Like any young hooper, Caleb Wilson tended to look to the most obvious sources for inspiration. “When I was younger, I used to only look at the stars—LeBron, Kobe, the big names,” he explains. “But my dad brought it to my attention that there were a lot of people I didn’t know about.”

A willingness to accept his father’s guidance helps explain how, when asked to name some of the players whose games he admires, the 18-year-old rattles off a list of guys who would impress any hoop-savvy dad—and probably a lot of grandfathers, too. “I watch Tracy McGrady, Penny Hardaway, John Stockton, Steve Nash, David Thompson, Alex English. I watch Clyde Drexler, Rick Barry, Chris Mullin and Run TMC, Nique, young Shaq in Orlando, and then the Lakers—I could go on and on about Magic and Kareem…”

He smiles. “I can keep going. I know a lot about basketball.”

Of course, his appearance in this magazine means Wilson is more than just a well-informed fan. The 6-9, 205-pound forward at Atlanta’s Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School is also a consensus top-10 prospect in the 2025 class, with a game informed both by that multigenerational collective of NBA greats and current stars like Nikola Jokic. With the game’s positionless revolution firmly entrenched, it only makes sense that a dude like Wilson would look far and wide for inspiration. “I feel like every player has aspects you can learn from,” he says, “especially the great ones.”

Wilson has a long way to go before he hears his name mentioned in the same breath as the aforementioned All-Stars and Hall of Famers, but then he’s already come a long way. He was a relatively late bloomer compared to most of his peers near the top of the rankings, and the memories of how far he felt from the game’s elite provides ample motivation now that he’s among the best high schoolers in the country. “I feel like a lot of younger kids look up to me because of that, so I want to talk about my humble beginnings, my struggles as a young player,” he says. “I remember not being the best player—it sticks with me. Just because you’re not good at something now doesn’t mean you can’t be good at it later.”

Wilson’s rise is proof of that, as evidenced by his production at Holy Innocents (he averaged 21 points, 15 rebounds and over 4 blocks last season) and on the Nike EYBL circuit, as well as his invite to this summer’s USA Basketball U18 junior national team camp. Of course, big-time programs have noticed. As we went to press, Auburn, UNC, Stanford and Duke were among the favorites to bring him to campus in 2025.

Low-key off the court—“I like to play video games, I watch a lot of TV, especially anime, and sometimes I do Legos,” he says—Wilson is committed to the game and usually in the gym. Still somewhat raw offensively, he’s athletic and savvy enough to still get his points or get teammates involved, and as those blocked-shot numbers attest, he’s got the potential to be a game-changer on D. Talent and motivation go a long way, of course, but ultimately, Wilson says the foundation of his game comes down to nothing more complicated than holding himself accountable and putting in work.

“I feel like it’s just discipline and commitment,” he says. “Once you tell yourself, I’m gonna do something, and you follow through with it, you build trust with yourself. I became true to myself about that: Caleb, you’re going to dribble every single day for 30 minutes, you’re going to do push-ups, you’re going to do sit-ups every single day. It allows for belief that you can do better. You’re competing with yourself.”

Portraits via Omar Rawlings.

The post Caleb Wilson Studied the Legends of the Game, Now He’s Channeling Their Wisdom as He Makes His Own Mark as a Top 10 Player in the Class of 2025 appeared first on SLAM.

These guys are friends. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Still, he has a ring. 

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

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

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

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

These guys won together on the biggest collegiate stage. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Portraits by Marcus Stevens.

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

For the next 30 days—Monday through Friday— we’ll be unveiling the full list here. We’ve also got an exclusive retro collegiate collection, out now, that pays homage to each squad’s threads. Shop here.

The All-American sensation of Jason Kidd. The prolific scoring of Lamond Murray. The 1993-94 California Bears saw a season full of gold headlined by their fifth-ever Sweet 16 appearance. Draped in shimmering yellow-gold threads, this Cal squad was at the epicenter of the Golden State.

Fresh off being named the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, Jason Kidd dropped 16.7 points per game as a sophomore, dishing out 9.1 assists, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 steals. The stocky 6-4 Bay Area native breezed past the school’s previous record of most assists in a season with 272.

Pair Kidd with a scintillating scorer like Murray, and it was game over for the Pac-10. Murray scored a team-high 24.3 points in the ‘94 season and hauled down 7.9 rebounds per game. The Pasadena native was one of the best scorers the program had seen, and he would become the Bears’ all-time scoring leader with 1,688 points, ranking him at No. 4. Kidd’s sorcery and Murray’s athleticism forced opponents into a persistent state of fear. Lobs, behind-the-back dimes, no-looks, skips and shovel passes could come from anywhere at any time. With the ball in Kidd’s hands, even if you thought you weren’t open, you were open.

While Murray was known for his quiet and stoic demeanor—word is he’d rock his headphones and Walkman around campus with no music playing—the 6-7 junior forward’s game was anything but silent. If you needed a bucket? Lamond Murray. Looking for a transition highlight? Lamond Murray. Who was getting the play call in the huddle? Again, Lamond Murray.

As for Kidd, he was cemented as one of the best players to come out of the Bay Area, a true hometown hero of the West Coast. The former Naismith Player of the Year in high school introduced the program to their first taste of national prominence. With Kidd constantly drawing nationwide allure, The Golden Bears were forced to move some of their home games to the Oakland Coliseum the year prior as ticket sales demanded a larger venue. Kidd’s showmanship on the hardwood was so enticing that the Golden Bears were hooping in front of sold-out crowds for two straight seasons. Now, Kidd’s illustrious No.5 jersey hangs in the rafters of Haas Pavilion, cementing his legacy in Golden Bears history.

Then there were the likes of Monty Buckley, Ryan Jamison, Alfred Grigsby and K.J. Roberts. The recruiting Class of ‘91, alongside Kidd and Murray, were the giants of the West. Their preparation was different. Summer workouts at Harmon Gym consisted of going against the NBA’s best. Game reps with the likes of Tim Hardaway, Gary Payton, Brian Shaw, Antonio Davis, Mitch Richmond, Steve Nash and Chris Mullin were almost an unfair advantage. But hey, that’s the perks of being in Cali. Constant battles against the League’s best eviscerated any fear that may have arisen throughout the 93-94 season.

Showtime was truly taking place in the Oakland Coliseum. With Kidd as lead orchestrator, the Cal Bears enacted a masterful symphony each night. Fans thrived for fast break opportunities, and the Bears delivered. Baggy mesh threads flying across the hardwood. Nasty no-look dimes leading to rim-rocking dunks. This brand of basketball was just different.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post The 30 Most Influential NCAA MBB Teams of SLAM’s 30 Years: ‘94 Cal appeared first on SLAM.

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

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

“Iverson left.” 

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

“Iverson left.” This wasn’t good.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo via Getty Images. Portrait by Clay Patrick McBride.

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

It’s the latest build in the two-time Blocks champion’s overtly extensive Lego collection: the set allows users to shoot baskets with Lego minifigures via exclusive spring pieces placed in the figurine’s legs. The 1.5-inch figures resemble the League’s stars from two decades ago, including Tracy McGrady, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Antoine Walker, Shaquille O’Neal, Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant. They are all represented in their respective ’03-04 uniforms. 

“I actually just finished this, the one from when I was a kid,” Turner says of the Lego NBA Set. “I just got it on eBay and I’m like man this is nostalgia, this is one of the first sets I ever had. I knocked that out within three-four hours, put all that together. I’ve got a little mini-figure of myself, I just take the legs off and put myself on the court and flick it back.” 

Those short four hours were a full-circle moment for Turner. Merging two of his greatest passions is a reality a younger version of himself would be baffled to see realized. As a kid, Turner’s parents prevented him from playing video games frequently, and going over to his friend’s house for a Halo 3 marathon was a bit like walking on eggshells. Thankfully, friends like Robert had a backroom stocked full of buckets of Legos. 

“So while they were playing video games, I would always go to the back room and start building stuff and just make all my little imaginations and all this stuff come to real life,” Turner tells SLAM. “ I just never really looked back. My dad’s the one who really introduced me to it. And I kind of took it and made it my own.”

Instead of staring at a screen with a controller in hand, Turner’s father wanted his son to have a more hands-on approach to his burgeoning creativity. The answer was Bionicles. Housed within a cylindrical plastic container, the Lego robot figures captivated Turner and pre-teens alike for over two decades before being discontinued in 2010. 

People think it’s gimmicky having Legos around the house. I actually do this shit bruh.

— Pacers’ Myles Turner

To accompany his biomechanical collection, Turner built all types of vessels; from pirate ships and rockets to ships from movies or shows he was enamored with as a kid. Except, he wasn’t using the step-by-step construction booklet that typically accompanies a Lego set. Turner was building his creations straight from scratch and memory. 

The Pacers center sees several parallels between his dominance on the hardwood and his ability to create his own Lego constructions. His ethos is creative, determined, precise, and exacting. He’s the conductor and the pieces are his orchestra, much like how the paint and the ball are his symphony. 

“I think of myself when I’m on the basketball floor like I’m an artist and what I do on the floor itself is my art, it’s how I create. The stuff you work on in the gym, in the lab in the offseason, is the stuff that you put on display when you’re actually in the middle of an NBA game,” Turner tells SLAM. “It’s kind of the same thing (with Legos). All the stuff that you come up with in your head, you’re able to take a few pieces and throw something together. And it’s like, ‘Damn I really did that.’ It’s something to be proud of.”

From the minds of kids on Christmas day to professional builders on social media, every Lego fan has at one point pondered the idea of crafting a Lego City that sprawls across various tables. As a self-proclaimed Lego BricksConnoisseur—peep his IG bio—and a Lego VIP Member, Myles’ immense connection to the brand wouldn’t be complete without his own form of a clad-brick city landscape. 

“People think it’s gimmicky having Legos around the house. I actually do this shit bruh,” Turner says. “It’s fun for me, I do this shit all the time.”

Next summer, Turner plans to fully expand his own Lego City to an area in his Austin, Texas home that’s more accommodating to the expansive metropolitan area. Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum, the Daily Bugle from Spider-Man, a windmill turbine and the 6,000-piece Hogwarts Castle from Harry Potter—which he’s currently in the midst of—will each connect in their own unique way. 

“There’s a whole bunch of little things that I want to do to make them all come together,” Turner tells SLAM. “That’s the beauty of it because you can make it all your own. You don’t have to follow anyone else’s guide or regime, and that’s the fun part about this.”

Amidst the lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic, Legos became both a popular pastime and collector’s item for millions of us stuck at home. Met by the rise of platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels, Lego creators began to showcase their extensive set-ups and jaw-dropping collections. However, Myles had already established his brick fandom well before Lego saw a social resurgence. In 2018 he posted a timelapse of him completing the 2,000-piece Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer over seven-straight hours. 

The long grey Empire ship is just one of the many vessels in Turner’s armada of Lego constructions. Walk up the jet-black spiral staircase in Turner’s Austin home and you’ll find a sleek metal and glass shelf outfitted with Lego versions of the Death Star, a Clone Wars Gunship, Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing, the Millennium Falcon, the Batwing and Batmobile. The shelf sits tucked behind a wall that also displays a two-foot-tall Lego Mario figure, a nod to Turner’s extensive video game fandom. 

Directly ahead of the upstairs entrance sits further display cases that showcase a detailed look at Cinderella’s Castle, a WWE belt, the Home Alone house and the beginnings of his aforementioned Lego City. Hundreds of exclusive and highly valuable minifigures, like the original $3,000 Boba Fett figure, are stacked in neat rows behind a translucent plexiglass case on another table. 

Soon, he’ll be adding a foot-tall Lego R2-D2 and AT-AT Walker, which he holds up on our Zoom call showcasing four fully complete legs and a half-built chassis. 

“The biggest thing for me in this Lego thing is, it’s not gimmicky. It’s not like I’m just trying to go out here and get a sponsorship. This is actually something I love and I’m passionate about,” Turner tells SLAM. “The ingenuity that goes behind all of it, the imagination that people have and just the different lanes that you open up and different worlds that you can open up stepping into this space is unreal. I have a lot of fun with that, man. It’s been it’s been real dope.”

While each of the latter ships is extravagant in its own right, Turner credits his most difficult build to the 9,000-piece 1:200 scale replica of The Titanic – which occupies the top-most section of the “ship shelf”. 

Garnering over 145,000 likes on X (formerly known as Twitter) immediately after its completion in March of 2022, Turner was quickly alerted to a mistake within his prize possession. One of the four yellow and black smokestacks was facing the opposite direction, a misstep that Turner has left alone to this day as an endearing personalized detail. “You know what bruh, I’m not about to go back and fix this. Like the Titanic didn’t work the first time in real life, so this is my version of it,” Turner tells us with a laugh. 

Given the vast amount of sets he’s built, Turner is more than acclimated to backtracking a few pages here and there for corrections. Over the years he’s also become used to the solitary construction process for his builds and creations. It wasn’t until recently that Turner began letting his girlfriend join him during builds, tag-teaming a custom 2,500 piece-by-piece image of his poster on Giannis Antetokounmpo from the 2022-23 season. The process, growth in routine, and intricacies of the latter have all become ingrained in the Pacer’s big man. 

So when Myles’ mother and team gifted him with a life-size version of himself as Darth Vader made entirely out of Legos, he was instantly taken aback. Constructed by professional Lego builder Ekow Nimakoj, “Darth Myles” stands at 7’3 composed of over 100,000 pieces. The statue took roughly 716 hours to complete in early June of last year.

“When they actually showed me that I was dumbfounded. I was like ‘Yo this is like this is amazing. This is sick. No one’s gonna have anything like this. I can make this the centerpiece of my house,’ Turner tells SLAM. “Whether you like Legos or not, you’re gonna look at this and be like, ‘Oh yeah, this is dope.’ You know what I mean? It doesn’t matter what you’re into.”

While we conversed, Turner fiddled with a few small dimensional pieces from the half-built AT-AT Walker, rolling the pieces around in his giant palms like peas. Booklets are sprawled out across the cherrywood desk he sits at, beckoning his attention to the number of unfinished projects he still has to dive into. There’s a neatness in the chaos, a fortress of solitude. Amidst the thralls of the regular season or coming back home to Indy after a four-game road trip, Legos have become a form of meditation for the Pacers center. 

“I can have a great game, or I can have a bad game, but once I come in here, once I’m in my little space I just tune everything out and get my music going, I’m sitting here and I just build bruh. I don’t really think about anything else in the world, I’m in my own space, if you will. And it’s a good little mental reset for me because like I said, no one’s bothering me. Sometimes I put my phone on Do Not Disturb. I’m literally sitting here, in my own world, doing my thing. And that comes in a lot of different forms for people,” Turner tells SLAM. 

In the 6-11 center’s case, watching small inconsequential pieces come together to form something magnificent is a therapeutic process. Carving out time to visit cities for stops at Lego Stores or Beyond The Brick locations is Turner’s self-care. So what would his younger self think if he saw it all?

“He’d be dumbfounded, he wouldn’t believe it. It’s one of those things where when I was younger, basketball was fun for me but I never saw myself making it this far,” Turner tells SLAM. “Now you look at it, I’ve literally changed so many people’s lives around me, I’ve changed my family’s lives, I’ve changed a whole bunch of my friends (lives), people that I work with. Looking at it from that point of view, when I’m that young I don’t think I would’ve been able to fathom what I was able to put together in less than ten years.”

Photos via Myles Turner.

The post The True Story Behind Myles Turner’s Dedication to His Legos Craft—from Childhood to the Pacers appeared first on SLAM.

“My life always revolved around basketball since I gained my first thoughts,” P.J. Tucker says. “My mom put a ball in my hand at 3 or 4 years old. It was a Michael Jordan basketball goal with the backboard. I just remember being in Germany and playing and the joy that playing basketball has brought me for 34 or 35 years. If somebody could see it through my eyes, the love and joy for the game and everything that kinda revolves and shapes the game…The game has been my life since I can remember, and that love and joy for it—just playing basketball—would be so crystal clear to people of why I play like I play and why I do what I do.”

P.J. Tucker is not the Sneaker King.

P.J. Tucker is a basketball player who loves sneakers. But he is not defined by sneakers. 

He is defined by passion. 

P.J. Tucker loves basketball. He loves everything that comes with it, too. But he does not love all of it more than he loves the game of basketball. 

A scorching hot day at The Better Generation in Houston is the backdrop for Tucker’s long-overdue KICKS cover shoot. There is a big picture to capture here. TBG is the sneaker store he co-founded and co-owns with Brandon Davis. We’ve shut it down for the day so that a Bentley Continental GT V8 could roll into the store’s front yard. 

Tucker knows cars, planes and trains very well. He’s hooped all over the globe. The son of Raleigh, NC, has played for six NBA teams. Though he was the 35th overall pick in 2006, he didn’t find a steady job in the League until 2012. Those years in between were spent playing overseas. 

As a world traveler, he has many stories to tell. Much to his delight, we give him a task to sketch out the connection between stories, hoops and sneakers. P.J. excitedly maps out his basketball career by highlighting the sneakers he most associates with each stop on his worldwide tour. 

Raleigh, NC, Enloe High School Eagles, Class of ’03

“Space Jam” Air Jordan XI

“Ohhhhh, I got my ‘Space Jams’ on going to New Bern Cook Out. We have a game that night. After the game, we go to Sheryl’s where the party’s at. It’s a hair and barbershop school. The lady’s [who owns it] son is our age and he threw parties, and he threw them at his mom’s spot. And then afterward, we going to Cook Out on the way home. My order, back then, I was all about the grilled chicken tray. Cajun grilled chicken sandwich. Lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion, cajun fries.”

Austin, TX, University of Texas Longhorns, 2003-06

Reebok S. Carter 

“I was coming with it in Austin. In Austin I’m rocking the Sean Carter Reeboks. ‘S. Dots’ with a polo and jeans on. Killing them. You know they was a [size] 40, bro. You know they was a 40 with a belt. We’re going to The Drink. The Drink is the spot, that’s the stomping ground. Me, Vince Young and the crew. Everybody knows the basketball players and football players were at The Drink. The line is around the corner. You’re not getting in. We walking straight in, straight to the upstairs and it’s shut down. It’s over. We ain’t dropping a dime. Behind the bar pouring, bro…that’s different. Hook ’em.”

Greektown, Toronto, Ontario, Toronto Raptors, 2006-07 

“Brown Crocodile” Nike Air Force 1 Low

“Toronto, we’re going to Cactus Club. Vibes. I got on the ‘Brown Crocodile’ Air Force 1s. Yes, I got those on for sure. 100 percent. 100 percent. Oh my God. I had just started getting NBA checks. Them joints was $1,500, bro, retail. $1,500? In ’06? Cactus Club is a vibe, bro. It’s a restaurant-turned-speakeasy type. It’s four levels, [with] a rooftop…The lights on, going crazy, going crazy. You getting me hype over here.” 

Broomfield, CO, Colorado 14ers [D-League], 2006-07

Nike Air Force 1 Low 

“I was rocking all white Air Force 1s and I took no good clothes. It was, like, team sweats. I was out of my body because I really, like…it was probably one of the lowest points of my life when they sent me down. Oh man, it was bad. My swag was at an all-time low in Broomfield, Colorado.”

Holon, Israel, Hapoel Holon Tigers, 2007-08

Nike Air Yeezy 1 & Nike Air Huarache 2K8

“Finals MVP, a championship. Knocked off Maccabi for the first time in 30 years. Going crazy. One of my favorite years—entirely—in my career, NBA included. Top three for sure. But that was 2007-08. You know what dropped in ’08? They came out in Tel Aviv. If you don’t know what they is, [in] 2008, Kanye West released a shoe. That’s all I can tell you. He released a shoe. Oh man. I got them in Tel Aviv, dog. In Tel Aviv. I got two colorways in Tel Aviv. I got the gray and the tan. That was a year, dog. Happiness, playing basketball again. Because Toronto was a total…Toronto tore me down, and Tel Aviv brought me right back. Back falling in love with the game because I was able to play [again]. I only played 17 games in Toronto. That’s why my number is 17. So, it was like Tel Aviv brought me life back. And then I didn’t realize how much fun I was going to have playing in Europe. And it was like, Oh yeah, this is it. Listen. Huarache ’08. Top five basketball shoes ever to me. The white/blue/green pair. Oh my God. That year I hooped in those all year.”

Donetsk, Ukraine, BC Donetsk Tigers, 2008-10

Louis Vuitton Jaspers 

“I got the Louis. They just came out. The all white on white, the black high top, the gray with the pink bottom. I got all three in Kiev, Ukraine. All three. Walked right in the store. They was just right there. I need a 12. LV 12. [They reply] One second. All three pair. Oh my God. Mind you, I’m paying a lot more because the euro was kicking the shit out of the dollar back then. So we used to get paid and be like, Yo, give me some euros and…ah, it was bad. But it didn’t matter. They had all three in store. It was crazy. By myself. In Ukraine they speak no English. I had a translator that was with me, like, 80 percent of the time that the team paid for because nobody spoke English. And a driver and all that. But sometimes we landed in a city, like, good cities, I just dip out, all the good cities, and go shopping. It’s what I do. That’s like prime [Kobe] because Ukraine was Kobe 3 and 4. Ukraine was all Kobe for me. It was nothing else. Like, iDs crazy. Those were the years of iD crazy. And this is the most money I’ve ever made. I’m getting, like, $800,000 a year tax free. We’re going crazy. So I’m buying 10 pair of iDs at a time. You got nothing to do in Ukraine, so I’m just on my laptop making iDs, sending them to my mom’s house. My mom boxing them up, putting my cereal boxes [in them], my little stuff for me to eat and sending boxes at a time. Oh, the care packages are footwear. The food is additional. Throw some Cinnamon Toast Crunch in there for me, you know what I’m saying?”

Herzliya, Israel, Bnei Herzliya Basket, 2010

Nike Kobe 4

“Herzliya is crazy. We’re going to Herzliya Mall. Herzliya is on the water. They got the mall on the water. The mall is literally on the beach. Incredible. They had a Nike Store. You already know…”

Thessaloniki, Greece, Aris Basketball Club, 2010-11

Nike Kobe 5 

“Me and Bobby Brown used to go crazy at Thessaloniki. Kobe 5 year for sure. We had the all gold uniforms and that year the white/gold/black 5s [came out]. Had about 20 pairs of those. And just ran through those. Ran through ’em. Because everywhere you go, you gotta think, like, we got to Athens, Go to Nike Store. They got stores here? We go to the store. They got my size, I’m buying it every time. That way you can have them on time. Playing in your league, like, playing in Barcelona, Moscow. Nike stores. All these prime Kobe years, though, are the easiest because…making all those iDs to match the uniforms, shit used to be fun.”

Quebradillas, Puerto Rico, Piratas de Quebradillas, 2011

Nike Air Force 1 Low 

“We’re going to Isabella Beach. That was heavy Air Force 1. Puerto Rico, my Air Force 1 game there was crazy. Every day, Air Forced out. I’ve always been a big, big Air Force 1 [fan]. Where I’m from, that’s, like, the No. 1 shoe. You know the beach, all white on whites. It was a clean, fresh pair. That was all about that.”

Montegranaro, Italy, Sutor Basket Montegranaro, 2011

Nike Kobe 5 

“All Kobe. Italy was all Kobe.”

Bamberg, Germany, Brose Bamberg, 2011-12

Nike Kobe 8 

“Alright, so Bamberg is Kobe 8 and I would say my No. 1 Kobe. Crazy, because at the time I thought the 8 was the best ever. I just went crazy with the Kobe 8. And our colors were red, gray, black and white. And the Kobe 8 was just so perfect for the iD, dog. We just went insane with those. When I think of that, other than winning MVP, winning championships and doing all that, it was like, yo, the Kobes that year were insane. Playing in EuroLeague that year, everybody was wearing Kobe 8s, bro. Even when I look at pictures from back then, everybody was wearing Kobe 8s. It was like Kobe took over the world that year with that shoe.”

Phoenix, AZ, Phoenix Suns, 2012-17

“Olympic” Air Jordan VI and Amar’e Stoudemire Nike Air Max2 CB ’94 PE 

“[I always ate at] Matt’s Big Breakfast during the season in Phoenix. I was wearing a lot of heat during that time. That was the first big multi-year deal I signed. That was, like, filling in the blanks in my collection. I started getting a lot of stuff I wanted that I didn’t have. I just started going crazy. There was a store in Phoenix that was unbelievable during that time. Pound For Pound. Jay [Gaspar] had a pair that he had signed for him. And I was like, Jay—Jay is the equipment manager for Phoenix. He’s been there since he was, like, 6 years old. He was a ball boy at 6. He’s an OG equipment manager. One of my favorite people in the world. He’s the best. And he has Shaqs, Steve Nashs… And he has these white, gray and orange [Barkleys]. Ah, they’re beautiful. With the S.T.A.T. on the side. So that was a mission of mine to find those and I did. And the black, purple and orange. And the all-purple.”

