Category: Basketball

Report: KD to miss at least one week with left ankle sprain originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Phoenix Suns’ 2024-25 NBA season has gone from bad to worse.

Star forward Kevin Durant reportedly will miss at least one week after spraining his left ankle on Sunday.

ESPN’s Shams Charania reported the news Monday.

The Suns are 35-40 on the season, sitting 11th in the Western Conference — a game and a half behind the Sacramento Kings (36-38) for the final spot in the Play-In Tournament.

The 36-year-old Durant has been a steadying force for the Suns this season despite the team’s struggles. He’s played in 62 games while averaging 26.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists.

With just seven games remaining in the final two weeks of the regular season, there’s now serious question about Durant’s availability the rest of the way. Charania said Durant will miss the Suns’ three-game road trip (against the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics and New York Knicks), which means the earliest he could return is April 8 against the Golden State Warriors.

Durant, Team USA’s all-time leading scorer, has one year and $54.7 million remaining on his contract with Phoenix after this season.

Crunching the numbers on Luke Kornet's career season with Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Luke Kornet credits his high school geometry studies for his uptick in rebounding numbers this season.

But you don’t need to have taken any fancy statistics courses to know just how impactful the big man has been this season.

The 7-foot-2 Kornet, who re-signed with Boston this past summer on a minimum-salary contract, has emerged as one of the most impactful centers in the NBA this season. Given his impact, you could make the case that he has one of the highest-value contracts in the entire league.

Just check out some of the numbers:

Nothing but net… rating

Kornet ranks fourth in the NBA in net rating, with Boston outscoring opponents by 14.4 points per 100 possessions during his floor time. Oklahoma City Thunder players account for five of the top six spots in the league, with Kornet the only outlier atop a list of 208 players who have played 18+ minutes per game in 50+ appearances this season.

A year ago, Sam Hauser (+14.2) and Payton Pritchard (+13.6) topped both the Celtics and the NBA in net rating, with Boston slotting four players in the top six spots en route to an NBA title. This season, it’s Kornet who seems to be keying Boston’s reserve lineups with his positive impact on the court.

Kornet also tops the team in net rating differential. The team is 7.7 points per 100 possessions better when he’s on the court versus off. The next best differential on the team: Al Horford at +3.9 (+11.3 on, +7.4 off).

Often a plus, rarely a minus

The Celtics were a team-best +21 in Kornet’s 31 minutes on the floor during Saturday’s win in San Antonio. It’s the seventh time this season that the Celtics have been +20 or better in Kornet’s minutes. In fact, Kornet has been +10 or better in 27 games this season.

Kornet has finished in the positive for plus/minus in 40 of his 66 appearances this season. Kornet ranks 22nd overall in the NBA with a raw plus/minus of +345 this year.

More “net” gains

ESPN debuted a new “Net Points” metric this season that aims to spotlight the players most directly contributing to their team’s point differential.

Kornet ranks 17th overall in their rankings, one spot behind LeBron James. He’s one spot ahead of Anthony Davis (which essentially means the Mavericks probably would have been better off trading Luka Doncic for Kornet, based on impact this season). 

Kornet sits 12th in defensive net points and 41st in offensive net points. The only Boston player ahead of him on the overall net points leaderboard is Tatum, who is sixth overall. 

Luke in the two-man game

All three of Boston’s top two-man lineups (at least 500 minutes played together) feature Kornet.

The Kornet-Hauser combo tops the team at +15.7 in 552 minutes together. Kornet-Derrick White is +15.4 in 655 minutes, while the Kornet-Tatum combo is +15.0 in 815 minutes.

Among the 293 two-man combos with at least 800 minutes played together this season, that Kornet-Tatum combo is sixth overall in the NBA, sitting behind five OKC combos. (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander-Aaron Wiggins tops the NBA at +18.8). 

Kornet, Tatum and the bench

One of Boston’s most successful five-man lineups this season has featured Tatum running alongside Kornet, Hauser, and Pritchard. That trio has a +18.9 net rating in 291 minutes together and owns an offensive rating of 130.2 in that span.

