Marc Stein: Adam Silver last night said talks are at an “intense” stage and Chris Paul said the figure being discussed is a $300 million pledge from the league in which players “get an opportunity to determine where it goes.” A formal ownership vote to approve the foundation is expected soon
Marc Stein: Adam Silver last night said talks are at an…
August 6, 2020 | 10:55 am EDT Update
Damian Lillard: Jrue Holiday is the best defender in the league
Damian Lillard on Jrue Holiday: He’s to me the best defender in the league. Like, out of the guards. I think he’s the best defender.
Damian Lillard on Carmelo Anthony: To be who he is as a basketball player… He’s the coolest dude ever. I didn’t know what to expect when he came. But like everything that I heard about him, I don’t understand how people could speak on his name the way they do now that I’ve been around. And I think I’m a great judge of character too.
Damian Lillard on high school basketball: The other thing that makes it sad is the level of complacency because you’ve been told like you’re gonna make it and you’re gonna be a draft pick and you know, you don’t got to earn nothing. You don’t feel like you gotta work for nothing. And it’s sad when it’s time for them to make the NBA and they don’t make it. Like, either they don’t get drafted. Or they get drafted and they ain’t built to survive where everybody’s good. You know what I’m saying? Like, you’re talented and you, you know, you got all these gifts, but everybody got that. You know, I mean, like, if you if you’re 20 years old, or 19 or whatever, and you think you either come in here and just do whatever you want against Chris Paul, Pat Bev… Like if you think you bout to come in here and have your way, you don’t get embarrassed. You know, I’m saying like… Don’t nobody care about the hype. I don’t care what your agent told you. I don’t care what your manager, whoever is the person had been handling you since 10th grade… I don’t care what they told you. Once you get up here, you got to do it. And if you’re not prepared for it or mentally build for it, you’re not gonna make it. And that’s where you see a lot of these dudes. They get here and they don’t stick because they’re not built to make it here. And a lot of that has to do with the culture of high school basketball.
Former G League player Aaron Craft retiring
Ohio State alum Aaron Craft is officially focusing on medicine, he announced via a post on his personal Twitter account. “The new chapter has begun!” he wrote, “Excited, a little nervous, and extremely grateful to start a journey I’ve thought about for so long. I’ve always liked our home white jerseys!” From the beginning of the 2019-20 season prior to the coronavirus pandemic, he revealed his intentions to retire as a player after being accepted to the medical school at Ohio State University.
Statement from ESPN senior writer Jackie MacMullan: About three weeks ago during a discussion on the podcast The Hoop Collective, I misspoke when I expressed my opinion regarding the business practices of the Indiana Pacers, and inferred that Larry Bird had been frustrated during his time as team president. It was a careless remark, based solely on my opinion, and therefore should have never been said. Larry Bird never expressed those feelings to me, and I apologize to both Larry and team owner Herb Simon for poor choice of my words.
JD Shaw: Magic forward Aaron Gordon was diagnosed with a strained left hamstring following his MRI, team says. He is doubtful to play on Friday against the Sixers.
August 6, 2020 | 9:51 am EDT Update
Kevin Durant surprised by Caris LeVert
ON CARIS LEVERT … KD was surprised at how good his new teammate is. “He is definitely better than I thought. He’s different. He can score that thing. He can pass it. He’s quick. His thing is about being efficient, and I think that’s what you’re seeing. The shots he’s taking now, it’s like all of his lane. Not a lot of threes, a lot in the mid-range, getting to the cup. I think his IQ is what surprised me the most.”
KD said he’s been playing some with other NBA players, including Kyrie Irving, Blake Griffin and Allonzo Trier. “I’m playing a lot of one-on-one lately, so what comes with that is your handle is a little better, You’re more quicker with your moves. You’re less indecisive with what you want to bring out. So I’m just crafting that, that playground style of ball even more, just working out by myself or with two or three guys. “That’s the cool part about it because it’s hard to get that type of play in a regular season because you’re going through the team aspect, you’re training with the team and you want to preserve your body for the season. So if I’m playing 1-on-1 or 2-on-2s, it’s just going to help my creativity. That’s the timing thing that every injured player goes through. Just finding that rhythm again. Hopefully I gain it over time and once I get into real games it translates real fast.”
