LONDON (AP) — Real Madrid and Benfica will do it all over again on Tuesday after their epic Champions League showdown last month.
A 4-2 win for Benfica against Madrid in the last round of games in the league phase produced one of the most dramatic finishes in the competition's history.
A goal deep into added time by goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin secured Benfica's place in the playoffs. Defeat for Madrid, meanwhile, meant the record 15-time European champion missed out on automatic qualification for the round of 16.
The mastermind behind that win for Benfica was former Madrid coach José Mourinho.
Now he gets the chance to inflict more pain on his old team in the first leg of their playoff series at Benfica's Stadium of Light.
“I don’t think it takes a miracle for Benfica to eliminate Real Madrid,” Mourinho said, although he did acknowledge his team would have to be close to perfect to advance.
Defending champion Paris Saint-Germain is playing at Monaco in the playoffs on Tuesday. Galatasaray hosts Juventus and Borussia Dortmund is at home against Atalanta.
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for Jeremy Sochan. After a year riding the pine for the San Antonio Spurs, he and his camp received permission to pursue a trade. The one trade that was publicly shared was the offer from the New York Knicks, which was rejected by the Spurs.
After a suitable trade did not materialize before the deadline, the Spurs graciously waived him, allowing Sochan flexibility to his future.
Jeremy signed with the New York Knicks, packed up, and took himself out East.
And now it has been revealed that Jeremy and his girlfriend Mya Mills are going to be parents.
Mills, a British model and social media influencer, made the announcement via Instagram. Looks like their baby girl is expected May 20th, one day after Mills turns twenty-five.
Sochan is currently twenty-two-years-old. The Knicks is his second NBA team after starting his career in 2022 being drafted by the Spurs.
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CHENNAI, India (AP) — Canada batter Yuvraj Samra’s exhilarating century proved in vain as New Zealand advanced to cricket's T20 World Cup Super 8s with an eight-wicket win on Tuesday.
New Zealand’s resounding victory knocked 2024 semifinalist Afghanistan out of the tournament, with the Black Caps joining England, South Africa, West Indies, India and Sri Lanka in the next round.
Australia will miss out for the first time since 2009 if Zimbabwe beats Ireland in their Group B tussle in Pallekele later on Tuesday.
On a perfect batting wicket, Glenn Phillips (76 not out) and Rachin Ravindra (59 not out) led New Zealand to 176-2 in 15.1 overs as the Black Caps claimed their third win in Group D.
Samra’s 110 off 65 balls, which included six sixes and 11 fours, had earlier guided Canada to 173-4 after captain Dilpreet Bajwa won the toss and elected to bat.
The 19-year-old Samra, who caught the eye last year when he smashed a 15-ball half century against Bahamas, became the first batter from an associate country to score a hundred at the T20 World Cup.
Bajwa made 36 off 39 balls and together with Samra put on 116 for the first wicket.
New Zealand struggled to stem the flow of runs and felt the absence of captain Mitchell Santner, who was ruled out of the game due to a “dodgy burger” on Monday night, and fast bowler Lockie Ferguson.
Ferguson is on paternity leave but is expected to re-join the team for the Super 8s.
Samra was dropped, but not before he had raised his century off 58 deliveries, when the ball burst through the hands of James Neesham at long-off.
His belligerent knock ended in the final over when Phillips caught him at deep backward square leg at the second attempt.
When it came to New Zealand's reply, Finn Allen and Tim Seifert fell inside four balls in the power play before Phillips and Ravindra shared an electrifying 146-run partnership in just 12 overs.
Nepal, which lost its first three Group C games, takes on Scotland in Mumbai later on Tuesday.
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Cameron Boozer had 22 points and 12 rebounds and helped No. 3 Duke rout Syracuse 101-64 victory Monday night.
Isaiah Evans scored 21 points, Nikolas Khamenia added 14 points off the bench and Patrick Ngongba and Cayden Boozer each had 12 for the Blue Devils (24-2, 13-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who looked primed for a weekend nonconference showdown with top-ranked Michigan.
Duke shot 62.3% from the field, including 12 for 20 from 3-point distance.
Boozer shot eight for 10 from the field and finished with the 14th double-double of his freshman season.
William Kyle III scored 12 points and Nate Kingz added 10 for Syracuse (15-12, 6-8), which failed to carry the momentum from back-to-back victories for the first time since winning three straight in January.
NO. 6 IOWA STATE 70, NO.. 2 HOUSTON 67
AMES, Iowa (AP) — Nate Heise hit a go-ahead 3-pointer and Tamin Lipsey came up with an offensive rebound in the final seconds to cap Iowa State’s rally in a victory over Big 12 leader and Houston.
Heise was 3 for 3 from 3-point range hours after sister Taylor Heise scored to help the U.S. Women’s Olympic hockey team beat Sweden 5-0 to reach the gold-medal game in Milan.
The Cyclones (23-3, 10-3) closed with a 17-4 run to take down a second top-10 team in three days. Iowa State topped No. 8 Kansas 74-56 on Saturday.
The Cougars (23-3, 11-2) had their six-game winning streak snapped and their conference lead was cut to a half-game over No. 4 Arizona heading into their matchup Saturday in Houston. Iowa State is third, a game behind Houston.
Heise hit the 3-pointer from the left corner with 1:17 to play to give the Cyclones a 69-67 lead. Houston had two chances to tie or take the lead, but was called for a shot-clock violation with 43 seconds to play, then Chris Cenac Jr., missed a shot with four seconds left.
