Jaden Bradley scored 21 points, Motiejus Krivas made the go-ahead basket with 1:12 left and fourth-ranked Arizona beat No. 3 UConn 71-67 on Wednesday night.
Arizona, fab freshman Koa Peat feast inside, hand UConn home loss in top-5 thriller
Peat is part of a sensational freshman class that continues to lead the nation's top teams.
Yaxel Lendeborg lights it up for Michigan basketball in win over Middle Tennessee State
Michigan basketball score: Yaxel Lendeborg was nearly perfect from the field in the second half as the Wolverines beat Middle Tennessee State.
Lendeborg scores 25, No. 7 Michigan tunes up for Las Vegas tourney by beating Middle Tennessee
Yaxel Lendeborg had season highs with 25 points and 12 rebounds to lead No. 7 Michigan to an 86-61 win over Middle Tennessee on Wednesday night. The Wolverines (4-0) tuned up for next week's three-game tournament in Las Vegas, where they might face No. 2 Houston in a field with many AP Top 25 teams. The Blue Raiders (3-1) went on a 13-2 run in the first half to pull within one and trailed by just six points at halftime before getting routed.
Mark Cuban on Mavericks trading Anthony Davis: 'We won't. We want to try to win.'
In the wake of Nico Harrison's firing, the expectation in league circles has been that the Dallas Mavericks would at least listen to trade offers for Anthony Davis, provided the All-NBA big man can get and stay healthy. Put simply, it's time for the Mavericks to pivot and start rebuilding around Cooper Flagg.
Or not.
Despite all the speculation about Davis' future, Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban told Joe Varden of The Athletic there is no plan to trade Davis.
"We won't. We want to try to win," Cuban said Wednesday in an email when asked if he and Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont would seek a deal for Davis.
This runs counter to what NBC Sports has heard from other teams, who expect Dallas to test the trade waters. It also runs counter to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon’s reporting that Dallas will explore trade possibilities. I have three quick thoughts about Cuban's comment.
1) This is exactly what a GM/owner/front office person should say if they intend to trade a player, all in an effort to gain or maintain leverage. Take Cuban's comment with a grain of salt.
2) How much influence does Cuban have in the Mavericks' front office right now? Officially, he is an advisor to team governor Patrick Dumont, who is still making the ultimate calls (Dallas has two interim GMs running basketball operations — Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi — while the search for Harrison's full-time replacement continues). Much of ESPN’s story on Wednesday focuses on Cuban's efforts to get back in the door and regain some power in basketball operations.
3) Dallas holding onto Davis and seeing how good this team is with him, a healthy Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg was always on the table. Dallas went into this season thinking it had a playoff roster, but that roster has just not been healthy. Irving is recovering from a torn ACL and is considered likely to return at some point this season, however, there is no timeline. Flagg has played well as a rookie, but his season has been up-and-down, in part because he was asked to play out of position at the start of the season as a point forward. Still, his potential shines through.
The problem is this: Dallas controls its 2026 first-round pick in the NBA draft, but doesn't control its picks from 2027-30. The Mavericks have started 4-11 in a deep Western Conference and it's going to be tough sledding for a while Davis (strained calf) is out for another week or so. Also, this team clearly needs a point guard and it's unclear when Irving might return, he is rightfully making sure he is all the way back and not rushing things. The Mavericks are already 5.5 games out of the top six in the West and sitting in 13th place. Maybe the Mavericks can climb back into the play-in, but how dangerous are they? Is it worth it to wait to see what this team might be?
Which leads to the logic that Dallas should trade Davis (and maybe Irving, although that may be an offseason move), rebuild around Flagg and other young players such as Dereck Lively II, end up in the lottery and get a running mate for Flagg.
However, that may not be the direction Dallas' ownership chooses to go. Just ask Mark Cuban.
