“Hey man, you can at least tag me in the post,” Maxey told Embiid. “Like, you got a million followers.”

According to Maxey, Embiid went to the media, presumably sometime around when the Sixers beat the Celtics at home on January 14, and allegedly asked them to “Find me a picture of me and Ty so I can post it.” After the game, he posted another flick on the gram, without telling Tyrese. The caption? “#0>>> THE FRANCHISE @tyresemaxey.” 

SLAM 248 featuring Tyrese Maxey is available now.

The Process has seen something in Maxey since the beginning. Maxey remembers during the Sixers matchup against the Nuggets on January 9 his rookie year, which was the first game he started, when Joel asked him if he could get 40 that night. “I’m like, Me? Me, get 40? I rarely play,” he tells us, looking back. “I had, like, 39 and I’m like, dang, he said that and I knew I could probably do it, but at the time, like, Man, That’s gonna be tough.” It was the most points scored by a Sixers rookie since Allen Iverson in 1997. 

This season, Embiid was the one who pushed him again when the Sixers played the Pacers on November 12. By the fourth, Maxey looked up at the scoreboard and saw that he already had 45 points. That’s when Embiid let him know. “Joel [is like], You gotta get 50, you gotta get 50. I’m not really trying to press it, but he grabs the ball, like, Here, you need to shoot again.

“I always say this, man. Joel is probably one of the first people that believed in me here,” Maxey adds. “He really believed in me from day one.”

Mad Max has come a long way since his rookie year. From coming off the bench to starting full-time, he’s played an instrumental role in the team’s success this season—they’re the No. 3 team in the East at press time. An hour or two before his first-ever SLAM cover shoot, the All-Star voting results dropped and his name was listed alongside some of the best in the L. 

By the time the cameras start rolling and we’ve got No. 0 with us, he instantly commands the room, and the camera, all while having fun with it. In between takes, he’s dancing and rapping along to Lil Wayne’s “A Milli.” With a big smile on his face, he sings the chorus. “I’m ILL!” 

The moment is giving major main character vibes. And just like Weezy at the end of that video, what’s so fire about Tyrese Maxey’s rise to stardom is that it’s to be continued…

Let’s go back.

Maxey’s basketball career, starting from college, has been unconventional. And yet, he’s somehow been able to handle the chaos—including the Covid pandemic which cut his lone season at Kentucky short. Even after being selected No. 21 in the 2020 NBA Draft, Maxey ended up having to report to training camp late due to a positive test, which left him wondering how that would look to his new teammates, especially the vets. He wondered to himself, How are the vets gonna look at me? Are they gonna say anything to me? Are they gonna mess with me or is this gonna mess up my playing time?

That season, he started six games in January but mostly came off the bench, with the exception of two games in May. After the Sixers lost to the Hawks in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, news reports and criticism circulated about his teammate Ben Simmons. By February of the ’21-22 season, Simmons was traded to Brooklyn for James Harden. The new addition put Maxey back to shooting guard. He worked through it and went from averaging just 8 points as a rookie to 17.5 points that year. 

But then, in the 2023 offseason, Harden requested a trade. “Now I gotta be back on the ball,” he explains of the sudden positional change. “Then James leaves and I gotta go back on the ball. It’s been a lot but, you know, it’s an ever- changing, adapting environment that we live in.”

Maxey has talked before about how he picked up some things when playing alongside Harden, even shouting him out on NBA TV for the “little James Harden stepback” move he’s added to his bag. Still, he admits that it was tough for him last year when he would start some games but then come off the bench. “That’s difficult,” he admits. “Especially when you wanna win, you wanna do whatever is best for the team, but you also wanna play well for you [and] to help your brothers win. It’s a hard job.”

After all the narratives that have surrounded the Sixers over the years, mostly filled with drama and negativity from the media and fans, Maxey has developed a desire to speak up for athletes and create his own narrative on his podcast, “Maxey on the Mic.” “I just kinda wanna be a voice for some athletes, because athletes go through a lot, as far as just social media, what people say about them. A lot of people don’t know it’s hard. [There’s] pressure out there.”

He also leans on prayer and his family to help him emotionally during those hard moments. He confides in his uncle, Brandon, and his parents, both of whom he watched work extremely hard within their own careers growing up. Before retiring, his father Tyrone coached for 20 years and would be tough on Maxey when he was younger: “If I passed the ball and somebody dropped it, he would yell at me first.” Meanwhile his mother Denyse worked at Blue Cross Blue Shield and started from “the bottom,” he says, and then worked her way up at the company. Denyse, he describes, is also a “tough, tough, tough mother,” but would always tell him, Control what you can control and everything is in God’s hands.

It’s helped him whenever he’s had to deal with major change, including adjusting from former head coach Doc Rivers, whom he says “tried to challenge me early” by having him sit and watch the veteran players, to Nick Nurse. “Coach Nurse, his personality is a lot different,” Maxey says. “He’s a great dude. I love him, and the way he coaches is special. The way he does things, the way he adjusts on the fly has been great.”

His ability to adapt to whatever situation he’s in is just one of his many super powers. Maxey, a huge Marvel fan, told us before he got drafted that if he was an actual superhero, he’d call himself Maximus and would want to have the ability to max out all of his strengths. Now, four years later, he has a few things to add, super speed being one of them. “I’m like, well, I could be faster, you know what I mean?” he says. He’d also max out his vertical. “I just think it’s cool when people jump up and dunk and block shots and stuff. I see so many people like Rayjon Tucker, that’s somebody that comes to mind…Ja Morant, of course. They do cool things when they’re up in the air like that. I feel like I have some type of vertical ability, but not like them, jumping off two feet. It looks so crazy sometimes.”

Athletes are often called otherworldly, and while Maxey is undeniably talented, very, very fast and has a hot hand like he’s Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet, he’s also human. He sees a bigger picture in the type of impact he’d want to have. “I would wanna max out me being positive, like, me having a positive effect on people, because the world is just so [much] better…That’s just something I try to bring, not just [to] this organization, not just this team, [but] my life and [the] people who I’ve impacted in general.

“We’re blessed to be here, we’re blessed to be living, we’re blessed to be walking around in 2024. You know, some people can’t say the same…I get to play the game that I love every single day and I have fun while doing it with a smile on my face. And while I’m doing that, I’m on TV, kids are watching and I’m trying to inspire them to make their dreams come true—not just basketball dreams, but life dreams. I tell everybody that you can do whatever you put your mind to. Don’t let anybody tell you you can’t, as long as you get one percent better at it, you know what I mean?”

Life can be unexpected, but at the end of the day, it’s about controlling what you can control. That’s been Maxey’s true power, and it’s why in Year 4, he isn’t at all surprised by his success so far. 

“I just put a lot of work in. It’s like, every shot that I’ve shot this season, I’ve done it before a million times in the gym. Reps over reps. I don’t have to think, you know what I’m saying?…I’m just confident. I wanna help us win, and I’m in a position now that I can have the ball in my hands [where] I feel like I have control over helping us win games.” 

SLAM 248 IS OUT NOW!

Photos via Getty Images. Portraits by Alex Subers.

The post Tyrese Maxey Talks Rise to Stardom, Joel Embiid and Finding Control Through the Chaos appeared first on SLAM.

Population…roughly 3,000.                                                      

It is here where the epicenter of the biggest story in high school basketball originates.  

It is here where one of the most highly touted high school prospects in recent memory began his hoops odyssey.

A journey that technically can be traced back to the early 1990s. That’s when Cooper Flagg’s mother, Kelly, was turning heads on the hardwood at Nokomis Regional High School on her way to scoring 1,257 career points. Nokomis would become the same school where almost three decades later, one of her three sons would begin capturing the attention of the basketball universe.    

Kelly went on to play DI ball at the University of Maine from 1995-99, where she embarked on an incredible run that included four consecutive American East titles and making appearances in the NCAA Tournament all four years. Her senior year, when she was the team captain, Kelly was a starter and led the Black Bear over Stanford to the program’s first and only NCAA Tournament win.  

She was already a Maine hoops legend in the ’90s, but her contributions to the game were only just beginning. 

Enter…Cooper Flagg. It wouldn’t take long for Kelly to notice that Cooper—born seven years after her collegiate run and a minute after his twin brother Ace—wasn’t the typical elementary school kid. Looking to challenge him, she enrolled him on a 4^th grade rec league team—as a 2^nd grader. 

“I remember the ball was going out of bounds on the baseline, the other team’s end of the floor. He jumped up in the air and palmed the ball. Cooper didn’t just chuck it back inbounds to anybody, he kept it in play and found a teammate at the same time. Moments later, he sprinted down to the other end of the floor and caught it for a layup. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a 7-year-old have those kinds of instincts,” she recalls. “It was apparent to us that year when the rec season ended that he needed more. That is not what you normally see in a 7- or 8-year-old kid.

“There were a lot of weekends we went to play and they would only have five or six kids,” she adds. “As a second grader, he never left the floor and would just be exhausted because they would play two or three games in a day. The next year, we got him on a team as a third grader with fifth grade boys. That was a really good fit for him. Their team played more of a five in, five out style.”

“I remember the first couple of practices just being really tough. I would come out really tired and exhausted,” says Cooper. “I think I had a bunch of bruises. It was just really rough to start out because of how much older everyone was. I was also just as tall as them from a really young age, so I didn’t really feel out of place, but you could tell that they were more physically developed than me… That’s something that I look back on and I’m really thankful for. Both of my parents always pushed me to play against older competition. It helped me to develop a lot earlier.”

SLAM 247 featuring Cooper Flagg is out now. Shop here.

At the end of Cooper’s third grade year, Kelly was approached by Andy Bedard, whom she had gone to college with but had subsequently lost contact with. He had gotten her number from Amy Vachon, the current women’s basketball head coach at the University of Maine and expressed interest in having her sons join the youth team he was coaching, which also included his own son, Kaden. Andy had begun hearing rumblings that Kelly’s kids were pretty good at basketball. There was only one little problem: Andy was based out of Portland—an hour and a half away from where the Flaggs lived.

But with the family committed to the game (Cooper’s dad, Ralph, also hooped collegiately at Eastern Maine Community College) and the boys’ continued development, they decided to make the trip multiple times per week, on weekdays. At times, these trips even included numerous family members and car swaps. When Kelly wasn’t able to drive the boys all the way to practice, she says her father would take them halfway, where Ralph, who worked in Portland, would meet them. The boys would hop in his car, and he’d drive them the rest of the way to practice.

“We would then hop in the vehicle, and I would have already made lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Sometimes we ordered a pizza ahead and grabbed it on the way so that they could get some food,” says Kelly. “We would get down there for practice at 4:30. We practiced until 6 or 6:30, and then we would head back home. There were a lot of [long] nights for 10-year-olds [where] we were getting home at 9 at night on a school night. It was a big commitment, and we did that twice a week, but it was all worth it.”

To help pass time in those long car rides, Kelly would have the boys watch recordings of the 1980s Celtics’ championship teams. It helped set the foundation for their basketball knowledge, serving as a way to learn the game’s history while also doubling as elite film study sessions… and three-plus hours of much needed in-car entertainment.

“We would always either have the ‘85 or ‘86 Celtics championship games on or the Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird movies. It instilled Bird’s mindset within me and Ace. How he was always the hardest worker, no matter what,” recalls Cooper. “Especially from that Celtics team that played against the Rockets, it was more about the teamwork and the ball movement.”

By the time Cooper and Ace were ready to attend high school, it was an obvious choice where they would go—Nokomis Regional, the same program where their mom starred in the early ’90s, and, well, the only high school in the city of Newport.

They entered their freshman year in the fall of 2021 under a unique set of circumstances. With the world still reeling from the effects of a global pandemic, Cooper, Ace and his teammates had to wear masks while playing. But more unique was the family affair that the opportunity provided. On the team was also their older brother, Hunter, who was a senior. But as the season progressed, the roles between the younger brothers and their oldest sibling began to shift.

“The team was really bad for years leading up to that year and that run they had,” Kelly says. “They were 1-17 for two years in a row. In Hunter’s junior year, they were 3-15. Hunter was a big who got a lot of minutes and was a starter in his sophomore and junior years. Early on in [Cooper’s and Ace’s freshman] season, all three of them started. Cooper averaged six dunks a game in middle school. The buzz that his name was generating in the state of Maine around basketball was extraordinary before he even played his first high school game. People just couldn’t wait to see him play. A couple of games into the season after a successful preseason, the coach had Hunter and another senior coming off the bench. The both of them handled it so well even though it was a tough pill to swallow. All the seniors were so gracious and were just excited to have a winning team. Even the parents of the senior boys were amazing.”

That season ended up being one for the ages. The team went 21-1 on their way to capturing the state title. Cooper began to show the same flashes of elite talent that the rest of the world has now caught up on. He averaged 21 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists that season as a ninth grader. The USA Basketball website highlights one particular outing where he dropped 32 points, 13 rebounds, 9 assists, 5 blocks and 3 steals in an early January game.   

“[Having Ace, Hunter, and me on the same team] was always something we were excited about. It was a really fun year in general because it was going to be our last year with Hunter. We knew that we probably weren’t going to be going back to Nokomis after that year, so we had a lot of fun with it,” says Cooper. “Winning the state championship together was a dream we always had, and something we wanted to do together for the community… We knew what the team was going to be because we had a fall ball team that had been playing together since the summer. Ace and I had been playing up with the varsity [team] during the summer.”   

As if the Flaggs’ story so far wasn’t already a Hollywood-type script, the story behind the supporting cast of that championship team really drives home the point. When Kelly was a senior at Nokomis, she shared the floor with teammates Penny, Jaime, Katie and Amanda—fast forward some three decades later, and their respective sons—Dawson Townsend, Ethan Cote, Alex Grant and Madden White—were all now sharing that same floor with Kelly’s kids at the very same school. A reminder of just how small the Newport community really is.  

After the movie-esque season, though, came a difficult decision. The family had to decide between continuing their high school careers at Nokomis or making the sacrifice of relocating in search of a chance to take their games to the next level. In the end, the latter took precedence, and Cooper and Ace found themselves on their way to Florida for their sophomore campaigns, enrolling at national powerhouse Montverde Academy. Aside from featuring an unmatched alumni list that includes Cade Cunningham, Scottie Barnes, Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid (transferred out), D’Angelo Russell and RJ Barrett, among a plethora of other NBA players, the Eagles are renowned for their state-of-the-art facilities and playing a top-notch national schedule that competes against the country’s top talent. It’s been regarded as the closest thing to a DI program at the high school level. In fact, since 2021, Montverde has had 12 players selected in the NBA Draft. In contrast, during that same period, Duke has had eight and Kentucky has had seven.    

“There were these whispers about a kid that was potentially very good, from Maine of all places, and they were playing at The Big House, which is 30 minutes from our school in Florida in a Made Hoops event,” recalls Montverde head coach Kevin Boyle. “So, I went there to watch some of our younger guys and to see what kind of potential Cooper had. You could just see he had a competitiveness and athleticism that at minimally, he was going to be an outstanding player.”  

The move to Montverde helped raise Cooper’s profile on a national scale while also taking his game up a notch. In 2022, he became the youngest ever USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year.

The competitive side of Cooper is no more evident than when you hear him talk about the driveway battles he’s had with his family throughout the years. Those would get really heated sometimes, and no one was safe from it, not even his own mother. 

“Countless hours spent in the driveway battling against both of [my brothers]. Too many fights to remember. Just a lot of fun we used to have playing against each other and just battling,” says Cooper. “Me and my mom used to battle all the time [too]. I think the last time we played was in fifth grade. She actually got hurt when we were playing, and we haven’t played since. So I never beat her. I was beating her that one time. I was up 9 to 8 in a game to 11, but then she got hurt.”

“That’s not exactly the way I remember it happening,” says Kelly, after getting wind of Cooper’s 1-on-1 recollection. “He may have been in the lead, but I’m sure had I not torn my meniscus, I would have come back and beaten him in that game. I drove to the left and did a hard jump stop. He went flying, and I would have scored and tied up the game. When I planted it, I just felt [like] something was not right. So, he technically has never beaten me.

“I didn’t play them that often,” she adds. “Every once in a while, I would get in there just to remind them who the boss was. All three of our boys had battles. Those occurred daily, or at least several times a week. Every single time that the three of them went out to play, we knew that it was going to end in some sort of physical fight or verbal altercation. There was usually someone bleeding at the end. The ball was chucked across the street. It didn’t end well. I attribute that to their competitiveness, especially in those early days of wanting to win.”

Stories of just how competitive Cooper is are rampant. When Coach Boyle is asked for a story that perfectly reflects Cooper’s personality, he laughs for a few seconds before recalling the time Cooper had to be separated from a practice scuffle…with his own twin brother.

“It was Cooper and his brother swinging at each other in practice when they were on opposing teams,” Boyle says. “They got tangled up in a few plays and we had to break them up after throwing punches at each other. It’s a good story because it just shows the competitiveness in him because the family all love each other dearly, but when they’re on the court, they’re competing. It’s one of the few fights at practice we’ve had since I’ve been at Montverde. It brought a smile to my face, it brought me back to the St. Patrick [HS in Elizabeth, NJ] days.” 

As impressive as his game is, it’s the fact that he’s still only 16 years old that really hits. He’ll be 17 for his first four months of college since his birthday isn’t until December. Beyond the skill set, hard commitment to both ends of the floor, impressive athleticism, otherworldly confidence and poised demeanor, Cooper is barely old enough to be in his current grade. 

This past summer, though, Cooper Flagg-mania hit a new tier. Unless you spent the warmer months of 2023 living under a rock, you likely saw highlights of Cooper in your feed at some point while scrolling on your phone. His name would trend on Twitter periodically and videos of him absolutely manhandling his peers drew the attention of hoop fans and added fire to the frenzy. This all led to an epic run at the Nike EYBL Peach Jam.

Playing for Maine United, which earlier in the spring looked to be in jeopardy of even qualifying for Peach Jam, Cooper and company ended up going on a Cinderella-type run in the days that followed. Although they entered the U16 Peach Jam with a 9-9 record, the team went undefeated (4-0) in pool play on its way to the championship game, where they ultimately fell short. Flagg averaged 25.4 points, 13.0 rebounds and 5.7 assists in the tournament and even had LeBron James approach him at one point to chop it up—an interaction that made the rounds online.

“It’d be tough for anybody to do a scouting report on me in terms of how they’re going to take me out of a game,” Cooper says. “They can take certain parts of my game away, but I think that I’m too versatile and too much of a well-rounded player that no team can take me out of the game.

“In terms of challenging, I don’t really know if I could say something that’s really challenging because most of the things that people would see as challenging are an outcome of some opportunity that I’ve been given. You have to look at it in that way.”      

For Cooper, though, it wasn’t just about shocking the world in leading an unbeknownst AAU team from Maine, of all places, to the title game of the most prestigious grassroots circuit in the world—all after barely maintaining a .500 record going into the final session. It was more about the fact that this very same AAU program was full of teammates that he met when he would travel 3+ hours for practice as a fourth grader. It was the culmination of an almost decade-long journey alongside some kids from The Pine Tree State with similar hoop dreams as his.        

