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An interesting piece of information got lost in the drama surrounding LeBron James saying he doesn’t like playing in Memphis.

Apparently, Cleveland is on that list, too.

It makes you wonder if James just gave us a clue about his future.

Let’s rewind.

In a recent appearance on “Bob Does Sports,” James talked about Milwaukee and Memphis as NBA road cities that he doesn’t enjoy visiting.

His comments about Memphis, in particular, sparked significant backlash. At Lakers practice on Saturday in Dallas, he was asked if he wanted to clarify them.

“I said Milwaukee as well,” James said. “I’m 41 years old, there’s two cities I do not like playing in right now. And that’s Milwaukee and that’s Memphis. What is your problem with it? I don’t like going home either, s–t, and I’m from there. People are ridiculous. They also get mad at my son being on the team, too. So, what are we talking about?”

For James, the uproar was much ado about nothing. He’s been doing this for an unprecedented 23 seasons. Is he not allowed to have preferences?

But while he shut down the reporter’s question, he raised another: Would James not want to return to Cleveland?

James, who’s earning $52.6 million this season with the Lakers, will become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

He remains uncertain about his future. He could retire or return for his 24th season — with the Lakers or elsewhere.

It’s hard to imagine him playing with any team at this stage in his career besides the Lakers (where he has spent the last eight seasons) and Cavaliers (where he played 11 seasons), though he has also been tied to the Warriors and Knicks.

But if he chooses to return — and doesn’t want to remain with the purple and gold — playing for the Cavaliers would wrap a bow around his storied career.

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James, who’s from Akron, Ohio, was drafted by the Cavaliers in 2003. He spent seven seasons with the team before leaving for Miami in 2010. After four years with the Heat, James returned to the Cavaliers in 2014, leading them to four straight Finals appearances, including their first championship in 2016.

Cleveland may not be one of James’ favorite road cities to pass through, but it clearly holds a very special place in his heart.

When the Lakers played there in January, James teared up during a video tribute.

He already chose to rejoin the franchise once. Maybe basketball decisions would supersede his newfound passion for year-round green golf courses.

After all, James would have a much easier path to the Finals with the Cavaliers than the Lakers in the very crowded West. If James teamed up with Donovan Mitchell, James Harden and Jarrett Allen, the Cavaliers would instantly become a title contender.

But the truth is, no one knows what James is going to do, including probably James himself.

At the top of the season, there was a lot of speculation about James returning to Cleveland, with multiple pundits claiming that was the most likely scenario for him next year if he chose not to retire. But that chatter died down after the Lakers found their stride in March, going on a 15-2 run.

James’ agent, Rich Paul, says all of that conjecture is nothing but hot air.

“There’s no truth to any of it,” Paul said on his podcast, “Game over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul.” “First of all, I don’t know what’s happening. He don’t know either. We don’t even talk about it.”

James wants to see how he’s feeling after the season.

What happens in the playoffs will likely have a large influence on his future, which is unfortunate because the Lakers will be surrounded with “what ifs” after Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves both sustained injuries Thursday that will sideline them for the remainder of the regular season and likely the first round of the playoffs.

So, this is what we know.

When arguably the greatest player of all time makes his decision about his future, there will be a lot of factors at play.

A major one?

As James said, “I don’t like going home either.”

He might’ve been referring to the hotel he stays at in Cleveland. Or the cold weather. It’s hard to know how much to read into that and whether it’ll impact his decision.

But it was one of the biggest clues James’ fans received about what he may or may not do next season.

Victor Wembanyama has been listed as doubtful for Wednesday’s game against the Trail Blazers, but “there’s confidence” he will suit up for one of the Spurs’ last three games, achieving award eligibility, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Wembanyama suffered the injury when he collided with Paul George in the second quarter of the Spurs’ Monday night win over the 76ers. Initially, he went to the locker room only to return to the game before asking to be subbed out before the break. He was ruled out for the second half due to what was described by the team as a rib contusion.

The big man underwent X-rays, which came back negative, but he was expected to have additional tests, according to what Charania said in an earlier appearance on ESPN’s NBA Today. It seems the results were encouraging, since he hasn’t been listed as out for the next game. Still, being listed as doubtful means he’s very unlikely to play.

