The Warriors on Sunday converted Braxton Key from his two-way contract to a standard NBA contract, filling Golden State’s 15th and final roster spot, sources told NBC Sports Bay Area.
His signing makes him eligible for the playoff roster.
The Warriors did weigh options outside of the organization before landing on Key.
Key, 28, is a 6-foot-8 center/power forward who has played 36 games in the NBA over the past four seasons. But it was his dominant play in the G League this season between the Santa Cruz Warriors and San Diego Clippers that impressed many inside Golden State, earning some high praise along the way.
“This dude’s the best player we’ve seen in the G League this year,” Santa Cruz coach Nicholas Kerr said ahead of the Sea Dubs’ game at Chase Center on March 9. “He’s a monster defender. He can get to the rim, and he’s made shots for us so far. You can tell that he’s a gamer, too.”
Kerr’s assessment is full of compliments celebrating a player who was both great for him, and great against him this past season.
It’s what he said next that surprised Key later that day.
“Maybe it’s unfair to Draymond [Green] to compare the two, because Draymond’s a four-time champion and future Hall of Famer – Braxton has some Draymond qualities,” Kerr said.
During halftime of the Warriors’ game against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, Green was given his award for being March’s Western Conference Defensive Player of the Month. Key also was honored at halftime that same night by the same person at center court for being the G League’s Defensive Player of the Year. Key became the third player in Santa Cruz history to win the award, joining Aaron Craft and Stefhon Hannah.
“That’s nice,” a smiling Key first said back on March 9 when told of Kerr comparing him to Green.
“I mean, that’s a Hall of Famer, Key continued. “That’s a four-time champ, that’s a Defensive Player of the Year – that’s a lot. That’s big shoes to fill. I’m definitely watching him a lot. I see myself in him for sure. Just the way he plays, and then obviously the selflessness and what he does for the team. Defensively, he’s a beast.”
Key’s locker is directly next to Green’s. It’s not the skill of the fellow small-ball center who is the Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner that stood out most to Key when they first shared the court, but his voice.
“The first thing I noticed yesterday at walkthrough was Draymond was talking during the film, saying ‘Let’s do this on that play, or let’s do that on that play’ against the Pistons,” Key said. “Just seeing him be vocal and all that was definitely … it’s not surprising.
“You always hear that about him, but it woke me up.”
In four games against Santa Cruz this season when he was playing for the Clippers’ G League affiliate, Key averaged 19.3 points on 70.5-percent shooting, 9.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.3 blocked shots. Then the Warriors swooped him up from San Diego the same day they converted Pat Spencer to an NBA contract on March 5, signing Key to a two-way contract. Key made an immediate impact with Santa Cruz.
That same day, Key scored 30 points on 10-of-16 shooting in his Santa Cruz debut while also having 13 rebounds, one assist, three steals and a block. Key in 11 games with Santa Cruz averaged 22.5 points, 9.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 3.4 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. He shot 55.4 percent from the field and 45.2 on threes. Between San Diego and Santa Cruz, Key played 33 games in the G League this season and averaged 18.4 points – on 50.5-percent shooting – 9.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.9 steals and 1.0 blocks per game.
His 130 steals didn’t just lead the G League. They’re the third-most ever for a season in G League history.
When Santa Cruz played the Mexico City Capitanes at Chase Center, in which Golden State head coach Steve Kerr was in attendance, Key scored 19 points (9-of-13 shooting) and added eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. The Warriors coach took notice, too.
“Braxton looks like a real NBA defender,” he said the next day. “He’s quick and athletic, and I think he’s another guy who could step in and play some minutes for us if needed.”
Key has appeared in three games for the Warriors, playing a total of 11 minutes. Fittingly, Key swiped two steals against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday in the last six minutes and 43 seconds of the Warriors’ blowout win.
Thank you for turning down $70 million from the Lakers to stay at UConn. Thank you for walking away from Hollywood to hang out in Storrs. Thank you for doing the unthinkable to a team desperate for the impossible.
Thank you for the rejection, because it was the beginning of a rebirth.
Lakers coach JJ Redick, talking with guards Luka Doncic and Gabe Vincent, has been able to get stars and role players to accept his and the coaching staff's plan for the team. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Trade of the year.
Can everyone now admit that hiring JJ Redick instead of Hurley last summer has been the most important development in transforming an ordinary team into a potential champion?
Acquiring Luke Doncic was great, but it is Redick who has seamlessly integrated him into the offense.
The renewed inspiration of LeBron James has been impressive, but it’s been based on respect for Redick’s voice and his vision.
With disarming honesty, unrelenting passion and unvarnished empathy, Redick has guided the Lakers through early-season embarrassments, bonded them through midseason roster changes and now has raised their intensity just in time for a deep spring run.
“As a team, I feel like we can win a championship, to be honest with you,” said Reaves after the Lakers’ third-seed-clinching win over the Houston Rockets on Friday night. “The reason of that is, I know that everybody in the locker room believes that and has also bought into whatever your role is to help us do that.”
That belief comes from coaching, from Redick down through his top assistants, Scott Brooks and Nate McMillan, a powerful veteran braintrust that smartly and constantly connects.
“That’s why I give this coaching staff a lot of credit,” said Reaves. “They come in, they planted their system and they held guys accountable to what they asked them to do and everybody bought into that.”
The head of sales is, of course, Redick, this group curated with his cool mix of brains and humanity that has turned a team into something more closely resembling a family.
He has cried, he has scowled, he has scolded and he has unconditionally supported, and that’s just in the news conferences.
He has, honestly, made more of an impact in one season of coaching than in 15 years in uniform. On Friday I had to ask him, was coaching actually more rewarding than playing?
Lakers coach JJ Redick recounts that he and his family lost their rental house in the deadly Palisades fire during a news conference at the team's training facility on Jan. 10. (Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)
“Yes” he quickly said.
“Why?” I asked.
“So I’ve been trying to figure that out for the last six months, I'm not sure,” he said. “But I will say, I think anybody that was around me as a player knows how much I enjoyed the job every day and knows how grateful I was to be in the NBA every day and very grateful to have a 15-year career. I like this more.”
