and some healthy trash talk (Shai swears that none of them have ever beaten him in King of the Court). 

As the core of this squad, these five players have somehow quickly learned invaluable lessons in chemistry. They’re very much linked. They pass one ball back and forth to each other throughout our interview. Even though Holmgren missed all of last season with a right foot injury, he was still with the squad and he easily breaks down why the Thunder click so well. 

“This is my first NBA team,” Holmgren says, “but I’d say what separates this team from most NBA teams is most NBA teams got a bunch of 30-year-olds and then you’ll have some new dudes come in every couple years and, like, cycle through that. There’s no real connection because you got the OGs and then you got the lil’ bros and it’s like, the lil’ bros gotta carry the bags, you know what I mean? It’s, like, a hierarchy. But here, we’re damn near all still kids. So we all cool.” 

SLAM 247 featuring one of the coolest teams in the League is out now.

Yes, this group is young. Gilgeous-Alexander is the oldest at 25, followed by the 24-year-old Dort, the 22-year-old Williams, and Giddey and Holmgren, the pair of 21-year-olds. But last season proved how well they play high IQ basketball together, minus Holmgren. Their defense was in the top half of the League, an impressive accomplishment for a group without years of experience. Their offense is an ever-evolving organism of dynamic movement, only possible through selfless harmony.

Mark Daigneault has crafted a system that emphasizes this togetherness. Beyond the highlights of Gilgeous-Alexander’s scoring outbursts, Williams’ dunks, Giddey’s passes, Dort’s steals and Holmgren’s blocks, a true foundation has been built. It stands on unity and commitment. They’ve pledged themselves to crisp ball and player movement and highly timed switchability. It’s easy to miss. All five of these guys, and many other players on the Thunder, are cold as ice. They play in rare sneakers, rock clothing that displays their distinct auras and move with a general ease. But this is a real basketball team. They can hoop. 

“I’d say what separates this team from most NBA teams is most NBA teams got a bunch of 30-year-olds…But here, we’re damn near all still kids. So we all cool.” 

– Chet Holmgren

Nothing better illustrates how equally smart and well prepared they are than their strong side cuts. It jumps out immediately when watching Giddey’s individual highlights and Williams’ individual highlights. The same plays pop up in both film studies. The rhythm to their offense starts to emerge when Giddey drives to the right side of the floor. Williams regularly hits the same cut from the right wing whenever Giddey approaches his defender. Time it out next time the Thunder play. Usually two or three dribbles from the Melbourne native, JDub finds his angle and then…BOOM. A big dunk. JDub already has a few serious body bags. 

“We practice it every day,” Giddey says about the strong-side cuts to the rim. 

Hold up, though. Record scratch. We can’t know that. Nobody’s supposed to know that. 

“Cut that out, bro,” Gilgeous-Alexander jumps in after a seemingly nervous laugh from JDub. “We don’t wanna give away the sauce.” Sitting on the far right, Gilgeous-Alexander looks over to his teammates and says it again with a sly smile. “We don’t practice that, bro. We don’t practice that. It just happens. They just figure it out,” he says with another smile. 

Alright, so Gilgeous-Alexander just happened to average 31 points a night. And Dort just happened to figure out how to increase his total points scored in every season of his career. And Giddey just stumbled upon pulling down 8 rebounds and dishing out 6.2 assists each game. And JDub somehow walked into playing 30 minutes per game as a rook. And Holmgren was the No. 2 overall pick by happenstance. Alright, alright, alright. 

There’s no reason for any of it. It all just…happened?

Maybe. But probably not. Because we’re here right now in the present, with the past’s impact being fully felt and the future too far away to be a thought, we can look at each of these players truthfully. 

There’s the dynamic scorer, the young big whose potential might be limitless, the trusted playmaker, the lockdown perimeter defender and the versatile do-everything-forward. To varying degrees, each of them can dribble, pass and find their own looks. To varying degrees, each of them can sink an open shot. To varying degrees, each of them can make game-defining plays. To the same degree, each of them have bought into Daigneault’s vision. That vision started with patience. They’ve been biding their time. For now…

Gilgeous-Alexander’s rise in the NBA dates back to his rookie year. He started for a surprising Clippers squad that caught everyone off guard by taking the dominant Warriors to six games in the 2019 playoffs. He was just 20 years old gifting the defending champs with 25 points in a playoff game. There was substance to his game that a lot of people didn’t realize. They saw him, and they saw a young kid. He made them see him as an expanding problem. The Thunder saw him as a certified solution. They brought him to Oklahoma City in July of 2019 (the same trade gave OKC the pick that JDub was eventually selected with in 2022). Gilgeous-Alexander’s iso game continued to grow. He’s become nearly unguardable. Most know him as crafty. Very few know him as a reader. But he’s not reading books. He’s reading defenses like they’re children’s books. He gets to his spots and cashes out. A lot of his damage comes from the…duh-duh-duh…dreaded midrange area.

“If you look at it, the most prolific scorers in the NBA and over the years have shot midranges,” Gilgeous-Alexander says. “Kevin Durant, T-Mac, Kobe, Devin Booker right now, Bradley Beal, Jimmy Butler. At the end of the day, you just make shots. Where it comes from is your choice, but as long as you make them, you’ll be alright.”

Gilgeous-Alexander plays at his own pace. He’s methodical with the ball in his hand. The Thunder, as a squad, play fast, thanks in part to Giddey. He’s a pure point guard who stands 6-8, blessed with sightlines high above defenses. Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams sing his praises right after we’re sworn to secrecy about those strong side cuts that definitely don’t get practiced every day. 

“I’m gonna give you the answer right now—it’s Josh Giddey,” Gilgeous-Alexander says. “When you have a passer like that, it’s inevitable.”

“It makes you move,” Williams joins in. 

“You have to cut, you have to move,” Gilgeous-Alexander continues. “And he’ll find you.”

“There’s only one team in the world with a Josh Giddey,” Holmgren adds. 

“I’m being dead serious,” Gilgeous-Alexander emphasizes. “A lot of it is Josh. He’ll find you if you’re open. So get open.”

“Vanilla Magic,” Holmgren says. 

Giddey silently sits in between his teammates. He’s not boisterous. He’s just effective. Very effective. 

“It feels good to make other [teammates] feel good,” he says. 

One of the teammates that is consistently on the other end of Giddey’s dimes is Williams. They were undeniably aligned with each other. Giddey loves to initiate the offense from below the three-point line. He finds JDub because JDub never stops moving. It seems like JDub has echolocation on for gaps in the defense. But the rook also demonstrated advanced ability with the rock in his hand. He’s already efficient in the pick-and-roll, which he credits to spending three years in college at Santa Clara. Whether he’s got the ball or is setting the screen and diving to the rim, he knows how to do it far better than most players his age. He played almost every position and role at Santa Clara. His time at school served as a first class education in hoops. Like Gilgeous-Alexander, JDub reads the defense and takes what he’s being given. 

“Especially since I got into the NBA, a lot of it has been tailored toward playing off of who’s on the court,” Williams says. “If I’m out there with them, a lot of it is reading stuff,” he says about his high-profile teammates. “Where am I going to cut from or where I’m going to get open shots from? Other than that, it’s just kind of, like, going downhill.”

The Thunder do indeed play fast and they drive to the tin a lot. A lot. There are already a handful of names in Dub’s graveyard. Those questions about his lack of athleticism going into the draft have been disproven over and over. Not only do those downhill attacks produce Jalen Williams dunks—they also produce Lu Dort threes. Dort has worked extremely hard on his jumper since coming into the League back in 2019. His reputation as a defensive stopper is of course very true. Dort’s footwork while evading on-ball picks should be taught to every kid in the nation.

Dort’s revamped jumper hides a unique and often overlooked detail. Shooters are taught to extend and hold their follow-throughs. It really does aid in the shot’s probability of dropping, especially when shooting from over 24 feet away. Dort, however, rarely holds his follow-through. Most of the time, his right hand retreats. He doesn’t hold it up. 

Taken by surprise when it’s pointed out, Dort shows how his right wrist has a hitch in it.

“My wrist is messed up, you know what I mean? So when I do it, I’m not doing it on purpose,” he says.

The reveal makes Gilgeous-Alexander gasp. It makes Giddey grin. It makes Holmgren stare. 

“Oh my God, I’m learning so much,” JDub says. “Wow, I did not know that.”

It’s a comfortable and natural reaction for him. And it’s worked. His shot has consistently gotten better throughout his career, while his defensive prowess has grown, too. He has tons of lockdown knowledge to share with Holmgren. Last season, the Thunder’s defensive principles were specifically designed to mitigate their lack of size on the interior. That all changes with the return of the 7-1 rookie. Holmgren is gonna score. OKC’s offense will get him open looks. But he’s gonna make his name on the other side of the ball. He has switchability in the pick-and-roll, so he’ll be tasked with guarding smalls in space. He has weak side swats on lock thanks to his 7-6 wingspan. Plus, he’s much more competitive than he looks. People have been trying him for years now. He always responds.

“I really just learned how good the talent level is in the NBA,” Holmgren says about his one year away from the court. “You could play great defense and literally not make a mistake and still give up three points. There’s great players in this League and great players make plays. Sometimes it’s just good defense, better offense.”

He’s ready for the challenge. 

But that’s looking just ahead to the future. It’s still a little far away. 

Right now, these five guys got a few more things to do. They gotta throw on some jewelry. They gotta take some photos. They gotta laugh some more. And they gotta fully be where their feet are, down here in the basement of the Paycom Center, all eyes on the coming season.

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Portraits by Marcus Stevens.

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“EVERYBODY ON MUTE!” 

Jonquel Jones, the charismatic New York Liberty star, belts out the lyrics to Beyoncé’s “Energy,” a song off her Renaissance album. It’s August, and we’re all inside a workroom-turned-glam room at the Nets practice facility, where Jones, Breanna Stewart, Betnijah Laney, Sabrina Ionescu and Courtney Vandersloot—the Liberty’s starting five—have spent the past hour or so getting their hair and makeup done before the big moment: their first-ever SLAM cover shoot together as a newly-formed squad. The energy inside the room is a bit hectic, as videographers and producers shuffle in and out, checking to see if our cover stars are ready. 

Almost. But for the first of many times today, we’ve got Beyoncé lyrics to sing. After JJ, who is sitting right next to Sab and near Betnijah, cues everyone to go silent (an iykyk trend tied to Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour), the music continues. 

“Look around, it’s me and my crew. Big energy…”

In one of the salon chairs, a hair stylist is finishing curling Breanna Stewart’s long, brunette locks. Sitting nearby, Courtney Vandersloot is getting eyelash extensions and smiling to herself as she covers one eye, noticing the difference. Sab is the first one ready for photos, and we follow the All-Star guard across the hall to the practice court, which has been turned into a set with a white seamless backdrop and tons of studio lights. 

Off to the side, there’s a table full of vintage goodies—old-school digital cameras, an actual flip camera and a polaroid camera—which Sab immediately gravitates to once she’s done posing for flicks. It’s then that we learn how much of a girl’s girl she is, which is internet-speak for someone who respects and values their female friendships. One minute Sab is hyping her teammates up, the next she’s posing Sloot for her own photo-op moment with a glass of champagne that someone brought on set.

This is the same Sabrina we once crowned the “Next Queen of New York” on the cover of SLAM 231, but who said a queen has to rule alone? Sab came into the W as the NCAA’s all-time leader in triple-doubles, the No. 1 overall pick in 2020 and, undoubtedly, one of the most popular young players in the League. Then the team signed Betnijah Laney ahead of the 2021 season, and since then, excitement has been steadily building in Brooklyn. Now, with Sab, Laney, JJ, Stewie and Sloot leading the way, the New York Liberty are the No. 1 team in the East at 32-8—the franchise’s best regular-season record ever.

While the media pushes the narrative that the WNBA has entered a “superteam era,” history shows that superteams ain’t new in the W. The Houston Comets won the first four championships in the League’s existence between ’97-2000, and then the L.A. Sparks won back-to-back ’chips in ’01 and ’02. The following year, the Detroit Shock won their first title and then another one in ’06. The Minnesota Lynx won four titles in seven years between 2011-2017. 

To call this Liberty squad a superteam makes it sound like they’re a machine that’s been programmed to dominate, rather than a group of women who have come together and decided—both individually and collectively—that they want to be the best. 

“I think we’re just super humans,” Sab says when asked about the superteam label. “I just feel like we all have a story to tell, and we’re all at such different parts in our careers, but when we all come together, that’s really the joy in being part of a team.”

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The story of how this squad joined forces didn’t start with Stewie—JJ was technically the first to join the Libs when she was traded back in January—but Stewie’s free agency announcement did shock the world. It was one thing for the Liberty to have a new superstar in JJ, but when Stewart started posting those emoji-filled tweets, everyone, including Kevin Durant, was hyped. Another star teaming up with JJ?! “They cookin’,” KD said on his podcast, The ETCs. “They bringing the best talent to New York.” 

Then, on February 1, Stewie pulled a move reminiscent of when Yoncé dropped Lemonade: she posted only a Statue of Liberty emoji and a video of her switching into a teal-colored long sleeve warm-up shirt. Just a day later, Courtney Vandersloot pulled her own WNBA insider moment by tweeting that she’d also signed with the Libs. To put in perspective just how crazy elite a trio of Stewie, JJ and Sloot is, we’re talking three WNBA titles, 14 All-Star appearances, seven First Team All-WNBA selections and three All-Defensive First Team selections, plus Stewie’s two Finals MVPs, regular season MVP and Rookie of the Year title, Jonquel’s Sixth Woman of the Year award and Courtney Vandersloot’s place in the record books (she’s ranked second all-time in assists). They’re all undoubtedly future Hall of Famers. 

Still, it’s crazy to think that there was a time when Stewie’s decision almost didn’t happen. “I was back and forth a lot, really,” Stewie tells us. “It was between Seattle and New York.

“The three of us [Sloot and JJ] were talking a lot during free agency,” she continues. “But also knowing who was on the Liberty before us and that’s Sab and B making sure that we want to come here to win.” 

Now that she’s in Brooklyn, Stewie has continued to solidify her rightful place as one of the most versatile players to ever play the game. She was out here setting records on day one, literally—in her Barclays Center debut against the Indiana Fever, Stewie scored a franchise-record 45 points. She’s currently averaging a career-high 23.3 points per game (second in the W) and once again being mentioned in the MVP conversation.

On set, Stewie is poised and exudes a cool and collected type of confidence; she’s even rocking her own signature sneaker, the Stewie 2s, in all the photos. For the next 10 minutes, the 6-4 star is just as involved in the creative as she is in being the main subject. She poses with the camcorder and asks if we’ve got a pair of sunglasses she can throw on, too. The lights end up causing too much glare on the silver shades, but with only a few minutes left to get the perfect shot, she shines the brightest. At one point Stewie turns and stares directly into the lens with her blue eyes, giving us that look. Lights flash as our photographer snaps away. Pop! Stewie tilts her chin down, this time holding her gaze. Pop!

Throughout her seven years in the W, Stewie has done it all: won championships and MVPs, been the face of the Storm alongside the legendary Sue Bird. At this point, what fuels her to keep playing at such a high level?

“Mine is probably perspective,” the former UConn Husky says when asked about her source of motivation. “Obviously loving to win and loving to compete, but also realizing that these moments don’t last forever, and having a glimpse of that through an injury. Some of us have been through injuries where we’ve had to be out for seasons and stuff like that. So, never taking anything for granted, but also knowing that I have Ruby at home, looking up to me [and] watching every single move that I do, and making sure that I’m continuing to help make this team and this League better for her if she wants to play, but also the next generation.”

Stewart and JJ entered the WNBA in the same year, 2016, as the No. 1 and No. 6 picks, respectively, and have played together overseas on UMMC Ekaterinburg. For JJ, her move to New York happened after a trade request prior to the start of the 2023 season. “I didn’t know who was joining me yet,” Jones says. “When I looked at it, I was like, regardless of who joins me, I feel really solid with that decision.” 

Now that she’s found her groove with the Liberty, JJ has reached another level: she’s had 11 double-double performances so far and just dominated in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship in August with 16 points, 15 rebounds and 2 blocks, all while shooting an efficient 50 percent from the field. She shines on set, too, cracking jokes and flashing her ever-present smile in most of the photos we take. The team’s PR person asks if we want pictures of her with her Commissioner’s Cup MVP trophy, and as the 6-6 forward holds her latest achievement, that smile gets even wider.

“I’m very happy to be in New York and be playing with these ladies,” she says. 

Sloot also had to trust in the vision when it came to whether she’d leave Chicago, where she spent over a decade with the Sky and set numerous records, or take her talents east. At first, she admits she was hesitant. “To be frank, I was trying to find a reason not to [leave] because the move to New York was just, like, never in the cards for me,” she says. “The more it went on, the more conversations I had of course with these ladies here, the ownership and coaching staff and everything, it was just like, this is an opportunity that I can’t pass up on. This is what I work for. This is what I dreamed [of].” 

As one of the smoothest, coldest floor generals in the W over the past decade, Sloot’s led the League in assists per game every year since 2017, with the exception of last season. When we caught up with her for this cover, she had just passed Ticha Penicheiro for second all-time in assists. 

This is what I work for. This is what I dreamed [of].”

– Courtney Vandersloot

It was during the playoffs last season that Sloot saw what she was in for—the energy and atmosphere in Barclays, the fans and, most notably, what kind of squad the organization was building. “We were the away team, of course, and everybody’s cheering against us, but I still [remember] just this energy and I was just like, Wow, this is awesome. They’re really building something here…You could tell they were in a really good place, they were on an upward…”

“…trajectory,” JJ chimes in. 

“Thank you, JJ,” Sloot continues. “I just wanted to be a part of it, and I remember that it was such a fresh feeling for me when I was in the free agency talks.” 

That trajectory wouldn’t have been possible without Betnijah and Sabrina helping set the foundation. B, who is in her eighth year in the W, needs no introduction, and she certainly didn’t need to make one to her new teammates. Drafted in 2015, just a year before Stewie and JJ, she played with Stewie for USA Basketball and attended various camps when they were younger. She was a rookie on the Sky when Sloot was in her fifth season and suited up alongside JJ in Connecticut in 2018.

“For me, the chemistry and everything, it just kind of came naturally,” she says. 

JJ felt it, too. While she admits that she “didn’t know Sabrina that well” initially, she did reach out to her before deciding to come to New York. Since joining forces, JJ’s been impressed with how well they’ve gotten along. “I’ve been so amazed with just how well our personalities mesh on the team,” she says. “That’s really like my little sister, like we’re always goofing off together, always doing silly stuff.”

Sabrina, averaged 17 points, 5.6 boards and 5.4 dimes for the season, has dropped 30-pieces on numerous occasions and nearly broke the internet with her near-perfect performance during the All-Star Three-Point Contest in July. Go back and watch the highlights. Notice her approach, her form, her confidence. When she gets to the right corner, Sab smirks. It’s clear she’s having fun. The crowd goes insane and the camera pans to Sloot, who is equally as hyped. We all just witnessed, in real-time, one of the League’s brightest young stars go 25 of 27 from three and break the contest record for both the WNBA and NBA. That’s pure star power right there. 

She wasn’t done breaking records either. In the Liberty’s 96-89 win over the Sparks on September 7, marking the team’s eighth straight victory, Sab broke the WNBA single season record for total threes (121), which was set by the GOAT Diana Taurasi in ’06. 

“I’m really proud to just watch the way that [Sab] has grown in this League,” JJ says. “Just the level that she has been playing at this season has been amazing.” 

Then there’s Betnijah, who exemplifies what it means to stay confident and true to who you are, both on and off the court. After having a breakout season in 2020 while on the Atlanta Dream—including winning Most Improved Player and being named to the All-Defensive First Team—Laney has elevated her game on both ends of the floor since signing with the Liberty in 2021. Look beyond the box score and simply watch the way she moves from the moment she gets the ball, pulling off behind-the-backs and spin moves reminiscent of a 6-0 dancer (Laney took ballet, tap and jazz classes when she was a child).

With her physicality and quick instincts on defense, Laney’s typically tasked with guarding the other team’s best player, too. Her role, as head coach Sandy Brondello told WNBA.com, is to be the “engine that gets everyone going.”

Adds Stewie: “I’ve known B for a really long time, and the way she is as a two-way player, making things really difficult, taking advantage of whatever matchup she has offensively but also [being a] defensive stopper. Hard-nosed player, never stops, does [the] dirty work, does whatever the team needs.”

Betnijah also has a way of commanding any room she’s in. On set, it’s B’s show when she poses in front of the camera—without needing any direction from our photographer, she effortlessly switches angles and stares deeply into the lens. To quote one of her favorite artists, Beyoncé, Betnijah’s giving I’m that girl energy with each hair flip. Having spent the past three years in Brooklyn, B knows what the city is about, from the food scene (she’s got a whole list of the best food spots) to the way New Yorkers carry themselves. “Brooklyn people just show up,” she says. “That New York atmosphere, that gritty, [it’s] loud, [they’re] into it, they’re backing us. They’ve shown up and showed out, and so it’s kind of a give and take. We’re giving them a show [and] they’re fueling us.”

Together, Laney and Sab have been at the forefront of what the Liberty have been building toward. With a new team dynamic and roster changes, it could’ve been easy for egos to get in the way of the Libs’ success this season, but it’s actually been quite the opposite. “It’s really hard to put a team with this much star power together and for it to succeed,” Sabrina says. “But I think when you have players that aren’t only playing for themselves but playing for one another, and from the beginning, we’ve all committed to playing for one another and wanting to see each other succeed in whatever it is that that individual wants.

“And we’ve really been bought into that because I think to our core, that’s just who we are as individuals, and I think that’s why we’re playing the way we are and we’ve been having the season that we have been having in such a short amount of time [despite] not really knowing each other and playing with each other for so long, ’cause it’s just who we are. And we’ve really stayed true to that.”

As much as this story is about them, our cover stars aren’t the type of people to make things all about themselves. Ask Betnijah about her “why” and what motivates her and she brings up her niece, JJ (who she calls “Little JJ” when she’s around Jones), and how she wants to continue to “inspire [and] be role models.” Big JJ wants to win, but she also wants to succeed for her family and all the people “who have sacrificed” to help her get to where she is today. Sab brings up the process, and how they’re able to “look back” and see how much the organization has grown. 

They’re all playing for something bigger than themselves. As they look to bring a championship to Brooklyn, they all recognize that this team represents the new era of the W. An era of player empowerment, of women making power moves. “I have obviously been in the League for a long time, and for so long there wasn’t a lot of player movement and there wasn’t a lot of this,” Sloot says. “Stewie touched on it, our ability to kind of control our careers and do what we want, create this buzz. Women’s basketball is at an all-time high right now, so why not take advantage of that? Take control of our careers, do what we want, be where we want. And for all of us, that was here.”

For Stewie, it’s simple. “Everyone,” she says, “is chasing greatness.”

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Cover Story: Deyscha “Sway” Smith

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The post The New York Liberty are Chasing Greatness appeared first on SLAM.

And yes, they’re ranked.  

No. 1

Last week messed around and got a triple double/Freakin’ brothers every way like MJ/I can’t believe, today was a good day

— “It Was a Good Day,” Ice Cube

When Cube performs the song now, he switches MJ to Kobe, but this still remains a classic line that everyone knows no matter what age, race or nationality. Who doesn’t love a good day?

No. 2

Real sick, brawl nights, I perform like Mike/Anyone—Tyson, Jordan, Jackson/Action, pack guns, ridiculous

— “Victory,” The Notorious B.I.G.

No. 3

Simple and plain, give me the lane/I’ll throw it down your throat like Barkley

— “Rebel Without a Pause,” Public Enemy

Chuck D shouts out one of his favorite 1990’s NBA players on one of the hardest songs of that era.

No. 4

Just like I’m the king on the microphone, so is Dr. J and Moses Malone

— “Basketball,” Kurtis Blow

No list of this kind would be complete without the inclusion of the OG hoop hip-hop song.

No. 5

It’s Hovi baby you Kobe, maybe Tracy McGrady/Matter fact, you a Harold Miner, JR Rider, washed up on marijuana/Even worse you a Pervis Ellis, you worthless fella

— “Pump It Up (remix),” Jay-Z

Jay washed Joe Budden on his own beat with a couple bars that only true hoop heads will understand.

No. 6

Top baller in every state/In Chi I’m Mike/Boston I’m Kenny/In Miami I’m Timmy and Phoenix I’m Penny

— “What Means the World to You,” Cam’Ron

No. 7

Two shooters by the door and they grippin’ the thirty/That’s why they both got fifty pointers like Mitchell and Murray

— “Nothin Less,” Conway the Machine

No. 8

I used to be jealous of Arron Afflalo/He was the one to follow/He was the only leader foreseeing a brighter tomorrow

— “Black Boy Fly,” Kendrick Lamar

This bar is just the tip of the iceberg for Kendrick, speaking about his friend turned NBA player from Compton. The song shows a level of vulnerability that is not often seen in hip-hop.