Blake Buchanan was fouled after rebounding Cenac’s miss, but missed the front end of a one-and-one. Lipsey, though, got the offensive rebound, tapping the ball back to Joshua Jefferson, who was fouled with asecond left. Jefferson made his first free throw for the final margin.
Jefferson led Iowa State with 12 points. Heise had 11 and Buchanan had 10.
Kingston Flemings led Houston with 22 points. Emanuel Sharp had 16 points, all in the first half. Milos Uzan had 11 points.
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 15: Anthony Edwards #5 of the USA Stars Team poses for a portrait with the Kobe Bryant 2026 Kia NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Trophy during the 75th NBA All-Star Game - Post Game Portraits as part of NBA All-Star Weekend on Sunday, February 15, 2026 at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Zach Barron/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
It was February of 2003. Kevin Garnett walked into the All-Star Game as the Timberwolves’ lone representative, our one-man franchise, and walked out with the MVP trophy after leading the Western Conference to a win. I remember sitting in my college apartment obsessively tracking every KG rebound and elbow jumper like it was Game 7 of the Finals. My roommates looked at me like I had lost my mind. “It’s the All-Star Game,” they said.
But they didn’t get it.
Back then, the Wolves were the NBA’s awkward cousin. Six straight first-round playoff exits. No playoff series wins. No lottery luck. No national respect. Kevin Garnett was all we had. So when KG was announced as All-Star MVP, it felt like Minnesota had finally been acknowledged. Not pitied. Not ignored. Acknowledged.
Fast forward 23 years.
Anthony Edwards is now the second Timberwolf to win All-Star Game MVP. On the surface, it doesn’t hit the same way. The All-Star Game has spent the last decade drifting into irrelevance, with think pieces every February asking whether we should just cancel it altogether. The Timberwolves, meanwhile, aren’t the NBA’s afterthought anymore. They’ve been to back-to-back Western Conference Finals. They’re in the contender conversation. They don’t need validation in the same desperate way they did in 2003.
And yet, what we saw this weekend from Edwards may end up being even more significant than what Garnett did that night.
Because this wasn’t just about an exhibition trophy.
It was about the face of the league.
For the better part of three years now, I’ve been beating the same drum: Anthony Edwards should be the face of the modern NBA. Not just one of its stars. The guy. The centerpiece. The billboard. The post-LeBron answer.
The modern NBA features a buffet of talent. Luka Doncic slicing defenses. Nikola Jokic doing robot savant things. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning MVP and champion, playing with surgical precision. Victor Wembanyama looking like a basketball cheat code from a lab experiment.
But here’s the thing: there’s only one player on that stage who has the charisma, the relatability, and the sheer gravitational pull to capture both the American fan base and the global audience in the way Michael Jordan did in the ’90s, Kobe did in the 2000s, and LeBron did for the last two decades.
It’s Edwards.
Luka and Jokic are generational talents, but they don’t connect culturally with U.S. fans the way a homegrown, charismatic star does. Shai is brilliant, but he doesn’t command a room the way Ant does. Wembanyama is fascinating, but he’s a unicorn. Kids can’t replicate that body, that reach, that alien geometry. They can’t go into the driveway and pretend to be 7-foot-4 with an eight-foot wingspan.
They can pretend to be Anthony Edwards.
They can practice the step-back three. The downhill drive. The swagger. The grin. The playful trash talk. The confidence.
From the opening tip of the All-Star Game, Edwards stole the show. He went at Wembanyama with a wink and a challenge. He embraced the moment instead of sleepwalking through it. And when the final buzzer sounded and the cameras swarmed, he didn’t retreat into cliché answers or exhausted platitudes.
He leaned in.
The postgame press conference was almost more impressive than the on-court performance. After a long All-Star Weekend, it would have been easy to mail it in. Instead, he flashed that smile, cracked jokes, engaged with reporters, and turned a room full of microphones into his own late-night talk show set. He looked comfortable. Confident. Born for it.
This is exactly the kind of personality the league needs right now. The NBA is navigating a strange era. The talent level is absurdly high. The global footprint is enormous. But culturally? It feels fragmented. Polarized. Searching for its next unifying figure. After MJ came Kobe. After Kobe came LeBron. After LeBron… the answer has felt murkier.
The answer should be Anthony Edwards.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting for Wolves fans. For years, Minnesota has lived on the wrong side of the NBA’s gravitational pull. The superstar whistle? Rarely ours. The free-agent magnetism? Not exactly strong. The benefit-of-the-doubt calls in crunch time? Let’s just say we’ve seen them go elsewhere.
Edwards has yet to consistently get the “superstar whistle.” You can debate whether that whistle should exist at all, but anyone who watches the league knows it does. Ant drives to the rim, absorbs contact, throws his arms up with that signature “hey!” yell, and too often jogs back without a call. Some of that is self-inflicted, officials don’t love demonstrative reactions, but some of it is about status.
Status changes everything. As Edwards’ star continues its supernova trajectory, maybe the memo gets passed. Maybe some of those borderline no-calls start turning into trips to the free-throw line. Not because he’s flopping or hunting whistles, but because the league subconsciously understands: this is one of our tentpole guys now.
And if that happens, it doesn’t just elevate Edwards.
It elevates Minnesota.