Not long after, Cooper found himself having to make yet another high-stake, life-altering decision this past summer: stay in his current class and continue to the dominate everyone in front of him, or reclassify up and join the senior class of 2024, which would expedite his ultimate dream of going pro one day. He chose the latter, of course.

And although everyone watched his meteoric rise this year on social media, what they didn’t see was that behind the scenes, Cooper was taking summer classes when he wasn’t traveling around the country and tearing up every event he stepped foot in, all in order to put himself on track to have enough credits to reclassify up to the Class of 2024.  

“It was really tough because when I was home, the main thing I was doing was schoolwork,” Cooper says. “I had to focus on schoolwork over seeing my friends that I hadn’t seen in months. Trying to balance all those different things was tough but something that I had to do.”

All those previous decisions led to this current decision, his most important one yet. Deciding between UConn and Duke. Cooper visited both campuses in recent weeks, and when it came time to pick a destination, he went with his gut feeling, just like he has with every other decision.

“I think after I got on campus at Duke, I really started to feel it, to be honest,” he says. “That’s something the coaches definitely stressed to me, that once you get to campus, it’s something you have to feel. And [I knew then] I wanted to go to Duke and that’s where I wanted to play college basketball. What went into the decision, I mean, I was just looking for a coaching staff I was really comfortable with, but [also] a coach and staff that was really going to hold me accountable. Being on the visit, I got to see them in practice, and see how they were holding their guys accountable, and really pushing them to be better. For me, ever since I was a little kid, I always had dreams of playing Division I basketball at the highest level. Especially with a place like Duke, once we got to campus, we felt it.

“I’m honored that I have the opportunity to join The Brotherhood, and hopefully I’ll be one of the players that recruits are looking at some day and someone they can see themselves being. Especially from all the love I saw this last weekend when I was there, it made me really excited, all the [Cameron] Crazies and the fans. I think it’s going to be a really exciting year and [fans] should just get ready because I know that I’m all about winning, so I’m trying to keep that winning culture that Duke has.”

In Durham, after wearing No. 32 his whole life—a jersey number retired by Duke thanks to Christian Laettner—Cooper has chosen to wear No. 2 instead next year, in honor of his close friend Donovan Kurt, who attended Nokomis Regional back in Maine (he wore No. 2) and passed away last year after a long battle with brain cancer (visit here to support families of children fighting cancer in Maine).          

“[This] is something that I’m trying to carry with me. [I want to] prove that kids from Maine can make it if they put their minds to it and they really work hard enough,” says Cooper. “That’s something that I’m taking a lot of pride in. It’s proving to everybody from Maine, the rest of the country, and around the world, that kids from Maine can make it.”     

SLAM 247 COVER TEES AVAILABLE NOW.

Portraits by Marcus Stevens.

The post No. 1 HS Recruit Cooper Flagg Announces He’s Headed to Duke on the Cover of SLAM 247 appeared first on SLAM.

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

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

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

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

27 points, 7 rebounds vs. Oklahoma City

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

26 points, 10 rebounds vs. Greensboro

28 points, 11 rebounds vs. Iowa

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

22 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals vs. Memphis

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

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

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

HONORABLE MENTIONS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS

Eastern Conference: Long Island Nets (23-9)

Western Conference: Stockton Kings (25-7)

Scoring Champ: Carlik Jones (26.1)

Assists Champ: Jacob Gilyard (9.7)

Rebounds Champ: Jayce Johnson (13.5)

Blocks Champ: Jay Huff (3.1)

Steals Champ: Jaden Springer (2.3)

3PT Champ: Mychal Mulder (129)

MARCH CALL-UPS

Luka Samanic, Forward, Maine Celtics to Utah Jazz

Xavier Sneed, Forward, Greensboro Swarm to Charlotte Hornets

Jay Scrubb, Guard, Lakeland Magic to Orlando Magic

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

Trevor Keels, Guard, Westchester Knicks to New York Knicks

Lindell Wiggington, Guard, Wisconsin Herd to Milwaukee Bucks

Jamaree Bouyea, Guard, Sioux Falls Skyforce to Washington Wizards

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

Sam Merrill, Guard, Cleveland Charge to Cleveland Cavaliers

Jay Huff, Center, South Bay Lakers to Washington Wizards

Xavier Moon, Guard, Ontario Clippers to Los Angeles Clippers

More below:

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

Kobi Simmons, Guard, Greensboro Swarm to Charlotte Hornets

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

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

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

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

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

Photos via Getty Images.

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

“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.

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.

Simmons, who already missed several games this season because of a back injury, has missed the past three games due to a left upper lateral calf strain on top of experiencing some knee soreness. He first felt irritation in his calf on Nov.27 when Brooklyn took on the Portland Trail Blazers and later felt it again on Nov.28 against the Orlando Magic.

The only difference between these two games was Simmons asking to come out after playing 11 minutes in the matchup with Orlando and didn’t return. The Nets forward logged 34 minutes versus Portland despite experiencing discomfort in his calf. Since being sidelined, the 26-year-old has progressed his calf and knee. He has reached a point where he is now excited to be where he is in the recovery.

“I’m excited where I’m at right now,” Simmons said after practice on Tuesday with the Nets. “So I’m looking for Friday to get back on the court – It’s a lot of load for coming back from a back injury and then also the knee, so I’m glad I had this time to build some muscle around it, and we’ll work on it.”

The three-time All-Star continued to touch on how the back surgery he had over the summer may be related to his recent injuries on his knee and calf. 

“I think it’s all related,” Simmons said. “When you start talking about back injuries, you start using different muscles; you want to load and lean or whatever it is. I think they all relate in some aspect.”

Moving forward, Simmons plans on being more careful with his minutes. Whether or not he can play both games during back-to-backs is now in question.

“I think we’re definitely going to look at it a lot different,” Simmons said. “I don’t know if it’s measuring minutes, maybe not back-to-backs, whatever it is. I think that’s going to be a joint thing with the training staff and myself and letting them know how I’m feeling.”

So far this year, Simmons is averaging a career-low 8.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 5.8 assists. Brooklyn (13-12) currently sits sixth in the Eastern Conference. If this team looks to reach its full potential down the line, they are definitely going to need Simmons.

The Nets will take on the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday in their next game.

The post Ben Simmons Hopeful to Return On Friday Against the Atlanta Hawks appeared first on SLAM.

The Lakeshow struggled on both ends of the floor. They allowed the Pacers to score 32 points in the final frame and scored 22, shooting 8-22 from the field. While Anthony Davis scored 25 points on the night, he was only able to take two shots in the final quarter. Head coach Darvin Ham held himself accountable for the Lakers’ fourth-quarter woes.

“That falls on me,” Ham said per MSN. “That falls on me. I’ll take responsibility for that”.

Davis, who rounded out his 25 points with 13 rebounds and six assists, believed Ham was not the sole bearer of blame. 

“It’s not just on him. It’s on us, too,” Davis said per MSN. “I mean, we got enough years in the League for the guys that were on the floor late game to execute. Obviously, he’s a coach, you take the blame. But it’s on us players to go out there and execute.

“We know what we’re doing. We’re talented enough and smart enough on the floor to win a basketball game like that — So it’s not on him.”

LeBron James recorded 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists in his third game back from a groin injury.  He agreed with Davis that there is more to the loss than Ham’s shortcomings.

“Everything has to go wrong in order for you to lose a game like that, and everything went wrong,” he said per ESPN. 

The Lakers look to bounce back during their six-game road trip featuring match-ups against the Bucks, Cavaliers, and 76ers.

The post ‘That Falls On Me’: Darvin Ham Takes Responsibility for Lakers’ Late Game Collapse 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.

Following a Tuesday morning shootaround, Simmons said it “feels good to be back” at Wells Fargo Center and that he’s “locked-in” and “ready to play” against the 76ers.

Ben Simmons following this morning’s #BrooklynNets shootaround at the Wells Fargo Center: “It feels good to be back. It does feel good to be back. I’m ready to go, locked-in. So I’m ready to play.”

— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) November 22, 2022

The Nets (8-9) head to Philly carrying a consecutive win streak after beating the Trail Blazers and Grizzlies. Simmons goes into the game carrying significant baggage from his last year, where he sat out the season due to mental health on top of public concerns about his lack of aggression. After he was traded to the Nets, Simmons sat out the rest of the regular-season and playoffs due to a back injury that ultimately required surgery in May.

When asked about the prospect of his return being anti-climatic due to Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and James Harden not playing, Simmons said that “the fans will make up for it” and that he knows his first game in Wells Fargo Center out of a Philly uniform will be filled with a lot of boos

“Yeah, so I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be fun.”

Ben Simmons on if his return to Philly is anti-climatic with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and James Harden not playing for the #Sixers: “I mean the fans will make up for it. Yeah, so I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be fun.”
Simmons knows he’ll hear a lot of boos.

— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) November 22, 2022

Philly-Brooklyn takes place at 7:30, with TNT showcasing the game.

The post Ben Simmons: 76ers Reunion Game Is ‘Going to be Fun’ 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.

Sacramento shot 10-12 during their game-deciding blitz late in the first half. They also hit 6-6 inside and three-point arc while forcing the Nets into 1-11 shooting and 1-8 in the paint during Sacramento’s decisive run. The Kings entered Tuesday winners of six of their last eight contests.

“S—t, we got smacked. They were better offensively and defensively. They played as a team (for) four quarters,” Ben Simmons said, per the New York Post. ” They just played better than us — They wanted it more. Obviously, we didn’t want it.”

Finishing through contact pic.twitter.com/YCfv4P5a9k

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 16, 2022

Simmons recorded 11 points, five rebounds, and three assists on 5-7 shooting from the field. The output is the most he’s scored since June 14, 2021. When Brooklyn traded for the LSU product at last season’s trade deadline, they hoped the three-time All-Star would solve their defensive woes as a two-way menace.

So far, Simmons has averaged a career-low 5.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 5.6 rebounds per game on 48.1 percent shooting from the field. As a defense, Brooklyn ranks 23rd in the League with a 112.7 defensive rating.

Some of their woes may be attributed to Simmons’ lack of aggression and availability. According to Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic, the Nets have reportedly grown frustrated with Simmons’ health and level of play. Simmons missed the last eight days after he got his left knee drained because of fluid build-up. The one-time steal champ acknowledged that criticism but reiterated that his injury concerns are “a real thing.

“You’re obviously not gonna be happy when anybody’s out,” Simmons told The Athletic, “But for me, I’ve been dealing with the knee since the start of the season. It’s been swollen. I had PRP (injections). I had blood rained a couple (of) times. So it’s not a made up thing, you know” It’s a real thing.

“I get (the skepticism), but I think the one thing with me is that I’m a competitor. I want to win and play. So I’m gonna do what I can to get out there.”

pic.twitter.com/arDyDHwatw

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 16, 2022

It’s been a tough two years for Simmons, who’s had to battle criticism about his lack of aggression and mental health. He noted that his back problems started on Fed. 22, 2020, against the Milwaukee Bucks, when he said he went to the hospital because he was in so much pain.

Simmons said his latest injury had required near-constant care while his back has vastly improved. He’s said that he’s “on full overload with treatment” and is doing “everything I need to do to stay out there, “like “spending more time on the table,” and when he’s away from the facility, he makes sure that he’s keeping his leg up and “icing, doing whatever I need to do — sleeping.”

Simmons and the Nets will have a chance to avenge their blowout loss with a road game against the Trail Blazers.

The post Ben Simmons On His Recurring Knee Injury: ‘It’s Not a Made-Up Thing 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.

The Sixers are now left to look elsewhere for more offensive production, and there’s no replacing the Beard. As the team’s primary playmaker, he put up solid numbers of 22.0 points, 10.0 assists, and 7.0 rebounds per contest. 

Joel Embiid will likely take on most of the load with Harden out, although he is still dealing with an illness. Last season, before Ben Simmons was traded, Embiid was putting up MVP numbers and kept the Sixers as contenders in the East before acquiring Harden.

The young and emerging Tyrese Maxey is also a player that will have a more significant role in the absence of Harden, particularly in the playmaking department. He’s averaging a career-best 24.2 points on 51.6 percent shooting. There’s no question he will take care of the playmaking responsibilities for now because he did just that last year when the Sixers still had Simmons.

If one thing is for sure, these next few games are really going to show what this team is made of. 

Philadelphia is currently the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference with a record of 4-5. Their next game will be against the New York Knicks on Friday.

The post REPORT: James Harden Expected to Miss a Month with Foot Injury 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.

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.

Simmons was frustrated with the officiating all night, but none vexed him more than his sixth and final foul, a touch foul when Simmons aggressively defended Ja Morant near halfcourt while Morant tried to waste time with 3:52 left in the game. 

Simmons and Coach Steve Nash were flabbergasted by the call. 

“I just saw the play,” Simmons said after the game. “It wasn’t a foul. [Orr] called it a foul, made a mistake, it is what it is … it’s really frustrating … it’s not a foul, but it was bullshit. It’s frustrating because it’s late game, fourth quarter, it’s a physical, close game. It’s the NBA. It’s not college. It’s not high school. Some people are going to get hit; some people bleed; it’s basketball.”

Ja Morant just explained how he baited Ben Simmons into a sixth foul by remembering something that happened during his rookie year. pic.twitter.com/lKgerareWm

— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) October 25, 2022

Morant believed he had something to do with Simmons’ getting called for the foul and explained how he baited him into being disqualified. 

“If y’all want to go dig up a play, I think my rookie year I was in Philly, and the same situation happened like that versus Ben in the first half. I went to look at Coach to get the play, and [Simmons] ran through the ball, got the steal, and went to dunk — I knew it at that moment. Once I seen him and I was rolling the ball, and I was at half [court], I looked at Coach, and I see him try to like ‘oh yeah.’ So I knew I had him. He was going to press up, and I was just going to force the ref to make the call.” 

Morant and Simmons were going at it all games, each receiving technicals in the first half. Morant finished with 38 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists. Simmons finished with seven points, eight dimes, and three boards. 

The post Ja Morant Takes Credit For Baiting Ben Simmons into Fouling Out appeared first on SLAM.

Harden reflected on his last two years in the League, per USA Today,. “These last two years, it was a lot of drama, a lot of negative energy, which I don’t really like too much,” Harden said. “Whether it’s me getting out of Houston or what happened last year going into the season from last year, it was just a lot. Here, it’s just fresh; it’s a relief; it’s like, let’s just go hoop.”

And boy, is Harden hoopin’. The Beard opened the season with two stellar performances. On Tuesday night, he posted 35 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists against the defending Eastern Conference Champs, the Boston Celtics, and on Thursday, he scored 31 points, ripped down eight rebounds, and dished out nine assists against the Milwaukee Bucks.

While critics attacked the guard for his ability to stay healthy last season, Harden “can move now,” and he credits his hot start in Philly to his health and work ethic.

“I’m a workaholic, so not being able to put the work in like I normally do was frustrating,” Harden said about last season, per ESPN. “This summer, I had that opportunity to, and then even up to this point, I feel really good. So, just continue to put the work in and living with the results, and that’s what I live by — A lot of people don’t see the work that I put in. This scoring ability and all of this other stuff doesn’t come without work. So as much as people want to talk about all of this other stuff, that doesn’t really matter, I’m a workaholic, and I love to be in the gym and play basketball. So I’ll continue to do that.”

Not only has a healthy Harden returned to form with step-back threes and forceful drives that draw fouls, but he has evolved his game. The eight-time All-Star hit seven mid-range shots – a career-high and a third of his total mid-range jumpers all of last season.

“I’ve been working on my game this summer, so I just took what the defense gave me,” Harden said. “I had a couple threes that I missed, but you can’t control it. You put the work in, and you live with the results. Tonight, they gave me midrange shots, and I lived with the results.”

With back-to-back 30+ point nights, Harden joined Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain and Allen Iverson as the third player in Sixers history to score at least 30 points in his first two games of a season. Unfortunately, Harden’s phenomenal play has not been enough for the Sixers, and they fell to 0-2 after an 88-90 loss to the Bucks. 

“For me, it’s not even about the individual. Individual [play] is great, and I’ll do whatever it takes for the betterment of this team, but all of us need to be playing at a high level, and that’s a part of my job”, said Harden. The Sixers host the Spurs tomorrow and look to bounce back and secure their first win of the season.

The post ‘Let’s Just Go Hoop’: James Harden Capitalizing on a Fresh Start in Philadelphia appeared first on SLAM.

Los Angeles Clippers have been considering the possibility of bringing Kawhi Leonard off the bench to start the season in order to manage his minutes, league sources tell @YahooSports.

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) October 20, 2022

The temporary experiment could start as soon as Thursday when the Clippers start the season against their hallway rival Lakers. Before training camp, Clippers president Lawrence Frank said that the Clippers planned on taking a cautious approach while Leonard returned from a torn ACL he suffered during the 2021 playoffs.

Leonard has gone through a load management program since he suffered a quadriceps injury that robbed him of most of the 2017-2018 season.

Coming to NBA arenas this fall, the return of the League’s most terrifying two-way players.

Kawhi and PG cover SLAM 240. https://t.co/aTFojIRsVL pic.twitter.com/NnTVfLdhve

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) October 17, 2022

The last time Kawhi Leonard came off the bench, he was 21-years-old playing his second season in the NBA. Leonard was playing his first game after missing nearly a month of action due to quadriceps tendinitis. Leonard completed a rehab assignment with the Austin Toros, San Antonio’s G League affiliate. The two-time DPOY ended up starting the other 57 games he appeared in that season.

The post REPORT: Clippers ‘Considering’ Bringing Kawhi Leonard Off the Bench to Start the Year 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.

Porter Jr. has had a tough stretch of NBA seasons so far, as yet another lower-back injury caused Porter to miss out on yet another season of action. After just signing a five-year $207 million extension with the Nuggets the previous year, many had begun to question if Porter could stay healthy.

Coach Michael Malone recently commented on Porter and said his main hope is that the Missouri product “stays healthy and gets through the season.

“The one priority for Michael is to hope that he stays healthy and gets through the season,” Malone said. “If he does that offensively, we know how gifted he is. The guy can score from all over the place. He is such a threat and weapon on the offensive end of the floor.”

In Porter’s recent preseason outing versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, Porter seemed to be clicking offensively, dropping 12 points on 5-7 shooting from the field in just 14 minutes of action. When MPJ was questioned about where he feels physically, he said he feels “really good right now.”

“I feel really good right now. I feel just as good as I have since I’ve been in the League. Still a lot of things I want to improve on, get better on, but I feel like, for now, it’s going to be steps up. Keep going up, keep going up until I keep reaching those goals, helping my team win, things like that. I kind of figured out the back thing, Lord willing. I think I kind of figured that out. So, now I can just keep growing and growing. I spent a lot of my offseason just getting back on the floor. So now, to be back where I’m on the court, I just feel like I can grow from here.”

MPJ was also asked if his confidence was back.

“It doesn’t leave me. My confidence in my game doesn’t leave me. But confidence in movement, I’m still working through all that. But I’m good. I feel really good. My balance is getting there. It’s coming along. That’s the last thing, the last pop, the last bit of explosiveness is kind of what you wait on the most. But it is getting there, for sure. Every week, every month, it’s getting better and better.”

