Category: Basketball

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.

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast

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.

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast

Former NBA All-Star and No. 1 pick John Wall retires after 11 seasons originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

John Wall has called it a career.

The five-time NBA All-Star officially announced his retirement after 11 NBA seasons with a video posted to social media on Tuesday.

“Today, I’m stepping off of the court, but not away from the game,” Wall said. “Basketball will always be in my life, and new opportunities present themselves. I feel now is the time to walk confidently into my next chapter.”

The Washington Wizards selected Wall first overall in the 2010 NBA Draft after he played one electrifying season at the University of Kentucky. He played nine seasons with the Wizards before being traded to the Houston Rockets in a deal that sent Russell Westbrook to Washington. Wall’s last NBA season came in 2022-23, when he played 34 games for the Los Angeles Clippers.

Wall made the NBA All-Rookie first team in 2010-11 while finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting. From there, he earned his first All-Star selection in 2013-14 and won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest the same year. He was named an Eastern Conference All-Star for five straight seasons through 2017-18.

Wall’s best season came in 2016-17, as he averaged career highs at 23.1 points and 10.7 assists per game while earning All-NBA third team honors and placing seventh in the NBA MVP race.

Injuries plagued the second half of Wall’s career. He missed two complete seasons: 2019-20 following a torn Achilles and 2021-22 with the Rockets after he reached an agreement not to play. Following his last All-Star season in 2017-18, Wall only played in 106 games over the next five years.

The Wizards congratulated Wall on his retirement, calling the point guard “one of our franchise all-time greats.”

Celtics sale finalized as Bill Chisholm becomes owner of NBA's most-decorated franchise originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The sale of the Boston Celtics was finalized on Tuesday, with private equity mogul Bill Chisholm taking over control of the NBA’s most-decorated franchise from a group led by Wyc Grousbeck that had owned them for more than two decades.

The team was put on the market last summer, soon after it won its record 18th NBA championship. Chisholm won the bidding in March with an offer that valued the franchise at more than $6.1 billion — a record price paid for an American professional sports team.

The NBA approved the deal unanimously last week, and the money changed hands on Tuesday.

Chisholm takes ownership of at least 51% of the team, with full control coming by 2028 at a price that could bring the total value to $7.3 billion. That’s the highest price ever paid for a team in the four major North American sports, though a piece of the Los Angeles Lakers changed hands this summer at a price that would value the entire franchise at $10 billion.

Grousbeck led a group that bought the Celtics in 2002 for $360 million. Under their ownership, the Celtics won two NBA titles, lost in the finals two other times and made the playoffs in 20 of 23 seasons.

In a press release issued Tuesday, the Celtics said Chisholm will serve as govenror, and Grousbeck and Aditya Mittal will serve as alternate governors. Grousbeck will be a co-owner and CEO, running day-to-day operations with Chisholm and the existing basketball and business managemetn teams.

Chisholm’s investor group is led by co-owners and members of the managing board of the Celtics, which include Grousbeck, Mittal, Bruce Beal, Andrew Bialecki, Dom Ferrante, Rob Hale, Mario Ho, and Ian Loring.  Global investment firm Sixth Street is also part of the investment group.

“This truly is a dream come true for me and my family,” Chisholm said in a statement. “I feel so fortunate to be here as part of this new investor group, who are accomplished, driven people who care deeply about the Celtics and the Boston community. On behalf of our group, I am thrilled to partner with Wyc, Brad Stevens and Rich Gotham to move this outstanding organization forward. We are committed to building on the legacy of the Celtics and raising banners, and I can’t wait for the team to get back out there this fall.” 

“The Celtics have been my life’s work for the past 23 years. This incredible ride is now continuing,” added Grousbeck. “I am fired up to be shoulder to shoulder with Bill as we pull every lever to go after another banner. There is nothing better than winning.”