Tarris Reed Jr., No. 3 UConn’s top scorer and rebounder, to miss matchup with No. 4 Arizona
Third-ranked UConn will be without Tarris Reed Jr., its top scorer and rebounder, against No. 4 Arizona on Wednesday night. Reed is dealing with an ankle injury and is considered to be game-to-game, UConn said in a release. The 6-foot-11 senior from St. Louis had 21 points and eight rebounds Saturday in a win over No. 7 BYU in the Hall of Fame Series at TD Garden in Boston.
Observations after turnover struggles doom Sixers in loss to Raptors
Observations after turnover struggles doom Sixers in loss to Raptors originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Sixers couldn’t climb all the way back for another unlikely comeback Wednesday night.
Though the Sixers made the Raptors sweat down the stretch, they ultimately fell to a 121-112 loss at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The Sixers dropped to 8-6 and Toronto improved to 10-5.
Tyrese Maxey scored 24 points. VJ Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes had 21 apiece.
Brandon Ingram and RJ Barrett each posted 22 for the Raptors.
On the first night of a back-to-back, the Sixers were down:
- Joel Embiid (right knee injury)
- Paul George (left knee injury recovery)
- Kelly Oubre Jr. (left knee LCL sprain)
- Adem Bona (right ankle sprain)
The Sixers will fly to Milwaukee and play the Bucks on Thursday night. Here are observations on their loss to Toronto:
McCain on the scoreboard
Justin Edwards got the start and guarded Ingram. The 21-year-old shared the floor with Maxey, Edgecombe, Dominick Barlow and Andre Drummond.
Maxey pressed his foot to the gas pedal from the opening tip. He scored eight of the Sixers’ first 10 points, including a slick step-back three on Immanuel Quickley. Maxey fired five long-range jumpers in the first quarter and made three.
The Sixers used Grimes, Trendon Watford, Jabari Walker and Jared McCain off the bench. Instead of playing the full first quarter, Maxey checked out with 2:12 remaining and McCain subbed in. He soon had his first points of the season.
McCain drilled a mid-range jumper on his first shot. He’d gone 0 for 9 over his prior four outings and dealt with serious rust in his return from injury. Wednesday’s outing — five points in 14 minutes — was his best yet.
McCain kicked off an 8-0 Sixers run early in the second quarter by canning a top-of-the-key three. Walker capped the spurt by draining a triple that gave the Sixers a 36-35 edge.
Season-worst turnovers night
Walker did solid work on the glass and the Sixers had a great rebounding start overall. In under 14 minutes, they recorded 10 offensive rebounds.
Despite that superiority on the boards, the Sixers didn’t have a massive advantage in the possession game because of their turnover struggles.
Off-target passes and strange decisions were both prevalent problems. Every Sixers starter had at least two turnovers and the team finished with a season-high 21 giveaways.
Edgecombe had four of those turnovers and also missed his first six field goals. The rookie flipped a switch to finish the first half, though. Edgecombe threw down a big dunk, grabbed a steal and assisted a Maxey three. He scored a driving bucket with 6.8 seconds left in the second quarter to lift the Sixers to a 56-53 lead.
No comeback miracles
For the third straight game, the Sixers changed their starting lineup in the second half. Grimes and Watford replaced Edwards and Barlow.
The Sixers had a rough first few minutes of the third quarter, which included Watford fouling Ingram on a three-point attempt. Toronto pulled ahead with a 10-2 run and kept growing its lead. The Sixers fell behind by 16 points on a Ja’Kobe Walker three late in the third.
The Sixers sure didn’t open the fourth quarter like they’d chalked the game up as a loss and were thinking about the second night of their back-to-back. They continued their comeback habit and made a high-paced, highlight-filled charge back into the contest.
Edgecombe hammered home a coast-to-coast jam. Drummond had a steal and a slam. Grimes caught fire. He sunk two consecutive threes to slice the Sixers’ deficit to 109-106.
Of course, the Sixers had a tiny margin for error. Maxey threw a pass that wound up out of bounds when he wasn’t on the same page as Grimes. Quickley cashed in on an Ingram kick-out feed, nailing a three. He hit a key pull-up jumper, too.