Boston’s preferred starters have struggled to be as impactful as they were a season ago, but the Tatum-and-the-bench lineups have cleaned up a lot of those struggles. 

Double bigs thrive with Kornet

The Celtics have leaned heavily on double-big lineups this season, and Kornet has been vital to the success the team has enjoyed with pairing two of their four bigs together: 

The bottom line

The Celtics are now 31-6 when Kornet plays 16+ minutes this season. That’s a .838 winning percentage, or a 69-win pace over 82 games.

Boston is just 24-13 (.649) when Kornet plays fewer than 16 minutes or is a DNP.

Kerr shares heartfelt reflection on Popovich's health status originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Spurs legend Gregg Popovich didn’t coach Sunday’s game against the Warriors, but that didn’t stop his good friend Steve Kerr from visiting him during a quick trip to San Antonio.

Popovich is recovering from a stroke he sustained back in early November and has been away from the team since. Kerr, during a six-game road trip, made sure to check on his old friend and shared an emotional update on Popovich’s health status.

“We’ve stayed in touch,” Kerr told reporters after Golden State’s win over San Antonio. “I went and saw him today and he looks great. He’s doing great. He’s one of the most important people in my life, so hoping that everything continues to progress. But it was wonderful to see him.”

"He's one of the most important people in my life…it was wonderful to see him." — Steve Kerr on Gregg Popovich pic.twitter.com/EuGbxrr2eO

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) March 31, 2025

Popovich, the Spurs’ coach since 1994 and the NBA’s all-time coaching wins leader, had a stroke on Nov. 2 at the team’s arena in San Antonio. Three months later, Popovich decided not to return this season.

Assistant Mitch Johnson stepped in just six games into the 2024-25 season and has served as acting head coach since.

Just before finding out Popovich wouldn’t return to the hardwood for the remainder of the season, the Spurs announced that All-Star center Victor Wembanyama — the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year favorite at the time — would not play again this season after deep vein thrombosis, or a blood clot, was found in his right shoulder.

Kerr detailed the emotional rollercoaster the Spurs have been through this season and applauded their resilience to continue to compete through the adversity.

“Pop has been basically the leader of the franchise for 26, 27 years. And that’s a huge loss,” Kerr said. “I think their coaching staff and Mitch, they’re doing a great job, they have stayed competitive. Tonight was a one-off, this was not indicative of how they’ve been playing. They’re hanging tough.

“But with the injury to Wemby and Pop’s absence, there’s a lot of adversity they’ve faced this year.”

While the future of Popovich’s legendary NBA coaching career is unknown, his basketball legacy — and his importance to Kerr and many others — is crystal clear.

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Draymond confident Steph won't retire if Warriors win fifth title originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

What’s better than four NBA championships? Five. And what’s better than five? Six.

You get the idea. And so does Steph Curry.

The Warriors superstar, now 37 years old and in his 16th NBA season, already has one of the most decorated careers in league history and is a lock for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame whenever he decides to retire.

Might that day come if Golden State wins a fifth championship this summer? Longtime teammate Draymond Green joined NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole and Kerith Burke on the latest “Dubs Talk” episode and shared why he doesn’t believe Curry will ride off into the sunset if the Warriors’ dynastic duo were to secure its fifth ring this season.

“He is definitely that type of person where he’s just not going to hold on and do the whole thing a lot of guys do,” Green told Poole and Burke. “If he’s not at an elite level, he’s not going to do it. The problem he has is, if we’re winning number five this year, he’s got a strong chance to get six next year. And he’s not going to screw me out of six so he has no chance of retiring, because if we have a chance to get six, I’ll be at his house every day making sure he ain’t retiring. Because we need to go after that.”

That’s not to say Curry at least won’t consider the possibility of retiring on top, but Green believes his teammate ultimately will recognize that if the Warriors are able to win another championship this year, then they will have a strong chance to do so again next season. 

“Honestly, I think the decision will come across his mind for like a week or two where he’s like, ‘Man, I did it.’ And then I think he’ll chill for a week or two and then be like, ‘Alright, I’m doing this again. I feel too great, I’m too at the peak of my powers,'” Green said. “He still has too much left to give to this game to let go now.