So the flashy former scorer has more fun guiding players than shooting over them, and who knew?
Not me. While I’m now praising him as a great hire, I must acknowledge that I was once among the loudest to fight it.
When the offer was made to Hurley to replace the fired Darvin Ham last spring, I loved the idea. I loved Hurley. I pictured the two-time NCAA defending champion lighting a fire, changing the culture, bringing his East Coast toughness to the soft confines of El Segundo.
Redick was the only other serious candidate at the time, and that I didn’t love. He had never coached anywhere beyond youth league, he had never won a championship as a sharpshooter, and he was currently best known as a TV analyst and the co-host of a podcast with LeBron James. He wasn’t qualified beyond being LeBron’s buddy, and hiring him would be a mistake that would set the franchise up for more wasted years.
I was ready to welcome Hurley, writing, “No brainer. No question. No more looking. If the Lakers really think they can get him, they need to go get him.”
Then in the early days of June, Hurley stunningly turned them down, convinced by his wife, Andrea, to stay on the East Coast and pushed by his fighter’s instinct to attempt a UConn three-peat.
A couple of weeks later, the Lakers hired Redick, and most of the basketball world shuddered.
“So now it’s painfully clear that JJ doesn’t stand for Just Joking,” I wrote at the time. “So now this is real. Real unusual. Real unsettling. Real unfortunate.”
Rob Pelinka, the Lakers general manager, saw it differently
“It was just really important to us as we made this hire to find a head coach that could sit across the table from some of the smartest and best players in the world,” Pelinka said at the time. “This is the stage for those players to be able to relate to, coach, hold them accountable, lead them, inspire them. And we felt like JJ was very unique in holding all those qualities to do that.”
JJ Redick, right, laughs as Lakers general manager and vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka addresses the media during a news conference to introduce Redick as the new Lakers coach. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
It turns out, and not for the first time with this unusually special team, Pelinka was right and I was wrong.
First, this season Hurley was a walking distraction at UConn, his angry sideline antics constantly grabbing the headlines and making one wonder how long would he have lasted with the Lakers before completely melting down?
Meanwhile, Redick was immediately establishing himself here with basketball smarts and superstar relatability. Barely a month into the season, he aced his first test after the Lakers endured a two-game stretch of horrible performances, getting blown out in Minnesota and Miami, the latter a 41-point loss.
“I'm embarrassed; we're all embarrassed,” he said after the Heat defeat. “It's not a game that I thought we had the right fight, the right professionalism. … There has to be some ownership on the court and I'll take all the ownership in the world. This is my team and I lead it and I'm embarrassed. But I can't physically get us organized. I can't physically be into the basketball. … I'm not blaming players … I own this, but we’re going to need some ownership on the court as well.”
In that one locker-room speech dressed as a news-conference answer, he showed his players that this cool persona can be tough and unafraid, and then he took it a step further. It was around this time he had a chat with LeBron, and the team’s most important player bought in and everyone soon followed.
A December that began with the blowouts ended with D’Angelo Russell being blown out to Brooklyn to mark the second evolution of the team. This change, besides featuring the arrival of the underrated steal of the season — Dorian Finney-Smith! — also resulted in a new bond between Redick and Reaves.
With the frustrating Russell gone, Redick became the first Lakers coach to fully entrust Reaves with the role as the team’s third option. Reaves has since played so well, that grouping of LeBron, Luka and Austin has now become one of the NBA’s Big Three.
Lakers coach JJ Redick, center, has guided the team deftly this season along with top assistants Scott Brooks, left, and Nate McMillan. (Kevork Djansezian / Associated Press)
Friday night, after casually scoring 23, Reaves glowed when I specifically asked about the impact of the new coach.
“Huge,” said Reaves. “When the Lakers hired him … I knew his IQ of the game, but obviously there was all the talks about, you know, he’s never coached at any type of high level or anything like that. Since Day 1, he’s been super professional, super locked into one goal, that’s getting the team to buy into what the coaching staff wants. He’s been huge in what he’s done, I can’t give him enough credit for what he’s done for me and the team, happy to go to war for him any day.”
With the new calendar year came new, unimaginable challenges, and Redick handled every issue as if calmly sinking a game-winning trey.
His entire team culture was upended with the trading of Anthony Davis for Doncic? In his biggest win of the season, Redick somehow convinced two superstars and one budding star to each adjust their roles.
In the beginning, many worried that the players would ignore him because he had no coaching credibility. But as the season progressed it became clear, Redick is so basketball bright and communication savvy, the players couldn’t help but listen.
Nearly a year ago, much of the basketball world was pouring cold water over the idea that JJ Redick could be a successful NBA coach.
Lakers coach JJ Redick embraces guard Luka Doncic after he substituted for him during his 45-point effort in Dallas. (Sam Hodde / Getty Images)
On Friday night, after their win over the Houston Rockets gave them 50 victories for only the second time in 14 seasons, that cold water was administered over his head in the locker room by his players in celebration.
Approximately eight ice buckets worth.
“I just want to apologize to Kathy (Montoya, Lakers vice president of game operations and entertainment), hopefully in the next nine days the $17,000 in damage to the carpet we can get fixed,” Redick said.
On the contrary, it’s been several years since the ground under the Lakers shoes has looked so lush and felt so solid.
“It’s a credit to our players … they’ve all participated in a winning culture,” said Redick.
A JJ Redick culture. A realistically championship culture.
Boston is the betting favorite to repeat as champion, but the Celtics' path to the mountaintop will be much more treacherous this season. Cleveland is a legitimate threat in the East, and looming in the West is a difficult matchup in Oklahoma City and a couple of other dangerous teams. If the Celtics are going to have another parade, they have little margin for error.
Last year's Finals MVP has been dealing with a bone bruise in his knee for some time, but it appeared to be causing him more pain recently. He didn't play much in the second half or overtime of the Celtics' win over the New York Knicks on Tuesday. He then sat out Thursday's loss to the Orlando Magic, ending any chance of him playing in the 65 games required to be eligible for postseason awards.
Kristaps Porzingis summed up the situation well to ESPN.