No. 9

I got a chopper and a trimmer/Shooting like Jimmer

— “Sure Thing,” Lil Wayne

No. 10

Hip-hop scholars since being knee-high to a duck/The height of Muggsy Bogues, complexion of a hockey puck

— “Steve Biko (Stir it Up),” A Tribe Called Quest (Phife Dawg)

No. 11

Hold up, I ain’t trying to stunt, man/But these Yeezys jumped over the Jumpman/Went from most hated to the champion God flow/I guess that’s a feeling only me and LeBron know

— “New God Flow,” Kanye West

The epitome of talking yo sh$% and backing it up. It was a good run while it lasted.

No. 12

New York is the town and the team is the Knicks

— “One Two Sh**,” A Tribe Called Quest

Phife may be the hip-hop king of sports-related bars. RIP to the 5-foot assassin. 

No. 13

Real G’s move in silence like Giannis

— “Giannis,” Freddie Gibbs

No. 14

If I ain’t in Japan, I’m in the Valley (Valley, ooh)/Or maybe next door in Gary Payton bowling alley (Ooh)

— “Hope I Don’t Go Back,” E-40

A flex isn’t truly a flex if it isn’t true. The Vallejo rapper was actually neighbors with The Glove when he dropped this single.

No. 15

Kobe ’bout to lose a hundred fifty M’s / Kobe my n***a I hate it had to be him / B**ch you wasn’t with me shooting in the gym / (B**ch you wasn’t with me shooting in the gym)

— “Stay Schemin,” Drake

No. 16

She got me back livin’ sweeter, fresh Caesar/Guess, David Robinsons, Wally moccasins

— “Street Dreams,” Nas

No. 17

I was popping blue devils, Coach K ain’t recruit me

— “No Hook,” Dave East

This isn’t just a creative drug reference. East actually played AAU ball with Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley and received a DI scholarship, so this line is actually dope and believable. 

No. 18

See I used to pay Kobe, but now I pay LeBron

— “24-23,” Young Jeezy

No. 19

My team in the cut, packing metal things/I’ve got more foreign shooters than the Sacramento Kings

— “Follow Me Gangster,” Lloyd Banks

In 2003, when Banks dropped this song, Peja Stojakovic was the only foreign shooter on the Kings squad. But it’s still a super slick line.

No. 20

Kobe doin’ work / 2-4 on my shirt / He the greatest on the court / And I’m the greatest on the verse / Going for the fourth ring like it was his first / Gotta get the bling

— “Kobe Bryant,” Lil Wayne

As a huge sports fan, it’s only right that Wayne dedicated an entire song full of clever bars to Bean. 

No. 21

Country n**** never seen a passport/‘Til I popped off and got a bag for it/Now I’m at the Garden sittin’ half court/Watchin Jr. catch it off the backboard

— “Amari,” J.Cole

Dreamville boss Cole shouts out his fellow Fayettteville, NC, native Dennis Smith Jr. 

No. 22

Imma make you see L.A. like Ed O’Bannon

— “Sonset,” Ras Kass

No. 23

But I’m limitless mentally, I’m lyrically ZMT/LeBron shit, I was in that 6 after 23

— “Ambition,” Wale

No. 24

See the shots that I took (ayy), wet like I’m Book (ayy)/Wet like I’m Lizzie

— “SICKO MODE,” Drake

No. 25

I crossover like Steph Curry, crossover like CP/But I will not crossover so n***** can buy the CD

— “Just Another Day,” The Game

No. 26

Now who’s the first pick? Me. Word is born’in/Not a Christian Laettner not Alonzo Mourning

— “Can We Rock (What’s Up Doc),” Shaquille O’Neal aka Shaq-Fu

The beginning of Shaq’s career as a rapper started with this feature on a Fu-Schnickens song. Compared to later disses of fellow players, Zo and Laettner got off easy with this kinder and gentler version of Shaq.

No. 27

27. I’m Killa, you Andre Miller, got a basic game/I told your b**ch to hurry up, we don’t wait for trains

— “Cookin Up,” Cam’Ron

No. 28

And my shot kinda rusty but the fade clean/And me and Steph Curry on the same team

— “Cruising,” Lecrae 

No. 29

I’m Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf/I don’t pledge allegiance I raise the roof

— “Life Gets Brutal,” Heems

No. 30

I was raised to live, Lord I pray you forgive/If not, I just handle it like Jason Kidd

— “You’re Only a Customer,” Jay-Z

No. 31

Life is a journey before I went the rap route/I served ni**** off the bench like Stackhouse

— “Journey,” Cormega

No. 32

I’m slamming n***** like Shaquille, s**t is real /When it’s time to eat a meal, I rob and steal

— “Gimme The Loot,” Notorious B.I.G.

No. 33

From the past to the present, shouting out to the greats/Still love Phi Slama Jama, repping U of H

— “Houston Is,” K-Rino

IYKYK, Rino is a rap legend in the state of Texas. His reminiscent bars shouting out the early 80’s college squad that included Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler show genuine love to his city.

No. 34

And on top it’s lonely so keep your homies right by your side/And if life is short then we’ll be the shorts of the Fab Five

— “The Intro About Nothing,” Wale

No. 35

We back to back, back to back like the Comets

— “Getchya Hands Up,” ESG

Not only is this track a bonafide Texas classic, it is also one of the very few times that a WNBA team has gotten a shout out on a dope record. That’s the kind of love a four-peat championship team should receive!

No. 36

Like Kareem I got the hook up

— “Sum Sh** I Wrote,” Common

No. 37

Motor city technically Rasheed Wallace /Then moved to Chicago for dollars like Ben Wallace

— “Jingling,” Cool Kids 

No. 38

I’m from a place where junkheads and zombies dwell/And n***** keep the heat blazin’ like Bonzi Wells

— “Biscuits,” Trife 

No. 39

Courtside seats, this the big bag/Hit a Ja Morant shot, get ’em big mad

— “Big League,” Yo Gotti

No. 40

With my hair slicked back, I look like Rick Pitino

— “Nana,” Action Bronson

The fact that Bronson has very little hair on his head and bears little to no resemblance to the legendary coach makes this line equally ridiculous and dope. 

No. 41

Big ass shotgun look like Lauri Markkkanen

— “Bloxk Party,” Sada Baby

Well before he had a career year with the Jazz, Detroit rapper Sada Baby shouted out the All-Star forward on his 2018 underground hit.

No. 42

I got a crime record longer than Manute Bol

— “M.V.P.,” Big L

No. 43

Kevin Garnett earrings look like Fiji water

— “Stealing,” Gucci Mane 

No. 44

I got game, but not the hoop court/And plus, basketball’s never really been my sport/I probably woulda made it to the NFL/But I had grams for 50 in my possession to sell

— “Know What I’m Talkin Bout,” Keak Da Sneak 

No. 45

B**ch you ugly like yo daddy Reggie Miller

— “I’m Good,” YG

No. 46

Guaranteed, make ’em jump like Rod Strickland

— “Triumph,” Raekwon

No. 47

Either that or quit it, throw in the chair like you Bobby Knight

— “NBA,” Joe Budden

No. 48

Even if you have braids like Latrell/I got more numbers in my system than Pacific Bell/Pass the basketball around and go tell/Smoother than Rick Fox puttin’ on his hair gel

— “NBA,” Kool Keith

No. 49

I get my hair cut correct like Anthony Mason/Then I ride the IRT right up to Penn Station

— “B-Boys Makin with the Freak Freak,” Beastie Boys

Not the most technical bars, but anything that shows love to A. Mase is all love.

No. 50

We ballin’ like the March Madness

— “March Madness,” Future

Although he isn’t an elite lyricist, it’s hard to front on a song that’s this good and that name checks the biggest college hoops tourney in the world.

Photos via Getty Images, Portrait by Atiba Jefferson.

The post 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop: These are the Most Iconic Basketball References of All-Time appeared first on SLAM.

“I’m not missing this game,” he says. “If it happens, it happens.”

What happened next broke the internet. Insider tweets, push notifications and jersey swap graphics flooded social media. Another superteam shaking things up and with it came the inevitable question: Can the Suns’ new Big Three of Beal, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker win a championship?

When Beal first heard that the deal was in play, he had his own questions. “I was like, Why are they trading Book? Like there’s no way that this is happening,” Beal says. “Like, this can’t be, this isn’t right. But fast forward, he’s here, I’m here and Kevin’s here and DA [Deandre Ayton]’s here. It’s surreal and crazy to think about how the deal even came to fruition, but it’s done and I’m in an awesome situation where I can compete every single night for a chance to win.”

Bradley Beal has arrived. SLAM 245 is out now, shop here.

The future can be exciting, but with it comes letting go of the past. For Beal, that meant saying goodbye to the city he and his family have lived in for the past decade and to the organization that drafted him as the third overall pick in 2012.

The kid from St. Louis is now leaving as a 30-year-old man, a father and the second-ranked player on the Wizards’ all time scoring list. “It definitely was an emotional time for sure throughout the whole transition of the trade,” he admits. “I’ve been in DC for 11 years and that, that is, uh, a long time, and I’ve established a lot of great bonds and relationships with people in the organization and in the city itself. It was definitely a lot of emotional ties [and] a tough decision to be able to walk away from it, but it was one that was necessary. It’s a new chapter, you know. So I’m excited for it, for both parties, for us, for me moving forward, and for Washington and them moving forward. It’s bittersweet, but I’m happy that I get to move forward into another opportunity.”

Beal turned up for his birthday in DC and then flew to Phoenix the next day for his introductory
press conference with his new team while his family stayed behind to pack and move all of their
belongings out of their home. He had just landed that morning when we met up with him at the Footprint Center for his first-ever SLAM cover shoot. There are screens all over the arena, including on the jumbotron and in the lounge where we’re set up, with a picture of his face and the words, “WELCOME BRADLEY BEAL.”

“It feels like I got drafted all over again,” he says, wearing his Suns uniform for the first time. “I got drafted on my birthday at the age of 19 in 2012. And then here you go, fast forward 11 years later, the age of 30. I’m with a new team. It is definitely coming full circle. Feels surreal in some ways, but I’m definitely excited for this new journey.”

There’s a misconception about adulthood that by the time you’re 30, you’re supposed to have it all figured it out. NBA superstars aren’t the exception to that—they, too, have to deal with big life changes, career moves and saying goodbye to people they’ve spent time with. For Beal, that meant his teammates, coaches and the Wizards ownership group. “It was tough to have those conversations [and say] goodbye, but it was also encouraging. Everybody gets a chance to continue to move forward—some guys get bigger opportunities and bigger roles in DC, which [will] be great for them. And now I have a bigger and better opportunity in front of me, too.”

He can’t help but smile when he talks about how excited he is for what’s next. The respect is already there between Beal and his new teammates: he knows what KD and D. Book are about on the court, having competed against them both over the years. But there are still a lot of questions lingering around how the Suns’ Big Three can work together.

Beal has some thoughts on that, as well as where he wants to take his game next season.

SLAM: Let’s get right into it. A lot of people are wondering how so many offensive superstars can coexist. What’s your perspective on that?

Bradley Beal: In terms of our balance, we’ve talked subtly about how this thing can work. We know it won’t be easy. It’ll be a challenge, but the biggest thing is understanding [that our] one goal at the end of the day is winning. You know, we’re all gonna have our own individual goals, but I think the beauty about our group is that we’re so unselfish. And sometimes we might have to, like, yell at each other to shoot the ball or yell at each other to be aggressive because we have that mentality of deferring to the next man.

So I think it’s gonna be very fun. It won’t be easy. It’ll be a work in progress, I think. You know, it’s very hard to win in our League. I think a lot of people kind of think—they see a team, Oh, they’re gonna win. But, you know, we still have to figure it out. We still have to be blessed and be healthy throughout the year and make it work. But we’ll be a challenge. I think we have a great group that’s ready to fill their roles and accept it.

SLAM: Have you had a chance to connect with your new teammates?

BB: Yeah, my new teammates have been awesome. K [Kevin Durant], Book, D. Ayton, Cam [Cameron Payne], everybody’s been unreal in this whole transition. This is all new for me, but I’m embracing it, and these guys have all embraced me. It’s like, I’m ready to get to work, you know? This is definitely an awesome group of guys to be a part of. We’re still building on our team, but it’s been a joy so far.

SLAM: Do you guys have a group chat already?

BB: Yes, we do have a group chat already that has [been] assembled. That started ASAP.

SLAM: What have the first texts been like?

BB: It’s nothing wild. I think the first thing honestly was Book saying, like, Yo, let’s go work out. That’s what I would love to be a part of, man. I’m just super excited to be around like-minded guys who wanna push each other each and every day…To have that first text be, Let’s get in the gym. I think that’s a great message [for] the season.

SLAM: You and KD go way, way back, and you and Booker play the same position. Having competed against both of them for years, what were your first impressions?

BB: That they’re very humble, and that’s something I take [pride in]. I try to carry myself the same way, with humility at all times. We’re given so much, we’re looked at as role models and we’re blessed. To be able to just be so down to earth like these guys and be selfless, that’s what I wanna be around. That’s what I wanna surround myself with. And like-minded guys on the floor who just want to go win. Whatever that looks like, whatever it takes, that’s what they want to do.

SLAM: After averaging 23.2 points last season, what are your personal goals for the upcoming season?

BB: Oh man, it’s tough. I haven’t really thought about my own goals yet, but I would say the biggest individual piece is getting back to being one of the best two-way players in the League. Showing that I can really compete at a high level and play a meaningful game. You know, playing in the playoffs, winning in the playoffs, advancing past rounds.

Granted, I wanna get back to my All-Star level of play. I really believe that that’s who I am: All-NBA guy, All-Star guy. And I have a good group that can push me to be that every single day. So I’m excited about that opportunity. I get to be around like-minded guys and guys who will push me to make sure that I’m the best version of myself every day.

SLAM: Have you had a chance to talk to head coach Frank Vogel yet?

BB: Yes, Coach Vogel is awesome. I’ve had several instances of speaking with him. A brilliant mind in the game of basketball, NBA champion, defensive-minded coach. You know, I’m definitely excited to be able to see where he’ll take us, our team and where he’ll push us to. I’m definitely ecstatic with his knowledge of the game and his presence as a head coach.

SLAM: Looking back at your time in DC, do you have a favorite memory or defining moment that you’ll carry with you into this next chapter?

BB: I had so many great memories and so many great moments in DC. It’s really hard to pinpoint one. I think I’m just grateful for all the bonds and the relationships I’ve built. I think that’s what I’ll propel into my next chapter of life. I want this chapter to be more or less open and me not trying to control everything.

I think we, as humans, sometimes try to control our lives a little too much. I want to just let this wave kind of take me where it wants to go and let God lead the way and enjoy it every step of the way.

SLAM: What’s the legacy you hope to leave after your 11 seasons in DC?

BB: My biggest thing when it comes to legacy is always the impact I leave on people. You know, whether it’s teammates, the community, my coaches, the organization as a whole, the people that you encounter on a day to day [basis].

I just want, you know, my encounters to be great. I want you to remember me as just a great human being. I can be good at basketball. We’re all good at basketball, but, you know, what kind of person was I? I don’t want to be somebody who puts themselves above everybody else. So, I always try to say my interactions and my moments with people are always my biggest legacy. I want to leave lasting memories with them.

SLAM: With all the hype and attention on the Suns right now, what can we expect from the team next season? What type of time are y’all on?

BB: Expect a very fun team to be playing in Arizona this year. The Phoenix Suns will be hungry. We’ll be very aggressive, but it’ll be a very fun style of play that every fan will love—love to tune in to watch. So, we can’t wait. We’re excited. We have a lot of very talented guys, so we’re excited about it.

SLAM 245 Gold Metal Edition + Cover Tee are available now!

Portraits by Erik Isakson.

The post Bradley Beal’s Next Chapter: Phoenix’s New Star Opens Up About Getting Traded, His Legacy and Returning to His All-Star Form appeared first on SLAM.

Roughly 24 hours after the Phoenix Suns land in Atlanta, having just flown in from New York following a game against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center, Mikal Bridges is told that he has to hop on a flight back to Brooklyn. On a one-way ticket, that is. He’s been traded.

With no chance to grab any personal belongings from his home in Phoenix, Bridges simply gathers the bags he has packed for the five-game road trip (ATL was the fourth stop), says his goodbyes to his teammates and staff—after spending four and a half seasons in the desert—and returns to BK. 

He’ll be living out of a hotel near the Brooklyn Bridge waterfront for the next few weeks until he finds a more permanent spot. But as turbulent as the shift may feel, a change in scenery isn’t the only thing Bridges is going to have to get used to in the coming weeks. 

An entirely different role awaits, as well as an entirely different aura around his name.

In just his third game with the Nets, Bridges posted a career-high 45 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 5 assists in a win against the Heat. His career-high up to that point was 34 points. After having never touched the 40-point mark in Phoenix, he went on to drop 40+ points three times—including twice during a three-game stretch—in the last couple of months of the season with Brooklyn.

“Just having that game [against Miami] and winning, and just all that buzz and being fine, that feeling of being in New York for real and all the love and the publicity after that—I’ll definitely say after that Miami game [is] where I felt [it]. And I had a little [All-Star] break [after], so I went home and then when I came back it was like, Alright, let’s get ready for this, this little second gear,” remembers Bridges. 

With the Nets, he quickly began putting his name in the record books, again and again. He became the first player in NBA history to average 25 or more points while shooting 50/40/90 in his first 10 games with a new team. He also broke the record for most points ever scored in the month of March by a Nets player, which was good for the second-most points by a Nets player in any month in franchise history.  

After averaging 17.2 points per game in 56 outings with the Suns this past season, Bridges’ scoring average skyrocketed to 26.1 points with the Nets. Since the mid-February move, the former Villanova standout went on to finish with 30+ points on 11 different occasions in Brooklyn. Prior to the trade, he had only surpassed 30 points one time this season (and only two other times in his entire career).

He had suddenly gone from being a nice supporting player whose full potential remained hidden while hooping in the shadows of All-Stars like Devin Booker and Chris Paul in Phoenix to emerging as a full-blown bona fide star. A legitimate go-to first option on a playoff team overnight, it seemed.  

“I think the toughest thing was just not having everything, and everything [happened] so fast with the trade. Just had to leave where [I’m] at to come there. I just had my bags and went straight to New York,” says Bridges. “But it was dope. I always wanted to live in New York—came to New York a lot in college, just playing out here [in Philly], went to Villanova, so everybody lives in New York coming from Villanova. But it was great. I love the people here, and I love the vibe in New York and the city. So, I was very excited to come here.

Just being on the East Coast again, I love the East Coast people. Obviously, I love the people in Phoenix as well, they’re great people, but it’s just [about] coming back to the East Coast, to what I’m used to.”

After “blowing it all up” and trading superstars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant within a handful of days from each other, the Nets had found their new star much quicker than they may have anticipated. Bridges brought much-welcomed hope and excitement to a fan base that was in dire need of it. The franchise had found a fresh identity while in the dawn of a new era.  

But being the guy for any NBA team has its challenges, too. There are defensive schemes thrown at you that others don’t see. You’re scouted differently. And as a leader, expectations are higher than for anyone else in the locker room. The role has a few extra duties. It’s all been part of the learning curve for Bridges, one that he’s welcomed with open arms. 

“I think the biggest challenge is probably always leading, every single time. Even if I get frustrated, guys are kind of looking at me strictly just because, and I feel like that’s a struggle I just kind of [have to] get better at it ’cause it’s emotions in the game and I get frustrated a lot,” says Bridges of his sudden leadership role in Brooklyn. “Just can’t let my emotions bring anybody else on the team down, so, just got to stay positive, even if it’s tough—gotta push through it and try to be level-headed at all times. 

“It’s definitely a challenge, but, you know, it’s something I love and embrace and take on. It’s definitely different, being one of the go-to guys and defenses scout on you. Luckily, I had some time before I got traded—we had a lot of guys out in Phoenix at the time—where I was being that guy. And it was, trust me, a lot of growing pains. It was tough just being that focal point and everybody’s looking at you. But I feel like it’s been good—a lot of learning, still learning to this day—and there’s gonna be a lot more to learn. But I’m here to embrace it and go through the tough times just to blossom later.” 

The trade paved the way for Bridges’ return to the Northeast. He was born and raised just a couple hours south of Brooklyn in the greater Philadelphia area, where he spent his entire life until the Suns traded for him on draft night in 2018.   

“When I was in college, we came to New York a lot, just playing in the Garden [in the annual Big East Tournament] and then having events. Coach [Jay] Wright loved New York, so we had an event called Hoops on the Hudson,” Bridges remembers. “We’d come out here and be out here for a couple days while it was preseason. Just been around and visiting in college and in the summer, have friends who live out here—I just know the speed of New York and I was just super excited to come here.” 

The trade also allowed Bridges to reach an extremely rare feat: playing 83 regular season games. The last time this occurred was in 2014-15 when Josh Smith played for both the Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets following a trade. In fact, Bridges hasn’t missed a single game in his five-year NBA career thus far. 

“He’s the iron man of the NBA,” Nets teammate Spencer Dinwiddie told ESPN earlier this year.  

It’s just another prime example of the kind of star the Nets got in February—a certified hooper who can be counted on to show up, whenever, wherever, with whomever.  

“I’m just trying to win, honestly, that’s the biggest thing for me. Obviously, just playoffs and hopefully eventually—the biggest is always a championship, but there’s a lot of steps to do to get there,” says Bridges. “So sustainably just winning and building a really good culture.”

Portraits by Marcus Stevens

The post Mikal Bridges is Ready to Embrace His New Star Role in Brooklyn appeared first on SLAM.

The AEC has built an extensive alumni base of top-tier players, including McDonald’s All-Americans, major D1 college stars, and current NBA and WNBA players.

This year’s AEC game features the following top Boys & Girls from across the country: 

ACES® is a storytelling platform for athletes to authentically share their stories through products, brand collaborations and events. It was founded by former pro hooper turned CEO, Brian Kortovich, who joined the ranks of Kevin Durant and Dr. J, Joe “The Destroyer” Hammond, when he won a scoring title at Rucker Park in the summer of 2012. Since its inception, ACES has always been rooted into the heart of hoops culture, which continues this year as they spotlight some of the nation’s best high school basketball players. 

“ACES was born from the grassroots of basketball, earning its way into hoops cultural relevance by allowing athletes to tell their stories, augment their brands, while bringing local communities together through our annual events, such as the upcoming ACES Elite Classic (AEC), our annual High School All-American Games,” says Founder and CEO Brian Kortovich. AEC consistently attracts the top ranked high school players in the country to New York City and empowers them with a platform to showcase their talents  on a national level, organically share their stories and expand their opportunities. We look forward to building upon that tradition this year.”

Over the past few year’s, the ACES talent showcase has featured standout participants including UConn and SLAM 235 co-cover star Azzi Fudd and NCAA national champions in both Kansas’ Kyle Cuffe Jr and LSU’s Katie Poole. In the past, Jahvon “JQ” Quinerly from Alabama, Minnesota Timberwolves’ center Naz Reid, Orlando Magic’s PG Cole Anthony, Los Angeles Lakers’ forward Mo Bamba, Pelicans’ PG Jose Alvarado, Warriors’ SF Johnathan Kuminga, Charlotte Hornets’ SG James Bouknight, and the No. 3 pick by the Dallas Wings in this this year’s WNBA Draft, Villanova standout Maddie Siegrist—to name a few. 

The post Nation’s Best to Compete in the ACES Elite Classic in NYC on May 10 appeared first on SLAM.

The Langston Galloway Foundation and Five-Star Basketball are teaming up for an exclusive, fully-funded court renovation campaign, “Every Court Has a Story,” in partnership with Project Backboard and Local Hoops. One hooper from around the world will get the opportunity to make an impact in their community by having their home public court renovated.

Submissions are open now. To enter, share the story behind your favorite public basketball court on everycourt.local-hoops.com.

Five-Star Basketball is the renowned basketball camp that played a part in producing talents such as Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and hundreds of NBA standouts.

Once submissions close, the finalists will be chosen by Galloway, followed by a fan vote, to determine the overall winner. Project Backboard will work with your local municipality to execute the basketball court renovation, and together with Five-Star Basketball and Local Hoops, they’ll help celebrate the new court with an unveiling event in your community. 

The post Langston Galloway, Five Star Basketball and More Want to Renovate your Home Court Through New Campaign appeared first on SLAM.

