Category: Sports News

Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Detroit Pistons
Date: March 28th, 2026
Time: 4:30 PM CDT
Location: Target Center
Television Coverage: ABC, FanDuel Sports Network – North
Radio Coverage: Wolves App, iHeart Radio

There are regular-season wins, and then there are the kind of wins that feel like they belong in a 30-for-30 intro montage. Wednesday night against the Houston Rockets was that kind of game for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Not just because of how it ended, but because of how many different ways it should have ended before it ever got there.

This wasn’t just another March game. This game was about standings math, playoff positioning, and psychological survival all wrapped into one. It was two teams entering with identical records, deadlocked in the Western Conference at the five seed, staring each other down with the kind of stakes that don’t need a playoff logo to feel like a playoff game. The winner gets separation. The loser gets anxiety.

And Minnesota walked into it shorthanded.

No Anthony Edwards.
No Ayo Dosunmu.

Which meant renewed responsibility for Mike Conley Jr., more on-the-fly adjustments, and a general sense that this was going to be one of those nights where everything had to go right just to have a chance. Meanwhile, Houston rolled in with Kevin Durant, size, athleticism, and every reason to believe this was their moment to seize control of the standings and snatch the tie-breaker with the Wolves.

For about 44 minutes, Minnesota didn’t just survive. They controlled the game. The Wolves looked like the team with the clearer identity. They dictated the tempo, leaned into their physicality, and played through their size in a way that has become their most reliable offensive blueprint. The result? 63 points in the paint.

Defensively, they were connected. Rotations were sharp. The effort level, something that completely vanished during that California spiral, was back where it needed to be. The lead never ballooned into a blowout, but it lived in that steady 4-to-8-point range, the kind that tells you one team is just a little more in control than the other.

Then late in the game, Minnesota stretched it.

Eleven-point lead. Three and a half minutes left.

And if you’ve watched this team long enough, you already know what comes next.

This is where the game turned from a basketball contest into something closer to a psychological endurance test.

Minnesota gave up a 12–0 run. The offense tightened. The ball movement stalled. The rhythm disappeared. And layered on top of that, the Wolves found themselves on the receiving end of a whistle pattern that, let’s just say, tilted things in a very specific direction.

Houston finished with 25 free throws. Minnesota got 10. That’s not just a discrepancy. That’s a storyline, especially when the Wolves are living in the paint all night. Then came the moment that flipped everything: a flagrant foul on Julius Randle running through a screen, which turned a tense finish into a full-on momentum avalanche. Free throws, possession, chaos.

The lead evaporated, and suddenly, everyone in Target Center found themsslves back in that familiar Wolves nightmare, the one where they snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Except this time, there was a twist.

Down one, late, with everything unraveling, Julius Randle rose to the occasion and forced a massive bucket to put Minnesota back up by one. It’s the kind of shot that feels like it should be the story. The kind that usually becomes the defining moment, but Scott Foster and his crew had other ideas.

Houston’s final trip down the floor required an inbounds pass, and the refs took the opportunity to turn a Sengun flop into a Rudy Gobert foul-out, sending the Rockets to the free-throw line for the game-tying point.

Overtime.

And if that final minute of the 4th quarter felt like survival, what followed felt like punishment.

In overtime, Minnesota was basically playing a game of musical chairs with its rotation.

No Edwards.
No Ayo.
Rudy Gobert fould out.
Jaden McDaniels injured.

Then Naz Reid gets hit with a charge call that somehow gets upheld despite Alperen Sengun very clearly not being set and then gets ejected for good measure.

So now you’re down basically… everyone.

Houston opened overtime on a 13–0 run. Minnesota has been outscored 26-2 over the course of six minutes. The Target Center crowd is already halfway out the door, fans muttering, typing the mental postgame recap that ends with “same old Wolves.”

Except… it wasn’t.

Because out of absolutely nowhere, with a lineup that felt like it had been assembled five minutes earlier, Minnesota rips off 15 straight points.