For 36 years, the Wolves have fought uphill battles: officiating, market size, free agency perception, you name it. But if Edwards becomes the gravitational center of the league, that pull starts working in Minnesota’s favor. Suddenly, the Wolves aren’t just the scrappy small-market contender. They’re the home of the face of the NBA.
That matters.
It matters for calls. It matters for national TV slots. It matters for free agents who want to play with a megastar in his prime. It matters for legacy.
Because while Garnett’s 2003 All-Star MVP felt like validation for a franchise that had never won anything, Edwards’ 2026 All-Star MVP feels like confirmation of something bigger: confirmation that Minnesota might be housing the next global icon.
The NBA is full of brilliance right now. But there’s only one guy who feels like he was made for the camera, built for the moment, and wired to embrace the spotlight without flinching.
After MJ came Kobe. After Kobe came LeBron.
After LeBron?
It should be Anthony Edwards.
And if that’s true, Wolves fans may look back at this All-Star Weekend not as a fun midseason footnote, but as the night the rest of the basketball world finally caught up to what we’ve known for five seasons.
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 14: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks during a press conference during 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend at Intuit Dome on February 14, 2026 in Inglewood, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the GettyImages License Agreement. (Photo by Ryan Sirius Sun/Getty Images) | Getty Images
With the unfair and unprecedented fines against the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers last week, there has been a tipping point of frustration for fans and media over how poorly things have gone for the NBA under the leadership of Adam Silver.
Adam Silver has done one thing right in his time as Commissioner: he has made money for the Owners, those with one of thirty memberships in the league.
In terms of the product on the floor, he’s done a terrible job. The actual on-court elements of the game have consistently gotten worse under his leadership.
Problems with the product
Tanking
Instead of focusing on the two-thirds of the league vying for playoffs, Silver has made it important to punish and terrorize the small markets of the league, doing everything they can to try to be competitive. Steph Curry, over had a great quote over All-Star weekend about the state of the league and the “tanking problem.”
Steph Curry was asked what he thinks the NBA should do to reduce tanking:
“Is it really that big of a problem? I’m asking. We feel like there’s obviously a lot of competition. It’s something I’m sure every year the NBA wants to address, why the Play-in Tournament exists. Things… pic.twitter.com/tMVMb1VaNK
Tanking, which has been done for forty years, is just now apparently ruining the “integrity of the league.” Teams that are focusing on having their young players play, knowing that they won’t win, are receiving threats from the commissioner to do things that aren’t in their best interest. You’d better play your vets, we’re monitoring your substitution patterns! Win meaningless games, so you miss out on the talent in the draft, or else! That’s the message from Adam Silver recently.
In Silver’s disastrous press conference over All-Star weekend, in which Silver had All-Star Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night during the day, he claimed that all things are on the table to punish teams for tanking, including losing draft picks. So, the one thing teams like the Utah Jazz have to bring top-tier talent on their team, the one thing that allows them to make trades to improve, Silver wants to remove.
Adam Silver: "What we're doing, what we're seeing right now, is not working…"
David Aldridge: "Is there any talk of taking draft picks away from teams… as opposed to fining them?"
There are so many things he says that show an absolute misunderstanding of fans. First, Silver mentions that fans don’t want tanking. Maybe for the casual fan, but for the diehards, the ones paying for league pass and going to games in losing seasons, that’s just not the case. Silver is treating fans like a tech company treats users of its apps, they’re data points. Fans may not like tanking, nobody does, but they understand the necessity of it. I see that in our site’s numbers and in my own YouTube and social media. Fans view the draft as hope, and tanking as the means of restoring it. They know that you can’t get anywhere in the NBA other than drafting top-tier players on draft night. And for small market teams, tanking is the only way they’ll get their own superstar. Silver throwing around threats about losing draft picks is the worst possible type of leadership. It’s a tyrannical leader, unchecked, threatening the smaller markets to bend the knee to his beloved larger markets like LA and New York, as well as his beloved gambling companies (more on that later).
Yes, there are season ticket holders who would like to see their teams win. And at some point, you have to make sure that NBA owners are actually making a profit, but the NBA taking draft picks away from a team like the Jazz would only hurt the fans, the ones that Silver claims he is worried about.
Season Length
For far too long, the NBA season has been too long. Players are still playing back-to-backs and three games in four nights that is leading to a wide variety of issues. Load management has been a problem that has plagued the league for all of Silver’s tenure. We don’t hear as much about it now because the commissioner wants you to think it’s been solved. To his credit, Silver did add the rule that players must reach 65 games to be eligible for awards and all-star consideration, and that appears to have curbed some problems. But this rule alone should tell you about the need for a shortened season.
Imagine the NBA reduced games to something in the 70-72 range. Teams would actually be able to practice (what a novel thought). It would literally improve the product on the floor with teams being prepared for each game. It would also make each game matter more, in a way that has given the NFL an advantage. Each NFL game matters more because every game counts towards the playoff picture. If the NBA had a shorter season, spread out, there would be less tanking in general because, when it would happen, it would be late in the season when people wouldn’t care anyway. The playoff picture would hinge on every game that much more. As it currently stands, the season is more or less decided by February and March. Teams like the Utah Jazz have to make decisions for what’s best for them earlier because the season is so long.
