The internet is losing its mind over Kelly Oubre Jr.’s hit-and-run claims
If you went to bed last night thinking that it’s a shame that the 76ers Kelly Oubre Jr. was injured in a hit-and-run accident on Saturday while walking alone in Philly, you may have been confused this morning to see much of X (formerly Twitter) losing its collective mind and suggesting the Oubre Jr. faked the crash, presumably to get out of playing for the 76ers? Which would have been a believable scenario in many other seasons, but Philly is currently 7-3 and Oubre only joined the team at the end of September. And anyway, James Harden is the Clippers’ problem now. Read More
Chris Paul is the NBA’s Ric Flair — the dirtiest player in the game
The more things change, the more they tend to stay the same. This sentence describes Chris Paul to a T. He’s on another new team, but it’s the same ol’ dirty CP3. On the undercard of the MMA main event that broke out during Golden State’s In-Season Tournament game against Minnesota Tuesday night, Paul was featured attempting to take Mike Conley’s knees out. Not only did Paul attempt this unnecessary move, but he succeeded in dropping Conley to the floor over a loose ball. Read More
Rudy Gobert might be the least-respected star in NBA history
If you haven’t seen it by now, you’ve either been asleep or in a cave with Aaron Rodgers over the past 14 hours. We had another NBA skirmish Tuesday night, but this time it escalated into an all-out brawl with everybody’s favorite Warrior, Draymond Green, in the middle of the mayhem. And, of course, the player he put his hands on (or arms around his neck) was Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert. A guy who might be the most disrespected player of note in NBA history. Read More
Oh, great, now Zion Williamson wants to take basketball seriously
While it’s great that Zion Williamson is finally ready to shed his life as an influencer for a career in professional basketball, no one wants to hear the frustrations of a player who hasn’t played in a single consequential NBA game. The New Orleans Pelicans’ forward doesn’t sound happy with his role, and is either being held back by the coaches, or learning that the game is a lot harder when you’re not physically superior to the other nine guys on the floor. Read More
The NBA’s in-season tourney courts are predictably a clown show
There may be no better analogy for how shallow the NBA’s new in-season tournament is than the league’s gaudy courts. The colorful floors were thrown together as a way to differentiate regular season games from in-season tournament games even though they still count toward the regular season. In addition to the Dallas Mavericks’ court being held up by a manufacturing issue, multiple players have complained about slipping, and weird dead spots on the court. Read More
Draymond Green wins another personal battle — at Golden State’s expense
Tuesday night’s Warriors-Timberwolves rematch was advertised as an In-season Tournament group play match. Instead, a Draymond Green slobberknocker broke out. Early in the first quarter, Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels got into a tussle, Rudy Gobert did what happens in 1,000 routine NBA fights, by attempting to separate Thompson from his McDaniels. Right when emotions should have been easing up, Green’s entrance music blared in his head and he saw the pretext for an unnecessary flex chokehold on Gobert. After squeezing Rudy like a Go-Gurt for almost 10 seconds, players and officials finally got Green to relax. Read More
Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma are the Kobe and Shaq of the Tanking Title
It’s never a good thing when your two superstars are trending on social media after another loss. That has become the norm for Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma. Their first run-in with infamy came when Poole lobbed an oop to Kuzma off the backboard while losing by 20. Together they’re the Bennifer of pro basketball. They’re an unholy basketball marriage of inconvenience, terrible on-court chemistry, producers of poor box office stats, but who see themselves as megastars in the making. On Monday night, the Raptors trailed the Wizards by 16 with 7:25 left in regulation. In that time, the Wizards staged a magnum opus in dysfunction, and never hit another field goal during Toronto’s ensuing 19-1 run. Read More
Draymond Green is straight out of the WWE — and the NBA is better for it
There is a reason that professional wrestling has remained popular for decades even though the action is scripted. The business understands that in order to sell a story there has to be a hero and a heel. Cheering is fun, but jeering is cathartic. In team sports, the heel is automatically included like the charger with a new phone. You root for your favorite team against all of the others. However, there are some heels that transcend simply competing in a different city’s jersey. Read More
Will Kelly Oubre Jr.’s hit-and-run accident void his contract?
Was the 76ers’ forward injured by a vehicle or doing something else?