Giannis Antetokounmpo was the talk of the NBA on Wednesday, but the reason he was on everyone's lips Wednesday night was different and very concerning.
Antetokounmpo fell to the ground, grabbing his calf during the first quarter on Wednesday against the Pistons. He eventually was helped up, limped back to the locker room and did not return with what the Bucks said was a calf strain. Coach Doc Rivers said postgame that Antetokounmpo was undergoing an MRI but they did not believe he damaged his Achilles tendon.
The incident happened just a couple of minutes into the game. Antetokounmpo drove the baseline against Jalen Duren before finding AJ Green with a pass for a lay-up. Antetokounmpo started to run back up court, appeared to slip on a wet spot, fell, and then grabbed his calf. After the game, Rivers said he thought it was the contact with a Pacers defender when Antetokounmpo drove the baseline that caused the injury.
Giannis appeared to suffer a leg injury early in the game vs. Detroit. He was able to walk off on his own. pic.twitter.com/RYLETO8BjL
Antetokounmpo missed the 2024 playoffs due to a left calf strain.
This injury came on the day news leaked that Antetokounmpo and his agent met with the Bucks’ front office to discuss his future with the now 10-13 team (which beat the Pistons despite Antetokounmpo's absence). That sparked rounds of Antetokounmpo trade talk both around the league and among fans. Rivers, for his part, said that there had been no conversations along those lines.
"Giannis has never asked to be traded — ever," Rivers said, via the Associated Press. "I can't make that more clear."
That talk took a back seat on Wednesday night to concerns about Antetokounmpo's health.
New York started the second quarter up 15 points, but by the end of the first half, they had just a six-point lead. On the second of a back-to-back, the Knicks could have let the Hornets' get to them, but Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns weren't going to have it. Brunson scored 26 points on 56 percent shooting, a nice bounce back from his season-low performance against the Celtics.
While the Knicks big man scored a game-high 35 points and added 18 rebounds.
"JB draws a lot of attention. Our team did a good job of utilizing the gravity when he was on the court and getting some good looks, getting some turnovers," Towns said of the team's effort. "I thought we did a great job defensively, making them speed up their game and playing Knicks basketball, which is translate turnovers to offense."
"We could have easily chalked it up and said we tried," Brunson added. "Continue to fight, continue to stick together. Find a way to make plays defensively, got out in the open court, a good way to bounce back tonight."
Towns shot 13 of 23 from the field (3-for-7 from three) and often dominated the smaller Hornets lineup. But gave credit to the Knicks captain for his offensive outburst.
"When you got one of the best players league like JB, like I said, the gravity he attracts, it allows us a chance to do something special," he said. "Taking opportunities the defense was giving me, while doing that, being aggressive, whether it was scoring or passing to my teammates."
Dec 3, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard Collin Sexton (8) and New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) fight for a loose ball in the second quarter at Madison Square Garden / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Reason for Josh Hart starting
Wednesday was Hart's sixth straight game starting. With OG Anunoby out of the lineup due to a hamstring injury, head coach Mike Brown has decided to shift Hart into the starting lineup, but it took some time for the first-year Knicks coach to pull the trigger.
Hart started most of the games last year, but began the season as a bench player. The combo guard/forward has accepted whatever role Brown gives him, but the Knicks coach said the decision was thanks from a push by his staff.
"I rely on my staff. I had reasons why I started [Hart on the bench], but my staff, all of them, was like ‘hey, these are the reasons why it would be better,’" Brown explained. "The reality of it is, I just listen to my staff. If I’m the only one thinking it would be better at that time, then maybe I’m wrong.
"I’ve been wrong before and I’ll be wrong again in the future. That’s what I love about my staff, we have guys who are not afraid…to tell me what they think. I’m not always going to listen to them, but if my whole staff is telling me something, I better open my eyes and ears and figure out what they are really trying to say and maybe follow their lead instead of my lead all the time."
Hart scored 15 points on 4 of 11 shooting with eight rebounds and eight assists in 36 minutes on Wednesday. He's averaging 17 points per game since he was inserted into the starting lineup, while he scored just 12.5 points per game while on the bench this season.
Yabusele's changing role
Guerschon Yabusele has been a solid bench piece in his first year in New York, but his role has seeming changed as the season has gone along. Brown was asked about Yabusele not being used as a ball-screener like he was in the beginning of the season, and the head coach had an explanation for it.
"Our five is usually the one that’s setting the screens. He’s playing the four right now," Brown said. "There’s a lot of ways he can get involved as the four. For instance, on a made bucket, if he takes it out he’s going to be involved in the action right away. It all depends on where he is and where he’s sprinting to as we’re going down the floor determines how much he’ll be involved. It’s hard to get pick-and-pop stuff with the way we play if you’re not playing that center spot."