“He just turned 37 and he can 1,000 percent play this game at the level he’s playing at for another three years until 40. I wholeheartedly believe that. As much as he’s said that, and I believe him, and I think that would make the question run across his mind, I don’t see it happening this year. Whether we win or not, I don’t think it happens.”

Green’s assessment seems to line up with what Curry himself has said about how much longer he will play, recently telling 95.7 The Game’s “Steiny & Guru” that he would like to outplay his current contract, which expires after the 2026-27 NBA season

All three of Curry, Green (player option) and star forward Jimmy Butler are under contract through the 2026-27 NBA season, and many believe the contracts aligning could allow the trio, along with coach Steve Kerr, whose contract is up one year prior, to retire around the same time.

Will Curry and Green secure their fifth rings by then? Only time will tell.

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The business of sports is about winning. But that, of course, doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of losers out there. That’s most evident every year in the NBA around the first day of spring. With about a dozen games left in the regular season, it’s obvious which teams are also-rans – and they have probably known that for some time. But when a team are losing and losing often, how does that affect the roster? How do the players deal with the constant lows?

“When you lose,” says former NBA All-Star Xavier McDaniel, “it’s like getting a life sentence. I knew for me, losing, it started me to drink beer. Losing created a lot of bad habits. Losing can be a disease. We were losing so much [my rookie season] that by January I was drinking beer!”

Growing up, McDaniel was seemingly destined for the pros. Tall, tough and talented, the X-Man led his high school and college teams to victory after victory. In the 1985 draft, he was picked No 4 overall by the Seattle SuperSonics. When you’re a top selection like that, you’re often entering a lowly team. That was the case for McDaniel. His rookie season, the Sonics finished 31-51. They improved in his sophomore season and for most of his career in the league, McDaniel was on winners. But there were a few seasons later in Boston and New Jersey when times were equally as tough.

“I would say [you can tell a losing season is unfolding] when you get about 30 games in and you’re struggling,” he says. “You see you’re going nowhere fast. For me, [losing] feels like shit. When you’re losing, everything is bad. The food is bad, everything is bad.”

If you’re young and on a bad team, you can hope that the roster will get reinforcements via the draft in the coming summers. But if you’re a vet on a loser, you may as well start packing your bags. Bad teams want to showcase the young guys and deal the vets. Or it could be a case that the temperaments on the team just don’t mix. “One thing about the NBA,” says McDaniel, “you’ve got to find guys who play well together.”

Related: ‘He has two major flaws’: Luka Dončić’s biographer on the Lakers star

When he started his career, Scott Williams barely knew what it was like to lose. In his first three seasons, the undrafted player out of the University of North Carolina won three titles with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. But in subsequent years, he found himself languishing on bad Philadelphia teams. Those squads, he says, didn’t care about the idea of the team. That was their downfall.

“A lot of times,” says Williams, “I’ve found that it’s [about the] character of the makeup of the team. In basketball, really only about eight dudes determine the success or failure of the season. And if you got one or two or three dudes on a team that don’t have the [right] character, you’re going to have a losing year.”

In the NBA, Williams says, everyone is talented. So it is often attitude that separates winners from losers. “If your star doesn’t have good character, if he doesn’t want to put in work, the preparation, the consistence,” says Williams, “if he doesn’t have resiliency, you’re going to struggle.”

Williams remembers his days with Jordan. “There was nobody that had more intensity and stronger will and a passion to work than Michael Jordan,” says Williams. “Everyone has to come along if the superstar is doing it.”

Williams played on 60-plus-win teams and teams that have won games in the teens. There is no greater high in his life, he says, with perhaps the exception of the birth of his children, than winning an NBA title. It’s the culmination of so much work, time and sacrifice. But the opposite is true when you’re on a team going nowhere. Such was the case when he was in Philly on squads helmed by a young Allen Iverson.