Not a couple of lucky buckets. Not a mini run. A full-on reversal of reality.

The energy flipped. The defense tightened. The shots fell. The Rockets look stunned. And the Wolves, who had every excuse in the world to fold, just kept coming.

Down two in the final seconds, Durant got to the line (because of course he did) with a chance to swing things back.

Miss.

The subsequent intentional miss goes nowhere.

And just like that, the Wolves walk away with a win that makes absolutely no sense on paper and somehow means everything in the standings.

Why This Matters More Than It Should

This wasn’t just about beating Houston. This was about survival in a stretch that could have buried their season.

After that disastrous California trip where they couldn’t defend anybody and looked completely disconnected, the Wolves have now won four out of five games without Anthony Edwards.

That’s not accidental. That’s identity. They’ve rediscovered what works: defense, physicality, connected offense. Not hero ball. Not hoping Ant saves them. Actual structure.

And now they’ve put themselves in position to do something that felt impossible a few days ago.

Detroit, and the Trap That’s Always There

As if Wednesday night wasn’t enough of a test, now comes the part where this team has historically failed.

They get to face a Detroit Pistons team missing their best player in Cade Cunningham, on an early-tip weekend game, with a chance to grab real momentum and go 3–0 through a brutal stretch.

It’s the amalgamation of every scenario this team has fumbled all season.

Keys to the Game

1. Recommit to That Defensive Identity

What we saw against Houston, and before that against Boston, was the version of Minnesota that actually works. It wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t about one guy going nuclear. It was about five guys moving on a string, shrinking driving lanes, contesting everything, and forcing opponents to grind through possessions like they’re dragging a sled uphill.

That has to carry over. This team hasn’t shown success in winning shootouts. Their margin for error lives on the defensive end, and if they want to finish this gauntlet 3–0, it starts with bringing that same suffocating, connected effort for a full 48 minutes.

2. Dominate the Paint Like You Mean It

The Wolves didn’t just edge Houston inside, they imposed their will with 63 points in the paint, and it changed the entire tone of the game. That’s not just a stat you glance at. It’s the identity they need to lean into when Edwards isn’t there to bail them out.

Now they get a Detroit team anchored by Jalen Duren. This is where Rudy Gobert has to be a monster again. Every rebound, every loose ball, every shot at the rim needs to be his territory.

Julius Randle can’t have another Portland-type night where the effort comes and goes. This is a grown-man game. You either win the paint or you spend the night chasing.

3. Keep the Ball Moving

One of the weird silver linings of the Anthony Edwards absence has been how the offense has opened up. The ball has moved more. Players are cutting. Decisions are quicker. There’s less of that “everyone stand around and watch Ant cook” dynamic.

That has to continue.

Randle has actually struck a nice balance lately of attacking when needed, but also kicking out and trusting teammates. That’s the version of him that makes this offense dangerous. The moment this devolves into isolation-heavy, slow-developing possessions, you’re playing right into Detroit’s hands.

Minnesota doesn’t need a hero tonight. They need five guys making the right read, over and over again, until the defense cracks.

4. Push the Pace When the Opportunity Is There

Without Edwards, the Wolves don’t have that same instant offense button, but they do have ways to manufacture easy points. And it starts with getting out in transition.

Players like Ayo Dosunmu and Bones Highland can push tempo, collapse the defense, and either finish or kick out for clean looks. That’s where this team can steal 10–12 easy points that don’t require half-court execution.

And against a Detroit team that wants to play physical and grind, those transition buckets are like cheat codes. They break rhythm, flip momentum, and turn a close game into a manageable one.

5. Don’t Beat Yourselves (Because You Almost Just Did)

This is the one that matters most, because we just watched it nearly cost them everything.

Turnovers. Missed free throws. Mental lapses. Those three-minute avalanches where the entire operation falls apart and suddenly a comfortable lead is gone or a close game becomes a massive hole. It happened at the end of regulation against Houston. It happened again at the start of overtime. The Wolves were incredibly fortunate to survive it.