BYU 91, CALIFORNIA BAPTIST 60 SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — AJ Dybantsa and Keba Keita each scored 22 points to lead No. BYU to a victory over California Baptist. Keita added 14 rebounds to help the Cougars (7-1) win their fourth straight neutral-site game — though this one was played in their home state about 45 miles from campus.
He was really struggling, fresh off back-to-back performances with an .824 save percentage. Overall, he had an 8-8-4 record with an .886 save percentage and a 3.31 goals-against average. The Penguins reached their breaking point and waived him before he was sent down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, as no team claimed him on waivers.
Jarry was down in WBS for almost two full months before he was recalled in early March due to Joel Blomqvist struggling in the NHL. This was Jarry's second stint in WBS after he was sent down on a conditioning loan last October.
After Jarry got called back up, he played better in March, finishing the month with a .907 save percentage. He played in nine games and finished with at least a .903 save percentage in six of those games. He even won his first four starts to open the month before earning a shutout against the Ottawa Senators in his final start of March.
Jarry appeared in five games in April, finishing with an .898 save percentage for the month. He won three of his five starts that month and had at least a .903 save percentage in three starts. Jarry looked more confident, was more aggressive in challenging shooters, and was much calmer and composed in the crease. The stakes were low since the Penguins were well out of the playoff race by the end of the season, but he at least played well.
Fast forward to the first two months of the 2025-26 season, and he has been the best goaltender on the team. He is 8-2-0 with a 2.57 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage. Jarry has also saved 8.2 goals above expected, which is 17th among all goaltenders in the NHL.
He made his first start of this season against the New York Islanders, and despite a shaky moment or two, he was lights out, especially in the third period when the Islanders were pushing for the tying goal. He made a lot of saves in tight situations towards the end of the game. He carried that momentum for the rest of the month, winning four of his next five starts.
Jarry got hurt during the Nov. 3 game against the Toronto Maple Leafs when the Penguins melted down in the third period and coughed up a 3-0 lead. He missed the next three weeks before returning last Wednesday against the Buffalo Sabres and hasn't missed a beat, winning three of his last four starts.
Penguins head coach Dan Muse has started to move slightly away from the goalie rotation he had in place due to Jarry's strong play. It also has something to do with Arturs Silovs not playing well in his last couple of starts. Still, Jarry has made many timely saves for the Penguins this season and continues to ooze confidence. He's also still at the top of the crease, playing aggressive and challenging shooters.
The biggest question will be whether he can keep this up for a full season. If you look at Jarry's career splits, he has posted save percentages between .911 and .920 from October to December. Still, once the calendar flips to January and continues through the rest of the season, his save percentage has been between .897 and .905.
If Jarry can stay consistent, he'll help keep the Penguins in the playoff race, something that almost nobody thought they'd be in this season. He'd also continue to boost his value since the Penguins have a surplus of goaltenders. Kevin Weekes tweeted last week that Jarry is among the goaltenders drawing trade interest as an option for the Edmonton Oilers, who have gotten rotten goaltending from Stuart Skinner and Cal Pickard to start the season. It's a significant reason why they're not in a playoff spot right now, just one season after losing in the Stanley Cup Final again.
Let's see what the rest of the season brings for the former 2013 second-round pick.
While the Knicks haven't carved out much of a role for Ariel Hukporti off the bench, the second-year center discovered an unconventional way to appease his coaches and teammates on the court.
It was Hukporti himself who capped his playing time in the Knicks' beatdown over the Hornets on Wednesday night, as he fouled out in just 13 minutes of action. And the stat line wasn't pretty -- he scored zero points, committed two turnovers, and failed to record a defensive rebound.
But jammed in between the excessive fouls were a few strong efforts in the paint from Hukporti. To his credit, he blocked a pair of shots from Hornets leaders LaMelo Ball and Kon Knueppel, and Knicks head coach Mike Brown praised the unusual performance by giving him an amusing accolade.
"I don't know if I've ever done this before, and I've been doing this a while, but our defensive player of the game was Ariel," Brown said after the win. "And he had zero defensive rebounds and fouled out. Interesting. Having said that, his impact was huge. He had a couple blocks, 50-50 balls. He went vertical a couple times and changed shots in the paint."
Hukporti's limited production -- he wound up logging a plus-minus of plus-6 -- was also acknowledged by Karl-Anthony Towns, who manhandled the Hornets with a team-high 35 points and 18 rebounds. Towns appreciated his teammate not wasting a single second of an opportunity.
"He used every one of those fouls. I appreciate that," Towns said of Hukporti. "He was special. His ability to come into the game, always staying ready, being a professional, always working on his game. It was a night we needed him. I don’t think we win this game without him making the contributions that he did."
Hukporti, who's actually started twice for the Knicks this season, is only averaging 2.2 rebounds and 0.8 points across 12 games. But, as he demonstrated against the Hornets, some valuable court activity isn't always accounted for.
