Category: Sports News

NEW YORK (AP) — Ex-NBA player Damon Jones set to become first person to plead guilty in gambling sweep that led to more than 30 arrests.

Just minutes after the Clippers were bounced from the playoffs, Chris Paul threw some salt in their wounds.

The former Clippers point guard, who went through an ugly divorce from the franchise earlier this season, raced to his Instagram page following the Warriors’ 126–121 win over LA at Intuit Dome and trolled his former team over its early postseason exit Wednesday night.

Paul, who goes by the nickname “CP3,” shared part of a popular meme that’s been used by internet users to celebrate someone’s demise.

The image features a man in a black tie and dark sunglasses looking stern while at a wake. The caption on the picture normally reads, “I Stopped By One Of My Biggest Haters Funeral Today Just To Make Sure That N—a Was Dead.”

Paul’s image cut out the text, though the meme has become so famous, it wasn’t needed.

Plenty of fans noticed Paul’s shade right away, with one writing on X, “CP3 got the last laugh in his retirement year.”

Paul became a Clippers legend thanks to his time in the City of Angels from 2011–2017, but his second stint with the team, which began in July 2025, ended unceremoniously, to say the least.

Paul played in just 16 games before he was abruptly sent home during a road trip in early December after he reportedly clashed with head coach Ty Lue.

Paul was eventually traded to the Raptors, though he was waived just days later. He ended up retiring before playing another minute on an NBA hardwood.

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Inside the rise of the Celtics' player development machine originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics’ 2025-26 season finale was an ode to the organization’s exceptional player development program.

Boston’s “Stay Ready” culture was on full display in its 113-108 win over the Orlando Magic. The C’s sat eight rotation players, including all five starters, but still put on a show against a fully healthy Magic squad.

Baylor Scheierman, drafted at the end of the first round in 2024, led the way with a career-high 30 points. Ron Harper Jr., who couldn’t get minutes with Toronto or Detroit, erupted for 27 points just days after having his two-way contract converted to a standard NBA deal. Luka Garza added 27 points and 12 rebounds to wrap up a standout campaign after failing to carve out a consistent role in Minnesota.

The B Team’s big night wasn’t a huge surprise to anyone who has followed the Celtics closely in recent years. Boston’s bench unit is nicknamed the “Stay Ready Group” for a reason.

Payton Pritchard (2020 26th overall pick), Sam Hauser (undrafted), and Jordan Walsh (2023 38th overall pick) are prime examples of players who have made tremendous strides in the C’s development program. This season, 20-year-old rookie Hugo Gonzalez (2025 28th overall pick) showcased his two-way potential on several occasions.

Big man Neemias Queta has revitalized his NBA career with help from Boston’s player development system. The C’s gave him a chance after he was waived by the Sacramento Kings in 2023, and he has since become a difference-maker in Boston’s frontcourt. He made a solid case for the Most Improved Player award with an outstanding 2025-26 season as the Celtics’ starting center.

In summary, if you’re drafted by the Celtics and you put in the work, chances are you’ll turn into an impactful NBA player. Otherwise…

“If you’re not getting better here, it might be your fault,” C’s president of basketball operations Brad Stevens told NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg.

Forsberg sat down with Stevens, Joe Mazzulla, Pritchard, Queta, Walsh, Scheierman, Harper Jr., and Gonzalez to take a deeper look inside the Celtics’ “player development machine.” The group spoke about how the development program has been the key to the organization’s sustained success.

Watch the full video on YouTube below, or via the player above:

Four months after being pushed into retirement by the Clippers, future Hall of Famer Chris Paul apparently took delight in the team's quick exit from the postseason Wednesday night.

Paul posted the familiar meme "stopped by my biggest hater's funeral" on his Instagram story shortly after the Clippers blew a 13-point fourth-quarter lead in a 126-121 play-in loss to the Golden State Warriors.

Paul, the Clippers’ all-time assists leader, called out teammates, coaches and executives during his short second stint with the team early this season. In an effort to inject accountability during the team's 6-21 start, Paul instead angered many, including head coach Tyronn Lue, who wasn't on speaking terms with Paul at the end.

“Everyone was fed up," a league source told The Times in December.

