SEATTLE - JUNE 14: Gary Payton #20 of the Seattle SuperSonics posts up against Michael Jordan #23 of the Chicago Bulls in Game Five of the 1996 NBA Finals at Key Arena on June 14, 1996 in Seattle, Washington. The Sonics won 89-78. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges 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 1996 NBAE (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Gary Payton built a Hall of Fame NBA career from 1990-2007. A 6-4 native of Oakland, California, Payton went to Oregon State, where he built a tremendous reputation as a defender and all-around point guard.
He was the second pick in the 1990 draft, taken by Seattle behind Derrick Coleman and ahead of Chris Jackson, now known as Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.
It took Payton a couple of years to truly establish himself as a top-tier point guard, but he did and then some.
Known as “the Glove,” Payton was mostly celebrated for two things: his superb defense – he was the first point guard to win the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year – and his relentless trash talking. Most people regard Larry Bird as the greatest trash talker in NBA history, but Payton is almost certainly a close second.
The bulk of his career was spent with the SuperSonics, but he played for four other teams, including the Milwaukee Bucks, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Boston Celtics. In 2006, he helped the Miami Heat win the NBA Championship.
This video mostly focuses on Payton’s offensive talents, and some of these plays are spectacular. Incidentally, look for one against the Chicago Bulls where he takes the time to do something most people tried very hard not to do: he woofs at Michael Jordan immediately after scoring.
Connecticut is in and Houston is out on the No. 1 line of the USA TODAY Sports latest bracketology after the Cougars fell 70-67 at Iowa State on Monday night.
The Huskies regained their grip on a No. 1 seed after rebounding from a road loss to St. John’s with Big East wins against Butler and Georgetown. UConn joins Michigan, Arizona and Duke. This foursome has separated itself from the pack thanks to a combined 35-6 record in Quad 1 games.
It’s a big week coming up for Michigan, which travels to Purdue on Tuesday night and then plays Duke in Washington, D.C., this weekend.
Iowa State takes over as the top-rated No. 2 seed after notching a second high-profile Big 12 win in a row, following this past Saturday’s 74-56 victory against Kansas.
Houston’s drop is one of several in the updated bracket involving some of the biggest names in the Power Five.
The Jayhawks slip to a No. 3 seed after the Iowa State loss erases some of the good vibes stemming from a torrid eight-game run that included wins against the Cyclones, Brigham Young, Texas Tech and Arizona.
Three losses in four games sent Michigan State to the No. 4 line. While two of those setbacks came against the Wolverines and Wisconsin, the Spartans’ résumé is dinged by an ugly road loss to Minnesota. The Gophers are 4-10 in Big Ten play and are 86th in the NET rankings.
March Madness last four in
Georgia, UCLA, Ohio State, TCU.
March Madness first four out
New Mexico, California, Missouri, Santa Clara.
NCAA tournament bids conference breakdown
Multi-bid leagues: Big Ten (11), SEC (10), ACC (8) Big 12 (8), Big East (3), West Coast (2), Mountain West (2).
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MAY 12: Dallas Mavericks have officially won the in NBA Draft Lottery with 1.8% pre-lottery chance to win the pick in Chicago, Illinois, United States on May 12, 2025. San Antonio Spurs got the second pick, Philadelphia 76ers got 3rd and Charlotte Hornets got the 4th pick in the lottery. (Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images) | Anadolu via Getty Images
It’s that time of year again. It’s tanking season. And it’s bigger and better than ever. There are seemingly more teams tanking than ever before, and they are doing it earlier and bolder and in more innovative ways. Everybody is talking about it, so why not Fear The Sword? There have been lots of crazy proposals to fix tanking thrown around. Even odds. Rookie free agency. The Wheel.
Here’s one more: Let’s try just forcing teams to win games.
I know this sounds crazy, but I believe basketball is the most fun to watch when teams are trying to win. And I also believe that the answer to what is wrong with basketball is usually more basketball.
Here’s the proposal:
You hold an eight-team tournament before the playoffs to determine draft order.
Lowest seeds gain entry, with the exception that every playoff team and play-in teams that reached the second round from last year are not eligible. No gap years. If one of those teams is at the bottom, take the next lowest seed.