In addition to improvements to the games themselves, we’re seeing players sustain more and more injuries. The game is faster, harder, and requires more skill than ever before. Players have to be at an elite level, and they’re pushing themselves to the absolute limit, and we’re seeing more injuries, which is costing stars to play. And if there’s one thing the NBA likes to boast about, it’s its stars. It is not good to boast about those stars if they’re always out with calf injuries, or worse.
How to fire Adam Silver
The decision to single out the Utah Jazz specifically was not for the integrity of the league, the lie that Adam Silver told. It was to protect the thing that he is most worried about, the revenue of the league. But not in the way you would think, with attendance or viewership, he is most worried about the integration of gambling. There are a lot of legacies that Adam Silver will leave whenever he stops being the commissioner (player injuries, bad officiating, a ruined all-star experience, a poor league-pass experience, tournaments no one asked for, the list could go on), but the one he will be most known for is the invasive implementation of gambling in every aspect of the game. Gambling companies need reliable information for games to remove issues with their lines. For the Utah Jazz to rest players puts those lines at risk and could cause bookkeepers to lose reliable data. That’s the worry for Adam Silver.
One of the most telling stories about Silver’s interest in the gambling aspect of the league comes from this Ringer article on pitch-counting scandals and their relationship to prop bets. Something that sounds very familiar to things we’ve seen with Terry Rozier and Jontay Porter. But what’s interesting from that article is what it revealed from Adam Silver talking to Rob Manfred, commissioner of the MLB.
With parlays, the house almost always wins. With prop bets, the house almost always wins except when it’s set up to lose by a duplicitous, unscrupulous player. In 2021, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred divulged that NBA commissioner Adam Silver had advised him not to dwell on baseball’s deliberate pace because all that time between its hundreds of thousands of pitches per season made the sport perfect for micro-betting—an in-game, real-time form of prop bet along the lines of the kind Clase is accused of abusing, which wasn’t even feasible in sports betting’s bookie-based era, before smartphones and apps. Micro-bets are made for problem gamblers—both the kind that can’t lose and the kind that can’t win.
This bit of information is everything you need to know about what Adam Silver’s focus is. It’s not what’s best for the game and the fans, it’s not the integrity of the game, it’s how much money he can squeeze from every opportunity he can. It’s why every change for the league always entails some addition/change that doesn’t actually improve the actual product, it’s just to manipulate things in a way that keeps revenue while also manufacturing interest. The integrity of the game is the last thing he’s worried about.
In the NBA’s constitution, Article 13 talks about the ways that an owner can lose their membership in the NBA. One of those (Article 13, section g) is for a team, or a member of a team, who willfully manipulates scores, but for bets/wagers. There is nothing there regarding losing games for draft purposes. But for a removal of a member of the NBA, it would take the member breaking one of the rules of the league and having a 3/4 vote by the Board of Governors consisting of a representative of all 30 NBA teams.
The problem? Adam Silver is the commissioner, he is not a member of the association. He recently received a contract extension through 2030. It’s clear that if the NBA Board of Governors wanted to remove Adam Silver, it would take a special meeting, and then a vote would have to be taken. That vote would require a 3/4 majority. With 30 NBA teams, 23 teams would have to vote for it.
The cynical part of me makes me think that this is very unlikely. There may be a lot of team owners that are perfectly fine with the direction that Adam Silver is running things. But the small market teams have to pay attention to what is happening. Adam Silver appears to be using this situation as an opportunity to make drastic changes to the draft, the only way a team like the Utah Jazz or the Indiana Pacers can actually build toward a title. Recently, the idea of abolishing the draft has been bandied about online. Apparently, Adam Silver is actually considering it.
Adam Silver and his advisors would “seriously consider” abolishing the rookie draft and turning rookies in free agents if it is the only way to stop tanking, per @joevardon
If there is anything that small markets should avoid at all costs, it is this. If you are putting the choice for rookies to choose between going to LA, Miami, New York, and a smaller market? You’re never going to see the small markets be competitive again. Even if the player might want to go to a better situation, the agents are going to steer their client to the place they think will generate more deals and earning power. And what’s obvious from Adam Silver lately is that he couldn’t care less about the fans from Utah or Indiana. What he’s interested in is the data points that tell him he needs to always give the advantage to larger markets while coming up with new ways to squeeze more from the fans.
The NBA Draft needs to return to the old lottery odds that favor the worst teams with the best odds of getting the top pick. Silver’s decision to flatten odds has created this “tanking problem” he’s talking about.
And that’s the reason that a change needs to happen. There needs to be a commissioner committed to improving the product, one who understands what’s actually best for the league. THAT is where the integrity of the game is on the line. The person who has “undermined the foundation of NBA competition” is Adam Silver, who puts gambling companies’ interests over those of the fans at every point. His leadership has hurt the “integrity of the league,” and it’s time for a change to happen.
Philadelphia made a couple of moves on Monday to help solidify and add depth to its roster for the final 30-game push into the playoffs.
The first is signing veteran point guard Cameron Payne for the remainder of the season, something first reported by Marc Stein of The Stein Line. Payne played for 10 seasons in the NBA — he was in 72 games for the Knicks last season, averaging 15 minutes and 6.9 points a night — but couldn't land a contract this season, so he signed to play with Partizan Belgrade in Serbia, where he averaged 12.4 points and 3.9 assists but in just 10 games. The team has agreed to release him.
Partizan Belgrade will receive $1.75 million in the buyout, according to Stein, but under the terms of the CBA, the 76ers can contribute only $875,000 of that.