“At that time my dream was already to make the NBA, so I was saying, hey that’s a Japanese guy playing in the NBA, I feel like I can do that too. I gotta go to work,” Watanabe tells SLAM.

Once time expired he picked up his basketball and went straight to work. He hasn’t looked back since. 

It’s been no secret that “Yutamania” has struck the Brooklyn Nets at their core this season. As of press time, the 6’8 forward is leading the League in three-point percentage, a scintillating 50.6 percent to be exact. From “Big Shot-anabe” to “Got-anabe” to “Yuta the Shootah”—Ian Eagle’s been having a whole lot of fun this year—Watanabe always seems to be in the right spot at the right time.

Sprinting to the deep corner on each possession and crashing the glass as the shot clock dwindles, the former G-League product has been a driving catalyst for the Net’s climb back toward the top of the East with his marksmanship and adhesive defensive presence. 

“It didn’t just happen over the summer or only this season, I’ve been putting in work since day one. It’s just slowly paying off now,” Watanabe says over Zoom from a downtown Phoenix hotel in mid-January. 

The career numbers aren’t just a factor of (formerly) sharing the court with KD, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons, but as Watanabe says, it’s the confidence they have in him that’s added fuel to his accuracy. Anytime he knocks down a trey, dives for a loose ball or strikes up a clean contest at the rim, there’s Kevin dapping him up, or Royce O’Neal smacking his head in approval. 

“The other reason I’m shooting well is because of them. They always support me, give me confidence, all kinds of stuff,” Watanabe says.

For an 18-year-old graduate from Jinsei Gakuen High School, Watanabe had to blaze his own path to the League. Spending a year at St. Thomas Moore led to a four-year career at George Washington University. From earning a two-way contract with the Grizzlies to suiting up in Toronto to having his contract with the Nets guaranteed in early January, Watanabe has left breadcrumbs in his wake for the next generation to follow.

Sift through any highlight of Yuta on YouTube, and we mean any, and you’ll find comments sprinkled throughout written in Japanese. The second-ever Japanese-born player to reach the Association has grown accustomed to being one of the firsts. From becoming the first Japanese player to earn a Division 1 scholarship at George Washington to having the best-selling NBA jersey in Japan two years running. 

The Nets were also the most-watched team on Japan’s NBA Rakuten streaming service through January. 2nd, up 83 percent from last season.

Droves of Japanese reporters have followed the dubbed “Chosen One” since he was 16 years old playing for the country’s national team. He’s always provided candor and grace. Expanding his time for questions more than once over so that publications thousands of miles away can report back as much information as possible about the 28-year-olds journey.

As just the second-ever Japanese-born player to play in the L, there’s rarely been a time when talk around Watanabe has fallen to a whisper. As such, the son of two former Japanese professional basketball players has long since been keen on his controllables. 

“There are a lot of things that I can’t control, but there are always things that I can control like my work ethic. Every day, that should never change no matter what,” Watanabe tells SLAM.

The effort he exudes on a daily basis has only begun to pay off on the biggest hardwood stage in the world. 

Dropping a season-high 20 points in Portland on a gloomy mid-November night, the following home game against the Memphis Grizzles would prove to be yet another defining moment in his budding career. 

Ending the third quarter up by three in their crisp white Basquiat-inspired City Edition jerseys, the Nets were shot out of a canon to start the fourth enacting an 18-5 run fueled by four threes from Watanabe against his former squad. 

Subbing out of the game to a standing ovation from the Barclays crowd, thousands of voices shouted his name in unison. A prototypical sporting gesture, but one Watanabe had never experienced until that fateful November night. 

“After the game they’re all standing up calling my name, that was something I never thought would happen. It was an emotional moment for me,” Watanabe says. 

Atop his NBA responsibilities, the weight of an entire nation’s hopes surrounding the sport rest, in part, on Watanabe’s shoulders. An ambassadorship he’s always been keen to foster; knowing his growth broadens the avenues for future hoopers. 

And with over 30,000 Japanese Nationals living throughout the five boroughs and beyond, you’d be hard-pressed to not find the culture’s immense impact. Case in point?  the Keio Academy of New York located in upper Purchase, Harrison. 

An overseas branch of Minato City’s Keio University, Yuta got to witness firsthand the impact he’s made as he ducked through the door frame of the main gym on the morning of November 28th.

Shaking each other in uncontrollable excitement while boasting permanent smiles strewn across the gym, the cheers of the boys and girls varsity teams grew louder with each cross-over, step-back three and throwdown. Oh no, Yuta didn’t take it easy on ‘em. “That’s something every NBA player has to do even when you’re going against even high school players, you gotta show them who we are,” Watanabe says with a laugh.

Rekindling his joy for the game, the eyes and expression of each player’s face mirrored the look etched onto an 8-year-old Watanabe when he watched Tabuse take the court on TV. Reminiscing back to a time when he shared their same hopes and dreams, Watanabe said to himself afterward, “Yeah when I was in high school I was like them. I was just enjoying basketball, always smiling. It was really amazing.”

But when he first expressed his NBA dreams and traveling to the States, jubilantly youthful Watanabe was laughed at, told his “dreams” were too far-fetched, unrealistic. It’s not like a path was clearly paved for Yuta to walk like the hundreds of US-born draft hopefuls each year. In the meantime, the work would have to do. And now that he’s here, he’s steadfast on broadening the avenue he’s strutted down thus far.

“I think it’s really important for me to keep inspiring them,” Watanabe said. “They don’t have to be me. I want them to dream bigger. I want them to feel like, ‘I wanna be Kevin Durant. I wanna be like Kyrie Irving.’ Just don’t be Yuta Watanabe. Dream bigger.”

But to be honest, being Yuta Watanabe sounds pretty great. 

Photo via Getty Images.

The post After Leading the League in Three-Point Percentage, Yuta Watanabe is Continuing to Blaze his Own Path 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.

The date was June 2, 2021. It was one of those “where were you when…” days for hoop fans across the globe. On that Wednesday, the world not only found out that the winningest coach in the history of college basketball was stepping away from the game for good after the following season, but also who would be taking over as Duke’s next men’s basketball head coach—the first time in over 40 seasons that the program would have someone not named Mike Krzyzewski at the helm.

For years, speculation around who would replace Coach K ran rampant. There were 2,000-word think pieces that broke down the list of suitors and aimed to predict this historic passing of the torch moment.

But when the day finally came, it was Jon Scheyer who was anointed as the chosen one. The former Duke guard, who was a McDonald’s All- American in 2006 before helping lead Duke to a national championship in 2010 (a season in which he led the Blue Devils in scoring with 18.2 points per game), has spent the past eight seasons as an assistant or associate head coach in Durham. He’s been a part of two of Duke’s five national titles—aside from the one he earned as a player, he also won a chip in 2015 as a coach.

In early October, we caught up with the new face of the program to discuss expectations, getting settled into his new role, hooping with alumni, tennis matches with the staff and so much more.  

SLAM: Being head coach at Duke must be a surreal experience. When did it start to feel real for you, and what was that “this is really happening” moment like?  

Jon Scheyer: I think back to when I got the phone call from [VP, Director of Athletics] Nina King telling me I was going to be the next Duke head men’s basketball coach. It was an incredible feeling, but I think the first time that it really felt real was the press conference that I had. Coach K had a press conference the day before, talking about his retirement and his plans. And then the next day, I had a press conference to announce I was going to be the next head coach. I walked out here and just seeing the crowd, seeing all the people that were there, it was pretty surreal, pretty special feeling, but that’s when it really felt real, like, this is happening.

SLAM: What was Day 1 on the job like for you? What was the order of tasks for that first day?

JS: Day 1, you’re trying to figure out, first and foremost, who you have coming back on the team, which for us this past year wasn’t many guys. So, hitting the ground recruiting-wise, but also figuring out who was coming back, because we had several players who had decisions to make, whether they were going to the NBA draft or whether they were coming back. And the second piece, which is happening simultaneously, is you’re figuring out your staff, and we’re really fortunate to have some great hires this offseason. There were discussions being had and timing, so both of those things were most important for me [on Day 1]. I always start with “who” before you think about “what,” and so getting the right people was really the biggest and most important thing that first day, and really for the first few months on the job. 

SLAM: What is the best piece of advice Coach K has given you during this transition period? 

JS: The best advice he’s given me is the same when he coached me when I was a player, but really on Day 1 when I found out I was getting the job, he just pulled me aside and said, Be yourself—know that I support you no matter what you do, how you handle yourself, what decisions you make, because he’s well aware that I’m not him, and if I try to be him, I wouldn’t be very successful. There’s only one Coach K, just as there is one Jon Scheyer. So, for me, the ability to be myself as a player here, it’s really been the same thing as a head coach—just to follow my instincts. I’ve been prepared for this, being alongside Coach K for a long time. I’ve worked for this. Really just trust yourself and trust your instincts. That’s something I promised myself I would do from Day 1 and I’ll always do that as long as I’m the head coach here. 

SLAM: Looking back on your playing days, what was your favorite moment or game while wearing a uniform at Duke?

JS: Probably the moment I’m most proud of is when we beat Baylor to go to the Final Four. We played a Baylor team that was really good—LaceDarius Dunn, Tweety Carter, Ekpe Udoh, Quincy Acy—they had a front line of 7-0, 6-10, 6-8. They were really, really good, and we beat them in Houston. It went down the stretch. We felt like once we won that game—you know, it took us three-and-a-half years to get to that point; we lost in the first round, we lost in the second round, we lost in the Sweet 16. So, for us, we were climbing a mountain. Once we beat them, I think all the pressure went away and we could just play. And we beat a really good West Virginia team in the Final Four, and we beat Butler in an incredible championship game. But for me, beating Baylor was a big-time win that I’ll never forget. 

SLAM: You were known as the “Jewish Jordan” back in high school—are there attributes that earned you that nickname back in the day that you hope you can now use as a head coach? 

JS: The thing that I’m most proud of when I played, [and] hopefully now it’s not going to change as a head coach, but for me I would say the determination to get back up. I lost many games, but each time I lost, I felt like I was getting back up to win the next one. I never felt defeated, I never felt like we were going into a game we couldn’t win. Whether that was in high school and we were playing Mike Conley and Greg Oden’s team or we were playing Kevin Durant in AAU, or whatever it was, I felt like we were going to win. That’s something I feel now as a head coach. We’re going to play in some tough games, but I believe we’re supposed to win regardless of the outcome of the last game or regardless of who we’re going to play the next game…I think the success I had in high school will show you that and also the path I took when I was a player here—proud of the ability to get up and fight and pursue championships, really. 

SLAM: Have your players seen some of your high school or college highlights? Are they aware of how nice you were? 

JS: I think they know. I’m not so sure if they know some of the stats. I do try to hit them with, I scored over 3,000 points in high school, just so you know. I think I got most of our players in that stat. [The] 52 points in a game. They end up YouTubeing me and they see the 21 points in 75 seconds, and they’ll usually talk to me about that, although it’s funny to me that that game is brought up more than any other game I’ve played, because we lost. I was heartbroken after that game. So, when it’s brought up to me, I kind of chuckle and laugh because I literally was a wreck after that game. But that’s usually the one they bring up and I’ll take it. At least I have YouTube. I could be like some of the other guys on the staff, and none of their highlights are on YouTube—I’m not gonna name names, but that is true [laughs].

SLAM: Whereas Coach K was much older, you’re still in your mid-30s. Do you get on the court with the guys and try to school them?

JS: Well, I don’t want to name names, but some of our NBA guys came back this summer. And I got out there and played some ones. I did win. It is on camera. I’m not going to name names, but I beat three of our guys. If they ever say anything bad about me, I’m going to put it out in the universe. But until then, I have to keep it a secret. I showed the film to our team. I think they were pretty impressed overall. But I may retire after those wins versus [the] NBA guys. 

SLAM: So, these were one-on-one games with NBA players?  

JS: One-on-one. Game to five. From the elbow. I’m just going to say, a couple of them are…you would know them. Let’s put it that way. You would know these guys. 

SLAM: Interesting. How similar or different can we expect th—

JS: Jayson Tatum [cough cough]. Sorry, what? Go ahead [laughs].

DUKE REP BEHIND THE CAMERA: Ask him one more time and he’ll definitely show you the footage!

SLAM: We definitely will after this interview.

JS: [laughs]

SLAM: How similar or different can we expect the style of play to be this upcoming season in comparison to how it was under Coach K? 

JS: It’s hard to say exactly what’s going to be different with the style of play. I think we have a different team, so we have to play differently. We don’t necessarily have a team where we’re throwing the ball in the post. We have some guards that can really play in pick-and-roll. We have an athletic team where we can get out in transition, but we definitely do want to play fast. Being a leader on the defensive end and pressuring the ball is important, but also protecting our basket. I can’t tell you exactly what the similarities are, and differences will be because there are some values I will always hold true to me that I learned here when I was a player. But, also, we have to continue to evolve and play to the strengths of our team. I think we have a very different group this year where we will play differently. 

SLAM: We saw you were playing tennis when we arrived on campus. You were telling us you picked it up for the first time this summer. 

JS: I’ve played tennis this offseason. I picked it up and the tennis coaches are nice enough to let me get out there. Now that the season is starting, that’s going to happen less and less. I’m not sure if I’ll even play during the season. For me, I’m big on getting outside, and fortunately we live in North Carolina and not in Chicago, where you can actually get outside in November and January and February. For me, playing tennis, going for walks, once in a while I’ll play a pick-up game—basketball—but those days are numbered for me. It’s mostly about getting outside, getting some fresh air, just getting my mind off of things. That’s been important for me to do. I’ll get outside here and there to make it happen. 

SLAM: Do you play doubles or singles?

JS: I play doubles. We have some staff games that we play. Jai Lucas is pretty good. Amile Jefferson is alright. I’m probably the second best on the staff next to Jai. We have some great competitions. Me and Jai are neck and neck, but he’s just barely above me—we have some battles. 

SLAM: Who’s usually your teammate?

JS: My teammate was Amile, but we go back and forth. I’ve never played with Jai because me and him are right there. But it’s Amile, Zach Marcus on our staff, Mike Schrage—those are some of the guys that have played with us. 

SLAM: Who would you say is your tennis player comparison?

JS: For me, I model my game after Rafael Nadal. That’s how I model my game [laughs]. I can’t even say that seriously. I do, though, I do. Yeah, Rafa for me. How he never gives up on a play. The games don’t go on long enough for me to rally back and forth, but I always try to get the point. I respect Rafa. He’s maybe the GOAT. Him and Roger [Federer] are my two favorites.    

SLAM: Some say Coach K is the GOAT. How are you dealing with all the expectations? Following him is no easy task. 

JS: I’ve learned in the short time I’ve been head coach that it’s important to take care of yourself, to have things that make you personally happy, where you get workouts, your mind is fresh, because how you are in a daily basis with your team, the person you [are], they can take on. 

As far as expectations go, nobody has higher expectations for this program than I do. I’m hard on myself. I always evaluate every single day what I could have done better, what I need to do to get better for the next day. And that will never change for me. I think when you are that way to yourself, it allows you to coach others honestly and with transparency, [with] toughness and with love. And that’s something we plan on doing. We know it’s not going to be smooth sailing. We know there’s going to be setbacks, but just staying laser focused at getting better, attacking each day and being present. I really think the expectations or the success we want to have will take care of itself. 

Photos by Matthew Coughlin.

The post Duke Men’s Basketball Head Coach Jon Scheyer Talks Advice from Coach K and Dealing with Expectations appeared first on SLAM.

Here’s what happened in the NBA and WNBA over the weekend. Let’s get it!

Draymond Green Gets Candid in Interview with Taylor Rooks

Draymond Green recently sat down with Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report. The Warriors legend dropped some revealing gems during their interview. Green admitted “the writings on the wall” when he was asked about leaving the Warriors as a free agent.

The two parties have had some incredible highs as four-time champs and a record-setting 2015-2016 regular, but the lows have been low during public spats with head coach Steve Kerr, Kevin Durant, and a controversial altercation with teammate Jordan Poole. When it comes to that infamous moment, Green said their relationship is “a work in progress,” and he’s willing to do the work because he was wrong.

He also said they “definitely moved forward” and that he’s “seen improvements day by day, week by week, month by month.”

TOMORROW pic.twitter.com/avHPFxt6MV

— Taylor Rooks (@TaylorRooks) January 13, 2023

Ja Morant’s Challenge to All Rim Protectors: ‘Jump with Me if You Want to Go Viral’

Do not get it confused; Ja Morant will never back down. The former No. 2 overall pick has posterized many a rim protector. Few, if any, were as impressive as Morant’s yam on Jalen Smith. The unbelievable slam was punctuated by Memphis winning their ninth straight game after beating Indiana, 130-112, on Sunday.

Postgame, Morant admitted his thunderous dunk was his best of the difficulty. Morant felt so good about it that he challenged all rim protectors to jump with him if they wanted to go viral.

“It’s what everybody has been waiting for. I finally made it.”

jump with me if you want to go viral https://t.co/3ESSiC3A1w

— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) January 15, 2023

Jonquel Jones is Headed to New York Via Blockbuster Trade

Jonquel Jones is on the move! The 2021 MVP was a part of a three-team deal that will send her to the New York Liberty, while Rebecca Allen and Natasha Howard will be sent to the Connecticut Sun and Dallas Wings, respectively. The Wings will also receive Liberty guard Crystal Dangerfield, Kayla Thornton will go to New York, and Ty Harris is headed to Connecticut.

Connecticut will also receive the No. 6 overall pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft.

JONQUEL TO BROOKLYN?!

Welcome to free agency @RachGall @Winsidr pic.twitter.com/PpZqvW1hgn

— WSLAM (@wslam) January 15, 2023

Nikola Jokic’s Game-Winner Sinks Orlando

Nikola Jokic delivered a stepback game-winner to sink the Orlando Magic 119-116. The back-to-back MVP posted 17 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists on 8-11 shooting from the field and 1-4 from beyond the arc.

“He stepped back, got the space, and just shot over the top,” teammate Aaron Gordon said per ESPN. “It was a beautiful shot.”

EVERY ANGLE OF NIKOLA JOKIC’S STEPBACK GAME-WINNER pic.twitter.com/007JQYDLas

— NBA (@NBA) January 16, 2023

LeBron James Inches Closer to History After Scoring 38,000 Career Points

The King is the second player to score 38,000 career points and is now 364 points away from breaking Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbarr’s career scoring record. James accomplished the historic feat after knocking down a three-pointer from the top of the arc. The four-time MVP posted 35 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists in the Lakers’ heartbreaking 113-112 loss to the 76ers.

LeBron tonight:

35 PTS
8 REB
10 AST

Only the second player in NBA history to score 38,000 career points pic.twitter.com/W7DvUvFB7s

— NBA (@NBA) January 16, 2023

The post Weekend Recap: LeBron James Makes History and Ja Morant Challenges All Rim-Protectors appeared first on SLAM.

Quickley had thrived as a starter this season, averaging 20.3 points, 5.3 assists, and 4.9 rebounds per game during his eight starts when he took over R.J. Barrett’s spot in the startling lineup while he recovered from a finger injury.

As a trade target, Quickley could serve as another capable scorer on a playoff contender like the Mavericks, who are looking for another player to help relieve Luka Doncic from all the scoring and playmaking duties he has to deal with. Quickley could be seen as an upgrade over Grayson Allen for the Bucks as a two-way combo guard that can shoot well.

The Wizards could use another guard that can spot start and play as a combo guard next to Bradley Beal on offense.

The Knicks are reportedly seeking first-round draft pick compensation in exchange for Quickley. They’re in the playoff picture with the seventh-best record in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, thanks to Quickley’s contributions as a starter and off the bench.

The former SEC player of the year is averaging 12.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game while shooting 41.7 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc.

The post REPORT: Bucks, Mavericks, and Wizards Are Interested in Trading for Immanuel Quickley appeared first on SLAM.

There’s optimism Durant will miss less time than he did with a six-week absence last season; a significant sigh of relief around the Nets and their MVP candidate. https://t.co/MrfAPtU90W

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 9, 2023

Kevin Durant will likely undergo MRI testing on his right knee on Monday, according to Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn (via Nick Friedell of ESPN).

Vaughn said Durant will likely get an MRI on Monday.

— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) January 9, 2023

Durant injured his knee late in the third quarter as Heat swingman Jimmy Butler drove to the rim and got his shot blocked by Nets point forward Ben Simmons. Butler fell back into KD’s knee, and the two-time Finals MVP stayed on the ground for a few moments before he remained in the game. The Nets called a timeout 30 seconds later as KD kept rubbing at the knee up and down the floor.

Durant went back to the locker room to get examined and didn’t return.

“He’s in good spirits as we all are,” Kyrie Irving said of Durant, per ESPN. “The strength of our team is us picking each other up. Just being ready for whatever’s thrown at us. I think one of the greatest qualities of our team is our bench and the way we support each other, despite who’s in the lineup. And now it’s time to go out and exemplify that until we find out the timeline with K and when he could be available again. So we just got to be mature about it.”

The injury couldn’t have happened at a worse time for Brooklyn. The Nets have won 18 of their past 20 games, going on a 12-game win streak that catapulted them into second place in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Brooklyn will have to rely on Irving and a next-man-up mentality to keep up their momentum and prevent a collapse like they suffered last year.

Nearly a year ago, Durant suffered a knee sprain on Jan. 15, 2022, that forced him out of action for close to two months. The Nets were 27-15 at the time and went 5-17 during his absence, including an 11-game losing streak. Brooklyn ultimately made the playoffs as a play-in team but got swept in the first round by the NBA Finals runner-up Boston Celtics.

KD has averaged 30 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game as he’s led the Nets back to the top of the Eastern Conference standings. It’ll be interesting to see how Brooklyn will survive his absence and how they play on learning from the lessons they learned during their collapse last year.

The post Nets Will Re-Evaluate Kevin Durant’s Knee in Two Weeks appeared first on SLAM.

They talked about one crucial detail: KD’s decision to walk back his offseason trade request and reiterate his commitment to playing with the Nets after the front office couldn’t find a suitable trade to move the former MVP. Since then, Brooklyn has taken over third place in the Eastern Conference playoff picture after reeling off a 12-game winning streak and winning 13 of their last 15 games.

During that same 15-game span, Brooklyn was no. 1 in offense (120.4 and no. 5 in defense (111.3). Durant averaged 29.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game on 59.5 percent shooting from the field and 38.9 percent from beyond the arc. Teammate and close friend Kyrie Irving put up 27.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game while shooting 51.7 percent from the field and 41.5 percent from beyond the arc.

The big-time production has led to Brooklyn becoming an Eastern Conference Finals contender, and the vibes around Barclays Center have been higher than ever. Durant told Friedell that he knew his teammates “enjoy grinding” and that he “had the faith” that his questions about the team practicing harder and paying attention to detail would be answered and that Brooklyn and his teammates understood those are his values as a player.

“I don’t even look at s— that way. My whole thing was like — are we, does the process matter to us? And that’s one thing I did know that people here enjoy, grinding. So that was the most important thing for me. Titles and stuff come with the process in which you — how you prepare. It was more so, “All right, are we going to practice harder? Are we going to pay more attention to detail?”

“Not just everybody else, all of us, me included. Is that going to be preached to us every day? I had the faith that that would happen because I voiced that throughout the summer as well. Even behind the scenes, like, “Yo, this is what I like to do. This is how I like to practice.” I’ve been saying that for the last couple years, so I figured at that point with me going through that, they understood what I value. That’s what I was hanging my hat on, the preparation side of it.”

Brooklyn and Durant will look to get back their winning ways when they play the New Orleans Pelicans (24-14) on the road.

The post Kevin Durant on Why He’s Confident Brooklyn Can be a Title Contender appeared first on SLAM.

The Nets have beaten the Hornets, Hawks, Pacers, Wizards, Raptors, Pistons, Warriors, Bucks, and the Cavs, 125-117 on Monday to continue a win-streak tied for the longest in the NBA this season. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving dropped 32 points apiece to outlast a monster 46-point effort from Darius Garland, who single-handedly brought the Cavs back after scoring 18 points in the fourth quarter.

However, Kai and KD responded to Garland’s onslaught by scoring a combined 21 points on 7-10 shooting, 3-5 from beyond the arc. Durant and Irving have scored 30 points in the same game five times this season, tied for the most such games with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

The All-Star duo’s big-time contributions have helped raise Brooklyn’s ceiling to the point they look like championship contenders again after 13 of their last 14 contests. As of Tuesday, Brooklyn is first in offense (120.1 offensive rating) and 10th in defense (111.9 defensive rating) in the previous 14 games.