Kevin Durant and his manager Rich Kleiman have produced some interesting content through their company Thirty Five Ventures, from ESPN+ show The Boardroom to documentaries like Basketball County and Q Ball. And Durant has been a frequent guest on other podcasts, from The Bill Simmons Podcast to Pull Up With CJ McCollum to Knuckleheads (with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles) to Play For Keeps. Now, Durant and Kleiman are starting their own podcast network, and they’re teaming up with established podcasting company Cadence13 (now owned by radio conglomerate Entercom) for that. Here’s more from a Cadence13 release:
Dapper Labs has closed a $12 million funding round led by National Basketball Association (NBA) stars Spencer Dinwiddie, Andre Iguodala, JaVale McGee, Aaron Gordon and Garrett Temple, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk. The funds will be used for further development of blockchain games including the eventual launch of NBA Top Shot out of private beta, Dapper Labs founder and CEO Roham Gharegozlou told CoinDesk in a phone interview. “Sports are our most important vertical now,” Gharegozlou said.
Iguodala has found some success as a fintech investor as well; he recognized Zoom’s potential long before it became a pandemic business staple.
Arenas also took a shot at Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams, who said he visited the Magic City strip club in Atlanta for food after leaving the bubble in Orlando for a funeral in July. “I would never eat at a strip club. I don’t go to the strip club to eat wings,” Gilbert told TMZ. “I can go to Wing Stop for some wings. I go to the strip club to see strippers.”
August 6, 2020 | 7:54 am EDT Update
Giannis Antetokounmpo very likely to win MVP, DPOY
If you thought this vote was going to be close based on LeBron James‘ run before the league’s stoppage, think twice. Per our poll, Giannis Antetokounmpo will be the near-consensus MVP after improving his scoring, rebounding and three-point percentage numbers from a season ago. By securing back-to-back MVP awards, Antetokounmpo will join Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell as the only NBA players to do so.
Similarly to the MVP category, Giannis Antetokounmpo won the Defensive Player of the Year vote in a landslide over Rudy Gobert.
What attracted you to Brooklyn? Was it Kyrie going there? Or what made you want to be there? Kevin Durant: We went together so I think we talked about it together. I think they had a young core that was hungry for success, that played in the playoffs before. They had some young coaches that was looking forward to a new experience in the NBA. You know, I felt like there was a fresh organization that needed like an extra push, you know. You get two guys that can score the basketball. It just felt right.
Across the seeding games so far, there’s been a drastic uptick in fouls called—over 10 more per game than in the regular season. And as The Athletic’s Seth Partnow pointed out this week, a good portion of that increase is coming during the first quarter, where fouls are traditionally called at a much lower rate. It’s also part of the reason games have been longer.
August 6, 2020 | 3:26 am EDT Update
Kevin Durant defends Kyrie Irving
Durant also discussed the polarizing Irving, defending the mercurial point guard for being transparent. “What does misunderstood mean?” Durant said. “I think the truth sometimes can hurt a lot of people. When you tell the raw truth, especially in this society, it’s frowned upon. And Kyrie just tells it like it is. There’s no sugarcoating.”
“In this situation with the NBPA, he wasn’t the only one that had a problem with what was potentially going to happen in the bubble. Like, everybody had concerns,” Durant said. “But obviously, he’s Kyrie—the biggest one—and that’s going to sell papers. At this time, especially during the pandemic, nobody making money, so you get an opportunity to get some clicks, it’s easy to use Kyrie. But it’s 80, 90 players who had the same questions he had.” Contrary to reports that Irving organized a group of NBA players to express their disapproval for the NBA restart, KD says that things transpired in a more organic way. “Kyrie wasn’t the one, like, ‘Yo, let’s get everybody together,'” he said. “Five or six people called one another, like, ‘Oh shit, I’m feeling that way too.’ Then, another 10 people called…But Kyrie the biggest voice out of ’em all, and because he relates to everyone in the league.”
So let’s dig into just two names on that list: Gordon and Turner. There’s been a little smoke on the Warriors and Gordon front. He’s about to finish his sixth season in Orlando and it’s starting to feel as if that partnership has become stale.
What would it take to get him? The Warriors, in this hypothetical, could offer the Johnson expiring contract and either young talent (like an Eric Paschall or whomever they draft with their upcoming top-five pick) or a future first-rounder. Minnesota’s 2021 first-rounder, owned by the Warriors, is appetizing to other franchises.
Isaiah Thomas: I’m fine with being a backup, At the end of the day I want to be apart of something and when my name is called I’d be more than ready!!! That goes for any team
Russian and Euroleague side Khimki Moscow has officially announced the departure of big man Thomas Robinson, after the contract of the latter expired.
Chances are, if you are reading this story on Anthony, you’ve heard the noise. And chances are, several of you are part of the noise. “When we got him, everybody had something to say about him,” Blazers star Damian Lillard said. “What he gonna do defensively? … He’s older … He’s done … Where’s he gonna fit in? … How is he in the locker room? … Why didn’t it work out with these other teams?”
All that “noise” has long ago been dismissed by the 36-year-old Anthony. But it hasn’t been forgotten by his teammates, who have come to adore the player they once worshipped from afar. “I say everybody who was talking, or said something negative about him, they need to apologize, you know?” Gary Trent Jr. said. “It’s Carmelo Anthony. He went through tough times. He battled, stayed resilient and for him to come back and bounce back like it’s nothing? That’s why he’s Carmelo Anthony and why he does what he does.”
Shane Young: LeBron so far in the season restart: 2PT: 23/47 – 48.9% 3PT: 5/22 – 22.7% FT’s: 13/19 – 68.4% True Shooting: 49.8% (not good) Lakers are -32 in his 134 minutes so far
Mike Trudell: AD on the Lakers overall in the bubble and moving forward: “I think we’re fine … I don’t think anything is eye opening, something that we need to be afraid of. The offense is going to come around.” Said the defense is basically where they want it to be.
Serena Winters: We might be a 1,000 miles away but that doesn’t stop us from ‘walking it off’ with the big fella! Joel Embiid: “I feel like I’m in a space where I can command the game the way I want to, whenever I want to…” #Sixers
With one of the most open NBA postseasons in years, there’s no clear title favorite right now, but the LA Clippers picked up one big endorsement: Kevin Durant. “If I had to choose — and I hate doing that s— because you never know what could happen, you seen that with us last year — but if I had to choose, I’ll go with Clippers and Bucks for the championship,” Durant said on the “Play For Keeps” podcast. “And I’ll go with the Clippers.”
“They’re just so deep,” Durant said of the Clippers. “They haven’t had their whole team together at once for a long period of time yet, and that talent is just undeniable. When you have [Paul George] and Kawhi [Leonard] at the wings, that’s what you need to win is wings. You got those two at the wings, arguably top three, top four at the wing position on one team.”
Josh Robbins: Evan Fournier, asked about Kyle Lowry’s Flagrant 1 foul on A.G: “They’ve been through a lot of games. They’re obviously champions. Fouls are a part of basketball. Was it nice? No. But, who cares? I mean, it was a foul. It was called a Flagrant 1. There’s just not much to say.”
Gregg Popovich compares Nikola Jokic to Larry Bird
Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. became only the third rookie since 2000 to post consecutive 30-point double-doubles but it was Nikola Jokic who left Gregg Popovich feeling like he had just faced a Hall of Famer. “Porter is a fine young talent,” the San Antonio Spurs coach said. “And Jokic, he’s like a reincarnation of Larry Bird. He does everything. He’s amazing. They were great.”
