Category: Basketball

Warriors reportedly are ‘staunchly' against trading Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Warriors’ path to acquiring a superstar player before the NBA’s Feb. 5 trade deadline appears slim.

Golden State, if it wanted to acquire a player like Giannis Antetokounmpo or Anthony Davis, for example, would need to match salaries in a potential blockbuster trade due to the league’s salary cap rules for second-apron teams.

Young forward Jonathan Kuminga is one obvious piece to a potential deal, but his contract ($23.4 million this season) still is much smaller than what the biggest names that could be on the trade market are making, like Antetokounmpo ($54.1M) and Davis ($54.1M), which means Golden State likely would have to include one of its other veteran players, like forwards Draymond Green ($25.89M) or Jimmy Butler ($54.1M), to make the money work.

However, the Warriors reportedly are “staunchly” against the notion of including either Green or Butler in a potential trade, The Athletic’s Sam Amick reported in a story published Wednesday, citing team sources.

Golden State’s brass, from coach Steve Kerr to general manager Mike Dunleavy, repeatedly have expressed confidence in the team’s veteran core of Butler, Green and Steph Curry, so any seismic deal that breaks that trio up, in addition to the financial complications a potential trade might present, seems unlikely.

However, things certainly can change between now and Feb. 5, and if the Warriors end up sliding further down the Western Conference standings, Dunleavy and Co. might be inclined to really shake things up in order to give Curry a chance at winning a fifth championship.

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That the NBA is reckoned in seasons is apt. To measure a legacy this way is as much existential as it is symbolic. Martin Heidegger argued that time is not something we pass through, but the condition of our being – less a pathway than a pressure. Heavy stuff, yes, but the NBA has always operated under similar weight.

The millennial superstars who stabilized the league for two decades are now entering their twilight: LeBron James (who turned 41 on Tuesday), Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Chris Paul. In their wake comes something genuinely new. For the first time, the league’s next dominant generation is unmistakably international. The NBA’s gen Z elite now emerge from Slovenia, Serbia, Greece, Canada and France.

Related: The ascendant San Antonio Spurs are the gift the NBA needed

America’s domestic pipeline still produces talent, but the excesses of AAU culture, one-and-done college basketball and eroding fundamentals have dulled its once overwhelming edge. In a garden crowded by its own overgrowth, the question is which strain ultimately thrives.

Each of the millennial stars now plays under the pressure of finitude. Heidegger described this as living toward an ending – an awareness that sharpens responsibility rather than diminishing it. That sense defines the league’s aging icons. For them, responsibility means one more run. Collectively, this group has won 10 championships and appeared in 23 Finals, but the odds of one last triumph are slim. Curry is straining to extend a dynasty time is quietly dismantling. LeBron is both the Lakers’ largest contract and no longer their centerpiece. Westbrook chases relevance on a lottery-bound roster. Harden remains productive but unsettled. Only Durant, newly aligned with a rising Houston team, appears plausibly positioned for one more push.

The question of succession is unavoidable. Elder statesmen Nikola Jokić (30) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (31) understand the clock well enough to know urgency has arrived. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (27) looks capable of anchoring something durable in Oklahoma City, with Luka Dončić (26) and Victor Wembanyama (21) pressing close behind. The American presence has not vanished, but it has dimmed since the 1990s. Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Cade Cunningham and Jayson Tatum keep the idea of domestic succession alive, while 19-year-old Cooper Flagg now complicates the hierarchy entirely.

The NBA has never struggled to define its image. From its rise into national consciousness, the league’s authority flowed through Black American players who made the game modern and irresistible, even while navigating deep economic contradictions. But dominance erodes. The world has caught up.

Generation Z moves differently. Previous generations were asked to embody systems that rarely worked in their favor. These players arrive as brands unto themselves, unburdened by history. American moxie still matters, but it no longer travels alone.

For decades, only Hakeem Olajuwon briefly disrupted American supremacy, and even that required Michael Jordan’s retirement. Now the balance has shifted. The millennial generation reshaped the sport – stretching shooting, flattening positions, weaponizing collectives – but even golden eras end, and their fading has left a vacuum no single nation can easily fill.