Kevin Overton scored a career-high 29 points, Keyshawn Hall added 28 and No. 20 Auburn handled North Carolina State 83-73 in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Wednesday night. The Tigers (7-2) won their 65th consecutive home game against nonconference opponents, the longest streak in the nation. Hall finished with 10 boards and topped 20 points for the sixth time this season.
Whether it’s fair or not, Erik Brännström will always be remembered in Ottawa as the guy the Senators got for Mark Stone. It was 2019, and in a deal that former owner Eugene Melnyk said had been planned for some time, Stone was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights. Brännström was Ottawa's crown jewel in that deal, and GM Pierre Dorion was so excited to acquire the diminutive Swede, he initially called it his proudest day as GM.
History now shows that not only was Brännström not ready to be the impact NHL player Stone was, but he ultimately became a fringe NHL defenceman. He had back-to-back seasons of over 70 games played in Ottawa, but the Senators let him walk last year, and he began bouncing all over the league last season.
In 2024-25, he got into 28 games with the Vancouver Canucks, and also spent time in the organizations of the Colorado Avalanche, New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres. At that stage, the writing was on the wall, so Brännström packed up and signed a three-year deal with Lausanne HC in Switzerland’s top league.
Six years after being seen as the guy who'd soon make Ottawa forget about losing Mark Stone, Brännström’s NHL career appeared over.
But in his first season over there, he's now writing a nice silver linings playbook. With Lausanne, Brännström is tearing it up the way Dorion once thought he might in Ottawa. In 30 games, he has 13 goals and 25 points, leading all defencemen in both categories. He’s 10th overall in league scoring, right behind a couple of former Senators draft picks.
No, neither of them is named Alex Formenton. The December 1st deadline came and went, and Formenton remains an NHL RFA, so he won’t get an opportunity to play in the NHL this season. The RFA has battled some injuries and has just nine points in 20 Swiss games, which is unlikely to impress anyone on this side of the ocean.
We speak of Marcus Sorensen, who has 27 points, and Andre Petersson, who has 25.
Between those two players sits a guy many Sens fans wanted over Brady Tkachuk at the 2018 NHL Draft: Filip Zadina, who has 14 goals and 26 points. Brännström is also two points ahead of another former Senator, Dominik Kubalík, who has 13 goals and 23 points.
Even though the Senators do have some depth issues on the left side of their blue line, GM Steve Staios had clearly seen enough when he let Brannstrom walk into unrestricted free agency in 2024. That was also right around the time Ottawa drafted a bigger defenceman in Carter Yakemchuk in Round 1 and then an angry 6-foot-7 blueliner in Gabriel Elliason.
The Senators have a type, and Brännström, generously listed at 5-foot-10, simply wasn’t it.
It may be his plan B, but it’s still nice to see the 26-year-old getting a fresh start and having success.
By Steve Warne The Hockey News - Ottawa
This article was originally published at The Hockey News Ottawa. Read more:
The Winnipeg Jets wrapped up their six-game road trip with a heartbreaking 3–2 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night. It was a contest defined by highlight-reel goaltending, and big plays from both teams’ emerging stars.
Winnipeg netminder Eric Comrie delivered his best performance of the season, turning aside a barrage of high-danger chances from the opening puck drop through overtime and shootout. Comrie made multiple spectacular, goal-saving stops, including one off his mask followed by a diving save in the first period, then another dramatic sequence minutes later after a Montreal interception forced him into yet another desperation stop. His heroics continued throughout the night with five saves in overtime and only one goal allowed on three shootout attempts.
The Jets leaned heavily on their top line once again, with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor supplying all of Winnipeg’s scoring. Their combined effort broke the ice late in the first period when Connor corralled a loose puck, weaved between two defenders, and fed Scheifele with a backhand pass, who ripped a shot past Montreal goaltender Jakub Dobeš for a 1–0 lead.
Midway through the second, the Canadiens capitalized on a power-play opportunity after Tanner Pearson was called for slashing rookie defenseman Lane Hutson. Montreal cycled quickly before Juraj Slafkovský hammered a one-timer from the low slot to tie the game.
Winnipeg briefly regained the lead on a fortunate bounce. A deflected puck off a broken stick landed behind the Montreal net, where Gabe Vilardi retrieved it and fed Connor at the faceoff circle. Connor snapped home his shot before Dobeš could react, making it 2–1 Jets.
But Montreal’s young core answered again. Ivan Demidov, a Calder Trophy candidate, out-battled Josh Morrissey along the boards, pulled the puck free, and found Oliver Kapanen wide open in front. Kapanen buried the pass to even the score at 2–2 heading into the third.
Comrie continued to anchor the Jets late, stopping seven shots in the final frame and five more in a tense overtime period. But Winnipeg’s depth scoring remained absent and their opportunities went unconverted. In the shootout, Montreal’s Cole Caufield scored the lone goal, securing the extra point for the Canadiens and handing Winnipeg a frustrating but hard-fought defeat.