Detroit won’t care that Minnesota just pulled off one of the wildest wins of the season. If the Wolves give them those same openings, this game flips in a heartbeat.

So this is about discipline. Value every possession. Secure rebounds. Hit your free throws. Make the simple play.

It’s one thing to lose because the other team is better. It’s another to lose because you handed it to them.

The Bigger Picture: One Win Away From Something Real

A few days ago, this team looked like it was spiraling: defense gone, identity gone, standings slipping, everything trending in the wrong direction at the worst possible time.

Now?

They’ve taken down Boston. They’ve survived Houston in a game that should’ve broken them three different times. They’ve won four out of five without Edwards and somehow rediscovered the version of themselves that actually has postseason teeth.

Yet this is the exact kind of spot where the old Wolves fold.

Emotional high. Undermanned opponent. Chance to stack a third straight win in a brutal stretch. Early tip on a weekend. Every possible ingredient for a letdown.

If this team is serious. If this stretch is actually the beginning of something and not just another hill on the roller coaster, then this is the game where they prove it.

Because the next rung on the ladder is right there again. Not handed to them. Not guaranteed. But right there within reach.

And after everything they just went through… it would be a shame to fall off it now.

At the bank this morning the teller was talking about movies and asked if I’d seen Sinners. When I said I had, she asked what I thought of it.

For better or worse, our expectations not only shape our realities, they often become them. I haven’t met anyone who’s seen Sinners and not enjoyed it; I said I’d loved it. Her face fell. She had not. I asked her why. She said she’d loved it up until the vampires. She didn’t understand “the point” of them. I asked if she’d known it was a vampire movie when she watched it. She hadn’t.

“A late March game in Charlotte” entered the NBA lexicon long ago for the league’s Lucifer franchise, i.e. the fallen. In 1988 Charlotte and Miami joined the league, followed a year later by Orlando and Minnesota. The Hornets built up talent their first four seasons, then were a winning team six straight, winning 50+ three times in a four-year span. If you weren’t alive then, you wouldn’t believe what a homecourt atmosphere The Hive was. One of the louder buildings in the Association. And they weren’t just home cooking. Guess who ended the 1996 Bulls’ 44-game home winning streak.

After last night’s 114-103 impressive Hornet win over the Knicks, “a late March game in Charlotte” may soon go the way of “literally” and get a second definition that contradicts the first. This year’s Hive looks nothing like last year’s team. Or the year before that. Or . . . well, this is quicker: the last time Charlotte made the playoffs, the retired Malcolm Brogdon was in college. The last time they won a playoff series, LeBron James played for St. Vincent-St. Mary High. Enough with the then. Get with the now.

Sometimes it’s not about who you are, but who you know. This is not one of those times. Who the Hornets are today looks nothing like who they were a year ago. Their top -five in minutes then: Miles Bridges, Josh Green, LaMelo Ball, Nick Smith Jr. and Tidjane Salaün. This year: Kon Kneuppel*, Bridges, Ball, Moussa Diabaté and Brandon Miller. Green and Salaün are down to ninth and 11th. Smith Jr. is down on the end of the Laker bench.

*I know it’s “Knueppel.” But I find it charming when a player smacks you in the face so unexpectedly with their potential for greatness that you only mess up the spelling once before it’s seared in your mind. When I was drafting the Kristaps Porzingis Know The Prospect, I initially thought it was “Kirstaps.” Still like that better.

After Jalen Brunson scored on New York’s opening set, the Knicks trailed the rest of the game. This wasn’t sudden death so much as strangulation: the home team got the better position and steadily squeezed the air out of the visitors. The Hornets put up 65 in the first half and held the Knicks to 48 in the second, dominating the glass to an extent I can’t remember the Knicks being bossed, particularly not with Mitchell Robinson playing.