Philadelphia has All-Star Tyrese Maxey at the point, but is a little thin at the guard spot after trading Jared McCain to Oklahoma City at the deadline. Payne provides depth that coach Nick Nurse can trust.
The other piece of business was much more straightforward: Converting Jabari Walker from a two-way to a standard, two-year contract, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN.
Walker has played in 45 games for the 76ers this season, starting six, and giving the team solid rotation minutes at the four. He was bumping up against the two-way contract limit of 50 games and the Sixers did well to just lock him up. It is very likely that the second year of this contract is not (or is minimally) guaranteed.
UNIONDALE,NY OCTOBER 30: Nate Williams #19 of the Long Island Nets poses for a portrait during G League media day on October 30, 2025 in Uniondale,NY. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2025 NBAE (Photo by Luther Schlaifer/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Per NBA insider Jake Fischer, the Golden State Warriors have signed Nate Williams of the G League’s Long Island Nets to a two-way contract.
The Golden State Warriors are signing Nate Williams of the Long Island Nets to a two-way contract, according to league sources.
Williams will occupy the recently vacated two-way slot previously held by Pat Spencer, who was signed to a standard roster contract. He will join Malevy Leons and LJ Cryer as one of three two-way-contract players on the roster.
Williams is a 6-foot-5 wing who averaged 17.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.5 steals on 48.2 percent shooting from the field (34.5 percent on 5.1 three-point attempts per game) in 22 regular season games for the Long Island Nets this season. He has previously played for the Portland Trail Blazers and the Houston Rockets in the NBA.
Being 27 years old, Williams is a bit on the older side but does have a bit of experience as an NBA contributor. However, it remains unlikely that he will see actual rotation minutes outside of garbage time situations this season.
When Chris Klieman decided after last season that his health couldn’t take the unruly state of college football, and that Kansas State wasn’t helping matters by how it approached player procurement for the front porch of the university’s sports programs, he retired and left no doubt why.
“You guys are smart enough to realize that those who have the most money, have the best players,” Klieman said after K-State’s regular season final against Colorado. “And they’re spending $40-50 million. The ones like us that don’t, man, we’ve got to scratch and fight and claw.”
So K-State accepted the resignation of the best coach it could possibly ask for since Bill Snyder’s second retirement, and hired former Wildcats great Collin Klein.
I don’t think I’m breaking news by saying K-State had to have made significant financial promises to Klein to get him to take the job. You’re not winning at a high level in the Big 12 if you’re not spending, and Klein could’ve waited at Texas A&M until the right job opened at an SEC school.
We now circle back to Tang, who led K-State to the NCAA tournament after his first season in 2023, and then signed a lucrative seven-year extension. The program has struggled since, and K-State has every right to terminate the contract of a struggling coach.
Then pay him what he is owed on the remainder of his deal: $18.7 million.
Now here’s where it gets fuzzy, and quite frankly, more than disturbing.
After an ugly home loss to Cincinnati, Tang ripped into his players, saying they “don’t deserve to wear this uniform” and “they don’t love this place, so they don’t deserve to be here.”
Then he said he’d wear a paper bag on his head, too, if he were a K-State fan.
If John Calipari said this at Arkansas, if Rick Pitino said this at St. Johns, they’d be celebrated for not pandering to today’s lavished student-athletes.
Hell, Mick Cronin does it nearly every game at UCLA — win or lose.
But now — now — K-State is deep in its feelings. Now we’re supposed to believe the hardscrabble, no guts, no glory athletics program is offended by a basketball coach spitting truth to a bunch of players paid to play a game?
Mommy, the mean man said I won’t be around much longer because I’m not playing defense and giving effort!
I’m gonna puke.
Make no mistake, K-State took the fiscally prudent road out. Even with all the inherent potholes of trying to fire for cause.
K-State officials say Tang ripping his team embarrassed the university, and is just cause for dismissal. Uh, folks, your basketball team embarrassed the university.
And this decision is a close second.
By firing for cause, K-State is trying to avoid losing millions in buyout money, and that $18-and-change million owed to Tang sure would look good supporting the new coach of a football program that won six games in 2025.
The football program that has again fallen behind in the Big 12, this time after an elite coach could take it no more. The state of college football is bad enough, it’s worse when the financial support isn’t there.
So you better believe K-State is going down this road, reputation be damned. They’ll take it to court and hope Tang wants to coach again, and just wants a resolution to the whole mess.
Pay him half of what they owe him (or less), and use the rest to support the one program that fuels all in Manhattan. It’s not like this hasn’t happened before.
Tennessee self-reported NCAA violations to get out of paying Jeremy Pruitt’s buyout, paying an $8 million fine to the NCAA instead. Michigan State did the same to Mel Tucker when he was accused of sexual harassment — a case from the alleged victim that was later thrown out in court.
This is how universities clean up their contractual messes: by starting fires in the other corner as diversionary tactics.
I’m guessing Snyder, the man who orchestrated the greatest turnaround in college football history at woebegone K-State, told players on some of those early teams in Manhattan that they didn’t deserve to wear the purple. Told many that they weren’t coming back the following season.
After a one-point loss to TCU in 2018 that included a missed extra point and a critical fumble by wide receiver Isaiah Zuber, Snyder said, "It wasn't special teams as much as it was an individual."
And that was tame compared to how he held players accountable.
But Snyder is a hero in the heartland. Has a statute in front of the stadium that bears his name.