“To be honest, we’ve always been about basketball,” said Durant, per ESPN. “The outside noise makes it seem like we don’t care about the game, but so many voices speak about our locker room who don’t have any idea what’s going on.

“We’ve always been about the game.”

The @BrooklynNets are in the midst of their longest winning streak since 2006

Peep the best play from all 9 games! pic.twitter.com/jLuPLlUdxi

— NBA (@NBA) December 27, 2022

The win streak coincided with Durant passing five-time champion Tim Duncan (26,496 points)after he dropped a 20-footer in the second quarter.

“At some point, you’ve got to be able to celebrate some small wins,” Durant said of overtaking Duncan. “To be able to pass a legend, it’s something I’ll call my folks about tonight. I know that I’ve got more to do.”

pic.twitter.com/K3OH3gez2F

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) December 27, 2022

Brooklyn has a chance to lengthen their streak with a Wednesday night contest against the Hawks on the road.

The post The Brooklyn Nets Are on Their Longest Win-Streak Since 2006 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.

The former first-round NBA draft pick has evolved from carving out a valuable 3-and-D wing to a versatile swiss army knife capable of scoring and defending in multiple ways. This season, Anunoby is averaging 18.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and an NBA-leading 2.4 steals per game on 47.4 percent shooting from the floor and 33.6 percent from beyond the arc.

NBA leaders in Matchup Difficulty (min 250 minutes):

1. Quentin Grimes
2. Dorian Finney-Smith
3. Jrue Holiday
4. Lu Dort
5. Jevon Carter
6. OG Anunoby
7. Herb Jones
8. Kevon Harris
9. Deni Avdija
10. Alex Caruso

These defenders guard the NBA’s elite most often.

Explainer Vid pic.twitter.com/Bojz552Kkq

— BBall Index (@The_BBall_Index) December 20, 2022

According to Lowe, if Anonoby gets traded, people around the League will be surprised that the return “might be on par almost with what the Cavs gave up for Donovan Mitchell.”

Anonoby’s two best offensive performances came in season-high 32-point efforts against Miami in Orlando. Defensively, he collected six steals in a win against the Atlanta Hawks. He’s held former MVP Kevin Durant to 2-6 shooting, Mitchell to 2-7 shooting, and Jimmy Butler to just one field goal with his unique blend of strength, size, and athleticism.

At his current level, Anonuby’s game represents the ideal example the Raptors or any NBA franchise seek, a two-way menace capable of locking down their matchups that can create turnovers and extra buckets and can get buckets in various ways.

For now, Anonuby will suit up with the Raptors (13-18) and look to break up their six-game losing streak with a win against the Knicks (17-13).

The post REPORT: the ‘Entire League’ is Looking to Add OG Anunoby appeared first on SLAM.

The two-time Finals MVP has everything a team could ask for out of a 7-footer. His footwork, speed, shooting, and even his aggression as an interior scorer and defender have helped his game improve significantly. Therefore, the Brooklyn Nets superstar believes his next step as a premier scorer is to take advantage of the different defensive coverages thrown at him, which he studies countless hours on.

“I never know how opposing teams are going to guard me, what schemes they’re going to throw at me,” said Durant after last night’s win over the Detroit Pistons. “Sometimes there’s some new stuff that I haven’t seen before. At this point, I’ve seen a lot of different coverages over the last couple of years. I’m trying to stay prepared for that. So that’s definitely how I can keep getting better; just reading the defense even more.”

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A post shared by Brooklyn Nets (@brooklynnets)

At 34-years-old, Durant has pushed back the clock in the last 10 games with glimpses of his 2014 MVP campaign. KD is averaging 32.9 points (second best) while shooting a whopping 63.6 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from beyond the arc.

In the win against the Pistons, Durant scored 43 points, to go along with the highest scoring total in a quarter of any player this season at 26 in the third. While the Pistons thought they had an answer for Durant, his knowledge of what the defense throws at him aided him in making the right reads.

“The full-court, they made some good adjustments; running guys at me and Kai [Kyrie Irving], and we had to make the right decision,” Durant said. “We generated some good looks. We’re still working on that: when teams run and jump us, what’s our alignment after that and how we’re gonna make plays after that? That’s more so what I’ve been focused on.” 

“I feel like those threes at the end of the third; they didn’t know what they wanted to do on their coverage. Whether they were gonna play in the drop, trap the ball, or just switch it. I felt like they were indecisive a bit, and I was able to get free on some of those three-pointers.”

Durant is at a state where he believes he can “predict” what the defense will throw at him, and if that isn’t scary enough, he claims his film study adjustment is to focus on the tendencies of his opponent’s method of scoring to ease his game at his end.

There’s nothing Durant hasn’t accomplished in his 16 years in the NBA, and for what it sounds like, he’s only aiming to solidify his spot as the greatest scorer of all time, a case that can already be made in favor of him.

The post How Kevin Durant Elevates His Game by Studying Coverages 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.

When he thinks about who he sought out for advice on how to reach their level of superstardom and legendary status, KD pointed out the game Kobe put him on to as an up-and-coming centerpiece on the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“Really, just don’t be a crybaby,” Durant said Wednesday, per ESPN. “I was at that age at 23 where I thought the world revolved around me. And I know we’ve talked a lot about Kobe; he was real humble in how he approached the game, how he approached his teammates, just life in general. So I learned just from watching his movements.

“He was an example; he didn’t say much, but he was an example just by how he moved, and I try to emulate; like I said, him and Mike are two dudes I emulate on and off the court what they do, and I know it will make me better.”

The subject and memories of the Black Mamba came up because Hornets head coach Steve Clifford compared th two former Finals MVPs to each other. He specifically called out how the two legendary hoopers are “very similar in terms of the way work,” how they’re “both students of the game,” and he’s noticed that Durant and Bryant are both passionate and “care deeply about the results more than they like individual numbers.”

When Durant heard about Cliffords’ analysis, he was appreciative.

“It’s hard to fill them shoes and be a Kobe Bryant,” Durant said. “But Kob is somebody I’ve been around and still study to this day. And basically, I just try to copy everything he does, same with Michael Jordan. Those two guys just set the tone for everything you want to be as a basketball player. So I just simply try to copy them as much as I can.”

Another Kobe disciple and a close friend and teammate of Durant also notice the similarities. Irving noticed the sacrifices Durant and Bryant made in the pursuit of greatness. Irving also reflected that for Bryant and Durant and players chasing greatness, there are similarities like “the hours that are put in,” as well as “the way that they prepare” and, of course, “how serious they take what they do.”

“And they’re very competitive, Kobe and KD. Obviously, with Kob transitioning in the last few years, he would definitely be giving us some gems to continue on, and you can tell that K got a lot of advice from him and watched him a lot.”

The post Kevin Durant Shares the Advice Kobe Bryant Gave Him appeared first on SLAM.

Durant had 29 points, eight assists, and nine rebounds, shooting 12-19 from the field. The majority of his buckets came from knocking down “middies,” his bread and butter, and jams (no pun intended). 

The SLAM 178 cover star spoke on the success of his two-man game with Irving. 

“Just gives us some versatility.”, Durant said per Yahoo. “He (Irving) can score at all three levels with legendary efficiency. They (Hornets) even put two guys on the ball; I can throw that (the ball) over the top; he can act as a big man, shoot that little middie and play in the pocket”.

Irving found and generated shots in the pick-and-roll en route to a 33-point, nine-dime, five-rebound, and four-block night. The seven-time All-Star was a walking highlight reel, finishing with several of his patented finishes.

The Durant x Irving show continues on Friday as the Nets take on the Hawks at Barclay’s.

The post Brooklyn Leaning on Two-Man Game and ‘Versatility’ of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving appeared first on SLAM.

He is the 7’2 Sudanese forward of the Magic, Bol Bol, who has revived his career in Orlando after three quiet seasons with the Denver Nuggets.

The 23-year-old currently averages 13.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.0 blocks, and is shooting 41.9 percent from three-point range. The leap in production from his years in Denver showcased Bol just needed the opportunity to prove his worth with as many minutes as possible, and Banchero is now front row to see his center blossom.

“Everyone talks about the Victor dude from France. I’m not trying to compare them, but Bol’s 7’2, shoots threes, brings it up the court, makes passes, and blocks shots,” Banchero said. “I feel like people kind of forget about him, but Bol’s a freak of nature.”

a career night for @BolBol

26 PTS • 12 REB • 3 BLK • 57% FG pic.twitter.com/qxsbE4Rz48

— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) November 17, 2022

The numbers Wembanyama usually puts up are just as impressive, but to do that on an NBA floor isn’t as easy as he makes it look overseas, even if the competition is more spirited.

Bol has put up these numbers against Kevin Durant, Julius Randle, and Karl-Anthony Towns, all of which are among the world’s best power forwards. One of his best performances this season was at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks, dropping 19 points (1-2 from beyond the arc), five rebounds, four blocks, and an 80 percent shooting clip from the field.

Wembanyama is capable of being the difference maker to a franchise’s title contention, but 29 other teams missed out on the similar products they could’ve received from Bol. If Bol continues to use his athletic abilities to his advantage, the League may evaluate a shift in the type of player teams are looking to develop.

The post Paolo Banchero: Bol Bol’s ‘a Freak of Nature’ Similar to Victor Wembanyama appeared first on SLAM.

The last time we caught up with the man behind the 7, the same one who founded the AND1 mixtapes, he was quarantining in Mexico and designing impactful social justice-inspired t-shirts that were worn by players around the NBA from inside the Bubble in Orlando. At the time, The Compound was located in the Bronx, but since its relocation to Kings County, it’s obvious that Set Free’s initial vision for the space has reached a different magnitude. He’s created a space entirely for artistic expression and curation, and nearly every square inch of the studio is, in his own words, a “living, breathing creative gallery,”—once you walk past the KG jersey, there’s even a custom Star Wars-inspired wallpaper of Luke Skywalker that reads, Meanwhile back at The Compound, the battle continues, and with Yoda saying, “Do or Do Not. There is No Try!”

As we walk throughout the studio, and past a room still in construction that Set Free reveals is going to become a recording studio—the space feels like a sneak peek into his mind, passions and interests, from the work of art to the sports memorabilia and vintage antiques. Hanging up on one wall are stunning, black-and-white portraits of the late-DMX and The Lox—Jadakiss has also been featured in a recent episode of DraftKings’ new The Starting Five series, which is filmed live in The Compound. In another corner of the room is a sophisticated-looking lounge area with microphones set up for podcasting, and a set of turntables on top of an antique, wooden chest—a nod to Set Free’s DJing days. Not too far away is an antique barber chair that looks like it’s from the early 1900s, down to the red leather and wood paneling. Wherever you turn, there’s something to marvel at. 

“A lot of art galleries, you can’t touch anything, you don’t feel like you are part of it,” Set Free later says while sitting inside his office. “I wanted The Compound to be this living, wall of art that you can be a part of and it inspires you to create.” 

The Starting Five series is filmed, specifically, in the living room-type area with plush, brown leather couches that are perfect for not only kicking back, but debating the game, music and culture. It’s here where Set Free has powerful conversations about basketball lifestyle with exclusive guests Jadakiss, former NBA star Baron Davis and streetball legend “Skip to My Lou.” In a recent episode where the Yonkers music artist discusses one of his most special albums, you might notice that sitting on a coffee table are an assortment of memorabilia—from magazines (including a copy of the SLAM Presents Warriors special issue) to action figures. 

When we stopped by The Compound in November, it appeared that Set Free had switched it up with works of art one could only imagine to see in person—from Kevin Durant’s KD10 signature kicks, which he wore when he won his first NBA championship in 2017 (a gift to Set Free from KD), to the AND1 mixtapes in their original yellow, blue, brown and fire-engine red cassette boxes. 

It’s one thing, though, to see the mixtapes in person, but it’s another to later hear from Set Free about how he thinks the game has evolved and is moving to its own beat. 

“I just love seeing the game evolve with the new generation of young stars. [With the griddy dance], I don’t think there was ever an NBA player that did a dance [like Ja Morant], [Stephen] Curry with the shimmy with the shoulders. It’s exciting, it’s like seeing two generations of the game being played. On one hand you got Ja Morant, Trae Young, Luka [Doncic], [Jayson] Tatum and [Jaylen] Brown and then you still have [James] Harden, [LeBron] James and Kawhi [Leonard]. Seeing these two worlds is incredible, and then with seeing the worlds you’re also seeing the connection. One of the things I say is, [when we were growing up], everybody in the NBA wore high top sneakers. Now all the guys are wearing these low cuts, and they look incredible. LeBron even took his sons to the Nike meeting to design a sneaker with him. So, you know, you’re seeing a generational culture clash that’s really exciting. I’m seeing Ja dunking over veterans and I’m like, Oh my goodness. But then I’m seeing LeBron dunking on kids, and it’s incredible. So, for me, just to see the older generation and the younger generation, with the music, fashion, with the style of play—it’s been one of the most exciting years I’ve seen in a while.”

When asked to describe the tempo of the game today, in relation to music, Set Free pauses and marvels at the thought. “Wow,” he whispers, later adding: “Creatively, intensely fast. It’s like some of the things I’m seeing, [I think when] Ja Morant went up [for a dunk], caught some contact in the air and changed it to a finger roll. … LeBron is still dunking like he’s in his twenties, Tatum is going crazy, Zion, when he’s playing, it’s very intense, creative and it’s fast.” 

Set Free isn’t just an admirer of how the game is being played, but the culture of the game as a whole. When asked who stands out to him style-wise in the tunnel, he doesn’t hesitate to name LeagueFits MVP Jordan Clarkson. “He’s a star. … He puts it together right. I don’t think it’s about the brands, he wears high end [brands] and pieces nobody knows. You don’t have to go to Paris anymore, just watch the beginning of Sportscenter.”

Other fashionable players around the League that he mentions include Jayson Tatum and James Harden, but when asked what he thinks about players walking the runway at New York and Paris Fashion Week, like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Set Free explains: “What happened is, [there] was a transition, though, from players sitting front row in Paris, and shoutouts to Virgil [Abloh], he kind of brought a lot of NBA players to his shows. The NBA players were always the model type—they’re thin, slim, tall, the exact build of a model—so it was just a transition from them sitting in the front row to being on stage now. I always thought it was coming.”

Nearly every answer from Set Free, whether it’s about basketball, fashion, and hip-hop, is woven together through the lens of a passionate admirer of the culture. “For me, music is a beat that always never changes. No matter the artists, it always does something the same way. Basketball is the only thing with a genre of music connected. So, when you say basketball, you say hip-hop. If you say golf, you don’t see music. Tennis, there’s no music [there]. But it’s always been this way [with basketball]. At one point it was Public Enemy that drove that beat and then Nas and Mobb Deep, it’s still this same connection to me from Drake to Rick Ross at one point, Lil Wayne and Cash Money at [another] point. 

“I mean, for me with the AND1 mixtape, it started with Common and Mos Def and Busta Rhymes, but now it’s 2Chainz, Lil Baby, J Cole but it’s still the same feeling now and which I’m happy about. Super happy about all the collaborations, the [DJ Khaled] album, NBA Youngboy, Griselda is one of my favorites. Of course, the legends of the Jadakiss’s and Cam’rons, and all the “babys”—Lil Baby, DaBaby, I’m baby-ied out, in a good way…It’s an exciting time in music [and] I love how the players embrace it. You know, you’ve seen them [wearing] in ear [headphones], over-ears coming through the tunnel, pregame, shootaround. You see them [mentioned] in lyrics, and even with the griddy-thing…I don’t think music is going to leave the NBA, hip-hop is so connected [with it]. At one time it was movie stars like Jack Nicholson, Bill Murray, but now those [courtside] seats are filled by Jay-Z, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne.” 

Just as the game is changing, Set Free and The Compound are also constantly evolving, too. As a self-declared “artistic, cluttered minimalist,” Set Free admits that when he first arrived at the space and it was empty, he could look at every blank wall and know exactly how many frames would fit. 

“[When I walked in] and saw it empty, I literally [knew] every block where everything fits. I stood in the middle, and was like, five paintings fit there, three fit there, six on that wall. If you’ve noticed, every space is almost full. I’m going crazy because I’m waiting on tables for that space. For me, it’s just art and math. Like that gray wall, ten frames is going to fit perfectly on that.” 

Like every artist, Set Free is rarely ever satisfied with the way things look in The Compound, and he’s constantly been moving and changing the layout around. But like every visionary, he sees an opportunity to create something new and innovative. That’s the future of The Compound. 

“It’s always evolving. But I think that’s what keeps it fun. Like, usually [with] the last Compound [space No. 1], maybe twice a year, definitely maybe once, I would take all those 10 frames down, put them back in storage and go get new art and put it in that sport to keep [it] refreshing.”

With his blessing, Set Free wraps up the interview by encouraging us to wander freely around the space and take it all in. To get close enough to really see every intricate detail of the art, the jerseys, the mixtapes and the NBA championship kicks. After all, The Compound is meant to capture all of your wildest, most creative curiosities.  

The post Inside the Creative Mind of Set Free Richardson and the 3rd Version of his Famed Creative Space—The Compound appeared first on SLAM.

On Monday, whatever KD saw from Orlando allowed him to post a season-high 45 points on 79 percent shooting from the field, 3-5 shooting from downtown, seven boards, five assists, two steals, and two blocks to lead Brooklyn to a 109-105 win over Orlando.

“I really don’t know. I really don’t know,” Durant said, per Fan Nation. “I had games where I shot incredible in warmups and had the worst shooting night that night. Mainly, if my mind is in the right place coming into the game as far as following the game plan, I felt that’s when I’m going to have a solid game. I’m just trying to stay locked in as far as what we are doing on the defensive side of the ball and try to stay locked in on how the coach wants to play the offense and the game flows naturally for me.”

No lies detected. pic.twitter.com/eoOp10Qe0E

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 29, 2022

Getting buckets is natural for the four-time scoring champ. This season, he’s score at least 30 in the last three games, and 11 times overall. However, his last two 37-point outings weren’t enough, Brooklyn dropped both games to the Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies. This time around, KD got some air support from Joe Harris (17 points) and Kyrie Irving (20 points), and the rest of the supporting cast got some time stops down the stretch.

“Just keep playing within the flow because respectfully, I feel like I’m always on. I feel like I always, even if I’m not making shots that night, I feel like my jumpshot is always sharp,” Durant said. “So I just got to see how the game has been played, see how the defense is being played, what my teammates are doing as well. It’s a lot to think about out there but it’s a fun mental game that I play.” 

Never ceases to amaze. pic.twitter.com/Mq7FPBY6sC

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 29, 2022

KD’s scoring outbursts never get old to watch. Irving said that he does his “best to still be in engaged but it’s hard not to just stare and just watch somebody that special and talented” when he see’s KD catch fire like he did on Monday. Head coach Jacque Vaughn said Durant put up an “unbelievable effort” and credited him his superstar forward for leading Brooklyn to a win that “took a lot out of him.”

Durant is averaging 29.3 points, 6.6 boards, 5.4 assists and 1.8 blocks per game on 54.8 percent shooting from the field and 34.6 from beyond the arc. He’s played the most total minutes in the League so far.in

The post Kevin Durant on His Season-High 45-Point Outing: ‘I Always Feel Like I’m on’ 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.

Joe Harris, a two-time three-point percentage leader, put it best when he said that Watanabe “definitely got a flamethrower right now. Watanabe’s getting the most out of his job as one of Brooklyn’s lowkey most dangerous long-distance marksmen due to Kevin Durant drawing attention as a premiere walking bucket and Ben Simmons pushing the tempo whenever he gets the ball in transition.

“Yeah, my shots are easy because of KD, Ben, those guys pushing the ball, giving me great passes,” Watanabe told The New York Post. “So I’ve got to appreciate them for giving me great passes. And my job is just make those open shots. So, I’m going to just keep shooting with confidence. I know I can do that.” 

On Sunday, the fifth-year small forward helped deliver Brooklyn’s 127-115 win over Memphis with 16 points on 4-6 shooting from deep, hitting all of his triples in the pivotal fourth quarter, and received a standing O from the Barclays Center faithful and received warm congratulations from KD.

Durant went on to say that the Nets “love his energy” and that “he’s playing great.”

“He’s playing great,” Durant said. “We love his energy. He’s hitting big shots for us. So you always get excited for your teammates, especially guys who come in and don’t necessarily have a guaranteed spot on the team but work their way into the rotation and put their imprint on the game from Day 1. 

“So I’m excited for him, and at this point, I think we should expect that he’ll go out there and play good basketball. I’m not saying he’s going to make every shot and shoot 70 percent from the floor for the rest of the year, but he’s playing solid ball on both ends of the floor. But we expect that from him now.” 

The 28-year-old has reached double-figures in a career-best four straight contests and is averaging 8.1 points per game on 60.9 percent shooting from the field and the aforementioned 57.1 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

The post Yuta Watanabe On Leading the NBA in Three-Point Shooting Accuracy appeared first on SLAM.

The former Duke Blue Devil scored 14 points on 5-12 shooting from the field (2-5 from beyond the arc) and grabbed four rebounds. He also finished the night with a +/- of +16. Postgame, Irving said “it felt good” to come back and play with his teammates after missing the last two weeks of action after he posted a controversial movie filled with antisemitic messaging.

“It felt good,” Irving said, per ESPN. “It felt good. I missed my teammates, missed the coaching staff. It felt good to get this game out of the way. Now we can move forward with the rest of the season.”

Defense Offense pic.twitter.com/xOUWOFLWAC

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 21, 2022

When Irving was asked about some of the outside noise coming into the game, including if he would file a grievance regarding his future, Irving said that he was “here to focus on the game” and that he would leave the matter of filing a grievance up to his legal team. Irving serves as a vice president on the players union’s leadership team.

Nets owner Joe Tsai suspended Irving for at least four games after Irving dismissed concerns that the film was anti-semitic, didn’t apologize, or clarify that he was against antisemitism. Irving apologized the same night Tsai suspended him. Tsai later drew criticism after multiple reports came out detailing the six requirements he needed to see Irving fill before he returned. He was further scrutinized when he said Irving “still has work to do.”

Former teammates Jaylen Brown and LeBron James labeled the requirements and comments as “alarming” and “excessive.” Brown later said that Tsia and society had more work to do, and James said that Irving “should be able to play” after he apologized.

That hangtime though pic.twitter.com/WVPH3fg7uL

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 21, 2022

Regarding the game itself, Irving’s teammates and coaches were happy to have the 30-year-old back on the court. Kevin Durant said the Nets “just want to keep stacking up good days, see what happens.”

“It’s always nice to just focus on the game,” Durant said. “We understand the circumstances around our game now. Our league is getting bigger; there’s so much attention on it, so every little thing might get blown up nowadays; so as much as we can just focus on playing ball and keep growing as a team, I think our fans can get behind that. I think you guys will get behind that as well. So we just want to keep stacking up good days, see what happens.”

Ben Simmons said Irving’s talent makes it “easy to play with him.”

“It’s Kyrie; he’s so talented,” Simmons said. “Obviously, he’s working on the handle again, trying to get a feel for the ball, but he’s so talented it’s easy to play with him.”

Brooklyn will be back in action on Tuesday when they play the 76ers on the road.

The post Kyrie Irving Set to ‘Move Forward’ From 8-Game Suspension appeared first on SLAM.

The former No. 1 overall pick out of LSU nearly dropped a triple-double after scoring 15 points, grabbing 13 rebounds, and passing seven assists in 32 minutes of action. It was the kind of performance that led to Kevin Durant (35 points and eight rebounds on 13-22 shooting from the field and 1-4 shooting from beyond the arc) calling him “incredible” after his best performance of the young season.

“I’m just happy for him because he’s been trying to get his form back,” Durant said, per ESPN. “Trying to figure his rhythm out. Tonight I think he did a good job just talking up, commanding the offense, commanding the team on the defensive side of the ball. He was incredible tonight. So we’re going to keep building on that, and hopefully, we’re able to get this next one, but he controlled the game and was able to get us back into it.”

File this under things you love to see pic.twitter.com/4kYbg20tfZ

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 18, 2022

Simmons was already riding high after posting an 11/5/3 outing against the Kings. Just two days later, Simmons was able to follow that up by taking his game to another level as he attacked the rim frequently and showed no hesitation when the Blazers sent him to the line when they deployed a “Hack-a-Ben” strategy in the final minutes of their eventual loss.

Simmons went 3-4 from the line down the stretch and played at a level that the Nets were hopeful they’d get out of the gates when they traded for him at last season’s February trade deadline.

“I love those moments,” Simmons said. “I’m not going to shy away. That was their plan. Obviously, it didn’t work. We were able to convert a couple free throws, get some stops. Just keep building. I like those moments.”