Seeing Porter back on the basketball court after dealing with such severe and nagging injuries is genuinely remarkable. Heading into this new NBA season, Porter will also be joined by another sensational talent in Jamal Murray, who the Nuggets missed last season due to injury. With those two back, the Denver Nuggets have a huge opportunity to make a deep playoff run and possibly even win the championship.

With the Nugget’s season set to tip off tonight against the Utah Jazz, their journey begins to see if they can achieve those goals.

The post Michael Porter Jr. Opens Up About His Confidence Within His Body and Game 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.

The former All-Star went viral on social media for a fadeaway airball he took at the Nets’ “Practice in the Park” in Brooklyn. Simmons had some displeased words for the audience of that video and took a jab at an NBA superstar that has also struggled to shoot in the previous years.

“They’re going to say that regardless,” said Simmons on fans’ criticism of his shooting. “Even if I hit a shot, what are they going to say? ‘I still can’t —That’s like saying can, Giannis [Antetokounmpo] shoot? Can he?”

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Simmons didn’t play for the 76ers with mental health issues, and a back injury prevented him from playing with Brooklyn last season. He ultimately received back surgery to fix the “lower spine irritation” he was experiencing. Simmons missed Brooklyn’s first-round loss to the Celtics due to that back injury and reportedly received some backlash from his teammates about his unavailability.

In the wake of all the criticism he’s had to deal with, Simmons fired back that all the backlash “comes with being Ben Simmons right now.”

“It finds me all the time,” Simmons said. “And it doesn’t f—ing stop. Sometimes I’m even sick of it, but then I’m like, ‘OK, I’m Ben Simmons, you know? It comes with being Ben Simmons right now.’

In a recent preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Simmons held Giannis Antetokounmpo to 6-21 shooting from the field, showing his defensive abilities are still at the top of the rest of the League. In addition, Coach Steve Nash has made it clear that no matter the position Simmons plays, he’ll settle for whatever jump shot he takes.

Through all the controversy surrounding his name, Simmons is more than confident to be a better version of himself from previous years and is siked to take on one of his biggest challenges this season, play at Wells Fargo Arena against his former Sixers squad.

“F— I can’t wait to go there,” said Simmons.

The post Ben Simmons Responds to Recent Media Criticism About His Jump Shot 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.

Ben Simmons might’ve played for a different team, the Philadelphia Sixers, the last time he suited up in a game 470 days prior, but after a season-long trade request and subsequent back injury, Simmons is back for the Brooklyn Nets. He faced off against his former squad in the first preseason game, scoring six points, grabbed four boards, dishing out five dimes and a steal in 19 minutes. 

“I’m grateful just to be able to step on that floor,” Simmons said, per ESPN. “Step on an NBA floor again. I had a lot of fun out there.”

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Out on the west coast, Kawhi Leonard made his well-awaited return after suffering a torn ACL during the 2021 NBA playoffs against the Utah Jazz. The two-time Finals MVP picked up right where he left off, scoring 11 points and collecting four rebounds with two steals against the Portland Trailblazers in only 16 minutes.

“It was great,” Leonard said. “Just being able to put all that hard work that I did throughout the, 14, 16 months, just able to put it to test and playing against NBA talent, it was good.”

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And then there’s SLAM 230 cover star Jamal Murray, who has been missing from action since he tore his ACL during the 2021 regular season. He gave optimists a lot of reasons to feel vindicated for their faith that he would return better than ever in his first game back, finishing with 10 points on 4-7 from the field in only 15 minutes. 

We’ve said it before, but let it be known now that’s he back: it’s Jamal Murray’s time.

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With the NBA regular season right around the corner, these three superstars are joining (or re-joining) teams with championship aspirations and contention expectations. It’s been too many days too long and the game is better with them on the court. 

The post Ben Simmons, Jamal Murray and Kawhi Leonard Make Their NBA Return appeared first on SLAM.

He had an amazing high school career that ended up with him winning the Gatorade National Player of the Year Award and being the No. 1 recruit in his draft class. After an impressive year at college basketball powerhouse Gonzaga, Holmgren declared for the 2022 NBA Draft and was drafted by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the second pick.

However, after what was a dominant Summer League outing Holmgren where he proved many doubters wrong, the rookie forward would then end up suffering torn ligaments in his foot after competing in an off-season Pro-Am game. To make matters worse, this Lisfranc injury will keep Holmgren out for the entire 2022-2023 NBA season.

In his first appearance talking to reporters since the injury, per Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman, Holmgren said that he had spoken to NBA superstar Joel Embiid who told him the following.

“It’s always great to look at something, knowing it’s been done before,” Holmgren told reporters. “Even if it wasn’t (done before), I was going to put my hard hat on and get to work.”

Holmgren also pointed out that he is familiar with the stories of Ben Simmons and Blake Griffin, who are two other NBA stars who lost out on their rookie seasons due to injury as well. When asked about how his rehabilitation process was going, Holmgren said he’s “studied (his) body a lot” and that he’s “taking those proper steps to prevent injuries as well.”

“I try to take steps every single day to put my body in the best position for the best possible health on and off the court,” Holmgren said. “I’ve studied my body a lot, along with people here on the medical staff. We’re taking those proper steps to prevent injuries as well.” 

Holmgren also responded to those who criticize NBA players for playing in the Pro-Am games saying “At the end of the day, basketball players are going to play basketball,”

“It’s just kind of like; you’ve got to feed the love for the game,” Holmgren said. “I don’t want an injury like this to take away from that. I’m always going to have a love for basketball, so I’m always taking advantage of opportunities to play basketball. Just gotta make sure that you do it right and you’re able to kind of avoid things like this.” 

Only time will tell how Holmgren will fit into OKC’s rotation, but whenever he does set foot on a basketball court again, the basketball world is in for a real treat!

The post Chet Holmgren Speaks On His Injury Rehab and What He’s Learned About the NBA 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.

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.

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.

Oklahoma City Thunder 7-footer Chet Holmgren will miss the 2022-2023 season with a Lisfranc injury to his right foot. Holmgren, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, suffered the injury in a Pro-Am game in Seattle on Saturday.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 25, 2022

Holmgren is the latest lottery pick to lose their rookie season due to an injury, joining a list of bigs and forwards that includes Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Blake Griffin. Simmons and Griffin went on to win the Rookie of the Year the following season due to the lost time preventing them from touching the court in their true rookie seasons.

“Certainly, we are disappointed for Chet, especially given the excitement he had about getting on the floor with his teammates this season,” Thunder GM Sam Presti said in a statement. “We know Chet has a long career ahead of him within our organization and the Oklahoma City community.”

“One of the things that most impressed us during the process of selecting Chet was his determination and focus. We expect that same tenacity will carry him throughout this period of time as we work together and support him during his rehabilitation.

Holmgren joins a list of high draft picks who lost their rookie years to injuries, including Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Blake Griffin. https://t.co/EYNVgA1bYk

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 25, 2022

Holmgren’s injury will prevent the Thunder from putting him into a lineup that features Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, and Josh Giddey. Despite the injury, Holmgren will likely still be considered a key piece of OKC’s core moving forward, but it’ll be interesting to see how his development will be aided or hampered by this recent development.

Moving forward, OKC will rely on Derrick Favors, Aleksej Pokusevski, and Ousmane Dieng to fill where Holmgren’s presence will be missed.

The post Chet Holmgren to Miss Rookie Season Due to Lisfranc Injury 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.

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.

ESPN Sources: Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers have reached a settlement agreement on the grievance the All-Star guard filed to recoup a portion of the nearly $20 million withheld him as a result of his failure to play games in the 2021-2022 season. Story soon.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 15, 2022

Simmons and Philly agreed to a confidentiality agreement on the exact financial settlement, according to Woj. The 76ers made their case based on their belief that Simmons breached his contract by not showing up to training camp and not playing for the franchise during the 2022-23 season. Simmons’ argument was that his mental health was compromised, and that was the reason he couldn’t play.

Simmons’ struggles with mental health after he was heavily criticized after the 76ers lost to the Atlanta Hawks in the second round of the playoffs. Coach Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid were critical of Simmons’ lack of aggressiveness, but Embiid later came out and said that he had Simmons’ back and wanted to play with him before the former All-Star was shipped to Brooklyn.

Both sides agreed to a confidentiality agreement on the exact financial settlement, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 15, 2022

After Simmons was traded for James Harden at the trade deadline, a back injury he suffered sometime during the season prevented him from playing with the Nets at all. Simmons went under the knife to solve the issue in May.

The post REPORT: Ben Simmons and the 76ers Reach Settlement on Grievance appeared first on SLAM.

When Simmons was first traded for James Harden, fans were excited to see the three-time All-Star contribute as a two-way playmaker they’ve seen him grow into since he entered the public eye at Montverde. Word from the Nets camp also played into Simmons suiting up and was hopeful that he could play at some point during the regular-season and the playoffs.

Simmon’s playing reached its highest point when the Nets announced he was cleared for contact. However, that was the closest Simmons would get to playing despite reports of him looking to return during the playoffs.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Simmons’ back injury was debilitating enough that he elected not to play at all despite Woj reporting in that same story that Simmons was given the green-light to play in Games 4 against the Boston Celtics. According to Ric Bucher of FS1, Simmons reportedly took exception to his teammates asking him if he could play during the Nets’ eventual first-round loss to Boston.

“They’re having a team chat before Game 4, thinking he’s going to play against the Celtics, and from what I’m told, Ben just left the chat,” Ric Bucher told Colin Cowherd on FS1’s The Herd. “They asked him, ‘Are you going to play?’ Ben left the chat. Like he didn’t even answer the question. Just left the chat.

Simmons ultimately had a microdiscectomy surgery to “address pain located in a herniated disk in his lower back,” per Woj. The timetable for Simmons’ return is expected to be three to fourth months while he rehabilitates his ailing back. When Simmons comes back, the Nets hope the All-NBA version of Simmons will be able to add some versatility and elite athleticism to a lineup that needed some defensive acumen and fast-paced offense.

In response to the report from Bucher, Simmons tweeted that the news cycle must be slow for the story Bucher made to come out.

slow news day

— Ben Simmons (@BenSimmons25) August 9, 2022

The post REPORT: Ben Simmons Left Nets Group Chat After Being Asked if He Would Play in Playoffs 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.

Every Friday, I’ll shoot over my 11 favorite pieces (as the gospel says: we don’t cop clothes, we cop pieces) that I loved on LeagueFits from the previous week. Who wore ’em, what the brand is and, of course, a button to cop. You can get this exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletter, WHERE DO I COP?

As y’all probably saw, something major happened in the LeagueFits world this week: We got Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade as featured guests on our Survival of the Fitted podcast (check it out here). If you listen every week, welcome back. If you’ve never listened or watched before, I hope you tap in and enjoy your first one. Listening back was just as fun as the live recording. 

Also a major shout out to intern turned co-host turned certified icon Joe Williams. Dwyane Wade liked his FTP pants, so I gave him a little feature in this week’s Top 11. 

The 11 Best Pieces Featured on LeagueFits This Week

LOSO NYC FITTED (made-to-order) worn by SHAI GILGEOUS-ALEXANDER

AIME LEON DORE “KNIT POLO CARDIGAN” worn by CARMELO ANTHONY

LOUIS VUITTON “TRAINER” worn by SCOTTIE BARNES

LOUIS VUITTON “INTARSIA SWEATER” worn by BEN SIMMONS

NIKE SB DUNK worn by CARMELO ANTHONY

DIOR “B23 SNEAKER” worn by LEXIE BROWN

BIRKENSTOCK “BOSTON SUPER GRIP” worn by DWYANE WADE

FUCK THE POPULATION “HEAVEN OR HELL PANTS” worn by JOE WILLIAMS

PRADA “MESH KNIT TOP” worn by DWYANE WADE

FROM A PENNY “LONG LIVE CAP” worn by DIJONAI CARRINGTON

NIKE AIR PRESTO “HELLO KITTY” worn by LIZ CAMBAGE

The post WHERE DO I COP? The 11 Best Pieces Featured on LeagueFits This Week (7/22) appeared first on SLAM.

However, Dragic declined to sign the offer because Dallas offered him a limited role. Per Dragic, the Mavs couldn’t provide him sufficient playing time, and he still believes he can be helpful to a team on and off the floor.

“We were in talks with Dallas. They made an offer, but I decided not to take it. They wanted me to play one game and then sit for the next five. I know I can still easily play 20 minutes per game. I’m not ready to retire and just sit on the bench in a cheerleading role.” Dragic said, according to a Slovenian translation.”

“At the end of the day, they could not guarantee that I will play. They told me that I would rather be on the bench; however that does not interest me,” Dragic added. “That’s why my signing there was not an option.”

When Dragic was asked about his time in Brooklyn, particularly about playing with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant this past season, he was pretty blunt about his thoughts.

The Nets went 44-38, but the regular-season was filled with injuries (Durant’s foot injury) and drama surrounding Irving’s vaccination status that led to James Harden demanding a trade that led to him getting traded to Philadelphia for Ben Simmons.

“It was quite hard because it wasn’t about the team, but more about individual performances.”

Goran Dragic on playing with KD and Kyrie:

“It was quite hard, because it wasn’t about the team, but more about individual performances.”

(via @SiolSPORTAL) pic.twitter.com/a0kfbPxIXn

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) July 13, 2022

Dragic averaged 7.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game on 37.7 percent shooting from the field in 21 total appearances between the Raptors and Nets.

The post Goran Dragic Doesn’t Want ‘Cheerleading Role’ That Dallas Offered appeared first on SLAM.

Leading up to tonight’s festivities, we’re taking a look at the cant-miss prospects you should have on your radar. Let’s get it.

Bennedict Mathurin

A native of Montreal, Quebec, Bennedict Mathurin leads the next generation of Canadian hoopers.

A true shot-maker with the ability to score in the catch-and-shoot or off the dribble, Mathurin should be able to provide instant offense for a team at the next level. He scored 17.7 points per game on 45.0 percent shooting from the field, and 36.9 percent shooting from three and displayed the capability to take a game over at Arizona (look no further than his career-high 30 points against TCU in the second round of the NCCA Tournament).

In addition to his shooting prowess, Mathurin has a powerful first step when attacking the rim and has shown the physicality to destroy rims.

His efficiency as a long-range shooter is something teams across the League love. During his freshman season, Mathurin hit 41.8 percent of his three-point attempts as a spot-up shooter. When asked to do more during his sophomore campaign, Mathurin improved his accuracy despite jumping up to 6.1 shots per game (while also managing ball-handling and playmaking duties).

Mathurin also has an excellent in-between game and is reliable at the free-throw line, 78.9 percent as a sophomore. His maturation from a spot-up shooter to a dynamic three-level scorer makes him one of the most dangerous prospects in the draft. He’s also a willing rebounder with good size and strength, pulling down 5.6 boards per game last season.

The 2021-22 PAC-12 Player of the Year and consensus second-team All-American has earned comparisons to the likes of Jamal Crawford and Victor Oladipo with his length and ability to score off the dribble and in catch and shoot sets.

A product of the NBA Academy Latin America, Mathurin’s refined offensive game makes him a flat-out baller and a player who should be a productive scorer for years to come.

Keegan Murray

Improvement was the key to Keegan Murray’s college career at Iowa. Nearly every major statistical category of Murray’s game improved from year one to year two. His rebounding improved by over 3.5 boards per game; he transformed into a knockdown outside shooter, dished one more assist per game, and saw improved steal and block numbers. The result of this? A projected top-five pick with the tools to be a two-way star.

At 6’8, Murray’s a versatile defender with the length and mobility to guard nearly every position on the court. He averaged two blocks and a steal per game last season and used his leaping ability to contest shots at the rim. The Iowa native isn’t afraid to mix it up with big men on the boards, averaging 8.7 rebounds per game.

On offense, Murray is a scorer who can be productive without the ball in his hands. Between timely cuts to the basket and a robust pick-and-pop game, Murray knows how to contribute without demanding isolation or ball-dominant sets effectively. He’s comfortable in the post and is productive in the paint because of his superb shot selection (a career 54.3 percent from the field).

Murray didn’t shy away from the pressure of being a number one option for the Hawkeyes, recording 23.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per game while shooting 55.4 percent from the field and 39.8 percent from three last season.

After averaging just 7.2 points per game as a freshman, Murray was a consensus first-team All-American, first-team All-Big Ten, and Big Ten Tournament MVP as a sophomore. He was also the winner of the Karl Malone Award, given annually to the nation’s top power forward.

Murray could be considered a strong wing player or even a small-ball center in the League. His versatility presents mismatch nightmares for opposing teams. The ability to serve as a solid defensive presence while scoring from all three levels on offense is a rare trait. A late bloomer who was unranked in high school, Murray’s enormous improvements and potential as a do-it-all contributor on both sides of the floor make him one of the most intriguing prospects of the 2022 draft class.

Dyson Daniels

An Australian guard with elite defense and passing? We know what you’re thinking. No, Dyson Daniels is not a Ben Simmons replica, but he certainly shares a similar skill set as the 2016 No. 1 overall pick.

Daniels is a crafty playmaker and high-IQ defender who played in the NBL1 and NBA Global Academy in Australia before joining the G League Ignite in 2021. In the G League, he displayed his skill as a reliable ball-handler and master in the pick-and-roll with the ability to hit the open man or make defenders pay with his patented floater, a move that’s become a go-to option for the 19-year-old.

Daniels averaged 11.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game when matching up against NBA-caliber talent last season. The 2018 FIBA Oceania U15 Gold Medalist emerged as a two-way threat with his 6-10 wingspan and solid frame. Excellent court vision and ability to be a disruptor on defense allowed Daniels to set himself apart from the rest as this year’s top G-League prospect.

Speaking of defense, Daniels recorded 1.9 steals in 2021-22 while showcasing the ability to lock up both traditional guards and larger wing players. His high basketball IQ serves him well on this end, as he knows when to switch and send help, but his one-on-one defense is what could make him a bag in the League. He sticks to his matchup, and because of his active hands and ability to slide his feet, he can be trusted on an island to put the clamps on.

The Australian only averaged 2.1 fouls per game last season, so he knows how to play defense without fouling. Daniels is also the first to dive on a loose ball and set the tone of the game, an invaluable asset not always shown on the stat sheet. Because of that mindset, Daniels contributed in ways you don’t see in the box score with his instincts, feel for the game, and hustle.

On offense, Daniels will have to boost his three-point shot (he shot 25.5 from three last season) to become an all-around threat, but he has the potential to turn into a spot-up shooter with his already much-improved jumper. He could potentially contribute immediately as a perimeter defender and facilitator as the two-way prospect teams desire in a top pick.

Ochai Agbaji

No prospect has improved over his four years in college more than Ochai Agbaji. He went from bench piece to regular starter to star player and has progressed at every point to find himself as a potentially coveted piece for an NBA team. 

It starts with his physical tools: Agbaji possesses a 6’10 wingspan and a 6’6 frame, making him an ideal wing defender for today’s NBA. Agbaji’s advanced defensive metrics suggest he is a wildly optimistic defender, something many NBA teams will find valuable. In his four years at Kansas, Agbaji hasn’t had a defensive plus/minus of less than 2.2. His vertical was measured at 39 inches at the combine, which will also serve him well in cutting situations and rebounding. 

