Category: Basketball

As far as rebuilds go, the Spurs have managed a relatively quick turnaround. From tearing things down to the studs in 2023, to reaching legitimate contender status, it’s been a quick three years. Currently, San Antonio sits poised and firmly cemented in the two seed of the Western Conference, on a 58-win pace, which would be quite the jump from 34 only one season ago.

But this is the NBA. There’s the regular season, which is all fine and good, but what matters is the playoffs. And there’s a commonly held belief that in order to truly contend for a championship, a team needs to taste defeat in the playoffs first. They need those “playoff scars.”

So how true is that? For those teams that managed to invert their regular-season status, what does history say about doing the same in the postseason?

Taking a look at the modern era, since the turn of the century, history tends to favor teams knocking on the door of the Finals to just barging in. Very few teams have gone from not making the playoffs to even making the Conference Finals the very next year, but it does happen.

The prime example is the 2008 Celtics. Boston hadn’t entered the postseason in two years, but general manager Danny Ainge managed to put together what many call the first super-team of the era—adding the talents of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett alongside Paul Pierce. It not only ended the Celtics playoff drought, but it brought them their first championship since 1986.

Then there are the 2021 Phoenix Suns. Phoenix hadn’t sniffed the playoffs since 2010, but then managed to make the finals in 2021. This was following an undefeated run in the Orlando bubble, which still did not grant them a playoff birth. In the offseason, they traded for Chris Paul, Monty Williams coached his ass off (finishing 2nd in Coach of the Year voting), and they went on a run.

Next are the 2020 Lakers. They flipped a six-year playoff drought into a championship in the bubble. This was their second year with LeBron James, and their first year with Anthony Davis.

James adds to the list with the 2015 Cleveland Cavaliers. After adding him in free agency and trading for Kevin Love, the Cavs kicked off a four-year run of meeting Golden State in the Finals. This, after they hadn’t even won more than 33 games since 2010.

Finally, the 2024 Indiana Pacers round out the list. The Pacers had been absent from a postseason appearance for three years until making a leap to the Conference Finals. This new success was attributable to the development of star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, as well as the addition of star forward Pascal Siakam.

And that’s the list. Overall, there is a small trend. All of these teams have added major talent and are usually built around a generational great.

While history shows us that most deep playoff runs follow at least a first or second round exit the year prior, the precedent is there for a deep run, provided the team has the right pieces.

This Spurs team has the right pieces. They have a generational great in Victor Wemanyama and have the new addition of De’Aaron Fox. This is on top of the talented role players built around them. It won’t be easy, but it’s quite possible that San Antonio breaks the trend and adds itself to the above list.

Are the Lakers a mediocre shooting team? Or are they a team with good shooters who are underperforming beyond the 3-point arc? 

The answer to those questions will be a defining factor in the Lakers’ post-All-Star break success, which starts with Friday’s home game against the Clippers.

The Lakers entered Friday ranked No. 21 in 3-point percentage at 35%, worse than last season’s 36.6% 3-point shooting (No. 14) and the previous season’s 37.7% (No. 8). 

While their perimeter shooting has been a factor in the offense not performing as expected, there are reasons for optimism that their outside shooting will be a strength in the final “sprint” of the regular season.

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The Lakers shot 37% from beyond the arc in their 19 games leading into the break, which ranked No. 7 across the league, despite their player availability being in flux for most of that stretch after previously being one of the league’s worst shooting teams (33.9% in the first 35 games).

As one of the more prolific pull-up 3-point shooting teams (12.2 attempts, fifth most in the league), which are naturally tougher and lower-percentage shots than catch-and-shoot 3s, the Lakers will fight an uphill battle with their raw 3-point percentage.

But if they can maintain the 37% shooting on catch-and-shoot 3s they shot over the last month (an average mark) instead of the 34.8% they were previously shooting (an abysmal number), then they should sustain the recent 3-point success.

And there are plenty of reasons why they should be able to.

Most of the Lakers’ higher-volume shooters are underperforming on catch-and-shoot 3s this season vs. their previous few seasons, including Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia.

Even Luke Kennard, the league’s most accurate 3-point shooter, significantly underperformed on his catch-and-shoot looks in the four games he played with the Lakers entering Friday. 

The underperformance on catch-and-shoot 3s started to turn in the Lakers’ favor before the break.

And with the team overall becoming healthier, there’s confidence they’ll be able to sustain being a solid-to-good shooting squad, even if players who’ve shot better than expected (like Rui Hachimura) begin to regress to their mean. 

The Lakers have shown they don’t need high-level 3-point shooting to perform well offensively. 

They remain elite inside the arc and getting to the free-throw line.

But sustained 3-point shooting can be the difference between them being a good-to-very good offense like they have been so far and elite like they’ve been projected to be. 

And they’re on the precipice of getting to that level.