Another KD/Ben connection pic.twitter.com/Ll7TTmdoNp

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 18, 2022

Head coach Jacque Vaughn said Simmons’ out was “very encouraging” after he played a season-high 32 minutes, the most he’s played in November. Vaughn also praised Simmons’ ability to guard Jusuf Nurkic and Damian Lillard and said that Brooklyn “envisioned him doing everything for us.” Vaughn attributed Simmons’ strong performance to “just feeling good” from missing the last five games due to a swollen left knee.

Simmons and the Nets will look to keep the good vibes going and win their third game in a row against the Grizzlies on Sunday.

“I’m coming,” Simmons said. “I’m getting there, man. It’s taking a little bit of time, but I got my own back. My teammates got my back, my coaches.”

The post Kevin Durant Calls Ben Simmons ‘Incredible’ After Season-High Outing appeared first on SLAM.

SGA wrote another chapter of his breakout season after hanging career-high 42 points, six rebounds, and seven assists on 14-22 shooting, including the game-winning three-pointer to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder over the Washington Wizards 121-120. The former Kentucky Wildcat scored 11 points over the final minutes of the game.

“Those are shots I’m comfortable shooting,” Gilgeous-Alexander said, per ESPN. “I found a sweet spot, and really just take what they give me.”

The Thunder delivers a thrilling 15-point comeback win over the Wizards, capped off by a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander game winner!

Watch more | https://t.co/FQqDnVhTHN pic.twitter.com/pZFmDYHMep

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 17, 2022

SGA became the third player in franchise history to score at least 35 points in three straight games after dropping back-to-back 37-point outings against the Knicks and Celtics. Franchise legends Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant did it four times and once, respectively.

“He’s very crafty,” Bradley Beal said. “He probably doesn’t blow you away with his speed — When you’re confident in yourself, and you’re playing at those levels, he doesn’t think anybody can guard him. He really has that mindset that he attacks everybody. We should have started fouling (him) and put him on the ground, do something to alter him.’

Shai’s caption >>> pic.twitter.com/RmR87qhDAR

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) November 17, 2022

He’s also been playing stellar defense, ranking fourth in the League in steals (1.9 per game) and 12th in blocks (1.4 per game). Before the stunning win against the Wizards, SGA led a half-court defense that ranked seventh in the League, per Cleaning the Glass and is 3.3 points per 100 half-court plays better with SGA on the court than without him.

They also force more turnovers more frequently than all but three teams, with an 8.5 steal rating and the fourth-best ranking (15.8) scoring points off turnovers.

rockstar. pic.twitter.com/1YDJtEtnvq

— LeagueFits (@leaguefits) November 16, 2022

SGA and the Thunder (7-8) look to build off their latest win with a road game against the Memphis Grizzlies (9-6).

The post Shai Gilgeous-Alexander On His Game-Winner: ‘Just Take What They Give Me’ 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.

Westbrook had 14 points, 12 assists, and six rebounds off the bench en route to the win. Westbrook’s time on the floor included a timely block in isolation defense on Durant near the end of the first quarter, and he forced a key Durant turnover in the fourth quarter.

KD dropped 31 points, nine boards, and seven dimes in defeat. After the game, Durant praised his former teammate, particularly Brodie’s defensive effort.

“He’s just going to hack me the whole time. He’s been doing that shit since we were 18-19,” Durant said. “But more than anything, to see the role Russ is playing right now, he’s just affecting the game in so many different ways. 12 assists tonight, four turnovers, 14 points. He came in there and put his imprint on the game, so it’s fun playing against him regardless of what setting it is. It’s always been like that between us.” 

Russ and the Slim Reaper spent eight seasons playing together as the building blocks for the OKC Thunder. They were in contention for a championship for much of their stretch together, and in the six seasons since their breakup, they’ve both gone on to have even more success and add to their Hall of Fame careers. 

The Lakers snapped a five game losing skid with their win on Sunday night and moved to 3-10 on the season, the second-worst record in the Western Conference. The Nets were surging entering the game, but they now fall to 6-8 on the season. 

Both teams have a long break this week. The Lakers do not play again until Friday night against the Detroit Pistons. The Nets continue their road trip on Thursday night against the Portland Trail Blazers. 

The post Kevin Durant Praises Russell Westbrook for Imposing His Will in New Role appeared first on SLAM.

“Kevin clearly will have many opportunities to be associated with NBA teams and organizations, staying around the game his whole life,” said Kleiman. “I hope I do as well. And I hope that the business we’re building puts us in a position one day to be able to have an opportunity to buy into an NBA team – I think that at whatever level we were able to do it, being hands-on with an organization is also what’s really appealing. I’d love to be able to operate as a CEO of an NBA organization, and I’m sure Kevin would love to be able to have a hand in building, from a player and operational standpoint, being able to build a roster. But I think that that’s everyone’s dream right now in some capacity in our world.”

Kleiman notably mentioned Dwayne Wade, a part owner of the Utah Jazz, as someone to use as a blueprint for owning an NBA team in the near future with the Nets star. 

“I think if LeBron is able to get into Vegas and then you see D-Wade in Utah, I think that only probably opens up the runway even more so for Kevin having an opportunity to do that,” said Kleiman.

If this can become a reality in the future, there’s no doubt Durant and Kleiman will be ready with the experience they are getting now as part owners elsewhere. The duo currently holds stakes with the Philadelphia Union, a Major League Pickleball team, and NJ/NY Gotham FC.

The post Kevin Durant Wants ‘Opportunity to’ Own An NBA Team with Rich Kleiman appeared first on SLAM.

From the slow 4-6 record to start the season to their decision to part ways with former coach Steve Nash and now dealing with the suspension/backlash following Kyrie Irving’s controversial social media posting of a film with anti-Semitic messaging, the Nets are in desperate need of some good news right now.

Lucky for Nets fans, they just may have gotten some much-needed sunlight. In a recent report per The New York Post, All-Star guard Ben Simmon’s injury status has been changed from “out” to “available” for tonight’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.

According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, Simmons said he “feels great” and will play a limited amount of about 20 minutes tonight against Luka Doncic and the Mavs.

Simmons has missed the Nets’ last four games with a sore left knee and did not travel with the team on their recent road games in Charlotte or Washington. Luckily for Simmons and the Nets, it does not seem like the knee was a severe danger. The MRI came back clean and revealed some swelling that Simmons had drained.

With Irving suspended, for the time being, this Dallas game seems like the perfect opportunity for Simmons to maybe take over and play a point-forward role as he did with the Philadelphia 76ers. We all know how special and gifted a player Simmons can be with the ball in his hands, and with Kevin Durant (who has been on an absolute tear as of late) on the wing, the two could make an unstoppable 1-2 combo.

It will be exciting to see how interim coach Jacque Vaughn utilizes Simmons tonight in this matchup. Doncic has been scorching hot in every game he has played this year. Doncic comes into this Nets game averaging 36.0 points per game, 8.8 rebounds, and 8.6 assists.

It will take a lot to slow this Maverick’s team down; however, the Nets are riding a two-game win streak, so hopefully, we will see some of the recently developed momentum carry over into tonight.

The post Ben Simmons ‘Feels Great’ and Plans to Play Against Dallas After Missing Four Games Due to Knee Soreness appeared first on SLAM.

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Irving said he was “deeply sorry” to “all Jewish families and communities that are hurt and affected” in his post. He went on to say that he “initially reacted of emotion” because he thought he was “unjustly” being labeled as an anti-Semite for posting about the film that’s drawn a great deal of ire from plenty of figures in and out of the NBA universe.

Irving said that he wanted “to clarify and confusion on where” he stands by “apologizing for posting the documentary without context and a factual explanation outlining the specific beliefs in the documentary” he stood with or against. Kai concluded the statement by saying he “had no intentions” of disrespecting “any Jewish cultural history regarding the Holocaust or perpetuate any hate.”

Sean Marks says Kyrie’s apology last night was a good first step but the organization wants him to take some more steps — including meeting with Jewish leaders — before playing for the Nets again.

Marks said the organization never considered releasing Kyrie.

— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) November 4, 2022

Nets GM Sean Marks said in a statement released Friday morning that Irving’s apology was a good first step, but the franchise still wants him to take more steps, like meeting with Jewish leaders, before he can play with the Nets again. Marks clarified that the Nets had no intention of releasing Irving due to the controversy. Kevin Durant said he hasn’t spoken with Irving since his suspension but has “trust in the organization to do what’s right.”

What did KD think of Kyrie’s conduct this week?

“I ain’t here to judge nobody … I just didn’t like anything that went on. I feel like it was all unnecessary. I feel like we could have kept playing basketball and kept quiet as an organization. I just don’t like none of it.”

— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) November 4, 2022

The post Kyrie Irving Says He’s ‘Deeply Sorry’ For Posting Controversial Documentary appeared first on SLAM.

Nash spent two full seasons with the team and reached the playoffs on both occasions, one of which featured a classic seven game series against the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021.

This season, the Nets’ elite scoring duo of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant returned after several speculations of them leaving circulated during the off-season. Then there’s the return of a healthy Ben Simmons, who had not played last season due to reported mental health concerns and severe back pain.

After news had broke out that the Nets had fired Nash, Nash took to Twitter to release a statement thanking ownership and the fanbase for putting trust in him to lead the group. Read his latest statement below.

The Nets have reportedly decided to have interim head coach Jacque Vaughn lead tonight’s game against the Chicago Bulls.

The post ‘Thank You, Brooklyn’: Read Steve Nash’s Statement After Nets Departure appeared first on SLAM.

He coached 161 games in total, going 94-67 with a 58.4 percent win percentage. Jacque Vaughn has reportedly been named interim head coach.

Nash’s tenure in Brooklyn featured a pair of playoff appearances but they never advanced further than the second round. The Nets were swept in the first round against the Boston Celtics last season. Since Kevin Durant’s return, the team has constantly been projected as title favorites but they repeatedly fell short of expectations. 

Nash’s time as head coach was filled with some difficult situations, including Kyrie Irving’s injuries and vaccination status, Ben Simmons’ on-court status, and a trade demand from James Harden, and most recently, Durant’s own reported trade demand this offseason. 

As the team looks to turn around their season and set themselves back on track for contention, their first opportunity to perform in the post-Nash era will be tonight against the Chicago Bulls. 

The post REPORT: Brooklyn Nets and Steve Nash Agree to Part Ways appeared first on SLAM.

The Nets are 1-5 as of Monday, losing four straight to the Grizzlies, Bucks, Mavericks, and Pacers. Brooklyn’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks came in overtime after Ben Simmons forced a turnover and dished the ball to Kevin Durant, who subsequently took off from below the free-throw line to tie the game up with a few ticks left in regulation. The Nets ultimately lost after the Mavericks outscored them 17-13.

“That had some good players and have been playing together for a while so they had some camaraderie that we’re trying to get and six games into the season, our best basketball is ahead of us for sure.”

— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) October 31, 2022

When Morris was asked about Brooklyn’s slow start, the former Kansas Jayhawk was dismissive and said that “things aren’t bad.

“We lost a basketball game. I think that we have to realize that six games into the season with a brand new team — Indiana was a bad loss because they just really out-played us, but the games before that we against some good teams —”

Morris also went on to talk about how their prior losses came against teams that have built more chemistry and equity amongst their teammates.

“That had some good players and have been playing together for a while, so they had some camaraderie that we’re trying to get, and six games into the season, our best basketball is ahead of us for sure.”

What is holding Brooklyn back is the circumstances surrounding why the Nets haven’t played together. Durant and Kyrie Irving have played 50 games together after becoming teammates in 2019 due to injuries and Brooklyn deciding not to play Irving while he was unvaccinated against COVID-19. There still waiting for Seth Curry to come back. Joe Harris is acclimating after missing most of last season while healing from a surgically repaired ankle.

The Nets will have a chance to break their losing streak when they host the Pacers on Monday.

The post Markieff Morris Dismisses Brooklyn’s Slow Start: ‘Best Basketball is Ahead of Us for Sure’ appeared first on SLAM.

The injury happened in Charlotte and started a wild string of injuries for the Nets.

Before Dinwiddie was injured, numerous trade rumors were swirling around involving Dinwiddie and eventual-now-former Net James Harden. If Dinwiddie had not gotten hurt, then there is a huge chance he might have been involved in a trade deal for Harden. Had Dinwiddie stayed in Brooklyn, he would have played a significant role as the primary point guard because of the vaccination rules situation with Kyrie Irving.

Due to the injury, Dinwiddie was traded as part of a 5-team sign-and-trade that dealt him to the Washington Wizards.

Let it fly pic.twitter.com/W3U2W50lL6

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) October 26, 2022

Dinwiddie was always a media favorite during his time as a Net. After the Maverick’s win against the Nets Thursday night, Dinwiddie was asked if he ever thought about how his career would look if his time in Brooklyn never ended on an ACL tear.

“I don’t know if the trade still happens or not or if I’m in it,” Dinwiddie said per The Athletic. “Regardless of whether it happens or not, I believe the Nets are a championship team. Just because if you look how close that team was, we were steamrolling people before I got hurt. Even if they make the trade and I’m in it, that means they probably get to keep one of Caris (LeVert) or Jarrett (Allen), which obviously really would have been needed. Or I’m not in it; it means I’m still here, and I’m with Harden. So either way you slice it, all three of those scenarios, the team probably wins the championship.”

The Nets would definitely benefit from an energetic rim protector like Jarrett Allen right now, who has emerged as an All-Star center since signing a five-year deal worth $100 million with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Though Nets coach Steve Nash said a while ago, he wasn’t sure the team would have been able to offer Allen the five-year, $100 million contract he got from the Cavs. Ironically since all this, Allen and Caris LeVert have reunited and are once again on this year’s Cavs squad.

One thing is for sure; both guys are currently making huge differences for their respective teams. It is still early in the season, so there is still a ton of optimism for Net’s fans that the team will be able to turn things around. The team, without question, has enough talent to make a deep playoff run with a lineup headlined by Irving, Kevin Durant, Patty Mills, and Ben Simmons.

Just need to give them some time and let the chemistry develop because they still have a long season ahead.

The post Spencer Dinwiddie Opens Up About Getting Traded After His Knee Injury appeared first on SLAM.

Bane has dropped back-to-back thirty-point games, tallying 31 points (and six rebounds and four assists) against the Kings and 38 points (and seven assists) against the Nets. In his past two games, the TCU product has shot 73.9 percent from three.

“Shots are falling,” Bane said, per ESPN. “Early on, I was getting similar looks, and now I kind of got my legs under me, and (now) they’re falling.”

Grizzlies Coach Taylor Jenkins described Bane’s “great two-game performance.”

“He’s been playing great all season — I think his defense was really good as well — When he’s in that zone, he’s hard to stop.”

In his third season with the Grizzlies, Bane is averaging 22.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 5.6 assists on 46.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Last season, the guard averaged 18.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists during his second year in the League. Bane continues to grow into a lethal two-way player, keeping the Grizzlies rolling and putting the League on notice.

“Back-to-back performances show you how good he is,” Morant said. “I don’t feel like I’ve got to say it when you can see it.”

Bane looks to go back-to-back-to-back as the 3-1 Grizzlies take on the 4-1 Jazz tomorrow night.

The post Ja Morant: Back-to-Back 30-Point Outings ‘Show How Good’ Desmond Bane Is appeared first on SLAM.

Doncic’s final stat line for the night was 41 points on 50 percent shooting (14/28) to go along with 11 rebounds, 14 assists, and three steals to help the Dallas Mavericks secure a 129-125 win.

“We’re just trying to do the best we can to make his job a lot easier out there on the floor when he gives the ball up, and the only way you can do that is knock down shots and take them with confidence and make a play,” said Tim Hardaway Jr. postgame, per ESPN.

Mavericks Maxi Kleber also went on to add to what Hardaway said, stating,

“Obviously, Luka is probably the best guy to make tough shots and make shots when they count, but he also knows when to make the right basketball plays,” Kleber said. “And especially when we came into overtime, they were like really aggressive with him, and he made the right play, I don’t know, three or four times in a row. We just got hot and made all those shots.”

Doncic’s 40-point triple-double performance was also one for the history books, as he now becomes the 10th player in NBA History with three or more 40-point triple-doubles.

The list includes many impressive names, such as NBA Legends Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Oscar Robertson, and The King LeBron James. This recent outing adds to what has been such a stellar start to the 2022-2023 season for Doncic, as he has put up over thirty points in each one of the four Mavericks games so far.

The Mavericks’ record currently sits at 2-2, placing them as the 10th seed in the Western Conference.

Although it is still very early into the new NBA season, we would not put it past Doncic to definitely continue to play at such a high level. Only time will tell if Doncic can sustain this level of play and carry it on to the playoffs later down the road; for now, let’s just appreciate the nightly magic we witness.

The post Luka Doncic Becomes The 10th Player In NBA History With Three or More 40-Point Triple Doubles appeared first on SLAM.

During Brooklyn’s loss to the Bucks, 110-99, Kyrie Irving took that message to another level while defending his teammate.

he’s improvising out there pic.twitter.com/bRoImkSLgv

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) October 22, 2022

When Irving sliced through the lane and set Simmons up for a layup deep in the paint, Simmons instead passed the ball back to Kevin Durant, who was standing behind the three-point line. On-court mics caught Irving saying, “shoot it, Ben!” Postgame, Irving elaborated on his plea for Simmons to shoot the ball at that moment.

“When I passed it to him, I felt like he had a layup at the rim,” Irving said, per ESPN. “And I looked him eye to eye, and I was like, “Shoot it, Ben!” And, of course, again, it’s just a clip. It’s a full game that we can look at and dissect, and that’s what I’ll do. This is a big-picture thing. We want Ben to be aggressive every single play, we want him to get an assist every single play, we want him to rebound, we want him to play against the best player, we want him to do all the things we know he’s capable of, but at this time he’s going to have to work himself into his own confidence and feel good about himself.”

“I’m not going to say I’m being patient or humble about it, but the reality is that we’re just going to keep having to try this experiment every single night until we get the right recipe.”

this ball movement pic.twitter.com/9cGvWCrCUM

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) October 25, 2022

The season is young, but Simmons is still trying to reestablish his rhythm after missing a year and a half of basketball while he refused to play for Philly while dealing with mental health issues. When he was traded, Simmons missed the rest of the regular season and Brooklyn’s first-round loss due to a back injury that ultimately required surgery.

So far, Simmons is averaging 5.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 7.5 assists per game on 45.0 percent shooting from the field. The three-time All-Star has fouled out of two of the four games he’s played and is averaging 3.3 turnovers during the 29.5 minutes he plays per game.

Although the Nets sit at 1-3, Irving and the rest of his teammates reiterate that Simmons and Brooklyn will have better days. Coach Steve Nash said Simmons “is a huge piece of the team” and that the Nets will have to “support him and keep working with him” as they build up his confidence and help him regain his rhythm.

“I just think like, if we’re going to come in and be honest as a team, I’m not trying to just be critical over what Ben’s done right or done wrong every single night,” Irving said. “He’s a basketball player; he’s a professional; he has the skills to be a great professional; he’s done it in the past. And he hasn’t played in two years. So you guys keep coming in here asking me, ‘What about Ben?’ ‘What about Ben?’ and it’s just he hasn’t played in two years. Give him a f—ing chance.”

backdoor delivery pic.twitter.com/RCgaWThUKi

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) October 25, 2022

Irving further defended Simmons when he said that they “stay on him” and that as Simmons continues to hoop and gets back into the groove of things, “we’re going to really have to jell as a team in order to learn how to win as a group.” He also said that no one will be asked to “go out there and be Superman.”

Simmons said he was “more comfortable” on the court after each game. Simmons was also transparent about feeling “a little hesitant” after he “got hit and tweaked” his back.

“I think each game I feel more comfortable,” Simmons said. “I think once I got hit and tweaked my back a little bit, I was a little hesitant after that, as you guys could probably see, but I definitely feel like in each game, I’m progressing a little bit in terms of my physicality and aggression.”

The post Kyrie Irving Urges Patience With Ben Simmons: ‘This Is A Big Picture Thing’ appeared first on SLAM.

Morant doesn’t remind Durant of any other player.

“He’s a unique player. A lot of athleticism and creativity out there. Body type reminds you of somebody like—well, he’s taller than A.I. [Allen Iverson], but a wiry, strong player — but he’s an incredible player, man,” Durant said per Bleacher Report.

The Murray State product lived up to Durant’s pregame praise with 38 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, and two steals in a 134-124 Memphis win. Morant, Durant, Desmond Bane, and Kyrie Irving combined to score 150 points on 62 percent shooting from the field.

At just 23-years-old, Morant has the rest of the NBA on watch.

A 2022 All-Star and the NBA’s Most Improved Player, the guard led the Grizzlies to second in the Western Conference last season. Morant has averaged 35.3 points, 7.0 assists, and 4.3 rebounds this season while leading the Grizzlies to a 3-1 start. Memphis ousted the Nets, Houston Rockets, and New York Knicks but fell to Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.

Durant’s teammate Ben Simmons spoke on 12 before their Monday night match-up. The duel between Simmons and Morant ended late in the fourth quarter after the 2022 All-Star baited Simmons into fouling out as the Grizzlies inbounded the ball.

“He is an incredible athlete — He pushes the pace, gets his team going, shares the ball. He’s relentless at the rim.”

The Morant magic continues Thursday Night versus the Sacramento Kings.

The post Kevin Durant Calls Ja Morant ‘The Face of Our League Going Forward’ appeared first on SLAM.

The Heat seemed like the clear landing spot for Mitchell as NBA fans believed they had enough assets to send the Utah Jazz in exchange for the shooting guard. A deal like that would have pushed the Heat toward favorited championship odds, especially considering Mitchell and Adebayo’s chemistry at the Miami Pro League over the summer. Mitchell and Adebayo were also seen working out with one another throughout the offseason

“I said this to somebody, I was like, ‘Man, I’m working out with Bam [Adebayo] and others, and I’m thinking like, ‘This is just preparing. This is what it’s going to look like.'” Mitchell said on J.J Redick’s “Old Man and the Three Podcast.”

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Adebayo wasn’t the only player in the Heat roster that would spark rumors of Mitchell joining the Heat. Jimmy Butler had spent the second week of his off-season with Mitchell at a restaurant in Miami for basketball media influencer Chris Brickley’s birthday

In that same late June period, rival Kevin Durant had requested a trade from his team and the NBA world believed Heat President Pat Riley would pull the trigger for the future Hall of Famer.

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The Heat ended up standing pat during the off-season, but they extended Tyler Herro to a four-year deal worth $130 million. Though securing the young star bodes well for the Heat, the East has gotten much more competitive, especially with Mitchell making the Cavs a potential top-five seed in the conference.

Cleaveland’s future success rides on the play of Mitchell, Darius Garland, and Evan Mobley in order to consider the Cavs the winners of the trade. As for Miami, the team’s lack of trades and signings puts pressure on them to succeed at the same rate they did last season. If this season goes any worse, the question arises of why the Heat didn’t make the effort of making the Butler, Adebayo, and Mitchell big three.

The post Donovan Mitchell Touches On Working Out With Bam Adebayo Over the Summer appeared first on SLAM.

After missing last season with a broken foot, Williamson joined a revamped Pelicans core to wipe out the Brooklyn Nets in a 130-108 blowout. Williamson scored 25 points and pulled down nine rebounds, three assists, and four steals in 30 minutes of action. The all-around performance gives fans a real sense of how dominant he was in his return. However, Williamson says he had just “a decent starter performance.”  

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After the game, Williamson said, “It’s a lot of room for improvement. I’m still learning my teammates. Now we get real in-game reps. I’m just excited to grow.”

Looking at Williamson’s stats from the last time he played, Williamson has reason to believe his outstanding performance was not on par with his standard performances. He went an efficient 11-22 from the floor, slightly down from his career 60.4 percent field goal shooting. His teammates and Coach Willie Green weren’t so rigid with their praise. 

Coach Willie Green said it was like Williamson “didn’t miss a beat.” Fellow All-Star teammate Brandon Ingram said he “picked up where he left off.”

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Even his opponents were impressed with his seamless return to play.

“He looked healthy to me,” Kevin Durant said. “He looked good. Got up 22 shots, nine rebounds, 25 points. At this point, it’s just typical for him.”

Williamson has been dominant since the moment he stepped on an NBA floor. Everyone and we mean everyone, will be watching and waiting for his dominance to continue. 

The post Zion Williamson Calls First Game Back ‘a Decent Starter Performance’ appeared first on SLAM.

He also called his close friend “one of the greatest to ever do it,” while adding that he thinks Durant “not only in me but himself.”