Agbaji’s three-point shot has also steadily improved over his time in college, as he shot over 40% this past year, delivering several clutch moments throughout the college year. His most important moment was shooting 6/7 from three in the Final Four matchups against Villanova. He also went 7/12 from the field against Texas Tech at home and was a key performer in the Big 12 tournament championship going 3/6 from downtown, finishing with 16 points and seven boards.

When asked about staying for a fourth year in college, Agbaji opened up about his thought process.

“Sometimes you’ve gotta stay patient; sometimes it’s not going to be there right away, the first two years or first three years. But if you stay the course, things will come to fruition,” Agbaji said.

It seems as if staying one more year at Kansas helped his draft stock after testing the waters last year, which resulted in a consensus All-American year with a Big 12 & National championship at a blue blood program under an all-time great coach in Bill Self. The stars have aligned for him as the ideal “Three and D” prototype that teams demand after four years of steady improvement and being a late bloomer, which has been for the better.

Shaedon Sharpe:

Shaedon Sharpe technically hasn’t played since his senior year of high school, where he was the number one ranked player in the 2022 class until he reclassified to the 2021 class. Sharpe sat out the entire 2021-2022 college season, choosing to develop on-campus without playing a game; however, that hasn’t seemed to hurt his draft stock in any capacity. 

“My thought process as an athlete, as a basketball player, was really just getting better,” Sharpe said per Sporting News. “So I was just in the gym every day, working out. Really for me, whatever happened, I’d be ready for it.

“Like I said before, everything happens for a reason. So I really don’t regret [not] playing,” Sharpe said. “I mean, I’m working with NBA teams now. So I guess I did something right.”

According to Eric Bossi, the National Basketball Director of 247sports, “Sharpe is an explosive athlete with a nose for the rim.” Bossi also said Sharpe had developed his handle “tremendously,” which has allowed him to become a creative scorer and playmaker.

According to Bossi, Sharpe also has an “electric first step and his ability to get downhill, into the lane, and then finish around the rim.” Bossi also likes Sharpe’s length and ability to move well laterally and believes he “has all of the tools to develop into a player who is just as disruptive on the defensive end of the floor as he is on offense.”

Like Agbaji, his physical tools allow him to be a coveted prototype NBA wing that plays defense and can score at all three levels. His explosive athleticism will keep him a step ahead of everyone else in the League, much of that credit going to his above-average first step. If he can just control the ball-handling a little bit more and prove to be healthy, he could be THE steal of the draft.

The post 2022 NBA Draft Preview: Can’t-Miss Prospects appeared first on SLAM.

According to Fischer, the Nets prefer a shorter deal with incentives that include “benchmarks, such as games played.” Irving has indicated he’d like a long-term contract despite missing significant time due to injuries and COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Currently, both sides are open to engaging in contract negotiations regarding Irving’s future in Brooklyn. According to Fischer, Nets officials expect Irving, Kevin Durant, and Ben Simmons to play in Brooklyn next season, an assumption the team has held since falling to Boston in the first round of the playoffs.

While Irving and the Nets are open to negotiations, it seems there is a slight divide between the two sides. Rumblings of Irving being interested in joining the Los Angeles Lakers or New York Knicks have heated up, but there is no tangible assurance to either of those claims. If he were to join the Lakers or Knicks, Irving would have to either decline his $36.5 million extension with Brooklyn and become an unrestricted free agent or opt-in with the Nets and demand a trade.

A seven-time All-Star, Irving has not played more than 54 games in three of the last four seasons. The 30-year-old averaged 27.4 points, 5.8 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per game in 20 regular-season games last year.

In April, he averaged 21.3 points, 5.3 assists, and 5.3 rebounds per game in Brooklyn’s first-round playoff defeat against Boston.

The post REPORT: Nets and Kyrie Irving Have ‘Ground to Cover’ in Contract Talks appeared first on SLAM.

Heading into the regular season, Irving was among a minority of players unwilling to comply with vaccine mandates before the season. The unpopular decision led Marks and owner Joe Tsai to eventually decide that Irving would be barred from playing or practicing with the Nets until he was “eligible to be a full participant.”

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Irving’s decision also led the Nets’ front office to decide they didn’t want to sign Irving to an extension if Irving opted out of his current deal. A sudden reversal from his past comments that he wanted to re-sign Irving and James Harden long-term heading into the 2021-22 regular season.

“That’s something that we’ve been discussing, and we’ll continue to debrief on and discuss throughout this offseason … we haven’t had any of those discussions yet,” Marks said. “We’re looking for guys that want to come in here and be part of something bigger than themselves, play selfless, play team basketball, and be available. That goes not only for Kyrie but everybody here.”

Via the @BKGlueGuys, @ShamsCharania confirms Kyrie will not be offered an extension:

“He was willing to sacrifice, at the end of the day, 16 million dollars in salary this upcoming year and 186 million dollars, as far as an extension, that he will not be offered now.”

— Alec Sturm (@Alec_Sturm) October 13, 2021

Marks and Tsai were adamant about the issue until the NBA experienced an outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. With the Nets besieged by the virus, Marks and Tsai relented and controversially decided that Irving would be allowed to play as a part-time player, making his season debut in January against the Pacers.

It wasn’t until February that Irving’s stance was vindicated when New York City mayor Eric Adams lifted city vaccine mandates, allowing unvaccinated employees of private companies to work within indoor settings.

The Nets ultimately dealt Harden to the 76ers for Ben Simmons at the deadline and ended the regular season as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Nets won their play-in tournament game against the Cavaliers and earned the seventh seed, but as aforementioned, lost to the Celtics in four games.

The disappointing end to the season didn’t stop Irving from expressing his wishes to remain in Brooklyn beyond 2023. During his exit interviews, Irving told reporters he didn’t plan on going anywhere and that he wanted to be involved long-term in building the team with Marks, Tsai, and longtime friend Kevin Durant.

"I don't really plan on going anywhere…. when I say I'm here with Kev [Durant] I think that it really entails us managing this franchise together alongside Joe [Tsai] and Sean [Marks]… we're cornerstones here but we have Ben, we have a few other guys…"

-Kyrie Irving on FA pic.twitter.com/ulk86MzHTK

— DaveEarly (@DavidEarly) April 26, 2022

Since those remarks, it has been widely reported that Marks hasn’t decided on re-signing Irving to an extension should Irving opt out of the final year of his contract. On Wednesday, Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News reported that Marks and Irving haven’t met since the Nets lost Game 4 to the Nets. Marks’ reluctance is based on Irving’s vaccination status and injury history.

“I look forward to [it],” Marks told YES Network last week via the New York Post’s Brian Lewis. “We have not had a conversation yet. So I look forward to getting in a room with him and Joe and his team, and we will. We’ll see what it looks like for Kyrie moving forward here and what he needs from us and so forth.”

“So, again, it wouldn’t be right for me to comment on what hypothetical could happen because we don’t know. We haven’t had those conversations with Kyrie yet. But when they do, we’ll see if it’s the right fit for both sides.”

Winfield also reported that Marks hasn’t spoken with Durant either.

Irving has until June 29 to decide on his player option worth $36.5 million. He is eligible for up to a five-year, $248 million extension.

The post Nets and Kyrie Irving ‘Have Not Had a Conversation Yet’ On Free Agency appeared first on SLAM.

The two All-Stars grew a close bond while Butler was with the 76ers, helping complete the infamous process by helping Embiid lead Philly to a second-round playoff series in 2018, their first appearance since the 2012 postseason. In the 2019 offseason, Butler left Philly during the 2019 offseason, choosing to play in Miami after agreeing to sign and trade deal.

Miami pulling away (via @NBATV) pic.twitter.com/oyskAqcSve

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) May 13, 2022

According to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, the decision boiled down to Philly choosing to invest in Ben Simmons, who was reportedly growing disenfranchised with Butler’s leadership and playstyle. Butler and Simmons are ball-dominant players, which pitted them against each other, per Shelburne. Eventually, the Sixers chose Simmons due to his youth and cheaper contract. Philly also believed Simmons had a higher ceiling.

Since then, Butler has led Miami to two Eastern Conference Finals as of Friday and one Finals appearance in 2020, losing the 2020 championship to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.

“I’m happy for him,” said Joel Embiid. “I won’t sit here and say I didn’t wish he was my teammate. I still don’t know how we let him go. I wish I could’ve gone to battle with him still, but it is what it is. Just gotta keep building and keep tryna reach that goal.”

“That’s my guy, that’s my brother. It’s tough, but I’m proud of him. He’s playing at an unreal level. He’s something else right now, and I’m proud of him for being at this level and carrying them and what he’s been able to do.”

During his live TV interview, Butler revealed what he said to Embiid as The Process left the court.

“That I love him,” Butler said. ” I’m proud of him. Yes, yes, yes, I wish I was still on his team; I definitely love the Miami Heat, though; I’m glad that I’m here, but I got so much respect and love for Joel Embiid.

“Still don’t know how we let him go”

Embiid on Jimmy Butler no longer being a 76er pic.twitter.com/kyGhZ4dLuI

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 13, 2022

The Heat will play the winners of the other Eastern Conference semifinals series between the Celtics and Bucks. The Bucks are in the driver’s seat with a 3-2 lead heading into Friday’s Game 6 in Milwaukee.

The post Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid Both Reveal They Wish They Were Still Teammates appeared first on SLAM.

Count Coach Doc Rivers amongst the masses, the 76ers coach advocated for his MVP candidate Joel Embiid to be the winner of the prestigious award.

“I don’t know if I could’ve done more than he did this year, play without the second-best player all year. Listen, his resume was great. I’m not taking anything away from Jokic either because he’s a hell of a player. I do think this whole analytic-drive society world is out of control at times with some of the measures that they use. Like, watch the dang game and decide is what I’ve always said.”

“But at the end of the day, if Joel had won, which I thought he should have, there would have been criticism that way if Giannis (Antetokounmpo) had won. Only one guy could win, unfortunately.”

Doc Rivers on the MVP race: “I do think this whole analytic-driven society, world is out of control at times with some of the measures that they use. Like, watch the dang game and decide is what I’ve always said.”

Full quote below. pic.twitter.com/3gWVQBvmAA

— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) May 10, 2022

The case for Jokic is that he put together a historically great season this season without Jamal Murray (torn ACL) and Michael Porter Jr. (lower back) by his side for most if not all of the regular season. Jokic finished the 2021-22 campaign, averaging 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds, and 7.9 assists per game on 58.3 percent shooting from the field. He also led the League in PER (32.8), win shares (15.2), box plus/mins (13.7), and value over replacement player (9.8).

The Joker also became the first player in NBA history to hit 2,000 points, 1,000 boards, and 500 dimes in a single season.

For Embiid, he led the Sixers (51-31) to a tie with the Bucks and Celtics for second best in the Eastern Conference while becoming the first center since Shaquille O’Neal to lead the League in scoring with 30.6 points per game. Embiid also finished fifth in rebounds (11.7) and played in a career-high 68 games this year. All without his All-Star partner in crime Ben Simmons.

Embiid has finished as the runner-up twice in a year now, both times to Jokic, who completed both seasons with historical numbers. Jokic becomes the first player since Russell Westbrook to win MVP with the sixth-best record in their conference. Brodie won the MVP after becoming the first player to average a triple-double since Oscar Robertson.

The post Doc Rivers on Joel Embiid’s MVP Snub: ‘Only One Guy Could Win, Unfortunately’ appeared first on SLAM.

Nets announce that Ben Simmons will undergo a “microdiscectomy procedure” on Thursday to “alleviate pain caused by the herniated disc” in his back.

— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) May 4, 2022

According to Nick Friedell of ESPN, the surgery is a “microdiscectomy procedure” that will “alleviate pain caused by the herniated disc” in his back. Simmons will reportedly take 3-4 months to recover fully, per NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Brooklyn Nets’ Ben Simmons is expected to need 3-to-4 months to make a full recovery on back surgery, sources tell ESPN. The expectation is that he’ll be ready to return well ahead of training camp.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 4, 2022

Simmons’ back injury was first reported shortly after the 76ers traded him to the Nets for James Harden at the trade deadline. Simmons sat out the entire 2021-22 season and playoffs due to a season-long battle with mental health and the aforementioned lower back injury that prevented him from a possible Game 4 return in the Nets’ first-round series against the Celtics.

The post Nets Announce Ben Simmons Will Undergo Back Surgery appeared first on SLAM.

The return of the injury came after positive reports of Simmons surfaced all week. Charania reported a meeting took place between Simmons’ camp and the Nets on Monday.

“Sunday’s events triggered frustration and disheartenment throughout the organization, multiple sources said. The fallout of Simmons being ruled out Sunday led to a meeting among franchise officials, Simmons, and his agent, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, on Monday in Brooklyn.”

Charania also reported that Simmons explained his reoccurring back issue to his teammates and team executives:

“According to sources, Simmons told those in the room that a mental block exists for him, dating in part to last summer’s postseason, which is creating stress that could serve as a trigger point for his back issues. He added that he does want to play basketball and play for the Nets as he works on solutions in regard to his well-being.”

Charania reported that it was not only the front office but also the players and coaches frustrated with the situation:

“On Sunday, Simmons informed the team his back was sore. For Nets players, the confusion was not centered around Simmons’ ailment but with the perceived lack of attempt to play, effort to be in uniform and push his body in these high-stakes playoffs, sources said. Nets players and coaches wanted to see Simmons show resolve and enter this series to start his on-court Brooklyn tenure, even if it was for limited minutes on Monday or none at all, while still dressing for the game.”

The post REPORT: Ben Simmons Sitting Out Game 4 Caused ‘Frustration’ in Nets Organization appeared first on SLAM.

“Of course we’re all disappointed, we’d love to see Ben on the floor with our team,” head coach Steve Nash says. “But I don’t want to be taken that I’m disappointed in Ben. His back is his back.”

This flareup in Simmons’ back injury occurred after Wojnarowski reported on Friday that Simmons was likely to play on Monday, but as Wojnarowski alluded, a setback did occur.

However, if the Nets win, Nash did not rule Simmons out stating, “I don’t know. I think It’s the same as I would’ve told you yesterday. We’ll see how he progresses, and see if there’s an opportunity for him to play at some point in the series if we go on.”

With Simmons sidelined, the Nets will look the keep the series alive as they’re currently down 3-0 against the Celtics. Game 4 will take place in Barclays Center with a 7:00 PM EST tip-off.

The post Steve Nash on Ben Simmons: ‘His Back is His Back. We’ve Got to Work Through This’ appeared first on SLAM.

Brooklyn Nets three-time All-Star Ben Simmons plans to make his season debut in Game 4 vs. Boston on Monday as long as rehab remains on course, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Simmons is set to play his first game since June 2021.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 21, 2022

Simmons hadn’t played since June 2021, when the Philadelphia 76ers lost to the Atlanta Hawks in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The LSU product hasn’t played due to a holdout with Sixers management, a battle with mental health, and a lower back injury he’s been dealing with since being traded from Philly at the trade deadline.

The good news follows reports that Simmons was cleared for contact after playing some 4-on-4 drills on Monday, which led to further reports that he was targeting Games 3 or 4 for his return to the Nets’ lineup.

When Simmons last played, he averaged 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 6.9 assists per game during the 2020-21 campaign.

The post Ben Simmons Set to Play Game 4 Against the Celtics On Monday appeared first on SLAM.

Based on Ben Simmons’ progress in practices this week – and the anticipation of him further accelerating in the coming days – Game 4 vs. Boston on Monday is looming as a realistic target for his Brooklyn debut, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 20, 2022

If Simmons does indeed play next Monday, it will also be Simmons’ Nets debut and first game since the Philadephia 76ers Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in last year’s semifinals.

Simmons hasn’t played due to a holdout he had with Sixers management, a battle with mental health, and a lower back injury he’s been dealing with since being traded from Philly at the trade deadline. The announcement of Simmon’s impending return follows the news that he was cleared for contact after playing some 4-on-4 drills on Monday

The post REPORT: Game 4 Set As ‘Realistic Target’ For Ben Simmons’ Return appeared first on SLAM.

Steve Nash says Ben Simmons has been cleared for contact. He got some 4-on-4 work in yesterday. Nash said he came through it well.

— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) April 19, 2022

Simmons and the Nets hope for his return to the lineup by Game 4-6 in their first-round series against the Boston Celtics. Simmons hasn’t played at all this season due to a conflict with the 76ers, a mental health battle, and a lower back injury that has bothered him since midway through March.

Nash also revealed that Simmons played in some 4-on-4 drills and that he “came through it well” afterward.

Game 2 of the Celtics-Nets series takes place tomorrow in TD Garden.

The post Nets Announce Ben Simmons Has Been Cleared For Contact appeared first on SLAM.

Simmons has remained sidelined throughout the season since being traded from Philadelphia to Brooklyn while mending a back injury. Windhorst reported that while Simmons hasn’t begun five-on-five scrimmages, the hope is that he would be able to progress to that stage by the end of the week.

While this is the most solidified timeline Brooklyn has had on Simmons’ return to the court, both Durant and Nash expressed their plans to prepare for Boston regardless of Simmons’s timeline after practice on Thursday.

“I’m not expecting him to play,” Durant said. “That’s easier for me. I’m not putting any pressure on Ben to come out there and hoop. So I’m not expecting him to do anything but just to get his body right and get healthy as fast as he can. So in my mind, I’m preparing as if we’re playing with the team we have.”

Even though the three-time All-Star hasn’t played in almost a year, the defensive prowess and knack to find the open guy would be increasingly influential for Brooklyn in the postseason.

“There’s a chance Ben comes back; there’s a chance he doesn’t come back. So I think for us, we got to focus on the group; support Ben and his journey to get back on the floor, but at the same time we don’t have time to lose focus on the group that’s playing,” Nash said after practice.

The focus is on the here and now for the Nets as they prepare for Game 1 of the first round against the Boston Celtics Sunday night in TD Garden.

The post Ben Simmons Reportedly Eyeing Late First Round Return for Brooklyn Nets appeared first on SLAM.

While he participated in light shooting at practice today, Steve Nash said the three-time All-Star would remain sidelined for the rest of the regular season and the play-in tournament. While Nash remains hopeful for a Simmons return down the line in the playoffs, he would be “shocked” if he returned for the play-in.

“He’s doing some increased strengthening, some increased mobility stuff, a little bit of shooting, and that’s it,” Nash told reporters.

With only four more games left in the regular season, Simmons hasn’t arrived at the point in his rehab process where he’s participating in 1-on-1 or 3-on-3 workouts, indicating a return during the final stretch of the regular season seemed improbable. The 2017-18 Rookie of the Year has been f in street clothes since the organization announced in March that he had suffered a herniated disk in his back.

On Simmons, Steve Nash also said he doesn’t see the Nets skipping some high-intensity workouts to get him in a game given the long layoff he’s had. If he had played for most of the season it’s a different story.