Celtics sale finalized as Bill Chisholm becomes owner of NBA's most-decorated franchise originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The sale of the Boston Celtics was finalized on Tuesday, with private equity mogul Bill Chisholm taking over control of the NBA’s most-decorated franchise from a group led by Wyc Grousbeck that had owned them for more than two decades.

The team was put on the market last summer, soon after it won its record 18th NBA championship. Chisholm won the bidding in March with an offer that valued the franchise at more than $6.1 billion — a record price paid for an American professional sports team.

The NBA approved the deal unanimously last week, and the money changed hands on Tuesday.

Chisholm takes ownership of at least 51% of the team, with full control coming by 2028 at a price that could bring the total value to $7.3 billion. That’s the highest price ever paid for a team in the four major North American sports, though a piece of the Los Angeles Lakers changed hands this summer at a price that would value the entire franchise at $10 billion.

Grousbeck led a group that bought the Celtics in 2002 for $360 million. Under their ownership, the Celtics won two NBA titles, lost in the finals two other times and made the playoffs in 20 of 23 seasons.

In a press release issued Tuesday, the Celtics said Chisholm will serve as govenror, and Grousbeck and Aditya Mittal will serve as alternate governors. Grousbeck will be a co-owner and CEO, running day-to-day operations with Chisholm and the existing basketball and business managemetn teams.

Chisholm’s investor group is led by co-owners and members of the managing board of the Celtics, which include Grousbeck, Mittal, Bruce Beal, Andrew Bialecki, Dom Ferrante, Rob Hale, Mario Ho, and Ian Loring.  Global investment firm Sixth Street is also part of the investment group.

“This truly is a dream come true for me and my family,” Chisholm said in a statement. “I feel so fortunate to be here as part of this new investor group, who are accomplished, driven people who care deeply about the Celtics and the Boston community. On behalf of our group, I am thrilled to partner with Wyc, Brad Stevens and Rich Gotham to move this outstanding organization forward. We are committed to building on the legacy of the Celtics and raising banners, and I can’t wait for the team to get back out there this fall.” 

“The Celtics have been my life’s work for the past 23 years. This incredible ride is now continuing,” added Grousbeck. “I am fired up to be shoulder to shoulder with Bill as we pull every lever to go after another banner. There is nothing better than winning.”

Why Steph Curry labels Warriors' 2025-26 schedule ‘interesting and different' originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Steph Curry is a few months away from beginning his 17th 82-game NBA gauntlet, and the 37-year-old Warriors star has a routine when the league unveils the schedule.

“You take a good amount of time just seeing the flow of the whole year,” Curry told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson on Friday at the ninth annual “Curry Camp” in Menlo Park. “I mean, there are certain cities I love to go to. You look at New York. You look at Charlotte for me. Toronto. Mostly where family is and you try to know when you’re going to have some planning to know when you’re going to be there. Long road trips. That type of stuff. But you don’t get too deep into it.”

The NBA released the full 2025-26 NBA schedule on Thursday, and it will be a grind for Curry and the Warriors.

Golden State has 15 back-to-backs, including a staggering five within the first 17 games of the 2025-26 NBA season. It also features two six-game road trips, one in November and the other in March, which includes one of Curry’s circled matchups.

The Warriors open that late-season trip against the New York Knicks on March 15 at Madison Square Garden.

Curry actually will kill three birds with one stone at the end of December, when the Warriors go on a three-game road trip to Toronto, Brooklyn and Charlotte.

The four-time NBA champion gets to ring in 2026 in his hometown, as the game against the Hornets at Spectrum Center is at 10 a.m. PT on Dec. 31.

But the difficulty of the Warriors’ schedule isn’t lost on Curry.

“Very interesting and different schedule than what we’re used to, just from the patterns of what I’ve noticed over the last 16 years,” Curry told Johnson. “But everybody’s got to play 82 and we hope to be able to get through it.”

Curry and the Warriors tip off the new season against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Oct. 21 at Crypto.com Arena.

