Report: Kaleb McGary set to miss time with injury

The Falcons will be without one of their key offensive players for a bit.

Per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, right tackle Kaleb McGary will miss time with the apparent leg injury he suffered during Wednesday's practice. But at this point, McGary's timeline for recovery is unknown.

McGary, 30, was carted off the field during the midweek session. He was scheduled to have an MRI to determine the extent of his injury.

A first-round pick in 2019, McGary has started 92 of the 93 games played in his career. With Michael Penix Jr. being a lefty quarterback, McGary’s position has that much more importance as he protects Penix’s blindside.

Al Horford, other Warriors free agents in holding pattern awaiting Kuminga situation to resolve

The Golden State Warriors currently have nine guaranteed contracts on the books for next season. While other NBA teams are filling their 14th and 15th roster spots and signing guys up for training camp invites, the Warriors largely remain in a holding pattern while the Jonathan Kuminga restricted free agency plays out — Golden State doesn't know precisely what it has to spend until Kuminga's contract is on the books.

That leaves free agent Al Horford in a holding pattern — he's going to sign with the Warriors for at least the taxpayer midlevel exception ($5.7 million). But, everything is on hold, something NBA insider Jake Fischer talked about at Bleacher Report (hat tip Hoops Rumors). Fischer said the Warriors remain "very confident" they will sign Horford.

"Al Horford's situation is a bit different because, depending on where the Warriors land in a cap/tax situation, I believe he is slated to make upwards of the full taxpayer mid-level exception. There has also been some discussion about whether or not he could potentially be receiving a two-year deal with a player option as well."

Horford would bring the Warriors up to 10 guaranteed contracts, they would need to sign at least four more players, all for the minimum. Players linked to the Warriors include Gary Payton II, Seth Curry, De'Anthony Melton and Malcolm Brogdon, Fischer said.

It all comes back to Kuminga — a situation likely to drag out into next month and closer to the start of training camp at the end of September. If, as expected, he and the Warriors work out some kind of compromise around the two-year, $45 million offer the team has on the table, that would leave the Warriors with enough space below the second apron of the luxury tax to sign Horford to the taxpayer midlevel and sign the other players on minimum deals. However, if Kuminga were to sign the $7.8 million qualifying offer (making him an unrestricted free agent next summer), the Warriors would have more room to maneuver.

For now, everything remains on hold.

Toughest Celtics teammate to guard? Jrue Holiday's answer might surprise you

Toughest Celtics teammate to guard? Jrue Holiday's answer might surprise you originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jrue Holiday is one of the best guard defenders in recent NBA history.

As you could imagine, practices over his two seasons with the Celtics were a welcome challenge.

From All-Star forwards Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to sharpshooters Derrick White and Sam Hauser, there were plenty of worthy offensive players for Holiday to guard.

But, surprisingly, he said none of those guys were the toughest to defend. Instead, it was Payton Pritchard giving him the most trouble.

“It might be Payton,” Holiday said on FanDuel TV’s “Run It Back” this week. “There’s this drill we had where you have to go up against Payton, full court. Yeah, and he would just be going crazy. Speed, handle, low to the ground so he could body you, stops on a dime and he can shoot it.”

Pritchard was tough for all opponents last season, posting career-highs in points (14.3), rebounds (3.8), assists (3.5) and shooting percentage (47.2%). The fifth-year guard was named Sixth Man of the Year, and he’s now in line to potentially start for Boston next season.

Despite the injury to Jayson Tatum and the departures of Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Luke Kornet and likely Al Horford, Pritchard is entering 2025-26 with similar expectations to the last few years.

He told Chris Forsberg on the Celtics Talk Podcastearlier this month that “everybody in that locker room will have the goal of competing for a championship.”

Holiday is now with the Portland Trail Blazers after a trade that sent Anfernee Simons to Boston. Pritchard will presumably be competing with the former Blazer for a starting guard role alongside White.

