The NBA is using its new tournament to showcase its newest star. The league unveiled the group play schedule for its inaugural in-season tournament Tuesday afternoon on ESPN’s NBA Today, and the San Antonio Spurs — led by No. 1 draft pick Victor Wembanyama — are the only team that has more than two of its four group play games on ESPN and TNT.
Source: Tim Bontemps @ ESPN
The Latvian national team will play in its first-ever FIBA World Cup this August. However, they will have to do it without their biggest star. Kristaps Porzingis will not compete in the World Cup for Latvia later this month. The player is suffering from a foot injury and will not be able to fully recover before the international tournament, BasketNews sources indicate.
Source: BasketNews
The 2025 class was considered a possibility to be the strongest class of players who could change teams in free agency since 2019. The main reason for that was the long-speculated salary cap spike from the new television rights deal. Although the revenue from the deal could potentially double, the NBA and players association agreed to limit salary cap raises to a maximum of 10 percent per year. This will prevent a significant cap spike like the one we saw in 2016.
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Nicolas Batum is gearing up to captain France in pursuing a medal at the upcoming 2023 FIBA World Cup, and he plans to play with the National Team for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. However, it appears that he will bid farewell to his professional basketball career after that. The seasoned forward had already announced his decision to retire from the National Team after the Paris Olympics, and his wife, Aurelie, recently shared on social media that he will indeed be concluding his entire career.... Читать дальше...
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Los Angeles Clippers are still James Harden’s preferred destination. A high ranking Clippers figurehead to @BallySports : “He’d fit.”
Source: Twitter
Doncic, who averaged 22.5 points, 8.5 assists and 7.5 rebounds in his four exhibition appearances, mentioned that the injury he is managing currently is the same one that he had dealt with after the NBA All-Star break with the Mavs last season. He expressed there is no concern regarding the injury. “It is an old injury, which caused me problems in March in the NBA,” Doncic said. “Therefore, we performed an MRI. Everything is okay. Nothing worse.”
Source: Sports Illustrated
Clutch Points: “Anthony Davis can do everything [Nikola Jokic] can do. He can do everything Embiid can do… I’m expecting him to be MVP, if not this year, definitely next year.” Kevin Garnett has high expectations for Anthony Davis 😅 (via @shobasketball) pic.twitter.com/G11vdo0yVI
Source: Twitter @ClutchPointsApp
After two years in the NBA, anyone paying attention knows that Reaves has serious game. The spot on Team USA’s World Cup team cements that. “This ain’t no underdog s— no more,” Brooklyn’s Mikal Bridges said of Reaves. “He’s here.”
Source: Dan Woike @ Los Angeles Times