Just like the player awards season, if you don’t play, you can’t play. Let’s set a low bar and focus on the stretch run. If you haven’t played > 1,230 minutes (15 minutes per game all year) or > 15 mpg post-All-Star break, you’re out (this can be fine-tuned for role players, but you can see the point). No miraculous recoveries for the draft tournament allowed.
Draft tournament winner gets the number one pick. Trades be damned.
That’s it. That’s the whole idea. Play basketball. Win. Get rewarded.
Why is this a good idea? Let’s break it down.
The Draft Lottery is the worst. There is no fixing it. We have this many teams tanking and piling picks because the draft is unreliable. Every time a San Antonio or a Philly gets lucky in the lottery, every time an Indiana takes a gap year, a team that has been tanking for years signs up for yet another year of tanking. The lottery is why we have so many teams tanking at once. It makes the draft unreliable. That’s bad. Not good.
The goal of a draft should not be to create middle-class citizens. It should not be to let the Chicago Bulls hang around near .500 forever. That isn’t parity. The goal should be to create contenders. The draft needs to help teams on the outside-looking-in become truly competitive. You can grow to Play-In status with picks five through 10 and shrewd acquisitions. It’s the leap that requires a top-four pick.
Even if teams figure out how to game the system and gain entry in nefarious ways, it’s largely a one-and-done scenario. They’ll do well, they’ll get a good pick, and they will graduate to a competitive level. That’s the goal. No tanking for half a decade or more.
The top-two picks landing in the worst situations is also the worst. What are our favorite stories? It’s rookie Kobe playing with Shaq. It’s rookie Tim Duncan playing with David Robinson. It’s Wemby being competitive *right now*. It is not Kevin Garnett dragging Sprewell to the Western Conference Finals or LeBron dragging Larry Hughes to the Finals before they inevitably leave the team that drafted them because they were too good for the team to build around them. The best-case scenario is that you get your second or third-best player, and then you get your generational talent. Not the other way around.
A draft tournament is still high variance. In a single-elimination format, anything can happen. You get that excitement. Whether your team is awful or your pre-season expectations are falling apart, you get that hope. And as a fan, you get to hope your team wins important ball games rather than hope they lose 75 meaningless ones.
It incentivizes teams to try to win. Think about what a draft tournament does to a rebuild cycle. Right now, when a team thinks they are close, they worry that if they get too good, too soon, then they might never get good enough. The entire young core could be wasted. They worry they should tank for one more high pick. With a draft tournament, you can go for it. You can try. You can bring in vets. Maybe you’re right, and you’re in the playoffs. Maybe you’re wrong, and you’re in the draft tournament with the best chance of winning it. Either way, the current core has a future.
It revitalizes the NBA middle class. No more player purgatory. No more players that are too good to tank with and not good enough to win with. These players instantly have value because even if they can’t help you win the NBA championship, they can help you win the draft tournament. Shout out to Georges Niang. Pay the Miini-van.
So that’s it. That’s the pitch. Structure everything so that in order to accomplish your goals, you have to win basketball games. Always.
And if you like that, just let me know. Because we can keep going with this concept. More tournaments, all with critical team-construction rewards. The rewards are the key. If the tournament helps a team build and helps a player get paid, everybody cares. Teams, GMs, players, fans. That adds value. That drives interest. That drives revenue. And that, ultimately, is the only way we ever get to shorten the regular season, which is what the sport truly needs. But that’s a story for another day.
Nikola Vučević has played three games with Boston and, so far, he’s been exactly as advertised.
The Montenegrin big man is averaging 13.7 points and 9.7 rebounds while shooting 48.5% from the floor and better than 41% from three. As a proven veteran, you generally know what you’re getting from Vučević — steady scoring, strong rebounding, and a polished offensive game.
Growing up, my two favorite NBA players were Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan — Garnett for his defense and intensity, and Duncan for his fundamentals and beautiful post game. What I admire most about Vučević is that same kind of polished presence on the block. It’s something that the Celtics have lacked over the years. Al Horford, in his early years with Boston, was a reliable post option, but as he got older, he drifted behind the arc more to help space the floor.