Jayson Tatum out of walking boot as he continues ‘tedious' Achilles injury rehab

Jayson Tatum out of walking boot as he continues ‘tedious' Achilles injury rehab originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jayson Tatum is making progress on his injury recovery.

The Celtics star shared an update Wednesday, more than three months after he went down with a ruptured Achilles in mid-May.

“Rehab is tedious, man,” Tatum said. “It’s six days a week. It’s starting to get a little bit better, I’m out of the boot now. Better days ahead, but just trying to take it one day at a time.

“You got to be resilient. That first six weeks of this was probably the toughest six weeks of any point in my life. Just had to accept it and realized it happened and now I have to do everything in my power to get back to who I was and get back to playing.”

The boot being removed is a positive step in Tatum’s recovery, but he’s still nowhere near returning to the court.

Typically, Achilles injuries like his take at least nine months before a player returns to action — and that’s on the fast track. The overwhelming likelihood is still that Tatum misses the entire 2025-26 season, but it hasn’t been ruled out yet. Scouts have said he “looks great” as he continues ramping up this summer.

In the meantime, Tatum has been keeping himself busy in recent weeks. He attended Patriots practice on Aug. 6, chatting it up with Drake Maye and others. Tatum then took a trip to Rhode Island, attending a groundbreaking event for an early childhood education center in Providence on Aug. 7.

The Celtics’ revamped roster will open training camp on Sept. 29, with their first preseason game set for Oct. 8 in Memphis against the Grizzlies. The 2025-26 regular season tips off for Boston on Oct. 22 against the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden.

Basketball at 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to tip off two days before opening ceremony

Basketball is going to get a head start at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

FIBA — the international basketball governing body that oversees Olympic basketball — announced this week that the revised schedule for the event has the first games on July 12, two days before the July 14 Opening Ceremonies.

"This adjustment allows the Quarter-Finals to be played over two days and will also ensure that no game will start earlier than 12:00 PM, enhancing the overall experience for players, teams, fans and broadcasters," FIBA said in a statement announcing the change.

What was not announced is whether this change impacts the men's or women's tournaments, or both. Those tournaments are made up of a dozen men's and women's teams — who qualify for the Olympics via results at the World Cup as well as qualifying tournaments — and those tournaments will run through the gold medal games on July 29 and 30 (July 30 is the final day of the Los Angeles Olympics). All the basketball games are scheduled to be played at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, the home of the Los Angeles Clippers.

The USA is the defending gold medalists for both the men (who have won five Olympic golds in a row) and women (the eight-time Olympic defending champions).

Former Heat security officer admits in court to stealing jerseys worth millions, feds say

LeBron James looks upward as he uses his right elbow to box out Danny Green, who is also looking upward
LeBron James of the Miami Heat boxes out Danny Green of the San Antonio Spurs during Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals. A former Heat employee is said to have admitted in federal court to stealing a jersey worn by James in that game and many other valuable items from the team. (Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)

A former Miami Heat security officer has pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge in connection to stealing team memorabilia worth millions of dollars and selling the items to online brokers.

Retired Miami police officer Marcos Tomas Perez appeared Tuesday at U.S. Superior Court for the Southern District of Florida and issued a guilty plea to transporting and transferring stolen goods in interstate commerce, after pleading not guilty to the felony count at an initial hearing earlier this month.

Perez's attorney, Robert Buschel, told NBC6 in Florida after Tuesday's hearing that Perez is "depressed, naturally, but he accepts responsibility for his behavior and we're gonna work through this issue in his life."

Perez, 62, faces up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 31.

Read more:Ex-Miami Heat employee accused of stealing jerseys worth millions — including LeBron James'

"I hope that the judge will consider all factors in his life and his history as a good person," Buschel said. "He was an exemplary police officer in the city of Miami, he's been retired for close to 10 years. This was an unfortunate set of decisions that he made and he's going to accept responsibility for that."