"He's a tough dude," Porzingis said. "He always preaches his warrior mindset. He lives by it. But to what extent do we need that right now? Maybe he needs to take care of it and make sure he's going to be ready for the most important moment. I think we need to encourage him to make sure he does everything he needs to prepare to get it healthy and to prepare for what's going to come."
Brown is averaging 22.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists a game this season. His value to Boston jumps up in the playoffs as teams load up on Jayson Tatum, Brown's scoring and shot creation become critical — it is why he was both Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals MVP last season.
Boston is going to need that version of Brown if they want to dance with the Larry O'Brien Trophy again.
Atlanta (8) at Orlando (7) – winner is the No. 7 seed and will face Boston. Miami (10) at Chicago (9) – winner to face loser of the 7/8 seed game to see who is the No. 8 seed and faces Cleveland.
EAST PLAYOFFS
Cleveland (1) vs. No. 8 seed Boston (2) vs. No. 7 seed New York (3) vs. Detroit (6) Indiana (4) vs. Milwaukee (5)
The Pacers vs. Bucks in the first round should be an entertaining series, which will ultimately be won by the team that plays the better defense in an offensive showdown (since the All-Star break the Pacers have had the better defense, but by less than a point per 100 possessions).
Detroit, in the playoffs for the first time since 2019, will push New York.
PORTLAND — Youth basketball can be more business than game, especially at the highest levels. Top players jump high schools — sometimes moving across the country, sometimes from another country — to find perceived better development opportunities. Top AAU programs are expensive. The best players have NIL money pouring in and people — not always trustworthy people — in their ear telling them how to monetize their social media or make a quick buck another way. It can be disorienting for teenagers making life-altering decisions.
Malachi Moreno is a welcome throwback.
The 6'11" center never left his home, his family and friends in Georgetown, Kentucky, population 37,000. There were offers to move, go anywhere and everywhere, and chase the almighty dollar (and potential future dollars). He chose home. From that comfort zone, Moreno won the state championship with the guys he grew up with, was named 2024-25 Kentucky Mr. Basketball — plus earned an invite to the Nike Hoop Summit this weekend in Portland.
" It was the place that built me and made me who I was," Moreno told NBC Sports about Georgetown. "Being given opportunities like [Nike Hoop Summit], it gives me an opportunity to represent where I'm from, and just to show like you can be from a small town and still accomplish great things."
Family and Friends
The ties that bound Moreno to Kentucky — and will continue to bind him as he is committed to play for Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats next season, just 15 miles down the I-75 — are friends and family.
"I'm glad Malachi stayed home," his mother, Sarah, said. "It allowed him to actually enjoy his senior year, and it allowed him to be a kid for his final year of high school experience. All those high school things that's a lost art, sometimes, when you get into these high elite things."
"He wasn't ready to let go of going to prom, being with his childhood best friends, to try and chase the dream they've all had for so long," Malachi's brother Michael (who played at Eastern Kentucky, 2019-2024) added. "So ultimately, he's proven to himself that things can be done from Kentucky."
"It's a lot of fun just being with kids you grew up with," Moreno said. "You just get to enjoy life and just enjoy high school with them... and not feel pressured to perform every day.
"Like, I can go play a game and the next day go to school and I'll be fine. Nobody's coming up to me talking about, 'You need to work on this, this and this.' They're like, 'Oh, how's your day going? Let's hang out this weekend,' some kind of things like that. Those are things I enjoy really well."
Moreno's foundation is built on a rock of a family.
"They've been with me every step of the journey," Moreno said. "Through the hard times, through the good times, they've always been with me. They've always stuck with me. And every time, say, I have a bad game, they're the first ones to come talk to me and lift me back up. I mean, there's no reason to leave that. They always give me motivation. They give me confidence every single day."
— Bluegrass Scoreboard (@bluegrass_score) April 2, 2025
While Moreno —the No. 3 ranked high school center in the nation per 247Sports — had offers from any number of national powers, where to play in college wasn't much of a debate for him.
"Kentucky was always a dream school for me," Moreno said. "You grow up, you live in Kentucky, you grow up watching them. Once I got the opportunity to play for them, it was kind of a first thing, keeping in the back of your mind, 'This is where you want to be.' The more games I went to, the more of the feel I got for just the University of Kentucky, just the fan base, and just being on the floor, it's just somewhere, like, you can't pass up that opportunity."
Nike Hoop Summit opportunity
While Moreno has played with and against many of the other stars at the Nike Hoop Summit at various events such as the McDonald's All-American game, this is the first time he's playing a game wearing the USA across his chest and playing for USA Basketball.
"It's a lot of pride, just being able to represent my country," Moreno said. "My family, we're a military family, I had my grandparents and they were influential in my life. Just being able to wear this across my chest, I feel like I'm kind of representing them and them, and also representing the greatness that came before me. And it's just a it's an honor and a blessing."
Playing for USA Basketball, and particularly for head coach Frank Bennett, has been the kind of challenge Moreno savors.
"Just the level of intensity we have in the practices, and just the intensity of the coach, the attention to detail, everything's very sharp, everything's very poised," Moreno said. "And I think that's a really good opportunity for everybody, just playing against guys and we know, but also keeping that competitive edge, it makes a lot of fun."
Confidence took time
Moreno is a throwback in more ways than just staying near home at Kentucky, his game is more old-school center — the kind of drop big, rim protector and vertical spacer coming back in vogue around the NBA. Moreno also has shown a deft passing touch in the practices in Portland.
"As a five man, I kind of want to dominate the paint first, and then, that sucks everybody in, and it opens it up for my teammates…" Moreno said." I'm more of a 'we over me' kind of player. I prefer for my teammates to eat, get their confidence going, and that gets my confidence going."
Some players are born with the confidence it takes to play high-level basketball. Moreno was not one of those guys.
"He wasn't necessarily too interested in basketball as a young kid, then he sprouted up and was always the biggest kid in his class," and that's when things started to change, Michael said of his brother.
"I can be brutally honest, the skill was not always there," Moreno said. "But once I got to high school and, I think it was more so my freshman summer, I got a couple of Big 10 offers, and that's when the drive really came to me — like this is really what you can do. You can make a living out of this. And that drive just kept me motivated. And then every day, I just wanted to get better and better and better."