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast

Warriors star Steph Curry racing against time for fifth NBA championship ring originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

MENLO PARK, Calif. – Every step Steph Curry takes running up and around the trails of Edgewood Park in San Mateo County, the same place Jerry Rice famously would sprint what simply became known as “The Hill,” is a race against time that inches him closer to the finish line while chasing another championship. 

A fifth ring. A chance. More individual accolades can, and will, come for Curry. They’re also happenstance along the process of another chase he’s practically addicted to. 

Like running through sand dunes a couple years ago, Curry calls the workout his and performance coach Carl Bergstrom’s latest way to “find new challenges.” 

Motivation is a funny thing for someone who has everything and has accomplished everything in that person’s respective field. Motivation also always has been a part of Curry. The son of a NBA player, also the string bean of a prospect only offered a walk-on by the alma mater of his father. The small-school superstar who was still overlooked in many ways going into the pros. Early ankle injuries proved doubters right, at times. 

Greatness at its truest form is undeniable. It’s inevitable, and it’s never really satisfied. 

“I would think that there’s not enough external motivators to bring the drive that I need to do what I do, and have the gratitude to be able to do what I do,” Steph Curry told NBC Sports Bay Area in an exclusive interview. “It all comes from just a drive and a spirit and a wisdom of knowing what I need to do to prepare my body and challenge myself. But I still love it. 

“It’s funny, it’s my job, right. It’s what I get to do, and the work that I put into it, whether you see it on social media or not, it’s all a part of the process.” 

Curry and the Warriors began the process of looking ahead frustratingly earlier than they expected. The process might as well have begun the moment Curry strained his hamstring during Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals in Minnesota. The Warriors held on to win that first game but couldn’t win a single one with Curry injured. When the light goes out on their sun, the Warriors cannot operate without their brightest star they still orbit around. 

The only difference in how Curry attacked this offseason was understanding he needed to let himself first fully heal and recover. There wasn’t prep for the Olympics and going for gold like he did last year. He was more so back into his usual routine of being at the American Century Championship golf tournament in South Lake Tahoe, back to hosting his ninth annual Curry Camp and back to finding more ways to push his peak and test himself in extending what his limits really are. 

Every accolade Curry could have imagined already is in his possession. The two MVPs have a space somewhere, as do his two All-Star Game MVPs, Western Conference Finals MVP, Finals MVP and his four championship rings. 

There always will be space for more next to his rings. That’s the chase of a competitor who’s never full, whose appetite for greatness never goes away. Who knows the many hurdles that are in his way whether it’s this season or however long he has left, starting first with making it through an 82-game season as healthy as possible before staring down another marathon of the playoffs. 

The grind is a war of attrition, as Curry calls it, in the sense of injuries and timing being everything.

“So many unpredictable things that happen during a year,” Curry said. “Can you get your identity and your style of play and your team committed to that? Last year, we were chasing a little towards the end of the year to try and get out of the play-in. Then from there, we gave it a great run in the playoffs, just didn’t work out. 

“Just trying to be in a position where we’re somewhere in the top of the Western Conference throughout the vibe and not have to be on the gas pedal all the way down the stretch, and hopefully we’re all healthy come April.” 

Hanging a fifth banner would give Curry more championship rings than superstars like LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal, and also one more than his former Splash Brother Klay Thompson. He’d be in the same club as Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and even his coach, Steve Kerr. Curry would be knocking on the VIP door that Michael Jordan gets to puff his cigars in. 

Pictures of Curry’s hand filled with a ring on each finger can already be imagined. Iconic. It’s not what he sees when he closes his eyes. The process is, where everything begins and ends to even have a chance. 

“No, that just means you’re winning,” Curry says in response to there being extra significance to a fifth ring. “That’s the thing, even with one through four. One, just getting through the hump and becoming a champ, it’s all really about the process that leads to it. All the narratives, all the cool celebrations and stuff like that, they take care of itself. 

“You can’t chase that stuff. It’s the process that you commit to. It sounds so boring and dull, but it is the only way you get to where you want to go. And I think I’m old enough and wise enough now to stay on that journey of just being in the moment.”