Paul, who is second to John Stockton in NBA career assists with 12,552, posted at the time about his being cut on social media, saying “Just Found Out I’m Being Sent Home,” along with a peace emoji.

For their part, the Clippers turned around their season, going 36-19 after a horrific start to finish with a winning record for the 15th consecutive season at 42-40.

Then came the dispiriting loss to the Warriors and the 40-year-old Paul's opportunity to get in the last meme, even though it wasn't exactly original. Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid posted the same one when the team traded guard Ben Simmons in 2022.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Former NBA player and coach Damon Jones has requested to change his plea to guilty after he was charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering and accused of sharing and selling insider information about undisclosed details of NBA games on numerous occasions.

Jones' change-of-plea request was noted in a court filing on April 16, obtained by USA TODAY Sports, and the date for him to officially appear before a judge was not disclosed.

Jones originally pleaded not guilty to those charges on Nov. 6 at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York.

According to prosecutors, Jones gave NBA lineup decisions and pre-released medical information to his co-conspirators, who then placed significant wagers based on the tips. The medical information allegedly involved LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who were playing for the Los Angeles Lakers at the time.

The minute both Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves were diagnosed with their respective grade-two muscle injuries, the Lakers immediately became the team every other Western Conference playoff entrant wanted to face.

JJ Redick said as much at the end of the regular season and no amount of medical treatment – whether here or in Spain – Luka and Austin receive is going to change that.  

The Lakers opening as huge underdogs to the Rockets in their first round series, then, is no surprise. Houston may not be the powerhouse, inner-circle contending team many thought they could be before the season started, but they’re a very good outfit with an established identity, a superstar shot-maker and enough young and athletic talent across their roster to push even a fully healthy Lakers team.

That this Lakers team is nowhere near fully healthy makes the pre-series odds understandable. But just because we can make sense of Houston’s position doesn’t make the outcome already determined. It would be a steep hill to climb, but winning isn’t out of the question. The path is just narrower than what JJ Redick and his players would like.

But as Redick said himself, this season’s Lakers have been pretty good at finding the path needed for the different iterations of their roster this season. So, with that, here are four things the Lakers need to go their way for them to not only hang tough with Houston, but to beat them outright.

1. Win the turnover battle

Redick has made a point of emphasizing the Lakers’ need to take care of the ball and limit their own turnovers. This makes sense considering Houston is one of the better teams in the league at generating more shots than their opponents, so keeping their own miscues to a minimum could help the Lakers to bridge that gap in good old field goals attempted.

But beyond limiting their own turnovers, the Lakers need to force the Rockets into mistakes of their own.

Without a traditional point guard in their starting lineup and only Reed Shepherd as a primary ball handler in their main rotation, Houston can be susceptible to pressure at the point of attack when the heat is turned up. Further, collectively, their rotation wings and off-ball players are more limited when it comes to the sort of ball skills that often serve as the connecting element between their best shot creators and those off ball finishers — particularly when defenses execute their rotations well and force the Rockets into making quick and accurate reads.

If the Lakers can simultaneously pressure the ball to force the action away from Houston’s best shot creators — i.e. Kevin Durant and Alperen Şengün — and then execute their rotations with pace and accuracy, they can hopefully force players like Tari Eason, Josh Okogie, Jabari Smith Jr. and Jae’Sean Tate into making quick reads and plays on the move. And while these players aren’t just going to cough the ball up, they can be forced into making the wrong play, which can help the Lakers turn defense into offense.

And even before the ball is moved onto the role players, the Lakers must test the playmaking and ball security of Houston’s best players. Both Durant and Şengün can outright give the ball away when playing in a crowd and the Lakers would be wise to throw multiple looks — and defenders — at both to force them into making the right reads over and over again. Because if they can’t, or if their consistency or shot-making falters even just a little, the Lakers can tilt the game in their favor.

2. Make substantially more threes than Houston

By any metric, the Lakers aren’t much better of a 3-point shooting team than the Rockets, if at all. For the season, the Lakers and Rockets ranked 22nd and 25th in made threes per game, respectively, while Houston had the slight edge — 36.4% to 35.9% — on 3-point field goal percentage.

Considering the Lakers are now without Luka and Austin, it feels like a stretch to ask the Lakers to even keep pace from behind the arc, much less outdo them, but that’s exactly what needs to happen. Houston is going to win in other margin areas — namely on the backboards and, particularly, in second chance points. The Lakers, then, are going to need to win a part of the game where it’s known Houston is unlikely to thrive.