Kendra Andrews: “Michael Porter was not selected to play in the rising stars challenge. Are you kidding me?” — Malone drops the mic as he walks off his post game press conference.
Dave McMenamin: Frank Vogel says Rondo will begin daily testing today, now that he’s arrived in Florida to rehab. If he returns 7 consecutive negative tests, then he can re-join the bubble with a 4 day quarantine. That would have him back with the team before the start of the playoffs Aug. 17
Bell was drafted by Chicago in the second round in 2017 and traded to Golden State on draft night. But after two seasons with the Warriors, he signed a free-agent deal with the Timberwolves last summer. Then, Bell was traded in February as part of a four-team, 12-player deal in which he was first traded to Houston and then moved to Memphis the next day. He experienced a flood of emotions as he processed the trade, and it opened his eyes to the “business” side of the NBA. “When it happened, I was down, I was sad, I wanted to cry,” Bell said. “I wanted to be mad, I wanted to cuss somebody out, I wanted to fight somebody. But I still had a chance to play basketball in the NBA. There’s not a lot of people who get to say that.”
Salman Ali: James Harden on passing Calvin Murphy in scoring: “We all know how great Calvin was for this organization… It’s an honor… I got a lot way to go to pass Dream, but as long as I keep playing at the pace I am now, I have a chance.”
So Zion is important and not just for the sake of the New Orleans Pelicans. The big question hanging over the league is whether he’s capable of shouldering it all. Dr. Brian Sutterer, of sports injury YouTube fame, has been watching intently and has his concerns. “He’s in a race against his own body,” Dr. Sutterer said over the phone. “If you go watch his Duke highlights compared to now, the difference is profound. In my opinion, his athleticism and conditioning have regressed substantially. He’s less explosive, less conditioned, slower on defense, has already had a portion of his meniscus removed from his knee after an injury, and he’s still under close monitoring from the medical staff.”
Shams Charania: Tests on Magic forward Aaron Gordon showed no serious damage to his left hamstring and he will be re-evaluated in several days, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
Mihcael J. Duarte: LeBron James on the NBA announcement of $300M: “I think it’s pretty great. 300 million over the next 10 years. The NBA and NBPA have always supported the black community. It means a lot.” He added that it falls in line with what he’s been doing through his foundations as well.
In a Wednesday morning telephone interview with Fox & Friends, Trump said he turned off N.B.A. games “when I see people kneeling” and “disrespecting our flag and disrespecting our national anthem.” Asked about Trump’s comments after the Lakers’ 105-86 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder later in the day, James fired back. “The game will go on without his eyes on it,” James said at his postgame news conference from the N.B.A.’s so-called bubble at Walt Disney World in Florida. “I can sit here and speak for all of us that love the game of basketball: We could care less.”
“I really don’t think the basketball community are sad about losing his viewership, him viewing the game,” James said following the Lakers’ 105-86 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. “And that’s all I got to say.”
A day after delivering a pre-game history lesson on racial injustice, Gregg Popovich dove into the topic once more on Monday. This time, the Spurs head coach told reporters that Hispanics have also been the victims of systematic racism in the United States. “Black and brown people are the two major groups that suffered these injustices,” Popovich said in a Zoom media session. “Obviously, the Black population, for hundreds of years. But our brown brothers and sisters have suffered the same discrimination in a lot of ways that reflect the same system that has created such inequality in wealth across the board for Black and brown peoples,” the coach said.
Turner Sports may be out of the UEFA Champions League game, but that doesn’t mean that former analysts Steve Nash and Stu Holden are also no longer involved. Nash and Holden are teaming with DAZN to promote the Champions League in Canada, where the streaming company holds the competition’s exclusive rights.
