Category: Basketball

For a few weeks in 2012, Jeremy Lin had enough swagger for all of New York — and for all of the NBA.

While that's what many fans remember him for, Lin was more than just "Linsanity." He played in nine NBA seasons before spending time playing in China and, most recently, Taiwan. Now, at 37, Lin announced his retirement from basketball on Instagram.

"As athletes, we are always aware that the possibility of retirement is never far away," he wrote. "I've spent my 15 year career knowing that one day I would have to walk away, and yet actually saying goodbye to basketball today has been the hardest decision I've ever made.

"It's been the honor of a lifetime to compete against the fiercest competitors under the brightest lights and to challenge what the world thought was possible for someone who looks like me. I've lived out my wildest childhood dreams to play in front of fans all around the world. I will forever be the kid who felt fully alive everytime I touched a basketball."

Lin was undrafted out of Harvard but got a chance thanks to Dallas Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson, who signed him for the Mavs Summer League team. There, he turned heads as a guard with potential, averaging 9.8 points per game on 54.5% shooting in Las Vegas. That led to several offers, but Lin took the one from the Warriors, sending him back to his native Bay Area. He was waived by the Warriors midway through his rookie season, but in the summer of 2012, Lin signed a free agent minimum contract with Mike D'Antoni's New York Knicks.

In February of the following season, when leading scorer Carmelo Anthony went out, Antoni inserted Lin into the lineup and over the next few weeks Lin became a New York legend, sparking "Linsanity" and breathing an air of excitement into the league it needed. He scored 20+ points in nine of 10 games, most famously outdueling Kobe Bryant on a night Lin dropped 38 and seven assists to Kobe's 34 points, leading New York to a win.

Lin would go on to play for the Rockets, Lakers, Hornets, Nets, Hawks and Raptors (where he won a ring in 2019), averaging 11.6 points a game for his career. More than just an on-court success, he was an inspiration to a generation of players coming up who saw themselves in the overlooked Lin.

After the NBA, Lin played in China and then Taiwan, where he suited up for the Taipei Kings in the Taiwan Professional Basketball League's inaugural season. He was named MVP and Finals MVP as he sparked a Kings championship run.

A Lithuanian fan has been banned from EuroBasket by the governing body FIBA after he directed racist verbal abuse toward Germany's captain Dennis Schroder.

Germany beat Lithuania on Saturday, but the talking point postgame was the racist actions toward Schroder, who said this in a postgame interview with German media outlet MagentaSport (hat tip Eurohoops.net).

"The Lithuanians, the fans, they always travel with the team, but unfortunately, at halftime, they made monkey noises."

Arena security used CCTV footage from the building to identify the man, and as a result, he has been banned from attending the rest of the tournament. German Basketball Federation President Ingo Weiss made this statement Saturday (hat tip The Athletic):

"This is completely unacceptable to us. There is no place for such behaviour anywhere, and certainly not in the colorful, diverse and open world of basketball. We stand fully behind Dennis, understand his distress and will intervene with the organizers to ensure that such incidents don't take place here again."

FIBA said this in its statement:

"FIBA unequivocally condemns hate speech, discriminatory conduct, and racist language in any form. Creating an inclusive, respectful, and safe environment for players, teams, and fans remains a fundamental priority of our sport."

With the win over Lithuania on Saturday, Germany improved to 3-0 in Group B and has ensured that it will advance to the 16-team knockout stage next round. The Germans are led by the Sacramento Kings' Schroder and the Orlando Magic's Franz Wagner.

The NBA's biggest stars were shining bright in EuroLeague on Saturday — and 39 seemed to be the number.

In a showdown of big-name NBA centers, Nikola Jokic looked dominant against Kristaps Porzingis, scoring 39 points with 10 boards in a Serbian win.

Porzingis finished with 14 points, six rebounds and three blocks, but it wasn't enough as Latvia fell 84-40. The win improved Serbia's record to 3-0 so far, and with that, they qualified for the next round (despite being without Bogdan Bogdanovic).

Luka Doncic has looked dominant through the early part of the tournament — he leads EuroBasket in points per game — and that continued on Saturday when he dropped 39 for Slovenia.

Despite Doncic's play, France came from behind in the second half to take the win, 103- 95. At the end of the game, there was a scuffle when France's Sylvain Francisco broke the unwritten rule and decided to score rather than dribble the game out, as everyone else was shaking hands and walking off the court.

Slovenia is now 0-2 in EuroBasket, despite Doncic's elite and energetic play. They have lost to two high-quality teams in Poland and France (both are 2-0), but now Slovenia's games against Belgium, Iceland and Israel become must-win.

Serbian captain Bogdan Bogdanovic left the court and did not play in the second half of the team's win against Portugal — and is out for the team's game Saturday against Latvia — after suffering a hamstring injury.

The injury appeared to occur on a drive to the basket late in the first half, reports Semih Tuna of eurohoops.net, who was in Riga, Latvia, for the game. Bogdanovic was in the Serbian locker room greeting his teammates after the win.

The severity of the injury and his ability to return to EuroBasket are not yet known. The Serbians are waiting for the Clippers' doctor to weigh in (he has a say due to the Clippers' insurance on the player), and it is his thoughts, working in conjunction with the Serbian national team's medical staff, that will determine if Bogdanovic will return during EuroBasket, according to reports. How long a player is out with a hamstring injury depends on the severity of the strain, it can go from a week or so out to six weeks or more. The longer end of that timeline would not only have Bogdanovic missing the rest of EuroBasket but also the start of the Clippers training camp in a month. Bogdanovic missed games early last season in Los Angeles due to a hamstring strain.

Bogdanovic had 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting in Serbia's opening blowout win over Estonia at EuroBasket. He had seven points and five rebounds before leaving the game against Portugal.

Serbia went on to beat Portugal 80-69 behind 23 points and 10 rebounds from Nikola Jokic. Next up for Serbia is host Latvia and their star, Kristaps Porzingis.

Two of the top big men in the NBA will go head-to-head Saturday — in Riga, Latvia.

Nikola Jokic and the tournament favorite Serbian squad will face host Latvia and Kristaps Porzingis in a Group A game on Saturday. Here is everything you need to know about how to watch that game.

EuroBasket 2025: Serbia vs. Latvia: How To Watch

Serbia vs. Latvia tips off Saturday, Aug. 31 at 11 AM ET (6 PM local time in Latvia).

In the United States, games can be streamed on Courtside 1891, FIBA's official streaming platform. All EuroBasket games also can be viewed through DAZN on the Courtside app.

Jokic vs. Porzingis

Both big men come in off strong games.

Porzingis had a rough opening outing in a loss to Turkiye, but on Friday he had 22 points and seven rebounds against Estonia.

Jokic has looked like himself — the best player in the world — and dropped a casual 23 and 10 on Portugal.

Whatever happens with the big men, what makes Serbia the favorite in this matchup is its depth on the rest of the roster. Serbia features NBA players Bogdan Bogdanovic (Clippers), Nikola Jovic (Heat), Nikola Topic (Thunder) and Tristan Vukcevic (Wizards). They also have former NBA players Vasilije Micic, Filip Petrusev, and Alen Smailagic. Latvia does have former NBA player Davis Bertans.

Kyrie Irving will miss most, if not all, of the coming season due to a torn ACL, which has Dallas wanting to bring in some point guard depth behind D'Angelo Russell. Specifically, the Mavericks plan to re-sign Dante Exum, who has been with the team for a couple of seasons but is now a free agent.

To make that happen, the Mavericks are waiving and stretching 2023 first-round pick Olivier-Maxence Prosper, a story broken by ESPN’s Shams Charania.

This was not a surprise. Dallas is hard-capped at the second apron and was within $1.5 million of that line, it needed to clear cap space to sign Exum, even to a veteran minimum contract. The team had tried to trade Prosper, but other teams wanted a second-round pick attached to take on his $3 million contract. Dallas could create enough space to sign Exum by waiving and stretching Prosper, spreading his $3 million over three seasons on the books.