Never hurts when you luck into a goldmine, which Charlotte has with Knueppel. Combining Glen Rice’s height with Kemba Walker’s range and Dell Curry’s quick trigger, the rookie carries the aura of a 10-year vet. Fellow first-year Ryan Kalkbrenner is feckin’ yuge, even for a center. They’re young and alive and have no pressure and tons of fun. The past two months they’re 23-6. Now, Knicks fan, the bad news.

The Knickerbockers will end up second or third in the East, meaning they’ll face whoever’s sixth or seventh, which could be Atlanta, Toronto, Philadelphia, Orlando, Miami . . . or Charlotte. In 2023 the Knicks and Cavs were locked into the 4-5 seeds for so long I remember racking my brain for ways to write about them as the playoffs neared; so much had already been said. As we enter the final weeks of this season, the possibilities in the East are staggeringly vast.

I don’t want the Knicks to get the Hornets. I think they’d win, but I’d rather they not spend two weeks running themselves ragged against them before a likely no-holds-barred battle against Boston. I’d love for the Pistons to get the Hornets. I’d love for the Hornets to upset the Pistons. You’d have been committed for saying that two months ago. One collapsed lung + 23-6 for two months (including wins over the Spurs, Rockets and Celtics) = new expectations. Maybe a new reality?

Quoth rcnt123: “The Hornets are last year’s Pistons.” If they are, let this year’s Pistons duke it out with their Bizarro. The Knicks’ next game is a national tilt Sunday at Oklahoma City. If these Knicks stay true to form, they’ll look as good then as they did not last night.

The Golden State Warriors new they were taking a big risk when they acquired Kristaps Porzingis at the trade deadline. While Porzingis has at times been one of the most talented big men in the NBA, the Latvian has consistently struggle to stay on the court throughout recent seasons. A combination of injuries and chronic illness have limited him to fewer than 58 games in six of the past eight seasons. However, he seems quite happy to be working with Warriors lead physiotherapist Rick Celebrini.

“Rick is amazing,” Porzingis told reporters about Celebrini after Wednesday’s 109-106 victory over the Nets. “Rick is the GOAT.”

While Porzingis declined getting into the specifics of Celebrini’s treatment regiment with him, he is clearly confident that he is in good hands. It’s still early, but the recent signs have been positive. Porzingis has appeared in just 26 games this season, 17 with the Hawks and nine with the Warriors. However, he’s played eight of the Dubs last 11 games.

With free agency on the horizon, Porzingis is showcasing health at an ideal time for him. Perhaps his comfort with Celebrini will give the Warriors an advantage in extension negotiations, possibly creating a pathway to a team-friendly contract. On the season, Porzingis is averaging 16.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.4 blocks in 23.5 minutes per game on 44.4%/33.3%/83.5% shooting.

Adam Silver loves to to quickly react to public outcry. Sometimes, it works: the 2026 NBA All-Star Game was fun and competitive with shorter games and a USA vs. The World format after years of drab and uncompetitive play. The 65-game rule for award eligibility feels like more of a mixed bag: it does feel like some stars are resting less often to meet the threshold, but it also works against players like Cade Cunningham, who deserved a First-Team All-NBA spot this season but won’t get it because of an unfortunate collapsed lung late in the season.

The NBA’s newest crisis is tanking, and Silver is ready to address it. The commissioner gave some tough talk earlier this week regarding tanking, telling the assembled press: “We are going to fix this — full stop. Going into next season, the incentives (regarding the lottery and tanking) will be completely different than they are now.”

On Friday morning, the NBA dropped three anti-tanking proposals via ESPN insider Shams Charania. A vote is coming in May, and it’s likely to go into effect for the 2027 NBA Draft. Here are the three plans the league is considering:

1. 18 teams in draft lottery (seeds 7-15 in each conference) – flattened odds, with bottom 10 teams having an 8% chance, the remaining 20% odds distributed in decreasing order for 11 through 18, and and a lottery drawing for all 18 picks.