While the Sixers have earned their early-season comebacks, the reality is that teams lose the vast majority of games in which they face late double-digit deficits. Wednesday was one of those nights for the Sixers.
Doug Christie admits Kings players ‘frustrated' amid longest skid since 2021-22
Doug Christie admits Kings players ‘frustrated' amid longest skid since 2021-22 originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Despite showing signs of improvement, the Kings matched their longest losing streak since the 2021-2022 NBA season after falling 113-99 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday at Paycom Center.
Sacramento, without star big man Domantas Sabonis, extended its losing skid to seven games after a characteristic third-quarter collapse against the defending NBA champions.
With a 3-12 record, the Kings are off to their worst start through 15 games since going 2-13 to start the 1990-91 season.
Coach Doug Christie pointed out marked corrections in terms of his team’s competitiveness but recognizes that the morale in his locker room remains relatively distressed.
“What I would say is frustrated. That’s probably the term I would use,” Christie told reporters after the loss.
Yet again, the Kings managed to stay competitive throughout the first half before succumbing to a second-half swoon, giving up nine turnovers in the third quarter alone.
Even though Christie is stressing high-level execution and focus during practice sessions, the Kings’ late-game product isn’t there. It’s headed in the right direction, but it’s not there just yet.
“The level of competition the guys brought I thought was really, really high level,” Christie added.
“That’s what we need to get ourselves out of where we’re at, and if we do that on a night-to-night basis, most nights in the NBA you give yourselves a chance to win. This was the world champs and there were eight, nine minutes left, and they found themselves right there.”
Sacramento’s leading scorer, Zach LaVine, was limited to eight points for a second consecutive game after shooting 4 of 10 from the floor and a paltry 0 of 4 from beyond the arc.
Precious Achiuwa, starting amid Sabonis’ absence, tallied 15 points and nine rebounds, while Dennis Schröder added a team-high 21 points off the bench.
The Kings’ fourth stop of a five-game road trip takes them to Memphis on Thursday, where they’ll look to put a historic start in the rearview against the Grizzlies.
Stephen A. Smith explains his 'NBA Countdown' exit: 'I didn't want to be on the show'
Stephen A. Smith is a very busy man.
He is the star of ESPN's "First Take."
He hosts two radio shows on SiriusXM.
He has his own production company.
Since 2021, Smith also has been an analyst on ESPN's "NBA Countdown" pregame and halftime studio show.
But he isn't anymore, at least not on a full-time basis.
This week, ESPN announced a new "NBA Countdown" broadcast team that features host Malika Andrews and analysts Brian Windhorst, Michael Malone and Kendrick Perkins, with frequent contributions from Shams Charania.
Read more:Stephen A. Smith would’ve ‘swung on’ LeBron James had he touched him. Lakers star trolls him
Smith said Tuesday on "The Stephen A. Smith Show" that he hadn't been demoted from his status as a show regular, as some outlets suggested. Instead, he said, the change was something he had asked for while negotiating his reported five-year, $100-million contract to remain with the network earlier this year.
Why? Smith said he simply no longer has the time.
"I didn't want to be on the show," Smith said. "I negotiated coming off of it. Now I love doing 'NBA Countdown,' but once the countdown show is over, I got other things to do than to be in studio, watching the doubleheader and coming on at halftimes. I got other stuff that I want to do, to prepare for 'First Take' the next day, the next morning, and to do an abundance of other things that I aspire to do."
Smith said his departure from "NBA Countdown" had been reported "months ago," and he is correct. In breaking the news of Smith's new deal with ESPN in March, The Athletic's Andrew Marchand wrote that Smith "will not be a regular on ESPN’s premiere NBA pregame show anymore."
Read more:Shae Cornette is named as Molly Qerim's replacement as host of ESPN's 'First Take'
ESPN did not immediately respond on Wednesday to a request for a comment.