That drive has led him all the way to representing the USA at the Nike Hoop Summit.
However, wherever the game takes him, Moreno will always be representing Kentucky.
And home.
How to watch the Nike Hoop Summit 2025
The Nike Hoop Summit games take place Saturday, April 12, and will be broadcast on the USA Network as well as streamed on Peacock.
The broadcast begins at 7 p.m. Eastern, with the women's game tipping off at 7:30 p.m. and the men's game at 10 p.m. from the Moda Center in Portland (home to the NBA's Trail Blazers).
Even as longtime NBA rivals, Draymond Green and LeBron James have become the best of friends over the years — but it wasn’t always that way.
Not even close.
The Warriors forward made a recent appearance on the “Brownie and Rab Show,” where he spoke about how his relationship with the Los Angeles Lakers superstar blossomed into what it is today.
“Hell no. I hated Bron,” Green said of his early relationship with James. “We didn’t have no relationship at all. I had a relationship with [Maverick Carter] and Rich [Paul], I was really tight with [them]. 2017 All-Star [Weekend] was in New Orleans. Bron had a plane going to Anguilla. Mav, Rich, everyone was going. I hadn’t decided where I was going after that All-Star Game, so earlier that day I asked Mav, ‘Mav, where you going after the All-Star Game?’ He’s like we’re going to Anguilla. I’m like can I go? He’s like yeah you can go. I’m like you sure? He’s like yeah let me make sure there’s space on the plane.
“I don’t know if there was no space on the plane or not but I think Bron probably said I ain’t flying on that plane. He gets an entirely different plane so I can fly with them. We had two houses on Four Seasons right next to each other. I also don’t think there was two houses there before. You know why I think Mav got a whole other house? Because I think Bron said that [expletive] ain’t staying in my house.”
Draymond says he hated LeBron at first and that they had ‘no relationship at all’:
“I realized, ‘Dang, bro really just like me. He use the same lingo I use, he’s from a place just like me' and we started to build from there, but it started off hectic.”
Green and James saw a lot of each other on the court, too, during those thrilling Warriors vs. Cavaliers NBA Finals matchups during James’ time with Cleveland.
Those rivalries weren’t friendly, but years later, all is forgiven.
“Bron used to be like, ‘Man, why you guys dealing with this dude?’ So just me being around Rich and Mav, me and Bron naturally ended up being around each other more. And then we started to build a relationship because I realized dang, bro is really just like me. He uses the same lingo I use. He’s from a place just like me. And we started to build from there. But it started off hectic.”
Things could return to that hectic feeling if James’ Lakers meet up with Green’s Warriors in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, which would be the case if Golden State defeats the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
The Boston Celtics are converting the JD Davison’s two-way contract to a standard, two-year NBA contract, Davison’s agent told ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Davison, Drew Peterson and Miles Norris all were on two-way contracts with Boston, which had an open roster spot ahead of Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Charlotte Hornets. Converting Davison to an NBA contract fills the Celtics’ final roster spot and allows the 22-year-old guard to join Boston for its 2025 playoff run.
The Celtics made a similar move with Neemias Queta near the end of last season, converting the big man’s two-way contract to a two-year deal. Queta has appeared in 61 games this season, and Davison will have a similar opportunity to make an impact off the bench for the C’s during the 2025-26 campaign.
Davison averaged 25.1 points, 7.6 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game with the Maine Celtics during a dominant season that earned him G League MVP honors. He also participated in the Rising Stars game at NBA All-Star Weekend, helping the G League squad advance to the finals of the mini-tournament.
Davison has appeared in 15 games for Boston’s NBA club this season, averaging 5.1 minutes per contest. He’s seen action in two straight games for the C’s, however, scoring a combined two points on 1 of 7 shooting in 18 total minutes.
The ballad of Buddy Hield has produced smiles, laughs, celebrations and moments of pure confusion throughout his first year in a Warriors jersey, leading to more history made by the 3-point specialist on the second-to-last game of the 2024-25 NBA regular season Friday night in Golden State’s blowout road win against the Portland Trail Blazers.
There have been stretches of perfect jazz in unison, and instances of wind strings snapping in your eardrums.
Earlier this week, Hield went viral for a funny exchange with coach Steve Kerr during the Warriors’ dominant win in Phoenix where Kerr jokingly introduced him to Steph Curry, “the greatest shooter in the world,” who was “wide open” but clearly not in Hield’s view.
He’s one of Kerr’s favorite players. Ask him about Hield and you’ll get a joyous laugh. You’ll also get some instances of him likely wanting to break a clipboard, and not because of stretches where his shot went ice-cold.
The next day when the Warriors returned home to play the San Antonio Spurs, Hield further explained the clip to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Kerith Burke after his pregame shooting routine.
“You know, the NBA didn’t play the whole video,” Hield said. “I was like, I got a strap on me too, Steve. I can shoot, too. But I think Steph was wide-open late and I didn’t see him wide-open late, so you got to pass Steph the ball. It was a funny interaction with us.”
That strap was unleashed Friday night at Moda Center while the rest of the Warriors mostly brought blanks to the arena. The Warriors missed their first five 3-point attempts before Moses Moody broke the streak with six-and-a-half minutes remaining in the first quarter. Hield didn’t connect on his first two tries, but the third time was the charm and unlocked his historically consistent rangefinder from long distance.
Hield came into the day with 197 threes on the season, eyeing that 200 mark with only two games left in the regular season. After watching one three go through the net in the first quarter, two others followed in the final minute and a half – first to give the Warriors a one-point lead and then to extend it to four points the next possession.
His third 3-pointer of the first quarter gave Hield 200 threes on the season, making him only the fifth player in NBA history to have seven seasons with at least 200 3-pointers, joining Curry, Klay Thompson, James Harden and Damian Lillard. That’s two NBA MVPs and four future Hall of Famers Hield now finds himself associated within the realms of shooting royalty.
Additionally, Hield now has done so in seven straight seasons, starting back in 2018-19 when he was then on the Sacramento Kings.