Just over half the ball/strike challenges were successful on the first day of spring training games Friday as Major League Baseball prepared for the first regular-season use of the automated ball-strike system — the so-called robot umpires.

Thirteen of 23 calls were overturned during the five games, MLB said, which came to 56.5%.

There were an average of 4.6 challenges per game and 2.6 overturned calls per game.

Seven challenges were made of plate umpire Alex MacKay's calls during Arizona's 3-2 win over Colorado, and six were successful. The Diamondbacks had four of five decisions reversed and the Rockies were 2 for 2 in challenges.

MLB experimented with the ABS system during spring training last year and teams won 52.2% of their ball/strike challenges (617 of 1,182) challenges.

Each team has the ability to challenge two calls per game. Teams that waste their challenges get one additional challenge in each extra inning. A team retains its challenge if successful, similar to the regulations for big league teams with video reviews, which were first used for home run calls in August 2008 and widely expanded to many calls for the 2014 season.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

The Golden State Warriors returned form the All-Star break on Thursday night, and lost 121-110 to Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics. But before that game happened, I put out a call for mailbag questions … and Dub Nation didn’t disappoint! You all came through with some great questions. Hopefully my answers can do the questions justice.

There are certainly some key differences in their games, but yes, I think that’s fair to say. I think it’s asking too much to expect Will Richard to be able to match De’Anthony Melton’s value as early as next year, but reasonable facsimile? Yeah, I think that’s very doable.

Melton has skill with the ball in his hands that is far above what Richard is currently capable of. It would be a major win if Richard is ever able to penetrate the defense, get to the rim, playmake, and score in isolation the way Melton does; and if he does get there, it probably won’t be for a few years. But he can make up some of that with his transition offense and his cutting, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to hope he is as good of a shooter and defender as Melton is, as early as next year.

The biggest issue is that Richard is, in my eyes, fundamentally an off-guard, whereas Melton is a combo guard who is quite comfortable running the point. Unless the Warriors are comfortable letting Pat Spencer be a 20-minutes-per-game backup point guard, they’re going to need to make sure they have someone on the roster other than Steph Curry who is comfortable (and talented) with the ball in his hands, and I don’t think that’s Richard.

This isn’t a fun answer, but I think it’s an honest answer: the key to the Warriors rising into one of the top six spots in the Western Conference is for someone on another team to get injured. The Warriors are five games out of the sixth seed, with only 26 games remaining. With Jimmy Butler III out for the year and Steph Curry out for, at minimum, a handful more games, I don’t think it’s realistic for Golden State to play their way out of that deficit.

But the Los Angeles Lakers are one of the teams six games ahead, and they’ve dramatically outperformed their net rating (which is significantly worse than Golden State’s); if LeBron James or Luka Dončić misses some time, they could tumble down. The Minnesota Timberwolves are also six games up on the Dubs, and they would fall apart entirely if Anthony Edwards suffered an injury.

Hopefully those things don’t happen. But I don’t see the Warriors getting further than the No. 7 seed without a whole lot of help.

I don’t mean this to sound patronizing, but I think sometimes fans aren’t aware of how much coaches and players talk about things. Steph Curry and Draymond Green making careless passes that result in turnovers is something that Steve Kerr has probably talked with them about thousands of times. It probably gets mentioned in almost every film session. Sometimes there’s a sentiment among fans that because something hasn’t been fixed, that no one is addressing it, and that’s not the case. Kerr has called out those two in the media a notable number of times for careless passes … and it’s safe to assume that any criticism Kerr is levying through a presser is something that has been said to the player at least 10 times.

The reality is, this is who Curry and Green are. It’s a weakness in their respective games — one of the few weaknesses, in Curry’s case. But it’s also a situation where you can’t always have the good without the bad. They are exceptional playmakers, and it’s probably not realistic to ask them to cut back on the careless passes while maintaining all the good ones.

Bob Myers’ legacy is simple: he is the architect of the greatest stretch of basketball in Golden State Warriors history, and one of the greatest dynasties of all time. When all is said and done, that’s how he’ll be remembered; and it’s how he should be remembered.

First off, let’s clarify some facts. Myers was hired a month before Jerry West was. West had no involvement with the Warriors when they drafted Steph Curry; he wasn’t hired for another two years. He had a role in drafting Klay Thompson in 2011, but so did Myers, who was the assistant general manager at the time, and a very respected voice in the organization as he was viewed as the heir apparent (a voice that was part of the team hiring West, it should be noted). Myers was promoted to GM in 2012, before the draft … meaning he was the man in charge when they selected Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes later that year. So if you want to call those the Jerry West Years for narrative’s sake, that’s fine, but just remember that Myers had as big — and I’d argue, a much bigger — role in acquiring the dynastic trio as West did.