Smith added that he will continue to make frequent guest appearances on several ESPN shows, and that includes "NBA Countdown."
"If they need me in L.A. for 'NBA Countdown,' I'll be there," Smith said. "Matter of fact, I have days in my contract to be there. I just don't have to be there full time."
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Wendell Carter Jr. addresses relationship with Angel Reese: ‘That’s my girl’
“That’s the homie for sure,” Carter said. “We locked in. Y’all gonna find out when y’all need to find out. We’ll just leave it at that. That’s my girl, though. We locked in for sure.”
Carter’s statement was committal, but also vague.
According to Jenna Lemoncelli of the New York Post, the two were first linked earlier in 2025, when Carter attended Reese’s 23rd birthday party in May. He was also at the WNBA All-Star Game in July, wearing a shirt with Reese’s picture on it.
Reese has yet to address the relationship rumors, but she’s dropped various hints on social media — whether through a recent photo of her in Orlando gear or by attending multiple of Carter’s games this season.
Reese is currently in the offseason after her second WNBA campaign. She made the All-Star Game for the second straight season, averaging 14.7 points and 12.6 rebounds. Over her short career, she’s totaled 46 double-doubles — the most by any player in their first two seasons.
Carter, drafted by the Chicago Bulls at No. 7 in 2018, spent two and a half seasons in Chicago before being traded to the Magic in March 2021, where he’s played ever since. This season, he’s averaged 12.7 points and 7.7 rebounds, while shooting 44 percent on nearly three three-point attempts per game.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Orlando Magic, Chicago Sky, NBA, WNBA
2025 The Athletic Media Company
Key threat to Warriors' season hopes on display again late in loss to Heat
Key threat to Warriors' season hopes on display again late in loss to Heat originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
It’s rare that an NBA team missing three starters can compete on the road with a team nearly invincible at home when it spends much of the game shooting as if blindfolded, ponderously dribbling into traffic and throwing up air balls.
Yet the undermanned and profoundly defective Warriors were giving the Miami Heat all the smoke they could handle Wednesday, taking a 74-72 lead into the fourth quarter.
Then came a disastrous turnover spree that beckoned a richly deserved 110-96 loss.
Perhaps the most instructive element for the Warriors was that Jimmy Butler III, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Al Horford – veterans too often prone to distressing turnovers – all watched the fourth-quarter meltdown from the bench. They got an up-close look at a potential upset win spiral into a double-digit loss.
The Warriors gave the Heat 34 points off 23 turnovers, with 16 of those points coming off nine giveaways in the fourth quarter.
“I’m very, very confident that we will get that turned around,” coach Steve Kerr told reporters at Kaseya Center. “We got it turned around last year after we got Jimmy, cut our turnovers way back. That’s going to be the focus when we get home.”
The Warriors (9-8), who return to Chase Center on Friday and open a five-game homestand against the Portland Trail Blazers, closed their six-game road trip with a 3-3 record that under the circumstances leaves them somewhat satisfied but less than content.
No matter who is on the floor for the Warriors, though, turnovers continue to undo much of their best work. The math blatantly tells them that is the biggest of their problems. They’re undefeated (8-0) when they win or tie the turnover war, 1-8 when the lose it.
“We have to do a better job of this as coaches of giving the guys better spacing and cutting and teaching it better so that the decisions become easier,” Kerr said. “And then they’ve got to do a better job of just making simple decisions.”
Golden State had to be much smarter to overcome an offense in which only two players – Quinten Post (8 of 13 from the field, including 3 of 7 from deep) and Trayce Jackson-Davis (2 of 2) – shot better than 35 percent from the field. Buddy Hield was 7 of 20, 4 of 15 from distance. Brandin Podziemski was 6 of 19, 2 of 7 beyond the arc. Moses Moody was 3 of 12 from deep, while Gui Santos was 1 of 7, 1 of 6 from deep.