Once Prosper clears waivers, expect the Mavericks to announce the deal with Exum.

Prosper becomes a free agent and has shown enough flashes in Dallas to garner interest from other NBA teams.

We didn't see a lot of Lauri Markkanen in Utah last season, with injuries cutting his season in half.

Friday at EuroBasket, he reminded Great Britain, and everyone else, just how good he can be — and showed he still has plenty of hops.

It wasn't just that dunk, Markkanen dropped 43 to lead Finland to a group stage win.

Finland is now 2-0 in group play, having beaten Sweden and Great Britain, with Markkanen is averaging 35.5 points a game. Jazz fans — and you can be sure some other front office personnel around the NBA — have taken notice. Next up for Finland is winless Montenegro.

There were some other NBA big men who had good days at EuroBasket.

Alperen Sengun had 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting with 12 rebounds and nine assists as his Türkiye team continues to look strong in a win over the Czech Republic.

Kristaps Porzingis had 26 points and seven rebounds to lift Latvia past Estonia for its first EuroBasket 2025 win.

Nikola Jokic had 23 points and 10 rebounds in another win for Serbia, a team that has looked dominant so far.

Malcolm Brogdon's landing spot for next season remains on hold because of situations out of his control.

Brogdon remains one of the best free agent guards still on the market — he was the Sixth Man of the Year just two seasons ago. His stock has slipped due to injuries, which limited him to just 63 combined games over the last two seasons (in Portland and Washington). However, when healthy last season, he averaged 12.7 points and 4.1 assists per game. This is a low-risk opportunity for teams, a healthy Brogdon could provide quality depth to a team that sees itself as a contender.

The Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and the Minnesota Timberwolves have expressed some interest in Brogdon, reports Jake Fischer at The Stein Line. However, in all three cases, the teams are waiting on other situations to play out before signing Brogdon (or any guard). With the Warriors, that is the Jonathan Kuminga free agency drama.

"In Brogdon's case, Golden State's long-running stalemate with restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga has contributed to the uncomfortable wait. We won't know if the Warriors emerge with more serious interest in Brogdon until the state of their roster and luxury tax bill becomes clear in the wake of a resolution to Kuminga's fate and the subsequent signings that have been long anticipated."

Once the Kuminga situation is resolved, the Warriors will know how much money they have to spend on expected signings such as Al Horford, De'Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II, and Will Richard (a second-round pick). Brogdon may or may not be one of the players signed.

With the Knicks and Timberwolves, the situation keeping Brogdon in limbo is the federal gambling investigation tied to Malik Beasley. He is no longer a "target" in that investigation — meaning a principal at the heart of the case — but remains a "subject" tied to the investigation and potentially could be charged with a crime. Both New York and Minnesota have been in touch with Beasley, who was second in Sixth Man of the Year voting for the Pistons last season. With there still being a month to go before the start of training camp, the Knicks and Timberwolves (and Pistons, and other teams with interest in Beasley) can wait to see how things play out, then make their move later. Brogdon could be a fallback for those teams.

That leaves a quality guard waiting for his opportunity. He's going to end up signing for the veteran minimum wherever he lands, a step down from the two-year, $45 million deal (from the Pacers) that he just completed.

Jose Alvarado had to be stretchered off the court from an AmeriCup game Thursday night in a scary moment for himself and the Pelicans.

Alvarado had led Puerto Rico to overtime against Argentina by scoring 25 points (7-of-12 from 3). In that extra time, Alvarado was battling for a rebound, pulled it free and fell to the floor in the process, landing flat on his back and instantly started grabbing at his lower back in pain.

He was down for some time and eventually had to be stretchered off the court back to the locker room. The Pelicans' guard then posted this on his Instagram story.

Hopefully this does turn out to be nothing, the Pelicans have had enough bad injury luck in recent years and don't need their reserve guard and fan favorite out with a back issue.

Argentina went on to beat Puerto Rico to advance to the AmeriCup semifinals against Canada. In the other semifinal, a USA team led by Javonte Smart, Zachary Auguste and Langston Galloway will face Brazil.