Which means finding a way to can more baskets from deep.

Getting there won’t be easy without the collective volume and off-the-dribble shot creation Dončić and Reaves normally provide. But if LeBron can continue his uptick on both attempts and accuracy, and the Lakers can find ways to better involve both Rui and Kennard to also up their volume, the team has a chance to make up some of what’s been lost.

Further, and maybe more important, they’ll need at least one of Marcus Smart or Jake LaRavia to get into a rhythm from deep if not for the entire series, then at least for a game or two. Both have shown they’re capable of knocking down shots this season, but both players’ jumpers are also erratic enough that it’s impossible to rely on them coming through in this way.

That said, if one or both can catch a heater at any point during the series, it would go a long way towards the Lakers outpacing Houston in a meaningful enough way that it could turn a game (or more) in their direction.

3. Don’t get bludgeoned on the backboards

Let’s be real — the Lakers aren’t going to win the rebounding battle against the Rockets. Houston is a better rebounding team on both sides of the ball to such a degree that it’s just too big an ask for the Lakers to be better than them at this specific thing over the course of the series.

That said, they need to try to keep it close.

If Houston is allowed to crash the offensive glass with impunity and create second and third chances on possessions, the Lakers simply will not be able to keep pace on shot attempts and they’ll lose. The Lakers don’t have enough offensive talent to make up for a major discrepancy in simple shots on goal, so they simply have to find a way to ensure the Rockets don’t overwhelm them here.

Considering the Lakers are likely going to need to gamble on defense by trapping, being more aggressive at the point of attack, and even playing some zone, it won’t be easy to find a body and box out. Houston will certainly get some chances to have crashers, from the corners and from above the break, run free at the rim, but the Lakers must do their best to limit this as much as they can by finding a Rocket, being physical, hitting first and finishing plays.

There are no shortcuts or magic elixirs here. There’s a reason Redick said much of the team’s first practice in preparation for this series was spent on rebounding drills, and their next practice highlighted the number of crashers the Rockets have in their rotation.

The Lakers need to be mentally prepared for how relentlessly Houston will attack the glass and physically ready to respond to the challenge of boxing out and chasing down the ball.

If they can do it well enough to just keep the margins close, they’ll set themselves up well to survive and advance. If they don’t, well, all they need to do is listen to their head coach to know the outcome.

4. Win at role player roulette

If the Lakers are to win this series, it’s a given that LeBron will need to be amazing. Nearly as important, I think, will be Deandre Ayton having a certain amount of success in his direct matchup with Şengün. Ayton doesn’t need to match Şengün stat for stat, but I think if he’s 80-90% as productive as him, it will tilt the series.

That said, even if you were to guarantee me that LeBron and Ayton would essentially cancel out Durant and Şengün, I would tell you that the Lakers will still need at least one, and probably two, role players to pop every game and outshine their Rockets counterparts.

It doesn’t need to be the same player(s) every game — though I’d argue Rui and Kennard are the most ideal candidates because of their shooting — but someone needs to outpace their expected production in a meaningful way to help lift the team overall.

Again, if I could nominate someone, it would be Rui and/or Kennard simply because their value as shooters add a much-needed dimension to the Lakers’ overall offensive attack. But if LaRavia could have a repeat performance of his “who is number 12?” game vs. the Wolves or if Smart could have one of those nights where he makes half a dozen threes, it could single-handedly swing a game, and at the same time, the series as a whole.

To be clear, these sorts of contributions don’t have to be limited to shot making. An especially disruptive night from Jarred Vanderbilt, where he’s getting deflections, forcing turnovers, and hitting the glass hard, can be particularly impactful. Similarly, if Jaxson Hayes can race the floor, create easy baskets in transition and hold up on the glass on both ends, he too can tug-o-war the rope more in the Lakers’ direction.

But, the role players, as a group, have to find a way to make a push over the course of the series with one or two of them bursting through with a standout performance that can uplift the team in a way that wasn’t necessarily expected.

To be clear, the Lakers can win a game without one or more of these things happening. A brilliant LeBron performance, a particularly sloppy or disengaged Rockets showing, or a combined hot shooting night from a Lakers team that just has it going that night can power a victory in any single game.