Hell, he probably puked, too, when he heard the news.
Until he learned it could help the football program.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
However, it wasn’t what Dončić did on the court that made shockwaves on Monday, it’s what he confessed during an interview with a Serbian journalist from his home country about his current team compared to his former team the Dallas Mavericks.
Luka Doncic reacts after scoring during the first half at Barclays Center. Corey Sipkin for NY Post
“I think the organization here is better. The Lakers are a truly legendary club and the organization is legendary too,” he told a Slovenian reporter, his words drifting thousands of miles back home while echoing loudly across the NBA landscape.
That’s not a throwaway line. Not when you spent the first chapter of your career carrying the weight of the Dallas Mavericks on your back like Atlas in high-tops. Dončić was drafted, developed, and deified in Dallas. He became a scoring savant there, a one-man orchestra conducting 40-point symphonies under the bright Texas lights. But franchises are more than stat sheets and max contracts. They’re infrastructure. They’re expectations. They’re legacy.
And legacy is what the walls of the Los Angeles Lakers are built on.
Luka reveals the differences between the Mavs and Lakers
“I think there is a better organization here. The Lakers are really a legendary club and the organization is really legendary.”
In Los Angeles, banners hang like commandments. Magic. Kobe. Kareem. LeBron. Championships are not aspirations; they’re obligations. The Lakers don’t rebuild. They reload, recalibrate, and reassert themselves onto the center of the basketball universe. Dončić has felt that gravitational pull in his short time in purple and gold. The fan base hasn’t just embraced him; they’ve anointed him.
Dallas gave him roots, but Los Angeles offers the chance to be a legend.
There’s a difference between being the future of a franchise and becoming part of a dynasty’s bloodstream. Dončić understands that now. And judging by the way he speaks about the Lakers organization, he doesn’t just see the difference — he intends to define it.
Among the many questions on my mind, the ones about the Suns’ passing this season keep coming back: How clean is their ball handling? In what situations do they turn the ball over the most? Are they really playing fast? Many questions often go unanswered, or at least aren’t fully explored.
Today, I decided to dig seriously into this topic, analyzing key stats from the last 500–600 Suns turnovers (excluding offensive fouls and violations) since the start of the season. Enjoy the read!
According to available data, the Suns average around 570 passes per game this season. That’s a high volume, clearly in the upper range of the league. For comparison, the Thunder average 494, and the Cavaliers 644 passes. If we dig further, looking at passes per possession (Phoenix averages about 100 possessions per game), we get 5.7 passes per offensive possession.
Even if that doesn’t always mean pace, it confirms what the Suns have been trying to show all season: the ball moves…a lot. This figure is interesting because it reflects collective intent, even on a roster where Devin Booker remains a major playmaker (30.1% AST, 35% ball dominance), and Collin Gillespie acts as a secondary creator (23.8% AST, 31%). These numbers aren’t extravagant, showing it’s not “elite” passing, but rather a shared, team-oriented passing.
The Suns play about 100 possessions per game. For veterans, that can be fast, but in today’s NBA, it’s actually slow (22nd in pace). So yes, they pass a lot, but in a controlled, half-court, highly systemic style. This completely nuances the idea of “fast” or “run & gun” teams that have made the franchise famous in the past.
Looking deeper at touches highlights the Suns’ passing DNA: a methodical, structured game where actions are generally built carefully. With 3.05 seconds and 2.37 dribbles per touch (15th and 19th), Phoenix prioritizes reading the defense over speed — though they can certainly accelerate the tempo when needed. Initiation zones confirm this profile: very few post-ups (24th), moderate use of elbows (22nd), but more emphasis in the paint (15th). Everything points to half-court passing, intentional, perimeter-focused, aiming to create three-point opportunities, perfectly matching the team’s slow pace.
The results? The Suns generate a lot without being ultra-sharp: 25 assists for 45.7 potential passes, 65.7 points created, and 3.8 secondary assists. An AST-to-pass% of 8.9% shows patient, constructed passing rather than aggressive ball-hawking. It reflects both the team’s pace and the tendency to be inconsistent in some sequences or games.
Looking at the 594 turnovers this season, I divided the analysis into two parts: first, who loses the ball the most? Second, in which situations?
Unsurprisingly, Devin Booker leads with 125 turnovers. 64 of them on bad passes; Collin Gillespie and Royce O’Neal round out the podium with 80 and 68. But looking at turnover rate (TOV%, the percentage of a player’s possessions ending in a turnover) tells a different story, as it measures efficiency rather than volume.
Oso Ighodaro tops the chart at 21.7% TOV, a concerning figure (he has only 12% usage, meaning he loses one in five possessions), but still workable as a sophomore with added responsibility. Ryan Dunn and Royce O’Neale hover around 15%. Booker and Gillespie steer the ship cleanly at ~13%, excellent numbers.
Booker is slowly becoming a reliable primary creator. He is elite in half-court decision-making, stabilizing the offense. This season, only six players have +1000 minutes, +30% AST, +30% USG, and <15% TOV: Booker, Luka Dončić, James Harden, Cade Cunningham, LaMelo Ball, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Now, the core of the work: the goal isn’t just analyzing a single game, but understanding a team as a dynamic system. By studying possessions — especially turnovers — I aim to separate structural trends (tactics, talent, team DNA, schemes) from contextual factors (fatigue, injuries, lineups, opponent adaptation, pace).
