Category: Basketball

Basketball News

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Draymond reveals NSFW defensive mindset vs. NBA opponents

Draymond reveals NSFW defensive mindset vs. NBA opponents originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Draymond Green’s love for defense has been no secret over his illustrious 13-year Warriors career.

And on the latest episode of his “Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis,” the four-time champion revealed his blunt, not-safe-for-work defensive approach.

“I take a great deal of pride in f—–g up your team’s offense,” Green proudly admitted Friday.

That should come as no surprise.

Green, recently declared the “best defender in the world” by longtime Warriors coach Steve Kerr, has been known in his time as arguably the league’s most versatile stopper with a peak rivaled by few; really, who can competently guard everyone from LeBron James to Victor Wembanyama?

Green’s 2016-17 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award and eight All-Defense team nods only cement his continuous two-way legacy.  

“As much as I enjoy locking one guy down, I take more pride in locking your entire offense down,” Green explained. “Your coach has to figure something else out, making your offense have to make adjustments; I take more pride in that. 

“For me, there’s a lot of pride in how you guard your matchup, how you guard the ball. I almost enjoy more messing up your offense from the weak side. I think when you start talking about guys who can guard the ball and guys who can be great help-side defenders, I think I’m elite at all of that.”

Most of the league’s stellar defenders specialize in a certain area like the perimeter or paint. Green, however, survives – shines, rather – wherever he or Kerr sees fit.

Green isn’t your typical star-stopper. Instead, he proudly is an offense ruiner.

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Draymond reveals KAT's blunt trash talk during heated matchup

Draymond reveals KAT's blunt trash talk during heated matchup originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Typically Draymond Green is the one delivering trash talk on the court, but the Warriors star revealed Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns provided plenty of commentary during their matchup last weekend.

The fued between Green and Towns took center stage during Golden State’s gritty 97-94 win, but the Knicks star made sure that the four-time NBA champion wasn’t the only one chirping.

On a recent episode of “The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis,” Green revealed what Towns told him during their intense matchup.

“I think this was a big moment for Towns in my opinion, and I’m going to go more into why I think it was a big moment, but I’m going to tell you what he said,” Green explained. “He said I called him, ‘soft.’ I said he’s soft. He said, ‘You a hoe.’ I said, ‘oh.’ He said, ‘hoe, hoe, hoe.’ I said get him out of here, go sit him down. Go sit him on the bench, ‘Hey [Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau], get him out of here. He said, ‘You a hoe!’ “

Green explained that he believes Towns is an exceptional talent but could benefit from the kind of motivation the Warriors star’s trash talk appeares to provide.

“So listen, I’m loving that … If Karl-Anthony Towns is my teammate, that’s what I’m looking to get out of him every single night.,” Green said. “I need you on this type of time, and here’s why. I need to get that from him because there’s guys like Karl-Anthony Towns that are that talented that sometimes they need somebody to put the battery pack in their back. And Karl-Anthony Towns in my opinion is one of those guys. Because he’s got the size, he’s strong as hell and he obviously has the skill.

So, if I can get you to play with that level of physicality more often than not, We’re going to win way more games than we lose and I’m going to get you to be a better player than you knew or thought you were. So he would 100 percent be better off if he always played that physical, and by the way, if he played that physical all the time he’d be a lot more respected around the NBA than he is.”

Towns finished with a game-high 29 points and 12 rebounds in the loss, giving the Warriors all they could handle right down to the final minute of the hard-fought game.

Green shared that if Towns plays with that chip on his shoulder in every game, it will provide an incredibly difficult challenge for the opponents tasked with slowing him down.

If KAT comes out and plays with the type of dog that he played with against me the other night, man good luck guarding Karl-Anthony Towns. The way he shoot the ball like a guard and he got that type of dog, you’re not stopping him.

While the Warriors wont see the Knicks again during the 2024-25 NBA regular season, there is a chance Golden State and New York could meet in the Finals, which would provide the ultimate stage for a Green-Towns showdown that would be sure to deliver fireworks.

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Stephen Curry suffered pelvic contusion from fall, no structural damage, he is out Saturday vs. Hawks

Stephen Curry suffered a pelvic contusion, but an MRI showed no structural damage from a nasty fall Thursday night against the Raptors, the Golden State Warriors announced Friday. Curry is not traveling with the team to Atlanta for a game against the Hawks on Saturday, and he will be re-evaluated on Monday.

The Warriors are on the road for their next six games and after Atlanta will face Miami on Tuesday — it's difficult to imagine Curry being cleared Monday and making a cross-country flight to play Tuesday — then the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday.

The injury occurred in the third quarter against Toronto when Curry drove the lane and was hit as he made a pass from under the basket, causing the All-NBA guard to land flat on his back.

The Warriors can't afford to be without Curry for long. Golden State sits sixth in the West — currently avoiding the play-in — but two hot teams in the Timberwolves and Clippers are tied just 1.5 games back with a dozen games to play.

Curry is averaging 24.2 points and 6 assists a game this season — up to 28.1 points and a game for the 18 games prior to Thursday. On the season, the Warriors are outscoring opponents by 1 point per 100 possessions (almost even) when Curry is on the court, and if he misses time it will put more pressure on Jimmy Butler and Jonathan Kuminga (just back from injury himself) to carry the offensive load.