There is an uncomfortable symmetry to the timing. As American authority softens on the global stage, so too does its basketball hegemony. Players from countries once peripheral to the sport now produce its gravitational centers.

Can an American reclaim the mantle? Until recently, the answer felt unconvincing. Then Cooper Flagg arrived. As his shooting stabilizes, his path becomes clearer – and it begins where greatness has always been defined: defense.

Across generations, the truly defining stars shared not just brilliance, but responsibility on both ends of the floor. Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James could dominate a game while guarding its most dangerous opponent. That same two-way versatility distinguishes Flagg. It is what gives his ceiling historical weight.

Thrown immediately into the burden of replacing Dončić-level expectations, Flagg initially wavered. But after Dallas moved on from general manager Nico Harrison, the collective exhale allowed him to find his footing. The Mavericks sit on the fringes of the play-in picture, but Flagg already checks the league’s most important box: trust.

What makes him viable as the NBA’s next face is the rare blend of responsibility, versatility and control at an age when most players are still learning how to stay on the floor. He plays the basketball the league prefers to elevate – two-way, connective, portable. His defensive impact resembles that of elite bigs, while his offensive reads mirror those of primary creators. He spots mismatches early, toggles between force and patience, and resists rushing possessions into waste.

The NBA crowns players it can trust. As the youngest player in the league, Flagg already plays like an old one.

If the NBA is shaped by contingency rather than ceremony, then the passing of the torch is not an event but an obligation. LeBron’s generation carried the league until their bodies gave way. The world has stepped forward to claim it. But as Heidegger reminds us, what matters is not the future we imagine, but how we handle it once it arrives.

The league is not waiting for Cooper Flagg to become something else. It is already responding to what he is.

LeBron James' 41st birthday was spoiled by the Detroit Pistons, who claimed a 128-106 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Cade Cunningham scored 27 points for the Pistons, who remain top of the Eastern Conference with 25 wins from 33 games after avoiding a season-worst three-game losing streak.

Luka Doncic registered 30 points and 11 assists for the Lakers, with NBA all-time leading scorer James adding 17 points.

James became just the 12th player in NBA history to compete at age 41 or older.

He has now played 1,577 career games - second only to Robert Parish's 1,611 - as he contests his record 23rd NBA season.

The Lakers end 2025 having lost four of their past five games and sit fifth in the Western Conference.

Rookie VJ Edgecombe scored with 1.7 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Philadelphia 76ers victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.

The 20-year-old contributed 25 points - including his clutch three-pointer - as the 76ers earned a 139-136 victory on the road.

Team-mates Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid led their side with 34 points apiece as the 76ers ended a three-game losing streak.

Ja Morant responded with 40 points for the Grizzlies, while rookie Cedric Coward added a career-high 28 points, but the hosts fell to back-to-back defeats.

There were also wins for the Los Angeles Clippers and the Boston Celtics on Tuesday.

The Clippers claimed a fifth straight victory with a dominant 131-90 win over the Sacramento Kings, while the Celtics beat the Utah Jazz 129-119.

LeBron James strolled to the scorer’s table Tuesday night and went through his pregame routine of throwing chalk up in the air, an iconic moment in his NBA-record 23rd season and on his 41st birthday.

James still marvels with his abilities to be a force at this stage of his career, leaving teammates and opponents in awe.

But the Lakers were unable to give James the celebration he wanted, losing 128-106 to the Detroit Pistons at Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers, who had 20 turnovers, have lost four of their last five games, and their 11 losses this season have been by at least 10 points.

James finished with 17 points and Luka Doncic had 30 points and 11 assists but they took a seat on the bench for good with four minutes and 9 seconds left when the Lakers were down 122-96.

The Lakers (20-11) were better defensively in the third quarter after struggling in the first half. After giving up 36 points in the first quarter, 34 in the second, the Lakers gave up 26 in the third and were down 96-88.

But the Lakers fell apart in the fourth, getting run over by an 18-6 Pistons run that put the Lakers in a 20-point hole midway through the quarter. Detroit went on to outscore the Lakers 32-18 in the quarter.