And, somehow, the Warriors still were in position to steal a victory. They played ferocious defense. They rebounded. They displayed enough grit and perseverance to offset their atrocious shooting, 36.2 percent from the field, including 26.5 percent beyond the arc.
But that formula trends sharply toward losing when giving your opponent 34 points off 23 turnovers. The Warriors were outscored by, hmm, 16 (38-22) in the fourth quarter.
Key threat to Warriors’ season hopes on display again late in loss to Heat“Turnovers got [the Heat] going,” conceded Pat Spencer, who came off the bench to contribute 11 points, a career-high 13 assists and only two turnovers.
After all these years, and what seems like relentless dialogue about Golden State’s tendency to play fast and loose with the basketball, fast and loose continues to drag them down more than anything else.
The Warriors dropped to 29th in the NBA in turnovers committed, averaging 17.1 per game. They bless their opponents with more gifts than the Washington Wizards or the Utah Jazz or the Charlotte Hornets.
At what point will the Warriors – from Curry, Butler and Green to the men on the far end of the bench – address this problem with the sincerity required to curb what plagues them?
The Warriors’ early season travel schedule has been the toughest in the NBA, 17 games over 29 days, with a league-high five back-to-back sets. It’s about to get easier, with eight of their next 12 games at Chase Center.
Maybe they’ll find a rhythm once they return home. But with the issue being as vexing as it typically is, seeing improvement is the only real fix.
Oubre to miss at least 2 weeks for Sixers with left knee injury
Oubre to miss at least 2 weeks for Sixers with left knee injury originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Kelly Oubre Jr. will miss at least two weeks with a left knee injury, the Sixers announced Wednesday night.
Oubre exited the Sixers’ loss last Friday to the Pistons after hyperextending his knee. According to a Sixers official, an MRI on the 29-year-old revealed a left knee LCL sprain and he’ll be re-evaluated in two weeks.
Early in the season, Oubre had been the Sixers’ primary wing player (34.8 minutes per game) and started all of the team’s first 12 games. He averaged 16.8 points and 5.1 rebounds and often handled star assignments defensively.
“He’s done that consistently where he’s got one of better scorers in the league or on the other team, and he just keeps working and working,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said after his team’s Nov. 8 win over the Raptors. “He’s been really good.
“He’s done a good job of playing physically and he’s been much better at just being solid — keeping himself in front of his man, challenging shots. They’re going to make some, but he just keeps at it over the course of the game and ends up with a good defensive game.”
Along with Oubre, the Sixers did not have Joel Embiid (right knee injury), Paul George (left knee injury recovery) and Adem Bona (right ankle sprain) on Wednesday night vs. Toronto for the first leg of a back-to-back.
George is expected to be available Thursday against the Bucks. Embiid has been a full participant in the Sixers’ last two practices and was initially listed as doubtful against the Raptors.
How to watch No. 23 Wisconsin vs. No. 9 BYU: TV, live stream info, storylines for Friday’s game
It's a matchup of two ranked teams that played in the second round of last year's NCAA Tournament.
What we learned as short-handed Warriors fade late in trip-ending loss to Heat
What we learned as short-handed Warriors fade late in trip-ending loss to Heat originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Warriors’ failure to win Tuesday’s game when their Big Three of Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green all played, as well as veteran Al Horford, reared its ugly head Wednesday night in a 110-96 loss to the Miami Heat at the Kaseya Center.
The short-handed Warriors, without Curry, Butler, Green and Horford, gave it their all. A wide talent gap was too much to close as the Heat outscored them 38-22 in the fourth quarter.
A makeshift starting five of Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody, Will Richard, Gui Santos and Trayce Jackson-Davis had zero chemistry and cohesion to start the game. And how could they? The group had only played four minutes together in one game before Wednesday.
The starters weren’t discombobulated, because they couldn’t even be combobulated with that little amount of time on the court as a unit. It took until the Warriors’ 13th field goal for them to finally make a shot, and it was a Buddy Hield layup. The Warriors also missed their first five 3-point attempts.