Milwaukee, WI, Milwaukee Bucks, 2021

Nike Boots and Timberlands 

“Nah, listen, Steny’s was the spot [where I hung out]. And they’re big, big Milwaukee-everything fans. Milwaukee’s a bar town so all those kinda dive bars, local people go there every day for their drink after work. It’s that vibe of Milwaukee and why the love of Milwaukee is so crazy. Because these people are like, if they love you, they love you. I can’t buy a drink there. And you know the wild part, when I go back, I’ll sneak in and just surprise everybody. Like, all the locals, the people that go there every day. And it’s still, like, same shit. It’s dope.”

Miami, FL, Miami Heat, 2021-22

Nike Air Max 1 

“Here we go, here we go! I’m wearing heat in Miami. I’m wearing runners a lot in Miami. That’s just kinda the vibe. The Air Max 98 or 95 with my little Nike running sets. It’s so hot and chill. That’s just the everyday kinda uniform. Tank top, running shorts, Air Maxes. That’s just my everyday there. Air Max 1s. I would say Air Max 1s because that’s my favorite Air Max ever, and I wore Air Max 1s to death in Miami.”

Philadelphia, PA, Philadelphia 76ers, 2022-23

Air Jordan I 

“In Philly I wore a lot of Jordan Is, like, the normal brown Travis. I got a pair of ’85s and ’94s that I wear, the ones I wear wear. ‘Chicagos’ and ‘Breds’ both. And they’re my go-to pairs. Every time I wear those shoes, I wear those pairs. Even though I got a lot of ’85s and ’94s. They’re broken in perfect. They’re super comfortable. They’re, like, molded to my feet. They’re my shoes. They’re super worn down, but they look good.”

The Better Generation is shaped like a container. It’s a wide and narrow store. Walk in through the front door, turn left and P.J.’s section comes to life. A floor-to-ceiling display case of his Sixers jersey, game-worns and Kobe-signed pairs are the greeting. An impressively extensive collection of clothing follows. Two little seating pods close it out, resting underneath a “17” made out of moss. 

Seated under the 17, Tucker is fully engaged. He’s talking sneakers in a way that he doesn’t often get to talk sneakers. His high level of animation is a welcome surprise. He’s having a good time. Why doesn’t he share this side of himself more often?

“It’s not that many that [have] really, really been in it and been doing it and really understand it,” he says. “I almost tell them I don’t want to talk about shoes anymore because they don’t know. People don’t know, right? I’m not mad at them, I’m just tired of answering the same questions. Sneaker King, how are you—blah. Like, bro, you have no idea what any of this is about.”

He details how there are so many people out there who view him as the “Sneaker King.” They only know one thing about him. There’s much more to him than sneakers. It’s a constant in his life he can’t escape. People expect the anointed Sneaker King to behave a certain way. He doesn’t wear sneakers for the public’s approval, though. He does it out of the love that’s been mentioned. That love is threatened at all times by the uninitiated. His work to protect the pure nature of his passion is a daily commitment. 

“It gets ruined a lot,” Tucker says about his passion for sneakers. “There’s other things that bring it back. This [conversation] is bringing it back, 1000 percent. This is making me go back and think about my original love and why I do it and how it came to be. But even still, there are so many other things that tear it down and all the people that don’t really love it. They just kill it and destroy it. But that’s what makes me keep going, too. Regardless, I can’t let them take the shine away from what we love. All the things that make it what it is. It’s like, fuck that.”

He rolled up to this shoot with approximately 30 pairs in two giant bags, including the famous 24-pair holder that longtime followers of P.J. will know. Time unfortunately ran out and not every pair could be photographed. They were all hitters. Every single pair. Hype and resell value all through the roof. That’s not the best part. The best part is that all of them were worn. Every outsole showed clear signs of wear. And this is some stuff that’s so nice that it’s actually dumb. Dumb nice. Stupid nice. Crazy nice. 

“Kyle’s Wedding” Kobe 4s. “Board of Governors” XVIs. “Cactus Jack” IVs. “Pigeon” Dunk Lows. The Mags on the cover. Dumb, stupid, crazy nice pairs that 99 percent of people would never even put down on a carpeted floor in their own house. But Tucker wears all of them. He wears many more, too. He spent a few minutes during the shoot showing off photos that aren’t part of his Getty Images history, flicks from his days overseas. In real time, when the most hyped-up pairs of Kobe 4s-8s were getting released, he was playing in them. He wasn’t holding them for later. He was making memories with them on his feet. Even while at Texas, there are photos of him hooping in Air Jordan XIVs, Nike Air Penny 4s and Air Jordan IIIs.

Footwear has always been about memories and stories for Tucker. He doesn’t chase hype. He chases the indescribable feeling that sneakers give him. 

“It means something,” he says. “It puts you in a place and a time. And it gives you that feeling. And that feeling, like, there is nothing like that. 

“I can’t,” he responds when asked to verbalize the sensation. “It’s hard to put that feeling into words. It’s one of those things that only you know in your heart, like, how that shit makes you feel. No one else will ever understand it.”

KICKS 26 is OUT NOW!

He’s been communicating with everyone for years. What he’s saying in this interview has been said without speaking many times before. There’s another layer he mentioned about people not understanding him for who he is. Eagle-eyed Instagram followers will see beyond the sneakers and the cars and notice that a majority of Tucker’s captions have to do with mental fortitude and emotional evolution. He’s on a journey of betterment and the sneakers are part of it. 

“Sneakers help me emotionally through everything,” Tucker says. “Just the love for shoes keeps my mind off of a lot of bullshit that I could be thinking about and dealing with. The love and the job, especially now just because we got so much going on within sneakers, culture, fashion and everything. It’s something that gives my mind a break off of everything else that’s going on around me. And I think different people have different things in their lives that, over years, they kind of figure [themselves] out, you know, things that make you happy. You know, you build a garden in your backyard, whatever it is. Wednesday night bowling with your boys. Everybody has something, and sneakers [have] always been my kind of release of everything where it’s just natural and I just love it.”

There is an intensely deep connection that Tucker feels with the game and with what surrounds the game, including sneakers. And then there’s basketball itself. 

Tucker’s career arc hasn’t been easy. He was a beast at Enloe High, a man playing against little boys. He averaged more than 16 points a game in his junior year at Texas. He was a scorer while he was on the way up the ranks. But then he had to switch it all up. Like he said, the Raptors humbled him as a young pro. When he went over to Europe, he was a scorer again. He was a Finals MVP, a champion, a go-to guy. The man. But his goal was to make it back to the NBA. Change was nonstop. He had to continue to adapt.

Always evolving. 

At this point in 2023, his reputation as an NBA player was set in stone a long time ago. It’s a beautiful role. The 38-year-old is the last of a breed that went extinct a long time ago. He will do whatever is needed to win. Nothing better illustrates his desire for glory than Game 6 of the 2021 Finals. He played 36 minutes of extremely physical hoops and only took one shot. But his effort didn’t diminish at all. He had the best plus-minus of anyone in that game. Defense, hustle, energy, heart—raw passion. Good luck finding anyone else in the League right now whose effort wouldn’t go down if they couldn’t shoot the ball. Passion is the only way that a performance like that is possible. 

“[Desire to win] kind of built, even though I’ve always been like that, it made it through the roof of honesty with myself,” Tucker says. “With the ‘humble, hungry,’ like, all that. But it’s more understanding self. Understanding success, what it takes to be successful and how much you’d rather win than have individual success. Then once you figure out that people care about winners and not actual people, then that changes your whole trajectory, too. Everybody wants to win, but everybody wants to win the way that they want to win. They want to win being the man. They want to win with everybody saying their name. They want to win with everybody showing their highlights on ESPN and their friends being all happy, that kind of thing. But who wants to just fucking win, right? Who is like, I just want to win! I want to stand at the top of the mountain no matter what my stats are, no matter what happens. It ain’t a lot. I’ll tell you that right now. And to change your whole shit to be one of those people to not really care, to not care…Just to win.”

He says that things started to click for him when he made it back home from his overseas adventures. 

“There, I was the man,” he says about playing abroad. “I’m the guy, right? But then that’s how I learned to be a role player in the NBA. From being the man in Europe, I learned to be a role player because I know what I needed. I know what I needed guys to do. In Israel, I had my boy Chris Watson. Every rebound, he’s running down 50-50 balls. I can count on him. I knew what I was going to get from him. But it’s the self reflection of I’m not him and I’m not trying to be him. I’m not trying to fight him for a position. I don’t want to be James Harden. I’m P.J. What do you need me to do for you to be successful for us to win? I’m P.J. and I’m fucking the best P.J. there is in this fucking game. And nobody can do what I do on a nightly basis.”

His playing style and his playing style are both completely unique. And passion for both games drives it all.

“My love for basketball created my love for sneakers,” Tucker says. “I didn’t just [say] like, Oh, I like shoes. My first pair of shoes ever was a pair of Jordan Is in ’85. That was my mom. I didn’t pick that. But I did watch Michael Jordan and fall in love with the game and love what he was wearing. Then from that it was like…boom.” 

Portraits by Atiba Jefferson.

The post P.J. Tucker is NOT The Sneaker King… He’s Much More appeared first on SLAM.

Cambridge was visiting New York City when we filmed her announcement video at SLAM HQ in Queens; she was there to take part in a Jr. NBA program held around the NBA Draft, where she and other top high school prospects were mentored by notable figures around the League. As she posed for flicks in her Montverde jersey, it was apparent that Cambridge was still getting used to it all—the cameras, the attention—but she remained just as poised under the bright lights.

That’s the same energy she’ll bring to the Eagles next season: a player who can not only handle the moment but stay true to herself along the way.

For Cambridge, the decision to transfer had everything to do with opportunity, the chance to play in front of larger crowds and wanting to elevate her family’s legacy. 

“Coming from the school that I was at, it was a really good program,” she says. “I had really good teammates and a really great coach. I just wanted a different opportunity for a bigger stage. Coming from my basketball family, I just wanted to continue that legacy of putting our name out there. Montverde has been the Geico National champions for the past two years, and we’re looking to run it back this year.”

The Cambridges are a basketball powerhouse of their own. Jaloni’s older brother, Jalon, played at Pope John Paul II High School in Nashville, where he set an all-time scoring record before going on to play at Fisk University. Her brother Desmond Jr won Ivy League Rookie of the Year at Brown, where he also broke the school’s freshman scoring record with 468 points, before transferring to Nevada and then Arizona State. Big sister Jordyn attended Ensworth and was ranked No. 23 overall (the No. 4 guard) in 2018 by ESPN before heading to Vanderbilt. Then there’s Devan, who transferred to Hillcrest Prep in Arizona and was ranked No. 8—he played at Auburn before joining big bro Desmond Jr at Arizona State. Jaloni played alongside sister Deayonna, who goes by Kennedy, and was a four-star recruit, at Ensworth. After a season at Kentucky, Kennedy entered the transfer portal and just recently committed to Ohio State. Then there’s her brother Jasiah, who has grown up around plenty of role models to look up to inside the Cambridge household.

Their father, Desmond, was an NCAA legend during his time at Alabama A&M. To this day, he still holds the Division I men’s single-season steals record of 160, which he set during the 2001-02 season.

“I mean, it’s always competitive,” Jaloni, the youngest of the Cambridges, says about her household. “[There’s always] someone that’s coming after you, but someone that’s also willing to help you get to the next level. For my siblings, they’re already there [playing DI] and they’re still going, but they’re pushing me while also helping me so I can do what they’re doing but [also] do better than them.”

Having watched her siblings go through the entire recruitment process and play at the collegiate level, Cambridge knows exactly what to expect as she narrows down her top seven schools, which include LSU, Baylor, Georgia, Ohio State, Florida, Louisville and South Carolina. The Cambridge family is incredibly tight, too—they play UNO every Sunday and remain by Jaloni’s side throughout her journey. Cambridge’s mom was even on FaceTime with her daughter throughout our entire shoot—there to support and hype her up. 

“With recruiting and everything, because [Kennedy and I] are the youngest, Jordan would help us,” Jaloni says. “She told us that any time we needed anything, specifically about recruiting, we could come to her about it. And even if we didn’t have to ask anything, she would just tell us what to expect, what not to expect. 

And then with Kennedy, we literally talk every day. So, if there’s something that she sees that she thinks could help me, then she’s gonna tell me that. If she thinks that I could do better at something, like recruiting-wise or just anything in life, she’s gonna tell me that because she wants what’s best for me.”

Cambridge describes her game as “different from a lot of people” because of her speed. “I don’t think that everyone has the ability to use that speed and then get to their spots as quickly as I can. And then over the past two years, I’ve developed this jumper…that’s what I take advantage of.”

When asked what she’s looking for in a Division I program, Cambridge says that she wants to go to a school that will embrace her skill set and also provide a family environment. 

“Someone who’s gonna take me in and accept me as their own because I’m gonna be [me],” she says. “I want it to be a home away from home.”

Portraits by Marcus Stevens.

The post No. 1 Ranked Point Guard Jaloni Cambridge is Ready to Elevate Her Elite Game at Montverde Academy appeared first on SLAM.

February 9th 2003. How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days was the number one movie in the world. “All I Have” by Jennifer Lopez featuring LL Cool J was sitting atop the Billboard Hot 100. Kobe Bryant was on the cover of SLAM 66 wearing a jet black Lakers jersey with his three Larry O’Brien trophies. It was a cloudy night in Georgia but even then there were 24 extra stars in the Atlanta sky. On that night at Philips Arena, the NBA hosted its 52nd Annual NBA All-Star Game. 

It was a time before TikTok, NFTs, and NBA Twitter. It’s now 2023 and at times it feels like we’re living in some twisted up future, but at least the game of basketball is still good. 

By the time you’re reading this, the League will be getting ready to host the 72nd Annual All-Star Game in Salt Lake City and if we’re lucky, it’ll be a classic much like Atlanta’s game 20 years prior. Generally speaking, ‘03 is a year strongly etched into the memory of all within the culture. Baggy pants, bulky kicks, triple-layered headwear, spinning rims, Playstation 2… could it have all been so simple then? 

The 2003 NBA All-Star Game was one of the most stacked events of all time, both in star power and personality. Society was reaching a breaking point when individuality, charisma, and style were placed on a similar level as skill. The Western Conference All-Stars included Steve Francis, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, and Yao Ming as starters, with Shaquille O’neal, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Gary Payton, Stephon Marbury, and Peja Stojakovic coming off the bench. The West was helmed by then-Sacramento Kings head coach, Rick Adelman. Peja was an injury replacement for his teammate Chris Webber.

The Eastern Conference All-Stars included Allen Iverson, Michael Jordan, Tracy McGrady, Jermaine O’Neal, and Ben Wallace as starters, with Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, Brad Miller, Jamal Mashburn, Antoine Walker, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas coming off the bench. Isiah Thomas, who coached the Indiana Pacers at the time, led the charge for the East.  

There are a lot of things you may have forgotten about the 2003 NBA All-Star Game. So, allow us to remind you. 

First off, the jerseys. It marked the first time since the ‘90s that the NBA designed and deployed All-Star Game jerseys. In the previous five years, players just wore their own jersey from their respective teams (All-Star Weekend in 1999 was canceled due to the lockout). And the jerseys were fresh as hell. The retro design recalled some of the late ‘80s All-Star Game jerseys, swapping out the short shorts for a baggier option. 

The main focus entering All-Star weekend was Michael Jordan, who was preparing to retire for a third and final time. He was a starter and an All-Star for the 14th time in his career, an accomplishment that didn’t come without its fair share of controversy. Allen Iverson and Vince Carter were both near at the peak of their popularity in 2003 and were voted as the starting backcourt for the Eastern Conference by the fans. Carter had missed a big chunk of games that season as a result of injury and there was a ton of pressure on him to give up his starting spot to Jordan. He resisted the notion for quite some time but he eventually relented and gave up his starting spot to his elder UNC alum just before gametime. The scrutiny turned ugly after a while, and the Atlanta crowd even booed Carter when he was being introduced before the game. 

For the record, Jordan was perfectly fine with coming off the bench. When asked about it during the game, Jordan said, “Vince surprised me. I told him as I told the rest of the players, I started 13 times, I didn’t need to start [a] 14th time. You know, they were adamant about getting me to start. Vince actually came to me right before we went out and said that he would love for me to take his spot. He’s very respectful. I think he took some undue punishment, all during this week about him being very honorable to the fans, and even at the end, when he gave it up, I really didn’t want him to back down from what he actually stood for and I’ve supported him in that sense. But he wanted me to take his spot and I thought it was very gracious of him and very respectful.”

Problem solved, Jordan started. 

Another wrinkle out of the gate was Jordan’s coach for the game, Isiah Thomas, who is arguably Jordan’s biggest rival and definitely his most prevalent foil. If Jordan had a nemesis, it was Zeke (or Jerry Krause). But Thomas had coached the Pacers to the best record in the East by the break, so he was his coach for the night. Infamously, there is a conspiracy that Isiah Thomas led a charge to freeze Jordan out of his first All-Star Game in 1985. Jordan was a rookie and finished the game with seven points on 22.2 percent shooting in a 140-129 loss. And now 18 years, two retirements, and 13 All-Star appearances later, Michael Jordan was the elder statesman in the All-Star Game, with Yao Ming as the lone rookie to participate in the game. 

Jordan, however, was aggressive but wasn’t hot right out of the gates. He started the game 0-7. He began the game only 10 points behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most points in the All-Star game’s  history and the Atlanta crowd was hungry for him to break the record (a record that’s been snapped by the late-Kobe Bryant and LeBron James since then). Each missed attempt by Jordan was followed by hushed sighs of resignation by the crowd but the voracious outbreak when he finally made a jumper was well worth the wait. 

The first quarter was a relatively competitive defensive performance for both sides, the first quarter ended with the East leading 23-18 off the strength of a 13-0 run. Jordan never really got any hotter from the field, but he eventually broke the record and finished with 20 points on 9-27 (33.3 percent) shooting. 

The pace and level of play picked up considerably but the defensive effort faltered in the second quarter when the reserves checked in. The signature playground style of all-star ball had infiltrated every corner of the game and it was fun as hell. A sequence of lobs from Brad Miller to Vince Carter followed by Stephon Marbury to Shawn Marion early in the second quarter was especially electrifying. Shortly afterwards, Dirk Nowitzki went on a mini-heater in two minutes and scored all nine of his points for the night. All-Star games are interesting in that way. Basketball is improvisational like jazz and these are the best artists in the world. You never know when a player might go off onto a solo and strut his shit. 

Rick Adelman decided to indulge every hoops fan everywhere and played a lineup of Francis-Garnett-Duncan-Shaq-Yao. If any lineup with four seven-footers could work in a real game, I feel like this would be the one. Great mix of shooting, passing, mobility, length, and defense. They went on an 8-2 run in just over two minutes to secure a 55-52 lead heading into halftime. 

Halftime was a show in itself. The NBA had orchestrated a tribute for Michael Jordan that involved Mariah Carey coming out and singing in two different Jordan jerseys. She sang “Boy (I Need You)” while wearing a mini-dress styled to look like Jordan’s Bulls jersey. While they played a montage of Jordan highlights, Seinfeld clips, Gatorade commercials, SNL monologues, and Spike Lee poetics, Mariah Carey changed into a floor-length dress designed after Jordan’s Wizards jersey.

Mariah Carey gave chilling renditions of “My Saving Grace” and “Hero” at the center of a stage placed on the court. Jordan was moved to tears during the performance and Mariah Carey introduced Jordan to the crowd for an opportunity to address them. It took the standing ovation over a minute to calm down enough for Jordan to even get any real words out. When he could finally speak, he tearfully thanked the fans, his family, and expressed his gratitude for being able to pass the game along to the next generation. Much of the next generation was sharing the floor with him in this game and they’d determine how it would end. 

 If basketball is jazz, Tracy McGrady’s third quarter was like Miles Davis at his peak. He was cashing jumpers from all over the court and making daring forays to the cup, it was very clear why he was arguably the best scorer in the world at that moment. Iverson got it going as well with the pass-first Jason Kidd by his side in the backcourt to start the half rather than Michael Jordan. For the West, Kevin Garnett continued his impressive play on both ends of the floor. He hardly missed anything and remained a conduit of unbridled energy. Kobe got it going as well after pretty much sleepwalking through the first half.  

In the third, Shaq was throwing Jordan’s layup back to the three-point line. The crowd booed Shaq for hampering their hero but the East largely controlled the third quarter, eking out a 93-86 lead heading into the final frame. 

As usual the fourth quarter was more competitive than the rest of the game. Shaq dominated the reserve minutes but most of the Eastern Conference starters remained on the floor, even at the beginning of the quarter. Both of the Boston Celtics young guys, Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker, complained about the lack of playing time they received in the game. Zydrunas Ilgauskas of the Cleveland Cavaliers did not publicly complain but he only played four minutes. Isiah Thomas met all complaints with a closed ear, “it’s my team” he commented.   

Michael Jordan is one of the clutchest players in NBA history, if not the most clutch. He had won games, and championships, with his elite shot making ability with the game on the line. With 10.1 seconds left and the game tied at 120 a piece, and a young Shawn Marion on him with overtime looming, Jordan posted up in complete isolation. He took a few dribbles in the midpost, then turned over his shoulder and shot his patented turnaround jumper. He missed. The crowd sighed as it clanged off the rim. Overtime, the sixth instance this happened in All-Star game history. 

And then it’d eventually go into double overtime—the first time in NBA All-Star game history. 

Isiah Thomas must have felt guilty about the lack of minutes allocated to his bench players (along with the starters probably being exhausted with the extra basketball time on this night) because he put in a few guys who hadn’t seen many minutes down the stretch to start double OT. The West quickly jumped out to a lead and never relinquished it again. Garnett dominated against the smaller East lineup, finishing with 37 points on 70.8 percent shooting. The West held on to win the game 155-145 despite Iverson’s best efforts. 

The game came to a close with the usual procession of handshakes, hugs, and high-fives, as the players rushed to get off to a night on the Atlanta streets. Peace to mankind, it was a beautiful time to be alive. 

Photos via Getty Images.

The post Here’s a Look Back at the 2003 NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta  appeared first on SLAM.

Remember when we used to call Steve Nash “Nashty Nash?” Probably not. Partly because we rarely/never called him that, but also because we didn’t talk about him enough at the time to realize that we should have.

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking—the dude won 2 MVPs back-to-back, we were obviously talking about him, right? Nah. In 2005 we were talking about Kobe, we were realizing that NBA 2K was legit, we were whining about LeBron not winning a title after two seasons in the League. Meanwhile, Nashtradamus (we didn’t call him that?) was a legitimate nightmare for teams stepping into the heat of the Phoenix desert. Nonetheless, the murmur of haters seemed to hum in the background of Nash’s success. It’s easy to see why; his hair was unique but his numbers weren’t.

Although Steve “Cash” (how was that never his nickname?) had one of the best jumpers in the League, he rarely went for buckets. He was a pass-first point guard with a stupidly high basketball IQ. This, paired with the fearlessness of a hockey player—and the chipped tooth and bloody nose to prove it—saw him drawing double teams, attacking the lane and slicing passes to Amar’e Stoudemire or Shawn Marion to finish the job at the rim. These League-leading assists were a thing of beauty, too, behind-the-back, no-look dishes served with precise excellence on a nightly basis.

On the November 2005 issue of SLAM, before he secured a double MVP award, Nash would hit a double cover. This was one of the only times that the same player would be featured on both alternate SLAM covers, and it dropped in the dopest way. One had an ’05 flavor, and the other looked like it had dropped in ’95. Honestly, prime Steve Nash would’ve been an MVP in either year.

Captain Canada (that one’s legit) traveled a bumpy road as a coach in recent months, but he’s no stranger to the grind (see: the bloody noses, the chipped tooth and the murmur of haters). Like SLAM 92 said: “Steve Nash is no joke.” His name deserves respect.

The post The SLAM Archives: SLAM 92 Featuring Steve Nash From November of 2005 appeared first on SLAM.

This season, the only unanimous MVP in NBA history is scoring 32.2 points, grabbing 6.7 rebounds, and dishing out 6.6 assists per game and is set to join Steve Nash and Larry Bird as the only players with multiple 50/40/90 seasons while he shoots 52.8 percent from the field. 44.3 percent from deep and 90.9 percent from the free-throw line.

However, the main thing that’s stood out during Curry’s hot start to the season is his finishing in the paint. Within three feet of the rim, he’s making a remarkable and career-best 79.1 percent of his attempts, according to Basketball-Reference. Per the NBA, Curry is hitting 76.4 percent of his looks in the restricted area, 12th most efficient

“Obviously knowing I can shoot the ball and put a lot of pressure on the defenses there, you gotta be able to have a change-up to get to the paint and find creative ways to finish,” Curry said after the Warriors’ win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Nov. 11, per YahooSports. “I’m not playing above the rim so it’s just about playing angles and having some touch in there. Gotta use your shot as a threat to open up driving lanes and I’ve been able to do that. Even coming off great screens from guys, not being afraid of contact either. I don’t get to the foul line that much, but still just trying to figure out how to get your lane, get your driving angle, protect the ball, get it on the rim and hope it goes in.”