The Jets now return home after their demanding road swing and will host the Buffalo Sabres on Friday at Canada Life Centre.
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AJ Dybantsa and Keba Keita each scored 22 points to lead No. BYU to a 91-60 victory over California Baptist on Wednesday night. Keita added 14 rebounds to help the Cougars (7-1) win their fourth straight neutral-site game — though this one was played in their home state about 45 miles from campus.
The Commodores moved up seven spots in the new AP Top 25 rankings after sweeping three games for the Battle 4 Atlantis title last week. They came in ranked second averaging 97.9 points per game to start this season, and they shot 57.1% (36 of 63) against SMU. Devin McGlockton added 13 points for Vanderbilt, and Tyler Nickel had 12.
Niko Medved stood in a crowd that swarmed the Williams Arena court after Minnesota upset Indiana in his Big Ten debut, beaming during his postgame television interview that was broadcast through the sound system for all the fans to hear. “I'm where I fell in love with the game,” Medved said, glancing toward the seats he used to sit in as a kid as he tried to process the enormity of the milestone on his new job with the program he not only grew up a few miles away from but served as a student manager to launch his coaching career. Medved turned to yell, “Go Gophers!” at the students who had surrounded him for congratulations and selfies after the 73-64 victory Wednesday night that handed the 22nd-ranked Hoosiers their first loss under their new coach, Darian DeVries.
John Calipari was in familiar territory Wednesday night. Calipari’s No. 25 Arkansas team beat No. 6 Louisville 89-80, handling the Cardinals from the opening tip. Calipari moved to 20-8 all-time against the Cards, with a majority of those wins coming when he coached Kentucky from 2009-2024.
CHICAGO (AP) — Michael Porter Jr. had 33 points and 10 rebounds and the Brooklyn Nets won consecutive games for the first time this season, beating the depleted Chicago Bulls 113-103 on Wednesday night.
Noah Clowney scored 18 of his 20 points the second half to help the Nets improve to 5-16. Nic Claxton had 14 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.
Josh Giddey had 28 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for his fifth triple-double this season for Chicago. The Bulls dropped to 9-12 with their fifth loss in a row.
Chicago played without seven injured players, including rookie forward Noa Essengue, the 12th overall pick in the NBA draft, who will have surgery on his left shoulder and miss the remainder of the season.
Porter followed up on a season-high 35-point effort in a 116-103 home victory over Charlotte on Monday night. Against Chicago, Porter hit four of his five three-point baskets in the second half as Brooklyn pushed back after Chicago narrowed the Nets lead to as little as five.
Nikola Vucevic finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Ayo Dosunmu added 16 points, but Chicago was held to 42.2% shooting and committed 16 turnovers.
Milan Momcilovic made his first eight 3-point shots while scoring 27 points and No. 10 Iowa State prepped for its weekend visit to top-ranked Purdue by setting a program scoring record in a 132-68 rout of Alcorn State on Wednesday night. The Cyclones (8-0) broke the previous school record of 130 points in a 67-point win over The Citadel in 2016-17. The 64-point margin against Alcorn State (1-9) was tied for their fifth-largest ever.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Jason Robertson scored his 17th goal of the season, Jake Oettinger stopped all 31 shots he faced and the Dallas Stars shut out the New Jersey Devils 3-0 on Wednesday night.
While Robertson kept building his case to make the U.S. Olympic team scoring on a give-and-go with Esa Lindell, a trio of other Finns were responsible for the Stars’ other offensive production. Roope Hintz fed Miro Heiskanen for the Stars’ first goal, while Mikko Rantanen scored on a rebound to get their third.
Oettinger, also likely Milan-bound as one of three American goaltenders, was at his best at the other end of the ice to pick up his first career victory against the Devils — the last of the NHL’s other 31 teams he hadn’t beaten. Oettinger made back-to-back pad saves on Luke Glendening and Juho Lammikko late in the first period and denied Dawson Mercer (twice) and Connor Brown on some high-quality chances in the second.
Lindell and captain Jamie Benn each had two assists. The Stars have killed off 19 consecutive penalties over the past six games and improved to 12-0-0 when leading at the second intermission.
Dallas was playing its first game without its second-longest-tenured player, Tyler Seguin, who tore the ACL in his right knee Tuesday night at the New York Rangers. Coach Glen Gulutzan said Seguin will probably miss the rest of the season.
Jacob Markstrom allowed three goals on 27 shots for New Jersey, which lost a third game in a row and for the sixth time in its past nine. Top player Jack Hughes has been out this entire stretch and is expected to miss at least another month after undergoing surgery to repair a non-hockey finger injury.
Up next
Stars: Return home to face San Jose on Friday night.