2) 22 teams in lottery using 2-year record (seeds 7-15, plus the four playoff first round exits in both conferences). Lottery teams would reach a minimum win total floor in each season, such as 25 wins. If a team falls short of the floor, it gets slotted to meet the floor. Top 4 drawn as part of lottery, as is currently.

3) 18 teams in a “5 by 5” lottery – bottom 5 teams have equal odds for the top pick, with lottery formed for picks 1-5. Bottom 5 teams have a floor at 10; those that fall out of top 5 get sorted in a separate drawing.

As I wrote the last time the NBA leaked some anti-tanking measures: “in rushing to find a medicine to cure tanking, the NBA risks giving itself bigger problems from the side effects.” It seems even more true now. Tanking is a problem to some degree, but it’s not among the league’s biggest problems, which should start with the length of the season, the pace of play, and the rules favoring the offense too much. These proposals will all have unintended consequences and threaten to make the NBA’s “tanking” issues much worse going forward.

There are a myriad of issues here. For one, it feels like it’s punishing the wrong teams. The NBA’s “tanking crisis” was caused by teams like the Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards actively resting healthy players to avoid winning games so they can maximize their ping pong balls. Well, the Jazz traded for Jaren Jackson Jr. and the Wizards traded for Trae Young and Anthony Davis so both can be competitive next year. These changes penalize teams like the Memphis Grizzlies and Chicago Bulls who eschewed tanking for years to try to win before coming to the realization that they couldn’t get out of the middle. The Grizzlies and Bulls both seem primed to “tank” next year — aka, undergo a full rebuild — but now they would be working with a completely different set of rules than the ones they made their recent trade deadline decisions under.

There’s also a lot of picks already traded under the current system. Those picks would become more valuable or less valuable depending on which rule change is adopted.

Imagine being the Portland Trail Blazers thinking you’re getting some primo Milwaukee Bucks picks after trading a franchise icon in Damian Lillard to them. Suddenly, the lottery could be open to playoff teams, and the chances of those picks paying off are greatly diminished.

Back to trades: one advantage the NBA has over other pro leagues in maintaining interest is all the trade chatter and offseason movement. It feels like speculating about trades is such a key factor in getting fans invested about the NBA, and these deals happen way more often in the NBA than they do in the NFL, MLB, or NHL. Adopting one of these anti-tanking measures could kill the trade speculation that makes the league so fun to follow. Star trades are good for the NBA, and under these rules teams would have more incentives to just hang onto their guys rather than chasing a big package of picks to kick start a rebuild. Does Silver really want a trade deadline every year where only sixth men are involved in deals?

Let’s tackle each of the NBA tanking proposals one-by-one:

1. 18 teams in draft lottery (seeds 7-15 in each conference) – flattened odds, with bottom 10 teams having an 8% chance, the remaining 20% odds distributed in decreasing order for 11 through 18, and and a lottery drawing for all 18 picks.

Last year, the Dallas Mavericks jumped from No. 11 to No. 1 in the draft lottery. The San Antonio Spurs also jumped way up after Victor Wembanyama’s season-ending injury late in the year. Did good teams winning the lottery fix tanking? No! Tanking is worse than ever this year. This plan would have decent-to-good teams jump up more often, and bad teams staying bad. Given that it’s so hard to sign good free agents under the current rules, and that trades could become less frequent if this is adopted, the league risks its bad teams never getting any hope.

2. 22 teams in lottery using 2-year record (seeds 7-15, plus the four playoff first round exits in both conferences). Lottery teams would reach a minimum win total floor in each season, such as 25 wins. If a team falls short of the floor, it gets slotted to meet the floor. Top 4 drawn as part of lottery, as is currently.

OK, so now teams are just going to start resting their good players once they get to 25 wins. Genius.

3. 18 teams in a “5 by 5” lottery – bottom 5 teams have equal odds for the top pick, with lottery formed for picks 1-5. Bottom 5 teams have a floor at 10; those that fall out of top 5 get sorted in a separate drawing.