“When Kev made that request, I feel like we got better,” Irving told Charania per Stadium. “Afterwards. Not initially, but now where we are now, I feel like we can honestly say we got better with the principles that are needed for success. Without going through some test in the summertime or during the season, we wouldn’t be able to be as close and bonded as we are now.”

Part 2 of Kyrie Irving on @Stadium: “I’m going for every piece of hardware that I could possibly get out of the NBA.” On the Nets post-KD trade request, his team bonding event, admitting “I don’t think it was my time to ask for a trade” with Cavs, Uncle Drew, meaning of A11Even. pic.twitter.com/TI4IKfOBEs

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 19, 2022

KD and Kai have played just 44 games together since they first joined forces together in Brooklyn during the 2019 offseason. The All-Star duo have been unavailable due to injuries, load management, and Irving’s decision not to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Irving also touched on the importance of organizing team outings and ensuring everyone spends time with each other during the season.

“It makes a big difference when you spend time with your coworkers when you spend time with your teammates, and you spend time with those that are going to be along the journey,” Irving said. “It’s a long f—ing journey, man.”

Building chemistry on and off the court will help the Nets integrate new players like Ben Simmons and Royce O’Neale.

Irving also told Charania about some of his career regrets, including how “the NBA business” is conducted. Irving specifically pointed out how things went down when he requested a trade out of Cleaveland following their second Finals loss to the Warriors in 2017, “there were a lot of things that happened in the business that I didn’t understand.”

“When I asked for a trade from Cleveland, the one thing that I look back on is: Did I exhaust as many opportunities to get closer to guys when I felt some type of difference? There was a lot of things that happened in the business that I didn’t understand,” he said. “Asking for a trade — I don’t think it was my time to ask for a trade. And especially to go to Boston, who was No. 2 or No. 1 in our conference; it’s just right down the street. I’m grateful that I had my time there because it was one of the most historical franchises that, again, I did not know the power of our industry.

“When I reflect on it, at 30 years old I can say I understand the business better, I understand the way that roles work, and if anybody can sit here honestly and say they messed up, it was me. Because if I’m saying that it is family-run and relationship-run, then while I was in these situations, I didn’t handle all of those relationships as I would have wanted.”

Nets’ Kyrie Irving sits down with @Stadium: “I got a chance to catch my son, this was the second time we did natural home birth. I was the doula. My wife is a warrior.” Also: Relationship with dad and beliefs, mental health, opt-in, revealing severity of ’21 ankle injury, more. pic.twitter.com/lGxQWdEtDu

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 18, 2022

The Nets open the season against the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday.

The post Kyrie Irving: Nets ‘Got Better’ After Kevin Durant’s Trade Request appeared first on SLAM.

At age 21, the Cavaliers coaching staff has noticed the improvement each time around in practice for Mobley, which is what led assistant coach Greg Buckner to expect his young star center’s jersey to be hung up in the rafters when it’s said and done.

“He has the skill level to be a Hall of Famer,” Buckner told cleveland.com. “I tell him, ‘I want to remind you every day that when you get finished with this game, you are going to be a Hall of Famer and if you’re not, you let your body down, you didn’t reach your full potential.”

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In his rookie season, Mobley, along with All-Star Darius Garland, led the Cavs to a 44-38 record, a winning mark they hadn’t been done since LeBron James was in Cleveland in 2018. The 7 footer was scoring effectively last season, averaging 15 points and shooting over 50 percent from the field. Still, head coach J.B Bickerstaff sees Mobley reliability on other areas of the floor.

“He has the ability to be a superstar without being the leading scorer,” said Bickerstaff. “…Very few superstars, which he’s going to work his way to be, can be that type of player without dominating the ball on the offensive end of the floor. We believe he has the ability, and we’ll get there.”

Mobley, who was All-Rookie First Team last season, even had the chance to train with Kevin Durant this summer.

“This offseason when I got in the gym, I was really focused on what I needed to work on for the upcoming season,” Mobley said. “Every single rep was very intentional…He [Durant] would go at me, and I would go at him. We were just working on our games. He told me that he liked my game. It challenges you.”

With superstar Donovan Mitchell coming over to the Land, high expectations ride the shoes of Mobley and Garland to keep the same level of play they had last season. If Mobley is any better than he was last season, they’ll likely be the team to beat in the East.

Photo via Getty Images.

The post Cavaliers Coaching Staff See Hall of Fame Potential in Evan Mobley 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.

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.

The root of the problem stems from injury and his COVID-19 vaccination status as the world opened back up from lockdown. In his three campaigns for the Nets, Irving has averaged 27.1 points per game, 6.0 assists per game, and 4.7 rebounds per game, but he’s only played 103 out of a possible 246 games. 

After tense deliberation with Nets management this summer, Irving opted into the final year of his contract and is set to possibly play his last season in Brooklyn. Due to Irving’s mysterious nature and unpredictable availability, rumors have been building for quite some time that Irving is prepared to retire after this upcoming season.

However, Irving put those rumors to rest on Monday after ESPN’s Mark Friedell asked how much longer he’d like to play. 

“I’m never going to stop playing. You hear me? Get that — I am never going to stop playing. This is not even a debate. It’s not a consideration,” Irving said. 

Irving will be an unrestricted free agent after this season and is free to play wherever he wants, but it appears retirement is not an option, at least not for the foreseeable future. Irving and KD are looking to improve on a disappointing 2021-2022 season, and that’s where Irving’s focus will remain, not with his post-playing career.

The Brooklyn Nets season begins on October 19 at 7:30 PM against the New Orleans Pelicans.   

Photo via Getty Images.

The post Kyrie Irving Refutes All Retirement Rumors: ‘I’m Never Going to Stop Playing’ 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.

Simmons was shipped from the Philadelphia 76ers to Brooklyn at the trade deadline of last season for James Harden. The basketball world erupted as the big 3 of Harden, Irving, and Durant couldn’t bring the Nets their first championship in franchise history.

When Simmons rolled into town, high expectations were still set on the Nets, and eyes laid on him to make a significant impact defensively. His back-to-back All-Defensive team selections and a fifth-place finish in steals (1.6) for the 2020-2021 season produced a case for it.

However, the Nets got swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics, and Simmons did not play a single game last season, leading to a rash of media backlash and rumors of their superstar players leaving over the summer. The team is still intact now, and Coach Steve Nash believes ‘patience’ will bring Simmons back into the All-star play he had in Philadelphia.

“He (Simmons) is an incredibly talented and unique player,” said Nash. “But he’s not going to be at his best in the short term, and he’s just got to continue to slog through this period of returning to play and getting his confidence, timing and rhythm back.”

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That ‘best’ as Nash mentions, won’t require much scoring from Simmons. The Nets seem to be hopeful that the elite scoring of Durant and Irving would alleviate the pressure off Simmons from shooting jump shots, but Durant would like to see Simmons take as many shots to not only find a shooting stroke but also regain that confidence around the rim.

“Just trust in him. Pass him the ball when he’s open,” said Durant. “When Ben is aggressive and gets downhill and looks for everybody and then puts the ball in the rim, it’s going to be a plus for our team.”

Nash may preach how patience will tell the story of Simmons’ start in Brooklyn, but if Simmons still struggles to shoot, Nash already has a backup plan to remain a top-tier team in the East.

Simmons has been linked to the possibility of playing center this season, which would be an upgrade to the squad considering the position is getting smaller across the League and requires much more skills than rebounding. Simmons would indeed find success throughout the season because of his playmaking and defensive intangibles, but it’ll be up to Nash to make Simmons an effective scorer that’ll once again submit the team as title favorites.

The post Steve Nash Reveals Plan to Help Ben Simmons Back to All-Star Form 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.

“I love playing the 5,” said Simmons. “I don’t mind.”

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Simmons has been one of the more controversial players in the League over the past year. In his six years with the Philadelphia 76ers, The three-time All-Star showed promise to be an elite two-way player. Defensively he had shown his capabilities, like in 2020 when he led the League in steals with 2.1 a game and a career defensive rating average of 105.3, better than LeBron James (103.8) and multiple-time Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert (103.5).

The struggle for Simmons has been at the offensive end, especially in big moments. The Sixers formed the duo of Simmons and Joel Embiid in hopes of achieving multiple championships with their all-around talent. While Embiid has seemed to improve in every facet, Simmons was scrutinized for not taking jump shots and a lack of aggression at times.

With misses at the line and outside of 15 feet from the basket, teams like the 2019 Toronto Raptors and the 2021 Atlanta Hawks would figure out a way to take Simmons out of the equation. Though the series went to seven games in each series, Simmons looked out of sync offensively that he’d pass up open layups.

Fast forward to the 2022 trade deadline, Simmons was traded to the Nets, with Brooklyn hoping the transaction would lead to the Nets winning a championship with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. A back injury season kept him sidelined for the rest of the year and resulted in an early playoff exit for the Nets.

Doubts raised through the roof, but Coach Steve Nash managed to keep his core together and has even made promises to improvise the offense around Simmons, letting it be known that he doesn’t care if Simmons “ever shoots a jump shot.”

Simmons may have the defensive prowess to play the five, but the team looks to implement an offense that makes him valuable, even if that means he takes more shots from the perimeter.

The post Ben Simmons Doesn’t Mind Playing New Position: ‘I Love Playing the 5’ appeared first on SLAM.

When Markieff Morris joined the team this summer, the Philly-bred forward seemed determMorris’ instill some grit and grind into Brooklyn’s DNA. Last season, Morris averaged 10.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game on 44.6 percent shooting from the field and 34.1 percent from beyond the arc. Morris is healthy and ready to go after suffering a season-ending neck injury against the Nuggets 17 games into the season.

Morris has already developed a reputation as an enforcer in the League. He will look to reprise the role on the veteran-laden Nets led by Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Ben Simmons. They all have something to prove after a mediocre season that saw the team fall short of its championship aspirations and a dramatic offseason full of trade demands and ultimatums.

“Yeah, I agree with what [Kevin Durant] said,” Morris said Tuesday at Nets training camp. “They were soft, just point-blank period. When we played up against them, they were soft. Just go right in their chest. That’s what we did.”

"Just go out there and play hard, knock somebody on the ground. Kick them in their ass, see if they’ll get up. Then you’ll know.”@Keefmorris on the @BrooklynNets https://t.co/gRAXqkVTFH

— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) September 27, 2022

Morris believes that the solution resides in the Nets playing hard and physically.

“Just go out there and play hard, knock somebody on the ground. Kick them in their ass, see if they’ll get up. Then you’ll know.”

Morris and the Nets will have a chance to test Morris’ theory out once the Nets start their season on Oct. 19 against the New Orleans Pelicans.

The post Markieff Morris Believes the Nets Need to ‘Knock Somebody on the Ground’ appeared first on SLAM.

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.

The post Kevin Durant on Staying with the Nets: ‘You’re Not Just Going to Give Me Away’ appeared first on SLAM.

Simmons continued to say that he has been playing pickup with teammates Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving all week and that those two look “incredible”. This new trio of Irving, Simmons, and Durant will be a Big Three that will be on everyone’s radar to watch this season, whether you are a fan or an opponent. All three players contribute unique skills and abilities that are just spiritual performances waiting to be witnessed.

Simmons is not the only Net eager to start the new season; Kyrie Irving also shared his thoughts on Simmons as well as a personal goal of his.

“It’s not too often that you get to see a 6’10” guy do the things he does,” Irving said about Simmons per Nets beat reporter, Erik Slater. “What I’ve been able to observe is just his resolve and his resiliency. He wants it.”

Irving’s encouraging words should give a considerable boost to Simmons after what was a very chippy ending to his time with the Philadephia 76ers and a rough start dealing with injuries when joining the Nets last season.

This just shows that Irving is also making good on his goal to want to help provide a sound support system that everyone on the team can thrive within. This Nets team has the talent to make a deep playoff run and has a chance to win the 2023 NBA championship, but it remains to be seen if this Big 3 can mesh together as a unit that can lead the Nets on and off the court.

With opening night just around the corner, the suspense and anticipation are growing on what will be a very exciting season for Brooklyn.

The post Ben Simmons ‘Ready to Go’ After Getting Cleared to Play appeared first on SLAM.

"Hearing Kev's trade request, I opt in…it's awkward. It's very awkward."

Kyrie Irving says his decision to come back to the Nets was "the best one for me" pic.twitter.com/LJHjIHIQBP

— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) September 26, 2022

During this year’s Media Day sessions leading up to the 2022-23 season, Irving outright called the offseason a “clusterf***k” and that “it was just a lot” to decide to opt-in to the final year of his contract while his close friend and teammate Kevin Durant reportedly demanded to be traded from the Nets before ultimately coming to an agreement with Joe Tsai and Sean Marks that he would stay in Brooklyn.

Kyrie: “It was just a lot: I opt in. Then hearing Kevin want to be traded. It’s awkward. Im sitting at home, I dont know what to think of it. But… I just ultimately want to see him do well & be happy. If that wasn’t w/ in our organization I was gonna have to accept that.” #Nets

— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) September 26, 2022

The former Duke Blue Devil said that he didn’t appreciate the “stigma” surrounding him due to his vaccine status and that he and the Nets were supposed to figure out how his being unvaccinated would impact his contract extension before last season. Since they didn’t, Irving missed out on a four-year contract worth $160 million due to his decision to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19.

“I felt like I was forced with an ultimatum whether or not I had a contract or whether or not I could be on a team or be around the team (depended) on whether or not I was vaccinated. So tough conversations, and we both left out of there with respect.”

Kyrie: “There was a level of uncertainty of what this was going to look like of me coming back and I had questions. They were answered truthfully and that’s all I needed….I gave up four years $160 million deciding to be unvaccinated and that was the decision.”

— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) September 26, 2022

When asked about leaving Brooklyn, Irving confirmed that he had options but “not many” due to his vaccine status. Heading into a contract year and at the young age of 30, Irving will have to prove heading into the season as he looks to negate any narratives questioning his injury history, desire to play, etc. Brooklyn opens up the preseason against Miami on Oct. 3 and the regular-season against the Pelicans on Oct. 19.

The post Kyrie Irving On His ‘Clusterf**k Offseason: ‘It Was Just A Lot’ appeared first on SLAM.

The former No. 1 overall pick of the 2016 draft had not played in an NBA game since June 20, 2021, when the Philadelphia 76ers lost Game 7 against the Atlanta Hawks, 103-96. Following the tough loss, Simmons agreed that he should’ve “punched” the dunk opportunity he had while being guarded by Trae Young.

He also believes that he was thrown under the bus by Coach Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid and spoke about his former teammates’ desire to see him over the offseason in Los Angeles, explicitly saying that they had a chance to see him all summer but no one took advantage of the opportunity.

“It came to a point when after that series getting — the people you’re supposed to getting support from, comfort from, and I wasn’t getting that either. So, It was taking a toll on me, it killed me, like fuck, no energy from anything, I was in a dark place,” Simmons said to JJ Redick, his former teammate and host of the Old Man and the Three Podcast.

“First thing for me, I got to identify — I got to get right. It’s not a physical thing. It’s mentally. And I think that to acknowledge that was a big step for me. Okay, I need to address this. I need help in these areas. Being able to do that has gotten me to where I am now. I’m in a great place, and I feel comfortable talking about it now. Those were some dark days for me. And especially because it was all public which is crazy.”

The tension between Simmons and Philly ultimately broke down to a months-long separation and suspension that led to Philly eventually trading Simmons to Brooklyn at the trade deadline. Although Simmons found a new home in Brooklyn, he still loves the City of Brotherly Love. 

“Philly is obviously a sports city. My experience playing there was incredible.” Simmons said on an appearance on his former teammate, JJ Redick’s, podcast. “For the most part, it was incredible. I had a great time. The fans were unbelievable. I still have an apartment there, so I do own some real estate in Philadelphia still. So I feel like I’m part of Philly still.”

Simmons averaged 15.9 points per game, 8.1 rebounds per game, 7.7 assists, and 1.7 steals per game during his time in Philly. He also made four All-Star teams, earned an All-NBA and two All-Defensive team nods, and led the NBA in steals in 2020. The two-way dynamo also took some time to speak with JJ Redick about his transition to Brooklyn.

“Being in Brooklyn now, it’s completely different,” Simmons said. It’s a different experience for me. I value that time I spent in Philly. I was able to learn and grow in that city. And I got friends for life there. My brother lives there. I got family there. Philly’s great. I think people have a thought that I hate it.” 

Simmons also spoke out about the continuous narrative around his jump shot. The former LSU Tiger chooses to focus on the fact that he’s guarding the opponent’s best play instead of the fact that his jumper isn’t as big of a tool in his bag as others want it to be.

“After a while, It’s just so repetitive,” Simmons said. You’re hearing it all the time from everybody. F***ing hell. Get off my case. I do other stuff, too, like I’m guarding the best player! I don’t think people respect that enough. what I am bringing to the court because there’s a lot of shit I’m bringing to the court! And for me, I just want to win.”

Simmons has the chance to open a new chapter in his career as he starts to gear up to play alongside Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and the rest of his Brooklyn Nets teammates.

The post Ben Simmons Speaks On His ‘Incredible’ Time Playing With the 76ers appeared first on SLAM.

The Miami Heat come off a 53-29 record that earned them first place in a loaded Eastern Conference. Their championship dynamic seemed to have shined all post-season long as they knocked off the Atlanta Hawks and the Philadelphia 76ers.

In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Vincent scored 17 points to go along with three blocks, helping Miami rally to a 118-107 victory over the Boston Celtics. Vincent’s production took a slight decline for the next few games as Miami ended up finding themselves down 3-2 in the series.

The back-and-forth bout left for a critical Game 6 in Boston’s roaring TD Garden. Players and fans around the league had already written off the Heat before the pivotal game, as Draymond Green boldly said that the Warriors were prepared to face Boston in the NBA Finals.

The confident statement from Green sparked Jimmy Butler to go off for 47 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists to force a series-deciding Game 7.

The Heat had fought through Game 7, even when trailing by 15 with three minutes to go in the fourth quarter. It came down to a transition three attempt from the top of the break by Butler that, had he made it, would’ve punched Miami’s ticket back to the NBA Finals. However, the ball went off the rim and landed in the hands of Boston, allowing them to ice the game and have a date with the Warriors.

That miss started the off-season of the Heat, and there were many rumors about everyone not named Jimmy Butler or Bam Adebayo. PJ Tucker joined the 76ers while Max Strus, Tyler Herro, and Kyle Lowry were linked to trade talks for big-name superstars around the League like Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving or now-Cleveland Cavalier Donovan Mitchell.

The summer of rumors had worn off, and the Miami Heat kept most of their pieces together. Miami will be on the short list of Eastern Conference Finals threats that can make it out of the conference and into the Finals.

The post Gabe Vincent: Miami Has ‘What It Takes to Get Back to the NBA Finals’ appeared first on SLAM.

Anthony, who played last season with the Los Angeles Lakers, averaged 13.3 points per game on 44.1 percent shooting from the field. The ten-time NBA All-Star has been linked to multiple teams in the past few weeks, like the Brooklyn Nets and the Denver Nuggets. Melo was recently linked to the Boston Celtics after Danilo Gallinari suffered a Torn ACL. 

One of Melo's filthier go-to moves back when he was in Denver SHEESH #STAYME7O pic.twitter.com/PlO0XQldf5

— CTRL the Narrative (@ctrlnarrative) September 12, 2022

According to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, the possibility of the Celtics signing the veteran is gaining “traction.” The Brooklyn Nets have also been a potential suitor. In fact, Kevin Durant has wanted Anthony to be a Net for quite some time now. As hinted by Brian Lewis of the New York Post, “If they (Nets) wanted to appease Durant, they could bring in Carmelo Anthony, a move he’s wanted them to make.”

Howard is another player who has made a name for himself in the NBA that remains a free agent. Howard, similar to Anthony, played for the Lakers last season. He averaged 6.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game on a stellar 61.2 percent shooting from the field. The veteran is still a great addition to have for teams around the association, particularly ones that are looking for a rim protector. 

The former Defensive Player of the Year told Bally Sports’ Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson that he would be interested in joining the Brooklyn Nets, a team in need of more size at the center position.

Dwight Howard’s name has been mentioned in blogs recently as a potential Brooklyn Nets off-season signee.

I asked him if he had any interest in the Nets. His response to @BallySports was: “Yes I am.”

“Would love that.”

Howard’s an NBA Champ & an eight time All-Star. pic.twitter.com/OV0VelA5Nq

— Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson (@ScoopB) July 27, 2022

Griffin, a six-time NBA All-Star, also finds himself without a team with a new NBA season a month away. The 33-year-old played for the Brooklyn Nets last year and averaged a career-low of 6.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game on 42.5 percent shooting. Griffin also played a career low of 17.1 minutes per game.

The chances of the former Oklahoma Sooner returning to the Nets is unlikely, but being a solid piece off the bench for another squad is something that can be seen in Griffin’s future.

Training camp is set to begin on Sept 24.

The post Carmelo Anthony Amongst Three All-Stars Still On the Free Agent Market 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.

The post Draymond Green Inducted Into Michigan State’s Athletic Hall Of Fame appeared first on SLAM.

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.

During a Sports Illustrated podcast interview, Curry said that the 2022 Finals win “hits different,” especially after the Warriors went from being a lottery time and just missing the playoffs in 2021 to returning to the playoffs and winning the whole damn thing after beating the Nuggets, Grizzlies, and Mavericks on the way to besting the Boston Celtics in six games.

The fourth title was significant and the process to getting back on top of the NBA mountaintop was so meaningful that it was only natural that Curry shed tears on the court as the final seconds ticked off the game clock and the Warriors have crowned champions for the fourth time in eight years.

“You don’t find me ugly crying on the court for no reason,” Curry said. “That raw emotion that came out after Game 6 kind of signaled how much this meant to me, how much this meant to our team.

“The first one, you don’t really know what you’re doing until you accomplish it, and then you’re celebrating. The next two were kind of validation, trying to remain champions. But after these last three years and winning that one, definitely the most special.”

When Curry was asked if he would rather have the 2022 championship or the back-to-back Finals wins he got with Kevin Durant in 2017 and 2018, he responded that he would take his 2022 “all day, every day.”

The statement is further validated when you realize Curry was able to erase any notion that he can’t dominate an NBA Finals after he won his first Finals MVP while putting up 31.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game on 48.7 percent shooting from the field and 43.7 percent from beyond the arc.

“No, I want this one,” Curry said. “No, give me this one, all day, every day.”

Curry and the Warriors will look to start their championship reign with an opening night win over the Lakers on the same night they receive their NBA Finals rings.

The post Stephen Curry Believes 2022 Championship is More Meaningful appeared first on SLAM.

Looking right down the barrel of the lens, Kevin Durant had a big smile across his face while filming an episode of his podcast. 

“The 15 is the best in the line,” he said with his smile still widening. “I ain’t just saying that because they’re new and I want you to buy ’em and I’m gonna shamelessly plug to buy my KD15s, but these are the best ones.”

That’s a big statement. That’s saying they’re better than the 4s, a pair that started off with the dramatically beautiful “Nerf” colorway back in 2011 and has now become the consensus top pair of Slims. And that’s now overlooking the 7, the 8 and the 9, all of which were incredible performance silhouettes, joints that felt damn near perfectly tuned for on-court action. And he’s also saying that the 12, 13 and 14, models that became wildly popular in both the NBA and the WNBA, can’t hold up to this newest silhouette. Big statement, indeed, KD. 

If there’s one who can make a claim to the best pair of KDs ever, it’s the namesake. He’s been there the entire time, and the man now only trails Mike and Bron for the most Nike Basketball signature sneakers. He knows what he’s talking about. 

The word “nerd” has had a bad reputation for a long time. But a through line can be drawn from “nerd” to “passionate.” We’re all nerds for what we love, obsessively daydreaming about any way to access the devotion at all times. Durant loves basketball. He’s one of the biggest basketball nerds on the planet. He studies it, he looks for ways to improve and he applies his findings. Man’s a hoops scientist, a nerd so passionate that he became one of the best basketball players ever. His nerdy tendencies have bled over to his footwear with the Swoosh. He’s tried a whole lot of experiments in these 15 years. Highs, lows, mids, forefoot straps, Flywire uppers, Flyknit uppers, leathers, suedes, Zoom, Cushlon, Air bubbles. All that data has led him to this milestone sneaker, the 15th in his line and his favorite out of all of them. 

He went on to say in that podcast that the 15 isn’t too big, it isn’t too small. It’s just the perfect mix of everything he’s learned during all of this time. 

“Inspiration was pulled from KD personally,” Risa Beck, Footwear Creative Designer at Nike, says about the 15. “He wanted to emulate the serenity that you feel when you’re next to the ocean and the ocean waves. You can start to see how that influenced the form language. And the other aspect of it was of course referencing old Nike Basketball retro models and modernizing them for KD and his line.”