More importantly, Myers played an absolutely critical role in building the dynasty. He was the primary person involved in the — at the time, unpopular — decision to fire Mark Jackson after a successful season, and against the wishes of his own players. And he was the primary person involved in hiring Steve Kerr. That sequence of events is, after drafting Steph Curry, the most important move of the century for the Warriors. The dynasty doesn’t exist without that, nor does it exist without the slick maneuvering to add Andre Iguodala and the signing of key veterans like David West and Shaun Livingston, or his role in acquiring Kevin Durant. The shocking 2022 championship doesn’t happen if Myers didn’t use Durant’s departure as a chance to overpay D’Angelo Russell for the sake of maintaining a salary slot that he then used to add Andrew Wiggins … to make no mention of drafting Jordan Poole, a move that drew criticism at the time, and for a full year, before paying massive dividends en route to a trophy.

There were some bad moves, but those are going to happen when you run a team for well over a decade. I don’t criticize him as much as others do for the Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody picks, and I think if you glance at the history of the No. 7 and No. 14 slots, you’ll offer him some grace there, as well.

It wasn’t a perfect tenure, but it was a great one. And it should be remembered as such.

I think most people would prefer that the Warriors get a lottery pick rather than lose in the play-in tournament, that’s for sure. It would massively help them in their retooling efforts, either as an opportunity for talent or as a trade chip.

That said, there would be a downside, apart from the lost revenue of a potential series. If the Warriors fall out of the play-in — which would require a lot of losses — then that means they’re playing awful basketball, and that’s a bad sign for a team trying to compete next year. It means Kristaps Porziņģis is either injured or not playing well, and that hurts their plans. Ultimately, the best outcome is that they play good basketball that offers confidence for their 2026-27 plans. But a lottery pick is a very nice consolation prize if they fail.

I love both of those players for the Warriors. That said, I’m not sure that veterans who are known entities should be their target in the buyout market this year, since they’re not contending. I like the idea of them using the market as an audition for less proven players who could play a role on next year’s team, like Lonzo Ball.

I think Gui Santos is already better than Eric Paschall and Anthony Lamb, to be honest. Paschall was really a one-trick pony: a north-south scorer who couldn’t defend or shoot threes. And Lamb was a guy who never really played well, he just provided energy and effort when Steve Kerr was desperate for some. Santos, with his solid defense, smooth three-point shot, and ability to score in transition or with cuts, is already a better player, I’d say.

My guess is he’s a few years away from being an honest-to-goodness starter. He just needs a little more seasoning so that the game can slow down for him. Let’s not forget that he’s only 23 years old, and has barely played 1,600 career minutes. In minutes terms, he’s played one full season at fewer than 20 minutes per game. There’s a lot of growth left for him to do.

I’ll be honest, I’m not a very knowledgable draft guy, and it’s early, so I don’t have a good sense yet. But in the latest SB Nation mock draft, Ricky O’Donnell has the Dubs taking Baylor guard Cameron Carr, who has a long wingspan and a slick three-point shot. Seems about right.

It’s very difficult to envision, less because the Warriors are incapable of beating the Lakers, and more because the logistics of it just don’t line up. The Warriors are play-in bound, meaning if they make the playoffs, it will be as the No. 7 or 8 seed. The Lakers don’t have a realistic shot of reaching one of the top-two seeds. That means that, for the Warriors and Lakers to even face each other in the playoffs, the Dubs would have to escape the play-in tournament, beat either the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs in a seven-game series, and hope that the Lakers both land in the right spot in the bracket, and pull off a first-round upset of their own. None of that seems likely.

There’s better hope for the teams meeting in the play-in tournament, though I doubt that happens, either.

If you ask the internet, I’d say Draymond Green is more hated than Brandin Podziemski. Pat Spencer is surely great at pickleball, but I’m picking Steph Curry over anyone in any hand-eye coordination dominated sport. Gui Santos is definitely the guy who enjoys SF the most, though I imagine Al Horford is up there as well. They’re hitting up different spots, but I imagine they both are relishing what the city has to offer.

As to your actual question … I don’t think Moses Moody has fully hit his ceiling, but it’s close. I think we can give up on him ever being a guy who can take his defender off the dribble to create a shot. But I do think he could add something of a low post game to his arsenal. Maybe Jimmy Butler III can teach him a thing or three.

I touched on this earlier, but I would like them to use the spot on someone who they might be considering signing this summer, and want to give a test run in the system to. Lonzo Ball is a great fit in my eyes, as he constantly keeps the ball moving and plays great defense. He could thrive in the Warriors system, but we’ve said that about a lot of players who struggled, instead. If they can find out now, instead of after giving him a guaranteed contract for next year, then that’s a win.

I definitely think Kristaps Porziņģis can return to All-Star form, and it’s worth noting he never fully lost that form, he just lost the ability to stay healthy. In his All-Star season, Porziņģis had per 100 possessions averages of 34.7 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks, while shooting 39.5% from three-point range; last year, his averages were 33.9 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks, while shooting 41.2% from deep.

There are really just two questions for Porziņģis: can he stay on the court, and can he fit a system that has stymied plenty of good players in the past.

I will say, I don’t think him signing a long-term contract is particularly feasible. I’d be very surprised if he signs — with the Warriors, or with anyone else — for more than two years. He’s just in that awkward spot where he’s too talented to take a long-term deal at a discount, but too injured to be offered a long-term deal that’s not at a discount. I do think he’ll stay on the Warriors, and it could become a long-term thing if he stays healthy. His minutes will likely always be monitored, so I think the ceiling is an All-Star level talent who is only playing 25 minutes a night.

The boring answer is that they work. The Warriors have had a lot of success with four-wing lineups. The NBA, as a whole, has had a lot of success with four-wing lineups, and it’s why you see players like Moses Moody and Scottie Barnes sometimes being classified as power forwards when you’d be inclined to call them shooting guards. Where the Warriors struggle from a lineup construction standpoint is that their guards and wings aren’t as athletic as the rest of the league’s, and they don’t shoot as well, either. But, for the most part, that still offers better results than throwing out two-big lineups and getting run off the court.

9ergold:
What’s your over/under on # games played out of remaining games to end of regular season for …

Steph

Kristaps

Al

Dray

Melt

Seth

Great question. There are 26 games left. Here are my over/unders for games played:

Steph Curry: 13.5
Kristaps Porziņģis: 14.5
Al Horford: 18.5
Draymond Green: 20.5
De’Anthony Melton: 21.5
Seth Curry: 0.5

Thanks for the questions, everyone!

The coaching carousel for the 2025-2026 men's college basketball season is starting to heat up.

Numerous programs around the country are virtually eliminated from NCAA Tournament contention, barring a surprise conference championship win. Some athletic directors are already starting to get ahead of the curve and filing away candidates.

REQUIRED READING: Kansas State said it fired Jerome Tang 'for cause.' Will that hold up in court?

Kansas State's Jerome Tang was one of the first major dominos to fall, although there's still discourse between Tang and the school regarding his $18.7 million buyout. Kansas State claims it has bounds to fire Tang for cause, which would invalidate the total.

There are multiple mid-major coaches that are also on the rise and could be next up for Power Four gigs. Names like Saint Louis' Josh Schertz, New Mexico's Eric Olen and Utah State's Jerrod Calhoun have all been wildly successful in 2025-26.

Here's a running list of every head coaching change during the 2025-26 men's college basketball season:

College basketball coaches out in 2026: Full list

This story will be updated live.

Feb. 20: Joe Scott, Air Force

Scott was suspended indefinitely in January while being investigated for treatment of Air Force's cadet-athletes. It was announced Feb. 20, however, that he and the school mutually agreed to part ways.

"Coach Scott's passion for the game of basketball has long been evident in his competitive and direct coaching style. It was this coaching style that guided Air Force Basketball to some of the program's most memorable achievements during his initial tenure at the Air Force Academy," Air Force athletic director Nathan Pine said in the announcement. "This is a different day, and now is the right time for a new voice and a new approach to drive the culture and success of the men's basketball program, aligned with the Air Force Academy's mission of forging leaders of character developed to lead in our Air Force and Space Force.

"We thank Coach Scott for his 10 years of service to the Academy and wish him and his family well."

Air Force went 97-183 in Scott's second tenure as head coach from 2020 onward. He also led the program from 2000-04, taking the team to an NCAA Tournament berth in 2004. - Austin Curtright

Feb. 18: Steve Lavin, San Diego

Lavin won't return to San Diego for the 2026-27 season but will remain as head coach for the remainder of the current campaign. The former UCLA and St. John's coach has a 46-79 record at San Diego in four seasons, and currently holds an 11-17 mark this season.

"As my coaching tenure at USD begins to wind down, I would like to pause and express my heartfelt appreciation to President Jim Harris for presenting this life-changing opportunity in 2022," Lavin said in the announcement. "Teaching and coaching at the University of San Diego has been an experience of unparalleled pride and joy. Specifically, I will carry forward the gift of participating in our players' journeys, and will treasure the relationships forged along the way." - Austin Curtright

Feb. 17: Jerome Tang, Kansas State

Tang led Kansas State to the Elite Eight in his first season at the helm in 2022-23, but it was a downward spiral from there. The Wildcats failed to reach the NCAA Tournament the next two seasons and had a 10-15 record with a 1-11 mark in conference play this season before Tang was fired.

“This was a decision that was made in the best interest of our university and men’s basketball program," K-State athletic director Gene Taylor said. “Recent public comments and conduct, in addition to the program’s overall direction, have not aligned with K-State’s standards for supporting student-athletes and representing the university. We wish Coach Tang and his family all the best moving forward.”

Kansas State is attempting to fire Tang for cause after he called out his players in a press conference after a blowout loss against Cincinnati. - Austin Curtright

Jan. 12: Marvin Menzies, Kansas City

Kansas City announced in January that Menzies would finish out the season at Kansas City but wouldn't be returning for the 2026-27 season. The Roos hired former Maryland coach Mark Turgeon shortly after. - Austin Curtright

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Men's college basketball coach firings, changes in 2025-26 season

It wasn’t a pretty return from the break, and it won’t get any easier on Friday. The injury report is stacked on both sidelines. Second night of a back to back only means the tank engines get a little louder! The Flatbush Five remains the Flatbush Four with Saraf on Long Island.

🏀 KEY INFO

WHO: Brooklyn Nets (15‑39) @ Oklahoma City Thunder (42‑14)
WHEN: 8:00 PM ET
WATCH: YES Network

🩹 INJURY REPORT

Nets

• Nic Claxton
• Ziaire Williams
• Ben Saraf
• Josh Minott
• Tyson Etienne
• Chaney Johnson
• E.J. Liddell

OKC

• Shai Gilgeous‑Alexander
• Jalen Williams
• Ajay Mitchell
• Thomas Sorber

📰 GAME PREVIEW

“For the Nets, they’ve had to consistently find ways to pick themselves up from blowout losses. Four out of their last five losses have been by at least 16 points. You learn a lot during the course of a long season, and for this young Nets team, they hope the lessons (and losses) from this year will carry them into 2027 and beyond.” – Brian Fleurantin

💬 DISCUSSION

Share your thoughts and react, but please be respectful. NetsDaily prides itself on being a safe space for Nets and basketball fans alike to have healthy conversation. Reach out to Anthony Puccio or Net Income with any issues.

The Brooklyn Nets will not be tanking tonight in OKC. After resting one or both of Michael Porter Jr. and Egor Demin on back-to-backs for two months, both players will play vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder in OKC, start time 9:00 p.m. ET.

The organization certainly would be within its rights to sit them without facing outrage over violating the game’s core ethos: winning. It was the second time a little more than a week that the Nets could point to as an example of them being ethical. The night the Washington Wizards caught the basketball world’s ire by sitting nine players, Brooklyn presented the league with a clean bill of health.

Are the Nets getting nervous that they’re too often being lumped alongside the NBA’s most notorious tankers? Are they trying to be the good boy compared to the Wizards, the Utah Jazz and the Indiana Pacers, the latter two both being fined six figures earlier this month? Afraid of deeper sanctions? Or is it simply that MPJ and Demin are good to go or that Sean Marks, Jordi Fernandez, et al want to see how Demin does against the defending champs.

On the other side, of course, Joe Tsai is the only NBA owner to sorta admit his team is trying to get as high a pick in the 2026 Draft Lottery

“Well, I have to say that we’re in a rebuilding year,” Joe Tsai said at the start of the season . “We spent all of our (2025) picks — we had five first-round draft picks this past summer.

“We have one pick in 2026, and we hope to get a good pick. So you can predict what kind of strategy we will use for this season.”

On Thursday, things got more interesting when ESPN reported that Adam Silver was considering further rule changes, beyond those democratizing the lottery between winners and losers back in 2019. Shams Charania wrote this Friday afternoon, discussing Silver talks with owners in December and GMs Thursday:

Sources with knowledge of Thursday’s meeting as well as a late January competition committee meeting told ESPN that these concepts have been discussed to curb tanking:

• First-round draft picks can be protected only for top-four or top-14-plus selections
• Lottery odds freeze at the trade deadline or a later date
• No longer allowing a team to pick in the top four in consecutive years and/or after consecutive bottom-three finishes
• Teams can’t pick in the top four the year after making the conference finals
• Lottery odds allocated based on two-year records
• Lottery extended to include all play-in teams
• Flatten odds for all lottery teams.

During Thursday’s GM meeting, Silver, the NBA office and the league’s 30 top team executives shared a desire to have ongoing discussions to safeguard the integrity of the sport.

None of these changes would effect what looks like a generational draft in June of this year. Any changes wouldn’t take place till 2027 or later. That said, the team with the most at stake in all this would be the team with the most draft picks: your Brooklyn Nets who have 13 first rounders (10 tradeable) and 20 seconds. They even have six picks in the 2032 Draft, two firsts and four seconds. If the Nets rebuild is going to succeed to the point that Tsai, Marks, Fernandez etc., hope, those picks will have to retain full value. So you’d think Brooklyn would oppose some of the more stringent measures being discussed.