This only creates a bigger race to tank into the bottom five. When there’s eight teams that want those five lottery spots, you are going to have some ugly, ugly basketball.

Here’s another big picture thought:

Tanking is part of the NBA life cycle, and the league only needs a minor fix

The Detroit Pistons won 17 games three years ago and 14 games two years ago. Now they’re the best team in the Eastern Conference because they built through the draft. The Phoenix Suns went from the No. 1 overall pick in 2018 to the 2021 NBA Finals despite choosing the wrong player in Deandre Ayton. The Houston Rockets were in the dumps after the James Harden trade, but now have one of the NBA’s better young cores and should be set up for annual contention. The Spurs went from worst-to-first by landing Victor Wembanyama … and then also moving up in the lottery the next two years.

Tanking for a couple seasons is fine. The biggest issues happen when teams do it year after year. That’s why the most sensible tanking solution is this: teams can only pick in the top-5 two out of every three years, and after that your pick is frozen at the end of the lottery.

There are unintended consequences with my plan too, of course. Take the Wizards. They landed at No. 2 in the 2024 draft lottery, but fell to No. 6 with the NBA’s second-worst record last year. If they fall to No. 6 in this year’s lottery again, it would reset their tanking clock.

Ultimately, every tanking fix is going to have unintended consequences. We’ve seen that with the current reform that flattened the odds back in 2019, and subsequently caused wider tank races. The NBA needs to remember what’s really important beyond short-lived bad publicity: fans of bad teams need to find a way to have hope. The draft is the best way to do it, and the proof is in the standings that it has allowed the NBA’s worst teams to rebuild pretty quickly many times before.

My wildest tanking fix? Just have the league pick who they think deserves each draft choice. The NBA is in the business of selling stories. Let’s say the Grizzlies won the 2003 lottery instead of the Cavs. LeBron James going to the Grizzlies just isn’t as good of a story as it was with him going to his hometown team, and it probably would have cost the league a lot of money. Funny how things worked out so well. I think the same thing about Wembanyama: by going to the Spurs in 2023, he’s continuing that franchise’s long tradition of Hall of Fame big men and international stars. It just doesn’t hit the same if the Hornets won the lottery instead of coming in second. I realize this is extreme and I’m not even sure if I’m joking here, but league could just decide, hey, the Bulls deserve the No. 1 pick this year, and the Jazz and Wizards deserve to fall, because Chicago was more ethical in its team-building choices. I swear there are worse ideas.

The tanking discourse is out of control right now because the 2025 and 2026 drafts were so strong. Rushing into quick fixes without understanding the full scope of how it will change the league just feels so shortsighted.

I believe that adopting any of these three tanking measures would make things worse. It really feels like Silver is rushing this just because fans who will never watch the Utah Jazz or Washington Wizards are complaining about the integrity of the product. Silver would be wise to take a beat and assess the problem next year when there’s bound to be less tanking due to a weaker 2027 draft class. It isn’t good practice to rush into big decisions in any pat of life, and it feels like the NBA could be on the verge of making a big mistakes if they’re committed to finding a tanking solution immediately.

It’s not quite a Friday news dump, but it might as well be one.

In his latest attempt to thwart tanking, NBA commissioner Adam Silver leaked a few new rules he plans to implement to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Here are lots of words:

Like everything else the NBA does — see: the current CBA, All-Star Game format — this is so convoluted. How do you expect the average fan, the people who you are most trying to appease with anti-tanking rules, to understand or even care about this?

And how does this even help? Having a worse record still gives you a better chance at a higher draft pick. When teams don’t have the ability to build a competitive roster, losing games on purpose will still beat vying for a spot in the Play-In.

The idea of factoring in two years worth of records is also silly. You want teams to be more competitive, so you punish them for tanking, which will then make them even worse. How does that create competitive balance?