Joining Bob Fitzgerald and Kelenna Azubuike at halftime, Hield thanked Fitz five straight times for celebrating the achievement and went into detail about his quick release. The historic 200th three was the Warriors’ offense to a tee. Hield curled off a Kevon Looney screen, caught Jimmy Butler’s pass at the top of the arc and immediately was in his shooting motion.
“Just finding your spots and finding your rhythm,” Hield said. “When you see an opening, just get it off quick. My teammates find me in the right spots.”
Hield hasn’t been shy in saying if it weren’t for Curry, he probably wouldn’t have been picked sixth overall in the 2016 NBA Draft. As Hield was lighting it up behind the 3-point line at Oklahoma, Curry was changing the way basketball will forever be seen and played. Hield made 240 threes with a 41.3 3-point percentage in his final two years of college, the same seasons in which Curry won back-to-back MVPs.
“I modeled my game behind the 3-point line, just trying to be as consistent as I can,” Hield said to Tim Roye on Warriors Radio after the win. “Being around Steph and watching Klay, he’s a Bahamian brother of mine, to be one of the top gunners in the league is special. Hopefully, I can do it for a few more years.”
The Warriors’ offense had little rhythm and flow, despite what the final score displayed Friday night. They shot 31.8 percent from three on a night where 44 of their 83 shot attempts were 3-pointers. Hield only made one of his next seven 3-point attempts after draining his first three. But his 16 points led the Warriors’ bench, and Hield’s four threes were a game-high for both sides.
When the Warriors looked like the league’s best again to begin the season, Hield had the hot hand, averaging 16.2 points with a 44.2 3-point percentage in Golden State’s 12-3 start. From the first game in December through the first game in February – a 30-game stretch – Hield only averaged 9.1 points and was 59 of 192 on threes, a lowly 30.7 percent. The Warriors went 13-17 in those games.
They’re now 18-6 when he makes at least four threes. They 14-2 in the 16 games Hield has scored 18 or more points, and 20-18 in the games he has failed to score 10 or more points. He’s Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, a mystery on most nights. He can ignite the Warriors’ wick on offense or blow out the flame from cold shooting or confounding decisions.
Whether the Warriors win or lose, Hield’s voice will be heard in the locker room. It’s impossible to miss. He and Butler constantly trade barbs with one another and there’s bound to be laughs following Hield, one way or the other.
“Buddy’s been incredible,” Draymond Green said to Fitzgerald and Azubuike after the win. “Obviously, we all know what he does on the court. But even off the court is bigger. The energy that he brings on a daily basis. He’s always upbeat. Brings a good vibe. Brings a good vibe to the gym, good vibe to the plane, good vibe to the hotel. Wherever we’re at, he’s always bringing a good vibe to it. Just an incredible teammate. Actually one of my favorite teammates.”
Draymond then looked off-camera to his left, catching Hield doing who knows what.
“Look at him,” Green continued, laughing. “One of my favorite teammates I’ve ever had, and yet, he will get on your last nerve every day.”
The Buddy Hield Experience has been a ride unlike any other this season. His energy is always invited, and the Warriors have shown they believe his historic 3-point shot can help drive them down the right road.
Lakers star Luka Doncic waves to the crowd as he acknowledges cheers from fans when he walks off the court in Dallas after scoring 45 points in his return Wednesday. (LM Otero / Associated Press)
What an amazing performance by Luka Doncic against his former Dallas team. The pregame video montage was compelling to the point it brought Luka to tears. He is a true competitor and superstar.
Having now watched him extensively with the Lakers, I think the one thing that would raise Luka to even greater heights is for him to stop arguing with the refs after almost every call. As we saw in the Thunder game, it leads to technical fouls and ejections (even if unwarranted). And while he’s at it, he should stop jawing with fans from the other team, nothing good will come of it.
Dave Ring Manhattan Beach
The Lakers beat Dallas 112-97, with Luka Doncic scoring 45 points and Anthony Davis scoring 13. I guess we know who got the best of that trade.
Vaughn Hardenberg Westwood
B-I-N-G-O
As the NBA regular season comes to an end this weekend, consider whether you had any of these on your bingo card when the regular season began:
B: The Lakers and Clippers would each win at least 48 games (and perhaps 50). I: The Pistons would more than triple their win total over the previous season. N: Nuggets coach Michael Malone would be fired with three games remaining. G: The Cavaliers would win more regular-season games than the Celtics. O: Laker Luka Doncic would outscore Maverick Anthony Davis 45-13 in Luka's return to Dallas.
To paraphrase Bob Costas, "Look, it's a wacky business."
Ken Feldman Tarzana
Reversing course
Kudos to Bill Plaschke for admitting he was dead wrong about Bronny James. And, even more kudos to LeBron and Bronny for both being shining examples of what it means to be a pro, representing your team, your family and your city in such an admirable and stand-up way.
In this era of supremely spoiled, entitled and delusional athletes, they have been humble, hard-working, levelheaded exemplars of everything that make sports great. And, to all the crazy Lakers "fans" who will never accept LeBron as a true Laker, like Plaschke, think again.
William David Stone Beverly Hills
Bill Plaschke admitted he was wrong when he declared that the Lakers brought the circus to town by drafting Bronny James, who has refuted Plaschke’s harsh characterization by his professionalism, indomitable drive and Herculean work ethic, driving himself to become a quality G League player in his rookie year.
Bronny seized upon the opportunity manipulated by his father LeBron James. He’s stacked 20-point games in the G League, punctuated by a 39-point explosion while shooting better than 60% from the field, proving he’s not just a so-called nepo baby.
Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu wrote, “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” Bronny hasn’t taken a halting or hobbling step yet. If he continues his improvement he’ll build a substantial NBA career.
Marc D. Greenwood Opelika, Ala.
Dodgers dilemma
Is there any connection between the fact that the Dodgers pitching coach had an injury-riddled career and the Dodgers pitching staff being constantly on the IL? Or do they need a whole new training staff? The Dodgers brass has to be asking similar questions.
R.D. McCall Fallbrook
I remember clearly when Tyler Glasnow came to the Dodgers, my grandson said, “He’ll spend more time on the IL than the mound.“
Terry Snyder Los Angeles
This will probably change by Sunday, but as I write this on Wednesday, the Dodgers are in third place in their four-team division and the Angels have a better record. Who'd have thought?