The goal isn’t to predict a score, but to anticipate scenarios: spot recurring vulnerabilities, understand when they emerge, and distinguish what remains stable from what fluctuates.
This work will take time and a deep video study. Eventually, the tracking will allow objective insights, like “33% of DHO actions at the top of the key in Q4 against a top-10 defense end in turnovers.”
Looking at the numbers, the Suns’ biggest ball exposure isn’t isolation, but speed and primary creation. Transition is the main friction point: 13.1% TOV on 18.8 possessions, high and frequent, usually caused by moments of haste or inattention. Next is ball-handler pick-and-roll: 13% TOV on 21.8 possessions. Even though their league ranking (4th/30) shows they are relatively clean, the volume naturally produces turnovers.
By contrast, isolation (9.9% on 6.9 possessions) and post-up (8.2% on 3.4 possessions) are well-controlled, low-volume plays — clearly not Phoenix’s game this season. Roll man in PNR seems secure (9.8%, 5.4 possessions) but is rarely used; DHO (11.4%, 5 possessions) is secondary and should be optimized.
Ultimately, the Suns’ passing reflects neither chaos nor over-reliance on isolation. It shows a structured, patient team focused on half-court play. The ball moves a lot, within a methodical framework as emphasized by Jordan Ott, and turnovers appear mostly when pace increases, or primary creation is pressured.
The issue isn’t volume, it’s context. Identifying situations where the ball is most vulnerable helps understand Phoenix’s true identity, and anticipate weaknesses rather than merely observe them.
UNIONDALE, NY - FEBRUARY 2: Nate Williams #19 of the Long Island Nets drives to the basket during the game against the Grand Rapids Gold on February 2, 2026 at The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Marcus Stevens/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The Long Island Nets lost a big piece of their team on Monday afternoon as wing Nate Williams officially signed with the Golden State Warriors on a two-way deal. This comes as Williams has been one of Long Island’s biggest scorers and playmakers.
Williams becomes the first Long Island player to be called-up for a two-way deal this season…
The Stein Line’s Jake Fischer was first with the news…
The Golden State Warriors are signing Nate Williams of the Long Island Nets to a two-way contract, according to league sources.
A league source told NetsDaily that Williams had hoped to remain with the Nets at the NBA level, but ultimately planned to pursue the best available opportunity for him. “He can really help out a playoff team,” the source said. Now Williams gets the chance to do just that as the Warriors control their own destiny, sitting with a 29-26 record.
While Williams would have been a solid player on both ends of the court with Brooklyn, his turning 27 years old this weekend put him outside of Brooklyn’s timeline. The Nets’ average age, a little more than 23 years old, is youngest in the NBA. The Warriors who still see themselves as a contender got a very talented shooter.
After going undrafted in the 2022 NBA Draft, Williams joined the Utah Jazz for the 2022 NBA Summer League. He would later sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Jazz before being waived and ending up on the Salt Lake City G League team.
Since then, Williams has bounced around, playing a total of 47 games at the NBA level, starting four of them, across three seasons from 2022 through 2025. He played five games for the Portland Trail Blazers in 2022-23, then the Houston Rockets, averaging 3.3 points in 7.4 minutes per contest.
He also appeared in 81 regular-season G League games, starting 62 of them, across three seasons with the Salt Lake City Stars and Rio Grande Valley Vipers. After Williams was waived by the Rockets in July, he found himself on the South Bay Lakers roster. It’s safe to say that Williams has become a bit of a mainstay on the West Coast, despite being a Sag Harbor, Long Island native.
When Williams was asked about his development so far this season, Williams told NetsDaily, “I feel good, I feel really good … I feel confident. I’m just continuing to work every day, take care of my body, and put in the work behind the scenes that nobody sees. I just want to continue to try and perform and get this team to win some games.”
Long Island fans saw a connection built between Williams and Yuri Collins before Collins left to go and play overseas in Israel. Williams and Collins who had been the G League’s top playmaker were both G League veterans that Brooklyn acquired this summer to help with the rookies’ adjustment as they cycled through the Island. Collins had some very nice words to say about Williams.
“Nate’s just one of those guys who knows how to play basketball,” Collins told ND. “You don’t have to say too much to him. He’s an older guy. He’s played in the NBA and has a lot of minutes in the G League as well. A lot of our stuff is stuff we don’t even have to talk about, it’s just kind of our experiences coming together and making plays like that on the court.”
Nate Williams on his performance tonight, being the only player to average at least two offensive rebounds, steals, and three pointers made per game, the final Brooklyn Nets two way deal, and his development.@NetsDaily#StrongIsland#NetsWorldpic.twitter.com/WgWNGFWLr1
For the remainder of the season, Williams shared a few goals he had in mind with ND: “Shooting, playmaking, just trying to be a complete player for this team and a leader for this team. Not be emotional. Not get down on my teammates. Try to encourage my teammates, and just be a good teammate and a good player. Moreso, be a good teammate. I put a lot of work in. I’m not worried about the basketball part of it; that’ll take care of itself. But, just be a good teammate, and try my hardest to help this team win.”
Williams has averaged 17.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.5 steals in his 22 regular-season games for the Long Island Nets. These numbers are fairly on par with what he did throughout the first 13 games in the Tip-Off Tournament, where he averaged 19.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 2.2 steals.