What about the teams who are just bad without tanking? The Chicago Bulls came into the season looking to reasonably compete (I know, I know). After being stuck in Play-In purgatory, Chicago fans are probably ecstatic the front office finally decided to go this route.

People make fun of The Process, but it worked. The Sixers were irrelevant basically from the time Allen Iverson was traded until Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons arrived — save for one playoff run where they benefitted from a significant injury to Derrick Rose. No, they haven’t won a championship, but they’ve built multiple rosters over the years that at least felt like they had a chance. And the tanking wasn’t full-proof — they selected Markelle Fultz first overall and Jahlil Okafor third. You still need to have an ounce of competence to make the strategy work.

Look at the top teams in the NBA. The Oklahoma City Thunder deployed the most brazen tanking strategy in professional sports and now they have a juggernaut. The San Antonio Spurs, an organization that’s considered a gold standard, tanked their way into Victor Wembanyama. The Detroit Pistons are led by No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham, but suffered plenty with other bad selections after tanking.

The bottom line is the best franchises find the best way to acquire talent. When you see teams like the Thunder and Spurs tank to build what will likely be dynasties, you know it’s a viable and effective strategy — if you draft properly and get a good bit of luck.

I’ll admit to bias in being a pro-tank guy. I think about teams who are always in the lottery because they don’t have great front offices and they’re not attractive enough destinations for free agents. Even if they don’t tank, they still won’t be very good. Again, how do any of these rules help competitive balance? How can a team like the Washington Wizards get out of NBA hell without tanking?

NBA ratings are OK. There are great games being played almost every night. I just watched that Rockets-Timberwolves game the other night. It was awesome. I think the playoffs have a chance to be very competitive and a lot of fun.

We spend so much time focusing on tanking and not enough on the actual awesome games being played. If you don’t want to watch the Thunder destroy the Bulls, don’t want watch it. Flip on Hawks-Celtics or Heat-Cavs instead.

Tanking and load management are considered big problems with the NBA, but Silver hasn’t done anything to help either cause. Less games might be the answer to both, but then people would lose money.

And therein lies the problem — are you trying to produce the best product or trying to make the most money? Maybe by simply improving the product, the money will come. It’s hard to see how these rules do either.

The ascent of Caleb Williams in his second NFL season was dramatic. It was a rocky beginning, working with new head coach Ben Johnson for the first time, but by the midpoint of the season the two had managed to marry Johnson’s exacting passing demands with Williams’ creativity, giving Chicago something truly special.

One way this manifested throughout 2025 was Williams’ incredible ability in the clutch, leading the Bears’ to six fourth-quarter comebacks and six game-winning drives. He started to get the nickname “Iceman” as a result, referring to his cold nature with the game on the line. One problem: The original “Iceman” in sports isn’t happy.

Williams moved to copyright the nickname this offseason, and San Antonio Spurs legend George Gervin isn’t happy about it.

“I’ve been the Iceman for 40-something years,” Gervin said. “I never thought anybody would try to trademark it. He kind of knocked me out the box.”

Gervin garnered the nickname in 1974 after being drafted into the NBA by the Spurs following several successful ABA seasons. Teammates and fans said Gervin’s relaxed, loose play was effortlessly cool — they also noted that no matter how intense a game was, Gervin seemingly never sweat on the while playing basketball, hence the nickname. Between 1977-1982 the Spurs’ guard won four NBA scoring titles, peaking in 1981-82 when Gervin averaged 33.1 points-per-game on 50% shooting on the year. One of the best pure scorers in NBA history, Gervin was a nine-time All-Star, and was named to the All-NBA First Team five years in a row at his peak.

After learning about Caleb Williams’ trademark attempt Gervin has moved to trademark “Iceman” himself. Now it will be up to the United States Patent and Trading Office (USPTO) to decide who gets the nickname. There’s precedent from the USPTO to both award trademarks to the individual who first filed (which would be Williams), but also side with later filings if there has been a longstanding established history of usage (which would side with Gervin).

The battle over who owns “Iceman” is only just beginning.