Rib contusions don’t tend to cause many missed games, with the average time sitting out being 4.4 days and 1.1 games, according to Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes, an athletic trainer who has been documenting NBA injuries for years.

The Spurs have three games left and have claimed the second seed in the West. Normally, they would err on the side of caution even if everything looks good and shut down Wembanyama for the rest of the regular season. The problem is, not suiting up against the Trail Blazers, Mavericks, and Nuggets could cost Wembanyama some very important individual accolades.

Wembanyama needs to play 20 minutes or more for one more game to get to the misguided 65-game threshold the NBA imposes to be eligible for end-of-season awards. If he does, he’s the favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year, an MVP candidate, and a likely first-team All-NBA selection. Playoff success is the ultimate goal, but Wemby deserves recognition for a fantastic year, which could be denied if he can’t play at least once more in the regular season.

Stephon Castle has also been listed as doubtful for the matchup against the Trail Blazers due to right knee soreness, per the Spurs’ injury report.

Wembanyama is averaging 24.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, a steal, and a league-leading 3.1 blocks in just 29.2 minutes per game this season.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr. has undergone arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and will miss the rest of the season.

The Bucks announced that Porter had undergone the procedure Tuesday in Vail, Colorado. Dr. Tom Hackett at The Steadman Clinic performed the surgery.

“It started eight minutes into the first game (of the season),” Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers said before the Bucks’ game in Brooklyn against the Nets. “When you look at how he played overall, he had a hell of a year and was going to have even a better year but the injury thing caught him eight minutes into our first game and he never really recovered from that.”

The 25-year-old Porter last played on March 17. He has averaged 17.4 points, 7.4 assists and 5.2 rebounds in 38 games this season.

Rivers said Porter told him Sunday that “man, I didn’t come through for you.”

"And I said, ‘No, you’re fine. You just got injured. It’s part of the game and it happens,’” Rivers replied.

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AP freelance writer Denis Gorman in New York contributed to this report.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

The Golden State Warriors look to snap their four-game losing streak as they host the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night. The game is scheduled for 7:00 PM PT in San Francisco and can be watched on NBC Sports Bay Area.

Previously with the Warriors:

The Warriors lost another close one on Sunday night, falling 117–116 to the Houston Rockets. Despite the loss, the night was highlighted by the return of Steph Curry, who had missed the team’s previous 27 games. Curry logged 26 minutes in his return, finishing with a team-high 29 points on 11-of-21 shooting from the field.

On the other side, Golden State battled former Warrior Kevin Durant who led both teams in scoring with 31 points. He, along with Alperen Şengün (24 points), who knocked down the go-ahead basket late in regulation, powered Houston to their sixth win in a row. Meanwhile, the loss dropped the Warriors to 36–42, officially securing their first below-.500 finish since 2021.

What to watch for tonight:

With the emotions of Curry’s return now behind them, the Warriors look to build some rhythm heading into the postseason, beginning with Tuesday’s matchup against Sacramento. Curry is expected to suit up again, though he will likely remain on a minutes restriction, according to ESPN’s Anthony Slater. Golden State’s frontcourt depth, however, remains a concern as Kristaps Porzingis is listed as questionable, while Al Horford, Quinten Post, and Gui Santos have already been ruled out.

There were encouraging signs from Curry, who said after Sunday’s game that he “felt good” both physically and mentally. The next step will be reacclimating him within this current iteration of the Warriors—particularly alongside Porzingis—if the Warriors hope to generate any real momentum in their last four games before the play-in tournament.

Enjoy the game Dub Nation. GO WARRIORS!!! 

Projected Starters

Warriors: Steph Curry, Brandin Podziemski, De’Anthony Melton, Draymond Green, Kristaps Porzingis

Kings: Devin Carter, Nique Clifford, Daeqwon Plowden, Precious Achiuws, Maxime Raynaud

How to watch Regular Season Game 79

Who: Golden State Warriors (36 – 42) vs. Sacramento Kings (21 – 58)

When: Tuesday, April 7th, at 7:00 p.m. PT

Where: Chase Center — San Francisco, California

TV and Streaming: NBC Sports Bay Area (available on fuboTV)

It’s been a whirlwind of a season for Karl-Anthony Towns.