— Alex Schiffer (@Alex__Schiffer) April 4, 2022

“I think in this situation, we got to put his health and safety first and make sure that we’re certain he’s ready to play and contribute,” Nash added. “And the other part is he hasn’t played basketball, so you don’t know what kind of Ben you get. And he hasn’t been in an NBA game for, you know, nine to 10 months.”

Currently sitting at 10th in the East, the Nets (40-38) would likely matchup against the Charlotte Hornets (40-38) in the play-in unless they secure two wins to capture the eighth seed, currently occupied by Atlanta (41-37). The Nets, at this point, can finish no higher than eighth in the East.

The post Ben Simmons Sidelined For Remainder of Regular Season and Play-In Tournament, Steve Nash Says appeared first on SLAM.

This year the 21-year old is averaging 17.3 points, 4.3 assists, and 3.3 rebounds for the current fourth seed Sixers as he shares the backcourt with veteran James Harden.

In a 118-116 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks last night, Maxey finished the game with seven points on 3-11 shooting from the floor. He played 40 minutes and tacked on six assists and one rebound.

Though it wasn’t his best performance, Bucks Coach Mike Budenholzer gave the young star props on his game and the confidence he plays with on the floor.

“The thing that stands out more than anything is just his confidence.” Budenholzer told the SixerWire. He’s out there playing, having fun, competing, playing hard, taking shots, driving, attacking, he just plays with a ton of confidence for a young guy. It’s good for our League.”

After the trade of Ben Simmons to Brooklyn, Maxey has become a staple piece in the Sixers season. As the regular season wraps up, he’ll be a pivotal piece in the playoffs, especially as a shooter. The second-year guard is shooting 41.3 percent from three-point territory this season.

SLAM has followed the Kentucky product ever since his days in high school and participated in the 2018 Summer Classic in Dyckman Park. Seeing his skills translate to the pros shows the basketball community the League is indeed in good hands.

The post Bucks Coach Mike Budenholzer on Tyrese Maxey: ‘He Plays With a Ton Of Confidence For a Young Guy’ appeared first on SLAM.

We have never seen a basketball player like Joel Embiid. Like it or not, it's just a fact.

(: @goodlooksfamily) pic.twitter.com/F5UWkiHsAG

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) March 24, 2022

After a dramatic offseason and even messier divorce surrounding Ben Simmons, Embiid has emerged as the leader of a 76ers squad that has relied heavily on 29.9 points and 11.4 rebounds per game production. At 46-28, the Sixers are in second place and just one game behind the Eastern Conference-leading Miami Heat (48-28). Since the 76ers added James Harden via trade, Embiid has averaged 31.0 points and 12.4 rebounds per game.

“Last year, I got hurt. That was the knock on me with not being healthy,” Embiid said per NBA.com. “This year, I’ve gone to a different level. I’m healthy. I don’t know what else I have to do to be able to [win MVP]. I feel like it is my time. But I have a lot of respect for the other guys, and I think they’re great players.”

“It’s nice to be recognized as the MVP,” Embiid said. “That’s the biggest thing you can win. I would love that. But then again, I want to win a championship. The championship trumps everything.”

Embiid was just inches away from winning his first MVP award last season, getting injured late into the season, and losing the MVP to Nikola Jokic. The perceived slight and falling to the Hawks in the second round inspired, Embiid to enter the offseason hungrier and more determined than ever. Over the summer, Embiid worked on his game with vaunted NBA trainer Drew Hanlen.

Instead of worrying about what Simmons would do, the former Kansas Jayhawk just went to work and trusted the process.

“Joel paid no attention to it,” Drew Hanlen, Embiid’s trainer, said. “Joel was more focused on how he can improve as a player and what he needed to do to make up for the talent that they lost in Ben. Why waste energy on things that don’t deserve energy? There was nothing Joel could do about it.”

Embiid was also entrusted with leading the 76ers on his own, implementing an offseason training regimen that helped include studying Kobe Bryant’s game film, Kevin Durant, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Dirk Nowitzki to breakdown how to get buckets in various ways. Embiid also addressed his conditioning, nutrition and improved his handle and ability to pass out of double-teams.

“We’ve always talked about, ‘Can you carry a team. Can you do it, not by yourself, but can you do it without another All-Star?'” Embiid said. “I just wanted to go on and prove that. To win a championship, I can’t win alone. I need great teammates. But I just wanted to set the foundation.”

“The game has started to slow down for him. The countless hours of film, plus the countless hours of decision-making in workouts, has allowed him to really grasp what is coming next and seeing the play before it unfolds.” Hanlen added.

With eight games remaining in the regular season, Embiid ranks ahead of fellow frontrunner Jokic in points and defensive rating, while Joker has the edge in rebounding and assists. Jokic also leads the League in triple-doubles (18), but Embiid has a 50-point game and six 40-point outings, while Jokic has scored at least 40 just two times this season.

The post Joel Embiid on MVP Chances: ‘I Feel Like It Is My Time’ appeared first on SLAM.

It didn’t take KD long to get his offense rolling for yet another scoring explosion. He scored seemingly from everywhere on the court. He started the game with a jumper over Josh Hart in a one-on-one matchup.

Wasting no time pic.twitter.com/rImYYldIoa

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) March 18, 2022

Then he showed how dangerous a threat he is playing off the ball and letting things develop within the offense.

Dangerous on and off the ball pic.twitter.com/ekbtAYTrjW

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) March 18, 2022

But despite 13 early points from Durant, the Blazers ran off to a first-half lead by knocking down nine of their first 12 shots and used a 42-point second quarter to grab a 75-62 at the break. But finally, after Portland extended the lead to 82-64 in the third quarter, thanks to KD and some timely shots from Seth Curry, Brooklyn outscored the Blazers 39-26 to even it at 101, heading to the final quarter.

Even with Durant’s 38 points with six rebounds and six assists, he praised Curry for sparking a 10-0 spurt with two triples to give Brooklyn a 111-101 lead while he was on the bench.

back in front pic.twitter.com/mrGDAxTL4T

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) March 19, 2022

“We needed that, and good to see him back out there,” Durant said via ESPN. “He missed a few games with that ankle, but I’m glad he’s getting better, and he was able to come out here and play, and we needed all those points tonight.”

The Nets will need more of the same Monday night as they take on the Utah Jazz at home.

The post Kevin Durant’s 38 Points Spark A Huge Brooklyn Nets Comeback appeared first on SLAM.

However, the organization remains hopeful – mirroring Steve Nash’s sentiments on Tuesday – that Simmons will get some game reps in before the regular-season wraps.

ESPN reporting with @RamonaShelburne: Brooklyn Nets All-Star Ben Simmons has remained sidelined with an irritation of the L-4 disc of the lower spine and hope remains he can return for a “couple” of regular-season games prior to the Eastern Conference playoffs. Story soon.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 16, 2022

According to Wojnarowski, the potential targeted return date of this Friday’s game against the Portland Trailblazers had been nixed due to Simmons’ inability to go longer than a day or two in rehab without pain flaring up in his lower back.

In part with Simmons rehab process, which has included one on zero settings in practice, Steve Nash told assembled media on Wednesday afternoon that the former Rookie of the Year had received an epidural shot when the Nets were in Orlando last night during Brooklyn’s 150-108 win.

Steve Nash says Ben Simmons got an epidural while the Nets played in Orlando: pic.twitter.com/VW3aKPq5Py

— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) March 16, 2022

Sitting in eighth place with a 36-33 record – 2.5 games behind the seventh-place Toronto Raptors – Wojnarowski reports the organization is hopeful Simmons recovery bodes well enough to return for a “couple” of regular-season games. With Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving becoming the first pair of teammates to record consecutive 50+ point games last night, Brooklyn could very much use Simmons’ abilities as they fight for playoff seeding down the stretch of the regular season.

The post REPORT: Ben Simmons Remains Sidelined with Irritation of Lower Spine appeared first on SLAM.

Simmons’ absence has left some wondering if he would play for the Nets at all this season.

On Tuesday, Coach Steve Nash spoke to media to dispel those rumors, stating that he believes the chances of Simmons playing this season are “extremely high.”

The good news comes some bad, as Nash also told reporters that Simmons wouldn’t be traveling with the team while he continues to rehab.

Simmons was sent to the Nets along with Seth Curry and Andre Drummond as part of the trade deadline deal that sent James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers.

While Simmons has yet to play for Brooklyn, fellow new arrivals Curry and Drummond have picked up the slack. Curry and Drummond have played in 11 games so far, with Curry averaging 15.8 points and 3.2 assists and Drummond averaging 10.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.

The Nets could really use the presence of Simmons, and quickly. Brooklyn is currently sitting at the back of the Eastern Conference playoff race in eighth place with a record of 36-33, 3.5 games behind the sixth, and final non-play-in seeded Cleveland Cavaliers (39-29).

The post Steve Nash Says Ben Simmons Likely to Play in Regular Season appeared first on SLAM.

Bembry underwent imaging on Sunday afternoon, but it was only believed to confirm that the injury suffered in Saturday night’s 122-109 loss to the Golden State Warriors is very serious and season threatening.

DeAndre’ Bembry will miss the remainder of the season with a right knee injury.

Bembry sustained a torn right knee ACL and MCL in last night’s game at Golden State. pic.twitter.com/mlzZAxpnKq

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) March 14, 2022

Milwaukee signed Bembry for perimeter depth, filling spot minutes with Donte DiVincenzo being sent to the Sacramento Kings and injuries to Pat Connaughton. In the short term, look for Wesley Matthews and Jordan Nwora to be relied upon to fill Bembry’s 10 minutes going forward. 

Bembry averaged 5.8 points in 48 games with the Brooklyn Nets before they waived him to create a roster spot after the blockbuster trade for James Harden and Ben Simmons. 

Bembry was a first-round pick of the Atlanta Hawks in 2016, where he played the first four years of his career before moving on to the Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn, and now Milwaukee.

The post Milwaukee Bucks Confirm Loss of DeAndre’ Bembry For Season appeared first on SLAM.

On Thursday night, the Philadelphia 76ers will square off against the Nets, and Simmons will be present on the Nets bench, according to head coach Steve Nash.

Despite Simmons’ presence on the bench, he will not be active to play in the game as he is still working towards full fitness since his trade to Brooklyn in February.

Part of the reason for Simmons’ presence at the game this week, according to Kyle Neubeck of The Philly Voice, is that Simmond will reportedly be filing a grievance with the 76ers in an attempt to recoup some of the money lost from not playing this season. Neubeck reported that Simmons’ appearance on Thursday night would be included in the grievance.

The game will take place in Philadelphia on Thursday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m.

Simmons was traded to the Nets at the start of February for James Harden after not appearing for the team all season. Simmons was joined in Brooklyn by Seth Curry and Andre Drummond.

Since the trade, Simmons has not suited up for Brooklyn, but recent reports indicate he will begin being “worked into game shape” this week, meaning he could make a return to the court in the near future.

A return from Simmons is becoming near essential for the Nets as they slide down the Eastern Conference standings. The Nets are now in a play-in spot in the east, sitting eighth in the conference with a 33-33 record, just 2.5 games ahead of the 11-seed Washington Wizards.

The post Ben Simmons to Sit on Bench For Nets Game In Philadelphia on Thursday appeared first on SLAM.

While it was expected that Simmons would take some time to ramp up mentally and physically before making his Nets debut, it appears he won’t be on the court as soon as many would like. On Mar. 10, the Nets and Sixers face off, which would be highly anticipated for Simmons. 

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski recently reported that Simmons likely will not be available to play in this upcoming contest. 

“There’s tremendous urgency around the Nets to get Ben Simmons on the court, get him incorporated and playing with his team,” said Wojnarowski. “Simmons is going to join them at some point. The Nets hope is when Brooklyn gets back after Thursday’s game in Philly. Simmons at that point will be ready to start getting on the floor with his teammates, increasing his workload and getting closer to returning.”

Last season, Simmons averaged 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists per contest. Following a disappointing playoff exit and tension between himself and the team, Simmons’ future with the team was in jeopardy, which ultimately led to this trade going down at the following deadline. 

The post REPORT: ‘No Chance’ Ben Simmons Plays Against Sixers This Week appeared first on SLAM.

That’s why Nets fans had a reason for optimism on Thursday when general manager Sean Marks told the YES Network that newly-acquired forward Ben Simmons would begin being worked “into game shape” after next week.

Simmons has yet to play a game this season, as he has sat out the entirety of the year waiting for a trade from the Philadelphia 76ers. Simmons got that trade at the trade deadline a few weeks ago, when he, Seth Curry, and Andre Drummond were shipped to Brooklyn for James Harden and Paul Millsap.

Simmons is also not the only one missing time for the Nets at the moment, with Kyrie Irving still only able to play away games and Joe Harris recently ruled out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury.

Curry and Drummond have already picked up some slack since the trade, with Curry averaging 16.6 points per game for the Nets and Drummond averaging 9.6 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.

Before this season, Simmons had more than proved his worth as one of the NBA’s best, accumulating three All-Star appearances and being named to two All-Defensive teams and one All-NBA team.

The Nets are currently fighting to stay in the playoffs altogether, as they are now eighth in the East with a record of 32-32 but are just 2.5 games ahead of the 11th-placed Washington Wizards (28-33) and 5.0 games back of the sixth-place Cleveland Cavaliers (36-26).

Brooklyn looks to end their three-game losing streak on Sunday when they head to TD Garden to take on the Boston Celtics (38-27).

The post REPORT: Ben Simmons to be Worked ‘Into Game Shape’ Next Week appeared first on SLAM.

On Thursday night, the YES Network spoke with Nets GM Sean Marks, who confirmed that guard Joe Harris would miss the rest of the season due to ankle surgery.

Harris has been out since November after first suffering the injury in a November 14 showdown against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Harris subsequently had surgery to repair the ankle in late November and was ruled out for one to two months but has remained out ever since.

Marks confirmed in his Thursday interview that Harris needed additional surgery on the ankle that would require the remainder of the season to rehab. Before the injury, Harris had played 14 games for the Nets this season and averaged 11.3 points per game on 45.2 percent shooting from the field and 46.6 percent shooting from beyond the arc, a tick under his career average with the Nets of 12.4 points per game.

This comes as a significant blow to the Nets, who are fighting just to be in the playoffs at the moment and doing so with limited players. Kevin Durant just returned to the lineup on Thursday. However, Ben Simmons remains with a back injury, and Kyrie Irving is still limited to playing away games due to New York City’s private business vaccine mandate.

The injury bug has led to the Nets holding on to the fringes of the playoffs, currently sitting eighth in the conference with a 32-32 record, just 2.5 games ahead of the 11th place Washington Wizards.

The post Nets Announce Joe Harris Is Out for Rest of Season with Ankle Injury appeared first on SLAM.

Since spraining his knee in January, the Nets went from 27-15 to losing 11 straight games and struggling to stay in the play-in tournament with a 32-31 record. The teams’ makeup has also changed following the Nets’ blockbuster move to trade James Harden to Philly for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, and Andre Drummond.

The play status of Kyrie Irving is also up in the air after New York lifted its masking mandate, although nothing has changed for private businesses’ mask mandates. With 19 games left in the regular season, there’s no better than the present for Brooklyn to make a move up the standings and reestablish themselves as the championship contender many around the League expected them to be.

Just don’t expect KD to fall into the narrative that he will be the main reason why that happens.

KD: “I don’t look at myself as that, as a savior. But I know what I can do and how much I can help this team and what we’re missing as a group, but I’m not trying to go out there and win a game by myself tonight or make it all about me. I just try to go out there and help.”

— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) March 3, 2022

Durant has averaged 29.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 5.8 assists. His return will boost a squad that has missed his production as the featured weapon of the Nets’ offense. Easy Money Sniper doesn’t need to consider himself the savior of the Nets’ season, but he has been sorely missed not just from an offensive standpoint but with his leadership as well.

Heading into their matchup with Miami on Thursday, the Nets will look to earn just their second win out of the All-Star break and prevent a three-game losing streak after losing to the Raptors in back-to-back contests. The weight of that will fall on Durant, Curry, and Patty Mills since Irving is still prohibited from playing home games.

The post Kevin Durant on His Return: ‘I Don’t Look at Myself as That, as a Savior’ appeared first on SLAM.

One of those players is forward Tobias Harris, who has seen his production take a slight dip since the addition of Harden. In Harden’s first two games as a 76ers, Harris scored a total of 18 points, six in the first game and 12 in the second, both well below his current season average of 18.3 points per game.

Harris recently spoke to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Noah Levick about this change in his role and how he was more concerned with winning games than the total number of points he has at the end of the game.

“It’s been two games,” Harris said. “I’m not worried about my offensive points and production. I think everybody has this notion of, ‘Oh, you’ve got to score this many points.’ Yeah, I get it, but at the end of the day I’m a winner and I incorporate into winning basketball. If that’s me taking 15 shots or if that’s me taking eight shots, it is what it is.

“As long as we’re winning basketball games, that’s what the name of the game is about. A lot of people may not like to hear that, but that’s the predicament we’re in right now. We have a lot of firepower, especially with James and Joel on this team. So my goal is to be out here, be ready, and when shots are available and the opportunity is there, take advantage of it and do whatever I can for our group.”

While Harris has had to take a backseat to Harden, the first signs for the team have been encouraging, albeit in just two appearances thus far, the 76ers are 2-0 with Harden so far, winning both games over the New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves by double-digits.

In his first outing as a 76er, Harden put up 27 points and 12 assists and followed that up with a 29 point, 16 dimes, and 10 rebound triple-double.

The 76ers acquired Harden as part of the blockbuster trade deadline deal that sent Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, and Andre Drummond to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Harden and Paul Millsap. Simmons has yet to suit up for the Nets, but Curry and Drummond have played six times thus far, with Curry averaging 17.8 points per game over those appearances and Drummond averaging 9.8 points per game.

The 76ers and Nets are scheduled to face off next Thursday, March 10, in Philadelphia.

The post Tobias Harris on New Role: ‘At the End of the Day I’m a Winner’ appeared first on SLAM.

With that in mind, it might be a while longer before he makes his debut in Brooklyn. 

As first reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charana, Simmons is dealing with back soreness in reconditioning process that requires further strengthening of the area over a period of time before return to action.

Nets coach Steve Nash was asked about this following the report, giving a transparent answer about Simmons’ situation. 

“I just saw the reports. It’s been the same process. It’s just a little soreness in his back,” said Nash on Saturday evening. “It’s not like an injury, it’s just as he’s returning to play, his back has flared up a little bit. He hasn’t played a game since June so that’s just part of his process of returning to play is as you ramp up, he’s a little sub septic to certain things as you would be with muscle soreness or tightness. He’s got a little tightness.”

While Nash considers this more of a normal occurrence after not playing for the entire season rather than an injury, it’s still something to monitor. Currently sitting at eighth in the Eastern Conference with a record of 32-29, they’re projected to be part of the play-in tournament despite having such a talented roster. 

Last season, which was the last time Simmons played, he averaged 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists per contest.

The post Steve Nash Opens Up About Ben Simmons’ Setback appeared first on SLAM.