Curry is also making 5.7 two-pointers per game and 63.7 percent of his attempts inside the arc; both are career-highs. He’s third in the League in scoring and leads the association in made three-pointers by a wide margin, 77 compared to the 55 Buddy Hield has made.

As it stands, Curry could join Larry Bird and Steve Nash as the only hoopers with multiple 50/40/90 campaigns.

“You run out of adjectives to describe Steph’s play. He’s just amazing night after night,” Steve Kerr said. “He’s in such great shape. If there’s one area where he’s dramatically better now than when I first got here, it’s his strength and conditioning. He’s much bigger and stronger, much more capable of defending at a really high level and sustaining two-way basketball for an entire game. And just knocking down shots from all over and finishing at the rim. He’s unbelievable.”

The post Did You Know: Stephen Curry Scoring With the Best of Them At the Rim appeared first on SLAM.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Multiple reports came out last week suggesting that the Nets were hiring suspended Boston coach Ime Udoka as Nash’s replacement, but Nets GM Sean Marks denied all reports that Brooklyn was looking to hire the coach out of Boston. 

Vaughn has been with the Nets as an assistant coach since the 2016-2017 season. This is his second stint as interim head coach of the Nets; he filled in for 10 games in the 2019-2020 season, where he went 7-3. Before joining the Nets staff, Vaughn previously served as the head coach of the Magic for three seasons.

He is 67-163 in his career. The Nets and Knicks play Wednesday at 7:30 EST. 

The post Brooklyn Promotes Jacque Vaughn to Head Coach of the Nets appeared first on SLAM.

The SLAM Retro Covers Vol 1 Collection will be available to SLAM Logo Pass holders on November 15 and to the public on November 17 on autograph.io.

The post The SLAM x Autograph NFT Retro Covers Vol. 1 Collection will be Available Nov. 15 -17 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.

Each team has lost the games they’ve played this week, possibly due to the distraction centered around the coaching staff, but veteran leader Al Horford believes the Celtics need to move on from Udoka if his decision happens to ship him to Brooklyn.

“Right now, our focus is on our group and continuing to move forward,” Horford told NBC reporters during the team’s shootaround this morning. “If that materializes for (Udoka), obviously, we’ll be happy for him, but at this point, we’ve already moved forward — We need to bounce back. That’s what’s on my mind.”

The Celtics lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in an overtime thriller Wednesday night, marking their third loss in the last four games. The team averages the most three-pointers (15.4) and sixth most blocks (6.1) across the League under interim Coach Joe Mazzulla. One thing that hasn’t helped is that Boston isn’t forcing many turnovers. They’re averaging 5.7 steals per game this season versus the 7.2 they created last season under Udoka.

That Udoka defense of last year led the team to the NBA Finals, but the past is the past. Horford wants the team to focus on Friday’s game versus the Chicago Bulls.

Considering the reasoning behind the suspension of Udoka, there’s no surprise that a title-contending organization like the Celtics is allowing Udoka to seek coaching opportunities outside Beantown. The objective remains to bring home an 18th title.

“The games are coming on. Things are not going to get easier, ” said Horford. “We’ve got a big challenge starting tonight with Chicago. So, our group, we’re moving ahead. We have to focus and look ahead.”

The post Al Horford Wants Celtics to ‘Focus On Our Group’ So They Can ‘Move Forward’ appeared first on SLAM.

The head coaching search didn’t last long for the Nets as reports have now circulated that they’ve narrowed their candidates to just Udoka and former Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder. The Nets could possibly name him as their new head coach within the next 24 hours according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Last season, Udoka led the Celtics to a first round sweep against the Nets, which then resulted in seven game series wins against the then-defending champions Milwaukee Bucks and the first seeded Miami Heat.

Leading the Celtics to the NBA Finals was pinnacle success for the first year head coach, but then this offseason, allegations surfaced around a former employee and Udoka having ‘inappropriate relations,’ leading to the one-year suspension.

Altough it isn’t finalized as of yet, Udoka could soon lead the helm of another franchise with high expectations.

The post Ime Udoka Reportedly Emerges as Frontrunner for Nets Head Coaching Job 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 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.

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.

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.

“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.

Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a Grade 2 left MCL sprain and will miss the start of training camp, team says.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 21, 2022

SGA led Team Canada to 8-0 record while playing at the FIBA World Cup Qualifier. Last season, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 24.5 points, 50 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game before sitting out the rest of the season due to an ankle injury. The 24-year-old point guard was the cover athlete for SLAM Canada 1.

Oklahoma starts training camp on Sept. 27 and begins the regular-season against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The post Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Out For Start of Training Camp Due to Knee Injury appeared first on SLAM.

On Sunday, Rolling Stone revealed that the reports of a potential Warriors-KD reunion were being seriously discussed within Golden State, according to reigning Finals MVP and four-time champ Stephen Curry. Curry told Rolling Stone that he and the Warriors’ front office had a “conversation” about his thoughts on acquiring Durant.

“There was a conversation internally amongst us about ‘If he was available, would you?'” Curry said three days after Durant made his trade request. “Every team has those conversations, and obviously, in our situation, they’re gonna call me and ask me, ”How do you feel about it?”

However, Durant and the Nets made up last month despite Durant reiterating his trade request and giving team owner Joe Tsai the ultimatum of choosing him or Coach Steve Nash and GM Sean Marks. Curry sees the narrative around his future Hall-of-Famer teammate and says that Durant is “misunderstood” and that he would have welcomed Durant into Golden State with open arms.

When Curry sat down with Rolling Stone on Aug. 9, he told the magazine that he was “never hesitant” about playing with KD again and that he had “so much fun playing with him those three years.”

“I was never hesitant. The idea of playing with KD and knowing who he is as a person, from our history in those three years, I think KD’s a really good dude. I think he is misunderstood. I think he has had certain things happen in his life that hurt his ability to trust people around him, in a sense of making him feel safe at all times. So all of those things, I understand, having played with him and gotten to know him. I love that dude.”

Curry also gave the Warriors a resounding yes to acquiring Durant but understood it would take a lot of finesse to trade for KD.

“And if you said, ”Oh, KD’s’ coming back, and we’re gonna play with him,” I had so much fun playing with him those three years, I’d’ be like, ”Hell, yeah!” Then you have to think: What does that actually mean? What does it look like? You tell me I’m’ playing with [current Warriors teammates Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, and Draymond Green], I’m’ like, ”Hell, yeah!” There’s all types of emotion and things that happen to the league. And if anybody’s saying that you wouldn’t entertain that conversation—no disrespect to anybody on our team—but you don’t know how things work. But you also understand, like, if we run this thing back, I’ve’ got complete confidence in my team that we can win it again, as constructed.

“So, all those things were true. And it started with me wanting to play with KD at the beginning. Yeah, it’s about winning, it’s about having fun, playing the game of basketball. And that was part of the reaction of, like, ‘Yeah; it’d be amazing.”’

Curry also talked with his younger brother Seth, Durant’s teammate in Brooklyn, about a potential Durant deal that could put both the Currys on the same roster for the first time in their careers. When the prospect of Durant going to Phoenix or Boston came up, Curry suggested that it would be unrealistic for Durant to think any team he went to outside of Brooklyn could retain a championship roster around him.

He specifically stated that it would be a mind-blowing transaction if Boston did indeed swap Jaylen Brown for Durant. Curry does believe that Durant made the right move in staying in Brooklyn.

The Warriors begin their title defense on Oct. 14 against the Lakers after being presented with their championship rings.

The post Stephen Curry Reveals Warriors ‘Internally’ Discussed Trade for Kevin Durant appeared first on SLAM.

Looking right down the barrel of the lens, Kevin Durant had a big smile across his face while filming an episode of his podcast. 

“The 15 is the best in the line,” he said with his smile still widening. “I ain’t just saying that because they’re new and I want you to buy ’em and I’m gonna shamelessly plug to buy my KD15s, but these are the best ones.”

That’s a big statement. That’s saying they’re better than the 4s, a pair that started off with the dramatically beautiful “Nerf” colorway back in 2011 and has now become the consensus top pair of Slims. And that’s now overlooking the 7, the 8 and the 9, all of which were incredible performance silhouettes, joints that felt damn near perfectly tuned for on-court action. And he’s also saying that the 12, 13 and 14, models that became wildly popular in both the NBA and the WNBA, can’t hold up to this newest silhouette. Big statement, indeed, KD. 

If there’s one who can make a claim to the best pair of KDs ever, it’s the namesake. He’s been there the entire time, and the man now only trails Mike and Bron for the most Nike Basketball signature sneakers. He knows what he’s talking about. 

The word “nerd” has had a bad reputation for a long time. But a through line can be drawn from “nerd” to “passionate.” We’re all nerds for what we love, obsessively daydreaming about any way to access the devotion at all times. Durant loves basketball. He’s one of the biggest basketball nerds on the planet. He studies it, he looks for ways to improve and he applies his findings. Man’s a hoops scientist, a nerd so passionate that he became one of the best basketball players ever. His nerdy tendencies have bled over to his footwear with the Swoosh. He’s tried a whole lot of experiments in these 15 years. Highs, lows, mids, forefoot straps, Flywire uppers, Flyknit uppers, leathers, suedes, Zoom, Cushlon, Air bubbles. All that data has led him to this milestone sneaker, the 15th in his line and his favorite out of all of them. 

He went on to say in that podcast that the 15 isn’t too big, it isn’t too small. It’s just the perfect mix of everything he’s learned during all of this time. 

“Inspiration was pulled from KD personally,” Risa Beck, Footwear Creative Designer at Nike, says about the 15. “He wanted to emulate the serenity that you feel when you’re next to the ocean and the ocean waves. You can start to see how that influenced the form language. And the other aspect of it was of course referencing old Nike Basketball retro models and modernizing them for KD and his line.”

Along with the KD4, Durant, Beck and Ben Nethongkome, the lead designer on the 15, looked at the Nike Air Jet Flight, a sneaker from 2001 that, among other NBA guards, Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash used to play in. Durant told Nethongkome that he wanted to get lighter and lower. He’d spent the last four years in highs and mids. But the complicated part for Nethongkome is how much the Nets rely on KD. Not only does he play mad minutes, but they need him to create for others, clog the paint on defensive rotations and also hit for 25-plus a night. That’s asking a lot out of a low. 

With the foundational idea set, and with clues picked up from the Jet Flight and the KD4, Nethongkome and his team knew what they needed. They accomplished their task by starting with a full-length Air Zoom Strobel unit that they stitched right to the upper, which is made with a lightweight mesh, an evolution from the 14, but with reduced layers. The exterior heel counter was 3D-molded, the midfoot cage was injected with TPU, a common plastic material used on basketball kicks, and the traction pattern was created from scratch. It all had to work together perfectly because Durant has standards that are equaled by almost nobody. 

“He was really engaged and involved throughout the whole process,” Beck says. “We were especially working with him to make sure that the heel containment system and the underfoot feel was tuned for him.” 

“KD is very involved in the creation of his footwear, really making sure that he’s able to perform from beginning to the end of a game,” Kreig Hozalski, a Footwear Tech Developer at Nike, adds. “We saw in his [playoffs] performance last year that he played every second, from beginning to end of [Game 7 against the Bucks] and into overtime. We really wanted to make sure that he could stay fresh throughout. We really took that inspiration to the 15 to make sure that he has that ride and performance underfoot that he’s able to stay contained and very efficient to last.”

The 15 absolutely has got to last because Durant’s now 33, with more than 40,000 minutes played in his NBA career. No matter what team he suits up for during Year 16, he’ll continue to be tasked with doing damn near everything on the floor. These later stages of his Hall of Fame journey have revealed his willingness and capability to dish, his improved ballhandling and his commitment to rebounding. And all of the unfair scoring abilities he’s always had have hit some type of new plane. That right arm of his is a stainless steel sword, forged sharply through his scientific expeditions. He knows every angle of the floor and can attack from anywhere, wielding his weapon with efficiency that the League has almost never seen. His peers have described him as unfazed, as a cheat code. He’s really just one of the biggest basketball nerds on the planet. 

Photos via Getty Images.

The post The Inspiration Behind Kevin Durant’s Milestone Sneaker, the KD15s appeared first on SLAM.

From playing high school basketball in Queens, New York, to building her stardom at the University of Connecticut and winning not one but two NCAA championships, Bird’s greatness, her artistry as a point guard, and her impact as a pioneer of the women’s game deserve all the flowers and more.

“I’m going to be courtside every season; I’m going to be cheering this team on, giving them the support they deserve,” Bird said, per The Athletic. “I’ll always support this franchise no matter what, so it’s really not a goodbye.”

As the only player to win WNBA championships in three different decades, winning in 2004, 2010, 2018, and 2020, Bird’s resume also includes being the WNBA all-time record holder for assists—3,234 and counting—as well as a five-time Olympic gold medalist, a four-time FIBA World champion and a five-time EuroLeague champion. The SLAM 228 coverline sums it up perfectly: Bird is an icon.

As we all continue to witness her greatness this season, here’s a look back at some of Bird’s legendary moments throughout her career.

2002: Rookie Season:

During her rookie year, Sue was the only player on the Storm to start all 32 games and quickly emerged as a standout— she became the Storm’s all-time single-season record holder with 191 assists that year. Along with Tamika Catchings, Bird was one of the first rookies to be named All-WNBA First Team in League history.

2004: Bird wins her first WNBA championship

“I think for me, what I’ll always represent it’s not the points or assists. It’s the winning, and it’s the longevity. The winning in different decades, it speaks to being able to stay on top of your game. Something Richard Jefferson said on ESPN recently that is the hard part.”

As she continues to reflect on her WNBA career, Bird’s prominence began early on. In ’04, the Storm made their first-ever Finals appearance in WNBA history and went on to face the Connecticut Sun in the Finals. The first two games were close, but after Game 3, the Storm made it happen and captured their first championship title. It would be the first of many.

2010: Game-Winner in the 2010 Western Conference WNBA Finals:

After a stunning performance in Game 1 against the Dream, Bird and the Seattle Storm faced off against the Phoenix Mercury in the Western Conference Finals. Bird’s clutch shot-making ability continued in Game 2, and with the game on the line and only 2.8 seconds on the clock, Sue Bird caught a pass by Tanisha Wright and his the shot to end the game, 91-88.

2016: Seattle Storm vs. Atlanta Dream:

The game-winners continued against the Dream in 2016. With 13 seconds left on the shot clock and about 15 seconds left in the game, Sue hit a clutch corner three to end the game, 84-81.

2017: Sue Bird Named All-Time Assist Leader

Against the Washington Mystics, Bird became the WNBA’s all-time assist leader with 2,600 assists. In the same game, Bird became one of only two players to post 13 assists and zero turnovers in one game.

2018: Electric Semifinals Performance

Bird suffered a broken nose before Game 5 of the semifinals against the Phoenix Mercury, but that didn’t stop her. The masked-up Bird scored 14 of her 22 points in the fourth quarter to help rally the Storm past the Mercury, winning 94-84.

2020: Sue Bird Covers 228

Approaching season 19 of the WNBA, Sue Bird graced her first-ever SLAM cover.

“Maybe that’s my game. It kind of comes slow, and then it hits you with the verse,” Bird told SLAM. “It’s a slow, subtle song that you can work out to, an R&B song that you can actually get hype to.”

2021: Sue Bird on SLAM 232 Cover

Sue Bird continued to ink her name into the record books all season long, from becoming the first WNBA player to record at least eight assists in a game after turning 40 (and the fifth player in either the NBA or WNBA to do so alongside John Stockton, Karl Malone, Steve Nash, and Michael Jordan). She became the first Storm player to ever hit the 3,000 career assists mark and went on to win her fifth gold Olympic medal in Tokyo.

Bird also appeared on the cover of SLAM 232 alongside Skylar Diggins-Smith, Nneka Ogwumike, and Diana Taurasi.

2022: Bird’s Final Regular Season Home Game

On August 7, Sue Bird made her final regular season game against the Las Vegas Aces to a sold-out arena of fans that honored the WNBA legend.

2022: Seattle Storm Earn Franchise-Record Against the Chicago Sky

Against the Sky, Bird led the Storm with eight assists in a 111-100 win. The legendary matchup saw the Storm tie a franchise-record for points, made field goals (44), and set the WNBA record for assists (37).

Off the court, Bird has used her platform to be an activist on racial issues, LGBTQ+ rights, and pay equity. She has helped create space for women by women.

After announcing that this season was her last dance, many players and coaches around the basketball community have commented on her success. One of which was Geno Auriemma, Bird’s head coach at UConn, who saw her ability to achieve greatness from the moment he witnessed her play. 

“You knew there was something unique about her,” Auriemma said, per CT Insider. “Everything about her was quick. Her feet were quick. Her hands were quick. Her mind, her eyes, her pull-up jump shots. There was just this way that she played basketball—never rushed, never seemed like she was in a hurry, but there was a quickness about her that I had not seen very much of. She was fast, and she was quick, and she was smart.”

Even former teammate and current head coach of the Seattle Storm Noelle Quinn talked about Bird’s leadership and her game. 

“She’s a legend,” Quinn told the Seattle Times. “That says it all, really. I can go on — She’s been our leader on and off the court. She’s a class act. She’s done it the right way. She’s always put the team first. She represented this organization the way you want, and now it’s our turn to say thank you and pay our respects to one of the greatest players in our game.” 

Says former teammate Lauren Jackson, who had her No. 15 jersey retired in 2016: “What she’s been able to do in her career on and off the court has been phenomenal, and I don’t think there will ever be anyone like her,” she said. “I think the legacy that she’s left on the sport and that she’ll be leaving on the sport is enormous. But I’m really excited to see what she does next.”

Despite the loss, Bird’s final regular season home game against the Aces was exceptional. Climate Pledge Stadium was sold out with more than 18,000 people, the largest in franchise history.

Sue Bird’s lasting legacy on the game of basketball is a testament to her greatness. Thank you, Sue.

Photos Via Getty Images

The post ‘Thank You Sue’: Looking Back at Sue Bird’s Legendary Moments Throughout Her Career 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.

I know most people will believe unnamed sources over me but if it’s anyone out there that’ll listen, I don’t plan on retiring anytime soon. Shit is comical at this point.

— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) August 15, 2022

According to NBA insider Marc Stein, an anonymous NBA executive believes Kevin Durant is more likely to retire than play for the Brooklyn Nets again.

The Nets and Durant’s future is in doubt after Durant made a trade request and reportedly wants to head to a championship contender like the 76ers or the Heat. Multiple reports came out last week that Durant let the Nets know he was adamant about leaving and gave team owner Joe Tsai an ultimatum, either keep him or keep GM Sean Marks and Coach Steve Nash.

Durant has played sparingly with the Nets since he arrived while recovering from his torn Achilles injury. The team has cycled through players around Durant and Kyrie Irving but has not found any significant playoff success given the high expectations. According to Stein, there is a “growing expectation” that Durant might cause a stir to get out of Brooklyn.

Additionally, Stein said he was given this information by a “well-connected” executive and reported this information about Durant “based on what he was hearing” while covering the 2022 Summer League.

James Harden forced his way out of the team halfway through last season, Irving’s status is also up in the air, but the Nets have not ruled out moving him either. Nets majority owner Joe Tsai has come out onto Twitter and stated which side of the aisle he stands on with this situation.

With training camp six weeks away, the Nets and their makeup for the 2022-2023 season hang in the balance.

The post REPORT: Anonymous Executive Believes Kevin Durant Could Retire Before Playing For Nets Again appeared first on SLAM.

According to SNY’s Ian Begley, the disgruntled Brooklyn Nets star sees both the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers as desired trade destinations. Begley went on to report that Durant would also want to play with reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart if he were to land in Boston.

Despite Begley’s report, there is said to be no progress between Brooklyn and Boston on any sort of trade centered around Durant. Last week, Begley reported that there had been “pessimism” about a Durant trade being completed in the near future. As for Philly, no major reports have dropped, though Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris, and Matisse Thybulle are all logical trade pieces in a Durant trade.

As the Durant saga—particularly with Boston—continues to run its course through the NBA offseason, Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe reported that the Nets initially asked for Boston stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in Durant trade talks, but the Celtics quickly shot the proposition down.

And while there are no tangible signs of progress involving a Durant trade to any team, the four-time scoring champ reportedly informed Nets owner Joe Tsai that Brooklyn would have to choose between Durant or keeping general manager Sean Marks and Coach Steve Nash. Tsai responded to the report with a tweet throwing his support behind the Nets’ front office and coaching staff.

Durant sent shockwaves around the League when he requested a trade on June 30, but it’s been over a month, and the 12-time All-Star still has yet to be dealt. Initial rumors indicated the Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns were among Durant’s desired landing spots, and that list has reportedly since grown to include the Celtics and 76ers, according to Begley.

On paper, a fit with Boston makes sense, as Celtics coach Ime Udoka was an assistant under Steve Nash in Brooklyn during the 2020-21 season. Durant also played with Tatum on Team USA during the 2021 Olympics. Add in Durant’s desire to play with Smart, and KD seemingly has some chemistry building in Boston. But for now, it’s a matter of the Celtics offering enough to Brooklyn so a trade can go down.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post REPORT: Kevin Durant Views Celtics and 76ers as Desired Landing Spots appeared first on SLAM.

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

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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.

Hornets GM Mitch Kupchak relieved former coach James Borrego after he compiled a 138-163 record in four seasons. Despite a dip in wins from his first to the second year, the team improved in his final two seasons and were in a position to make a playoff runs the following season had he stayed. Instead, Charlotte brass elected to look elsewhere.

Warriors assistant coach Kenny Atkinson is one of the two finalists.

He spent four seasons as an assistant coach with the Knicks and another three with Atlanta before taking the Brooklyn job in 2016. In three and a half seasons as head coach for the Nets, Atkinson took over what could be considered the most challenging rebuild job in the NBA, but each year improved the overall record before the Nets returned to the playoffs in 2019.

He compiled a 118-190 overall record as Nets head coach before resigning midway through the 2019-2020 season. Atkinson has spent the following two years as an assistant under Coach Ty Lue with the Clippers and Coach Steve Kerr with the Warriors.

D’Antoni is the second finalist for the spot as the more experienced coach. From 2003-2008, D’Antoni ran the “Seven Seconds or Less” Phoenix Suns. In that run, D’Antoni compiled a 253-136 record, won 2004-05 NBA Coach of the Year, helped Steve Nash win back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards, and took the Suns to two consecutive Western Conference Finals in 2005 and 2006.

He would then spend four seasons with the Knicks, two with the Lakers, and the Houston Rockets from 2016-2020. In that run, he turned James Harden into the 2018 Most Valuable Player, took the Rockets to the Western Conference Finals in 2018, narrowly defeating the Warriors, and won NBA coach of the year in 2016-17. He compiled a total record of 217-101 in his Houston tenure.

Hornets owner Michael Jordan is expected to meet with Atkinson on Tuesday, with D’Antoni set for later this week.

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But Ime Udoka did that in his first go-around as the big dog of the Celtics, leading Boston from a .500 start in the first 50 games of the season to a 26-6 finish over the final 32 games of the season. The Celtics also finished the regular season with the best defense in the League and remained the best among active teams in the playoffs.

It hasn’t always been sunshine and rainbow for Udoka. Despite serving as an assistant under Gregg Popovich, Brett Brown, and Steve Nash, the 44-year-old took several interviews but was told no by several teams — like Detroit, Indiana, and Cleveland —before Boston took a chance on him.

“I can go down the list. That was tough because I believe I was ready. But I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of an organization that’s pushing for winning and championships. You can be in a lot of different situations. There are only 30 teams, and I get that, but to not be in a rebuild and being in an expectation pressure-filled situation, I wouldn’t trade that in any day.” Udoka told Yahoo Sports.

When Udoka took on the Boston job following Brad Stevens’ abrupt resignation after eight seasons for a front-office gig, he did so while facing one central question. Could Boston afford to ask a first-year head coach to lead the Celtics where Stevens couldn’t?

“The one thing I would say is the disappointment of coming in second a few years really hurt,” Udoka said after the Celtics defeated the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals on Sunday. “But if you told me I’d have to wait for Boston and get [bypassed] by some of the ones that I got beat out on, it’s a no-brainer for me. I’m happy to be in Boston.”

In just one year, Udoka proved that he could. He’s proven himself to be a defensive mastermind, excellent communicator, and one of the brightest faces in the coaching profession. Udoka is tops amongst the record-high 15 black head coaches in the NBA right now, the most at any point in League history.