In training camp, he turned heads by stating that he was trying to figure out his role in Mike Brown’s offense. Then, after an uneven start, he played genuinely bad basketball for several weeks. His touches decreased, he got frustrated with his offensive whistle, and just seemed to be pressing. There were games where his body language would’ve made any kinesiologist faint. I try not to write articles that just attack how a player is performing, but I got as close to being the irrational fan I hate after that loss to the Kings in January.

Towns was a relatively surprising all-star selection in early February, given how rough his play has been, but that seemed to wake him up. He’s played great basketball since, even if he isn’t the consistent 25-and-12 guy he was last season.

Mike Brown has never really had the services of a big man like KAT. He’s coached some great bigs: Shaq and Big Z when coaching the Cavs, Dwight Howard (very briefly) in LA, Domantas Sabonis with the Kings, etc. But overall, the center position has usually been reserved for non-all-stars who play a role. The closest thing he’s ever had to KAT is Tim Duncan when he was an assistant under Gregg Popovich, but Duncan played power forward and had a completely different playstyle.

Trying to turn Towns into Sabonis, the most skilled *center* that Brown had ever coached, has been a roller coaster. There are fewer plays run for him, less emphasis on his skills, and his coaching style is much more predicated on spraying to open shooters, rather than leaning on your two all-stars to create offense as Tom Thibodeau did. With Jalen Brunson being the team’s initiator and Towns as the center, you do the math.

And while he reiterated very recently that he’s still very unsure in his role, his play as of late seems to suggest he’s found a groove at the best possible time. Since February 3, he’s averaging a modest 20.5 points and 11.9 rebounds, which don’t seem like improvements, but his shooting splits are up to 56.6/39.6/85.6. His true shooting percentage was 59.2% through the beginning of February; it’s 66.3% since.

He’s embraced being a playmaking hub of his own when he has the ball at the top of the key. Of his seven games this season with at least six assists, five of them have come since March 1. He’s been playing clean, efficient, team basketball, even if he’s still committing some baffling offensive fouls.

There are several encouraging signs with Towns’ game as the playoffs approach, but the one that’s stood out the most to me is how he’s responded to mismatches. As we know, teams are electing to put their bigs on Josh Hart to frustrate Towns with lanky, defensively disciplined wings. Most games, KAT has mismatches that sometimes get exploited, but others lead to offensive stagnation.

A few times recently, though, Towns is attacking the mismatch. He’s especially aggressive when the team is in an offensive funk. Against the Thunder in OKC, the Knicks were fading fast against the defending champs when Towns began to bully Alex Caruso in the post to re-invigorate the offense. A few fouls later, OKC had to change strategies. The Knicks came up short, but the aggressiveness was notable.

Last night against Atlanta, Towns was being guarded by Onyeka Okongwu, who serves as Atlanta’s undersized center. When the Hawks went up 10 in the third quarter and threatened to break the game open, Towns went to work in the post and dragged the Knicks back into a game they eventually won. By the end of the game, the Hawks were having to account for the mismatch and elected to let Brunson go up against Nickeil Alexander-Walker and CJ McCollum one-on-one, which ended poorly for them.

We saw it with the Rockets, which was one of Towns’ less efficient games of late. If nobody can step up and be enough of a threat outside of Brunson, teams will blitz him to get the ball out of his hands. If KAT is cooking, teams will have to adjust. If OG Anunoby looks as aggressive as he was last night as well, it changes the dynamic.

There are multiple potential playoff matchups where teams will rely on smaller players to guard Towns. The Raptors have Jakob Poeltl, but could elect to throw Scottie Barnes on him. It seems doubtful the Sixers will over-extend Embiid to KAT’s range, so the pesky Dominick Barlow could. Moussa Diabate is a very good defensive big man, but he’s two inches shorter and 35 pounds lighter. Wendell Carter Jr. is also a smaller big man. Even potential later-round matchups like Detroit, Boston, and Cleveland can. We’ve seen guys like Tobias Harris and Derrick White defend him in the past.

The Knicks need an efficient and confident Karl-Anthony Towns if they want to make the run that the city has been dreaming about. Anything less might not give the team enough to get over the hump.