“I’m sure it’s possible, but for me, it’s probably again in the next three games more likely than Saturday,” said Nash on Durant’s timetable to return. He elaborated on the return process:

“In general terms, to return to play, you have to have a number of high-intensity workouts. So playing at full capacity typically three times before you can return without an incident,” said Nash. “He’s [Durant] playing. I would say he’s had one [high-intensity workout]. We’ll see. He seems like he’s getting there. We’ll see how he responds tomorrow, and then we’ll try to get him subsequent workouts.”

As for Nash’s former teammate on the Phoenix Suns and new signee, veteran point guard Goran Dragić, Nash gave a similarly optimistic answer.

“I suppose it’s not out of the question,” said Nash on Dragić playing Saturday. “We have to assess how he comes through today, tomorrow and see where he’s at Saturday. It’s probably less likely he’ll play Saturday, but I think in the next three games, he’s out there.”

Nash also spoke about Ben Simmons, the main piece required in the Harden trade.

“Conditioning,” said Nash on what’s keeping Simmons out. “It’s been a long layoff. He hasn’t played NBA basketball for a long time, so we’re just trying to work through that.”

He also added that it’s ‘unfair’ for him to talk about Simmons’ headspace but was adamant about how ‘excited’ he is for both parties to be together.

The post Nets Announce Kevin Durant Could Return in ‘the Next Three Games’ appeared first on SLAM.

But his teammate on both the 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets, Seth Curry, told ESPN’s Nick Friedell that Simmons shouldn’t have to apologize to Philly fans.

“Business is business,” Curry told ESPN after Thursday’s shootaround. “I said from day [one], even when he was out early in the season, people were asking me if I feel like, if Ben comes back, should he apologize to us or whatever? I understand the business; he doesn’t need to apologize to anybody. When he’s on the court, I know he’s going to do his job and he’s going to do what he does. So I understand the business. He was doing what he felt was best for himself business-wise and personal-wise.”

Simmons has yet to play a game this season, last suiting up for the 76ers in the 2021 playoffs, after refusing to play for Philadelphia this year and demanding a trade. Simmons got his wish at the trade deadline and was shipped off the Nets along with Curry and Andre Drummond and draft picks in exchange for James Harden and Paul Millsap.

Simmons has yet to play for Brooklyn either, with Nets Coach Steve Nash stating it’s unlikely he will return before the Nets and 76ers’ matchup in Philadelphia on March 10 due to conditioning issues via the New York Post.

Before this season, Simmons had already established himself as a star in the NBA. He is a three-time All-Star, two-time All-Defensive team selection, and earned a 2019-20 All-NBA team nomination. This has resulted in Simmons having career averages of 15.9 points, 7.7 assists, and 8.1 rebounds per game over his career.

The Nets and 76ers are still in a tight Eastern Conference playoff race, with Philadelphia (35-23) in third place and Brooklyn (31-29) in eighth place.

The post Seth Curry on Ben Simmons’ 76ers Exit: ‘He Doesn’t Need to Apologize’ appeared first on SLAM.

Dragic said he had six different teams after his services. He picked Nets because “They have a really good chance to win a championship.”

— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) February 23, 2022

Dragic gave a lot of credit to Nets coach Steve Nash due to their relationship at the beginning of his career in Phoenix. Their mentor/mentee relationship began when Nash was the starting point guard of the Suns, and Dragic was trying to find his way around the League. It was their background, coupled with a talented roster and a chance at an NBA title, that eluded him in the 2020 NBA Finals in the bubble that ultimately led him to the Nets.

“I chose Brooklyn because I think they have a really good chance to win a championship, especially to play alongside (Kevin Durant), Kyrie (Irving), Ben Simmons, (LaMarcus) Aldridge,” Dragic said via the New York Post.

Dragic played only five games with the Toronto Raptors this season after the 35-year-old came over from Miami in the Kyle Lowry deal. Dragic and Toronto had a tumultuous start that ended up in both parties agreeing to part ways until the team could find a trade partner at the trade deadline.

Dragic also shared that Nash’s influence goes back much further than this week, sharing that the two-time MVP inspired him to leave Europe to try the NBA in the first place.

“At that time, I made that decision I was going to come from Europe to NBA — only because of Steve,” said Dragic. “If that were some other team, I probably would have stayed in Europe another two or three years.”

The Nets were counting on Dragic’s postseason experience and leadership when he averaged 19.1 points and 2.8 assists per game during Miami’s run to the Finals.

It is unknown at this time when Dragic, who last played Nov. 13, will suit up for his debut.

The post Goran Dragic Credits Steve Nash’s Influence As Reason For Signing With Brooklyn appeared first on SLAM.

According to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark, the 76ers intend to sign center Willie Cauley-Stein to a 10-day contract in the coming days.

Cauley-Stein is in his seventh NBA season after getting drafted sixth overall by the Sacramento Kings in 2015. The 28-year-old center played in Sacramento for four seasons before being traded to the Golden State Warriors for half a season and signing with the Dallas Mavericks the following offseason.

Dallas is where Cauley-Stein remained before getting cut by the team on Jan. 15, as he was struggling to find playing time for the Mavericks.

This season Cauley-Stein has only played 18 games and averaged 1.9 points and 2.1 rebounds per game over a total of 177 minutes thus far. This is a departure from Cauley-Stein’s usual production, as, over his career, he has maintained a respectable average of 8.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

Following the blockbuster trade that sent James Harden to Philly and Ben Simmons to Brooklyn, the 76ers are in need of a backup center for Joel Embiid. Andre Drummond, who previously served as the team’s backup, was shipped to the Nets and Seth Curry as part of the Harden trade.

The 76ers are currently in the midst of a fight for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, currently third in the conference with a record of 35-23, just 2.5 games back of the first-place Miami Heat.

The post REPORT: 76ers to Sign Willie Cauley-Stein to 10-Day Contract appeared first on SLAM.

“Ben Simmons, from what I’m told, is going to really ramp it up this week and see where he’s at at the end of the week, but he’s getting close. I don’t think it’s going to–it’s going to be more like weeks rather than months.”

Acquired at the trade deadline on February 10, Simmons has been ramping up his conditioning with the Brooklyn Nets for just over a week now. Shelburne reported on what Simmons was doing to stay in shape before the League shifting trade deadline.

“He has worked out separately with his own group of trainers, according to sources close to Simmons. He has organized his own runs with local players,” Shelbourne said. “He has lifted weights at a local fitness club that’s open to the general public. He has seen his own therapist but hasn’t shared information about his treatment with the team.”

The Brooklyn Nets have 23 remaining games on the schedule and will face Simmons’ former team, the Philadelphia 76ers, on March 10 in Wells Fargo Arena.

The post Ben Simmons is ‘Getting Close’ to Return, Expected Back in ‘Weeks’ appeared first on SLAM.

He’s only 11 years old, but Lil Noah James already has more Mitchell & Ness jerseys than most of us have probably ever owned. The young hip-hop artist, originally from Bridgeport, CT, and currently residing in Atlanta, has a really impressive collection. When we hopped on a Zoom call in December, he confidently said that he’s owned over 500 in total, many of which he’s since grown out of. As of our call, he says he’s got about 150 that he keeps inside his closet and stored in bins. 

“I started collecting jerseys around the age of 5. My favorite Mitchell & Ness jerseys are the Kobe Bryant [number] 8, I don’t even have that. The Lakers purple and gold one, I like. The black and red MJ one, that’s another one I don’t have. I like the green Kevin Garnett, I have that one. T-Wolves KG, Miami Heat Shaq. A lot of them. LeBron when he played in Cleveland his first year. I like the Scottie Pippen ones.”

Just from listening to Lil Noah, it’s clear that he’s already so passionate about the game—from basketball to his music career. Even though he’s only in elementary school, he can hold his own in an interview—and on a track. He’s already dropped a handful of singles, including  “2K21 (Mamba Time),” a tribute to the late Lakers legend that has garnered over 73,261 streams on Spotify. In the music video, which has 13,000 views on his YouTube channel, James, who idolizes Bryant, rocks a purple Lakers Hardwood Classics satin raglan full-snap jacket while he’s rapping in the booth about Bryant’s dominance. 

“I have a lot of Nike jerseys, but I really like rocking the old ones,” he says. “I look up to my idols like Kobe, LeBron and Jordan, and other people…I like baggy jerseys, so that’s what Mitchell & Ness really brings for me.” 

James wears a jersey pretty much every day and says it’s become a part of everyday life. He’s rocked a few of them at NBA games and events, too, including 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend, where he appeared on an NBA TV broadcast wearing a purple and gold Mitchell & Ness Magic Johnson Lakers jersey. He also wore a black Mitchell & Ness Lakers jacket in the many selfies he took with stars, including LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Devin Booker, Chris Paul, Ben Simmons, Anthony Davis, James Harden, Jayson Tatum and Diana Taurasi. 

James, who mostly listens to Lil Bow Wow, Drake, Lil Baby, Fetty Wap and Soulja Boy, started rapping when he was around 7 or 8 years old. While he often references basketball, he says he also wants to tell his own story through music. “I just write my raps off of how I’m feeling. I only write about my life, I don’t write about stuff that I haven’t done or am going to do. I just write about what’s in the present and about me.” 

On songs like “Thank You,” James opens up about being born prematurely at 25 weeks and 1.5 pounds, as well as about the loss of his twin sister, Nalah Jade. He gives her a shoutout on “Sometimes,” featuring Omar Wilson—“Rest in peace Nalah Jade, I’m always praying for sis”—and keeps it real about having to balance all the traveling he does with school and chores. 

James says that he’s been “working on stuff in the studio” and has about three or four songs that haven’t been released yet. All that hard work is starting to pay off, too, and a few people at his school, New Manchester Elementary, have even started coming up to him to compliment his music. “I was actually shocked that they knew who I was. Two people in school came up to me and asked for an autograph.” 

As he continues to build out his career, we bet Lil Noah James will continue building out his Mitchell & Ness collection. The question isn’t will he rock a throwback in a future video, but which one? 

Get your own Mitchell & Ness Youth NBA Jerseys here.

Portrait via Jamesy Codrington / Maziv Photography

The post Meet Lil Noah James: The 11-Year Old Hip-Hop Artist with the Craziest Mitchell & Ness Jersey Collection appeared first on SLAM.

Steve Nash said there’s a “small chance” Kevin Durant could play in the first game vs the #Celtics coming out of the break, but it’s more likely he takes a little more time. #Nets #NBA

— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) February 16, 2022

That would be the Nets’ first game coming out of the All-Star break. Nash made sure to downplay the chance of Durant returning to the lineup for the first time since he sprained his MCL in January.

Steve Nash downplays the chances of Kevin Durant returning right out of the break and says they haven’t really seen yet what kind of condition Ben Simmons is in. Not a lot of reason to predict a quick turnaround after All-Star.

— Brian Mahoney (@briancmahoney) February 16, 2022

Since Durant went down for a month and some change, the Nets have struggled mightily and undergone some massive personnel changes as well, falling to eighth place in the Eastern Conference with a 30-27 record after losing 11 games in a row.

The Nets also decided to trade James Harden and Paul Millsap for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, and Andre Drummond during a blockbuster trade deadline deal, flipping two players that could turn the tide on both the Nets’ and 76ers’ season.

The two-time Finals MVP is averaging 29.3 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game for the Nets, enough to garner an All-Star consideration thus far, as well as some MVP consideration before he got hurt.

The post ‘Small Chance’ Kevin Durant Returns Against the Celtics appeared first on SLAM.

“It’s a blessing to be in an organization like this,” Simmons said. “I’m looking forward to getting back on the floor and building something great here.”

Simmons believes things will get ‘very scary’ in Brooklyn when the team is at full strength. As for when he would return, he was optimistic but gave no date.

“I don’t have a date yet, but I’m working towards getting back on the floor,” he said. “No date yet, but I’m starting to ramp it up.”

When he eventually gets on the floor, Simmons believes he can bring a lot to the table for the Brooklyn Nets.

“I think it’s just staying aggressive and playing to my strengths. That’s being a play-maker, making the right plays, and setting my guys up. Defensively, locking down who I need to lock down,” Simmons said about his fit with the team. “I’m excited to get on the floor with these guys. Incredible team and incredible talent. I’m super excited.”

Simmons also spoke on his mental health, which was widely reported as playing a key role in Simmons’ trade request and refusal to play for the 76ers. When asked about how things got so bad in Philadelphia, he stated:

“But there’s just a lot of things internally that had to happen over time. And it just got to a place where I don’t think it was good for me mentally. So it is what it is. It happened, and [I’m] moving forward.”

Already feeling welcomed by Brooklyn, it seems like it will be easier for Simmons to move forward.

“For me, it felt like it should feel always. My teammates embraced me as soon as I got here,” said Simmons about being back on an NBA bench. “The fans were very welcoming, which was great. The energy, around the locker room and in the building, was terrific.”

The post Ben Simmons ‘Blessed’ to be a Brooklyn Net, No Timetable for Return appeared first on SLAM.

Bembry was clearly a hot target in free agency, as reports indicate he may already be prepared to sign with a new team.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Bembry is “closing in” on signing a deal to join the Milwaukee Bucks in the coming days.

Following the Nets blockbuster trade deadline deal that sent James Harden to Philadelphia in exchange for Ben Simmons, Andre Drummond, and Seth Curry, Brooklyn had to waive someone to create roster space for the incoming players; that player turned out to be Bembry.

Before being cut, Bembry was a pivotal contributor to the Nets, starting in 20 of the 48 games he played in, averaging 19.8 minutes, 5.8 points, and 3.2 rebounds per game.

Bembry’s addition will be a big help to a Bucks team dealing with a shortage of back-court players at the moment. Pat Connaughton, George Hill, and Wesley Matthews are currently out with injuries, and Donte DiVincenzo was traded to the Sacramento Kings.

The Bucks will need Bembry at his best, as Milwaukee is heading to the second half of the season in a tight playoff race in the Eastern Conference. The Bucks (36-23) are currently third in the East, just 1.5 games back of the first-place Miami Heat, and only 2.0 games up on the sixth place Boston Celtics.

The post REPORT: DeAndre’ Bembry Close to Signing With Bucks appeared first on SLAM.

The Sixers say James Harden is out through the All-Star break as he continues to rehabilitate his left hamstring, and that he won’t play in the All-Star Game.

— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) February 14, 2022

Harden was traded last week to the 76ers in a blockbuster trade for Ben Simmons. The Nets received Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two future first-round picks for Harden and Paul Millsap.

Philly. : @sixers pic.twitter.com/msEe0qokz3

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) February 14, 2022

The next chance Harden will get to make his 76ers debut will be when Philly plays the Minnesota Timberwolves (30-27) on Feb. 25. Harden has averaged 22.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 10.2 assists per game on 41.4 percent shooting from the field but a career-low 33.2 percent shooting from deep.

On Tuesday, the 76ers (34-22) play the Celtics (33-25).

The post James Harden Out Through All-Star Break appeared first on SLAM.

Philly, we go Hard(en). pic.twitter.com/hfjdxVmlSw

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

Joel Embiid had a chance to speak his thoughts on the trade after the Sixers took care of the Thunder for their 33rd win of the season via ESPN.

“Yeah, I’m happy that I’m not going to be answering any more questions about that subject,” Embiid said after finishing with 25 points and 19 rebounds in 35 minutes in a 100-87 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder at Wells Fargo Center Friday night. “It’s good that not just for me, but my teammates, the whole organization. The whole year, it was pretty annoying with the whole situation, but I’m glad that everybody has moved on.”

“I wish everybody the best in whatever they want to accomplish, but I’m focused on winning games here and trying to win a championship.”

Joel Embiid was locked in on both ends of the floor for the @sixers in their win!@JoelEmbiid: 25 PTS, 19 REB, 4 AST, 5 BLK pic.twitter.com/n7JufVz5CH

— NBA (@NBA) February 12, 2022

Harden, who has missed several games due to a hamstring injury, is not expected to play Saturday against the Cleveland Cavaliers. That leaves only two games for Harden to play before the All-Star break, either against the Boston Celtics at home Tuesday or the reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks.

But in true Troel fashion, he explained the tweet he sent out after the trade went down.

pic.twitter.com/OzKxG4HRlO

— Joel “Troel” Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) February 10, 2022

“Honestly, I don’t even know what the tweet was about,” Embiid said with a sly smile. “I just tweeted a random person. I just saw the picture on the internet, and I thought he was well dressed. He had a nice suit on, good looking, you know, he had some swag.”

“So I just thought it was a good picture.”

The post Joel Embiid ‘Happy’ Philadelphia 76ers Has Moved On From Ben Simmons appeared first on SLAM.

The reason for the deal boiled down to a shared frustration that the superstar trio of Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant couldn’t get on the court for a consistent stretch of their time together in Brooklyn.

“These decisions to move on from a player like that, of that caliber, are never easy ones,” Marks said per The Athletic. “I think it’s just a feeling; it’s a feeling when, you know, look, this is not working, whether it’s on the court, off the court, for a variety of different circumstances. I give James credit for being open, upfront, and honest.”

After several days of will they-won’t they speculation, they ultimately decided to part ways because it was clear to the Nets it was time for a change. Marks said the Nets were willing to keep Harden and make it work if a trade didn’t materialize on Thursday.

“This was something that James and myself talked about over the last few days”

Nets GM Sean Marks talks about how the James Harden trade came about: pic.twitter.com/HsW3X36yzX

— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) February 11, 2022

According to Marks, Harden didn’t give any other reason for wanting to leave Brooklyn after less than two seasons and playing just 16 games with Irving and Durant. Most of which were due to injuries, and for right now, Irving’s decision to not get vaccinated against COVID-19 violates New York’s vaccine mandate.

“I probably wouldn’t be honest with myself if I thought we weren’t all frustrated that they couldn’t be together on the court at one time, and that being one of the reasons (Irving’s vaccine status), sure,” Marks said. “One is another is obviously injuries. We’ve seen Kevin have injuries, we’ve seen James have injuries, you know, there’s a lot of factors going in there.”

The Nets are looking to end their 10-game win streak but won’t be playing Ben Simmons for the foreseeable future as he climbs his way back into shape. Meanwhile, Irving has reportedly grown frustrated with his limited availability. Brooklyn looks to get back on track against the Heat on Saturday.

Sean Marks speaks on Kyrie’s limited availability pic.twitter.com/Qx7cEoZuCR

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 11, 2022

The post Sean Marks On James Harden Trade: ‘It’s A Feeling When, You Know, This Is Not Working’ appeared first on SLAM.

The Nets’ choice of who to cut came as a bit of a surprise.

On Thursday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Nets waived forward DeAndre’ Bembry to make room for the three players set to join Brooklyn.

Bembry had to be waived due to the trade between the Nets and Philadelphia 76ers that sent James Harden and Paul Millsap to Philadelphia in exchange for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two first-round draft picks.

With the Nets acquiring one more player than they sent to the 76ers, a roster cut had to be made, with Bembry being the odd man out.

Bembry was a bit of an odd choice, as he has been a regular contributor to Brooklyn throughout the season, and the reactions to the news reflected that.

Bembry has played in 48 games for the Nets this season, starting 20 of them, and in 19.8 minutes per game, he’s averaged 5.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game.

The ’21-22 campaign is Bembry’s sixth season in the League, spending his first four years with the Atlanta Hawks before joining the Toronto Raptors last season and the Nets last summer.