“I mean, the proof is in the pudding,” Celtics star Jaylen Brown told Yahoo Sports. “Look around the League. Now you’re starting to see what we can do in the coaching ranks. Before, the talk was that certain people of color were not qualified to do their jobs or whatever the excuse was. Man, you give these guys an opportunity, and look what they did with it. First-year head coach Ime Udoka took us to the Finals. Look at Monty Williams in Phoenix; look at Dallas with Jason Kidd. You look at all these coaches around the League, and I’m happy to see that they’re finally getting an opportunity. Black coaches and people of color are deserving, and they’re capable of getting the job done just like anybody else.”

While Udoka will get plenty of credit for guiding the Celtics to a massive turnaround in the second-half of the season and directing a top-ranked defense, he also deserves flowers for empowering Jayson Tatum and Brown despite talk around Beantown that Brad Stevens should break up the Brown-Tatum connection. Something Brown acknowledges was hard to ignore.

The NBA Finals begin Thursday, with the Warriors hosting Game 1 in San Francisco. The Warriors have a combined 123 games of experience compared to the 0 the Celtics have played. This is also their sixth Finals appearance in six years. With that insight, it makes sense that Udoka, Brown, and the Celtics have embraced being underdogs in the title series.

“We’ve been who we’ve been all year, and our defense travels well and carried us through the playoffs,” Udoka told Yahoo Sports. “We’ve played Golden State well this year. We blasted them at their place, had a tough loss at our place early in the season. And so it’s a new series. We know who we are and the things we do well, so we’re confident in that.”

“The Warriors are a tough team to play against,” Brown told Yahoo Sports. “They’re smart, experienced, and they’ve got a lot of firepower. I’m excited and looking forward to the challenge.”

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While it helps, you don’t have to win a championship to be on this list. There were some pretty incredible NBA teams that fell short of championships but were still so far ahead of the rest of the League (besides the champion) that they deserve to leapfrog some actual champions. 

This week, we’re unveiling who we think deserves to be included on this list, which is featured in our SLAM Presents TOP 75 NBA Teams of All Time special issue. Here’s our top 65-55:

65. 1983-84 Los Angeles Lakers

Coach: Pat Riley

Record: 54-28

Roster: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper, Calvin Garrett, Magic Johnson, Eddie Jordan, Mitch Kupchak, Bob McAdoo, Mike McGee, Swen Nater, Kurt Rambis, Byron Scott, Larry Spriggs, Jamaal Wilkes, James Worthy

The Lakers would have to wait one more year to finally beat the Celtics when it mattered most. Led by Kareem’s 26.6 ppg and 8.1 rpg in the series, the Lakers forced a Game 7 on the road. But whether it was the mystique of Boston Garden, that famously tricky parquet floor or simply a deep and talented Celtics team that had the benefit of homecourt advantage and League MVP Larry Bird, L.A. couldn’t quite vanquish its franchise kryptonite.

64. 1976-77 Philadephia 76ers

Coach: Gene Shue

Record: 50-32

Roster: Jim Barnett, Henry Bibby, Joe Bryant, Fred Carter, Harvey Catchings, Doug Collins, Darryl Dawkins, Mike Dunleavy, Julius Erving, World B. Free, Terry Furlow, Caldwell Jones, George McGinnis, Steve Mix

This Sixers squad might be best remembered for a roster that included future coaches (Doug Collins, Mike Dunleavy) and the fathers of future All-Stars (Joe Bryant, Harvey Catchings, Henry Bibby). Of course, Philly also had Dr. J in his first NBA season after a legendary five-year ABA run, and second-year big man Darryl Dawkins, a few years shy of his Chocolate Thunder prime. A fascinating roster, but no match for Bill Walton and the Blazers in the Finals.

63. 1967-68 Philadelphia 76ers

Coach: Alex Hannum

Record: 62-20

Roster: Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Costello, Billy Cunningham, Ron Filipek, Johnny Green, Hal Greer, Matt Guokas, Luke Jackson, Wali Jones, Bill Melchionni, Jim Reid, Chet Walker

Philly finished with the League’s best record, eight games clear of the Celtics in the East, thanks to balanced production from future Hall of Famers Hal Greer (24.1 ppg), Billy Cunningham (18.9 ppg), Chet Walker (17.9 ppg) and of course, Wilt Chamberlain, who put up 24.3 points and pulled down 23.8 boards per. The Sixers didn’t lose more than two straight all season…until the East Finals, when they blew a 3-1 lead against Russell, Havlicek and the eventual champs from Boston.

62. 2001-02 Sacramento Kings

Coach: Rick Adelman

Record: 61-21

Roster: Mike Bibby, Chucky Brown, Doug Christie, Mateen Cleaves, Vlade Divac, Lawrence Funderburke, Bobby Jackson, Scot Pollard, Brent Price, Jabari Smith, Peja Stojakovic, Hedo Turkoglu, Gerald Wallace, Chris Webber

For Kings fans, it is still a crime, the grandest larceny ever. Game 6 of the Western Finals against the Lakers was flat stolen from Sacramento. Missed calls. Allegations of referees fixing the proceedings. It was ugly, nasty business. And it robbed the team with the NBA’s best record, the one with Chris Webber in charge down low, Peja Stojakovic shooting from everywhere and a deep supporting cast of a title. It’s that simple. And that outrageous.

61. 1995-96 Seattle Supersonics

Coach: George Karl

Record: 64-18

Roster: Vincent Askew, Frank Brickowski, Sherell Ford, Hersey Hawkins, Ervin Johnson, Shawn Kemp, Nate McMillan, Gary Payton, Sam Perkins, Steve Scheffler, Detlef Schrempf, Eric Snow, David Wingate

What happens when one of the greatest teams in franchise history meets the greatest team in NBA history? Well, you can figure it out. The Sonics won the Pacific by 11 games and had a star-studded lineup with ferocious Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton on the perimeter, talking junk and stealing everything, smooth Detlef Schrempf all over the place and Hersey Hawkins shooting the lights out. Seattle was great. Really great. Unfortunately, the Bulls were greater.

60. 1956-57 Boston Celtics

Coach: Red Auerbach

Record: 44-28

Roster: Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, Dick Hemric, Jim Loscutoff, Jack Nichols, Togo Palazzi, Andy Phillip, Frank Ramsey, Arnie Risen, Bill Russell, Bill Sharman, Lou Tsioropoulos

The birth of a dynasty. Led by the in-their-prime backcourt of Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman, and the frontcourt pairing of rookies Tom Heinsohn and Bill Russell, the Celtics made the franchise’s first Finals appearance in the spring of ’57. St. Louis took Boston to double OT in Game 7, but Heinsohn (37 points, 23 boards) matched Bob Pettit (39 and 19), and Russell went for 19 and 32 to help the Celtics claim the first of their 17 banners.

59. 2017-18 Houston Rockets

Coach: Mike D’Antoni

Record: 65-17

Roster: Ryan Anderson, Trevor Ariza, Tarik Black, Bobby Brown, Markel Brown, Isaiah Canaan, Clint Capela, Eric Gordon, Gerald Green, James Harden, Nene, RJ Hunter, Aaron Jackson, Demetrius Jackson,  Joe Johnson, Luc Mbah a Moute, Chinanu Onuaku, Chris Paul, Zhou Qi, Tim Quarterman, PJ Tucker, Briante Weber, Troy Williams, Brandan Wright

Unfortunately, these Rockets, which featured the dynamic backcourt of James Harden, Chris Paul and Eric Gordon, won’t be remembered for their NBA-best record or high-scoring ways. They will be remembered for that 25-point second half in Game 6 of the Western Finals against Golden State and then a homecourt loss two days later that ended the series. Houston played fast, used Clint Capela to handle the rough stuff inside and still wonders what might have been.

58. 2004-05 Phoenix Suns

Coach: Mike D’Antoni

Record: 62-20

Roster: Leandro Barbosa, Zarko Cabarkapa, Steven Hunter, Jim Jackson, Casey Jacobsen, Joe Johnson, Maciej Lampe, Shawn Marion, Walter McCarty, Steve Nash, Bo Outlaw, Smush Parker, Quentin Richardson, Paul Shirley, Amar’e Stoudemire, Yuta Tabuse, Jake Voskuhl, Jackson Vroman

These Suns didn’t care much about defense, and they flamed out in the Western Finals against San Antonio, despite having the NBA’s best record. But what a fun team to watch. Led by League MVP Steve Nash, Phoenix pushed the tempo feverishly and featured a talented collection of scorers. Nobody could dunk like Shawn Marion, unless it was Amar’e Stoudemire. Joe Johnson was deadly from three, and Quentin Richardson shot from everywhere. Good times.

57. 2019-20 Los Angeles Lakers

Coach: Frank Vogel

Record: 52-19

Roster: Kostas Antetokounmpo, Avery Bradley, Devontae Cacok, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso, Quinn Cook, Troy Daniels, Anthony Davis, Jared Dudley, Danny Green, Talen Horton-Tucker, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Kyle Kuzma, JaVale McGee, Markieff Morris, Zach Norvell, Rajon Rondo, JR Smith, Dion Waiters

One year after failing to make the playoffs, the Lakers won it all in the COVID-19 bubble. Anthony Davis joined LeBron James in a formidable pairing, and the duo combined for 51.4 ppg. The Lakers lost only five games in their four playoff series. James led the NBA in assists, the supporting cast handled its roles without complaint and the Lakers won it all in a season they dedicated to the late Kobe Bryant.

56. 2009-10 Boston Celtics

Coach: Doc Rivers

Record: 50-32

Roster: Ray Allen, Tony Allen, Marquis Daniels, Glen Davis, Michael Finley, Kevin Garnett, JR Giddens, Eddie House, Lester Hudson, Oliver Lafayette, Marcus Landry, Kendrick Perkins, Paul Pierce, Nate Robinson, Rajon Rondo, Brian Scalabrine, Henry Walker, Rasheed Wallace, Shelden Williams

The Celtics’ Big Three led the squad on another trek to the Finals that included an Atlantic Division title. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen were again the engine on an Eastern Conference title team, with help from point man Rajon Rondo and center Kendrick Perkins, while Rasheed Wallace provided support up front. Boston led the Lakers, 3-2, in the Finals, but ultimately lost a seven-game decision.

55. 1996-97 Utah Jazz

Coach: Jerry Sloan

Record: 64-18

Roster: Shandon Anderson, Antoine Carr, Howard Eisley, Greg Foster, Jeff Hornacek, Stephen Howard, Adam Keefe, Karl Malone, Chris Morris, Ruben Nembhard, Greg Ostertag, Bryon Russell, John Stockton, Brooks Thompson, Jamie Watson

The Jazz had plenty of great seasons during the Karl Malone-John Stockton years, but this might have been the best. Malone was League MVP, and Utah set a franchise record for wins that still stands. Stockton once again ran the show and set up everyone, while Jeff Hornacek and Bryon Russell were valuable on the perimeter. The Jazz looked good, but as usual, the Bulls looked better, taking the Finals in six.

Read here to find out who made the No. 75-66 spot on the list.

Get your copy of SLAM Presents TOP 75 NBA Teams Of All Time

Photos via Getty Images.

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Canadian basketball legends of the past, present and future grace the cover the first-ever edition of SLAM Canada: Steve Nash, Kia Nurse and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Featuring augmented reality-enabled covers, SLAM Canada 1 has stories on Drake, Natalie Achonwa, Super Fan, Vince Carter and more. The inaugural edition is penned by a diverse roster of journalists who reflect the strength and passion of Canada’s basketball community.

SLAM Canada Issue 1 featuring Kia Nurse is OUT NOW!

Steve Nash is one of the cover stars of SLAM Canada 1. Shop now.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is next up. Get your copy of SLAM Canada 1.

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The Suns won a League-high 64 games this season, a franchise-high win total for Phoenix, and the first time they won 60+ games since 2006-07, when Steve Nash was commanding the team as a two-time MVP of the Seven Seconds or Less Suns. Williams is only the third coach from Phoenix to win the award, joining Mike D’Antoni (2004-05) and Cotton Fitzsimmons (1988-89).

Phoenix was fifth in the NBA in offensive rating (114.2), third in defensive rating (106.8), and first in net rating (7.5). Under Williams, the Suns have a 149-78 record through three seasons (65.6 winning percentage), with one Western Conference championship under their belt from last season.

Williams was a finalist alongside Taylor Jenkins from the Grizzlies and Erik Spoelstra from the Heat. Williams and the Suns are currently tied 2-2 in the Western Conference Semifinals matchup against the Dallas Mavericks, with Game 5 scheduled for tomorrow.

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“I would like to think it’s us getting in his head and causing him to be second-guessing; we’re playing one of the greatest players in the world, and to do this, we can’t have him be comfortable.”

On the season, Durant is averaging 29.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 6.4 assists in 37.2 minutes of play per game while shooting 51.8 percent from the field. In the first round versus Smart’s Celtics? Those numbers drop to 22.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists in 43.1 minutes of play per game while shooting 36.5 percent from the field.

Smart added that he wouldn’t say that ‘they’re [Durant and Kyrie Irving] broken’ as ‘they’re human’ and nobody knows what Brooklyn’s star duo is ‘dealing with outside of basketball.’ Irving has dropped from 27.4 points per game and 41.8 percent shooting from deep to 21.7 points per game, and 33.3 percent shooting from deep against the Celtics.

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“If Kevin doesn’t score a bucket tonight, I think it would be perilous to say Kevin Durant’s apex is behind him. He’s been unbelievable this year. Unbelievable,” Nash said.

Nash continued, offering up ‘perspective on part of the ingredients’ of why Durant has been struggling against the Celtics in the first round.

“He’s carried a huge burden for us, particularly coming off a seven-week absence. Think about that. That’s not easy. To come back from a knee situation he missed seven weeks, he fought to come back. He comes back; then he has to play 40 plus minutes a night, defend, protect the rim, score prolifically, lead his team. That’s — a lot of burden. So if it cumulates in a patch of play that’s unlike Kevin, you have to have perspective on part of the ingredients that are there and why.”

Durant is averaging 29.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 6.4 assists in 37.2 minutes of play per game on the season. Since returning from a knee injury on March 3rd, Durant has averaged 31.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 7.6 assists in 38.6 minutes of play per game.

As for the rough ‘patch of play’ against the Celtics that Nash alluded to not looking like the Durant we know, Durant has averaged 22 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists in 43.1 minutes per game while shooting 36.5 percent from the field — a number far below his season average of 51.8 percent.

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“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.

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.

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“You can look at it a number of ways. There’s obviously areas of the game where you wanna improve, so take your pick. I’m proud of the guys. That was our first real intense playoff experience together. They had a poor start to the second half, which cost us, obviously. But other than that, I thought there was a lot of growth from our group.”

To Nash’s point, the Nets entered the locker room at halftime tied with Boston at 61 apiece. Cut to the halfway mark of the third quarter, and Boston is up 15 points on Brooklyn with a score of 84-69 showing on the jumbotron. Although Brooklyn would battle back to take the lead late in the game, the Celtics had one last trick to pull out of their sleeve.

Nash and the Nets have one more dance with the Celtics in TD Garden on Wednesday before heading back home to the Barclays Center on Saturday at 7:30 PM EST for Game 3.

The post Steve Nash After Tough Game 1 Loss: ‘I’m Proud of the Guys’ 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.

Warriors star Stephen Curry has been diagnosed with a sprained ligament in left foot that will sideline him indefinitely, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. X-rays on the foot returned negative Wednesday night – meaning no fracture or major damage, a sigh of relief.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 17, 2022

The injury occurred when Curry and Celtics guard Marcus Smart collided, going for a loose ball. Smart’s dive for the ball led to him crashing into the Baby-Faced Assassin, which drew the ire of Coach Steve Kerr who saw it as a potentially dangerous play.

“I thought it was a dangerous play,” Kerr said per MassLive. “I thought Marcus dove into Steph’s knee, and that’s what I was upset about. A lot of respect for Marcus. He’s a hell of a player, gamer, competitor. I coached him in the World Cup a few Summers ago. We talked after the game. We’re good, but I thought it was a dangerous play. I just let him know.”

The Warriors (47-23) are in the middle of a fight for the second seed in the Western Conference with the Memphis Grizzlies. The Warriors’ offense is downright dismal without Chef Curry on the court, to make matters worse. The Warriors drop from a 114.1 offensive rating to a 103.7 rating, a difference of 10.4 points.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Warriors are optimistic that Curry will be able to return by the time the playoffs start in April. He will reportedly be seeing a specialist soon for further evaluation.

Initial evaluation of Steph Curry's sprained ligament in his left foot offers optimism that he can return by the start of the playoffs in mid-April, but he's expected to see specialists soon for further evaluation, sources tell @ramonashelburne
and me.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 17, 2022

The Warriors are currently a game behind the Grizzlies for second place and nine games behind the Suns for the top seed in the West as well.

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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.

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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.

On Tuesday night, Irving had a bonkers evening of scoring, building his high career-high on an insanely efficient 20-for-31 from the field, 8-for-12 from deep, and 12-for-13 from the free-throw line. And just for good measure, Irving added six rebounds, four assists, and four steals to his boxscore.

60.

(via @NBATV) pic.twitter.com/VKdGBfmhj4

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) March 16, 2022

Perhaps most impressively of all, Irving scored 41 of his points in the first half.

It's always special to see one of the league's best get in the zone like this.

(via @BrooklynNets) pic.twitter.com/v3GBWBirvA

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) March 16, 2022

The performance from Irving was so dominant that the opposing Magic fans gave him a standing ovation following the game.

On top of being an NBA season-best, Irving’s 60-piece is the most scored by a player in a single game in Nets’ franchise history.

After the game, Irving talked about some of the shots he chose to take throughout the night, and in response, he said that while that’ not usually how he plays on Tuesday, he had to “get in my Kobe bag.”

Irving’s teammates and coaches didn’t mind the mentality either.

“He’s just incredible. It felt like he had my career highlight reel in the first 12 minutes,” Nets çoach Steve Nash told the New York Posts’ Brian Lewis following the game. “It’s special to watch him on nights like this where he’s in total control, total command — It’s a pleasure to see it up close.”

“We seen he was well on his way to a high-scoring night so 60 — the night after Karl Towns had an incredible performance, and then to have Kyrie do it the next night, the league is in an incredible place right now,” Kevin Durant told ESPN’s Nick Friedell.

The win over the Magic was a big one for the Nets, as they work to try and play themselves out of the play-in game and into the top six seeds in the East. Currently, Brooklyn is eighth in the Eastern Conference with a record of 36-33 and are 3.5 games back of the six-seed Cleveland Cavaliers.

The post Kyrie Irving Drops 60 Points, Sets Franchise Record for Points in a Game appeared first on SLAM.

Durant started out the gate strong, scoring 16 points in the first quarter on his way to 53 points to lead the Nets to a 110-107 victory over the New York Knicks. KD’s 53 points set a franchise single-game scoring record for most points scored against their crosstown rival. He shot 19-37 from the field with nine assists and six rebounds in his 60th career 40-point performance.

KD had enough to feed the needy today with 53 PTS 6 REB 9 AST and the DUB over the Knicks.

(via @BrooklynNets) pic.twitter.com/AhRQUqayk1

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) March 13, 2022

The Nets controlled most of the game, but a Knicks rally to take a 103-101 lead set the stage for Durant’s theatrics with less than a minute to go. A clutch three-pointer from the right-wing snapped a 103-all tie with 56 seconds remaining. Then he knocked down four free throws to close out the game.

One of the best to do it. KD with a HUGE 3 against the Knicks. Such good defense but better offense.

(via @espn) pic.twitter.com/PQivWEBWwv

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) March 13, 2022

While Durant spent most of his press conference talking about the vaccine policy, Nets Coach Steve Nash spoke about the preparation without Irving that goes into a performance like Durant’s via ESPN.

“We just keep proceeding with the task that we can control. That’s getting better every day, and obviously, we wish he was back yesterday, but the reality is we only focus on what we can control.”

The next time KD and Kai play together will be Tuesday when the Nets (34-33) take on the Orlando Magic (18-51). Brooklyn will play 11 of their next games without the services of Irving.

The post Kevin Durant Sets Nets Single-Game Scoring Record Against the Knicks appeared first on SLAM.

Irving dropped 50 points on an absurd 15-for-19 from the field, and 11-for-13 from the free-throw line, nine of his field goals came from beyond the three-point line. Not satisfied with just his 50 points, Irving chipped six assists and three rebounds to seal off a double-digit dub.

Kyrie Irving has the most 50 point-games in Nets’ franchise history. No other Net, including Dr. J, had more than one. Historic.

— SLAM Newswire (@SLAMnewswire) March 9, 2022

Following the game, Irving’s teammates told the Associated Press’ Steve Reed and other media just how enamored they were with Irving’s 50-point game.

“That was master class,” Kevin Durant said.

“It was special,” Seth Curry said. “He made great plays all over the floor. He didn’t force it. Catch and shoot, off the dribble, and got to the rim, too. We needed that, Kyrie.”

“We obviously have a special player on our hands, and tonight, he was unbelievably efficient and difficult to defend,” Steve Nash said.

Irving just appeared as if he couldn’t miss all night on Tuesday, hitting tough jumper after jumper to bury any hopes the Hornets had at winning the game.

46 & COUNTING. KAI going off. (via @NBA) pic.twitter.com/ABy26ugP7J

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) March 9, 2022

This was a big win for the Nets, as the Hornets are one of their nearest rivals in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The Nets are currently eighth in the east with a 33-33 record, just one game ahead of the Hornets, who are in ninth place, and 2.5 games ahead of the Washington Wizards, who are 11th.

The Nets’ next matchup will be a big one, as they reunite with former teammate James Harden against the Philadelphia 76ers.

That game will be in Philadelphia, and Irving had one word to describe the atmosphere for the matchup following the game against the Hornets.

That matchup will be at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m.

The post Kyrie Irving Drops 50 Points in Nets Win Over Hornets 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.

This revelation comes days after Nets Coach Steve Nash said Durant was ‘three games away,’ from returning to action. The Nets social media team made it official by welcoming their superstar player back with a simple message:

The Nets have had a 5-16 record since their superstar went down midway through January, falling from second place in the Eastern Conference at 27-15 to eighth place at 32-31.

It’s time for Brooklyn to turn up again, and it’ll be a good test for KD to face off against the top-seeded Miami Heat (41-21) at 7:30 pm EST in Barclays Center.

The post Kevin Durant to Return to Action Thursday Against the Miami Heat 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.

Based on the comments from Daryl Morey and Joel Embiid, it looks as if “the plan” will be Friday night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Morey added fuel to the fire when he sent out this Tweet on Sunday night with a cryptic message to the Sixers’ upcoming opponents.

Find out Friday @Timberwolves https://t.co/T4HteGUN38

— Daryl MorΞy (@dmorey) February 21, 2022

Harden had been sidelined with hamstring tightness that kept him out of the final four games of his Brooklyn tenure before he was traded. Despite the ongoing reports from Harden’s frustration to Steve Nash’s attempt to squash rumors of a trade, James made it clear that now that he’s a Sixer, he will do “whatever it takes” to win a championship, according to ABC News.

“It’s a time where I needed to be around guys that I know want to win and know that they are willing to do whatever it takes to win, and the structure here is unbelievable.

“[Winning a title is] the goal, man. That’s the goal. Like Daryl [Morey] said: The opportunity to win is now. Joel is playing the best he’s ever played. So my job is to come out there and help him and help the entire team win a championship this year and in years going forward.”

James Harden on his motivation as he joins the @sixers:

“I’m turnt, man. I’m excited… I’m a competitor. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to bring a championship to the 76ers and Philly. That’s the main reason I’m here honestly. We’ve got a great opportunity ahead of us.”

— Lauren Rosen (@LaurenMRosen) February 23, 2022

Now all eyes will be on Harden to deliver on his promise of winning the first 76ers championship since 1983. After a combination of injuries and other issues derailing his championship plans in Brooklyn, it looks as if the Harden era officially begins on Friday.

The post James Harden on Winning a Title in Philly: ‘The Opportunity to Win is Now’ appeared first on SLAM.

Although multiple contenders called Dragić, his relationship with former teammate Steve Nash (Brooklyn’s head coach) led him to sign with the Brooklyn Nets, per NBA insider Marc Stein.

Dragić hasn’t played since November 13 following a ‘mutual agreement’ with the Toronto Raptors to keep him sidelined. He’s been working out in his South Florida home to keep in shape in hopes of joining a contender. The Raptors ended up moving him at the trade deadline to the Spurs, where he reached a buyout agreement.

In only five games played this season, Dragić averaged 8.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game while shooting 38.2 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from three. The Nets, however, hope he can return to his play from last year, where he was a backup for the Miami Heat.

Last season, the Dragon averaged 13.4 points and 4.4 assists per game on 43.2 percent shooting from the field and 37.3 percent from distance. Dragić is a proven ballhandler and shot-creator, something Brooklyn has needed, especially when Kyrie Irving isn’t in uniform.