Of course, the reason is that the 2026 Draft is seen as one of the best ever, challenging the 1996 and 2003 draft in both star power and depth. Somewhere between three and seven are seen as “franchise changing.” As Silver noted in his State of the League talks over All-Star Weekend, that’s led to an imbalance in fandom.

“I think there was a more classical view of that in the old days, where it was just sort of an understanding among partners in terms of behavior,” Silver said. “I think what we’re seeing is modern analytics, where it’s so clear that the incentives are misaligned. …The worst place to be, for example, is to be a middle-of-the-road team. Either be great or be bad, because then that will help you with the draft.

“In many cases, you have fans of those teams — remember, it’s not what they want to pay for to see poor performance on the floor, but they’re actually rooting for their teams in some cases to be bad to improve their draft chances.”

Been there, as Nets fans have long been divided on social media between tanking and anti-tanking contingents.

There are some, like Ricky O’Donnell of SB Nation, who’ve opined that the depth of the tanking is unlikely to become an entrenched phenomenon. The 2027 Draft, he (and others) note, is seen as mediocre. No need to distort the game if the reward is simply not worth the effort.

[T]he 2027 NBA Draft doesn’t look like it’s worth tanking for. While we knew prospects like Victor Wembanyama, Cooper Flagg, and Cameron Boozer were studs by the time they were sophomores in high school, there’s no one that looks the part of a future NBA superstar yet in the current senior class. I’d say the top prospects in 2027 right now are Tyran Stokes, Caleb Holt, and Anthony Thompson, but none of them are even close to a sure thing. The 2028 NBA Draft also doesn’t have an obvious top prospect at this point.

Things, he believes, will resolve itself.

Also, and this isn’t talked about. With the board of governors about to approve expansion, presumably to Seattle and Las Vegas, the league will have to schedule an expansion draft. Does the NBA basketball operations personnel want to plan for both a newly configured NBA draft and an expansion draft?

Meanwhile, at HSS Training Center, the scouting staff is inputting reports from the field whether the NCAA, or the NBL in Australia or the Chinese Basketball Association. This year’s picks – an almost certain high lottery pick and picks at the top and middle of the second round – will be unaffected.

Is all the tanking worth it. Just Thursday, Brian Windhorst of ESPN said in talking to NBA executives that the overall No. 1 pick in the draft could be worth $100 million … if the NBA rules didn’t limit cash considerations.

And Brian Lewis did some math and just how different the top of this year’s class is from previous ones.

Box plus-minus (which estimates a player’s total contribution to team performance) is considered a great indicator of future NBA success, with the elite starting between 8.0 and 10.0 (per Basketball Reference) and the truly transcendent reaching over 13.0. Since 2010-11, only 11 freshmen — so, less than one per year — have recorded a 12.0 or better, with all but two becoming top-3 picks.

This season alone, a staggering half-dozen freshmen stars are currently above 12.0: Boozer (19.4), uber-athletic North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson (13.9), Peterson (13.5), two-way Houston point guard Kingston Flemings (12.9), sharpshooting Illinois guard Keaton Wagler (12.8) and Dybantsa (12.3).

For perspective, Boozer’s historic freshman campaign trails only Zion Williamson and is ahead of the aforementioned Davis and Cooper Flagg, all top overall picks. Meanwhile, even the last of that sextet grades out ahead of Brandon Miller, the No. 2 pick in 2023 and currently thr No. 32-rated player on The Ringer’s latest NBA Trade Value Rankings.

No Net cracked the top 81 in that list, not even leading scorer Michael Porter Jr.

So better to focus on the 2025 rookies or the 2026 draft.

The Atlanta Hawks (27-30) kick of a (frankly very winnable) five-game homestand against the Miami Heat (29-27).

Starting lineup:

• PG Dyson Daniels
• SG Nickeil Alexander-Walker
• SF Zaccharie Risacher
• PF Jalen Johnson
• C Onyeka Okongwu

Please join in the comments below as you follow along.

Where, When, and How to Watch and Listen

Location: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA

Start Time: 7:30 PM EDT

TV: FanDuel Sports Network Southeast (FDSNSE)

Radio: Sports Radio 92.9 the Game (WZGC-FM)

Streaming: FanDuel Sports Network app, Fubo (out of market), NBA League Pass (out of market), Youtube TV (NBA League Pass out of market)

The Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies will have a tank-off their first game post all-star break and it will be mostly a competition of young guys in this one.

The flattened odds that Adam Silver set up are to blame for this game and situation. The Grizzlies would likely not care about losing games if it didn’t have real value to them to fall. Now the Jazz, who have a much worse record, have to tank hard to just lose this game for lottery positioning. And if you don’t think the positioning matters, it definitely does. The Mavericks are one game back of the Jazz in the lottery standings so every win or loss matters.

The injury reports reflect the importance of the tank-off game tonight.

The Memphis Grizzlies are missing … everyone.

Taylor Hendricks will definitely be playing so that makes this one fun. Can he have a revenge game and do Jazz fans one more solid?

The Jazz are also making changes based on the actions of Adam Silver and his unrivaled foresight.

This means that the Jazz will be having a likely big game from Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski. We’ll see how tonight goes and who can come away with tanking glory. Utah NEEDS to lose these types of games because that pick protection is looming large. Utah also has a chance to jump closer to the top of the lottery the better they do with these games.

How to watch Utah Jazz vs Memphis Grizzlies

Channel: Jazz+, KJZZ

Where: FedExForum, Memphis, TN

When: 5:00 PM MT

Well, this isn’t optimal.

Joel Embiid has been ruled out for the Philadelphia 76ers’ visit to the New Orleans Pelicans set for Saturday evening according to the team’s injury report. The news comes after the team announced back on Wednesday that Embiid had reported right shin soreness over the All-Star break and would be re-evaluated before this weekend. He is officially listed as out for both right knee injury management and right shin soreness.

This will be Embiid’s fourth straight game sidelined, missing two before the break and now at least two following it. The Sixers have gone 0-3 in the last three without him. Before this hiatus, the big fella had gone about a month of consistent playing without missing games unplanned (planned absences being one leg of each back-to-back).

This doesn’t bode well for the Sixers who have looked an absolute mess without Embiid. Earlier in the season, the squad was finding ways to win some games even without the star center. More recently? Not so much. Since Dec. 23 (when his most consistent playing stint began), Embiid has averaged 30.0 points on 52.7% field goal shooting with 8.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.0 block across 20 games. That’s not even to mention the non-statistical contributions his presence provides on the floor such as game-changing spacing thanks to the attention he commands from opposing defenses. Without him, the Sixers’ threats are limited, and it makes them much easier to defend against (as we’ve all seen as this point).

It certainly doesn’t help that Paul George is also unavailable to play due to his suspension, too, but it really feels like the Sixers squad had gotten very comfortable with specifically Embiid being out there with them. Now, they’re scrambling and struggling again without him, and it hasn’t been pretty. Most recently, on Thursday night, they lost to Atlanta, making the sub-.500 Hawks team look a lot better than they actually are in the process.

Saturday’s matchup against the Pelicans is the first leg of a road back-to-back for the Sixers, and there’s no word yet on whether the team is considering re-evaluating Embiid before the second leg visiting the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday.

Either way, the rest of the team is going to have to figure out a way to put up some level of a fight without him.

The Dallas Mavericks (19-35) start off the post-NBA All-Star push on the road Friday night, this time matching up against the Minnesota Timberwolves (34-22). Dallas hasn’t won a game since January 22nd, so a win here would mean they can cut the streak at nine games and before it reaches a full month. Minnesota is looking to start a win streak after beating the pants off of the Atlanta Hawks and Portland Trailblazers before All-Star weekend.

• WHO: Dallas Mavericks vs Minnesota Timberwolves
• WHAT: Road trippin’, still
• WHERE: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• WHEN: 6:30 pm CST
• HOW: ESPN

One would think that given a week off, the Dallas Mavericks injury report would be reasonable. That is not the case unfortunately. Cooper Flagg will miss this game due to a foot sprain. Max Christie was downgraded to doubtful a few hours ago. The two-way guys, Ryan Nembhard and Moussa Cisse won’t be playing.

With both Cooper Flagg and Luka Doncic out, this game probably becomes unwatchable for most Mavericks fans given the late start time. I do not blame them, but as I run a Mavs website, I try to watch all games. Caleb Martin and Daniel Gafford are each questionable. Naji Marshall is not on the report after hurting his foot against the Lakers a week ago.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have a clean bill of health in comparison.

Expect a huge game from Anthony Edwards. But if Dallas hopes to hang on and steal a win, they need to control the glass and get out in transition. Dallas has gotten stomped both games this season by the Timberwolves and unfortunately, this game might be more of the same.

Be sure to chime in with your predictions in the comments!

Consider joining Josh and me on Pod Maverick live after the game on YouTube, we should start LATE. Thanks so much for spending time with us here at Mavs Moneyball. Let’s go Mavs!

Greetings, Panthers fans. Welcome to the weekend.

Feel free to use this thread to chat about (almost) anything you want: video games, food, movies, non-football sports, you name it. As long as it’s allowed by the site’s ToS, it’s fair game here.

You know the drill.

This is now an open thread

Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown is not satisfied with an apology he received from the city of Beverly Hills on Thursday, days after police shut down an event he was hosting in the city's Trousdale Estates neighborhood.

The apology was not for shutting down the event. Instead, it was for including what the city called "inaccurate information" in its initial statement about the event.