NBA teams will now have the opportunity to claim Bembry off waivers before hitting free agency if he is not claimed. It’s doubtful that Bembry will be without a team for long, as several contenders will likely be looking to add Bembry in the coming days.

The post DeAndre’ Bembry Waived by Nets Following Blockbuster Trade appeared first on SLAM.

Ben Simmons has already talked to Kevin Durant and Sean Marks, @KlutchSports' Rich Paul tells ESPN. Simmons is eager to join Nets and ramp up for a return to play this season, Paul says. "We've got to work to do to get him back to play, but it's a great step in right direction."

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 10, 2022

Woj reported that Simmons is eager to join the Nets but has to ramp up his conditioning before returning to the court. When the former All-Star suits up for his Brooklyn debut, it’ll be the first game he’s played all season after he requested to be traded from the 76ers in the offseason due to mental health issues and a back injury that’s plagued Simmons since October.

“We’ve got to work to do to get him back to play, but it’s a great step in right direction.” Klutch Sports CEO and Simmons’ agent, Rich Paul, told ESPN.

For his career, Simmons has averaged 15.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 7.7 assists per game since entering the League in 2016.

The post REPORT: Ben Simmons Eager to Join Kevin Durant and the Nets appeared first on SLAM.

According to NBA Insider Shams Charania, the Nets are flipping the Beard and Paul Millsap for Ben Simmons and 76ers sharpshooter Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and draft capital.

BREAKING: The Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers are finalizing trade sending James Harden for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry and draft picks, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 10, 2022

There was a will-they-won’t-they vibe coming from the Nets as they’ve suffered through a nine-game losing streak after Kevin Durant went down with an MCL sprain, and Harden has missed the last three games with a hamstring injury. They’ve also been contending with Kyrie Irving, who remains unvaccinated but, as a part-time player, gets to play games on the road.

The same goes for the 76ers, who received a trade request from Ben Simmons after being heavily criticized by Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid after the 6ers lost to the Hawks in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. 

Since then, reports have flip-flopped on Harden wanting to leave Brooklyn, only for ESPN to confirm that the Beard does want to leave but is wary of the backlash that’ll come with making a trade request from his second team in as many years. 

Simmons’ trade request also boils down to his reported mental health issues after hearing his coach and long-time teammate publicly question what’s behind his struggles to deliver a title to the 76ers. Before Thursday’s blockbuster trade between the 76ers and Nets, Simmons was linked to the Timberwolves, Kings, Trail Blazers, and the Hawks.

They were asked to essentially sell the house just to acquire Simmons, forcing the Kings out of the Simmons Sweepstakes.

The Nets play the Wizards on Thursday, and the 76ers play the Thunder on Friday.

The post REPORT: James Harden Traded to the 76ers appeared first on SLAM.

According to Woj, Harden does want to be traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, but he’s hesitant to pull the trigger on a request because he’s worried about the public backlash that would come from asking out of a second franchise for the second time in as many years.

ESPN Sources: Although Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden wants a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers, he has resisted making that formal request out of fear of the public backlash that would come with asking out of a second franchise in consecutive seasons. https://t.co/My5XljBlI1

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 10, 2022

That being said, Harden is hopeful that 6ers president of basketball ops Daryl Morey finalizes a trade before the League’s trade deadline concluding at 3 PM. However, Morey and Nets general manager Sean Marks has yet to engage in serious negotiations on a deal per Woj. Woj says that there are expectations that the 76ers and Nets will have some dialogue, but both teams are weighing the risk-reward of a deal centered on The Beard.

According to Woj, acquiring Harden before the trade deadline means the 6ers and Morey will have to include not only Ben Simmons but assets that will help offset the cost of creating salary cap space to sign Harden over the summer. If a trade doesn’t happen Thursday, reports say the Nets and 76ers could reconsider sending Harden over to Philly via an opt-in and trade.

The risk for the Nets boils down to do they want to risk losing a disgruntled Harden for nothing after selling the house just to get him to form a Big 3 with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant and form the ultimate championship-or-bust roster. Nets management is reportedly championship-or-bust this season and believes that the return of KD will reverse the team’s fortunes.

Harden has missed Brooklyn’s last three games with a hamstring injury. Woj reports that the 76ers are largely retreating on trade deadline moves involving Simmons until they’re clear on whether or not to include him.

The Nets (29-25) have lost nine straight games heading into their Thursday night game against the Washington Wizards (24-29).

The post REPORT: James Harden Wants Out But Is Wary of Public Backlash appeared first on SLAM.

With less than 24 hours left before the trade deadline and Nets Coach Steve Nash claiming James Harden is not being traded, rumors of a possible Harden to Philadelphia still exist.

One player that is tired of the scenarios is Sixers forward Tobias Harris. Even if the team can’t get Harden at the trade deadline if the pursuit continues in the offseason, Harris’ contract would need to be moved to open up cap space.

But for now, with Harris’ having experienced in-season trades four times during his NBA career, he openly admitted via ESPN that the rumors that have surrounded his team this season have been difficult for the team to ignore.

“That will be good for us because you’re just hearing everybody’s name. I’ll just be honest, it’s one of those things — trade rumors always come around, even for guys around the NBA, but in this situation, yeah, I was reading an article, and there were five guys on the top 10 list to be moved, whatever,” he said. “So, obviously don’t get twisted: that has an impact on guys’ mental, psyche, focus, all the way down the line. So we’ll see what happens.”

“I think everybody else is in the same position as well, checking their phones to see what happens,” Harris said. “It’s our livelihoods and our jobs.”

It has been rumored by the Philly Voice that there are two potential teams with cap space, notably the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Sixers could move Harris to clear space for a possible James Harden deal.

The post Tobias Harris Frustrated Being Included In Philadelphia 76ers Trade Rumors appeared first on SLAM.

A Harris has been out since November after undergoing ankle surgery. Since he’s gone down, offseason free-agent signing Patty Mills has emerged as one of the Nets’ best shooters, averaging 13.8 points and 2.5 assists per game on 43.6 percent shooting on the field and 42.5 percent shooting from distance.

Mills’ emergence as a playmaking shooter as a plug-in starter and coming off the bench could possibly make Harris expendable to the Nets, who averages 11.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game on 45.2 percent shooting from the field and 46.6 shooting from beyond the arc.

The post REPORT: Nets Are Shopping Sharpshooter Joe Harris appeared first on SLAM.

Before the Nets played the Nuggets on Sunday, Nash stated that the Nets plan on keeping Harden for the foreseeable future. According to ESPN, Harden missed the Nets’ loss to the Nuggets due to hamstring tightness.

“I’ve talked to James; he wants to be here,” Nash said. “He wants to be here long-term as well, so I don’t think anything’s changed other than noise from the outside. James wants to be here, we’re building with James, and we think we have the best chance to win with James. I don’t think anything’s changed on the inside, in our locker room, in our communication; it’s just all the noise from the [outside].”

Brooklyn guard Kyrie Irving also believes that his starting backcourt mate will be around after the NBA trade deadline on Thursday.

“I think James can speak better to that than I can,” Irving said. “We’ve had conversations, but I’m just getting back into the swing of things, how all those media plants start going around with rumors and stuff like that; I really do not concern myself with that.”

The speculation of Harden’s unhappiness and reports of Harden wanting to explore free agency options after the season fueled possible issues behind the scenes. Accounts that were strongly refuted a couple of weeks ago.

The reports on James Harden being unhappy in Brooklyn?

He has no idea what you’re talking about pic.twitter.com/OQS32id1KV

— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) January 26, 2022

After losing to the Nuggets 124-104, the Brooklyn Nets are struggling through an eight-game losing streak along with a lengthy injury list that includes Harden (hamstring tightness), Kevin Durant (knee), Joe Harris (ankle surgery), LaMarcus Aldridge (ankle) and Nic Claxton (hamstring tightness).

On Tuesday, the Nets return from a winless road trip to take on the Boston Celtics.

The post Brooklyn Nets HC Steve Nash Closes Door On James Harden Trade Rumor appeared first on SLAM.

Matt Moore of The Action Network recently reported that one player they could look to trade is guard Dennis Schroder. 

Moore reports that Boston’s priority is to clear salary to save on the luxury tax, with Schroder being a feasible way to do just that. He says there are two offers on the table for the veteran guard, one from the Milwaukee Bucks and another from the Chicago Bulls. 

Both the Bucks and Bulls are among the best Eastern Conference teams and could use another scoring punch to further strengthen their respective bench units. 

On the season, Schroder is averaging 14.4 points, 4.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds per contest. A microwave scorer, it would be interesting to see what Boston could get in return for the veteran point guard. 

The post REPORT: Celtics Have Offers on Table for Dennis Schroder from Bucks and Bulls appeared first on SLAM.

ESPN’s NBA insider Brian Windhorst had some insight on the rumored news Friday on The Hoop Collective podcast.

“This has been reported elsewhere, but I’ve heard as well that the Knicks have shown some interest in De’Aaron Fox,” Windhorst said. “The player that makes the most sense in that swap is Julius Randle.”

Sacramento, who recently took themselves out of the running for a potential Ben Simmons deal last week, still hasn’t officially taken Fox off the trading block due to a crowded backcourt that includes Tyrese Haliburton, Davion Mitchell, and Buddy Hield, to name a few.

Fox has been out since January 19 with an ankle injury but has been solid when healthy for the Kings. Fox averages 21.0 points, 5.2 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in 2021-22.

Since Randle was voted the NBA’s Most Improved Player last season, he has struggled mightily not only with his play but with his relationship with the Knicks fanbase. His thumbs-down gesture caused a controversy that Randle apologized for shortly afterward. His scoring average of 18.5 points is far lower than the 24.1 points per game he scored last season. Randle also averages 9.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.

What makes the trade intriguing is that the contracts match up with Fox in the first season of a five-year, $163 million deal, while Randle’s four-year, $117 million extension kicks in next season. With both teams looking to shake up their rosters and two players possibly looking for new scenery, look for this rumor to last up to the deadline.

The post REPORT: New York Knicks Interested in DeAaron Fox-Julius Randle Deal appeared first on SLAM.

Rumors have swirled about a potential move to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Ben Simmons in some capacity, but reports indicate Lillard could want to stay closer to home.

According to Chad Ford on his Locked on Podcast show, Lillard is interested in remaining on the west coast, even if he leaves the Portland Trail Blazers.

“I don’t actually think that at least nothing that I’ve heard of, has Damian Lillard insisting that it has to be Philadelphia (76ers) that he goes to,” Ford said. “In fact, everything that I’ve heard is that he would prefer a move to the west coast or to stay on the west coast.”

That bodes well for teams such as the Los Angles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers, who are both trying to make a push for an NBA Championship with the stars currently on their rosters. Both teams may have difficulty trading for him this season due to salary cap concerns but could potentially get involved this offseason.

The Blazers are likely in no rush to move Lillard before this season’s trade deadline. Lillard is in the first year of his four-year $176 million contract extension that sees him tied up with the Trail Blazers until at least 2024. This gives Portland the flexibility to wait for the right trade offer to come in for the superstar point guard.

Another wrinkle in a trade before the deadline is that Lillard is currently not playing for the Blazers following abdominal surgery and will be out indefinitely.

At 31-years-old, the clock is ticking for Lillard on his chances of winning an NBA Championship, and with the Trail Blazers 10 games below .500 this season with a record of 21-31, it may be time for it a move. Even if Lillard opts to move, he will always be a Portland legend, playing 10 years with the Trail Blazers and averaging 24.6 points and 6.6 assists per game over 711 career games.

The NBA trade deadline is in less than a week, coming to a close on Feb. 10.

The post REPORT: Damian Lillard ‘Would Prefer’ to Stay on West Coast appeared first on SLAM.

According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, Simmons has been fined over $19 million for sitting out this season.

“SIMMONS HAS LOST over $19 million in fines since the season began (each missed game costs him $360,000). He hasn’t cleared a paycheck since the $8.25 million (25% of his $33 million salary) that was due to him Oct. 1. Every two weeks the team sends a notice with an explanation of all the fines he has accumulated for failing to render services, instead of a $1.375 million paycheck. By the end of the season, if he does not play for the Sixers or any other team, Simmons could lose another $12 million.”

‘”We don’t give a f— about the money,” one source close to Simmons says. “That’s not what this is. It’s hard for people to understand. But if you believe in what you’re doing and that this is not the right situation for you, and you’re trying to get to a better place, the money doesn’t matter. Obviously it’s a financial hit. But you adjust.”‘

Simmons has yet to suit up for the 76ers this season, as he has sat out the entire season thus far, waiting for Philadelphia to trade him. Thus far, that trade hasn’t come to fruition, and if he’s not moved, Simmons may well sit out the entire season.

According to Shelburne, the situation between Simmons and the 76ers had reportedly gotten bad enough to the point where he ignored calls and texts from 76ers head coach Doc Rivers.

In his absence, the 76ers have produced a solid season so far, currently second in the Eastern Conference with a record of 31-19, just one game back of the Chicago Bulls.

If Philadelphia wishes to trade Simmons, it doesn’t have long to do it, with the NBA’s trade deadline less than two weeks away on Thursday, Feb. 10.

The post REPORT: Ben Simmons Has Accumulated $19 Million in Fines This Season appeared first on SLAM.

Inside of two weeks until the February 10 NBA trade deadline, the Kings believe the asking price for Simmons is too steep and that a pathway to reaching an agreement with the Sixers doesn’t exist, sources said.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 28, 2022

The Kings was one of the more aggressive teams for Simmons offering rumored deals surrounding guards DeAaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton, but the team now believes the asking price is too high for Simmons, and they have run out of feasible offers.

Sacramento has players like Harrison Barnes, Buddy Hield, and Richaun Holmes to easily match Simmons’ contract salary, along with rumors of James Harden being unhappy in Brooklyn. Wojnarowski believes an in-season trade at this point could be unlikely, and the team could wait until the offseason to make a deal.

Ben Simmons continues to sit out due to mental health reasons and still hasn’t changed his mind on his trade requests. On the other hand, Simmons is signed with 6ers through the 2024-25 season, which gives them patience and leverage to wait on a deal.

The Philadelphia 76ers are off to a 29-19 start, two games behind the first-place Miami Heat, while the Sacramento Kings are in 13th in the Western Conference at 18-32 after losing five straight.

The post REPORT: Sacramento Kings Out of the Running For Ben Simmons appeared first on SLAM.

The list of players the Sixers currently are monitoring is just as long as the rumors in the news cycle of potential players that included Damian Lillard, De’Aaron Fox, and Draymond Green going back to last summer.

Morey and the team recently discussed a potential Simmons package with the Atlanta Hawks for John Collins. But as soon as Tobias Harris was added to the deal, the Hawks quickly said no, according to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto.

“The 76ers and Hawks briefly kicked around a trade of Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris for John Collins, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Danilo Gallinari, League sources told HoopsHype. However, those talks stalled quickly, with Atlanta uninterested in Harris and unlikely to be able to flip him to a third team.”

This year, the Sixers have been looking for specific pieces to put around Embiid for a championship run. Collins’ athleticism and his ability to defend inspired Philadelphia to put an offer together. According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Sam Amick, the asking price for the Sixers hasn’t changed.

“In return for Simmons, the 76ers have wanted a top-level All-Star or a package featuring a bevy of first-round draft picks for Simmons.”

It is understood that this Simmons deal may be pushed back to the offseason, especially with rumors of James Harden being unhappy in Brooklyn.

The post REPORT: Philadelphia 76ers Made A Ben Simmons Offer For John Collins appeared first on SLAM.

Ever-important behind Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons trade talks, James Harden has recently told several confidants—including former teammates and coaches—of his growing interest to explore other opportunities outside of Brooklyn this summer. More at @BR_NBA: https://t.co/zy5dEwPSfP

— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) January 25, 2022

According to Fischer, The Beard will by all accounts test unrestricted free agency for the first time and hasn’t ruled out returning to the Nets. Rumors have circulated Harden intends on leaving since last week. With the trade deadline approaching, Harden’s interest in testing the open mark could impact the Philadelphia 76ers’ work on moving Ben Simmons.

The root of Harden’s frustrations reportedly begins with Kyrie Irving’s status as a part-time player. The knee injury that Kevin Durant suffered in January forced Harden to shoulder the load of carrying Brooklyn alone since Irving can’t play in home games while being unvaccinated. Nets Coach Steve Nash’s fluid rotations favoring hot-hand closing lineups rather than a fixed crunch-time unit have also left Harden dissatisfied.

Despite his discontent, Fischer reports that Harden is still invested in competing for a title in Brooklyn.

“James isn’t going to hold back,” Fischer was told. “He’s gonna tell you where he stands.”

Harden is also less than enthused about living in Brooklyn. Fischer reports that outside of the change in weather, the difference in taxes he pays in New York versus Texas has also been less than enjoyable.  

With that being said, Harden is not asking for a trade out of Brooklyn. A Nets-Sixers deal is reportedly highly unlikely before the deadline. However, his apparent willingness to move on and reunite with Sixers president Daryl Morey will seemingly loom over any trade negotiations the Sixers have until the Feb. 10 deadlines. According to Fischer, a Harden-Simmons trade is seen by Harden and 76ers management as a backstop for their potential marriage and respective futures.

Based on multiple reports, the Hawks, Kings, Lakers, Trail Blazers, Knicks, Jazz, and Timberwolves are still seen as the primary threats to land Simmons in a trade.

On Tuesday, Harden and the Nets (29-17) play the Lakers (23-24) at home.

The post REPORT: James Harden Interested Exploring Options Outside of Brooklyn appeared first on SLAM.

The four-star forward is sitting beside a few of his newfound teammates—Jahki Howard, Chuck Bailey and Braeden Moore—explaining how exactly they all ended up at Donda Academy, the prep school created and backed by Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West. It’s December and the Donda Doves have just wrapped up practice at the team’s training facility. 

Most of the players say they found out about the school after someone from Ye’s camp reached out to them and their families. “We had to make sure it was the right position for us [with] so many of the top players playing with each other,” says Hooks, lounging in a pair of YEEZY slides.

Inside the meeting room on the second floor, the rest of the team still has on the YEEZY 500s they were practicing in. Howard claims that he and Robert Dillingham were the first on the team to start wearing them in games, rocking them in the season opener against Minnesota Prep at the Target Center back in November. Ye was sitting courtside that day. Soon, the whole team caught on. 

“[They’re] mad comfortable,” he says. “Only shoe I could really hoop in.” 

Down the hall, Dillingham and Bryce Baker are getting a quick haircut, while the rest of the team is still downstairs, lingering around the court. There’s a pair of newly released adidas “Amber Tint” QNTMs sitting unclaimed on one of the black chairs courtside, which features a clean black and white aesthetic.

Ye’s impact is everywhere around the gym, from the team’s sleek Balenciaga-produced jerseys to the adidas sneakers to the fact that all of these elite prospects—Dillingham, Zion Cruz, JJ Taylor, Brandon White, Omarion Bodrick, Seven Bahati, Bryce Baker, Hooks, Bailey, Moore and Howard—are here because they’ve trusted his vision enough to leave their respective high school programs to play for Donda Academy instead.