Lakers coach JJ Redick called a timeout with six minutes remaining, but that didn't stop the Pistons (25-8), who got 27 points and 11 assists from Cade Cunningham.

Before the game, Redick said he's had conversations with James about what it takes to play at such a high level for so long.

“He talked about, you had to sacrifice loved ones,” Redick said. “I think there's an external cost that comes with caring, and I think there's also an internal cost, and that can be exhaustion, could be burnout, could be mental fatigue, physical fatigue.

Read more:Lakers takeaways: Nick Smith Jr. shines in win over Kings with Austin Reaves sidelined

"That's why you don't see many — I don't know about in other industries — but you don't see many great athletes that can sustain it for as long as he sustained it."

Detroit also showed its ability to sustain a level of greatness, scoring 70 points in the first 24 minutes and making 67.5% of their shots and 57.1% of their threes. They had 19 fast-break points in the first half.

Doncic had 24 points in the first half, making eight of 10 free throws.

James had 15 at the half, going five of 10 from the field and three of six from three-point range.

Etc.

Lakers forward Rui Hachimura missed the game with right calf soreness and is expected to be out for about a week.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Nique Clifford, Maxime Raynaud facing ‘rite of passage' amid Kings' struggles originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — At least the rookies look good.

Doug Christie once again was unhappy with the Kings’ effort after a disheartening 131-90 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night at Intuit Dome. Still, Sacramento’s coach was proud of how guard Nique Clifford and center Maxime Raynaud continued to grow.

Clifford finished with a team-best 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting and three triples, while Raynaud poured in 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

“These players are good, man,” Christie said of the rookies. “They’re trying to do the right things. We’re here for them; we’re going to support them; we’re going to show them film; we’re going to develop; we keep working with them.”

It was the first time the Kings and Clippers met during the 2025-26 NBA season.

That also means that Tuesday night’s 41-point loss was the first time Clifford and Raynaud faced Los Angeles stars Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, who combined for 54 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, seemingly without breaking a sweat.

Christie discussed his rookies’ growing pains against the Clippers duo, emphasizing that Clifford and Raynaud only will improve as they stack professional experiences.

“You have to go through the league first,” Christie said of Clifford and Raynaud. “You know, that was the first time they have seen Kawhi, that’s the first time they have seen James Harden. Nique got some fouls against [Harden] that he’s like, ‘What did I do?’ And I’m just like, ‘Listen, man, you got to put yourself in the right position … You can’t wait for him to hit you; you have to hit him first.’ There are little things that [Clifford] has to learn; the same with Max. 

“We have to live with some of those mistakes from Max and Nique. But I will tell you that they’re not coming from a bad place. Those kids are just trying, they’re figuring it out, and that’s everything that we can ask for from them. And they continue to improve. The bumps and bruises they’re going to along the way [are] part of what you have to go through in this league to figure it out — and they will; I mean, I’m not worried about that.”

Clifford, whom Sacramento selected No. 24 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft, now is up to six games of double-digit scoring. And Raynaud, who was drafted by Sacramento at No. 42, continues to settle into the starting center spot in place of the injured Domantas Sabonis and is up to six double-doubles.

The Kings aren’t where they want to be as a team, now with an 8-25 record entering the new year.

But Clifford and Raynaud are taking advantage of their respective opportunities, particularly the “bumps and bruises,” as Christie emphasized.

“It really is a rite of passage, man,” Christie said. “Like, you got to go through it. Because a lot of times, what you see in this league is, even with a team, they’ll have success for a year, and then they come back, and you’re like, ‘What happened?’ Because this league figures you out.

“If you don’t take advantage of this time, if you don’t go through and have all of those bumps and bruises, you know, that rookie year kind of drags on into next year. And before you know it, you kind of get labeled, and those are things that we don’t want for our players. Player development is big; they got to take this stuff seriously.”

Christie added that he advises his youngsters to journal their experiences after every game so that they have a “vast amount of knowledge” to reflect on in future matchups.

It seems that Clifford and Raynaud, despite their team’s struggles, have nowhere to go but up.

“The biggest part of all of that is that they are good kids, and they want to be good,” Christie said. “So they stay in the gym, they listen, they do the right things …”

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