Buschel declined to comment any further when reached by The Times via email Wednesday.

According to a news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Miami field office of the FBI, Perez has admitted to stealing hundreds of game-worn jerseys and other memorabilia worth millions of dollars belonging to the Heat and selling them to online brokers.

One such item was a jersey that LeBron James wore in Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals, during which James and the Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 to win their second consecutive championship. After Perez allegedly sold the jersey for around $100,000, it was sold in an online auction for $3.7 million in 2023.

According to court documents, other stolen items included jerseys signed by former Heat stars Dwyane Wade, Jimmy Butler, Chris Bosh, Alonzo Mourning and Shaquille O'Neal, as well as team jackets, game-worn sneakers and more.

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

John Wall makes retirement official, will join 'NBA on Prime' broadcasting team

Los Angeles Clippers guard John Wall (11) goes to the basket against Washington Wizards forward Corey Kispert, center, and center Kristaps Porzingis (6) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Clippers guard John Wall shoots against Washington Wizards Corey Kispert, center, and Kristaps Porzingis during a game on Dec. 10, 2022, in Washington. (Nick Wass / Associated Press)

In his prime, John Wall was a rocket, a supremely talented point guard whose speed, explosiveness and star power made him the first pick in the NBA draft, a five-time All-Star and a fan favorite of the Washington Wizards, the team for which he delivered nearly all his heroics and highlight reels.

At the end, Wall was in uniform and running the court — that in itself a sight to see — but the uniform was the Clippers and his game had been reduced to eye-blink spurts of greatness.

The Clippers visited Washington's Capital One Arena on Dec. 10, 2022, Wall in the midst of a 34-game slog that would be his last in the NBA. Wizards fans cheered his introduction and the 90-second tribute video that Wall was too emotional to even watch.

When the Clippers were off to a disastrous second-quarter start, Wall answered with six consecutive points, the last two swishing on his step-back 13-foot jumper. He spun toward the crowd, pointed both index fingers toward the court, and shouted, "Still my city!"

Wall was so overcome by the cheering crowd that he started walking to the wrong bench. “I kind of flashed back and forgot like, I’m in a different jersey,” he said. "Just being in that moment and electrifying the crowd, that’s what I’ve been doing for a lot of years in my career when I was here.”

Read more:'Still my city!' John Wall stars in return to Washington as Clippers rally for win

Wall announced his retirement on Tuesday, although most fans probably figured he had retired already. His Clippers stint ended Jan. 13, 2022, and he never played again. His slide began in 2020 when Washington did the unfathomable, trading the most popular Wizard since Wes Unseld to the Houston Rockets for Russell Westbrook.

Wall had suffered a succession of leg injuries and he would suffer some more. The loss of his signature speed, coupled with the death of his mother, sent Wall into a depression that eventually had him contemplating suicide.

"For me, it all happened really fast," he wrote in a first-person Players Tribune story. "In the span of three years, I went from being on top of the world to losing damn near everything I ever cared about.

"In 2017, I’m jumping up on the announcer’s table in D.C. after forcing Game 7 against Boston, and I’m the king of the city. I’m getting a max extension, thinking I’m a Wizard for life. A year later, I tore my Achilles and lost the only sanctuary I’ve ever known — the game of basketball. I ended up with such a bad infection from the surgeries that I nearly had to have my foot amputated. A year later, I lost my best friend in the whole world, my mom, to breast cancer.

“My best friend is gone. I can’t play the game I love. Everybody just got their hand out. Nobody is checking on me for me. It’s always coming with something attached. Who’s there to hold me down now? What’s the point of being here?”

Never mind that the Rockets gave him $172 million over four years, and that he gave them only 40 games in 2020-2021 in return. The next season, he agreed to the Rockets' request that he not play, that he sit out and become a glorified assistant coach while the team tanked.

Read more:'It's pretty profound': How John Wall became a hero in D.C. community

Wall agreed to forfeit a slice of his salary — his career earnings were $276 million — to get a fresh start with the Clippers, but it was soon clear he had little to offer, averaging 11.3 points and shooting 40.3%.

“That’s the most frustrating part because people think, ‘Oh, he got the money, he’s set for life, he don’t care,'" Wall recently told the Washington Post. "No, I would give up all the money to play basketball and never deal with none of those injuries. I didn’t play the game of basketball for money. I played the game of basketball because I love it,”

It took him two more years to reconcile that he was through, and his retirement announcement Tuesday was timed with another that he will join Prime Video for its studio show in its inaugural season broadcasting the NBA in 2025-2026.

Prime Video will broadcast 67 regular-season games, the play-in tournament and some playoff games. Wall called the G League Winter Showcase in January, which led to appearances on NBA TV. Now he’ll join the "NBA on Prime" team along with Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Dwyane Wade, Blake Griffin, Udonis Haslem and Candace Parker.

For Wall, it will be an opportunity to revisit his prime, sharing the basketball knowledge he accumulated through a difficult upbringing in North Carolina, an All-American one-and-done season at Kentucky and an 11-year NBA career in which he averaged 18.7 points and 8.9 assists a game.

“If you never really had the opportunity to sit down and talk to me, you won’t really understand how much I love basketball, where my basketball mind is at, where my IQ is," Wall said. "I can basically tell you the best player in the country — from girls to boys, high school, to the players that’s in college, to the people that’s at the NBA and WNBA."

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

What feud? Shaquille O'Neal to be presenter for Dwight Howard at Hall of Fame

In a couple of weeks, when Dwight Howard is inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Shaquille O'Neal will be by his side as one of his presenters. Shaq's addition to the list of Patrick Ewing, Robert Parish, Dennis Rodman, and Dominique Wilkins was announced by the Hall.

It's an interesting choice, given that Shaq and Howard have had a public feud that goes back more than 17 years. It was an inevitable tension as Shaq was not willing to cede his spot among the best centers in the game to another player, especially one Shaq saw as appropriating his "Superman" image.

This feud continued after Shaq's playing days, with him once suggesting Brook Lopez was a better center than Howard (who had been named First Team All-NBA for five straight years at that point). Howard said Shaq was retired and needed to let it go. Shaq later said all this was a motivational tactic to fire up Howard, but it continued even a year ago when both were out of the game (Howard was inspired by the Mike Tyson/Jake Paul "fight").

Now, though, it's apparently all good. The two men have a lot in common, including both being the No. 1 pick of the Orlando Magic and leading that franchise to the NBA Finals, and both were dominant at their peak.

hen Dwight Howard deservedly enters the Hall of Fame next month, Shaq will be there to present him and welcome him to the club.

Bulls' Nikola Vucevic handling trade rumors like a vet, 'There are always rumors. Most of them are false.'

He was linked to the Lakers. He was linked to the Warriors. He was linked to pretty much any team in need of a solid center. Then, there were rumors that the Chicago Bulls would buy out the final year of his $21.5 million contract, allowing him to sign elsewhere as a free agent.

Nikola Vucevic brushed them all off. The 14-year NBA veteran has been dealing with rumors his entire career, and he has been traded a couple times, he knows what that experience was like. What was happening this summer was nothing like that, he told BasketUSA in an interview as he practices with Montenegro for the EuroBasket championships starting in a week (hat tip to Real GM for the translation).

"The Bulls' GM [Marc Eversley] had contacted me after all the rumors about me, confirmed that nothing was true and that everything we had said to each other after the season was still relevant. I knew it but it's always nice when your GM contacts you to tell you...

"There are always rumors. Most of them are false. It's a bit of nonsense. For example, the buy-out was misinterpreted in Europe: the journalist wrote that if there was no 'trade' during the season, there might be a 'buy-out' option before the 'deadline.' I know how the business works, in the last year of a contract, there is always speculation. Since I can't control anything, I try not to worry about it."

Last season, Vucevic averaged 18.5 points and 10.1 rebounds a game, shooting 40.2% from 3-point range on 4.4 attempts a game. He is a high-quality offensive center who could help a lot of teams and has become a key part of the Bulls' attack, but is not the defensive anchor at the position that a lot of teams are seeking in the modern game.

Vucevic added in the interview that he is "almost certain" he will be with the Bulls when the season opens, which makes sense as he is clearly the starter at the five and one of only two true centers on the 15-man roster (Zach Collins is the other).

Whether he is in Chicago when the season ends is another question. He's a 34-year-old center in the final year of his contract — players in that situation are often available in trades, and can be bought out to save money after the trade deadline. That is possible here, depending on what other moves Chicago makes. The Bulls front office has to be thinking about what comes next at the five, although figuring out the Bulls front office's long-term vision is a challenge in and of itself.

Whatever that plan is, it includes Vucevic at the five to start the season.

Draymond Green brutally claps back at Alperen Şengün's Warriors-Rockets remarks

Draymond Green brutally claps back at Alperen Şengün's Warriors-Rockets remarks originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Even in the NBA offseason, Draymond Green won’t bite his tongue.

So when he came across Alperen Şengün’s recent comments about the Warriors’ first-round playoff series win over the Houston Rockets, Green had to fire back.

“That’s a tough thing to say after you lose,” Green wrote on Threads. “You have to win to [say] stuff like that.”

Şengün appeared on the “Socrates Dergi” podcast and candidly shared his point of view on how the physical series played out.

“They’re a very experienced team,” Şengün said. “They fouled a lot. In the playoffs, they don’t call it. But they were the ones crying all series about fouls not being called.”

The gritty seven-game series was filled with different fouls, from personal to technical, and even consisted of a number of ejections. But the Rockets never finished a game with more fouls called on them than the Warriors.

In Game 1, Golden State had 18 fouls, Houston had 15. In Game 2, it was 18 to 17. In the third game, the Warriors finished with 21 fouls, while the Rockets finished with 17. It was close in Game 4, but the Warriors had 22 and the Rockets had 21. Golden State had 27 fouls in Game 5, and Houston had 22. The largest discrepancy came in Game 6, when the Warriors had 12 more fouls called on them (30) than the Rockets (18). In the win-or-go-home Game 7, both teams finished with 14 fouls.

Overall, the Warriors were called for 150 fouls, and the Rockets were called for 124.

That didn’t matter for Golden State in the end, though, as Buddy Hield’s historic Game 7 helped lift the team to the Western Conference semifinals and ended Şengün and the Rockets’ season.

“Hold that L,” Green wrote in response to a post of Şengün’s comments.

The Warriors host Şengün and the Rockets on Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving, for their first regular-season matchup of the 2025-26 NBA season at Chase Center.

Get your popcorn, turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie ready.

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Why Warriors star Steph Curry now has greater appreciation for Paris Olympics

Why Warriors star Steph Curry now has greater appreciation for Paris Olympics originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Steph Curry recently has been reflecting on his legendary one-and-done run with Team USA during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.

And now that it has been roughly a year since he momentarily exchanged his Warriors threads for the Red, White and Blue, Curry is even more grateful to have had the international experience, particularly for representing his country while helping unify NBA fans everywhere. 

The gold medalist and four-time NBA champion further explained his Olympic reflection in an exclusive interview with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson at the ninth annual Curry Camp on Friday in Menlo Park.

“One hundred percent, August 10, 2024, will always be a core memory,” Curry told Johnson, referencing Team USA’s win over Team France in the gold medal game. “A new experience playing with the guys who were on that team — the Avengers. 

“And the fact that it didn’t matter what NBA team you root for, you were a Team USA fan that day. So, [it’s] a very special memory for me, for sure.”

With LeBron James and Kevin Durant as two of his several big-name teammates, Curry led the Americans in the Olympic final with 24 points on eight made 3-point shots — including his iconic “Golden Dagger — with an underappreciated five assists and two steals.

Curry didn’t have much to tell Johnson about his iconic triple. The 11-time NBA All-Star knows you know what happened — and that France contemplated banning “Curry Sauce” at its national McDonald’s restaurants. 

“The [‘Golden Dagger’] is what it is now, part of the story,” Curry told Johnson.

Curry’s unreal Olympic run helped him complete his overflowing trophy case with the gold medal he was missing. And as he told Johnson, the memory of the international victory tastes sweeter with time.

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Former Miami Heat security officer pleads guilty to selling stolen memorabilia

MIAMI (AP) — A former Miami Heat security officer pleaded guilty Tuesday to transporting and transferring millions of dollars worth of stolen game-worn jerseys and other memorabilia.

Marcos Thomas Perez, 62, was a 25-year retired veteran of the Miami Police Department. The Miami resident worked for the Heat from 2016 to 2021 and as an NBA security employee from 2022 to 2025.

According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and FBI Miami, Perez stole more than 400 jerseys and other items from a secured equipment room and sold items through various online marketplaces. He had access because he worked on the game-day security detail at the Kaseya Center. He was one of a few employees with access to a secured equipment room that stored memorabilia the Heat organization planned to display in a future team museum.

Over a three-year period, authorities say Perez sold more than 100 stolen items for approximately about $1.9 million and shipped them across state lines, often at bargain prices. They say he sold a Miami Heat jersey LeBron James wore during the NBA Finals for approximately $100,000. That same jersey later sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $3.7 million.

Where do things stand with restricted free agents Jonathan Kuminga, Josh Giddey

August is the point in the calendar when there is no pressure on either side — the player or the team — to compromise when it comes to restricted free agents. Everyone can dig their heels in on their current offers — or rejections of said offers — because until we get closer to training camps opening at the end of September there is no pressure to get a deal done. The hard deadline to sign these extensions is Oct. 1.

That's why four restricted free agents still hang out there: The Warriors' Jonathan Kuminga, the Bulls' Josh Giddey, the Nets' Cam Thomas, and the 76ers' Quentin Grimes. This week there were updates that are not really much of an update on Kuminga and Giddey, let's break it down.

Jonathan Kuminga

There have been "renewed" talks between Kuminga and the Warriors, ESPN’s Anthony Slater reported on NBA Today. However, he said the offer from the Warriors has not changed: Two years, $45 million, with a team option in the second year and the Warriors are demanding Kuminga waive the no-trade clause that automatically comes with that contract. Kuminga, understandably, is not willing to give up his only real leverage in the situation with the no-trade clause, and he continues to point to the $7.8 million qualifying offer, which is not ideal for either side but would make Kuminga an unrestricted free agent next offseason. From Slater on ESPN:

"The word I've heard used from the Kuminga side is 'pawn.' He doesn't want to sign this two-year, $45 million deal with a team option where he is clearly just being used to be traded mid-season. That's not something he wants to sign up for. Now if you're talking about a three-year deal, if you're talking about something with a player option that shows him a little bit more commitment, that's something he'd be interested in. But as of now, the Warriors have been hesitant to do that, and because of that, Kuminga is signaling to those around him that he's very willing – and prefers – the qualifying offer."

Cooler heads likely will prevail, likely with one of three options: A third year (likely with a player or team option on that final season), a two-year contract with a player option on that second season, or a two-year deal with a team option but a hefty guarantee on that second season (say $15 million). However, of all the restricted free agents remaining, Kuminga — long frustrated with how Steve Kerr has used him in Golden State — is the most likely to sign the qualifying offer and just play out the season, looking to leave.

Josh Giddey

The update on Giddey is that there is not much of an update. The Bulls still have an offer at around $20 million a season for Giddey on the table, veteran Bulls insider K.C. Johnson reported on CHSN.

Another insider, Jake Fischer of the Stein Line, reported recently that the Bulls' full offer is around four years, $80 million. Giddey still wants to be paid closer to $30 million a season, the range of Derrick White, Tyler Herro and Jalen Suggs.

Giddey can point to his numbers in Chicago last season after the All-Star break: 21.2 points, 10.7 rebounds and 9.3 assists a game for a Bulls team that went 17-10 in that stretch. The challenge is that Giddey is not a great defender, and while he was an efficient scorer during that post-All-Star run last season, he is not historically a good 3-point shooter nor a great finisher around the rim. Around the league he is perceived as an 82-game player, not a 16-game player (he can help a team in the regular season, but our last playoff memory of Giddey is him getting played off the floor for Oklahoma City). Giddey will need to change that perception to get the money he seeks.

Eventually, the sides will find a compromise and Giddey will put up stats this season as the fulcrum of the Bulls' offense — he is a good player (and one who is going to help a lot of fantasy teams this season).

Former No. 1 pick, five-time All-Star John Wall announces his retirement from basketball

One of the fastest and most electrifying players with the ball in his hands the league has seen, John Wall officially announced his retirement after 11 NBA seasons.

Wall was the No. 1 pick of the Washington Wizards in 2010 out of Kentucky. He Dougied his way to 16.4 points and 8.3 assists a game as a rookie, making First Team All-Rookie (he was second in Rookie of the Year voting to Blake Griffin).

Wall played nine seasons for the Wizards and is a franchise legend, a lightning-fast player end-to-end with the ball in his hands but able to play under control at that speed. He averaged 19 points and 9.2 assists a game in that stretch for Washington, making five All-Star teams, one All-Defensive team, and he was All-NBA in his peak season of 2017 when he averaged 23.1 points a game.

In 2019, Wall suffered a torn Achilles and was never the same after that. He missed a full season, then came back with stints with the Rockets (he was traded to them for Russell Westbrook) and Clippers, and in Los Angeles, he played well off the bench when healthy (but he only played 34 games for them). However, his impact was never quite the same after the injury.

The Wall game I most remember came during the lockout in 2011, when a number of NBA players got together at The Pyramid on the Campus of Long Beach State (about a nice 3-iron shot from my front door) for an exhibition game. In that free-flowing, pickup-style game, the speed and athleticism of Wall overshadowed everyone else on the court. He was dynamic and one of the most entertaining players the league has ever seen.

After run to NBA Finals, Pacers extend contract of coach Rick Carlisle

The Indiana Pacers have gotten better each year under coach Rick Carlisle. His first season in his second stint with the Pacers, the 2021-22 season, was a rough one with the team winning just 25 games, but the following season that improved to 35, then 47 and a run to the Eastern Conference Finals, then 50 wins and a trip to the NBA Finals this past season.

That led the Pacers to extend Carlisle's contract, a story first reported by Marc Stein and since confirmed by the Pacers.

"Since his return to the Pacers in 2021, Coach Carlisle has been integral to our success, which includes leading us to consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearances and our first NBA Finals appearance in 25 years," Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard said in a statement. "Beyond his coaching achievements that rank him among the best in NBA history, Coach Carlisle continues to embrace our community and give back to the state of Indiana with his Drive and Dish program. We are thrilled to have him continue leading our team and representing our organization well into the future."

The details of the contract are not known, but he signed a previous extension in 2023, and with this new multi-year extension, it's safe to say Carlisle will be coaching the Pacers for years to come.

Carlisle has coached the Pacers in two stints, the first from 2003-2007 and the current one, which started in 2021. In those eight seasons he has a 338-318 (51.5%) record and made the playoffs five of the eight seasons, including last season's Finals run.

With Tyrese Haliburton out for next season following a torn Achilles, plus Myles Turner bolting for Milwaukee, expectations are not high for Indiana heading into next season. Carlise, however, has a knack for getting the most out of teams that other people don't expect much from.