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Welcome back to Layup Lines, folks! It’s your boy Sykes here, once again, to be your Sherpa into Tuesday night’s NBA action. But before we dive into all that, there’s a tweet out there that keeps popping up on my timeline and it bothers me.
It’s the Kendrick Perkins tweet about who the next face of the NBA will be. He says it’s between Ja Morant, Trae Young and Luka Doncic. Jayson Tatum might be included in the conversation, too. Regardless, carry on.
Those players are great! They’re already All-Stars and, most certainly, are going to be recognizable faces in the NBA for years to come.
But, uh, we have three potential MVPs right now in Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo who are both 27 years old and Joel Embiid who is 28. They’re not going anywhere. One just won a title. Another just won an MVP. They’re putting up historic efficiency numbers — literally the greatest of all time.
So, sure. Those other guys are fine. But let’s not try to rush the guys we have now out. They’re in the midst of their primes and have lots more winning to do.
The Tip-Off
Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.
Fake news can get to the best of us, man. Even Stephen A. Smith. The First Take host was “sacked” by the Ballsack Sports Twitter account and Kevin Durant would not let him live it down.
Honestly, man, I can’t say I blame Durant here. That’s embarrassing when you work with literal NBA insiders. Everyone gets got, sure. But navigating the Twittersphere is easy when you only pay attention to reputable sources.
“These virtual streets are dangerous out here, folks. You’ve got to have real discerning eyes and ears when it comes to where you get your information and who that information comes from. There’s lots of fake news out there.
That sounds kind of daunting, right? But, honestly, it’s pretty easy. You just have to pay attention to reputable sources like Adrian Wojnarowski and explicitly not sources like a place called Ballsack Sports.”
It’s significantly less embarrassing to be right than it is to drop a juicy, but incorrect, quote on everyone. The bar just doesn’t hit the same.
So beware, folks.
One to Watch
(All odds via Tipico.)
Bulls (+205) vs. Bucks (-6.5, -260), O/U 232.5, 8 PM ET
The Chicago Bulls seem to be safely out of that play-in range, but this is a matchup that could have playoff implications if the Bulls fall to 6th place in the East. Milwaukee is in 3rd and are just a half-game behind the Celtics for 2nd, but they’ve lost two straight.
I think this winds up being a blowout in the Bucks favor. I’m taking the under here.
Who’s in and out?
—LeBron James is missing a second consecutive game thanks to that ankle injury and the Lakers’ playoff hopes are pretty much dead now.
—Zach LaVine was downgraded from probable for tonight’s showdown against the Bucks to questionable. Not a great sign.
—Giannis Antetokounmpo is also having knee issues ahead of that game but has been listed as probable.
Shootaround
—Bryan Kalbrosky explains the meaning behind the sweet gift Bill Self gave an amazingly sweet gift to Devon Dotson after winning the national championship. Dotson was on that 2020 team that had its season cancelled.
—Magic Johnson is blaming LeBron James for the Lakers not getting DeMar DeRozan last summer. Hindsight is always 20/20, though.
—A look at some former March Madness MOP’s and where they are now. Look at how young Carmelo Anthony is.
—Charles Barkley trolling Kenny Smith after UNC’s loss is so incredibly savage.
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