Get your copy of SLAM 236 featuring Ye and Donda Academy.

And yet, there’s a lot of mystery behind what exactly Donda Academy is or why the kids have all chosen to come here. People have questioned whether it’s even a real school or if the kids take actual classes. And that’s not even the craziest thing the players have heard.

“A lot of my teammates, when they left [their hometowns], they had some bad reactions,” explains Moore. “People called them clout chasers and said the [school] offered them money.” 

So allow us to fill in some of the actual facts. The very existence of Ye’s Donda Academy is an honor to its namesake. After all, it was Donda West, a professor for 31 years and chair of Chicago State University’s Department of English, Communications, Media and Theater, who wrote in her memoir, Raising Kanye, that her hope was for more kids to get exposure to travel, different cultures and customs.

“I always think, I got Donda looking down on me. I gotta make this right,” says Shayla Scott, the school’s Vice President and Director of Athletics. A former four-year starter at the University of Pittsburgh who served as an assistant coach at La Salle University and most recently athletic director at The Ellis School before coming to Donda, Scott elaborates on what makes the school special. “That’s one thing that we’re constantly thinking about—how can we do things in a way that is beneficial to who we are and what we have going on. And that might not mean that it’s traditional.” 

The school’s official mission statement speaks of using ethics, integrity and care to “prepare students to become the next generation of leaders, thinkers and innovators by providing them with a world-class education.”

The program has a lower school that has in-person classes and serves students from age 3 through eighth grade, and the educational program is powered by K12 Private Academy, an NCAA-approved online curriculum. The players, who all live together in luxury apartments with chaperones, start their daily workouts, which occasionally involve weight training, as early as 8 a.m. Classes start at either 9 or 10 a.m. (depending on the day) and are hour-long blocks with breaks in between, and the online curriculum gives them the option to take them wherever they may be. Scott says that sometimes the players take them in their apartment complex, and when they’re on the road for games, academic support staff accompany them. 

As for meals, at one point the team had Ye’s personal chef cooking for them. 

Practice is from 1-3 p.m. with additional workouts afterward, but the players say that the gym—which is a short walk from the apartment complex where they stay—is available pretty much whenever they want it. At any given moment Ye might pull up to a practice, and, as many have seen, he’s there at the games, too. This past December, Ye was spotted dapping up a few of the Doves at their “Homecoming” event at Whittier College. 

Scott admits that when she was first brought on to serve as AD, even she wondered what exactly Ye’s involvement would look like. But through her conversations with him, and what she’s seen firsthand, it’s become clear that Ye is invested in every aspect of the program, as well as the players themselves. On one of the first calls that she was on with him and the school leaders of the K12 curriculum, Scott says that Ye was “passionate and loyal” as he expressed his vision for Donda Academy. 

“When I have opportunities to talk with [Ye] about his vision for the school, it’s by no stretch of the imagination something that’s out of reach. He wants to do all the things, and big things,” she says. “I get really excited whenever we have a chance to just sit down and talk about what we’re doing and how it’s so minor in some respects to what he wants to do.” 

When it came to designing the team’s uniforms, Ye brought in his Innovation of Apparel team to get the players’ direct feedback on what style and cut they’d prefer to wear. (They said “not too baggy” and requested a slim fit.) In early October, the team held a media day-style photo shoot and Scott says Ye was there, too, adding his creative perspective and specific ideas into the portrait sessions. 

As the Donda album played in the background, Ye directed the entire shoot, dictating different looks and poses, and he brought out what Scott called a “bag of goodies” with accessories for the players to wear. Inside were wristbands and the same all-black sunglasses that some of the players chose to rock at their SLAM cover shoot, too. 

Aside from photo shoots and courtside appearances, Ye will often check in to see how the Doves are doing both athletically and academically. A few of them got to meet him on their initial visit, while Scott reveals that Ye has even made it a point to call some of them on the phone just to talk one-on-one. “I remember watching JJ [Taylor] talk on the phone with him for the first time,” she says. “That was really cool that he took that time, and obviously they share a bond of [being] from Chicago together.” 

For many of the players, this is their first time being immersed in an environment of this magnitude. They’re spending significant time away from home, living in Los Angeles and playing in front of sold out crowds littered with other high-profile celebrities. They still make time to be, well, teenagers, when they’re not training or going to school; they all mainly hang out together, going to the movies or taking trips to Six Flags and the Santa Monica beach. 

“In actuality, anybody can do school this way,” says Scott. “But, to know that we’re doing it because of the support we have from Ye and all the parents and players, I think is really, honestly, going to build for future years.”

The Donda Doves will be the first to admit that it took a minute for them to learn to play together—most of them were the best players at their previous schools—and in the beginning, a few players told us they were too focused on being ballhandlers and scorers. 

There were some healthy arguments, too, and as a result, the coaches had them in the gym one night, running and working out. 

“Ever since, our bond and chemistry has been like this,” Howard says, crossing two of his fingers. 

“That’s how you build bonds with people, especially when you got elite athletes around and a lot of alphas,” Bailey adds. “Everybody is going to go at each other.”

Having lived through all the noise surrounding the start of their season, and with tons of eyes on each game, the Donda Academy Doves are learning what it’s like to live and play in a special kind of spotlight, all while making history along the way. And each of them is ready for the challenge.

Robert Dillingham had already made a name for himself in North Carolina long before he came to Donda Academy. As one of the top point guards in the Class of 2023, he averaged 21.1 points, 4.9 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game last season at Combine Academy. Still, he felt like he needed a change.

“I really just wanted to get out of North Carolina. It was just, like, a lot of stuff going on with my parents, my dad and my coaches from the school for transferring out here. To keep myself sane, I just blocked all of them out and kept playing basketball. I wasn’t really listening to it. It didn’t really matter to me.” 

Instead, he says he’s been learning from his new teammates and adding a thing or two to his already well-equipped bag. 

“JJ [Taylor] teaches me how to get to the rim and not stop…Jahki [Howard], he just dunks on people, so I guess he’s teaching me how to dunk a little bit. Zion Cruz, he’s teaching me the aspects of dribbling, going faster, slow, changing different speeds.”

It was Rob Dillingham, the self-proclaimed “GM” of the team, who originally texted Zion Cruz about Donda Academy. “He broke everything down,” Cruz says. “It was a no-brainer for me.”

At the Patrick School, Cruz averaged 16.7 points and 2.1 assists. Still, he felt like making the move thousands of miles away from his hometown of Jersey City would allow him to completely dial in on his game. 

“In Jersey, I feel like you see a lot of people outside every day, but here you don’t see a lot of people,” he says. “[There’s] not too much distraction. I don’t got a lot of [other] friends around.” 

At Donda Academy, the No. 2-ranked shooting guard in the country, according to 247 Sports, found the kind of environment he was looking for. “I just wanted to be in the gym 24/7 and I knew I could do that here,” he says. “Anytime I want to get in the gym, I can get in.” 

But he’s also been learning to navigate the mental side of the game, especially now that he’s playing with other high level players. Cruz admits he’s been working on not being in his head so much. “When you go to college, you’re playing with a lot of good players, so it’s good to know that I can do it on any level.”

Cruz recently announced the colleges he’s deciding among: Memphis, Western Kentucky, Xavier, Georgia and DePaul.

JJ Taylor says he never thought he’d leave his hometown of Chicago. The five-star guard was doing his thing at Kenwood Academy and had solidified himself as one of the best small forwards in his class. Ranked No. 5 in the country by ESPN and 247Sports, he’s the first player from Illinois to be ranked in the top 10 since the class of 2014’s Jahlil Okafor and Cliff Alexander, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

And yet, Taylor felt like the chance to play for Donda could give him something new. “A lot of stuff here, they don’t have in Chicago. The training is different. This is all basketball, basketball, basketball, basketball. I’m just falling in love with it.” 

Taylor says he’s had to adjust real quick: “I was pretty much the last one. I had to almost fit in, get adjusted faster, and learn everything faster than everybody else.”

Equipped with an all-around game and absurd athleticism, he’s already starting to see the move pay off. “For me, I like getting other players involved because we all can score. That’s my whole thing, playing unselfish,” he says. “I feel like I’m even [getting] better at making others better.”

Five-star shooting forward Jahki Howard kept it real when explaining why he chose to transfer from Norcross High School. “To be honest, I really just came out here to get better. I’m already a top-five player in my class, [so] for me, I wanted to come out here and get better at my level.” 

Still, he admits that when he first came out to the school, he wasn’t too sure what everyone would be like. “I’m really anti-social with people [and] I think I thought a lot of us would be the same way,” he says. “But no, [everyone] is chill.”

He’s become especially close with Bailey and Hooks, whom he calls his twin, and during their SLAM interview, the three of them excitedly talk about seeing the new Spider-Man movie together. With so many eyeballs on the team, Howard knows that a little hate is what comes with playing at this level.

“If I go to college or the NBA, it’s going to come with it,” he says. “I like it. It’s gotten to the point where it’s entertaining. It motivates me to just do better.”

Jalen Hooks, who averaged 11.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per game last season at Crispus Attucks, might have had the wildest initial visit to Donda Academy. 

Hooks’ first time in Cali went a little something like this: he hopped on a 6 am flight, saw the Hollywood sign, and went out to eat right after he landed. Next thing he knew, Ben Simmons was walking right up to him and sat at his table. “He was like, What’s good, Hooks?” 

Then Hooks hopped on the phone with Kevin Durant. “He was like, What’s up, killah? Just keep working,” he recalls. “I met KD and Ben Simmons in my first 10 minutes.” 

And while he and Dillingham were working out at another of DSTRKT’s gyms nearby, Hooks says he met Ye. “He was like, Thank you for trusting the process, and then he started praying with us.” 

So, yeah, between the training sessions and the meet and greets, Hooks’ visit out west was a movie. He was sold. “I was just like, if I can get this every day for the next two years, that’d be nice.”

After fracturing his nose and injuring his ankle last April, Hooks says the main priority since he’s arrived in Simi Valley has been getting healthy. “I’m still a four-star. I’m [looking] to get back to where I was.”

Brandon White, or B-White as some of his teammates call him, is already regarded as one of the best shot blockers in his class, but at 6-10, the big man from North Carolina says he came out to Donda Academy with one mission in mind.

“I want to do everything, play every position,” the four-star center says. “Dribbling, shooting, just doing stuff that I’ve never done before.” 

White’s versatile game has already caught the attention of a handful of DI schools across the country: Wichita State, Illinois, Purdue and LSU. As he continues to build out his game, he’s sure to be a scary sight at the next level.

Chuck Bailey says that when he first heard about Donda Academy, he didn’t fully believe it.

“My dad told me. I thought he was joking at first when he was like, There’s a school called Donda. They want you to [go] there,” he says. “Then I saw it on the news with Rob [Dillingham] and I’m like, Oh, shoot. It’s a real school.”

While he says he wasn’t a huge fan of all the cameras and media attention at first, he knows that this is what comes with it, and it’ll be there at the next level, too. Whether it’s supplying the room with energy during his SLAM shoot or holding his own against his teammates in practice, it’s clear that Bailey is ready for the bright lights.

“The thing that surprised me is how good I fit in and play at this level, [though] I knew I could. I’m really seeing it every day in practice. I actually see I can play at this level, and I can play really well.”

And, after spending the entire summer and the start of the season dealing with an injury, the 6-3 guard is back and looking to evolve his game even further. “I really just came here to balance out my game [and] learn how to be a true point guard, because that’s what I’m gonna be in college.”

Omarion Bodrick is another player from down south who decided to link up with his former Combine Academy teammates and shock the world by heading to Donda. From the looks of it, it seems like the senior forward has been finding his rhythm out in Cali. 

The day after his SLAM shoot, Bodrick’s athleticism was on full display at the team’s homecoming game against Veritas. During the third quarter, he had the entire standing-room only crowd at Whittier College, including King Combs and OT Genasis, on their feet when he caught a transition pass from JJ Taylor and levitated to the rim for a two-handed dunk. That wasn’t all he did; throughout the game, O was everywhere on the floor, diving for loose balls and dishing out dimes to Taylor on the wing for three-pointers. 

Bodrick will take his talents to Youngstown State University next year.

Braeden Moore was one of the last players to join the team. A standout at Christ Presbyterian Academy in Nashville and a TSSAA Mr. Basketball finalist, he’d always joked that he plays better on the West Coast—he was born in California and has relatives there, including his grandparents, who live only 20-30 minutes away from Donda Academy’s gym. Since he’s arrived at Donda, Moore’s impressed his new teammates from the get-go.

“He’s cold. I didn’t even know he was that good,” Chuck Bailey admits.

After decommitting from Rutgers, a decision he felt he’d “rushed into,” Moore says he’s looking for a program that will not only use his height and sharpshooting talent to “the fullest ability,” but will also offer him an all-around experience. He’s interested in business and entrepreneurship, and now that he’s at Donda, he’s already put himself in a position to be one step ahead. 

“I know how important education is and I have goals that surpass basketball,” Moore says. “That’s another reason [why] I came here, like with Justin [Laboy] and Ye, creating these relationships not only sets me up for success in basketball, it sets me up for life.”

We already knew Seven Bahati was on his own wave when he pulled up to his SLAM interview rocking a pair of all-black square-rimmed shades—and kept them on the entire time. “I was already making a name for myself, so I was just going to stay in my situation,” Bahati admits when asked how he ended up at Donda. “But my parents saw a great opportunity.” 

Although the California native didn’t have to travel very far, now that he’s here, he’s already started to evolve his all-around game. The 6-5 guard has DI offers from programs like UC Santa Barbara and Loyola Marymount. 

“I’m more of an efficient scorer, so I shoot and then I’ll drive,” he says. “I don’t really use shifts or anything like that. I just get to my spots and elevate. But being here with Rob and Z, and seeing how they dribble, it’s more like putting it on [top of] my skills and getting to my bag.”

This isn’t Bryce Baker’s first time playing on a highly competitive squad—he suited up alongside Dillingham and Bodrick at Combine Academy before coming to Donda Academy.  And yet he says this is definitely a first for someone that’s from where he’s from. “I come 
from a small town in North Carolina,” he says. “Really, nobody has done nothing like this.” 

Baker gives a major shoutout to his mom for letting him take advantage of the opportunity, knowing that he’d have to move across the country. “She trusted me and my judgement. And I felt like this was the best path for me to take to get myself to a different level.”

Now that he’s out in Cali, the 6-4 guard who can effortlessly knock down jumpers from behind the arc and block shots on the other end of the floor, says he wants to “grow himself as a person,” on and off the court—especially as he gets ready to head to Old Dominion next year.

“I’m about to go to college, so I feel like this is the necessary step for me to take. Having my friends here and making new friends, this is basically my family now.”

Creative Directed by Ye; Cover and Portrait of Shayla Scott: ONDA; Solo Portraits: KAITO.

The post Decidedly Different: Ye and Donda Academy Cover SLAM 236 appeared first on SLAM.

Because of this, and the strong play of superstar center Joel Embiid, 76ers’ General Manager Daryl Morey said while on 97.5 The Fanatic that he would consider expanded options for Simmons as the trade deadline approaches in the next few weeks.

The pressure for Morey to move Simmons could be heating up; despite his absence, Philadelphia is fifth in the east with a 26-18 record. Some recent reports from The Athletic indicate that Simmons has no intention of playing for the 76ers even if he doesn’t get moved before the deadline.

“Make no mistake, sources close to Simmons continue to insist that he’ll sit out the entire season if a deal isn’t done by the deadline.”

Simmons, who has not played a game for Philadelphia this season, is a three-time All-Star and a two-time All-Defensive team member in just four seasons of play in the NBA.

The NBA’s trade deadline is Feb. 10, now only a few weeks away with questions still aplenty about the future of Simmons.

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According to The Athletic, the Kings will remain active in trade conversations but have informed teams in the trade market that are intent on building their franchise around Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. The Kings reportedly informed Fox and his representation that they do not want to trade him and want to center the team around him and Haliburton as well.

The Athletic further reports that a deal for Domantas Sabonis will not happen. It remains to be seen how the Kings decision will impact their ability to trade for Ben Simmons.

According to Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee, the Sacrament Kings are shopping De’Aaron Fox in trade talks for Indiana Pacers All-Star Domantas Sabonis and Ben Simmons ahead of the NBA’s trade deadline in February,

Fox was reportedly off the table in trade discussions during the offseason, but the Kings (18-28) are 11th in the Western Conference and have reversed course as they fight for a spot in the play-in tournament.

The Kings were also rumored to have been involved in trade talks with the Philadelphia 7ers for Simmons during the offseason, but negotiations stalled since the Kings didn’t want to give up Fox. That has reportedly changed, per Anderson, The Athletic’s Sam Amick reported on The Athletic NBA Show podcast that he sees Sabonis and Simmons as the KIngs’ two biggest priorities ahead of the trade deadline.

The Kings rewarded Fox with a five-year contract extension after the 24-year-old point guard averaged a career-high 25.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game last season while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 32.2 percent from deep. The front-office brass reportedly had lofty expectations of Fox, expecting the Kentucky product to match or exceed those numbers during the 2021-2022 season.

Through 42 games, Fox is putting 20.9 points, 5.1 assists, 3.7 rebounds on 45.7 percent shooting from the field, and a career-worse 25.3 percent from downtown.

For Sabonis, his name has been involved in trade talks since December. The Pacers are 15-29, 13th in the East, and are reportedly looking to rebuild and move Sabonis, Caris LeVert, and Myles Turner. The two-time All-Star has put up solid numbers, averaging 18.9 points, 11.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.0 steal per game on top of shooting 57.3 percent from the floor.

Exchanging Fox for Sabonis or Simmons could reverse the fortunes of the Kings who have toiled through two decades of perennial futility. Sacramento hasn’t reached the playoffs since 2005-06, the longest active drought in the League by 10 years. Trading Sabonis, LeVert, and Turner will only accelerate the Pacers’ reported intent to rebuild.

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“The Philadelphia 76ers canvassed the prospect of a Fox, Ben Simmons trade package as recently as a few days ago, but dialogue remains exploratory due diligence, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The Kings, under second-year general manager Monte McNair, are expected to be aggressively active at the trade deadline, sources said. The front office has been given the green light by team owner Vivek Radavine to survey all options with the goal of drastically improving the roster.”

With the Interest in Fox and his backcourt teammate, Tyrese Haliburton, increasing with each passing day, Fox understands this is a part of the business of being in the NBA. His focus right now is not worrying about things he can’t control.

“If you do have a change of scenery, it changes everything. I’ve been here for five years. I’ve built a life here, a family here. But once I’m on the court, all that is out the window.” Fox said. “You’re not thinking about anything else that can happen outside of your control. 

But I’ve been through some deadlines. I’ve seen people get traded at the last second. You try not to think about it, but you know it’s a business, and anything can happen. I’m not sure what’s going to happen. Obviously, you see reports on Twitter. Am I worried about it? No. Can it happen? Yeah, it can definitely happen.”

Simmons reportedly has already made it clear that he is “open” to a trade to the Kings back in October.

De’Aaron Fox is averaging 20.9 points, 5.1 assists, and 3.7 rebounds this season.

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