But, if the Lakers want to advance to the second round, I do believe they will need to hit on most of these over the course of the series.

This is why they’re underdogs. It’s a tall task, for sure. But, the path does exist. The Lakers just need to find a way to it.

You can follow Darius on BlueSky at @forumbluegoldand find more of his Lakers coverage on the Laker Film Room Podcast.

The Phoenix Suns’ loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in the 7–8 Play-In game was disappointing. In a season where the team overachieved, defied expectations, and rarely let you down, this one didn’t feel good. You can point to a lot of things that make your blood boil, even if it’s two days later. Devin Booker disappearing in the fourth. Deni Avdija getting downhill whenever he wanted. The Suns struggling at the point of attack. Jordan Ott going small against a team with size and length. All of it is fair. All of it played a role.

None of it means you fire the coach.

There’s a cycle to this. It happens every year. The team falls short, emotions spike, and the search for blame begins. In Phoenix, that cycle feels familiar. 58 seasons and no championship will do that to you. There is one thing we all share: every year ends with some level of disappointment. Then comes the reaction. The frustration. The need to point at something and say, “That’s the reason”.

I’m not immune to it. None of us are. You watch, you process, you try to explain why it didn’t work. And more often than not, that conversation lands on the head coach. That’s the easy target. That’s the normal cadence.

But this season, it doesn’t track.

Booker has a rough fourth quarter. Fire Ott. The rotations don’t match what you want to see. Fire Ott. Avdija cooks whoever is in front of him. Fire Ott. It becomes reflexive. It becomes lazy.

There have been times when moving on from a coach made sense. When the locker room is gone. When adjustments never come. When expectations aren’t met in a meaningful way. This isn’t that. What you’re seeing now, after one frustrating loss and a team that hovered around average after the All-Star break, doesn’t justify that kind of reaction. It doesn’t hold up. Calling for a reset here isn’t measured. It’s noise.

And the people pushing for it need to take a step back and let it breathe.

There are some people I wish didn’t have opposable thumbs and therefore couldn’t run to social media to give us their brain-rotting opinions. Go on a walk. Hug a friend. Move to the Austrian Alps, climb atop a grassy hillside, and sway your arms as you sing about the sound of music. Seriously people, fucking relax.

Have I agreed with Jordan Ott and his rotations late in the season? No. The team has consistently struggled at the point of attack and protecting the rim, and I believe the roster has pieces that could help address that. I’m not convinced that putting Jordan Goodwin on Deni Avdija is the best approach. There’s also an argument for leaning into the youth, letting them try to solve some of these issues while gaining experience.

But it’s not simple. It never is. If you play the rookies more to fix defensive gaps, other issues show up. The offense can stall. The balance shifts. Every decision comes with trade-offs. Ott and his staff are navigating that in real time, and even if I don’t agree with the choices, that doesn’t mean you move on from the coach.

Take a step back. Think it through. Look at the bigger picture. 

The head coach position in Phoenix has been unstable for years. If you want to build something, stability matters. Ott is a rookie head coach, learning on the job, and it’s something we all understood coming into the season. This team was projected to win 30.5 games. They won 45. That’s a massive jump. That’s 50% better than expected.

This is a team finding its direction and building an identity with a young coach who understands the modern game and is laying a foundation. And the response is to want him gone because of rotation choices or the fact Fleming isn’t playing?! I’m worried about you if this is your conclusion.

I get the frustration. I feel it too. The tactics haven’t always worked, and the results haven’t always followed. But jumping back on the cycle, searching for the next coach you’ll eventually disagree with, that’s not a solution. That’s spinning your wheels.

Yes, I understand the thought exercise. That’s what we do at Bright Side. That’s what every fan base does. We look for ways to make the teams we care about better. But again, this isn’t that. This isn’t a real exercise. It’s futility. It’s wasted energy, wasted space, and pointless pixels on a screen. Because no matter what happens Friday against the Golden State Warriors, no matter what rotations Jordan Ott rolls out, the idea of moving on from him shouldn’t even be on the table.

This team took two steps forward this season. That part matters. Walking away from that now, after one game or one stretch, isn’t a pivot. It’s regression. It’s taking eight steps back.