Along with the KD4, Durant, Beck and Ben Nethongkome, the lead designer on the 15, looked at the Nike Air Jet Flight, a sneaker from 2001 that, among other NBA guards, Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash used to play in. Durant told Nethongkome that he wanted to get lighter and lower. He’d spent the last four years in highs and mids. But the complicated part for Nethongkome is how much the Nets rely on KD. Not only does he play mad minutes, but they need him to create for others, clog the paint on defensive rotations and also hit for 25-plus a night. That’s asking a lot out of a low. 

With the foundational idea set, and with clues picked up from the Jet Flight and the KD4, Nethongkome and his team knew what they needed. They accomplished their task by starting with a full-length Air Zoom Strobel unit that they stitched right to the upper, which is made with a lightweight mesh, an evolution from the 14, but with reduced layers. The exterior heel counter was 3D-molded, the midfoot cage was injected with TPU, a common plastic material used on basketball kicks, and the traction pattern was created from scratch. It all had to work together perfectly because Durant has standards that are equaled by almost nobody. 

“He was really engaged and involved throughout the whole process,” Beck says. “We were especially working with him to make sure that the heel containment system and the underfoot feel was tuned for him.” 

“KD is very involved in the creation of his footwear, really making sure that he’s able to perform from beginning to the end of a game,” Kreig Hozalski, a Footwear Tech Developer at Nike, adds. “We saw in his [playoffs] performance last year that he played every second, from beginning to end of [Game 7 against the Bucks] and into overtime. We really wanted to make sure that he could stay fresh throughout. We really took that inspiration to the 15 to make sure that he has that ride and performance underfoot that he’s able to stay contained and very efficient to last.”

The 15 absolutely has got to last because Durant’s now 33, with more than 40,000 minutes played in his NBA career. No matter what team he suits up for during Year 16, he’ll continue to be tasked with doing damn near everything on the floor. These later stages of his Hall of Fame journey have revealed his willingness and capability to dish, his improved ballhandling and his commitment to rebounding. And all of the unfair scoring abilities he’s always had have hit some type of new plane. That right arm of his is a stainless steel sword, forged sharply through his scientific expeditions. He knows every angle of the floor and can attack from anywhere, wielding his weapon with efficiency that the League has almost never seen. His peers have described him as unfazed, as a cheat code. He’s really just one of the biggest basketball nerds on the planet. 

Photos via Getty Images.

The post The Inspiration Behind Kevin Durant’s Milestone Sneaker, the KD15s appeared first on SLAM.

New York Knicks guard RJ Barrett is finalizing a four-year rookie extension that could be worth up to $120 million, his agent Bill Duffy of @BDA_Sports + @WME_Sports told ESPN, complicating the franchise’s offseason trade pursuit of Utah Jazz All-Star Donovan Mitchell. pic.twitter.com/6KkGm4ch8o

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 30, 2022

Barrett is the Knicks’ first draft to agree to a multi-year extension after his rookie deal since Charlie Ward in 1990, ending a remarkable 23-year drought for New York. The agreement also muddies the water of a possible trade to acquire Donovan Mitchell. Barrett’s new deal includes a poison pill provision that would force the Jazz and Knicks to switch up any trade package significantly.

At this point, New York is the primary suitor for Mitchell. Utah is set for a rebuild after moving Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves this summer. The former Duke star’s involvement in trade negotiations was why his extension deal took so long to be discussed.

Knicks president of basketball ops Leon Rose reportedly set a Monday night deadline with Utah to reach a Mitchell-Knicks trade agreement; otherwise, New York would commit to extending Barrett, according to Woj. Woj reported that Jazz-Knicks trade negotiations heated up on deal points that included Barrett in the package tightened over the weekend and into Monday.

However, there was still a divide on a Mitchell trade per Woj. Once the Knicks and Jazz exhausted their options on Monday, Rose and Barret’s agent, Bill Duffy, began to finalize the extension deal that players from the 2019 draft class were eligible to sign.

Barrett averaged 20 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game on 40.8 percent shooting from the field and 34.2 percent from downtown. Barrett is one of only five players to amass 3,000 points, 1,000 boards, and 200 made triples before his 22nd birthday, joining Kobe Bryant, Luka Doncic, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James in the exclusive club.

Barrett was the centerpiece of several negotiated trade packages between New York and Utah, but there were hurdles about the amount of unprotected first-round picks that would be included in the deal and whether or not Quentin Grimes would be involved in the agreement. Any deal that didn’t include Barrett would mean New York had to offer more future draft picks to sweeten the deal.

Once the Knicks were adamant about signing Barrett to an extension, reality set in that New York’s front office would have a much more difficult path in acquiring Mitchell. But that doesn’t mean New York and Utah have ruled out restarting negotiations at some point. Talks could begin before the start of training camp per Woj. Of the 179 players to have a poison pill provision in their contract, only one, Devin Harris, was traded.

In the case of a trade, the poison pill is computed with a formula that would put the Knicks’ outgoing salary for a Barrett trade at $10.9 million but require the incoming compensation for a team acquiring him to be $26.2 million. The restriction will be lifted next offseason, July 1. Because of this development, the Jazz and Knicks would need a third team with salary-cap space to redirect Evan Fournier’s $37 million contract.

The post REPORT: RJ Barrett ‘Finalizing’ Rookie Extension appeared first on SLAM.

That news came just a day before the Nets announced that Kevin Durant had decided to rescind his trade request and that he and the franchise “have agreed to move forward with our partnership.” The Nets are likely confident KD and Kai, combined with the healthy returns of Ben Simmons and Joe Harris, the free agent acquisitions of Royce O’Neal and T.J. Warren, and re-signing Patty Mills and Nic Claxton, will help the team make a return to title contention.

However, there is one team that lost out on some superstar talent after Brooklyn decided to keep Irving on the roster, the Lakers. The Lakers were reportedly keen on acquiring Irving through trade this offseason and set up negotiations with third teams like the Pacers and Spurs to make it happen. Trade talks never materialized, though, and now the purple-and-gold will have to search the market a little longer to find more talent.

“We told you a month ago it was not gonna happen,” Charania said about an Irving-Lakers trade during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. “As of right now, the Lakers are open to anything that will make their team better. So if there’s a deal out there and they can go get multiple different players, that makes the team better.

"We told you a month ago that Kyrie to the Lakers wasn't gonna happen.. the Lakers are open to anything that will make their team better" ~@ShamsCharania#PMSLive pic.twitter.com/Swjio4siWD

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) August 23, 2022

Charania added that the Lakers would be looking to add rotation players that they can plug into their lineup. The insider believes players like Patrick Beverly and Bojan Bogdanovic will be targeted in trades during the season.

“Those are the type of moves you’re gonna see the Lakers try to make. I don’t think that they’re done necessarily. I think they’re still gonna try to get this team better. Yes, Kyrie Irving to the Lakers, for now, is not a thing.”

The Lakers will look to improve after adding rookie head coach Darvin Ham, who they hope can turn around Russell Westbrook’s Lakers tenure and help Anthony Davis get back to his top-five player status after a rash of injuries doomed his season and the Lakers’ title hopes over the last two seasons.

The post REPORT: Lakers Will Stay On the Market After Kyrie Irving Trade Talks Stalled appeared first on SLAM.

pic.twitter.com/wQfhrKqUeM

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) August 23, 2022

Durant reportedly requested a trade out of Brooklyn after the front office couldn’t negotiate a long-term extension with long-time friend Kyrie Irving.

Although Irving ended up signing his player option to fulfill his promise to play with KD for at least four seasons, Durant was still adamant about Brooklyn moving him to another title contender like the Celtics, Suns, or the Heat, while the Grizzlies and 76ers recently joined the sweepstakes according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

In the end, Kevin Durant and the Nets played out in a similar way to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in 2007: A tumultuous summer after a trade request, talks with teams, no deal and ultimately a decision to return to the franchise.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 23, 2022

Durant has played 90 games in a Brooklyn uniform and has averaged 28.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 6.1 assists per game on 52.5 percent shooting from the field and 40.9 percent from beyond the arc. Durant is under contract for the next four seasons.

The Nets were a top 2 team in the Eastern Conference before Durant suffered a knee injury that kept him out of 21 games. When Durant went down on Jan. 15, the Nets were 27-15 and second in the East. When he returned, the Nets were 32-31 and in eighth place. The Nets finished the season at 44-38, good for seventh place, forcing them to beat the Cavs in a play-in game before the Celtics swept them in the first-round of the playoffs.

The post Kevin Durant and Brooklyn ‘Have Agreed to Move Forward With Our Partnership’ appeared first on SLAM.

Combine that with the two-way play of Saddiq Bey and the presence of vets like Kemba Walker, Nerlens Noel, and Marvin Bagley III, Detroit could be knocking on the steps of a playoff berth.

Detroit legend Jalen Rose can be counted among the Pistons fan excited to see what the Pistons are capable of. The Fab Five legend was reportedly thrilled about the Pistons drafting Ivery with the fifth overall pick in the 2022 Draft. Ivey’s father, Javin, was born and raised in the city, his grandfather, James, played for the Lions, and his mother, Coach Niele (at Notre Dame), played in the WNBA for the defunct Detroit Shock.

His highest expectations have been saved for Cunningham and Ivey, who he believes will be next in line to continue the tradition of Pistons All-Star backcourts.

“When you talk to me about the Pistons, it made me think about great backcourts,” Rose said at the 12th annual Jalen Rose Leadership Academy Celebrity Golf Classic on Monday at Detroit Golf Club. “There was my biological father, Jimmy Walker, and Dave Bing was an All-Star backcourt in the 70s. And then Bad Boys, Joe Dumars, and Isiah Thomas was an All-Star backcourt, right? How about Chauncey B-B-Billups and Rip Hamilton? An All-Star backcourt. I think we now have another All-Star backcourt in Jaden and Cade Cunningham.”

All the things I like about the Pistons' roster! pic.twitter.com/1pIpLmMFEr

— Jalen Rose (@JalenRose) August 22, 2022

Rose compared Cunningham to former Pistons All-Star Grant Hill at this same event last year. Cunningham averaged 17.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 1.2 steals per game in his first season and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. His leadership on and off the floor quickly endeared him to Detroit’s front office, coaching staff, and locker room. 

“I believe the way Cade not only led and matured on and off the floor last year, and was not only able to create his own shot and be a lot more effective and efficient, just look at the way he played against the Nets, going against (Kevin Durant),” Rose said. “Now for him to have somebody that’s going to make the game easier for him because Ivey’s a blur, he’s been knocking down shots in practice, working really hard. I’m really excited about the potential of our team. I’m excited about the culture that they’re building.”

The Pistons will open their season with a home game against the Orlando Magic.

The post Jalen Rose Believes Pistons Drafted Another ‘All-Star Backcourt’ in Jaden Ivey and Cade Cunningham appeared first on SLAM.

Although the Nets have yet to gain traction on a trade, new suitors have emerged in the KD sweepstakes. The Celtics, Raptors, and Heat are the biggest threat to land the 12-time All-Star, but Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that the Nets, and those three front-runners, haven’t been having any conversations lately.

Charania reported that the 76ers expressed their interest in acquiring Durant while the Bucks and Nuggets reached out in June and inquired again in July to determine Brooklyn’s asking price. That asking price is still an All-Star, other high-level players, and draft picks to this day. When the Pelicans inquired with the Nets in June, they reportedly told Brooklyn that Brandon Ingram was untouchable, per Charania. Atlanta reportedly offered John Collins, De’Andre Hunter, and a draft pick.

Because of that high price tag, suitors like Toronto possibly pulled out after refusing to make Scottie Barnes available. Boston made Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and a first-round pick available, but Brooklyn didn’t bite. According to Charania, Miami hasn’t offered a package built around Bam Adebayo.

The Memphis Grizzlies have reportedly become the newest trade suitor. Memphis could put together an attractive package surrounding their five first-round draft picks, four unprotected and one protected 2024 pick via Golden State, and young players like Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane, Zaire Williams, Brandon Clarke, Kennedy Chandler, and David Roddy.

Despite all the new traction in trade partners, Boston is still the premier front runner to acquire Durant. When Boston offered Brown, White, and a draft pick, Brooklyn countered by requesting Smart, more draft picks, and one more rotation player per Charania. While Boston has the assets to make something happen, there appears to be a reported gap in what the Celtics are willing to let go.

Brooklyn believes they have improved their roster after trading for Royce O’Neal, signing T.J. Warren, and re-signing Patty Mills and Nic Claxton while expecting the healthy returns of Ben Simmons and Joe Harris. Kyrie Irving is set to return as well after signing his player option. According to Charania, Irving has been working out with teammates and held a constructive dialogue with the Nets this offseason.

With four years remaining on Durant’s current deal, Brooklyn has no incentive to move the four-time scoring champ. Entering his age 34 season, Durant is less likely to sit out a season and has already dismissed rumors that he would rather retire than play for Brooklyn again.

The post REPORT: New Suitors Emerge in the Kevin Durant Sweepstakes appeared first on SLAM.

It’s not just an opinion your favorite hooper or an NBA fan has. Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy had some major praise for the Brooklyn Nets star.

“I will go on record and say this,” Handy said. “He is probably the most skilled player to ever play. Offensively, probably the most skilled player to ever put on basketball shoes.”

“He’s the most skilled player to ever put on basketball shoes”

– Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy on Kyrie Irving pic.twitter.com/7kYivjBGjP

— ⁶ (@JP3Visualz) August 17, 2022

Irving is known as perhaps the best “iso” scorer of his generation. Irving’s has the kind of skill level and talent that your favorite hooper would want to have. The handle, the shot-making ability, and the swag come straight out of NBA 2k. Over his 11-year career, Irving has become a seven-time All-Star, a three-time All-NBA selection, the 2012 Rookie of the Year, and a 2014 All-Star game MVP, and reached the pinnacle of playoff success after hitting a clutch stepback jumper over Stephen Curry to help the Cavaliers win their first title in 2016.

Irving has become a lightning rod for controversy since demanding a trade out of Cleveland. Fans have frequently given him a hard time for some of his takes about NBA media or joking about the Earth being flat. But there’s no denying his talent. Irving averaged 27.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game on 46.9 percent shooting from the field and 41.9 percent from beyond the arc.

The 2022-23 season might end up being the most consequential of Irving’s career. The former No. 1 overall pick opted into the final season of his contract after his reps and Brooklyn couldn’t agree to an extension. The offseason debacle began after Irving decided to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19. The Nets were prepared to force Irving to sit for the season because of that decision.

The front office reversed course in December as the NBA dealt with a League-wide virus outbreak. Irving was only able to play road games until New York City lifted its vaccine mandate. The lack of a deal seemingly lead to close friend and teammate Kevin Durant requesting a trade. Irving reportedly wants to play in Brooklyn regardless of Durant’s presence on the team.

Some fans may not agree with Handy’s take, but Irving has arguably the best handles in the NBA and is an elite shooter from all areas on the floor. He would be a terrific addition for the Lakers if they were to work out a deal for him this offseason.

The post Lakers Assistant Coach Phil Handy Calls Kyrie Irving ‘the Most Skilled Player to Ever Play’ appeared first on SLAM.

Sources: NBA’s 2022-23 Opening Night, Oct. 18 on TNT:

– 76ers at Celtics
– And as previously reported: Lakers at Warriors

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 16, 2022

Shams Charania of The Athletic leaked the opening day and Christmas Day contests over the weekend. Some other key dates include the All-Star weekend that’ll be contested from February 17-19. The regular season will end on April 9, the Play-In tournament will take place from April 11-14, and the playoffs will start a day later on April 15.

The most noteworthy game will most likely be between the Grizzlies and the Warriors. The Warriors beat the Grizzlies on their way to winning their fourth championship since 2015. The two Western Conference foes have formed a fierce rivalry over the last two years after a pair of intense and physical playoff games and their recent second-round playoff series.

Sources: NBA’s 2022 Christmas Day schedule:

Bucks at Celtics
76ers at Knicks
Suns at Nuggets
Lakers at Mavericks
Grizzlies at Warriors

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 14, 2022

The 2022-23 season will see the Warriors attempt to defend an NBA title for the first time in eight years. With their foundational core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green returning and their future stars like Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole all returning, the Dubs will be loaded.

The Boston Celtics will look to run it back and return to the NBA Finals after losing to the Warriors in six games. There will be some exciting storylines coming out of Beantown as Boston looks to integrate Malcolm Brogdon into the lineup. It’ll also be interesting if the front office continues to pursue a Kevin Durant trade. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will also return as perhaps the top wing-duo in the League.

Don’t count out the Bucks, Heat, and 76ers either. The Heat are always a threat, the Bucks lost after suffering injuries at the most inopportune time, and the 76ers will have an entire season of James Harden x Joel Embiid to work with.

Another question that needs answers will be can the Phoenix Suns continue their dominant stretch and improve upon their 64-18 record from last year. Getting better after being the top seed in the playoffs is difficult, but Phoenix brings back their entire team and is still headlined by Devin Booker and Chris Paul.

It’ll be fun to see how Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz will fare after Jalen Brunson and Rudy Gobert left for New York and Utah, respectively. The Minnesota Timberwolves are throwing it back to yesteryear with a twin tower lineup featuring Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns. Not to mention how much better the Grizzlies will be after earning the second-best record in the NBA last season.

Last but not least, how will the LA teams play? The Lakers are coming off a tumultuous season but added a new head coach in Darvin Ham, who’s been trusted to improve a roster that still boasts LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Anthony Davis. The Clippers are perhaps a more significant title threat with the return of Kawhi Leonard and the addition of former All-Star point guard John Wall to the lineup.

Below are the team schedules for each team by division and conference. The Eastern Conference is first followed by the West.

Team Schedules

Eastern Conference

Atlantic

Boston Celtics

Brooklyn Nets

New York Knicks

Philadelphia 76ers

Toronto Raptors

Central

Chicago Bulls

Cleveland Cavaliers

Detroit Pistons

Indiana Pacers

Milwaukee Bucks

Southeast

Atlanta Hawks

Charlotte Hornets

Miami Heat

Orlando Magic

Washington Wizards

Western Conference

Southwest

Dallas Mavericks

Houston Rockets

Memphis Grizzlies

New Orleans Pelicans

San Antonio Spurs

Northwest

Denver Nuggets

Minnesota Timberwolves

Portland Trail Blazers

Oklahoma City Thunder

Utah Jazz

Pacific

Golden State Warriors

Los Angeles Clippers

Los Angeles Lakers

Phoenix Suns

Sacramento Kings

The post NBA Releases 2022-23 Regular-Season Schedule appeared first on SLAM.

BREAKING: Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has agreed on a two-year, $97.1 million contract extension – including a player option for the 2024-2025 season, @KlutchSports CEO Rich Paul tells ESPN. James had been entering final year of deal worth $44.5M.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 17, 2022

The deal includes a 15 percent trade kicker, making James the highest-earning player in the history of the NBA. With the signing of the agreement, James will be set to make a grand total of $532 million in guaranteed money.

The two-year, $97.1M extension, which includes a 15 percent trade kicker, makes LeBron James the highest earning player in NBA history with $532M in guaranteed money. He surpasses Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant. pic.twitter.com/UUHMspiKZp

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 17, 2022

The deal will keep James in LA while his son, Bronny, completes his high school basketball career at Sierra Canyon High School. James has made it abundantly clear that one of his remaining career goals is to play on an NBA court with his oldest son. James will be 39-years-old by the time Bronny is eligible to enter the NBA Draft if the one-and-done eligibility rules stay as is.

The post REPORT: LeBron James Signs Two-Year Deal That Makes Him Highest Earning Player in NBA History appeared first on SLAM.

Russell is iconic not only because of his winning as a player and coach (back-to-back titles in ’68 and 69) but because of all he endured as one of the few Black players in the NBA at the time. The Celtics may have been one of the most progressive teams after drafting Russell and other Black players like Sam Jones, Satch Sanders, K.C. Jones and Al Butle, but that contingent of players, especially Russell, had to deal with the racism and bigotry that was prevalent not just in Boston but across the states in general.

The battles he fought on and off the court could’ve made the 11-time champ bitter. Instead, Russell has become the elder statesman of a League that has embraced many legendary and unique players like Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry.

When commissioner Adam Silver sat down with Howard Stern of Sports Illustrated to talk about his bond with Russell, he called the NBA legend “the founding father of the modern NBA.” and the Babe Ruth of the NBA who was able to talk and stand with his current contemporaries.

“He’s sort of the founding father of the modern NBA,” Silver says. “And with that, I think he became the League’s DNA for our players to feel comfortable speaking out on societal issues. I would say a lot of the courage of the modern-day players, there’s a direct through line to Bill, against the whole shut up-and-dribble crowd.”

Silver went on to talk about how much he loved hearing Russell’s story about his playing days, including his disdain for being asked to sign autographs. Silver also spoke about Russell’s fight for civil rights and the big man’s iconic 1961 protest.

Russell and his teammates, Jones, Sanders, and Butle, walked out of an exhibition game after they were refused service in a restaurant in Lexington, KY. Silver also admired Russell’s support for Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who hasn’t played in the NFL since protesting against police brutality during the 2016 season by kneeling during the national anthem.

“He recognized the value of the platform that was afforded him by being an MVP, NBA champion player,” Silver says. “And he was realistic about that — He ultimately decided; obviously, he could do more through the platform that playing offered him. But he tweeted that clearly in support of these players, saying that, ‘I have your back.’ And again, classic Bill, he wasn’t saying that means you shouldn’t be playing—because he kept playing—but it was just saying, ‘I understand. That’s something you all should be thinking about.'”

He also detailed how happy he was to see modern players come up and give their respect to Russell and their reactions as Russell told stories of his playing days with the Celtics.

In the coming days and years, Silver will also make sure to continue to draw inspiration from his friendship with Russell and hopes to one day pass that knowledge on to his two young daughters.

“For whatever my children want to do in their lives, it may have nothing to do with sports, or it may not be something which traditionally you think of as a competition where people get objectively ranked,” Silver says, “but I’d want to teach them that quality of truly being willing to give your all to what you’re passionate about. And that’s the unique quality that Bill had.”

The post Adam Silver on His Bond With Bill Russell: ‘He’s the Founding Father of the Modern NBA’ appeared first on SLAM.

I know most people will believe unnamed sources over me but if it’s anyone out there that’ll listen, I don’t plan on retiring anytime soon. Shit is comical at this point.

— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) August 15, 2022

According to NBA insider Marc Stein, an anonymous NBA executive believes Kevin Durant is more likely to retire than play for the Brooklyn Nets again.

The Nets and Durant’s future is in doubt after Durant made a trade request and reportedly wants to head to a championship contender like the 76ers or the Heat. Multiple reports came out last week that Durant let the Nets know he was adamant about leaving and gave team owner Joe Tsai an ultimatum, either keep him or keep GM Sean Marks and Coach Steve Nash.

Durant has played sparingly with the Nets since he arrived while recovering from his torn Achilles injury. The team has cycled through players around Durant and Kyrie Irving but has not found any significant playoff success given the high expectations. According to Stein, there is a “growing expectation” that Durant might cause a stir to get out of Brooklyn.

Additionally, Stein said he was given this information by a “well-connected” executive and reported this information about Durant “based on what he was hearing” while covering the 2022 Summer League.

James Harden forced his way out of the team halfway through last season, Irving’s status is also up in the air, but the Nets have not ruled out moving him either. Nets majority owner Joe Tsai has come out onto Twitter and stated which side of the aisle he stands on with this situation.

With training camp six weeks away, the Nets and their makeup for the 2022-2023 season hang in the balance.

The post REPORT: Anonymous Executive Believes Kevin Durant Could Retire Before Playing For Nets Again appeared first on SLAM.

The teams competing in the showcase include: 

1.     K-Low Elite (Kyle Lowry)

2.     Team Curry (Steph Curry)

3.     Team Durant (Kevin Durant)

4.     Team Melo (Carmelo Anthony)

5.     Team Takeover (Victor Oladipo)

6.     Team Trae Young (Trae Young)

7.     Team Trezz (Montrezl Harrell)

8.     Team Truth (Quinn Cook)

Games will begin on Friday, August 12 and run through Sunday, August 14. See here for the full schedule of games.

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“We are thrilled to host this first-of-its-kind showcase featuring some of the outstanding travel teams of several of our members,” said Tamika Tremaglio, NBPA Executive Director. “Our players are so passionate about teaching the game to the next generation, and this showcase is about supporting their work in that space. By creating this platform with our players, we are building a unique experience for their teams to compete against one another while also providing critical educational resources — all in one of the best basketball cities in the country and my hometown, Washington D.C.!”