Jack Wishard Los Angeles
Sports ecstasy
How to describe the feeling when my 7-year-old grandson lashes one up the middle and legs it into a triple, and me getting high-fives from the other granddads? How to describe the unbridled joy on Mookie Betts' face as he hops, skips and jumps around the bases after hitting a walk-off blast into the seats, getting a standing ovation from 50,000 of his closest friends, who high-five all around? From Little League to the big leagues, they bring us to our feet. The late, great Jim Murray called them "moments of athletic ecstasy." Oh, yes!
Tim Piatt Thousand Oaks
Deal or no deal
I agree that the transfer portal is ruining collegiate sports and is in need of a fix. College athletes are no longer amateurs but professionals. Therefore, I suggest they be treated like the pros they are. In the future when they sign a letter of intent it should be in the form of a contract that would bind them to their school of choice for a certain number of years. It would also include the amount of NIL money they would receive.
Robert Speights San Diego
The NCAA has absolutely ruined college sports as we know it. After hearing UConn coach Dan Hurley state that he has to recruit the players on his own team, that settled it for me. I am done with college sports until they make these kids sign contracts. It's impossible to build a team when these kids are allowed to change schools each year. It's a total joke. If they take the NIL money and accept the scholarship, make them sign a two-year or three-year deal. The only way to change that is if the coach leaves or if they turn professional.
Geno Apicella Placentia
Truly great one
Wayne Gretzky had more than 1,700 assists along with his 894 goals. While Alex Ovechkin’s new goals record is a great accomplishment, Gretzky played a 200-foot game including defense. Over the past eight years most of what I see from Ovechkin is him lurking in the circle and making a shot. Honestly the two really don’t compare.
Michael Krubiner Los Angeles
Now that's special
I read the story this week about trying to name the Kings' first line of Anze Kopitar, Adrian Kempe, and Andrei Kuzmenko. Ever since the latter was acquired, my friends and I who attend, watch and listen started calling them the “Special K” line. Seems so obvious.
Can we please beat Edmonton in the playoffs? Now THAT would be special!
Pete Arbogast Venice Beach
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The Warriors’ postseason ride begins Sunday down a certifiably bumpy road under adverse conditions, Stephen Curry and his achy shooting hand leading them in against a Los Angeles Clippers squad that has owned them this season and now is greatly enhanced.
Which is as it should be. The first 48 minutes of a high-stakes journey tends to expose a team’s heart and mind, and the Warriors need plenty of both to get where they want to go.
“Good teams find a way to win big games,” Curry told reporters in Portland on Friday after a 103-86 win over the Trail Blazers. “That’s what we’re aiming to be.”
It begins with Curry and the offense. The formidable attributes of Jimmy Butler III notwithstanding, Curry is the shepherd of this flock. Golden State’s offense at its best makes defenses dizzy with artful passing and improvised motion that generate open shots. Coach Steve Kerr, with an assist from former assistant Alvin Gentry, devised this “organized chaos” almost 11 years ago to take advantage of Curry’s gravity as well as his spectacular shooting.
When the Warriors operate as designed, it’s beautiful. They are harder to defend than a lie to your mother. When they don’t, they become, well, what they’ve too often been over recent weeks. A team that needs superb defense to offset merely satisfactory offense.
“We could be a lot better (offensively),” Draymond Green conceded to reporters in Portland on Friday. “It’s been too up-and-down as of late, the ball sticking a bit, not moving enough. But defensively, I think we’ve been pretty good for the most part for the most part.”
Curry offered zero disagreement.
“Defensively we’ve been a very consistent team, and our numbers show it,” he said. “Offensively, we’ve been kind of hit or miss.”
Solid defense and average offense likely won’t be enough to conquer the Clippers on Sunday and it surely won’t be enough to provide an extended stay on the NBA playoff calendar. The Warriors are sixth in defensive rating and 15th in offensive rating.
Golden State is seventh in offensive rating since the All-Star break but only 15th over its last 15 games. The defense is third over that span. More telling is that the Warriors have topped their standard of 30 assists only twice since in those 15 games. They’ve recorded 25 or fewer assists four times during that span and failed to reach 100 points three times.
“There’s no rhythm,” Green said. “If the ball is sticking and it’s not moving when it’s supposed to move, you’re not getting the ball when you’re supposed to get the ball. It throws off the rhythm and timing of the game.”
Brandin Podziemski, the second-year guard who has evolved into a primary ballhandler, averaged 3.5 assists over the last 15 games. Fourth-year forward Mose Moody, who handles the ball less frequently, averaging 1.9 per game. Butler averaged 5.9 assists and Green 4.9. Curry, who sometimes plays as much off the ball as much as on it, averaged 5.5.
Rarely does a game go by that the Warriors don’t commit at least one shot-clock turnover. Those tend to be a direct result of the ball sticking instead of moving. Podziemski, a less-than-ideal isolation player, occasionally has lapses of overdribbling. Butler sometimes holds the ball waiting for a cutter that doesn’t always come. Curry fights a tendency to telegraph risky passes. Green sometimes overpasses or fails to realize that most of his teammates are slow to recognize what he sees.
The result is an offense that stalls nearly as often as it percolates.
“The game’s got to flow,” Kerr said. “We have to pass the ball better. We have to get spaced better. We have to develop a rhythm. We were in a better place, I think, a few weeks ago. We were playing with more rhythm, more flow, more two-way connection. We have to get back to that. The last couple weeks have been a little choppy.
In the 11 games beginning with the March 22 loss to the Hawks in Atlanta, the Warriors are 15th in offensive rating and seventh among teams in the West. They are sixth in defensive rating, third in the West. This is not championship stuff. It’s not the stuff of a deep playoff run.
It’s not exactly crushing it down the stretch, either.
The Warriors won’t practice Saturday, but they’ll conduct a walk-through before the 12:30 p.m. tipoff against the Clippers. Can they fix their offense in a day?
Should the Warriors prevail, can they add polish during the six days before Game 1 of the first round?
“That’s what we need to figure out,” Green said. “Steve always says, just hit the first open man. If you see somebody open, hit him. And we’re not doing a great job of that right now. We’ve got to figure out why.”