It didn’t deter the Warriors one bit, though. Scoring wasn’t going to be easy to come by, so the Warriors instead fought their tails off to keep the game within striking distance for all four quarters. The Warriors tallied a season-high 61 rebounds, including 19 on the offensive glass.
Podziemski was the Warriors’ leading scorer with 20 points. Quinten Post (19 points) and Buddy Hield (18 points) led a bench that outscored the Heat 55-33.
Over $171 million worth of salaries were sidelined for the Warriors. Championship teams aren’t about silver linings or feel-good losses. This also was a flight home from a defeat that the Warriors can hold their heads high from.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ second straight loss to end a six-game road trip.
Can’t Question Effort
When the Warriors went down 20-4 in the first six and a half minutes of the game, it was time to start typing about a blowout loss. But the makeshift Warriors never gave up, going on a 16-9 run the rest of the quarter to trail by just nine points going into the second, despite shooting 21 percent from the field.
That level of competitiveness carried over to the second quarter, too. Once down 41-30, the Warriors went on a 10-0 run to make it a one-point game before a Bam Adebayo dunk. But a Quinten Post three tied it up at 43 points apiece, and the Warriors trailed by just four points at halftime, 49-45.
A few minutes into the second half, the Warriors went back down by eight points. They could have folded. However, their response was a 9-0 run to take a one-point lead for the first time all night. Each team kept clawing back, and each team had an answer whenever momentum shifted one way or the other.
Heads weren’t hung and players still sprinted down the floor. The Warriors in the fourth quarter simply ran out of gas.
Building Good Habits
How does a team shooting 27.8 percent from the field and 22.2 percent on 3-pointers stay within striking distance at halftime? Energy, crashing the glass and taking care of the ball.
Led by eight boards from Jackson-Davis, the Warriors outrebounded the Heat 36-30 in the first half. They also had three fewer turnovers, nine to six, and swiped five steals compared to one for the Heat. Those five steals turned into seven points for the Warriors.
The Heat were held to their lowest scoring first half of the season after the Warriors outscored them 25-20 in the second quarter.
Turnovers hurt the Warriors in the third quarter with six compared to the Heat’s two. Yet defensive intensity and making rebounding a top priority had them win the third and hold a two-point lead going into the fourth.
In the end, turnovers were the Warriors’ detriment – as they always are. The Warriors went from six turnovers for nine Heat points in the first half, to 15 turnovers in the second half which became 23 points for the Heat. They’re now 1-8 when losing the turnover battle, and 8-0 when winning it.
Spencer Brings The Noise
Something shifted for the Warriors once the Heat quickly began the game with a 16-point lead. That something was Pat Spencer.
Immediately, things began turning positive for the Warriors. Spencer conducted the offense and moved the ball. He then grabbed six rebounds in the second quarter alone – three on offense and three on defense. Spencer was a plus-4 in the first quarter, and then in the second quarter as well.
Plus, the fiery point guard got into it with Jaime Jaquez Jr. in the second quarter, which turned into a technical foul for the Heat forward.
The game continued to hum in the second half with Spencer as the Warriors’ conductor. Spencer’s logo three kickstarted a key run for the Warriors in the third quarter, and he was on triple-double watch going into the fourth with seven points, seven rebounds and eight assists.
Spencer’s triple-double bid barely came up short. The point guard on a two-way contract ended with 11 points, a career-high 13 assists and eight rebounds as a team-high plus-10 in 32 minutes off the bench.
Talented freshman class already having a massive impact in college basketball
The recent trend in college basketball has been to build rosters through the transfer portal, adding experienced players who already know the college game and can have an immediate impact. The movement has been upended this season with a deep, uber-talented class of freshmen who are having massive impacts on programs across the country. “It’s an anomaly, in the sense that every year there’s a handful of freshmen that make an impact and oftentimes those are the one-and-done guys,” ESPN college basketball analyst and former coach Fran Fraschilla said.