Yet at the moment, the Warriors are the only team in the NBA to not make a move seven weeks into the offseason. Everything has been held up because of Jonathan Kuminga’s restricted free agency, a player who will be 14 years younger than Curry when the season begins and still is built by upside and potential. The Warriors are adamant on having a team option on the second year of a two-year, $45 million contract they have offered Kuminga while he holds steady to requesting a player option for the second year, sources say. 

The longer the situation drags out, the messier it’s going to be. Kuminga taking the one-year, $7.9 million qualifying offer that wouldn’t allow the Warriors to trade him for the entire season is “very real,” per sources, especially if this gets into September. 

Curry keeps out of the way as the Western Conference continues to load up, admitting some frustrations to the unknown as he also knows plenty behind closed doors and continues to lean on the foundation people like himself, Kerr and Draymond Green have built within the Warriors for more than a decade together. 

“It’s a combination of all of it,” he said. “There is obviously stuff that I know and talking about that isn’t necessarily public, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be. The way our organization is run, me, Draymond, Jimmy [Butler] are trying to make sure we’re prepared individually and collectively to lead our team to where we’re supposed to go. 

“All that stuff will take care of itself. It’s the front office’s job to bring the best team back. When September 29th – whatever it is – comes around and we’re suiting up for practice, we’ll be ready.”

The Warriors made their big move months ago, acquiring Butler from the Miami Heat at the February trade deadline. They went 22-5 in the regular season when Curry and Butler played together, and the two scored a combined 75 points to beat the Memphis Grizzlies in the play-in tournament. 

They also still couldn’t evade the play-in tournament. A five-game series was right there in front of the Warriors against the No. 2-seeded Houston Rockets. An extra two games were required, leading to the Warriors losing in the second round, mostly because of Curry’s injury.

It wasn’t just the hamstring that Curry dealt with. He also dealt with issues to his knees, hip, ankle, pelvis and right thumb throughout a season he was named All-NBA for the 11th consecutive time. Butler missed Game 3 of the first round because of a pelvic contusion from a hard fall that held him out for almost all of Game 2. Injuries even affected younger players like Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody in the playoffs. 

Those two aren’t 37 years old like Curry, going into Year 17, will be when the season starts. Butler is entering Year 16 at 36, and Green, 35, is prepping for his 14th season. Curry believes having Butler for a full training camp and an entire season from the jump is a “great advantage” that should help the Warriors not be in playoff mode come January or February again. He also has heard those same numbers repeatedly presented as more obstacles in his way. 

“We just got a lot of kids running around. That’s really the only difference,” Curry jokes.

He’s still years away from entering the Robert Parrish zone as the oldest champion in NBA history. Parrish was 43 as a member of the 1996-97 champion Chicago Bulls, a season in which he also averaged 3.7 points per game. Duncan recently had turned 38 when he won his fifth and final ring, averaging 15.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per game in his 17th season.

The oldest champion to average at least 20 points per game for a season was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1984-85 season. In his age-37 season, the same that Curry is coming into, Kareem put up 22 points per game on his way to winning his fourth of six championships. Curry averaged 24.5 points last season. It was his lowest since averaging 23.8 points in his first MVP season a decade earlier.

“With age comes wisdom,” Curry concludes. “Obviously we know we have to prepare ourselves. There’s no guarantees, again, that you can stay healthy. Every champion, at the end of the day, has everything go right. We’re trying to be in that conversation. Trying to be well prepared for another run. 

“We’ll take the ageism and all that stuff on the chin and keep it moving.”

The crown remains heavy for the Petty King. Curry runs his own race, keeping pace of the process with every step. Time isn’t on his side, nor is history. Chasing cloaked ghosts with a clear vision ignores obstructions and breaks down barriers along his way. 

History is perception baked in reality. He knows the facts, he sees and hears all. Curry will keep re-writing his own pages with a little help from his friends, pushing himself and the game to new heights on a never-ending chase for more.

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast