1:57 AM ET Malika AndrewsESPN MILWAUKEE — Conventional wisdom suggests that the Indiana Pacers should have collapsed by now. They lost their franchise player, Victor Oladipo, to a season-ending injury in late January. The star-less Pacers then suffered minor injuries to other key players, including Domantas Sabonis and Tyreke Evans. Their defense has stayed one
Month: March 2019
There’s a lot of reasons why the Lakers stink this season, but the most glaring is the LeBron James and Rajon Rondo pairing. On a night when LeBron James passed Micheal Jordan as the NBA’s fourth-leading scorer of all-time, Rajon Rondo decided to sit among the fans to watch the rest of the Denver Nuggets
Jimmy Butler didn’t make many fans when he forced his way out of Minnesota, but the Philadelphia 76ers guard still deserves a place in the NBA All-Star Game. With the NBA All-Star reserves being announced this Thursday, there is naturally a lot of talk about which players are deserving for those coveted spots. When it
Joel Embiid will miss another big matchup on Saturday when his Philadelphia 76ers will face the defending champion Golden State Warriors. Joel Embiid will once again miss another crucial game for the Philadelphia 76ers. According to NBC Sports Philadelphia, Embiid has been ruled out for their Saturday night tilt with the defending champion Golden State
5:55 PM ET OAKLAND, Calif. — With just nine regular-season home games left at Oracle Arena, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr is hoping his team can give East Bay fans a better sendoff than what the group has shown to date. The Warriors come into Friday’s showdown against the Denver Nuggets in first place
In this week’s 2019 NBA Mock Draft, we take a closer look at a lottery in which no one wants to lose. As always, projected standings are based upon FiveThirtyEight’s CARM-Elo rankings. This version of the mock uses projections as of March 3, with the Suns and Knicks separated from the rest of the pack
The NBA regular season is a marathon, not a sprint. The action after the All-Star break is filled with teams giving younger players an extended look, franchises making a deliberate playoff push while trying to sneak in rest for their stars and some squads dare we say it – tanking. Every season there are more
3:32 AM ET LOS ANGELES — Rajon Rondo has sat and watched some games this season, at times, from an empty courtside seat near the Los Angeles Lakers‘ bench. But when Rondo did it again Wednesday night before the end of a 115-99 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center, it created a stir.
Welcome to The Whiteboard, your daily source for the previous day’s best NBA content from around the internet, plus an original column. Catch The Whiteboard here on The Step Back, and subscribe to get it delivered to you via email each morning. Isaiah Thomas is not and has never been a perfect basketball player. Nobody
9:18 PM ET A right shoulder injury will keep Los Angeles Lakers forward Brandon Ingram out for a second straight game Wednesday night against the Denver Nuggets. Head coach Luke Walton said the team isn’t sure when Ingram hurt his shoulder but that he is experiencing pain whenever he lifts his right arm. Ingram also
As LeBron James clings onto his playoff life with the injury-riddled Los Angeles Lakers and Kyrie Irving attempts to maintain the slumping Boston Celtics’ positioning in the standings, the third member of the former Cleveland Cavaliers big three is relishing the chance to play the game he loves. “I feel like a big part of
7:45 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN When Philadelphia 76ers general manager Elton Brand strode to the makeshift dais inside the team’s practice facility the day after last month’s trade deadline, he could’ve downplayed the expectations he had created for his dramatically remade team. He did not. “We believe we are in position to contend now,” Brand
LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 13: Phoenix Suns Center DeAndre Ayton (22) grimaces on the bench during a NBA game between the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Clippers on February 13, 2019 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) What Would Rick Do: Is Negan getting
4:01 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN OAKLAND, Calif. — As the Boston Celtics have meandered their way through this season, vacillating between looking like an NBA Finals contender and a team destined for a first-round playoff exit, the biggest barometer for success on a nightly basis has been the play of forward Gordon Hayward. Tuesday’s rout
The NBA announced this week some changes to the annual NBA Draft Combine process that should add some pretty interesting wrinkles to the mid-May draft evaluation window. The jist of the changes will sort of merge both the G-League’s annual showcase event held in Chicago a few days before the Combine and the Combine itself.
How seamless has Dario Saric’s conversion been in Minnesota from spot-up shooter to rim-running threat? Saric himself didn’t even realize it. And yet, the numbers reflect a far more aggressive Saric since the Timberwolves acquired Saric back in November in the Jimmy Butler trade, especially since Ryan Saunders took over as Minnesota head coach in
Welcome to The Whiteboard, your daily source for the previous day’s best NBA content from around the internet, plus an original column. Catch The Whiteboard here on The Step Back, and subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. Andrew Wiggins owes Jimmy Butler a debt of gratitude for leaving the
8:00 PM ET Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma could miss up to one week after an MRI revealed a minor ankle sprain, the team announced Tuesday. Kuzma suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of Monday’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers 113-105, when he appeared to roll his right ankle and then limp
Back in early December, the Miami Heat were struggling. Erik Spoelstra’s squad had a record of 10-14 and was in the early throes a six-game Western Conference road trip. Worse yet, the Heat were beset by injuries. For the second game of the trip — a roadie against the Clippers in LA — Miami knew
Eric Bledsoe believes the future is bright in Milwaukee, so bright that he put his signature on the dotted line of a four-year extension with the Bucks. Eric Bledsoe wants to be part of the Milwaukee Bucks’ future. On a day when the Bucks snagged Pau Gasol off of waivers, Milwaukee turned its focus to securing
SAN ANTONIO, TX – OCTOBER 7: Pau Gasol #16 of the San Antonio Spurs looks for room between PJ Tucker #17 of the Houston Rockets and teammate Eric Gordon #10 during a preseason game on October 7, 2018 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that,
8:37 AM ET The first time Gordon Hayward settled into an armchair to watch early film of his 2018-19 season, he was stunned. Who was that guy moving as though he were knee-deep in a vat of molasses? “I was thinking, ‘Wow, am I really that slow out there?'” Hayward admitted. “I think it’s hard
Al-Farouq Aminu remembers when he was on a minimum contract. It was five summers ago in 2014. The Dallas Mavericks had signed him to a two-year, $2.1 million deal with a player option for the second season. After playing as a rookie with the Los Angeles Clippers and spending the next three years in New
9:25 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN The NBA announced Monday evening that it will be playing preseason games in Japan for the first time in more than a decade next season. The Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors will play games on Oct. 8 and Oct. 10 at Saitama Super Arena outside Tokyo. It will mark the
If the NBA’s statistical revolution has illuminated anything, it’s the merits of intentional, refined shot selection. Teams have shifted away from the mid-range in favor of more efficient spots on the floor. Those that eschew that logic tend to struggle on offense with basic math working against them. The San Antonio Spurs, however, despite a
11:20 AM ET Adrian WojnarowskiESPN The Los Angeles Lakers and free agent Carmelo Anthony are pausing talks on a possible contract agreement unless the franchise makes a turn back toward pursuit of Western Conference playoffs contention, league sources told ESPN. The Lakers had been leaning toward signing Anthony for the rest of the season —
In recent campaigns, the importance of a good, reliable bench unit has soared out the window as the rise in superteams grew larger. This is not to say that the Golden State Warriors regret not having a consistent Sixth Man of the Year contender in their second unit because, well, their back-to-back championships speak for
Magic Johnson has a problem. His team isn’t winning, His star player is old and pondering life after basketball. All day long Magic hears Click, clack, Laker. Click, clack, Laker. Clickety, clack, Laker. He thinks of Paul Westhead often. Farmer LeBron has a problem. His cows aren’t even cows– they’re people. How could this be?
8:09 PM ET Kareem Abdul-Jabbar‘s collection of memorabilia from his Hall of Fame career fetched nearly $3 million at auction on Sunday. Abdul-Jabbar put up 234 lots of memorabilia — including four of his six NBA championship rings — up for sale through Goldin Auctions with “much of the proceeds” going to his Skyhook Foundation
Sunday’s FanDuel slate: 6 p.m. ET: Orlando at Cleveland, Toronto at Detroit, Minnesota at Washington7 p.m. ET: Memphis at Oklahoma City My favorite plays of the day can be found on the following slides in FanSided’s FanDuel daily picks. Each day in order to offer a variety of price points at each position, you can find