Now, Boston has a player who is both a legitimate post threat and a capable outside shooter. On any given night, Vučević can easily be the team’s second-leading scorer, which gives Boston’s offense more balance — and that’s already been the case through his first three games.
In his first game in green, Vučević was clearly a bit passive. It looked like he didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes as he adjusted to a new team and system. He’s not going to be a great defender, and there will be moments when quicker players beat him. But having him come off the bench alongside Payton Pritchard creates a dynamic one-two, inside-outside punch that can keep the scoring flowing when Jaylen Brown and/or Derrick White are off the floor. Over time, Vučević will get more comfortable with the defensive rotations and team schemes. I expect him to look sharper on that end as he settles in.
Against his former team, Vučević showed the Boston Celtics faithful at TD Garden exactly what he’s capable of. The big man finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, and two blocks in the win over the Bulls. What impressed me most was his 4-of-5 shooting from three. If Vučević can consistently knock down the three-ball, he adds a dimension this team was missing prior to the deadline.
Another key element Vučević brings to this Celtics team is elite rebounding. Before joining Boston, he averaged nine rebounds per game, and so far, he’s posted rebound totals of 11, 6, and 12. In his debut alone, he grabbed six offensive boards — a huge boost for second-chance opportunities. That presence will pair well when Neemias Queta heads to the bench. Having at least one strong rebounder on the floor at all times — and the ability to consistently attack the offensive glass — will be pivotal for Boston, especially in tight playoff-style games.
Three games in, it’s hard not to like the fit. Vučević gives Boston a different look offensively — a true interior scorer who can also step out and stretch the floor, something Boston has missed since getting rid of both Horford and Kristaps Porziņģis. He stabilizes bench units, adds rebounding toughness, and brings veteran poise to a team with championship aspirations.
If this is the baseline, then Boston may have found exactly what it needed. I truly believe Vučević is going to be a great addition to this roster. More than anything, I’m glad he gets the opportunity to play meaningful basketball on a legitimate contender. Veterans like him don’t always get that chance late in their careers, and if these first three games are any indication, he’s going to make an impact.
Feb 15, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; Team USA Stripes forward Kawhi Leonard (2) of the LA Clippers reacts with Donovan Mitchell (45) of the Cleveland Cavaliers in game three during the 75th NBA All Star Game at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images | William Liang-Imagn Images
Good morning, it’s Tuesday, February 17th. The Cleveland Cavaliers are 34-21 and don’t play again until Thursday.
I hope you enjoyed the All-Star break. From here on out, the playoffs are going to be on everyone’s mind. But before we do that, let’s take a moment to discuss the weekend we just had.
All-Star Recap
There has been a lot of discourse about All-Star Weekend this year. To be honest, there’s a lot of discourse about everything nowadays. Since there are no games on right now, I figured I’d add my two cents to the pile.
The problem is, I didn’t get to watch All-Star weekend this year.
I understand why the NBA decided to start the events early to avoid overlapping with the Winter Olympics. But, did you really expect me to catch a 5 pm start on Valentine’s Day? No chance.
I knew I wasn’t going to catch Friday’s events, which actually started during prime time at 8 pm Eastern — but I foolishly made plans for Sunday evening as I didn’t realize the big game would be over by 7:30. That’s partly my fault, but mainly, I blame the NBA for poor scheduling.
My problems aside, I was pleased to know that the All-Star Game was actually fun this season. At least, for a few moments.
The flashes of entertainment we received this weekend all came from one single fix: effort. No format change or fancy tournament will matter if the players don’t care. This has been the only important factor for the entire history of the event.
Long story short, we’ve all spent too much time problem-solving something that is out of our control. Either the players care, or they don’t. The events are only as fun as the players make them. This year, they delivered. Next year? We’ll have to wait and see.
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.
Welcome to the Thread. Join in the conversation, start your own discussion, and share your thoughts. This is the Spurs community, your Spurs community. Thanks for being here.
Our community guidelines apply which should remind everyone to be cool, avoid personal attacks, not to troll and to watch the language.
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.
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.