In his final game for Long Island before the All-Star break, Williams showed up in a big way. The New York native (Rochester) separated himself head and shoulders from everyone else. Williams finished the game connecting on 12 of his 23 shots, for better than 50%, and went 3-of-9 from deep for a huge 30-point game.
Williams impressive day didn’t stop there. He hauled in seven rebounds, as well as picking up two assists. Now, he has his chance to play alongside one of the NBA’s greatest shooters of all time, Steph Curry.
Williams signing opens up a G League standard spot for Long Island, but it doesn’t yet resolve Brooklyn’s open roster spot or the secondary moves if Brooklyn makes a call-up of their own from Long Island.
For a long time this season, one had to figure that a two-way deal was going to be given to Grant Nelson or Nate Williams. Now, it seems like the Warriors have answered that question for Long Island. Now, should Brooklyn want to elevate E.J. Liddell to a standard deal, a two-way spot would be Nelson’s to lose. Not to mention, Brooklyn can also use a 10-day deal here and there for tryouts of sorts.
All in all, this is a fantastic move for Williams. It’s a move that’s well-deserved. However, this will put Long Island in a less-than-ideal spot as the G League playoffs are right around the corner. Who steps up now? Long Island lost arguably its best scorer and biggest playmaker; however, all hope is not lost. The Long Island team now revolves around their NBA assignees, their three two-ways and Alabama seven-footer Grant Nelson who has repeatedly said his goal in a two-way slot. .
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - JANUARY 14: Jabari Walker #33 of the Philadelphia 76ers celebrates after dunking the ball during the second half against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Xfinity Mobile Arena on January 14, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) | Getty Images
ESPN’s Shams Charania has reported that the Sixers will be signing Jabari Walker to a two-year standard contract. Walker hasn’t been able to play for Philadelphia since Feb. 3 after playing the maximum 50 games on his two-way contract.
The Philadelphia 76ers intend to sign forward Jabari Walker to a new two-year contract, sources tell ESPN. 76ers and Klutch Sports' Rich Paul and Anthony Fields negotiated the new deal for Walker, who earned a rotation role after maxing out the games allowed on his two-way deal. pic.twitter.com/1f0Qcxwiv6
Details of this contract haven’t come out just yet, but Derek Bodner of PHLY has been doing some math on when the Sixers can use two prorated minimum contracts while staying under the luxury tax. Doing so now seems to signal that they were able to.
Ran through the numbers the other day, but we're now at the point in the schedule where the Sixers can fit two prorated vet min contracts without going over the tax, hence the timing of the Cam Payne news.
Walker’s promotion will also open a two-way spot for the team to use. Bodner reports former Brooklyn Net and Allentown native Tyrese Martin will fill that slot.
Once the Sixers convert Jabari Walker to a standard NBA contract, they intend to sign Tyrese Martin to a two-way deal to fill their open two-way slot, per source.
Walker, who played in 45 of those 50 active games will suddenly come as some much needed depth for a Sixers team; Payne and Martin as well. As the last two games before the All-Star break showed, it only took a couple guys getting sick for the team needing to play Kyle Lowry extended minutes.
Walker’s averaged 12 minutes a night putting up 3.7 points and 3.1 rebounds per game in that time. He’s given the Sixers some solid hustle off the bench, in the 76th percentile for defensive rebounding rate while having career-highs in block and offensive rebounding rate, per Cleaning the Glass.
Martin, 26, is a combo guard who stands at 6-foot-6. He played his college ball at Rhode Island and UConn before being selected in the second round by the Golden State Warriors in 2022. He was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in a draft night deal. He spent two years in the G League before getting a two-way deal with Nets ahead of last season. Brooklyn converted him to standard contract in 2024-25, but recently waived him on Feb. 5 after a busy trade deadline.
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 7: Alondes Williams #31 of the Capital City Go-Go dribbles the ball during the game against the Birmingham Squadron on February 7, 2026 at CareFirst Arena in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The Washington Wizards have signed Alondes Williams to a 10-day contract, the team announced Monday.
Official: The Washington Wizards have signed Alondes Williams to a 10-Day Contract. 🤝
Williams, 26, has averaged 20.2 points per game on 43.5% 3PT across 13 appearances with the Capital City Go-Go this season. The 6-foot-4 guard was recently named a G League All-Star.
The Wake Forest product is an efficient 3-point shooter with a score-first mindset. He recently dropped 40 points on 62% FG in the Go-Go’s 122-116 loss to the Birmingham Squadron on Feb. 7.
The Wizards have signed Alondes Williams to a 10-day contract, the team announced today.
The 6-foot-4 guard recently dropped 40 points on 62% FG with the Capital City Go-Go.
It's time for the NBA to recognize and treat the 3-Point Contest for what it is — the best part of All-Star Saturday. It has the star players, it has the drama, and it brings it every year. It is time to start closing All-Star Saturday Night with the 3-point contest.
Next year might be the right time because the field is already starting to stack up. This year’s winner, Damian Lillard, posted a screenshot of a text he had with Stephen Curry — and Curry had already said on NBC that he would be back in the contest next year.
Devin Booker told Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic that he was in for next year, but losing this year stung, so the one on his home court in Phoenix might be his last.
Devin Booker said next year may very well be the last time he competes in the NBA All-Star 3-point contest as he lost, 29-27, to Damian Lillard in this year's final.
"This one hurt a little bit. I wanted this one bad. Wish I was defending it in Phoenix but it'll probably be the…