“This showcase is a great opportunity for these young players to prove themselves against other top talent from around the country and learn more about important topics off the court,” said Trae Young, NBPA member whose team will compete in the inaugural showcase. “To have all the teams competing affiliated with different players around the league is really special and I know I can speak for all of us when I say we will be closely following to see whose team really is the best.”

“We know it is highly critical to educate these young athletes now so that they can make informed financial decisions throughout their careers,” said Mark Jerome, Managing Partner, the Athletic Development Group (ADG). “We created and designed ADG MONEYBALL with that in mind, bringing in former players and experts to speak about financial literacy and NIL to set them up with the tools to succeed down the road.”

ADG MONEYBALL is presented in partnership with Chase and with the generous support of Events DC. Additional partners include ShowBall, BodyArmor, SLAM, Legends, and BallerTV.

“We are so excited to continue our partnership with the NBPA and provide important financial literacy content to these incredible student-athletes,” said Frank Nakano, Managing Director of Sports & Entertainment Marketing at JPMorgan Chase. “Understanding the significance that financial health plays in long-term well-being, we hope our educational sessions are able to help these athletes further develop their off-the-court confidence, especially in the arena of financial literacy”

“Events DC is honored to host and support the inaugural ADG MONEYBALL event at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center,” said Ralph Morton, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Sports & Entertainment Division at Events DC. “Bringing together the nation’s top student-athletes in partnership with the NBPA and ADG combined with dynamic educational workshops is an exciting opportunity to create a valuable and enduring experience in the District. We are looking forward to presenting this elite amateur basketball tournament to the fans and our greater community from the heart of downtown Washington, DC.”

ADG MONEYBALL is open to the public and tickets can be purchased at www.adgmoneyball.com. For media interested in covering the event, please email communications@nbpa.com with your request.

The post NBPA and ADG Present the Inaugural ADG MONEYBALL appeared first on SLAM.

pic.twitter.com/fT4gHtsHlS

— A11Even (@KyrieIrving) August 11, 2022

According to Rich Bucher of Fox Sports, Kyrie Irving reportedly had some unique demands he wanted his reps to include in the new deal he signed with the Nets this summer.

The Irving free agency saga ended with him signing his player-option to fulfill his promise to play at least four years with close friend Kevin Durant. The main demands Irving wanted in his deal included Irving wanting a guarantee he wouldn’t have to play more than 60 games and that he could sit out back-to-back games.

“[Nets governor] Joe Tsai has already shown he’s willing to play hardball with Kyrie by taking a max extension off the table almost immediately,” Bucher said on his podcast. “Now, part of that may be Kyrie’s doing. I’m told he wanted his new contract to guarantee he wouldn’t have to play more than 60 games in a season and would not have to play any back-to-backs, which he apparently referred to as inhumane.”

Irving averaged 27.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game on 46.9 percent shooting from the field and 41.8 percent from beyond the arc in the 29 games he played this year. Irving’s decision to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 led to him missing a large chunk of the season due to Brooklyn’s decision not to allow him to play until he was vaccinated.

The Nets’ position changed in December as the NBA dealt with a League-wide virus outbreak. Brooklyn decided to allow Irving to play away games at first, and when New York City reversed course on their vaccine mandates, Irving was also eligible to play home games.

Brooklyn’s immediate future seems to be in disarray as the front office looks to address Durant’s trade request. It also appears as though the Nets are willing to let Irving walk in free agency after GM Sean Marks’ non-committal remarks about keeping the 2016 champion around. Irving has played 103 games over the last three seasons and didn’t play at least 30 games in a season twice.

The post REPORT: Kyrie Irving Demanded 60 Game and No Back-to-Backs Guarantee in New Deal appeared first on SLAM.

According to SNY’s Ian Begley, the disgruntled Brooklyn Nets star sees both the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers as desired trade destinations. Begley went on to report that Durant would also want to play with reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart if he were to land in Boston.

Despite Begley’s report, there is said to be no progress between Brooklyn and Boston on any sort of trade centered around Durant. Last week, Begley reported that there had been “pessimism” about a Durant trade being completed in the near future. As for Philly, no major reports have dropped, though Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris, and Matisse Thybulle are all logical trade pieces in a Durant trade.

As the Durant saga—particularly with Boston—continues to run its course through the NBA offseason, Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe reported that the Nets initially asked for Boston stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in Durant trade talks, but the Celtics quickly shot the proposition down.

And while there are no tangible signs of progress involving a Durant trade to any team, the four-time scoring champ reportedly informed Nets owner Joe Tsai that Brooklyn would have to choose between Durant or keeping general manager Sean Marks and Coach Steve Nash. Tsai responded to the report with a tweet throwing his support behind the Nets’ front office and coaching staff.

Durant sent shockwaves around the League when he requested a trade on June 30, but it’s been over a month, and the 12-time All-Star still has yet to be dealt. Initial rumors indicated the Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns were among Durant’s desired landing spots, and that list has reportedly since grown to include the Celtics and 76ers, according to Begley.

On paper, a fit with Boston makes sense, as Celtics coach Ime Udoka was an assistant under Steve Nash in Brooklyn during the 2020-21 season. Durant also played with Tatum on Team USA during the 2021 Olympics. Add in Durant’s desire to play with Smart, and KD seemingly has some chemistry building in Boston. But for now, it’s a matter of the Celtics offering enough to Brooklyn so a trade can go down.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post REPORT: Kevin Durant Views Celtics and 76ers as Desired Landing Spots appeared first on SLAM.

Per CBS Sports, When it comes to who’s currently the best player in the world, the Greek Freak believes it’s LeBron James’ job to lose. The 37-year-old future Hall-of-Famer is still doing incredible things after 19 seasons and 51,899 minutes of action. Last season, James averaged 30.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game on 52.4 percent shooting from the field.

“It’s interesting to me how LeBron is still [in] one of the best shapes [of] his life and being the best player in the world and still being in year 18,” Giannis told Marca Basket. “Like, that’s really interesting. I want to know how he does that. He’s been consistent for 18 years. He’s always there. He’s always showing up. That’s unbelievable.

“He obviously gets credit, but I think we’ve got to give him more credit. Doing it for 18 years guys, that’s hard. And hopefully, hopefully I can be there. Hopefully, I can do this for 18 years, 20 years. That’s the goal.”

James is on an uphill battle to add a fifth title to his legendary resume at this point in his career. The Lakers are going into the 2021-22 season with a new head coach in Darvin Ham but plenty of questions surrounding the viability of keeping Russell Westbrook on the team.

The Lakers added some youth and athleticism to their lineup, but questions also linger about their long-range shooting capabilities. Add in James fighting off Father Time, Anthony Davis’ durability, and the rise of Western Conference rivals like the Nuggets and the Grizzlies, and the resurgence of veteran units like the Warriors and Clippers, and the Lakers’ climb to playoff contention and becoming a championship contender will be an exciting storyline next season.

The post Giannis Antetokounmpo Calls LeBron James ‘the Best Player in the World’ appeared first on SLAM.

Their featured superstar, Jayson Tatum, has let the six-game series loss to the Warriors inspire him to want to reach greater heights for the upcoming regular-season campaigns. Although his Finals debut didn’t end the way he expected, Tatum has used the loss and his time off to reflect on what he had learned from the process.

“(I learned) that I’m 24 and one of the best players in the world and that I will compete against whoever and take on that challenge,” Tatum said via The Athletic. “In that same breath, I feel like there’s so much I could be better at, and I think that’s the exciting part. That I’m at where I’m at, where there’s so much more I can be, so much more I can learn, and so many more experiences to go through.”

Strong words from the budding superstar who has reached top 10 status in the NBA but sees himself (and the team) getting better over time.

“It’s not a ‘for sure’ thing, you know. You have to put in the work. You have to take the right steps,” Tatum said. “But I’m positive that we got the right group that will buy-in, and we can’t look past anything and just try to coast our way to the finals. We gotta start from training camp.”

Tatum and the Celtics are ready to go at training camp to make it back to the Finals, hopefully holding the Larry O’Brien trophy in their clutches.

The post Jayson Tatum Opens Up About Lessons He Learned from the NBA Finals appeared first on SLAM.

Sources: Kevin Durant informed Joe Tsai that he does not have faith in the Nets‘ direction. The meeting was described as transparent and professional, with a clear message: Keep me — or the GM and coach. https://t.co/W1voNf9MDC https://t.co/0lbBay2OxF

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 8, 2022

KD and Nets owner Joe Tsai reportedly had a meeting over the weekend in Londo, where the two-time Finals MVP reiterated his trade request and gave Tsai an ultimatum. According to Charania, Tsai will have to choose between Durant or keeping GM Sean Marks and Coach Steve Nash in the fold.

Durant also told Tsai that he doesn’t have faith in Brooklyn’s direction, according to Charania. Additionally, Charania reported that the Nets have direct knowledge of the reasons behind Durant’s trade request that came out a month ago. Brooklyn also understands that Durant is resolute in his trade request and wants a scenery change.

The Nets are coming off a tumultuous offseason after the Boston Celtics swept them in the first round of the conference playoffs. It began with the uncertainty around Kyrie Irving’s extension status that reached the point of Irving preparing a list of trade destinations he’d like to play for.

Despite Irving deciding to sign his player option for next year, Durant has been adamant about wanting to leave Brooklyn. The two reportedly want to play together, but Irving is prepared to play in a Nets uniform regardless of whether or not KD is on the team.

The Nets are hopeful about Ben Simmons’s and Joe Harris’s healthy return. They also added Royce O’Neale and T.J. Warren and brought Patty Mills and Nic Claxton back.

The Celtics, Raptors, and Heat are his most significant suitors this offseason after Phoenix re-signed Deandre Ayton to a record-restricted free agent offer sheet. Durant reportedly grew close to Coach Ime Udoka, the second-year head coach of Boston, while Udoka was on Brooklyn’s coaching staff and Team USA during the 2020 Olympics.

The post REPORT: Kevin Durant Gave Brooklyn Ultimatum During Weekend Meeting appeared first on SLAM.

In December 2021, he became just the seventh player in NBA history to score 2,000 points in his first 100 games at age 20 or younger, joining LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Luka Dončić, and Zion Williamson. He’s also the youngest player in NBA history to hit 10 three-pointers in a game and joined James, Dončić, and Blake Griffin as the only active players with at least 2,000 points, 400 rebounds, and 300 assists in their first 100 games.

Whether on the court or starring in the movie Hustle alongside Juancho Hernangomez, Ant-Man has the confidence and ability to do it all. Edwards spoke with Complex to discuss his short-term goals and where he views himself among the NBA’s best, and his confidence is clearly through the roof.

Edwards gave himself a year when asked how much time he’ll need to be considered one of the League’s elite players.

“I need another year,” Edwards said. “After this year, I think I’ll be in the (best player) conversation.”

Edwards also said he expects to take the Timberwolves deep into the playoffs while becoming an All-Star starter with improved averages. He averaged 21.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.5 steals per game on 44.1 percent shooting last season. If those numbers all improve, Edwards’ confident prediction for himself could see reality.

The topic of the new “face” of the NBA came up in the conversation, and with stars like LeBron and KD getting older, Edwards feels he can become the League’s future cornerstone.

“Oh yeah, 100 percent. Sure,” Edwards said when asked if he could become the new face of the League. “I mean, it comes with time, and it comes with work and dedication. I feel like I got all three of those things, and I feel like it’s going to take me over the top.”

Edwards didn’t just keep it to basketball, though. It could be bowling, baseball, you name it; he went on to say that “I’m the most confident person in the world. I feel like I’m the best at every sport right now.”

Ant-Man is one of the game’s most exciting players after just two seasons in the League. His performance in the first round of the playoffs against the Memphis Grizzlies (25.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game) only solidified him as one of the NBA’s future stars. His confidence has steered him in the right direction, which makes for an exciting and promising year three in Minnesota.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post Anthony Edwards Believes He’ll Be in the ‘Best Player Conversation’ Soon appeared first on SLAM.

Suns forward Cam Johnson was spending time at UNC Chapel Hill with his brother, Puff when he saw all the news about Kevin Durant.

“It’s Puff’s teammates, my teammates (in the locker room at UNC). I’m like, “Nah, man, don’t put me in this.”” Johnson said via AZ Central. “And next thing you know, whoever it was, Windy (ESPN’s Brian Windhorst) or somebody on the TV was like naming the potential trade targets. Naming DA (Deandre Ayton), me, Mikal (Bridges). And I was like, “come on, man,” but it’s the business.”

Johnson averaged 12.5 points this year on 46.0 percent shooting from the field and 42.6 percent shooting from beyond the arc for the Suns this year, and has been using the offseason to reflect on the loss and using the summer to improve on his weaknesses.

The playoffs were a different story, however, as the Suns lost in seven games to the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals. Johnson would love to run things back with the Suns after he saw Deandre Ayton sign an extension.

“This is the time you explore (your) game and work on things that you see from previous seasons where you can be better. Where you can impact winning more. It’s been a lot of fun working on those things. Just enjoying life.”

Johnson is eligible for an extension as he enters the final season of his rookie deal.

The post Cam Johnson Speaks On His Future With the Suns and Their Game 7 Loss appeared first on SLAM.

At that point, Barnes had yet to fully embark on the entirety of a season that many are now calling perhaps the most impactful rookie season in Raptors’ history. But to have the chance to chop it up with a member of the inaugural Raptors team (Stoudamire won Rookie of the Year that season in Toronto, like Barnes) just seemed like fate. 

“He was just really telling me to try to get Rookie of the Year, keep doing what I got to do and really take over this League,” Barnes says while on set of his SLAM 239 cover shoot.  

That was Stoudamire’s first time meeting Scottie officially; he’d watched him play in high school and at different Nike EYBL and AAU events, but now he was actually seeing what Barnes was capable of doing in the League. Just a month prior to their meeting, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft had dropped a double-double on the Cs—in just the second game of his career. 

“He was a matchup nightmare,” Stoudamire, who’s now an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics, later tells us on the phone. “The good Lord doesn’t bless us with everything, but if [Scottie] figures out a way, and he doesn’t have to be a knockdown guy, but once he figures out his spots on the floor in terms of shooting the ball on a consistent basis, it could be dangerous. He would have cracked the code then because, I mean, everything else he has.” 

SLAM 239 featuring Scottie Barnes is OUT NOW!

Barnes wasn’t even born when the Raptors drafted Stoudamire as their first-ever pick in 1995, or when he graced the cover of SLAM 11 in the spring of ’96 (subscribe here to the SLAM Digital Archive). When he got to Toronto, Stoudamire explains, the team was just trying to grow the game of basketball throughout Canada. But what he didn’t realize back then was that he’d ultimately be able to impact an entire country. Many after him have been just as revered—from Vince Carter and DeMar DeRozan to Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry. All-Stars. Champions. Icons. But in this new era of the game, Scottie Barnes isn’t a glimpse into the future of Toronto. He is the now, and even the legends who came before him see that already.

“He has [an] opportunity to lead Toronto, but then be the face of a country,” says Stoudamire.

Excitement has been buzzing all around T-Dot about their superstar-in-the-making. His SLAM 239 cover shoot feels like a momentous occasion, from the Drake tracks blaring over the speakers (Honestly, Nevermind had dropped just a few days before) to Scottie singing along in between takes while he rocks a black and gold Swingman uniform and an icy, blinged-out chain that has an even icier “SB” for the camera. It’s the crowning of a new star in the North. 

After all, it’s been three years since the Raptors won that historic, first-ever championship in 2019, and since then, the team has been well-equipped with an arsenal of All-Stars and bucket-getters who helped them make the playoffs every year except one. The arrival of Scottie has had the place boomin’ with hype around what’s to come, especially since the Raptors exceeded any and all expectations last season when they finished fifth in the East. 

“I feel like I have the defensive tools, I really just want to put on the offensive end,” Scottie says. “Make my game more all-around. I’m just working on being able to get to the basket, being unstoppable on the floor. Scoring, being in the midrange area and just being a consistent shooter. Being able to knock down shots consistently, being able to carry myself in that way as being one of those top people in the League.” 

He’d look at those goals every single day. Winning ROY was a major moment not only for him, but for his family. It’s one of the reasons why he surprised his mom, Kathalyn, with the news. He had watched her relentlessly sacrifice for him and his siblings growing up, working late nights to put food on the table and get them school clothes. “[She tried] to get a few pairs of shoes to go to school, try to have some swag going to school so we could carry ourselves with that confidence. She made a bunch of sacrifices for us. Even though we didn’t have that much, we were still some spoiled little kids, [wanting] everything, trying to flex.”

Winning ROY also meant something for Toronto, as Barnes became just the third Raptor ever to win the award, joining the company of Stoudamire and Vince Carter. “That award meant everything to me. Everything. All the hard work, effort I put in since I was a kid. It meant everything for the city of West Palm Beach, for the country of Canada, city of Toronto. Masai [Ujiri], Bobby [Webster]. They put their faith in me, and I put in the work. So, every single day, I try to carry that with me.”

Now, his Rookie of the Year trophy sits on a stand, right next to two Rookie of the Month awards, inside his game room at his house. Since the season wrapped up, he’s been mainly spending his offseason in his native Florida, while going back and forth to Toronto. It’s a place he’s now calling home, and he’s already found his go-to spots to eat at, too. “I got a couple. Harbour 60, Cactus Club. I just love the city. It’s beautiful.”

A few days before our shoot, Barnes was livestreaming when he raved about how hyped he was to be a Toronto Raptor. When we asked him about it, he didn’t hold back in letting us know how much he’s been embracing the city. 

“It’s a blessing for me to get drafted to Toronto. I felt like it was just the best thing for me and the program,” he says. “I felt like I found the right home, with them being able to draft me…I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I feel like it was just a big thing that happened to me. It’s amazing. I feel like Toronto, they always support me, even the whole country of Canada supports me, shows me love. And it just feels like we’re all family.”

Scottie reveals he’s already on a text message/IG story-reply basis with Drake (“It’s really small talk, but we can tell that we’re brodies”). When he first arrived in Toronto after the draft, he even hung out with him at his mansion.

“His house is humongous. He got a lot of things that’s going on in there, it’s a dope house. He got the basketball court as soon as you walk inside, where he plays his league basketball. You know, he be killing ’em, but his house is fire. I think we put up like a couple of shots, but we were just getting to know each other. Just really chatting it up.”

According to Scottie, Drizzy let him know then that he had to put on for the city. “He just told [me] that the city’s gonna love [me], just really put on for the city. Do what we got to do.”  

In his rookie debut against the Wizards, Scottie showed glimpses of exactly what he could do, from a lefty sky hook for his first bucket to dishing out an elite bounce pass to Chris Boucher in the fourth. Nick Nurse called his performance “OK,” but also pointed out, “I think we see a really good player there.” 

For Barnes, the mindset early on was to do what it takes to win by making the right plays and putting in the effort, whether it’s rebounding, passing or guarding the best player on the court. When asked about what he expected for himself early on in the season, “winning” is the one word he mentions over and over again. “I felt like coming into the season, I really just tried to focus on winning, try and do whatever it takes to win…I really tried to focus on those little things, and then I knew everything else would carry on to the court with me.”

Scottie’s always been competitive. Growing up, he’d compete with his older brother in school and try to get better grades than him so he could show it to his mom, hoping she’d give him a few dollars. He wanted to play on his brother’s basketball and football teams, too, even though everyone was a few years older. He started playing organized basketball in third grade at the Salvation Army on a team that was mainly made up of fourth graders. Scottie then went on to become a five-star product in high school—he played at the University School alongside Vernon Carey Jr and then with Cade Cunningham at Montverde before suiting up at Florida State, where he earned ACC Freshman of the Year honors.

Now he’s channeling that same drive into everything he does, from video games (“[I’m] the best out of all my friends in [NBA] 2K, top three in [Call of Duty]”) to whatever challenges were thrown at him on the court this past season—from guarding all five positions against the Bulls, Celtics and Wizards in October, including superstars like Jayson Tatum and Bradley Beal. By November, he was logging 35 minutes a game, but as Nurse previously said, “one of the first things to instill” is playing the “full 48.” 

When asked about his early season performances, Scottie points out that for him, it was a matter of maintaining the energy. “I would say in the beginning, I showed a lot of energy, but you got to really try to find those ways of channeling it [differently] because sometimes you can express way too much energy and then that next possession, you get really tired…Being at Florida State, I played a good three, four minutes, and then I would get subbed if I was too tired. But now, it’s just like, you got to be able to maintain that energy throughout the whole entire game for however long you’re playing.”  

On a team full of different personalities—from “chill vibe types” like Fred VanVleet and Isaac [Bonga] to “funny guys” like himself, Justin Champagnie and Dalano Banton, according to Barnes—it also helped that the team fully embraced him and allowed him to be himself on the court, especially OG Anunoby. “He was really telling me to be me on the floor, each and every single time. That really [gave] me that confidence when I stepped on the floor to be who I am, keep being aggressive, attacking.”

In December, Barnes dropped a double-double against the Knicks, was a defensive ace with those five blocks against Sacramento a few nights later, and then followed that up with a 23/12/5 stat line against Brooklyn, while being matched up against Kevin Durant, making him the youngest Raptor ever since Tracy McGrady to put up at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and 5 dimes. By January, Bradley Beal was already calling him a “special” talent and saying he “looked like a star” after Barnes put up 27 against the Wizards. 

The Raptors went on an eight-game winning streak going into February, and after the All-Star break, Scottie was averaging just under 20 points per game. When he dropped a 31-piece on the Lakers in March, even the King let everyone know what was up. 

“I saw Scottie Barnes for the first time in seventh grade and I told one of my good friends that this kid is going to be special,” LeBron James said after the game. “It’s a beautiful thing to watch.” 

Looking back on the season, Barnes says he’s started processing the game quicker, too. “I felt like on the court I really know where I could get to my spots, can score the ball at [and] how I can just set my presence throughout the game, on both ends of the floor. I feel like I’ll be able to make more of an impact on the game because I really just found ways to really just attack the game. I got smarter throughout the year, and I just really realized how the NBA works with the calls and all the little things about the game.”

This same team that had missed the playoffs the year prior soon found themselves in a first-round matchup against Philly. Barnes nearly had a triple-double in his playoff debut—15 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists—and despite missing Games 2 and 3 with an ankle injury, another SLAM 11 cover star, Magic Johnson, saw that the promise was all there. “There’s definitely a lot of ‘Showtime’ in him,” Johnson told the Toronto Star.

While the Raptors lost that series, it’s clear that things are really looking up in the 6ix. Their 48-34 record was a vast improvement from the previous year, and Barnes is making it clear that his past season was really just the beginning. “This is just us getting our footing together, but I feel like we’re gonna take that next step to try to make a deep playoff run and be one of those top teams in the League.”

And as for his own goals, this offseason has been all about prepping his body for the demand of the 82-game regular season (Barnes started all 74 games he played in), while also sharpening the tools he’s well-equipped with. You might’ve already seen recent videos of his “revamped jumper” circling around the internet, too. Scottie’s already looking ahead at the type of player he wants to evolve into. Him adding to his already extensive bag? Dangerous. 

“Be who I am on the floor [and] be able to keep developing my playmaking [and] really just improve my scoring,” Barnes says of what will take him to the next level. “Keep [doing] what I do on defense, but just amping it up to another level where I can change the impact of a game throughout the court. Really taking over on the defensive end where I can get multiple stops, being able to be so active on the floor where I can just alter shots, change shots, just give teams different looks where I can have that presence. Talking, communicating and kind of just step up my role of being a leader on this team. I feel like that’s really what’s going to take me to that next level.” 

Deyscha Smith is an associated editor at SLAM. Follow her on Twitter and IG, @deyschasmith.

Portraits by Gabe Pineda/Victory Creative, follow them on Instagram @gabepineda/@victory. Styling by Ian Pierno, follow him on Instagram @ianpierno.

The post Scottie Barnes Has Everything it Takes to Become Toronto’s Next Star appeared first on SLAM.

“I played with [Durant] during the Olympics,” Tatum said Tuesday night prior to the premiere, per ESPN. “Obviously, he’s a great player, but that’s not my decision. I love our team. I love the guys that we got.”

Tatum also goes onto say that he doesn’t wear the hat of the general manager, and doesn’t “make anything” of the reports of Boston entering the race for KD.

“We got two new pieces [in Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari],” Tatum said. “I love our team. I just go out there and play with my teammates. I don’t put that [general manager] hat on to make decisions.”

The Celtics reportedly offered Jaylen Brown up as the centerpiece for the acquisition of Kevin Durant, but the rumor was “rejected.” Many are speculating that Brown’s latest tweet was in reaction to the rumors.

Durant’s agent Rich Kleiman did not comment on the trade rumors after he and Durant made an appearance at the premier of “Point Gods.” Durant also did not answer any questions.

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