“When you’re in a losing season – man, you can’t wait for the freaking year to end,” Williams says. “You’re showing up every day with dudes with negative attitudes who are me-first people. It’s miserable to be around them. You count the days until your contract is finished so you can get out of there.” It’s hard to stay motivated, he says. “It weighs on you. To fight that defeatist mentalist is hard – especially in your 20s when you haven’t had as many life lessons.”

What’s worse, when you’re on a losing team with players who don’t care about improvement, Williams says, it can make you question your own effort. “Why would I want to risk diving for a ball and banging my knee when we’re down 15 when the dude next to you won’t even help you up off the floor after you do it?” he says. “But there’s certain things you have to fight through and realize there’s a bigger picture.”

In 1981, Cedric Maxwell was named the NBA finals MVP. Surrounded by guys like Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Tiny Archibald, it was Maxwell who won the hardware when his Boston Celtics beat the Houston Rockets. The win, though, came after several years of rebuilding, including the first two years of Maxwell’s career when the Celtics went 32-50 and 29-53. Boston were in the middle of an overhaul, despite playing in the Eastern Conference finals in 1977. Injuries and ageing players plagued the roster. So, in the hopes of turning things around, Celtics coach Tom Heinsohn looked to his rookie.

The team had lost six games in a row to start Maxwell’s rookie campaign. But he got in and played 30-plus minutes in a game on 11 November against Buffalo. He scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds. “I came in that game and played really well,” says Maxwell. “And I remember [veteran Celtic] John Havlicek came up to me and said, ‘Hey, rook, just keep it going!’” But despite his good play, the Celtics never flipped the script that year. “The [vets] were convinced we’d turn the thing around, like, ‘We’re going to get on a streak!’ But we never did.”

All the losing led Maxwell to feel down, he says. But that’s when the team’s veteran big man offered his own bit of philosophy. “I remember Curtis Rowe saying to me after I felt depressed about one game – Curtis said to me, ‘Rook, there ain’t no Ls or Ws on them checks.”

But while some guys don’t live and die with the results, for Maxwell, winning is everything. “I’ve always been a competitor,” he says. So, he did what he could: he focused on himself and his own self-improvement. He focused on what he could control. “I was going to find a way to make myself better,” he says. He watched his teammates and their bad habits. He made sure that he didn’t follow in their footsteps.

“During the late 1970s, drugs were big in the NBA,” Maxwell says. “I was asked multiple times did I want to get some coke or do some blow. But I had a strong enough constitution to know that wasn’t something I wanted. Those bad habits, those things I was able to avoid.”

Looking back, Maxwell can sum up his position on losing with one piece of advice. Don’t let the noise and negativity affect your game or the way you look at the world. Because right around the corner could be an upswing, the playoffs, a chance at a title.

“The best thing,” says Maxwell, “is to be your own person. As my mom and dad used to say, ‘Be a leader. Don’t be a follower.’ That was something that helped me out in what I wanted to do. So, to any rookie out there, just be true to yourself.”

With teams facing fewer than 10 games remaining in the regular season the playoff stage is being set for some, while a handful are already eliminated from contention. The varying circumstances account for a key factor in which players continue to deliver notable production, while others are shut down, leading to opportunities for new faces to step up and make their name. 

One For The Books

Klay Thompson made history on Saturday night, becoming the second player in NBA history to knock down 200 three-pointers in 10 consecutive seasons, joining his former Splash Brother, Stephen Curry, as the only players to achieve the milestone. Aside from the noted achievement, Thompson has not enjoyed a stand-out campaign, averaging 14.3 points on a career-low 41.3 percent shooting from the field, 3.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 27.6 minutes per game. Nonetheless, his contributions have been sufficient to help keep the Mavs in the playoff hunt, and the return of Anthony Davis to the lineup should give them a significant boost heading into the postseason. 

Out For The Season

It was announced on Tuesday that Damian Lillard was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in his right calf, and that he would be out indefinitely. The unfortunate news puts a wrench in the gears of an already less-than impressive season for the Bucks, as the squad is sitting sixth place in the East and not showing dominance on either end of the floor. In Lillard's absence, third-year guard Ryan Rollins has gotten the call to step up and has started in four of the last five games, averaging 11.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.2 steals over that span. Rollins should continue to grow into the greater role, while Kevin Porter, AJ Green and Gary Trent are also in line for more opportunity. 

Since going down with a calf strain in late-November, LaMelo Ball played no more than seven consecutive games, while moving in-and-out of the lineup with one injury after another. Finally, the Hornets announced late last week that he would be shut down for the rest of the season as a result of nagging ankle and wrist injuries. Ball averaged a career-high 25.2 points per game through his 47 appearances this season. However, he also shot a career-low 40.5 percent from the field, including a career-low 33.9 percent from deep. Ball has been significantly limited by various injury trouble over the last three seasons, playing a total of just 105 games over that span, which should cause fantasy managers to question if it is worth the risk to draft him in the following season. 

Standing Out

Despite a rough run for the Kings, who are 3-7 in their last 10 games, Keegan Murray has been playing well lately. He averaged 16.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks over four games last week, including a stand-out performance in a loss to the Thunder on Tuesday, where he knocked down 9-for-13 from long range, on his way to a season-high 28 points. He shot 53.6 percent from deep over the four games on the week, which was a significant step up from his season average of 34.8 percent from downtown. Overall, Murray has not shown much improvement over his sophomore season, as he is averaging 2.6 fewer points per game, while his field-goal percentage is also dwindling in comparison. 

After suffering a non-contact injury in his debut game with the Mavericks, Anthony Davis is looking good since making his return from an almost six-week absence, as he averaged 15.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks while playing in three of his squad's four games last week. He delivered his best performance of the bunch in the most recent outing, as he posted 18 points, seven rebounds, five assists, a steal and two blocks in a one-point win over the Bulls on Saturday. With the Mavs still in the running for a spot in the play-in, Davis can be expected to continue giving it his all, as he looks to help power what would be a stunning postseason run if they were even able to win one round. 

Coby White is playing incredibly well lately, averaging 29.2 points on 50.3 percent shooting, 5.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists over the last 10 games, including scoring at least 25 points in all three games played last week and 25-point, 11-rebound double-double in the most recent outing. His play has helped the Bulls earn a firm grasp of a spot in the play-in, and he is in position to continue pushing forward as the team's new scoring leader.  

The Lakers' duo of Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic is proving to be a fearsome backcourt, as they are both putting up big-time numbers with efficiency. Last week, Reaves averaged 25.8 points on 50.8 percent shooting, 4.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists, while Doncic averaged 30.0 points on 42.9 percent shooting, including 39.0 percent from deep, 8.0 rebounds, 7.8 assists and 1.3 steals. The squad has adapted fairly well to the blockbuster trade that brought Doncic into the mix, and they should continue to gather momentum with a healthy roster heading into the postseason. 

After shining in the G League this season, Drew Timme signed a two-year deal with the Nets on Thursday and carried his impressive play into his NBA. The 24-year-old center turned in 11 points and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes of action during his debut during a loss to the Clippers. He then followed up with a 19-point, six-rebound, three-assist effort in a win over the Wizards on Saturday. The big man should continue to see plenty of opportunity to prove himself down the final stretch of the season. 

The entire Detroit Pistons team gets a shout-out here, as they have become the first team to ever triple their win total from the previous season. The team finished last season stuck last place in the East, with a record of 14-68, while they currently own a 42-33 record, which has them seated fifth place in the conference with seven games left in the season. Cade Cunningham has been the highlight of the team's success this year, averaging 25.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 9.2 assists and 1.0 steals per game. Meanwhile, Malik Beasley, Tobias Harris and Jalen Duren have also been key contributors. The squad has solid depth with guys like Ausar Thompson, Ron Holland, Simone Fontecchio and Isaiah Stewart providing grit and effort that helps keep the energy high. Additionally, the addition of Dennis Schroder has been great for the team, as he is averaging 12.1 points, 2.4 rebounds and 6.2 assists over the last 10 games. The Pistons are a young team that will surely give their opponents a hassle in the postseason and should be primed for at least a couple more years of relative success.