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Jayson Tatum reacts to Bill Chisholm purchasing Celtics

Jayson Tatum reacts to Bill Chisholm purchasing Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum is optimistic about the franchise’s future under new majority owner Bill Chisholm.

Chisholm, a Massachusetts native and Dartmouth College graduate, purchased a majority stake in the team at a $6.1-billion valuation. The lifelong Celtics fan is the managing director and co-founder of private equity firm Symphony Technology Group.

On Friday, Tatum explained why he believes Chisholm could be the right fit for the organization.

“I mean, just everything you all heard,” Tatum said. “Grew up around the area, big Boston fan, is proud of what we’ve accomplished and understands what the Celtics mean to the city and to the NBA. Wanted to be a part of that and help take it forward any way he can.”

Tatum and fellow Celtics star Jaylen Brown weren’t caught off guard by the ownership change. Longtime team owner Wyc Grousbeck kept them informed throughout the sale process and assured them it would be a smooth transition.

When asked how much he had thought about the team sale during the season, Tatum responded, “Not much. I talked to Wyc a few times. He’s still going to be around, and he kept me updated, saying whoever takes over will be great for the organization. I told Wyc I trust him, and I have no doubt things will continue to run smoothly.”

Grousbeck revealed after the sale that Chisholm asked him to stay on as CEO and governor for the next three seasons, and he is “glad to do so.”

Chisholm takes over a Celtics team with its sights set on its second consecutive NBA championship. Boston entered Friday with a 50-19 record that puts it on track for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Watch NBC Sports Boston’s exclusive interview with Chisholm and Grousbeck below or on YouTube:

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The 75 million reasons — and more — Cooper Flagg not returning to Duke, will enter NBA draft

Nobody in the NBA believes it will happen — and there are more than $75 million reasons why.

As Cooper Flagg leads Duke into the NCAA Tournament Friday — where they are among the favorites to be standing on stage in San Antonio holding up the NCAA Championship trophy — there will be talk about Flagg returning to Duke for another season. He has said he's thought about it, even telling The Athletic," S***, I want to come back next year."

Wanting to is one thing — the college experience can be special, and Flagg is young at age 18 — but actually doing it is another. It can't be stressed enough that nobody in the NBA thinks Flagg will pass up being the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft to return to Durham, North Carolina, for another season. There are $75 million reasons why, but they break down into two key areas.

Injury risk

Flagg would likely be the No. 1 pick in 2026 as well — although the 2026 NBA Draft is deeper with projected franchise players including A.J. Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer, Nate Ament and Darryn Peterson — but the biggest risk is a major injury.

Every time any player steps on the court there is the risk of injury, but for Flagg it could have massive financial consequences. First, a significant knee, back, or foot injury could put doubt in the minds of the always risk-averse general managers picking at the top of the 2026 draft. With other high-level players available who teams like, Flagg could fall down draft boards.

More concerning, he might not be the same player physically. Scouts NBC Sports has spoken with believe Flagg could well become an All-NBA player — top 15 in the league — and saying he becomes a top-five player in the league who garners MVP votes someday is undoubtedly possible. A significant injury could put that in jeopardy, or at least lead to a career when his injury status is as discussed as much as how great he is when healthy (think Zion Williamson or Kawhi Leonard, for example).

Money

However, the real reason Flagg likely enters the 2025 NBA Draft is money — next season and beyond.

This season it is estimated Flagg makes about $4.8 million in NIL money (those figures are not official and public), which would be the most of any college basketball player and trails only Texas quarterback Arch Manning ($6.5 million) in all of college sports. If Flagg returned to Duke, maybe deals could be found to increase that number — but not enough to match the rookie scale salary of the NBA. Last year's No. 1 pick, Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks, is making $13.6 million this season in salary alone and will make $57 million over the first four years of his rookie contract (and Flagg's contract would be larger as the NBA salary cap will go up by 10% this season.

And that's not the "real" money. Flagg staying in college would delay starting the clock on his second contract, where the real generational wealth will come into play. This coming summer, sure-fire rookie contract max extension players such as Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley can sign five-year deals worth $224.3 million — at least. Make an All-NBA team (or be named MVP or Defensive Player of the Year) in that stretch and the max can jump to $269 million. Years from now, when Flagg would be eligible, that max extension will be more.

Then there's the longer-term, on the back end of Flagg's future NBA career, which Bobby Marx of ESPN discussed.

ESPN's Bobby Marks projects that Flagg returning to Duke could cost him, based on estimated cap numbers, $75 million to $125 million in potential salary on the backend of his NBA career since he would delay the start of his service clock for his second and third pro contracts. Players with 10 years of service are eligible for a supermax deal, a type of contract extension in which teams can give eligible players up to 35% of the total cap space allotted to that team for up to five years.

It's too much money to leave on the table.

There is no doubt Flagg loves Duke and his college experience — he's just 18, and he may love it more by the time the NCAA Tournament ends. However, taking less money in the short- and long-term while adding increased injury risk is just not smart. And Flagg, if nothing else, is smart. He will enter the 2025 NBA Draft and go No. 1. Around the NBA, there is no doubt.