Whether the Warriors land in the play-in tournament or avoid it and proceed directly to the playoffs, their postseason fate depends on it.
Nikola Jokic's tally of 34 triple-doubles is tied for the fourth most in a season in NBA history [Getty Images]
Nikola Jokic ensured he will become only the third player in NBA history to finish the season with a triple-double average as he starred in the Denver Nuggets' win against the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Serb centre will average double digits for points, rebounds and assists after claiming his 34th triple-double of the season.
He scored 26 points, 12 assists and 26 rebounds in the Nuggets' 117-109 victory, which keeps them in a tie for fourth place in the Western Conference with one game of the regular season remaining.
Elsewhere, Luka Doncic scored 39 points to help the Los Angeles Lakers secure third place in the Western Conference with a 140-109 victory at home to the Houston Rockets.
Only two men had previously finished a regular season in the NBA with a triple-double average - Jokic's Denver team-mate Russell Westbrook, who did so three times with Oklahoma City and once with the Washington Wizards, and Oscar Robertson, who did it in the 1961-62 season for Cincinnati.
Jokic's 12 assists against the Grizzlies means he is guaranteed to finish the season with an assist average of more than 10 for the first time in his career.
He is also averaging in double digits for rebounds and needs 47 points in Denver's final game of the regular season to push his points average above 30, which would also be a career best.
The 30-year-old has already been named most valuable player (MVP) three times in the NBA's regular season, and is one of the top candidates again this year, along with Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
"If he doesn't win the MVP, it's the greatest season of all time not to win the MVP," said the Nuggets' interim coach David Adelman.
Jokic has 164 regular-season triple-doubles in his career, the second-highest tally in NBA history behind Westbrook's 203.
He will bid to extend that tally in Denver's final game of the regular season at home to the Houston Rockets on Sunday as the Nuggets aim to seal the fourth-place finish they need to earn home-court advantage in the play-offs.
Doncic stars for Lakers & James injury scare
The Lakers already know they will have home-court advantage in the play-offs after securing third place in the Western Conference with their victory against second seeds Houston.
It stretched their record for the season to 50 wins and 31 defeats.
Doncic continued his fine run of form, leading the way with 39 points, eight rebounds and seven assists while LeBron James added 14 points and eight assists.
James, who has been troubled by a groin injury, grimaced in pain in the third quarter and sat out the remainder of the game with tape on his left hip.
Elsewhere, the Golden State Warriors kept alive their hopes of a fourth-placed finish in the Western Conference with a 103-86 victory against the Portland Traliblazers that was powered by 24 points and seven assists from Jimmy Butler III.
The Warriors, who play their final game of the regular season at home to the Los Angeles Clippers, are in sixth place on 48 wins and 33 defeats, one win behind the Clippers and the Nuggets, who are tied for fourth.
Oklahoma City have already secured top spot in the Western Conference.
Lakers star LeBron James, left, celebrates with Rui Hachimura (28) and Jaxson Hayes, second from right, during the second half of a 140-109 win over the Houston Rockets on Friday at Crypto.com Arena. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
LeBron James moved gingerly to the bench, grabbing at the inside of his left leg midway through the third quarter.
This, for the Lakers, was a possible worst-case scenario on a night when they could lock up their best-case scenario for the playoffs.
A win against the Rockets with Houston sitting 80% of its starting lineup would lock the Lakers into the No. 3 seed, giving them and their starters an extended rest heading into the first round of the playoffs that would begin in more than a week inside their building.
But losing James to a groin injury? That could puncture their championship dreams.
Without him, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves took turns barbecuing the reserve Rockets’ perimeter defense, but the Lakers needed their 40-year-old star to be OK.
Turns out, he was just fine.
In the fourth quarter after Reaves made rookie Jack McVeigh stumble, James celebrated the step-back by walking off the bench all the way to the basket, only to moonwalk his way back — one of a handful of times he celebrated in the Lakers’ 140-109 win — an outcome that ensures their season finale in Portland won’t have any impact on their postseason.
It’s the first time the Lakers have avoided the play-in tournament since 2020, when they last won a championship.
Lakers star LeBron James dunks over Houston Rockets center Jock Landale (2) in the first half Friday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“It just gives us a couple more days to be very prepared for whatever matchup we have,” Reaves said.
That means Sunday can be a day of rest for the Lakers’ stars while they wait to see who they’ll face in the playoffs, hosting a Game 1 in Los Angeles for the first time since the first round of the 2012 playoffs.
It’s expected the Lakers will rest as many of their key players as possible against the Trail Blazers.
Friday, in what likely was his regular-season finale, Doncic was sublime, scoring 39 points on only 19 shots in 31 minutes. Reaves had 23 points, Dorian Finney-Smith had 18 and Rui Hachimura had 16. James left the game after 22 minutes with 14 points and eight assists.
The Lakers shot 61% from the field during their 50th win. It was their best-shooting game of the season.
After the game the locker room erupted in celebration, the party so loud it could be heard through the walls. As JJ Redick met his players, they met him with ice buckets, dousing the rookie coach.
“The whole locker room is literally the water,” Hachimura said. “Straight water.”
They had reason to celebrate before refocusing on the next chapter of their season.
“It's an accomplishment to win 50 games in the regular season in any year,” Redick said. “I think particularly in this year, in this Western Conference, it is. And it's a credit to our players. Each one at different points in time has contributed to winning. They've all participated in a winning culture.”
And the Lakers hope it’s a championship culture too.
“That's gotta be [the] only goal, and that's our only goal,” Doncic said. “ I think we have the team to do it. When everybody's locked in, you know, we're a hard team to beat.
Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard dunks in front of Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray during the Clippers' 101-100 win Friday night. Leonard finished with 28 points and seven rebounds. (Scott Marshall / Associated Press)
They've played 81 games and won 49 and yet the Clippers' postseason place won't be decided until their regular-season finale Sunday at Golden State. The Clippers have the eighth-best record in the NBA and are fifth in the uber-tough Western Conference.
So what comes next for the Clippers is quite straightforward.
Beat the Warriors and the Clippers are in the playoffs. Lose and they could be in danger of falling into the play-in.
