These days, NBA franchises don't need a Lyle gun to grab hold of Oklahoma City. Not only were the 64-win Thunder nearly matched in the regular season by the 62-win San Antonio Spurs, the Thunder were topped by San Antonio in the Western finals. The Thunder
Not this whole time, from 2018 through 2026, that wasn't happening: Los Angeles always was. The one thing we've always known about LeBron James remains true in any imaginary instance, our hero was going hack at some point, he was always going to be a Laker.
NBA fans shoulda known once LeBron James' reps refused to limit the remaining clubs to two, declined to omit all but the favorites from Ohio and Florida. Golden State and Minnesota saw their fortunes rise and fall but Philadelphia never left the orbit. That he chose the 76ers is
LeBron James turns 42 in five months, no NBA player's been any good at age 42. Until LeBron, Robert Parish was the most effective two-way 41-year old in NBA history, and this is what that looked like: LeBron James could be marvelous at age 42, maybe
There is a crisis among the 30 NBA owners, soon to be flush with the expansion gifts from teams No. 31 and No. 32. The league's local broadcast lineups are in flux, save for a few major outlets, dipping the league's revenue a few percentage points
There is a hope, admittedly underfed, that the NBA's new insistence on obsessing over every spent penny will result in a rising valuation of the league's middle-class. Maybe, with so many franchises scowling at adding multiple maximum contracts to the ledger, the remaining salary cap
![Boston loses [Jaylen Brown] to Philly](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1a/81/1a812476-6017-46c0-80a0-17a4aece45b8/content/images/size/w600/2026/07/Celticsghost52523-1.png)
Jaylen Brown was traded to Philadelphia for 36-year old Paul George, Philadelphia's unconditional 2031 first-round draft pick, a 2028 first-round pick swap, and two future second-round selections. A little sad, isn't it? The NBA's offseason, all four days of it,
So, we'll all find out in dutifully-sourced time from Pablo Torre how this Kawhi Leonard "basketball" feint was dropped to dissuade us from paying attention to Washington D.C.'s empty lawns at the America 250 celebration. To stop us from reflecting on the
According to ESPN, LeBron James is in Ohio right now and I don't blame James for announcing his Laker departure from home: Ohio is beautiful all times of year but in summer especially. It is a full twenty degrees (Fahrenheit) warmer in northern Ohio than it is in
Strange, super-intriguing, summer so far. The NBA possibly created more tanking than ever for the three years of this lottery reform, the worst kind, teams diving out of playoff contention and into the greedy arms of the eighth-worst record in the NBA. Then there was this second-round
When I was 19 I turned down the an evening with a pretty girl (with a car) in order to stay up overnight, on the internet and by myself, through the July 31-to-August 1 crossover in 1999, writing about all the NBA contract agreements piling up on Yahoo&
Get in on trade season for half-off! First-round pick swaps, eh? Are swaps the way to go, after the NBA messed up its draft? Or are swaps what we have left, after every good NBA team traded away every one of its future first-round picks? Or, are
The 2026 NBA draft was on Tuesday, and though they'll insist it is also on Wednesday, it was mostly on Tuesday. Here, on Wednesday, the draft: 1. Washington Wizards – AJ Dybantsa (BYU) A standup star for a silly, little franchise. The forward need not dominate this league in
Giannis Antetokounmpo will be 32 midway through the 2026-27 NBA season, he will be owed a four-year and $275 million contract extension after 2026-27 and he's nearly worked as many career minutes (playoff and regular season, combined) as Chris Webber. But, like, look at the
This was supposed to be the trip where I slowed down, where I took photos, found something I wanted to say about what was around me and said it. Well, it's kind of tough to pull over and turn off a car loudly playing "Lido Shuffle."
We offer half-off yearly subscriptions until our debts from the road are covered, click here for a cheap year! The last time the Bulls hired a coach during the Finals, like the rest of you, I found out through Woj. In my case, Woj walked right up and told
Karl-Anthony Towns yelled "back-to-back" on his way off the floor and into the Knicks' championship party on Saturday night, and, yeah, you're allowed to scream these sorts of things while carrying what KAT was carrying, the Lawrence O'Brien Trophy. The
Subscribe today for half-off? Why not, each team only played half a game on Wednesday.
Subscribe today for half-off? Why not, each team only played half a game on Wednesday.
Donald Fagen once said that Abbie Hoffman once said that nostalgia is a mild form of depression, a concept I've always considered pure, it drives much of my writing. It's good to feel slightly sad and growing old no matter what age we are, it reminds
San Antonio 115, New York 111 Knicks lead Finals, 2-1 Usually it is the relentless veterans, the ones who understand the demands of each fleeting moment and don't understand anything but hard work and silent duty, it's those slick tricksters outlasting wearying youngsters. Not in
The Bulls weren't supposed to be able to draft someone as good as Stacey King in 1989, they were too good, he was too good, everything turned out to be too good. King was never a star or even all that great as a Chicago Bull, but after
It is not normal for the road team to take the first two contests of the NBA Finals, an unanticipated advantage only a sprained ankle or diverted flight would create. Luckily, league history hasn't given us any injury flukes or unfortunate caveats to consider: Orlando was not ready
It was when I was parking at my San Antonio hotel that I noticed the boot. I'm not from Texas, I don't know if this is how they determine dibs on parking spots here. I backed out and parked in the spot next to the boot.