To make space for Dragić on the roster, the Nets released Jevon Carter, their third-string point guard. Carter had a guaranteed contract for this and next season, worth around $7.5 million in total. However, the Nets can stretch out his $3.9 million contract for next year over the next three seasons. That would be a $1.3 million dead cap hit through the 2024-25 season. Carter has subsequently signed with Milwaukee off of waivers.

The post Brooklyn Nets Announce Goran Dragić Signing 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 was reported that Westbrook was held out of the game just before the game due to back tightness, marking the first game he has missed this season. Some fans and media believed that Westbrook was not playing to avoid serious injury in case the Lakers could make a deal. Coach Frank Vogel skirted the question when The Athletic’s Bill Oram asked about Westbrook being potentially moved.

Frank Vogel, asked directly by @billoram if there’s a scenario in which Russell Westbrook isn’t on the team after tomorrow: “If there’s way to improve our team, we’ll improve our team. I’ve got nothing else to say about the trade deadline.”

— Sean Highkin (@highkin) February 10, 2022

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Westbrook had the same back issue when the Lakers lost 131-116 to the Milwaukee Bucks. After trying to play through the pain, he was subbed out with 2 minutes and 34 seconds remaining in the third quarter, never returning.

Westbrook felt the same tightness in his back on Tuesday night vs. Milwaukee, but played through it — and ultimately felt too much discomfort on a back-to-back vs. Portland tonight, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/W19CA3QyWn

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 10, 2022

Despite the widespread rumors, many believe that the Lakers will not be able to trade Westbrook for the assets they want. There aren’t many teams willing to take on Westbrook’s $44.2 million tab this season or his $47.1 million player option for next season. John Wall’s almost identical contract of $44.3 million and a $47.4 million player option for the following season is the only scenario that makes sense, but with a price.

The Houston Rockets reportedly will make the deal only if the Lakers are willing to give up their 2027 first-round pick and possibly more assets. Lakers executives have already panned the idea to give up the team’s draft picks to finish out the decade just to get rid of him.

Westbrook is averaging 18.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 7.6 assists this season.

The post Los Angeles Lakers Sit Russell Westbrook Just Before the Trade Deadline 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.

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.

Welcome to the life of a ballplayer from Montreal. Or at least, the old life of a baller from Montreal. When Anthony was en route to winning a ring 10 years ago, there were just a handful of players from the entire country of Canada in the League, and they were basically a novelty. And French-speaking Canadians from Quebec’s largest city? With all due respect to Bill Wennington, they were a pure anomaly. Today, the country that sends the most players to the NBA other than America is Canada—a story you’ve probably read before—with more and more coming out of Montreal, which is a story you probably didn’t even realize was happening.

“There was no dream of making the NBA when I was younger,” recalls the 39-year-old Anthony, who eventually played college ball in Montreal (Dawson College), JUCO in Florida (Pensacola JC) and DI in Nevada (UNLV) before making the L as an undrafted free agent in 2007. “I  loved it, I watched it, had favorite players like Jordan and the Bulls, and Shaq as a big I looked up to, but I never saw myself as having an opportunity to play in the NBA. I couldn’t wrap my head around it.”

As Anthony took baby steps to the NBA, he would encounter various forms of incredulity from his teammates. In college, “It was, They have basketball players in Canada? What? They didn’t even know there were Black people in Montreal,” Anthony remembers. When he got to the NBA, “There weren’t a lot of Canadians. Just Steve [Nash], Jamaal [Magloire] and Sam [Dalembert, a rare Montrealer]. When people found out I was from there, they were surprised. I realized what a big deal it was when there were a lot of articles and people talking about it back home, like, People like us don’t make it to this level!”

While Anthony grinded his way through a 10-year NBA career, Toronto-area players like Anthony Bennett, Andrew Wiggins and Jamal Murray made Canadians a regular presence in the Draft lottery and the L at large. Hoops slowly took hold in Montreal and its broader province of Quebec as well, with first- and second-generation immigrants from French-speaking nations across Africa and the Caribbean helping to hasten the region’s interest in sports beyond Canada’s national sport of hockey.

As The Globe and Mail pointed out in an article last May, the presence of Montreal products Khem Birch, Chris Boucher, Luguentz Dort and Karim Mané in the NBA “reflects the sport’s rapid growth in Quebec, where soccer and basketball have begun to chip away at hockey’s supremacy. The week of May 10 was a symbolic watershed: That Monday, for the first time in team history, the Montreal Canadiens had no Quebec players in their lineup. The following night, the Toronto Raptors had two.”

According to a 2019 article in the Quebec newspaper le Soleil that cites data provided by Basketball Québec, from 2013-2019, the number of people participating in the sport within the province jumped from about 38,000 to about 52,000.

Boucher’s manager, Ibrahim Appiah, grew up in Montreal and made the jump to DI High Point University in North Carolina in 2007. Since completing his playing career, he’s become a coach and advisor to players throughout Quebec. Appiah was part of a group that discovered Boucher, a completely unheralded kid who had moved to Montreal from St. Lucia and was as raw as he was athletic. 

“Around here, it’s almost taboo to say you think someone could make it to the pros,” says Appiah. “But I thought Chris could. And really, if anyone could, it would be him. We saw what he could do and kept comparing him to Anthony Davis.”

Boucher has not reached AD status but now, in his fifth NBA season, the 28-year-old is a legit rotation player, coming off a season in which he averaged 24 minutes, 14 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks per game for the Raps. Dort, meanwhile, is in his third season in the NBA and is now a full-on starter for the Oklahoma City Thunder, the only team he’s played with.

After their youth careers in Montreal both Boucher and Dort did brief stints at Pac-12 schools (Oregon and Arizona State, respectively) before reaching the L as undrafted free agents. Their Instagram feeds overflow with love for their home city and shoutouts to the various camps and youth programs they both support in Canada.

Alex Victor, another big influence on the Montreal hoops scene (please see the story on his Institut de Sport Dynastie), loves what he’s seeing from Montrealers in the L right now, and is even more excited for a prospect who’s right around the corner. “Check out Ben [Bennedict] Mathurin,” Victor says of the 6-6 wing who’s about to kick off a super sophomore season at the University of Arizona. “He is projected to be the first player from Montreal to be a lottery pick.”

Such an achievement will represent a logical step in this evolution, Anthony says. “Montreal has always had ballplayers, even if we didn’t get the recognition we deserve. The type of players who have made it have been underdogs, guys who came in and had to really work and grind their way through. But now they’re developing on offense…and people are taking notice.” 

Ben Osborne is a former SLAM Ed. and is now Head of Content for Just Women’s Sports.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post Montreal Has Emerged as a Major Hub For NBA Talent Out of Canada appeared first on SLAM.

The report being discussed was from Jake Fischer from Bleacher Report citing sources about Harden’s frustrations from Kyrie Irving’s part-time status to Steve Nash’s coaching style at the end of games to even his living situation in New York.

When the Nets superstar was being interviewed, he simply replied, “I don’t know what you talking about… I don’t know about no reports,” Harden said. 

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

Whatever Harden’s level of frustration, if any, with his current situation, it is essential to note that Fischer acknowledged Harden’s “investment” in winning a title this season despite the challenges in Brooklyn.

New York Post’s Brian Lewis reached out to Nets Head Coach Steve Nash about the concerns in the Bleacher Report article, and Nash not only stated he knew nothing about what was said in the story, but he maintains ongoing communications with Harden.

Asked Steve Nash about reports that James Harden is concerned about Kyrie Irving’s part-time status but also Nash’s rotations. He said he’d “just heard about the reports” but adds he speaks to Harden all the time & hadn’t heard any of those complains. #Nets

— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) January 25, 2022

The Nets’ loss to the Lakers on Tuesday dropped the Nets to third in the standings in the Eastern Conference with a 29–18 record. They are currently on a two-game losing streak, but they have a chance to get back in the win column against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday.

The post James Harden Strongly Denies Reports He’s Frustrated in Brooklyn 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.

While it remains to be seen if Irving will play his typical workload of minutes, 34.9 minutes per game last season, Nash doesn’t think Irving’s conditioning is at a point where he can play 38 minutes.

“But I think he can play a big chunk of the game. He’s played a lot–he’s had three of four full court days with the five-on-five, so I think he’s capable of playing extended minutes, but not necessarily his customary high 30’s.”

Irving hasn’t played yet for the Nets this season due to being unvaccinated, and vaccine mandates in New York preventing unvaccinated New York residents from entering certain indoor facilities, including Barclays Center, where the Nets play their home games. Brooklyn front-office officials decided that they prefer that he get vaccinated and be eligible to play as a full-time player.

In the wake of the Nets’ COVID-19 outbreak and the recent rise of the Omricon variant forcing over a hundred players into the health and safety protocols, the Nets reversed course on their preference Irving get vaccinated and announced that they would bring Irving back as a part-time player.

Nash admits that there will be an adjustment period for Irving who will have to get used to some new wrinkles in the Nets offense but he is confident Irving will find his rhythm and role within the Nets quickly.

“It might take a little bit but Kyrie knows what he’s doing,” Nash said. “He’s been with us and he also can adapt to situations and so we haven’t had a ton of time to really give him the tutorials, but that’s something that we are happy to do on the fly as well. But more importantly, try to feel a sense of cohesion with his teammates, get comfortable playing the game, before we overload him with a ton of thoughts. I think he’ll be fine.”

Irving scored 26.9 points, grabbed 4.8 rebounds, and dished 6.0 assists per game on 50.6 percent shooting from the field, 40.2 percent shooting from the three-point line, and 92.2 shooting from the free-throw line during the abbreviated 2020-2021 season.

With Irving active and Kevin Durant and James Harden clearing protocols recently, the Nets are healthy for the most part and should bode well for their chances to contend for a spot in the 2022 NBA Finals. Brooklyn (23-12) is second in the Eastern Conference, trailing the Bulls (25-10) for the number one by just two games.

The post Kyrie Irving Expected to Play ‘Big Chunk of the Game’ appeared first on SLAM.

Afterward, Nets Coach Steve Nash criticized the team for not bringing enough energy and overlooking a depleted Clippers squad. On the other hand, Durant was much more colorful and abrasive with his language to get his point across.

“Like Coach said, we didn’t deserve to win this game. We came in here with a f–ked up attitude to start, thinking we were just gonna walk into a W,” Durant said. “Hopefully, a loss like this sit in your brain until tomorrow. … If you ain’t feeling like s–t after this game, you gotta look yourself in the mirror.”

“It’s natural when a team is missing so many players, they’ve been going through so much over there, and we relaxed,” Durant said. “You wouldn’t think you could lose an NBA game like this. Missing how many guys, playing guys up from the G-League. … They all made an impact, I felt, and we came in too chill.”

The Clippers were playing without Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Nicolas Batum, and six other players who were out with either injury or placed in health and safety protocols. Even Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue was in protocols. With the loss, Brooklyn is now on a two-game losing streak.

Durant finished with 28 points on 11-24 shooting, nine rebounds, and three assists. James Harden had a triple-double with 34 points, 12 rebounds, and 13 assists.

On Monday night, the Nets (23-11) look to bounce back at home against Memphis (23-14).

The post Kevin Durant After Nets’ Loss to Clippers: ‘We Came in too Chill’ appeared first on SLAM.

Since Irving cannot play home games, the Nets will have to wait until an upcoming road trip for his return. Getting in game shape is important for any NBA player. As such, it might take time for Irving to ramp up and get back to where needs to be to play for the Nets.

“He needs ramp up, so we won’t see Kyrie on this trip,” said Nets coach Steve Nash earlier this week. While Brooklyn is currently on a road trip, this isn’t one Irving will play in.

After the start of the new year, the Nets are not on the road again until Jan. 5 at Indiana, followed by Jan. 12 at Chicago. Due to this, Irving’s season debut may not come until late into the month at the earliest. Brooklyn has a four-game road trip that starts in Cleveland on Jan. 17 that could be a great time for him to return to the court.

Irving has not been with the team on a regular basis since the first week of training camp at the start of October. Last season with the Nets, he averaged 26.9 points, 6.0 assists and 4.8 rebounds per contest.

The post REPORT: Nets’ Kyrie Irving Won’t Make Season Debut Until at Least January appeared first on SLAM.

The League requires that teams have at least eight available players in order to play. The franchise has 11 players currently in health and safety protocols, including Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Kessler Edwards, Cam Thomas, and David Duke Jr. entered protocols on Thursday. Nash says he does not expect any players to clear protocols by Saturday. The staggering number of players resulted in three Nets games being postponed.

According to Nash, the Nets players in protocols have been “largely asymptomatic,” per CBS Sports’ James Herbert, and the players with symptoms have mostly had “very mild” cases. 

It forced the postponement of three games, including their Thursday game against the Portland Trail Blazers, since the Nets did not have enough players to travel and play.

The Nets (21-9) and Lakers (16-16) are the prime-time Christmas matchup on Saturday. Any delay to that game, if needed, could be made as late as Christmas Eve. 

.

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“It’s a really important topic,” Nash said per ESPN. “I don’t know we can continue to lean on him the way we have. It doesn’t feel right.

“I know he’s enjoying it. I know he’s enjoying playing at the rate he’s playing at and trying to bring his teammates along with him and all the responsibility that he’s accepted and crushed, basically. It’s just been incredible. But, at the same time, it’s not safe or sustainable to lean on him like that. There’s gonna be a lot of consideration, and we’ll have to figure out ways to give him breaks.”

Durant is currently averaging 36.9 minutes per game this season, the most he’s logged since his MVP season in the 2013-2014 season when he played 38.5 minutes per night. He currently stands at fourth place in minutes behind Fred VanVleet, O.G Annouby, and LeBron James. When asked about the workload, Durant was straightforward with his answer, telling assembled media he wanted to play.

“I just try to do what’s required, man,” Durant said when asked about his minute’s load after Tuesday’s win. “I mean, I want to be out there. I want to play. I want to win. So, it starts there.”

“Whatever I got to do to accomplish those three things, I’m going to do.”

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ESPN Sources: With the unfolding circumstances of Brooklyn’s season – including injuries, Covid losses and an inordinate minutes load on their superstar players – the Nets are bringing back All-Star guard Kyrie Irving as a part-time player for games outside of New York.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 17, 2021

The return of Irving is a policy reversal from the steadfast decision general manager Sean Marks and owner Joe Tsai made back in October to not allow Irving to play until he complied with New York City COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Now the Nets, amidst a slew of injuries and an ongoing outbreak amongst several teams that have added plenty of drama in the middle of the season, will allow Irving to come back as a part-time player.

Tsai, Marks, Coach Steve Nash, and key players were reportedly supportive of the decision to bring Irving back. ESPN says that Irving was eager to come back and play road games with the Nets. However, Woj reports that Irving’s return is contingent on him passing a series of virus tests and that Irving and Brooklyn have agreed on a plan that would allow him to start ramping up his conditioning to return to the court.

The Nets return to the court Saturday against the Magic for a three-game homestand before going on a Western Conference road trip that starts December 23 against the Trail Blazers and ends against the Clippers.

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Durant is the first player in the League to do so since Damian Lillard in late January of the 2019-2020 season.

14th triple-double of @KDTrey5’s career in the bag pic.twitter.com/8drVl4IFWy

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) December 15, 2021

With seven Nets players, including James Harden and Bruce Brown, entering the NBA’s health and safety protocols just hours before Tuesdays tip, Durant was the lynchpin in the Nets win, both on the court and in the locker room beforehand when he elected to play despite being listed as questionable with right ankle soreness.

Nets Coach Steve Nash said ultimately, Durant’s will to play led to his presence on the court and the Nets not forfeiting the contest. Playing the most minutes in a single-overtime regular-season game since his days in OKC in 2014, Durant carried the Nets over the finish line with 34 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists on 12-for-29 shooting from the field in 48 minutes.

“Man, I can’t even explain how I feel,” Durant said in his postgame interview. “It’s December, and we’re down seven players, and we easily could’ve punted this game. But we saw an opportunity for us to grow and get better, especially the younger guys who haven’t played a lot of meaningful games in the NBA, especially against a championship organization like Toronto (and it) was an amazing test for us.”

Durant has been on an absolute tear in December, averaging 35.0 points, 8.0 boards and 7.2 assists on 42 minutes per game during the Nets four-game win streak. Durant averages the second most minutes per game at 36.9.

The (20-8) Nets will have an off-day today as they prepare for their Thursday night matchup against the (15-13) Philadelphia 76ers.

The post Kevin Durant Follows 50-Point Performance with 30-Point Triple-Double appeared first on SLAM.

“I know people might be concerned about my minutes, and I got injured before and all this extra s—, but we’ll figure it out if I get there. Right now, I want to play basketball,” Durant said via ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.

Over the past five games, Kevin Durant has averaged 40.4 minutes on the court. In the Nets 102-99 comeback win over Dallas, Durant logged 40 minutes and 30 seconds, playing every minute of the second half. Alongside teammate James Harden, Durant ranks top-ten in minutes played in the League, averaging 36.2. However, the two-time Finals MVP elaborated on his innate drive to get on the court and produce.

“I might play 48 tomorrow, just ’cause. Give you something to talk about”

Kevin Durant talks about logging heavy minutes, and if he’ll play in tomorrow’s back-to-back vs. Houston pic.twitter.com/eH3Bf8BqWs

— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) December 8, 2021

Durant was itching to get back on the court after not playing since their 111-107 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Saturday and Coach Steve Nash electing to not hold a team shoot-around. The longer he was out there, the better.

Just before setting the microphone down, Durant added, “I might play 48 tomorrow. Just ’cause. Give you something to talk about.”

Brooklyn’s most recent back-to-back concludes Wednesday against the Rockets, with Durant saying he plans on playing in Houston.

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With a little over five minutes to go in the third quarter, the Nets found themselves in a 12-point hole. After checking in, the 20-year-old immediately made big plays scoring eight points in the third frame, including a 15-foot jumper to give the Nets a two-point lead going into the final frame. 

“I got in and knew the game-plan and knew what we had to do. I got in. I got great looks and got open looks, so I feel like those are really good for me coming in right away, getting open looks, and I made most of them,” Thomas says, per the Nets Daily. “When James [Harden] or KD kicks it to me, you got to knock it down when you’re wide open. A great building block to me.

Thomas delivered for Brooklyn when it counted the most, finishing with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting and 2-of-3 from behind the arc in 15 minutes. With major pieces like Joe Harris and others out, the Nets were open to rotating players on the hardwood to help clench Brooklyn’s 117-112 win over the Cavs.

“Without Joe, we were down a shooter, a spacer,” Nash says, per the Nets Daily. “We have to go with some different lineups and different guys. Cam was great. He stepped up with confidence to take shots. I think he is a kid who we all love and think has a bright future, but sometimes these early stages of the season, you’re in tight games. It’s difficult, just some of the mistakes that are inevitable with these young guys. But tonight, he really hung in there. Made some big shots for us and I thought was really aware defensively. I was proud of him tonight.”

Thomas’s confidence-boosting game comes two days after a 46-point performance with Brooklyn’s G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets.

“I always had that confidence. Whenever coach puts me in, I just try to be ready at all times. The 46 didn’t really do anything tonight. It was just my role on that team and tonight, I just had the opportunity to have a chance, coach put me in and I made the most of it.”

The Nets (13-5) don’t play until Wednesday when they play a surging 10-8 Boston Celtics squad on ESPN.

The post Cam Thomas Pulls His Weight in Nets Win Over Cavs: ‘I Got In And Knew the Game-Plan And Knew What We Had to Do’ appeared first on SLAM.

Together, Detrick and Kuo have created a “sports manifesto” that’s a culmination of their two crafts: Detrick has contributed to the New York Times, Grantland and written about NBA rivalries for The Ringer, while Kuo is an artist that regularly contributes vibrant visual columns to the New York Times as well. The New York-based creatives also host the podcast, Cookies Hoops—which dives into topics ranging from the Celtics’ “floundering rebuild” (their words, not ours) to the first episode of Succession. Guests include former NBA players Jayson Williams and Craig Hodges, as well as hip-hop icons such as Jadakiss.

The Joy of Basketball was another way for them to bring together all of their ideas about the game, and take a look at it’s monumental impact: 

“This was kind of our opportunity to really nail down what we thought and what we wanted to say,” Detrick explains over Zoom, adding: “This will sound a little trite, but we were trying to be a three level scorer, where it’s like, you open it up, and there’s a big flashy illustration of Kevin Garnett. And then there’s some interesting charts, and then you can get into the text, which is really dense and kind of presents ideas that may be a little complicated for someone who is, like, a new basketball head. But there’s something that if you are like a hooper guy—if you really love the sport, there’s going to be stuff in there for you, too. So, it was really trying to balance creating something that someone who’s a casual fan would like, and someone who lives and breathes basketball like we do could also sink their teeth into.”

“These basketball ideas lead into bigger philosophical ideas and life ideas,” Kuo says on the same call. “It is just the game, but the ideas we applied to that game are big and fun, and fast and loose. We wanted to bring that all together in a book to explain how we kind of felt about the world.”

The book, which was written during the pandemic, is a celebration of the game and all of its many moments—from memes to superteams, influential players and even gameplay and the “positional erosion.”

“Our goal is to celebrate players and what they brought to the table and their influences and what may have been unforeseen or unseen at the time,” says Detrick. “For me, the most fun part of it was going back and [being] like, Alright, I’m going to deep dive on articles, YouTube clips of everything about, say, of Boris Diaw, and really get into there and say like, I knew he was really good…Finding how these guys were so unique and influential was a really fun experience, especially since we wrote it while the League was on hiatus. So that was like my dosage of hoops. I remember watching Kyrie [Irving] clips and kind of welling up a little bit [and being like], Man, I miss basketball so much. Look at these dribbling highlights.” 

“Basically what we’re trying to say is everyone got better. Everyone just got more awesome to me,” Kuo adds.

As the game continues to evolve and change, one scroll through NBA Twitter will show you that hoop fans are constantly debating and throwing out hot takes about, well, everything when it comes to basketball. With The Joy of Basketball, Detrick and Kuo point out that they aren’t trying to “create debates” but instead, they’re taking a look at that very change.

“I think there are plenty of entries in the book that people may disagree with, other ones they may say, you know, Oh, you completely nailed how I view this player or this trend,” says Detrick. “But we weren’t really necessarily trying to create debates or even end debates. We were kind of trying to dig into the collective basketball mind and understand why the sport got to where it is today and why do we view players the way that we do? Why do we view the lore of the sport the way that we do? Why did the game develop to this place where you look at the game in 2021 and it looks so different from 1996.”

“I think the way we experience this game, and the way people decide to talk about it is always right, you know, whatever is right for you,” Kuo notes. “And to Ben’s point, I think [we] tried to write this book being like, Hey, this is our point of view. And you know, as being skeptics, and then coming out on maybe on the opposite side of that being like, Yo, the Celtics had had some wonderful players. Like, let’s get real Kevin Garnett was maybe one of the coolest players we’ve ever seen in green and white, you know, and it’s awesome…We’re talking about the game and how to look at the game. And everything else, I think is a different conversation.”

And with that, here’s an excerpt from The Joy of Basketball: An Encyclopedia of the Modern Game.

IVERSON, ALLEN

Back in 1970, a column published in Cherokee County, South Carolina’s Gaffney Ledger juxtaposed Pete Maravich, a rookie shooting guard on the Hawks, to the shiftless ilk of his generation: “While you were out smoking marijuana, Pete was playing basketball like the good, American boy,” wrote the essayist. It included this kicker: “Pete is now a millionaire.” To today’s conservative intellectuals, that prototype of young NBA player—hardworking, drug-free, and deserving of vast wealth—is a thing of the past, an abstraction supplanted by, as they see it, a dangerous variant. Thug, criminal, ball-hog, team cancer, lazy malcontent, fortune squanderer. Or Allen Iverson.

Iverson grew up in the East End of Newport News, Virginia, a place nicknamed Bad News. His father, the leader of a local gang called the Family Connection, bounced in and out of jail before going to prison in 1996 for stabbing a woman. His mother was fifteen at the time of Allen’s birth. “When the nurse brought him to me, I looked at his little body and saw those long arms and said, ‘Lord, he’s gonna be a basketball player,’” Ann Iverson told Sports Illustrated. Light bills went unpaid, a broken pipe spewed raw sewage onto the floor, friends were murdered and incarcerated. As a junior at Bethel High School, Iverson was named the Associated Press High School Player of the Year in basketball and football.

On Valentine’s Day of 1993, Iverson and three friends were arrested after brawling with a group of white teens at a bowling alley. None of the white participants were arrested, but he was convicted of “maiming by mob” and sentenced to five years in prison. “It’s a high-tech lynching without a rope,” said Marilyn Strother, an organizer who rallied against the sentencing. Iverson spent four months at Newport News City Farm before Governor Douglas Wilder granted him conditional clemency (later, an appeals court overturned the conviction). By virtue of his supernatural gifts, Iverson was able to escape anonymously tumbling into the American meat-grinder that has devoured Black lives for hundreds of years.

As his mother knew, Allen was the chosen one. Even by the impossible standards of professional athletes, he was peerless—a sinewy, 􀀁-foot outlier among the fieldstone-shouldered caste of generational deities like Jim Thorpe, Jim Brown, Bo Jackson, and LeBron James. On the court, Iverson moved in a spasmodic blur. He seemed to glide on a different plane than everyone else, shifting with precise coordination to hit a third gear, vanishing with a soft sonic burp to magick a 1-on-3 break into a 1-on-0 layup. Despite his size, he was unyielding. Over his first twelve seasons, Iverson averaged a shocking 41.8 minutes a game while leading the league in the iron-man category seven times. “He is, indeed, a prodigy,” wrote talk show host Tony Kornheiser in 1995, after watching him play for Georgetown University, “with talent so stunning he shimmers on the court like light reflected off a mirror.”

Iverson came to kill your idols. As a rookie, he crossed-up Michael Jordan and buried a jumper in the face of His Airness. It was not a transfer of power, exactly, but the moment when it became clear that Jordan’s reign was not indefinite (the clip remains just as poignant today, due to Jordan’s decision to retire following the Bulls’ 1998 championship instead of succumbing to younger wolves like every other superstar). When Iverson went up against Utah’s John Stockton, he snarled, “No fucking white boy is going to stop me.” 

The Answer won Rookie of the Year and four scoring titles, led the league in steals for three consecutive seasons, and was named to eleven All-Star and eight All-NBA teams. In 2001, he was honored as Most Valuable Player and dragged a low voltage Sixers team to the Finals. His postseason career aver-age of 29.7 points per game is the second- highest in NBA history. After Jordan’s departure, there was a several- year window in which Iverson was, unquestionably, the nastiest basketball player on the planet (even if big men like Shaquille O’Neal and Tim Duncan may have been more effective). “I wasn’t a point guard,” Iverson said after being elected to the Hall of Fame. “I was a killer.”

Even as Iverson became the NBA’s most popular superstar, he remained enmeshed in scandal. He was accused of ejecting his naked wife out of their home and then showing up at a cousin’s house with a gun (all charges were eventually dropped). He put out a rap song under the name Jewelz that included lines like “gats in each hand / twin 4-5s in mine.” His tattoos were airbrushed away in photos, his rap album was shelved, his voluminous jeans and chest of platinum chains were banished by league dress code decree. Yet as a teammate, he was beloved. “We had a lot of guys who were just kind of journeyman, guys who hadn’t really stepped out and came into their own,” Theo Ratliff, a former Sixer, told HoopsHype. “He helped push us and elevated our game and our status as NBA players. He’s a tremendous person.” When the younger brother of team president Pat Croce rifled through Iverson’s baggy pants in the locker room and stole money, he declined to press charges.

In recent years, there has been an irresponsible compulsion to reframe Iverson as a controversial antihero instead of one of the baddest motherfuckers in the history of basketball. He is acknowledged as an important countercultural figure who shifted paradigms in fashion, branding, and attitude—but is increasingly seen as Monta Ellis with a compression sleeve. Part of this inaccurate portrayal is due to the natural leveling effect of time and recency bias. The peak stature of almost every superstar from the past is eroded by crashing waves of new talent. Hal Greer, another player who spent much of his prime on the Sixers, went to ten consecutive All-Star games from 1961 to 1970, and no one under sixty has ever heard of him. But Iverson was too successful and remains too visible to attribute this rewritten storyline entirely to the swirling zephyrs of time. “I don’t think people realize how cold he was,” said Kobe Bryant, who cited showdowns with Iverson as motivation for improving his defense. “They have no idea how hard it was to guard this guy.”

The greatest threat to Iverson’s legacy is the fetishization of efficiency. For his career, he shot 42.5 percent from the floor and 31.3 percent from beyond the arc, both numbers that are inky blemishes when compared to contemporary volume scorers like James Harden or Stephen Curry. But it goes unmentioned that Iverson spent his prime in the early 200s—his unsightly 51.8 true shooting percentage during his 2001 MVP campaign was exactly NBA average. 

The game was played between the fluted Corinthian columns of M. J.–inspired architecture: if you had an offensive star, you soaked the floor with defenders and hoped your go-to guy could drag the phalanx to a brutish victory. Over a five-year span, only the Lakers and Spurs won titles, carried by the aforementioned O’Neal and Duncan.

To some, Iverson is a creature of the millennium NBA. It is believed that his dismal field-goal percentages, spotty perimeter shooting, and taste for contested floaters would not be tolerated in today’s game. In truth, he played twenty years too early. Offenses built around singular scorer- distributors like Harden and Luka Dončić flourish. Shooting has unclogged lanes. According to stats for pace (the number of possessions a team gets per game, on average), the slowest tempos in NBA history all fall exactly within Iverson’s late-1990s to mid-2000s prime. The idea that one of the fastest and most unguardable players ever would struggle to eat in today’s pace-and-space savanna defies reason. “A.I. would be the point guard and you would surround him with shooters and then just have him run a ton of pick-and-rolls,” said Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, describing how Iverson would have been used today.

Sadly, Iverson spent his prime under the eye of coach Larry Brown, a micromanager with a mil-dewed offensive playbook, who bobbed between passive aggression and shoving his players under the bus. On the 2001 team that went to the Finals, Iverson started alongside Eric Snow, George Lynch, Tyrone Hill, and Dikembe Mutombo. Outside of the Answer, the other starters hit a combined average of 0.3 3-pointers a game. “We tried to get defenders and rebounders and unselfish guys with him because I wanted him to shoot the ball,” Brown told Maxim. “Allen created double-teams wherever he was on the court. If he missed, we became the best rebounding team in the league.” How can one compare Iverson’s efficiency in that system, under that coach, with those teammates, in that era, to optimized weapons like Steph Curry or Steve Nash?

As divisive as Iverson was during his fourteen- year career, he has been vindicated. He was right about the blurred future of backcourt roles and the value of the hybrid scorer-distributor. He was right about the wear and tear of practice. He was right about pushing the tempo and playing with fluidity. He was right about the simplicity of putting the rock in the hands of your best player as many times as possible. He was right about the NBA’s jittery tightrope act of selling a product created by young Black men to an audience that is fearful of them. Iverson separated the old NBA from the new NBA. In return, both his predecessors and his descendants have used him as a cudgel to hammer away at what-ever they dislike about the sport.

But unlike other former players who speak with bitterness about today’s game, Iverson has shown nothing but love and support for today’s generation of stars. He embodies the joy of basketball.

Excerpt from the new book THE JOY OF BASKETBALL: An Encyclopedia of the Modern Game By Ben Detrick and Andrew Kuo, published by Abrams Image

Copyright © Text copyright © 2021 Ben Detrick

Illustrations copyright © 2021 Andrew Kuo

Photo credit Jason Nocito.

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“It means a lot, man. I’m grateful and I thank god for this opportunity,” Paul said per the Arizona Republic.

“I say it all the time, not only to be on the team and still be in the league but to be playing. You know you don’t take that for granted. … But to be third, man, and still be playing, I’m grateful for it and still have a ways to go.”

Going into the matchup against the Pelicans, Paul was fifth all-time on the list, just six dimes behind Jackson and seven behind Nash. Paul pushed past Jackson at the end of the first quarter, giving a pass to Devin Booker, who then hit a 27-foot three-pointer.

Paul propelled past Nash with 1:34 left in the second from a dish to Jae Crowder, who scored a three-pointer from the right-wing. At 36-years-old and playing in his 16th season in the League, Paul has more time behind him than ahead. However, he has ways to go before catching up to Jason Kidd (12,091) and John Stockton (15,806) on the all-time assists list.

“When I first came into the League and I seen that John Stockton, I was like, ‘I’m gonna get it.’ That shipped sailed. That shipped sailed a while ago when I started missing all them games,” Paul told the Arizona Republic.

Still, this is just the latest milestone that CP3 has achieved so far this season. Just last month, he became the first player in NBA history to record 20,000 points and 10,000 assists in a win against the Lakers.

The Suns are now 3-3 and will play the Rockets on Thursday.

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The NBA lockout was in full effect and there was no end in sight. Inside the legendary Palestra, players were gathering for the love of the game in front of their adoring fans. The players included a two-time NBA MVP, two top-10 all-time leading NBA scorers, 
one top-five all-time NBA assists leader, one NBA Rookie of the Year, three NBA and NCAA champions and four Olympic Gold medalists. The Nike mantra of “Basketball Never Stops” was alive and on full display. 

The summer/fall of 2011 was like getting multiple releases on the Snkrs app for a basketball fan—a remarkable, rare occurrence. While the owners and players union were debating over finances, the stars of the League made sure they filled their fans’ thirst for affordable, high-level action across the country in DC, L.A., Baltimore, Oklahoma, New York and Philadelphia.

“That is what made the lockout games so great,” says Jamar Smiley, Director of Player Relations for BDA Sports Management. “The everyday fan was able to see [the stars] play without sacrificing a day’s pay.” 

The idea for the game in West Philadelphia started with some territorial trash talk between Carmelo Anthony and Hakim Warrick about which city, Baltimore or Philly, had better players. The two were teammates on Syracuse in 2003, when the program won a national championship. 

The vision started to become a reality on the night of Saturday, August 20, on the drive home from watching The Capital Punishment game in DC, where the Goodman League, led by Kevin Durant and John Wall, faced off against the Drew League, featuring James Harden and DeMar DeRozan. 

I contacted Skinny [Hakim Warrick] via Facebook messenger, who then put me in touch with Smiley. Smiley and I spoke, and roles began to be defined. I would handle the logistics of the game, Skinny and Melo would be team captains and oversee coordination with the players, and Smiley would be my day-to-day contact.

Once the team captains committed and the $25,000 contribution to their designated charities was confirmed, it was time to get to work. We had to secure the venue and an insurance policy, get product for the players and advertise for the game.

The first task was locking down the historical Palestra arena, which sits on the Ivy League campus of the University of Pennsylvania. The Palestra is considered the Cathedral of College Basketball, and legendary players such as Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James have all stepped foot on its court.

“From our first conversation, the game had to be at The Palestra; there was no second option,” Warrick says. “Plus, it is right around the corner from where I grew up in the Bottom West Philly.”

I called Philadelphia basketball icon, two-time Ivy League Player of the Year and UPenn head coach Jerome Allen, who has known Skinny and I since we were both young.

Allen arranged for a series of meetings between the Palestra’s facility director, UPenn’s athletic director and myself. Penn administration met the idea of the game with skepticism, due to the uncertainty of when the lockout would end. I assured them the game would happen because there was no end in sight for the lockout. I was confident, since I had daily communication with Smiley, who worked for one of the most prominent NBA agents in Bill Duffy, who represented numerous NBA stars including Steve Nash and Yao Ming.

Other parts were moving outside of the UPenn meetings. Nike had confirmed that they would be the official product sponsor for the game, outfitting all the players. Urban retail store DTLR Sneaker Villa would pay for all the radio advertisements, along with acquiring the insurance policy. Ten days after the initial meeting with Penn’s administrators, a deal was put in place for the Palestra to host the game.

Once these parts were solidified, the announcement to the public was made, and interest for the game exceeded all of our expectations.

Streaming is a standard tool of viewership nowadays, but back in 2011, it was something new. The Basketball Channel, a new company, approached me about the idea of streaming the event via the internet using their partnership with Sports Illustrated. The event was now going global.

“The game became bigger than what we expected,” says Warrick, a 13-year NBA vet and the Team Philly captain. “This was before the explosion of social media. Between the venue and streaming, this wasn’t no pickup game at the rec.”

The date and time were picked based on the fact that the hometown Philadelphia Eagles were playing their NFC East rival New York Giants that afternoon at 1 pm. Our game was scheduled to start at 6. I knew this would be a dream sports day for Philly fans. The Eagles versus the Giants at 1. The lockout game at 6 at the Palestra. It doesn’t get any better.

It was a warm, fall day, with temperatures in the 60s, but inside, the Palestra was humid and hot like a summer barbeque in the middle of the afternoon. “You had a three-piece suit on,” Smiley says, laughing, remembering the day. “I don’t know how you did it; I had to take my rugby shirt off.”

Members of the Philly team started to arrive around 4:30. As Hakim Warrick, Lou Williams, Kyle Lowry, Flip Murray, Wayne Ellington, Tyreke Evans, Jason Thompson, Mark Tyndale, Mardy Collins, Dionte Christmas and Aaron Owens began to take the court to warm up, a buzz started growing. Only three members of Team Melo were on the court: Donte Greene, Josh Selby and Gary Forbes.

The remaining players were still nowhere to be seen or found as it approached 30 minutes before tip-off. Fans were beginning to worry if the game was even going to happen.

I wasn’t worried at all. I was in contact with Worldwide Wes [William Wesley, current Executive Vice President for the New York Knicks] the entire time. Melo, Bron and CP3 were at the Eagles-Giants game, and Wes had arranged for them to have a police escort to the arena.

At 5:45 pm, my BlackBerry rang. It was Worldwide Wes asking, “Where do we pull up at?” I instructed them to go through the back entrance. A fleet of black SUVs pulled up. First Chris Paul jumped out, then Carmelo, then LeBron. All three of them entered the Palestra and walked under the stands to the locker room. When the fans caught a glimpse of the trio, the arena erupted.

Finally, as the clock hit 6:15, legendary Philadelphia referee Keith “Showtime” Saunders tossed the ball up for the opening tip. Players on both teams competed as if it were Game 7 of the NBA Finals, with Team Philly winning, 131-122. But to basketball fans, there were no losers.

For those lucky few who got inside the hallowed halls of the Palestra, watching all of those future Hall of Famers—watching history—it was a once in a lifetime event. 

Rahim Thompson is the founder of The Chosen League, the Philadelphia-based high school summer basketball league whose alumni include Kyle Lowry, Gerald Henderson and Kyle Kuzma. His book, Choose Wisely, is available at nomattertheodds.com.

Photos courtesy of Michelle Hunter/The Chosen League.

The post How LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul Linked Up to Play in the Legendary Battle of I-95 Game appeared first on SLAM.

James Harden when asked about not signing extension by deadline “I love it here, I feel at home. It’s nothing to worry about…For me individually, I just want to focus on this year.” He also said plainly “I don’t plan on leaving this organization.”

— Cassidy Hubbarth (@CassidyHubbarth) October 20, 2021

I don’t plan on leaving this organization and the situation that we have. So my focus, honestly, is just focus on the season and then winning the championship. The contract and all that stuff will bear itself out, but my focus is going to be locked on this season, Harden said.

According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, Harden’s decision to decline allows him to opt into his $47.4 million contract for 2022-23 and sign a four-year, $223 million extension at the beginning of the 2022 free agency period.

Harden would be set to become the first NBA player to surpass $60 million in earnings in one year, with an estimated $61.8 million in earnings in the last year of his extension.

Harden, who was traded from the Houston Rockets after a noteworthy stint Southwest, says he feels at home in Brooklyn:

“I love it here, myself and [Brooklyn owners] Joe [Tsai] and Clara [Wu Tsai] and [GM] Sean [Marks] and the front office and [alternate governor Oliver Weisberg] and [head coach] Steve [Nash]. From top to bottom the communication has been unbelievable, it’s been amazing. I feel at home. It’s nothing to worry about.

“For me, individually, I just want to focus on this year and that’s it, Harden said.

The post Nets’ James Harden ‘Has No Plans of Leaving’ Despite Not Signing Extension appeared first on SLAM.

“Given the evolving nature of the situation and after thorough deliberation, we have decided Kyrie Irving will not play or practice with the team until he is eligible to be a full participant,” Marks said via a team statement.  “Kyrie has made a personal choice, and we respect his individual right to choose. Currently the choice restricts his ability to be a full-time member of the team, and we will not permit any member of our team to participate with part-time availability. It is imperative that we continue to build chemistry as a team and remain true to our long-established values of togetherness and sacrifice. Our championship goals for the season have not changed, and to achieve these goals each member of our organization must pull in the same direction. We are excited for the start of the season and look forward to a successful campaign that will make the borough of Brooklyn proud.”

This announcements comes after previous reports that Irving received clearance to practice with the team after New York City ruled last Friday that the team’s practice facility, HSS Training Center, is a “private office building.”

Shams Charania of The Athletic had reported the news:

New York City has determined the Brooklyn Nets‘ practice facility, HSS Training Center, is a private office building – clearing Nets All-Star Kyrie Irving to practice at home, City Hall official tells @TheAthletic @Stadium.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 8, 2021

Irving has not played a preseason game and was ruled out for Monday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers.

The post UPDATE: Nets Announce that Kyrie Irving Will Not Practice or Compete with Team Until ‘Eligible As Full Participant’ appeared first on SLAM.

Part of the rationale behind Clifford’s hiring centers around his close relationship with Nets head coach Steve Nash. Nash and Clifford worked together in 2012-13, when Nash was a point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, and Clifford was an assistant coach for the franchise.

In addition, one of the Brooklyn’s premier assistant coaches—Mike D’Antoni, renowned as a head coach in his own right—stepped away from the organization after this past season, citing a desire to be hired as a head coach for the first time since the 2019-20 season. Meanwhile, former assistant coach Ime Udoka had been hired as the next head coach of the Boston Celtics.

The Nets add Steve Clifford as a coaching consultant. pic.twitter.com/gGlBO0qJ9f

— theScore (@theScore) August 11, 2021

Clifford is not the only coach the Nets have added to their organization this offseason, as former Oklahoma City Thunder assistant coach Brian Keefe and former Minnesota Timberwolves associate head coach David Vanterpool joining Nash’s coaching staff this offseason as well.

With the Nets amassing as much talent and experience on their coaching staff as any team has, and hosting a collection of some of the league’s preeminent stars, Brooklyn has a phenomenal opportunity to deliver their first championship in franchise history.

The post Steve Clifford Hired by Brooklyn Nets as Coaching Consultant appeared first on SLAM.

There are a lot of mock drafts out there, but it’s never too late to hit you with a new perspective. Members of the SLAM Fam were assigned a team to pick for, and here are the results and explanations for who they’ve selected.

We’d also like to extend our condolences to the family and loved ones of Terrence Clarke, who tragically passed away in April. Tonight would have been a special moment for him. Rest in Peace.

2021 FIRST ROUND

1. DETROIT PISTONS: Jalen Green (6-6 G, G League Ignite)

Jalen Green is a really, really, really good basketball player. He’s so good that it doesn’t look like he’s trying, for real, for real. But that’s foolish. Underneath the air that he occupies on his ever-elevating jump shots and on his albatross-like soaring dunks is a foundation of respect for the game and what it takes to be a really, really, really great basketball player. He’s a student of high-level basketball, rapidly consuming both mental and physical knowledge. That desire has separated him from his peers and will separate him from the League at some point. His computational capacity moves so swiftly that it doesn’t look like he’s trying, for real, for real. But that’s foolish. He is. And he is numero uno. — Max Resetar 

2. HOUSTON ROCKETS – Cade Cunningham (6-8 G, Oklahoma State)

Whether you’re interested in basketball players versus hoopers, or players with understated skill versus “a bag,” Cade Cunningham is the player for you.

At 6’8” and 220 pounds, Cunningham is a dynamic point-forward prospect that any team could realistically slot into their starting lineup at the 1, 2, or 3, and that’s perfect for a Rockets team with a veteran point guard on a rebuilding team (John Wall), a promising backcourt talent without a true position (Kevin Porter Jr.) and small forwards that are specialists, not polished two-way playmakers with an arsenal of scoring moves (including a stepback game that’s eerily reminiscent of the sensational Luka Doncic) that’s buoyed by his footwork, balance, body control, and ball-handling abilities. — Quenton Albertie

3. CLEVELAND CAVALIERS – Evan Mobley (7-0 C, University of Southern California)

Can’t count out Jalen Suggs here, especially if the Cavs end up moving Collin Sexton—which is a rumor that some reporters have been kicking around. All signs, though, point to Evan Mobley getting the call here. ESPN draft insider Chard Ford said this a couple of days ago: “I had a scout tell me the other night that Mobley is Chris Bosh on offense and Anthony Davis on defense. That’s an NBA superstar. That’s crazy.” If this forecast is accurate, the Cavs would be crazy not to take him.  — Franklyn Calle

4. TORONTO RAPTORS – Jalen Suggs (6-5 G, Gonzaga)

With Kyle Lowry’s likely departure ending an era he defined with professionalism, leadership, and grit, the Raptors can draft someone to continue that high standard. Suggs chose Gonzaga for the accountability and hard coaching, so he’ll embrace a similar situation in Ontario. A rotation of Fred Van Vleet, Suggs, and Malachi Flynn flexes versatility and hustle, while Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, and Chris Boucher uphold defensive tradition. Toronto won’t rely on Jalen’s on-court abilities immediately, but his leadership should convey from day one. In high school, Jalen was required to carry in two sports. He delivered state championships. At Gonzaga, he needed to be a do-it-all superstar. He delivered an unforgettable run. I don’t know what expectations are in Toronto, but I bet he’ll deliver. — Thilo Latrell Widder

5. ORLANDO MAGIC – Scottie Barnes (6-9 F, Florida State)

Now that the sexy picks are off the board, Scottie Barnes has the best potential that is not in the NBA Draft spotlight. Barnes made himself a top-five prospect dominating the pre-draft process. Teams were impressed with his incredible physical profile, wingspan, a strong bulky frame combined with a quickness.

He’s the perfect player to help set the defensive tone for Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley’s culture. However, his offensive game is limited due to his stiff shooting mechanics and confidence at times. Best case scenario, if he can combine his high energy, versatile defense with a reliable jumper, Scottie Barnes could have All-Star potential. Worst case, he could be a very capable All-NBA defender.  — Ronald Agers

6. OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER – James Bouknight (6-5 G, Connecticut)

While the Thunder are looking to do everything they can to move into the top-five, Bouknight is still a great pick if they’re unable to. One of the most dominant scorers in this class, Oklahoma City would instantly have one of the most intriguing young backcourts in the league with him and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. His assist and turnover numbers are certainly something to worry about, but Bouknight essentially had to carry the offense in college. At the next level, with more spacing and talent, he could look like a completely different player. While he hasn’t been a dominant defender to this point, he’s got the tools to develop into a solid perimeter defender. — Nick Crain

7. GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS – Jonathan Kuminga (6-8 F, G League Ignite)

Jonathan Kuminga is tuff. That’s all that needs to be said. – Theus McBee

8. ORLANDO MAGIC: Kai Jones (6-11 F, Texas)

Since Jonathan Kuminga was snatched up, Orlando will use their second lottery pick on Kai Jones, a raw athlete that fits the mold of a rim running, lob-catching threat. The Magic will continue their defensive theme in the lottery by drafting a player who shows potential with mobile defense with the ability to switch multiple positions. Offensively, he is a project with inconsistent shooting mechanics and no reliable post moves. Assuming Orlando drafts him at the 8th spot, they will need to have patience with him. They’ve done it before with another Texas Longhorn, Mo Bamba. If the Magic passes on Jones, look for a drop near the 20th selection. — Ronald Agers

9. SACRAMENTO KINGS: Franz Wagner (6-9 G/F, Michigan)

The needs of the Sacramento Kings this offseason are clear, they need help on the defensive end. Statistically, Sacramento had the worst defense in the NBA last year, clocking in with a defensive rating of 117.2, dead last in the league. Franz Wagner, a sophomore out of the University of Michigan, is a 6-foot-9 wing who showed the ability to defend multiple positions both on and off-ball at a high level in his two years with the Wolverines. Wagner’s versatile defensive abilities, along with improved jump shooting and playmaking on offense in his sophomore year, make him a great fit for the Kings at ninth overall. — Zach Dupont

10. MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES: Josh Giddey (6-8 G, Adelaide 36ers (NBL)

 Josh Giddey’s game speaks itself, but if we are gonna dive into what makes him such a standout, our editorial intern, Jared, described him best: He’s a gifted passer who thrives in transition with an advanced ability to find the descending big man in pick and roll scenarios. Armed with a bounty of knowledge and experience from mentors, a year playing professionally and a playmaking bag rivaled by the League’s top guards, Josh Giddey is ready for what he’s been waiting for. 

Giddey is already a pro who dominated in the NBL and finished the season with 13 double-doubles, and three triple-doubles. His playmaking ability will only add to the Grizzlies’ roster offensively, especially when he’s alongside a bucket like Ja. – Deyscha “Sway” Smith

11. WASHINGTON WIZARDS: Alperen Sengun (6’9 C, Besiktas (Turkey))

Traded to Washington for the No. 15 pick and Thomas Bryant

Beal. Westbrook. Hachimura. Bertans. Avdija. The core of an exciting playoff team is here, so moving up in the draft makes sense for Washington to grab Turkish big man Alperen Sengun. The MVP of the Turkish Super League last season–who just turned 19 on Sunday–averaged 19.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in under 30 minutes per game. Last season’s emergence of Daniel Gafford made us feel comfortable moving Thomas Bryant and his expiring contract to clear some cap space since both Alex Len and Robin Lopez are also free agents. Sengun, who models his game after reigning MVP Nikola Jokić and MVP runner-up Joel Embiid, should be ready to contribute right away. – Aron Phillips

12. SAN ANTONIO SPURS: Davion Mitchell (6-2 G,  Baylor)

Mitchell is quite possibly the most capable player in the draft to step in and be a major contributor to whichever team drafts him. The Spurs selecting him at 12 is a fantastic fit for an organization known to garner the most out of their young draft talent. Mitchell’s size at 6’3 and age of 23 by the time the 2021 season tips off doesn’t necessarily scream lottery material, yet when you turn on the tape of Mitchell in this past year’s Final Four, those concerns seem to evaporate. — Josh Frohlinger

13. INDIANA PACERS: Corey Kispert (6-7 SG, Gonzaga)

Standing at 6-7 this wing is a walking bucket. I’m talking about a three-point sniper deemed one of the best all-around shooters in the draft. Once he’s hot this kid poses as a true threat from downtown. He may very well be the missing piece that Naptown needs. — Charlie Desadier

14. GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: Josh Christopher (6-5 G, Arizona State)

With Klay Thompson back in the mix this coming season, the Warriors are gearing up for yet another championship run. With two lottery picks in this draft, the Warriors have the ability to take a bit more of a gamble at 14 as opposed to 7; and that’s what they do snagging Arizona State’s Christopher higher than most mock boards have projected. As a 6’5 shooter with confidence and elite athleticism, Christopher already displays an NBA-ready frame with suburb transition finishing.

15. CHARLOTTE HORNETS (via Washington): Quentin Grimes (6-6 G, Houston)

Just one game away from the 8-seed a year ago, Charlotte is on the cusp of being a regular playoff contender. I tried to keep the team young while also adding guys who can contribute on day one. We moved back a few picks and added Thomas Bryant via the Wizards, who will fight for the starting center job should Cody Zeller take his talents elsewhere. After moving down to 15, adding Quentin Grimes was an easy choice. The Houston shooting guard is uber-efficient as a scorer and showed he can run an offense while at the NBA Combine. He’s a perfect fit to replace Devonte Graham in the Hornets’ guard rotation feat. LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier, and can play alongside either, or on his own. — Ian Pierno

16. OKC THUNDER: Moses Moody (6-6 G, Arkansas)

There’s a real chance that Moody is taken in the top ten on Thursday, so the Thunder getting him at sixteen would be a pleasant surprise. Although OKC is looking to package No. 16 and No. 18 to move up and grab another lottery pick, they certainly wouldn’t be upset with a lottery talent like Moody falling to them here. While he may not have the ceiling of others in this class, his floor feels high. At a minimum, he projects to be a solid 3-and-D player at the next level. With a long frame and smooth stroke, Moody is a safe pick for a team that’s looking for a solid NBA player. — Nick Crain 

17. NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: Cam Thomas (6-4 G, LSU)

An instant-offense bucket-getter who, when he’s hot, cannot be left open under any circumstance. In other words, the perfect guy to stretch the floor alongside Zion Williamson. Done deal. — Adam Figman

18. OKC THUNDER: Jalen Johnson (6-9 G/F, Duke)

If it weren’t for his off-the-court issues, we could be talking about Johnson going just outside the top five of this draft. One of the most gifted prospects in this class, he’s an absolute force in transition. Johnson has the build of the perfect modern NBA forward and can do a little bit of everything. With their third pick in the top-20, OKC has the ability to take a gamble here, with Johnson being one of the highest risks in the draft but having the potential to be the biggest steal at the same time. — Nick Crain

19. NEW YORK KNICKS: Keon Johnson (6-5 G, Tennessee)

There’s no need to mince words. Keon Johnson is explosive. Watching him is almost akin to watching a bull in a china shop; he drives into the paint with the fury of a battering ram, unconcerned, and largely unbothered, by the less-athletic defender in front of him. The Knicks at No. 19 are a perfect landing spot for Johnson; while he still needs to address some major mechanical issues in his game—including tightening up his shot-motion and handle—his developmental upside will be cultivated and fostered by Tom Thibodeau and a potential rotation of him, Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett long term could end up putting the League on notice. — Jackson Wald

20. ATLANTA HAWKS: Sharife Cooper (6-1 G, Auburn)

Rife is Trae 2.0. Put these two together and you got the new Mobb Deep. Both are small guards, but ready to make any play turn into a highlight reel. Sharife’s short college season left an imprint around the country of his game not slowing down due to all the allegations he faced his freshman year. The Hawks had an incredible season/playoff run making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. Adding Cooper can only elevate their motion offense and create even more three-point possessions. In all honesty, Cooper’s a dawg, and I wish the Knicks were getting him next pick! — Nick Torres

21. NYK: Chris Duarte (6-6 G, Oregon)

Duarte is a proven commodity; he is a plus-defender, a reliable three-pointer shooter (he shot 42 percent last season at Oregon), and someone who will fit seamlessly in the Knicks’ new age grit-and-grind culture. Duarte has arguably the safety floor of any prospect selected after pick twenty. Also, as we saw with Mikal Bridges and Jae Crowder in the NBA Finals, it never hurts to have a solid core of 3-and-D wings. — Jackson Wald

22. LOS ANGELES LAKERS: Tre Mann (6-5 PG, Florida)

You know those players that make you feel like you’re getting punched in the gut every time they make a three against you? Tre’Shaun Mann is one of them. All you have to do is turn on the tape for a couple of minutes and you’ll see not many people in the world possess his combination of size, athleticism, and scoring creativity. It may or may not happen right away, but when Tre gets comfortable in the League he’s going to be one of the most dynamic guards. — Christian Quezada 

*We’re breaking a few rules here and adding another name to this list, too.

BJ Boston (6-7 F, Kentucky)

Say what you want about his performance last season at Kentucky, but BJ Boston says he’s improved his game “tremendously” since his college days. Word is he even recently had a “great” pre-draft workout with the Lakers and dominated their “Mentality Drill.” 

Anyone who has been following BJ’s trajectory will tell you that he’s been ready for the bright lights since the start. He knows how to navigate a spotlight, and how to power through negativity while focusing on his game and the things only he can control. If the Lakers don’t draft Mann, then it sounds like BJ could fit in on a star-studded roster led by the King.  — Sway

23. HOUSTON ROCKETS: Usman Garuba (6-8 PF, Real Madrid (Spain))

After selecting Cunningham second overall, the Rockets’ focus now shifts to their center position. Enter Usman Garuba, a Nigerian-Spanish big man with extensive experience in international competition and a few awards in his trophy case to boot.

At 6’8” and 230 pounds (with a 7’3” wingspan), Garuba is already a high-energy defensive force thanks to an exceptional feel of how to disrupt passing lanes and shot attempts, as well as enough agility and fluidity to guard out on the perimeter or in space. Combined with his abilities as a passer and potential as an outside threat, there are many who see him in the Draymond Green mold.

With a bevy of offensive talents, players willing and capable of thriving without the ball in their hands (and who can be a defensive menace in the same breath) are invaluable. — Quenton Albertie

24. ROCKETS: Josh Primo (6-6 G, Alabama)

The Rockets, all-in on their rebuild, select another of the 2021 NBA Draft’s youngest players: 18-year-old Josh Primo, a one-and-done at the University of Alabama.

Primo’s most NBA-ready skill at this point is his outside shooting, as he knocked down 38.1 percent of his 3-point attempts at Alabama with his 3-point attempts amounting to 57.9 percent of his overall shot attempts. With that said, not only does Primo’s selection fit the Rockets’ current timeline but it addresses the team’s mediocre outside shooting as well.

Due to his youth and need to develop his other guard skills, Primo may not get minutes early on, at least outside of the G League. But he’ll grow alongside Houston’s vibrant young core until his number is called, and likely hit at least one three by the time he leaves the game, no matter how small the role. — Quenton Albertie

25. LA CLIPPERS: Jared Butler (6-3 G, Baylor)

LA is known for helping young guards develop into immediate NBA talent (just look at what Terance Mann was able to do in the playoffs this year)  and Jared Butler is next up for the Clippers. A smooth, consistent guard for the national champion Baylor Bulldogs, Butler’s veteran mindset and consistent shooting will likely make him an immediate rotation staple on the Clippers. — Camille Buxeda

26. DENVER NUGGETS: Ayo Dosunmu (6-5 G, Illinois)

Ayo Dosunmu was, for the large majority of last year’s college basketball season, the best player on the best team in the nation. Dosunmu is an all-around ballplayer; need him to lock down the opponent’s best player? He’s on it. Need him to get you some buckets? He’ll drop twenty-plus. He’ll face a pretty serious adjustment coming into the league, where he will likely never be the main ball-handler or facilitator, but Ayo has the experience and drive to make it in the league for a long time. — Saheem Anthony

27. BROOKLYN NETS: Jaden Springer (6-4 SG, Tennessee)

After declining his player option, Spencer Dinwiddie and the Brooklyn Nets will most likely be parting ways this offseason, which leaves the Nets with a major need for defensive prowess and playmaking. While he needs to fine-tune his shot creation abilities, Tennessee’s Jaden Springer is a great grab for the Nets at 27. Springer could serve as the next young developmental guard in the rotation amidst a roster that has a plethora of shot creation abilities. An energizer on both ends of the floor, Springer averaged 12.5 points a game in his lone season with the Volunteers and is a tenacious on-ball defender. He’s a perfect fit alongside the likes of Bruce Brown for Steve Nash’s small-ball lineup that lacked the ability to effectively defend ball screens and switches this past season. — Jared Ebanks

28. PHILADELPHIA SIXERS: Ziaire Williams (6-8 F, Stanford)

Although Williams had a somewhat underwhelming freshman year at Stanford, he’s still the same Ziaire. Looking past the pressure of being an incoming Top 10 player in the country, Williams showed flashes of high-level scoring mixed with impressive athleticism. Going to the cup more could do him wonders and he simply has too much potential to slip past the first round. At a lengthy 6’8 185, he fits the modern-day NBA’s positionless basketball scheme to a tee. His shooting needs to improve if he wants to get big minutes, but Williams can definitely lighten the scoring load off the bench for Philly in the 2021-22 season. — Caleb Gagne

29. PHOENIX SUNS: Isaiah Jackson (6-10, F, Kentucky)

Although there were hints of returning to Kentucky, Jackson is taking his talents to the NBA. Jackson is an all-around hooper who can get it done on both ends of the floor. He averaged 2.6 blocks per game and was selected to the SEC All-Defense team. Jackson is a versatile player who can do it all for a big man. His playmaking ability stood out as he is able to put the ball on the floor and advance the ball. The Suns could use a player to develop behind star center Deandre Ayton, giving them the bench support they can use in the frontcourt. — Kobe Blackwell

30. UTAH JAZZ: Kessler Edwards (6-8 F, Pepperdine)

Did I just take someone out of Pepperdine in the first round? It’s a hard sell considering just two Waves —Doug Christie and the oft underrated Dennis Johnson— have had a five or more year career in the NBA. How’s that for trivia? I believe Kessler Edwards could become the third. The Jazz could trade out to dump contracts, but after a failed move with Charlotte, I decided to examine team needs. Joe Ingles is getting older and slipping on defense and the loss to the Clippers exposed Utah’s need for perimeter stoppers. Edwards shot 38% from deep on 119 attempts and with a nearly 7-foot wingspan and strong fundamentals, he’s a prototypical 3-and-D wing. — Thilo Latrell Widder

The post SLAM’s Official 2021 NBA Mock Draft appeared first on SLAM.

Brooklyn Nets assistant Mike D’Antoni is stepping away from a full-time coaching role on Steve Nash’s staff, sources tell ESPN. D’Antoni is expected to pursue head coaching jobs again in the future. He was a finalist for the Portland opening this year.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 28, 2021

D’Antoni’s decision is considered a surprise due to the fact that there are currently no head coaching vacancies. He was a finalist for the Portland Trail Blazers head coaching position that went to Chauncey Billups. D’Antoni was in the rumor mill for the Indiana Pacers job before former Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle got that job.

According to Woj, the day-to-day grind of being an assistant coach was getting to be too much.

Woj on The Jump on Mike D’Antoni: “He came in and helped Steve Nash through that first season as a head coach. He’d like to be a head coach’s again but I don’t think he wants to do the day-to-day grind of being an assistant.”

Says D’Antoni might be more open to hands-off work.

— Kristian Winfield (@Krisplashed) July 28, 2021

Mike D’Antoni is the second coaching loss for Brooklyn. The Boston Celtics hired Ime Udoka as their head coach earlier in the month. He was replaced by David Vanterpool.

D’Antoni’s past head coaching stints include the Nuggets, Suns, Lakers, Knicks, and Rockets.

The post Mike D’Antoni Rumored to Step Down as Assistant Coach appeared first on SLAM.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Celtics have hired Nets assistant coach Ime Udoka as their new head coach.

Udoka replaces Stevens, who shifted from head coach to president of basketball operations following the departure of longtime general manager Danny Ainge.

Udoka was an assistant coach for the Nets in the 2020-21 season under first-time head coach Steve Nash. He also spent one season with the Philadelphia 76ers (2019-20) under former head coach Brett Brown and seven seasons as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs under the Gregg Popovich regime.

A seven-year veteran, Udoka also brings significant playing experience as a career journeyman, having played with the Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers (then coached by Hall of Fame head coach Phil Jackson), New York Knicks (then coached by Hall of Fame head coach Larry Brown), Portland Trail Blazers (then coached by Atlanta Hawks interim head coach Nate McMillan), Sacramento Kings, (under Hall of Fame guard and then-head coach Paul Westphal).

Here’s how one coach who has worked with Ime Udoka described him to me:

“He listens to players and adjusts. It’s not his way or the highway. He has an edge, but he’s not a hard-ass. He’ll stand up to guys. He’s defensive-minded. He values toughness.” https://t.co/yxGFsVpQhl

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) June 23, 2021

What endeared Stevens to Udoka, apart from his coaching and playing experience in the league, was his tenure as an assistant coach to Popovich for the U.S National Team in the 2019 World Cup.

As was noted by Wojnarowski, many Celtics players raved about Udoka throughout the tournament, who subsequently received recommendations from players like Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart during the hiring process.

Congrats to our very own Ime Udoka.

The first Nigerian head coach in NBA History!

The Celtics got a good one! Green and white like always. pic.twitter.com/zltGKz0ntA

— D’Tigers | Nigeria Basketball (@NigeriaBasket) June 23, 2021

Udoka will be the 18th head coach in Celtics franchise history and the first Nigerian head coach in NBA history.

As the Celtics seek their 18th NBA title, it seems almost too-fitting that they will have their 18th head coach at the helm.

It might just be the luck of the Irish. 

The post Boston Celtics Finalizing Agreement to Hire Ime Udoka as Head Coach appeared first on SLAM.

Throughout the Eastern Conference semifinals, PJ Tucker has resided on Kevin Durant’s hip. The tenacious forward has been blowing up any ball screen, post-up or isolation set designed for Durant to operate within.

Tucker and Durant are longtime friends off-the-court as their Texas Longhorns connection runs deep. However, when the two step out onto the court together, everything goes out the window.

While Durant posted 28 points in the Nets’ 96-107 loss to the Bucks on Sunday, he shot just 9-for-25 from the field and 1-8 from the 3-point line. As his primary defender, Tucker held Durant to 9 points and 25 percent shooting from the field.

That being said, Nets head coach Steve Nash had choice words for the way in which Milwaukee’s defensive enforcer has been guarding KD throughout the series.

“I thought it was borderline non-basketball physical at times, but that’s the playoffs,” Nash said.

What are your thoughts on PJ Tucker’s defense this series against Kevin Durant? pic.twitter.com/5b9Jr9BiYI

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) June 13, 2021

Throughout the game, Durant pleaded with officials about what he deemed to be excessive contact by Tucker.

Durant is universally recognized as one of the best scorers in the modern era, which gardeners a plethora of defensive attention, especially with 2018 NBA MVP James Harden in street clothes and the loss of seven-time All-Star Kyrie Irving (who went down with a sprained ankle late in the second quarter).

Tucker is averaging 3.4 personal fouls per game during the series and accumulated five while guarding Durant last night.

How many calls were missed is still up for debate.

The post Nets HC Steve Nash Questions PJ Tucker’s Defense on Kevin Durant appeared first on SLAM.

People think like, y’all gotta understand, it was five of us like 20 and under. So everybody is literally—we all at the starting point. We all right here. We at the starting point for the race of our careers. So everybody tryna get out the blocks, you feel me?“

In 2000, the Los Angeles Clippers made a landmark decision by drafting East St. Louis High School forward Darius Miles with the third overall pick in the draft. In a trend that had become increasingly popular after the success of players like Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady, Miles became the highest-drafted high school player in NBA history.

Fifteen picks later, the Clippers would take DePaul wing Quentin Richardson, setting themselves up with a young and dynamic roster that also featured Lamar Odom (the fourth overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft) and former 13th overall pick Corey Maggette.

Once Elton Brand entered the fold, the Clippers looked to be a team on the rise, built for sustainable success.

Unfortunately for the Clippers, Los Angeles and the NBA, a front office led by the late Elgin Baylor opted to trade Miles and Odom before the young team could dig in and reach their full potential, prompting Richardson’s own early exit.

While the eventual addition of players like Sam Cassell and Chris Kaman allowed the Clippers to briefly regain their footing, it wouldn’t be until nearly 10 years after they lost the promising Miles and Richardson that they regained their footing.

Cognizant of the reputation that follows the franchise and the duo’s short-lived era with them, Q-Rich and D-Miles got up with us to look back. In an interview with SLAM, the lifelong friends discuss their time with the Clippers, the current NBA landscape, and how their time in the NBA transformed them off-the-court.

SLAM: What do you think about the less high-profile teams showing out—guys like Trae Young getting to show what they got on the national stage?

DM: I think it’s the generation change. It’s time for a new generation, you got a new generation of superstars. Like, people forget LeBron James is 36. He just went to the Finals for a decade! You gotta, you know—he got bout two-to-three more years left—so now we gotta see some more faces in those positions and that’s what we’re seeing in Trae Young and Devin Booker and all these other teams that’s in it.

I think it’s just the generation change. We’re in a new era.

SLAM: I just read something where Q-Rich was talking when y’all guys came into the league with the Clippers, y’all felt like y’all had to represent for the youth, to be that new generation. So do you see anything in any of these young guys that reminds you of yourselves in any way?

DM: Kinda all of ’em ’cause all of ’em are young. All of ’em young like us. We was the only ones; we were sort of the only ones. We was the only team that had five-to-six guys that’s under 21-years-old. You know what I’m saying? Like, this has never been done before. So we were the first of the era. But looking at the era now, you got guys that’s 23 and under and they All-Stars.

QR: Everywhere!

DM: [Laughing] They the top scorers in the league. They the top rebounders. Like these guys are young and it’s looking like us. So everybody look like they kiddish, you know? They celebrating. They play a lot. Like, everybody kinds look like us ’cause they a bunch of young guys.

QR: The two—the teams—I would agree with what D is sayin’ as far as across the league, it’s so many young players is just doing it big and killin’ and, like he said, being All-Stars and borderline superstars and superstars. But the team that I looked at and when I look at them and say man they kind of remind me of us as a young team—even though they had more success than us—I kind of look at the Memphis Grizzlies.

They got a real young core. It’s not like—even though there’s young guys sprinkled across—it’s not really a team. Maybe them and Sacramento. Sacramento a little bit too with their youth and the way they got a bunch of young guys that’s like—even though they haven’t yielded the total success—they have really exciting players and they play hard and they go out there and do their thing as young guys.

SLAM: Speaking of the Clippers still—y’all had [Corey] Maggette, [Elton] Brand—y’all had, you know, talented guys. What do you think contributed to you guys not being able to be a playoff team like the Hawks or the Grizzlies?

QR: Just us not staying together. Like, we didn’t keep the core together. We succeeded. What people don’t realize—they be like man, we got killed—that really ain’t the story. Like, when we got there they won 17 out of 82 before we got there. So our first year we won 31 games. Then our next year we won 39 games. We was two games out the playoffs our second year. Then our third year, I left. Lamar [Odom] left. They kind of blew up the whole team.

So we had success. It was on our way to success but we ain’t get a chance to really kind of stick together and get a good three—like a good four years—of it. I don’t think people realize really how that was. People think like, y’all gotta understand, it was five of us like 20 and under. So everybody is literally at the—we all at the starting point—we all right here. We at the starting point for the race of our careers. So everybody tryna get out the blocks, you feel me?

So it wasn’t like—as much as we was homies, all friends, all bros, and we grown and we still got those relationships—man those first 1-2 years were some of the most competitive years you would have ever saw because we didn’t all get to play. That’s why people used to see us get in in garbage time—whenever, it didn’t matter—it was time to do yo’ shit. You know what I’m sayin’? That was it, point blank because we didn’t know. We was all at the starting point, so we looking at—maybe D-Miles getting all the success right now—we all looking like, “man we want to play, we want to play.”

So we totally support him—you see it in the clips, any time he do anything, all us jumping up and down and vice versa. If any of us do anything, they all—we all—cheer for each other. But it was like, at that time, [Alvin] Gentry wasn’t playing us and I talked to Coach about this like once I played for him in the future and all of that and I know him. It was like, he wasn’t playing all of us.

He had made a decision that, “well, okay, if Q plays, Corey can’t play.”

“If Corey play, Q can’t play.”

You know what I’m saying? D-Miles is playing just because he was in that Sixth Man role and he can play damn near any position. But then Keyon [Dooling] might not play because J-Mac (Jeff McInnis) playing.

DM: Yeah, Earl Boykins played sometimes.

QR: So it was like when we got out there it didn’t matter how much time was left, it didn’t matter what was going on. We had to show our worth. So that’s why you saw what you saw.

You saw boys going out there going crazy hard, trying to dunk on people, D-Miles crossin’ people, Keyon “Smitty”-ing people, you seeing everybody’s specialty moves because that’s what you say:

“Aye when you get out there, do your special move.”

DM: Do your special move. Do what you do.

Like I said, people at it and look back on it and you gotta really dialogue it and see, we had success… We just got on a team that was at the bottom of the barrel. Like, you know what I’m saying? We won 15 extra games than what they did when they had veterans.

Because they had [Maurice] Traylor on this team. They had Lamar on this team. They had all these guys—these veteran guys on this team—and they came in brought basically a high school and college kids on this team and we win 15 more games than what they won last year. We add another eight games we won the previous [year] and we was two games out the playoffs.

So the next year, it was etched in stone that we were finna do it. Like the second year we put Elton in the All-Star Game, you know what I’m saying? We was comin’!

QR: Everybody got paid from that court too.

DM: Yeah. We was comin’ but we only played two years together but everybody thinks we played a whole decade or half a decade or something like that.

SLAM: Was there a feeling beforehand, like some of these guys aren’t gonna be here three or four years down the line?

QR and DM: Noo!

DM: It was a blindside because I was the first to leave. Like, during the summertime, I got traded. And that was a culture shock to everyone because they were looking like, “Oh, he’s the one on commercials, [that] they puttin’ on the billboard.”

The last person that’s probably going to get traded is D-Miles or Lamar. And D-Miles and Lamar was the two that was out of there that summer. You know what I’m saying? It was a culture shock for everybody. It threw us off. It showed us the business. Because once I got to Cleveland, I realized how good I actually had it.

‘Cause when I got to Cleveland it was like starting over all over again. They was a young team, they bringing these high school cats in, they doin’ all this stuff, but it wasn’t the same. We wasn’t a team environment. We used to be together every single day [with the Clippers]. Like six, seven of us. Like we together.

QR: Foreal.

DM: I’m talking Thanksgivings. Christmases. My mama cookin’ at the crib. Like we together all the time. On the road we eatin’ together: “What we finna do?” Go to the movies and eat.

SLAM: So you feel like it was a different vibe in Cleveland, like with the teammates?

DM: Yeah, it was ’cause I didn’t know them as well. Like I knew the guys. I knew DeSagana Diop. I knew Dajuan Wagner. I knew Ricky Davis. I knew a few of these guys but we wasn’t as close as I am with Q and Keyon and Corey. You know what I’m saying? Me and Q and Corey, we from the same state. We grew up, basically, with each other.

QR: AAU.

DM: Then addin’ Keyon onto it. Then, you know, we used to play against Elton and Lamar during AAU. Corey played with Elton. It was like a whole connection. We was already connected already.

But when I got to Cleveland, it was just, a different environment. It wasn’t the same. It wasn’t team-oriented. I was still team-oriented because I made sure every team I went to I took time out the year to go and go over all my teammates houses, or create an environment like that, because the best environment for teams is when you bond together.

You know what I’m saying? You build some type of trust. And I tried that with every other team but it wasn’t the same as I had with the Clippers.

SLAM: They say the relationships you build inside the facility are different than the ones you build outside of it.

D-Miles: And sometimes it be just one year. One year everybody the best of friends. We together this whole year, it’s like a whole bonding journey and then the next year we might not even talk to each other. You need that bond or that year to get the on and off-court chemistry. Like Q had it in Phoenix, you know?

SLAM: Q, how did you feel about that? Because it was one year but y’all won 62 games.

QR: 62-20. That was, I mean, I was just in the studio in Atlanta doing NBA TV the other day and Jim Jackson and we was talking about it then because Jim Jack got brought in later in the [2004-05] season.

But he was speaking on how our team was such a family environment and we just embraced him as a brother, it was like, seamless. Because that was like one of the most—probably the most—special years I had in the NBA as far as team success and it was because of the way we were from Day 1.

[Note: Prior to signing with the Suns, Steve Nash took a pay cut to make sure the Suns could sign Richardson in July 2014]

We signed and we got in town like mid to end of August when most teams get in town like sometime mid-September, some after Labor Day and all of that. We were all in town. The main pieces were all in town. Really not just the main pieces, we were all in town. Working out at the facility, playing pickup, getting to know each other like literally every day.

That’s when I got a relationship with Joe Johnson ’cause him and his boys, we all around the same age. We would get through working out, hooping, practicing, then we’ll all go—I’ll go to his house…be playing Madden, video games, whoopty-whoop whatever, just kickin’ it. Then we go out to eat. Steve, me, Amar’e [Stoudemire]. Everybody. It was like it became a thing.

Currently co-hosting the popular Knuckleheads podcast, Richardson and Miles have used the connections they’ve forged throughout their playing careers for more than just post-NBA opportunities, but the pair recognizes their status as members of the NBA fraternity and utilize it to grow their audience and guest list.

Q-Rich and D-Miles have become known for making their guests comfortable simply through being themselves and holding casual conversations. The sixth installment of their season will be entirely virtual, with high-profile names like Ray Allen, Donovan Mitchell, Dr. J, Jamal Mashburn, Chris Mullin and Bradley Beal set to join the show.

Even Miles’ former teammate, Dajuan Wagner, will be on the show.

“That’s our ‘Sucker Free’ episode,” Miles says. “I’m glad I got an opportunity to represent him and let people hear his story.”

The post Darius Miles, Quentin Richardson Talk Shop: The Clippers That Could Have Been appeared first on SLAM.

Malika Andrews of ESPN reported this weekend that James Harden will miss Game 2 on Monday against the Bucks as well.  

After Game 1, Nets Head Coach Steve Nash talked about how seeing this happen to Harden is heartbreaking. 

Brooklyn won Game 1 by a score of 115-107 without Harden for nearly the entire game, as he played just one minute. 

Game 2 will take place in Monday night Brooklyn, where Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving will look to take the 2-0 series lead without their third superstar alongside them. Durant and Irving combined for 54 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists in Game 1 while Blake Griffin contributed 18 points and 14 rebounds of his own. 

The post James Harden to Miss Game 2 Against Bucks appeared first on SLAM.

James Harden says he is “very confident” he will be back before the post season. https://t.co/ZcWK2NbTXf

— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) May 6, 2021

Harden has only played in seven games with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving this season.

| 𝗝𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗦 𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗡 𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗔 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗔𝗣

“We’re just taking it one day at a time.”@JHarden13 | #BrooklynTogether pic.twitter.com/RUhtIAHqmE

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) May 6, 2021

The Nets have been without their All-Star guard since April 5th after a 114-112 win over the New York Knicks when the hamstring injury held Harden to four minutes and 22 seconds. He missed the prior two games for what was called hamstring tightness.

Despite telling reporters that he feels “really good” working on his conditioning and his change of speed and direction, Harden will have to get through a few more workouts without pain or discomfort to avoid a setback like he had on April 21 that prompted coach Steve Nash to temper expectations a couple of weeks ago.

“We’re back to square one,” coach Steve Nash said then. “He will be back when he’s back. It might be the playoffs. It might be sooner.”

James Harden does not have much of a window left in the season with only five games left before the season ends on Sunday May 16th. Harden has not ruled out the possibility of returning on Brooklyn’s current road trip.

The Nets play the Denver Nuggets Saturday and Chicago Bulls on Tuesday on the road. Then, they finish the season at home against the San Antonio Spurs on May 12th, the Bulls again on May 15th and the Cleveland Cavaliers on May 16th.

Brooklyn have a record of 8-8 during Harden’s hiatus after losing to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night. The nine-time All-Star averages 25.4 points, 11.0 assists and 8.7 rebounds in 34 games in his Nets tenure.

The post James Harden Announces Possible Intentions to Return Before the Postseason appeared first on SLAM.

And, while young stars like Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton deserve their flowers for their performances this season, the Suns rise out West starts and ends with their captain: 15-year NBA veteran Chris Paul.

Paul, who was traded to Phoenix last November with the Oklahoma City Thunder looking to rebuild, has been one of the league’s most polarizing figures. Often criticized for his ball-domineering ways and tenuous relationships with the stars on his teams, Paul is — and has always been — one of the league’s most intelligent players.

An extension of the coach when he’s on the floor, Paul’s pitbull-like demeanor in combination with his understanding of the game allows him to be the type of floor general that’s become rare in the modern NBA. Where most guards’ biggest threat today is their ability to score, Paul is a throwback that reminds of us point guards like Steve Nash, Jason Kidd and John Stockton.

That may be a long-winded way to explain what Paul brings to every team he plays for but it’s useful in understanding why the Suns, with 10 players holding no more than five seasons of experience, needed Paul.

Why they needed their second high-level facilitator of the Booker Era.

While alleviating Booker from a substantial portion of his playmaking responsibilities, Paul has become an excellent pick-and-roll partner with Ayton, thanks to the threat of his 3-pointer and floater. In fact, with Paul’s basketball IQ, passing ability and improved spacing, even players like Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson are finding it easier to score around the rim.

The identification and simplification of everyone’s roles, quite simply, has allowed everyone to play to their strengths without overthinking.

Averages of 16.2 points, 8.8 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game (on a true shooting percentage of .594) may not jump off of the page when assessing MVP candidates. Especially when compared with the volume scoring of players like Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid or New York Knicks power forward Julius Randle.

Further, when assessing the roles of each player on their respective team, Jokic’s playmaking for the Nuggets is as essential as Paul’s is for the Suns.

Still, there’s something to be said for a team that’s at the top of the Western Conference standings when they were the 10th seed just a season ago. When they hadn’t won more than 25 games in any season of the Booker Era before 2019-20.

Certainly, the improvement of their defense has been particularly important, and Paul’s ability to generate turnovers has always been a key part of his game. However, the steal numbers for Rubio and Paul were identical from their time with the Suns and though Paul has a better defensive rating (107.9 compared to 108.4), the difference is negligible.

That said, this is where the defensive-minded wings and forwards that Phoenix possesses have been important.

Johnson, now in his second season, has improved his defensive rating from 108.3 to 105.9 with increased familiarity and play recognition. Craig, who Phoenix signed in the offseason, has held opponents to .444 percent shooting from the field and .353 percent from 3-point range.

Moving Dario Saric to the second unit, in favor of third-year forward Mikal Bridges, has been what’s the biggest boost for Phoenix’s defense. With a bench role and less defensive responsibility, his defensive rating has improved the most, going from a 112.0 in 2019-20 to 102.6 in 2020-21.

In a nutshell, Paul’s biggest contribution to the Suns isn’t to their defense. Nonetheless, while he’s helped enhance their offense, it’s difficult to say he’s the most essential piece of it. Especially as Booker perhaps, who averages 25.6 points per game, brings the Suns’ offensive rating all the way up to 120.2 when he’s on the court (versus 111.3 when he’s off the court).

Paul’s biggest contribution is intangible: it’s his leadership, his ability to get his troops focused and his ability to make the game easier for his teammates.

“He watches so much basketball,” Bridges says of Paul on The Ringer’s ‘Real Ones’ podcast. “He tells you so much about the opponent… he kind of mentally gets you locked in before the game even starts, before we even know our opponent yet.”

CP3’s key to unlocking Phoenix’s potential is, quite simply, being the player he’s always been.

Is that deserving of an MVP award this season? Likely not.

However, entertaining the conversation creates a deeper appreciation for the future Hall of Famer and what he’s meant to one of the league’s most adored franchises.

Per Sports Illustrated’s Michael Shapiro:

“Chris’s mindset is just different. It rubs off on all of us,” Johnson says. “He’s always a couple of steps ahead of the game, he’s always teaching. … He’s pulling us aside, telling us things to pick up, when to roll, when to pop, where to rotate. He really seems to see everything out there.”

The post Chris Paul’s Case for Laying Claim to 2021 NBA MVP Award appeared first on SLAM.

Per CNBC’s Jabari Young, the Phoenix Suns will make their first appearance in the NBA Playoffs for the first time since the 2009-10 season.

Back in those days, Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire were a deadly pick-and-roll duo for the ‘7 Seconds or Less’ Suns in an offense as exciting as any had been seen to that point.

You just had to be there.

That being said, Phoenix is no stranger to having a hot-shot roster. Nowadays, a different high IQ point guard — Chris Paul — is leading the charge, with rising stars in Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton making an indelible impact for the franchise.

Booker has averaged 25.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists so far this season, while Paul has averaged 16.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 8.7 assists per game. Ayton, now in his third season, is averaging 14.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting a career-high .620 percent from the field.

Currently the second seed in the Western Conference, the Suns ended their 10-season playoff drought (the fifth-longest in NBA history) following a 109-101 victory over against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.

While this is CP3’s 11th postseason appearance, Booker will have his first career playoff experience in a stretch that will be invaluable to his evolution into superstar player.

The post Suns Set to Make First Playoff Appearance Since 2010 appeared first on SLAM.

James Harden Medical Update: pic.twitter.com/bQqj1BZ0ch

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) April 20, 2021

Harden reaggravated his injury on Monday doing an “on court” rehab session. After an MRI on Tuesday, his future is unclear according to Steve Nash, via ESPN’s Malika Andrews.

“Back to square one,” Nets coach Steve Nash said Tuesday. “We’ll rehabilitate him and get him back whenever we can, and who knows when that will be. We’ll support James and our performance team in getting him back in as best condition as possible. And hopefully, that comes sooner than later, but there’s no guarantee.”

Harden has now missed seven games after playing just four minutes on April 5th against the New York Knicks. Before the setback, he was doing well in his rehab and was participating in 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 workouts.

Harden’s teammate, Kevin Durant, who is also out “indefinitely” with a left thigh contusion, has a “more positive” prognosis than Harden and is considered day to day after colliding with Miami Heat’s Trevor Ariza on Sunday.

The Nets are considered this year’s title favorites, but now history is against them. Per ESPN Stats & Information research, no champion has had its top three scorers miss at least ten games in the same season. Durant, Harden and Kyrie Irving have all missed at least that amount.

The Nets (39-19) are currently the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference sitting a half-game behind the Philadelphia 76ers.

James Harden has season averages of 25.2 points, 8.0 rebounds and 10.9 assists per game for the Nets.

The post James Harden Out Indefinitely From Hamstring Rehab Setback appeared first on SLAM.

Durant was forced to leave Sunday’s game against the Miami Heat, with what the team is calling a left thigh contusion.

The play happened early in the the Nets’ quarter, as Durant was driving to the basket and on a roll, scoring Brooklyn’s first eight points. KD appeared to get tangled with Heat forward Trevor Ariza as he attempted a layup.

The injury would end up sidelining him for the rest of the game, and Brooklyn would later announce that the star forward had suffered a thigh contusion.

After the game, Nets coach Steve Nash would go on to say Durant would be re-evaluated to determine the status and whether any further testing is needed.

“He’s sore,” Nash told reporters following the game (h/t ESPN’s Malika Andrews). “But we don’t know how severe. We’ll see tomorrow how he wakes up and go from there.”

The team is hoping, it’ll be day-day, as Durant had returned to the lineup just last week, after missing close to two months with a hamstring injury. Brooklyn has already listed Durant as out for Tuesday’s contest against the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Nets are also currently without All-Star guard James Harden, who has been sidelined for the last five games with a right hamstring strain.

It’s been tough for the three stars to establish a rhythm together as injuries have been a problem, and Brooklyn’s superstar trio of KD, Harden, and Kyrie Irving have only played in seven games together thus far.

The post Kevin Durant Out Indefinitely Due to Thigh Contusion appeared first on SLAM.

After passing Hall of Fame forward Scottie Pippen for sixth-place on the NBA’s career steals list on Monday, the all-time great point guard passed up another Hall of Famer, point guard Maurice Cheeks, for fifth-place on the NBA’s career leaderboard in a 106-86 win over the Miami Heat.

Paul had three steals in the game which included two in the fourth quarter that put him at 2,311 for his career. Cheeks, who was fifth at the time had 2,310 in 15 NBA seasons.

Paul is now pursuing Gary ‘The Glove,’ Payton for fourth place (2,445 steals); NBA legend Michael Jordan, who’s in third-place (2,514); former floor general Jason Kidd (2,684); and the NBA steals record holder, John Stockton (3,265).

This milestone comes weeks after Paul became the sixth player in NBA history to total 10,000 career assists against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Chris Paul becomes the 6th player in NBA history with 10,000 CAREER ASSISTS! pic.twitter.com/pavbc9t6OY

— NBA (@NBA) March 22, 2021

CP3 shares this honor with Stockton, Kidd, two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash, 1988 Rookie of the Year, Mark Jackson, and five-time champion Magic Johnson.

Paul is still going strong in his 16th season, quelling suspicions that he’s lost his status as an upper echelon playmaker the last two seasons.

While he recently played in his 11th All-Star Game (with his second-consecutive appearance) last month, and has averages of 15.8 points, 8.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game, his ability to turn the Suns into a championship contender is perhaps his greatest feat yet.

The post Chris Paul Passes Maurice Cheeks for 5th on All-Time Steals List appeared first on SLAM.

Aldridge, who joined the Nets on Sunday, didn’t need to provide rationale for his free agency decision. At 35-years-old, the seven-time All-Star is racing against Father Time, taking the same route that other grizzled vets have when their desire to win a championship proves inescapable.

However, as a player who became a full-time starter during his rookie season, one has to wonder just how much LMA was willing to sacrifice in order to win a ring with Brooklyn.

Those concerns were laid to rest as Aldridge told reporters that his goals are no longer about achieving individual accolades but wins while filling “a void.”

Per ESPN’s Malika Andrews:

“I’m not here to be an All-Star,” Aldridge said. “That’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m just trying to bring the value, try to bring the things I’m good at and trying to help this team win. I’m not worried about being an All-Star anymore.”

Aldridge is joining a loaded Nets’ team with three All-Stars in their prime in Kyrie Irving, James Harden and Kevin Durant, as well as one of the league’s most lethal 3-point specialists in Joe Harris. Add DeAndre Jordan, Blake Griffin, Jeff Green and Nic Claxton to the mix, you have what’s undeniably one of the most talented and decorated rosters in the league .

The Texas native sees himself as a stretch-five for the Nets, which “opens the floor up” for Brooklyn, says Nets head coach Steve Nash.

Known as one of the most efficient midrange shooters throughout his career, Aldridge has revolutionized his game to match the league at large. This season, Aldridge has taken a career-high .302 percent of his shot attempts from beyond the arc while knocking down .360 of his 3-point attempts, which bodes well for Brooklyn.

Nash says that LMA will have a few practice runs before possibly getting an opportunity to suit up later on in the week. Aldridge will also have a chance to be a starter, with the starting center role having been in-flux throughout the season.

The post LaMarcus Aldridge, Steve Nash Discuss All-Star’s Role with Nets appeared first on SLAM.

Shortly after the recent trade deadline, Mavericks General Manager Donnie Nelson addressed the media on the state of the team. When asked about the progression of Doncic, he reminisced on the first time he had the chance to see him play.

“When I saw Luka play for the first time, I’m like, ‘man, that’s a 6’7” Steve Nash that can shoot it and this and that and the other thing, but he rebounds like Jason Kidd.’”

As good as Doncic is, this is about the highest of praise you can give a young point guard. When you think about someone having the the ability to score and pass like Steve Nash while rebounding like Jason Kidd while also standing at 6-foot-7, it makes sense why Doncic might have the brightest future of any young player in the NBA. Both Nash and Kidd played for the Mavericks and were among the best point guards in the history of the league and are in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

As the clear leader of this young Mavericks team, Doncic is still just 22-years-old and playing as well as anyone in the NBA. Through 40 games this season, he’s averaged 28.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 8.1 assists per contest while shooting .368 from beyond the arc. As Nelson alluded to, the sky is the limit for the young guard.

The post Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson Compares Luka Doncic to Jason Kidd and Steve Nash appeared first on SLAM.

By his senior season, he led the Eagles to a perfect 35-0 record and ended his high school career with a bang: he scored 47 points in his last high school game and his team went on to win a Geico National Championship. Oh yeah, and then he won all of the major National Player of the Year accolades, a feat that had only been accomplished by LeBron James. 

As if his high school accolades weren’t enough, the guy who was once nicknamed ‘Maple Mamba’ went on to lead Canada to a win in the FIBA World Cup. Then he found himself suitin’ up in blue and white with ‘Duke’ written across his chest, joining a stacked squad that included Zion Williamson, Cam Reddish and Tre Jones. All of them, RJ included, would go on to play in the League.  

Transitioning into the NBA brings on a lot of heat. Some players fade into being labeled as a “has been” while others either live up to expectations or beat the odds. Coming in as the third pick in the draft, expectations from NY fans and basketball critics around the world were high for the former top prospect—especially considering that many fans had hopes of Barrett becoming the second coming for the Knicks.

His rookie season was tough for both himself and the team, but he still showed glimmers of potential and high-upside. As shown in NBA Rooks, now streaming on ESPN, RJ had a spectacular debut for the Knicks but acknowledged that the tempo of the game and the competitiveness is different in the League compared to college. The Knicks started the season 4-18 before acquiring head coach Tom Thibodeau with hopes of reviving a franchise that seemed to have lost not only it’s footing but the spark that it once had.

The move eventually paid off for the Knicks, and RJ, who averaged 14.3 points, 5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists showed glimmers of potential and high-upside, including multiple 20-point games. Still, he didn’t make the All-Rookie First or Second Team and finished eighth in Rookie of the Year voting.

While criticism followed about his shooting, and whether he was the prospect everyone expected, sometimes you just need to trust the process before developing into a star.

And, a star on the Knicks he is blossoming into. RJ has improved in nearly every scoring category, averaging 17.3 points, 3.0 assists and shooting 45.3 percent from the field. He’s also had four back-to-back 20+ point games and recently scored a career-high 32 points against the Oklahoma City Thunder, proving that he has the ability to run the offense. RJ’s offensive contributions have helped propel the Knicks toward success, and the team is potentially in a position to make the playoffs. If successful, this would be their first playoff appearance since 2013. 

Unfortunately, we live in a time where if a 20-year-old enters the League and has a rough couple of seasons, judgment comes quickly. But basketball is a game of momentum, and sometimes it just takes time to get the ball rollin’. It took a minute, but RJ’s hoopin’ just like everyone knew he could. 

—

Stream NBA Rooks exclusively on ESPN+

Follow the journeys of Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, RJ Barrett and more as they begin their pro careers on NBA Rooks, exclusively on ESPN+.

The post Follow RJ Barrett’s Journey on NBA Rooks, Streaming Now on ESPN+ appeared first on SLAM.

After last year’s 8-0 run in the bubble, the Suns knew they had the potential to become a playoff team. Looking back, the team’s roster was young and it appeared as though head coach Monty Williams and general manager James Jones knew they needed to add a veteran presence to the locker room.

Then came along Chris Paul in a trade. Paul had a promising performance in the bubble last season with Oklahoma City and, despite the team falling short to Houston in seven games, had let everyone know that he still had some gas left in the tank.

While there was much speculation around Paul’s age and his ability to compete, he has silenced the haters this season and has stepped up as a leader on the Suns.

The 35-year old has been deep in his bag this season and is currently eighth in the league in assists (8.8) while averaging 15.9 points per game.

On Sunday’s matchup against the Lakers, Paul’s alley-oop lob to Deandre Ayton marked his 10,000th assist—he’s now ranked sixth all-time in assists behind legends John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Mark Jackson, and Magic Johnson.

10K career assist
DOMINAYTON@CP3 @DeandreAyton pic.twitter.com/4u9nU8q5vY

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) March 22, 2021

“It’s a testament to what type of teammate he is with the ‘we score’ mentality instead of ‘me score’ mentality,” said teammate and All-Star guard Devin Booker, according to Duane Rankin at AZ Central. “All the nicknames he gets, he fully deserves. Point God. Everything.”  

Alongside Booker, the Suns have been able to find success so far and they’ve maintained a 26-12 record. Currently second in the Western Conference, they’ll have to keep up the pace if they want to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2010.

The Point God says he’s not done dishing out dimes just yet.

“It’s a blessing, first and foremost, to play this long,” Paul said. “That’s something I don’t take for granted. A lot of guys I came in with are now coaching or unable to play now and I just thank God for this opportunity, man. I love this game. I love to play and compete and I’m grateful.” 

“I ain’t done. I’m going to keep hoopin’.”

The post Chris Paul Reaches 10,000 Assists, Now Ranked Sixth All-Time appeared first on SLAM.

Perhaps in response to the discourse surrounding his decision, Griffin joined Bleacher Report’s Scott Polacek to discuss his move to Brooklyn with fans in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session.

One user (@BBBRAND02) would ask Griffin why he signed with the Nets, to which Griffin offered a succinct, understandable and predictable response.

“They have a need for a four-man. I’ve always had a lot of respect for Steve Nash and all of the guys that they have. Sean Marks has done great job there. It was a tough decision and I wanted to be on a team that was contending.”

A solid rebounder, Griffin also possesses the ability to space the floor and can keep defenses honest with his three-point shot. Having played the four-spot primarily throughout his career, Griffin will not only fill a void at forward but he will also be a valuable option as backup center when the Nets want to play small.

As Brooklyn kicks off the second half of their season on Thursday, expect Griffin to have a positive impact on the team as a whole, providing much needed depth and becoming the latest savvy veteran to join a mighty Nets team.

The post Blake Griffin on Decision to Sign with Nets: ‘I Wanted to Be on a Team That Was Contending’ appeared first on SLAM.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Griffin has agreed to sign with the Brooklyn Nets after clearing free agency waivers. The Nets, along with the Miami Heat, Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers, were among the list of contending teams that Griffin was initially expected to sign with.

This is the first time he had ever been a free agent in his career, allowing him to choose who he wants to play for. 

Griffin, a skilled and experienced power forward, is exactly what the Brooklyn Nets need.

After giving away the bulk of their depth in a trade earlier this season to acquire Harden, Griffin will help fill that void.

Coming off the bench for the Nets, Griffin gives them versatility to play small-ball and become an even more formidable offensive threat. While Durant can play center in small-ball lineups and likely will continue to do so under Nets head coach Steve Nash, Griffin is more of a true big man who can muscle opponents around for rebounds while also spacing the floor. 

Griffin has only played 38 games since the 2018-19 season, averaging 13.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 29.9 minutes per game in that stretch.

The post Six-time All-Star Blake Griffin Agrees to Sign with Brooklyn Nets appeared first on SLAM.

What does a Canadian basketball player look like?

Ten years ago, the answer to that question would’ve probably involved picturing Steve Nash who, in some ways, affirmed some of our stereotypes. I can still see rookie Nash skating around a hockey rink holding a stick and wearing his full Suns uniform.

Yep. That happened.

As a player, Nash was tough, not too flashy and quick to pass before taking a shot. For a while he was our point of reference (in terms of both his appearance and playing style) for Canadian ballers, and this was difficult to shift. Oh, there was Bill Wennington too, and I also heard a rumor about Rick Fox…

What does a Canadian basketball player look like? When SLAM 189 came out in the summer of 2015, Andrew Wiggins had already begun breaking the image we had lodged in our fickle minds. Remarkably, Wiggins was only the second Canadian to be picked No. 1 in the draft and was already doing significantly better than his predecessor (respectfully), by taking home Rookie of the Year honors. This would not be an award earned through assists and long-range jumpers alone (although there were plenty of those). Wiggins was swatting shots, catching lobs, posting up and hammering it down on defenses regularly. Don’t let the haters fool you, Andrew Wiggins has game.

At only 25, Wiggins is just getting started. While he may not be the superstar that some expected (yet), his numbers are solid and he continues to improve steadily. Perhaps bigger than that, though, he has paved the way for a new wave of Canadian basketball players to make their mark in the League. So much so that when we realize the likes of RJ Barrett and Jamal Murray hail from The Great White North, hopefully we aren’t surprised anymore.

What does a Canadian basketball player look like?

The type of dude who might just drop 50 on you.

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