“High stakes, huh?” Clippers center Ivica Zubac said Friday night while soaking his swollen right ankle in a bucket of ice after a 101-100 win over the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center.
The Clippers nearly gave up all of their 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. Holding a one-point lead, James Harden turned over the ball trying to inbound it, with Keegan Murray getting the steal.
The Kings called a timeout with 2.2 seconds left. But DeMar DeRozan missed a runner while being defended by Derrick Jones Jr. and Zubac, allowing the Clippers to win their seventh consecutive game.
But because so many tiebreakers are not in the Clippers’ favor, they'll have to win an eighth straight game to secure a playoff spot.
The Clippers and the Denver Nuggets have identical 49-32 records and split the season-series 2-2. Denver is the fourth seed because it has the tiebreaker of a better conference record at 31-20 compared to L.A.'s 28-23.
If the Clippers lose to the Warriors and the Nuggets beat Houston and the Timberwolves beat the Jazz, L.A. would fall to seventh in the West and meet Memphis in a play-in game Tuesday night at the Intuit Dome.
“Imagine if we didn’t win all these games,” said Zubac, who had 17 points and 11 rebounds against the Kings. “We got a lot of wins but other teams did too. So, one game, playoffs or play-in. So, it’s going to be fun.”
Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard reacts after making a three-pointer against the Kings on Friday night. (Scott Marshall / Associated Press)
Basically, a Clippers loss and wins by the Warriors and Timberwolves would leave all three teams with the same records.
The Timberwolves would become the fifth seed and the Warriors would be the sixth seed and the Clippers seventh.
The main tiebreaker that put the Clippers in this position was going 0-3 against the Timberwolves.
“Win 49 games and if you don’t win Sunday, you got a chance to be seventh,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “So, we just got to keep scrapping, keep competing. One game at a time. It is what it is. But you didn’t ever think you’d win 49 games and still could be in the play-in. So, it is what it is.”
The Clippers stayed in contention behind 28 points from Kawhi Leonard and Harden's triple-double of 23 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Norman Powell had 16 points as the Clippers benefited from a stellar defense to narrowly hold off the Kings.
They just have to do it again against the Warriors at Chase Center in San Francisco.
“The outcome is going to tell what happens,” Leonard said. “So, just go out and play. That’s all you can do — play and have fun.”
The Clippers have beaten the Warriors three times this season. But Golden State is a different team from the one they last faced Dec. 27.
Golden State is 23-7 since adding Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline.
“That’s a good team over there,” Zubac said. “They’ve been playing well. ... They got a lot of experience, a lot of playoff games together. So, got to be locked in, got to be the team we’ve been all year on the defensive end. It’s going to be tough. But I think we’re in a good spot. So it’s going to be fun.”
The Knicks were on track to end their winless streak against the NBA’s top teams on Friday.
New York was dominating the shorthanded Cavaliers, who were resting a good number of their starters with their playoff seeding locked up, and leading by as many as 23 points in the first half, but suddenly things changed.
Cleveland came storming back, taking their first lead of the game at the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter, and then securing the come-from-behind win thanks to some timely buckets from Darius Garland and Max Strus.
New York was ultimately handed their third consecutive loss, which helped them finish an ugly 0-8 against the two teams above them in the Eastern Conference, the Cavs and Boston Celtics.
“You have to play for 48 minutes in this league, no lead is safe,” Tom Thibodeau said.
What exactly went wrong down the stretch? The head coach felt just about everything.
“We gotta look at ourselves and see what we did and get it fixed fast,” he said. “That’s the challenge that we have -- we’re heading down the stretch. We knew the challenge with Jalen [Brunson] being out and then coming back and losing other guys.
"But you have to have rhythm going into the playoffs, this has to be changed quickly."
And it certainly does -- the Knicks have just one more regular season game on Sunday afternoon against the rival Nets before they kick off the postseason with their first-round matchup against the Pistons, who beat them earlier this week.
Detroit’s squad presents no easy task, as they went 3-1 against New York this year.
“That’s a good young team,” Josh Hart said. “We know the brand of basketball that they play. We have to go out there, match their physicality and exceed it. We have one more game on Sunday so we have to focus on that and we have one week to prepare.”
While Hart this team isn’t playing anywhere close to their best brand of basketball at the moment, he remains confident that they’ll be able to turn things around when it matters the most.
“At the end of the day playoff basketball is totally different,” he said. “Everyone starts 0-0, everything else is just outside noise. We just have to focus on the guys in this locker room and doing what it takes to have success as a team, and go out there and execute.”
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Rudy Gobert matched his career high with 35 points and had 11 rebounds for Minnesota in a 117-91 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night that put the Timberwolves on the brink of a top-six finish that would avoid the play-in games.
Julius Randle added 21 points for the Timberwolves (48-33), who would win the majority of multi-team tiebreakers within the cluster of clubs that have pinballed back and forth for weeks in the Western Conference from third through eighth place.
One problem: Anthony Edwards picked up his 18th technical foul of the season. That prompted an automatic suspension for the next game on Sunday that the Timberwolves will need to win to improve their seed.
Edwards had just nine points while shooting 1 for 7 from 3-point range. He scored 44 points and went 7 for 11 from deep to lead Minnesota’s 141-125 win at Memphis the night before.
Keon Johnson scored 20 points for the Nets (26-55), who will finish with their worst record in eight years.
Takeaways
Nets: The scratch list included the entire starting frontcourt of Nic Claxton, Cam Johnson and Ziaire Williams. Claxton (rest) and Williams (knee) both played on Thursday. The starting lineup included rookies Reece Beekman and Drew Timme with Trendon Watford the oldest at 24.
Timberwolves: The absence of the 6-foot-10 Claxton and the lack of incentive for the Nets gave Gobert plenty of space to operate in the paint. He went 13 for 17 from the floor.
Key moment
Edwards was whistled for a foul while closely guarding Johnson on the wing midway through the second quarter. After a complaint to official Ray Acosta, he quickly got the technical, too.
Key stat
The Timberwolves are 26-10 this season when Randle has scored 20-plus points.
Up next
The Nets finish at home against New York on Sunday, when the Timberwolves host Utah.