Brown told ESPN's Andscape he is considering legal action against the city after it "embarrassed my brand and my team" and then continued "to tell untruths in [its] apology statement."

The promotional event for Brown's performance brand, 741, was held last weekend at the home of Oakley founder Jim Jannard on the eve of the NBA All-Star Game at Intuit Dome. It was scheduled to include a panel discussion featuring National Basketball Players Assn. president Andre Iguodala followed by an after-party with around 200 invited guests.

Read more:Beverly Hills police shut down Jaylen Brown's brand event during NBA All-Star Weekend

In an X post after his event was stopped, Brown wrote, “300k down the drain.” On Thursday, in response to the city's statement, Brown wrote on X: "You targeted me and my @741Performance event based on biased information then you give a half a— apology after the damage is already done."

The Times reached out to the city of Beverly Hills on Friday for a response to Brown's comments concerning the incident, including his mention of possible legal action. A representative referred The Times to the statement released the previous day.

The city's first statement, issued Sunday, said that "an event permit had been applied for and denied by the City due to previous violations associated with events at the address" and "organizers still chose to proceed with inviting hundreds of guests knowing that it was not allowed to occur."

On Thursday, the city issued a second release saying that upon further internal review it had determined that "no permit application was submitted nor denied for the event and the residence does not have any prior related violations on record."

Read more:Photos: Highlights from NBA All-Star Game weekend in Inglewood

The release included a statement from city manager Nancy Hunt-Coffey, who apologized for the inaccurate information but asserted that the city still had reason to shut down the event.

“The City’s previous statement about the weekend event at the Trousdale home was inaccurate, and on behalf of the City, I would like to apologize to Jaylen Brown and the Jannard family,” Hunt-Coffey said.

“The City has a responsibility to its residents and neighborhoods to ensure adherence to established regulations for events held at private residences. These are designed to support the safety and welfare of neighbors and attendees. City staff observed circumstances that are believed to be City code violations and for that reason alone, the event was ended.”

Brown was far from satisfied with the apology.

"The city has now stated the event was shut down because officials believed codes were being violated," he said in a statement released by Jalen Brown Enterprises Inc. "A private gathering cannot lawfully be terminated based on assumption alone, particularly when no official ever entered the residence to observe conditions or verify any alleged violation.

My response to @BeverlyHillsPDpic.twitter.com/cFmIMRJuTu

— Jaylen Brown (@FCHWPO) February 20, 2026

"This was a private, invitation-only gathering at a private home among friends and partners, not a public or commercial event requiring a permit. ... No proof of any alleged violation was ever produced to the homeowner, our team, or legal counsel. Without observation, documentation or confirmed violations, enforcement action based on belief alone raises serious due-process concerns.

"Jalen Brown Enterprises Inc. supports lawful compliance and cooperative engagement with municipalities wherever we operate. However, this private residential gathering was interrupted without substantiated cause, resulting in significant financial and reputational harm."

"We remain open to a constructive resolution with the city of Beverly Hills."

Brown had more to say on the matter after the Celtics' 121-110 win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night in San Francisco.

Read more:Lon Rosen to take over business operations for the Lakers

"This is All-Star Weekend at 7 p.m. I just wanted to enjoy myself. And I feel like that got taken away, and I got embarrassed to some degree," said Brown, who was named an All-Star starter for the first time this year. He added, "I feel like that apology, you know, even in the statement they put out, they included some stuff that wasn't true, even in an apology. So I don't think that apology was acceptable.

"I lost a lot of money ... and then people were making assumptions, like we didn't go through the proper protocols. So that's just all around a bad look, leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm extremely offended. My team is offended still. I'm not sure what the conclusion is going to be. All I know is that, that was some bulls—."

Brown said he heard about the city's most recent statement on his way to the game and that it fueled his third triple-double of the season (23 points, 15 rebounds, 13 assists).

"I wasn't even thinking about the game," said Brown, who will be back in Los Angeles when the Celtics play the Lakers on Sunday. "I was pissed. I was still pissed."

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.

BILBAO, Spain (AP) — A second half double from Gorka Guruzeta gave Athletic Bilbao a 2-1 win over Elche in an action-packed La Liga encounter on Friday.

It was a third consecutive league win for the Basque club and the first time it has put together three straight league wins since August.

It was also the second time in three games that Guruzeta has scored a brace, following his double in the 4-2 win over Levante on Feb. 8.

His first at San Mames Stadium was a fine finish to convert a low cross from Yuri Berchiche and his second came from the penalty spot after a controversial award in the 89th minute.

In between, André Silva converted a penalty for Elche after being forced to retake his spot kick due to a double touch.

“Little by little things are starting to go our way,” said Guruzeta, who missed the only other penalty he took for Athletic.

It was another agonizing reverse for Elche, which has gone eight games without a win. The result left it in 16th place, just one point above the relegation zone.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer