While Texas began the 2024-2025 campaign with a loss, Johnson showed why excitement has been building for his college career to start
After months of anticipation, Tre Johnson made his Longhorns debut on Monday against the Ohio State Buckeyes. While Texas began the 2024-2025 campaign with a loss, Johnson showed why excitement has been building for his college career to start.
In 39 minutes, the Texas native made 10 of his 20 shots for 29 points while dishing out four assists. He also finished tied for second on the team in rebounds with five and saw the most floor-time of any Longhorns starter. As the game went down to the wire, Texas was not afraid to lean on its talented freshman.
While Johnson was a human highlight reel, he etched himself into the history books. The Lake Highlands product broke Kevin Durant’s school record for most points in a debut for a Texas freshman. He was ranked the sixth-best player in his recruiting class, and the increased pressure did not phase him.
6’6 Texas Freshman Tre Johnson went off in his Debut vs Ohio State..
“I feel like it most definitely has, because even before I went to Link (Academy), I played in a lot of big, packed-out gyms and packed-out environments,” Johnson told the media.” So just to being here, with there being a lot of fans really didn’t bother me or faze me. I didn’t even notice it. So I feel like those environments, growing up in high school, did help out a lot.”
When the Longhorns are back in action on Friday, Johnson will get a chance to build on his success. On Monday, Johnson showed he is ready to lead this team and be a vital part of the offense.
The NBA season is still early, but ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant are already in the middle of a beef.
Last month during a segment on First Take, the sports commentator said that he doesn’t have much belief in a Suns organization led by Durant. This struck a nerve with Durant, who replied to a clip of the video posted on social media after it aired.
Durant was recently asked about the criticism from Smith, and he did not hold back with his thoughts. He called the ESPN talking head a “clown” and said that he never even sees Smith attending games or practices (via The Athletic):
“Yeah, Stephen A., I don’t understand how people even listen to Stephen A.,” he told The Athletic. “I’ve been in the league for 18 years. I’ve never seen Stephen A. at a practice, or a film session, or a shoot-around. I’ve never seen him anywhere but on TV talking s— about players. … He’s a clown to me. He’s always been a clown. You can write that, too.”
Smith predictably took issue with these claims and explained why Durant was perhaps incorrect in this assessment.
Stephen A. Smith responds to Kevin Durant calling him a "clown": "I will not disrespect him the same way he disrespects me. It's unfortunate that no matter how old he gets, his sensitivity seems to heighten with it and his maturity it doesn't. But that's something he has to deal… pic.twitter.com/nzujKIJUyU
“I got bad news for Kevin Durant. If you’re expecting me to reciprocate with that kind of pettiness and childishness, it’s not going to happen … Respectfully, Kevin Durant, could you stop lying please? I’ve been an NBA reporter and I was a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer as well. Kevin Durant has seen me in the locker room when he was in Oklahoma City. He has seen me in the locker room when he was at Golden State. He has certainly seen me at games throughout his career. But unfortunately for him, I don’t have to be at shoot-around and I don’t have to be in the postgame locker room. I happen to have a hit show that’s been number one for twelve years. I have other things to do with my time. I go to games all the time. I’m not a beat reporter any more.”
Smith is absolutely correct in that his responsibilities at ESPN have grown far beyond anything that would require him to need locker room access.
But it makes sense that Durant would find it frustrating to hear Smith criticize his leadership abilities if he isn’t actually there to see what that even looks like.
Smith then wondered who is allowed to actually speak about Durant, as the NBA superstar has gotten upset when Charles Barkley and Shannon Sharpe (as well as current players like CJ McCollum) have called him out before as well.
He added that Durant is one of the greatest players to ever play the game but noted his “sensitivity” and “petulance” and “flagrant immaturity” as well.
Netflix’s documentary series about the NBA, Starting 5, will come back for a second season and that is fantastic news for basketball fans.
The first season featured big stars LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Edwards, Jimmy Butler, and Domantas Sabonis. It was an enjoyable and entertaining watch that offered fascinating insights into the world of players at dramatically different points in their careers.
USA TODAY’s For The Win spoke to Sabonis about his experience filming the show and what it was like having a documentary career following him around during the Sacramento Kings season.
For those that watched and enjoyed, they can have something more to look forward to.
Sources: Cast for season two of Netflix's NBA documentary series Starting 5: Kevin Durant, James Harden, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Haliburton. 🍿🍿🍿 pic.twitter.com/FYlsRDLf0o
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the show is coming back for another season (!) and will feature five new fresh faces.
The cast is Kevin Durant, James Harden, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jaylen Brown, and Tyrese Haliburton. The show will follow them during the 2024-25 NBA campaign, which features Brown defending his 2024 NBA championship and Gilgeous-Alexander pursing a potential MVP award.
Well, good news, Los Angeles Clippers fans who were at the Intuit Dome: you won a free Chick-fil-A sandwich thanks to The Wall, the new fan section that is quite amazing.
The bad news? Your team lost, and it was partially thanks to Kevin Durant silencing the crowd.
But let’s go back for a sec: in the fourth quarter, KD stepped up to the line in front of The Wall to attempt a couple of free throws … and he missed them both, triggering the free chicken.
Greivis Vasquez, a former standout from the University of Maryland and the 28th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, made waves as one of the top Latin American high school prospect to be recruited by colleges. Known for his leadership and playmaking …
Greivis Vasquez, a former standout from the University of Maryland and the 28th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, made waves as one of the top Latin American high school prospect to be recruited by colleges. Known for his leadership and playmaking abilities, Vasquez carved out a solid seven-year career in the league, where his energy and passion made him a fan favorite.
Vasquez began his NBA journey with the Memphis Grizzlies, but it was during his time with the Hornets and Raptors that he truly showcased his skills as a lead guard.
Vasquez sat down with HoopsHype and reflected on his basketball career, his time at Montrose Christian School with Kevin Durant, the lessons he learned, thoughts on the modern-day NBA, and more.
Kevin Durant sees big things for Jayden Daniels on his first NFL play.
NBA superstar Kevin Durant is a massive fan of the Washington Commanders. Growing up in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Durant has always stayed with his favorite team through good times and bad.
These days, there is a lot of excitement surrounding the Commanders under new owner Josh Harris. This entire offseason has been fun for Washington fans, beginning with general manager Adam Peters’ hiring in January.
On Friday, Durant was a guest on “Up & Adams” with Kay Adams, discussing the Commanders. Adams asked Durant to predict Daniels’ first play in his NFL debut on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“Play action, hit the post, Terry McLaurin for six,” Durant said. Adams said she wanted to see a similar result for Daniels on his first play.
The only other time the Commanders and Buccaneers opened the season was in 2004. That was Joe Gibbs’ first game back with the franchise after 12 years away. Running back Clinton Portis took his first carry in a Washington uniform 64 yards to the house, leading the burgundy and gold to a season-opening win over Tampa Bay.
Steph Curry has people dreaming of an Olympic reunion.
Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Prince J. Grimes.
I apologize in advance for bringing this to your attention, but it’s the dog days of the NBA offseason when non-news becomes news, so here’s your weekly dose of non-news: Steph Curry apparently removed the Warriors from the bio on his Instagram account.
That’s according to a fan account on X, which posted then and now screenshots of Curry’s bio which shows the line “Guard for the Warriors” changed to “Olympic Gold Medalist.”
As you can imagine, NBA fans on social media acted totally normal about the small change. And by normal I mean they immediately started picking new teams for Curry.
And one the most popular destinations was the Los Angeles Lakers.
He’s going to the Lakers to team up with Bron and AD
It doesn’t take a genius to understand why people would think Curry might be disgruntled and want to team with LeBron James in LA. The Warriors missed the playoffs for the third time in the last five years last season, then shipped out Curry’s brother in splash, Klay Thompson. He’s 36 on what appears to be a sinking ship. Meanwhile, he just had the time of his life winning gold as part of a lethal tandem with James.
Not to mention, Curry’s Instagram activity Wednesday also included him collab-posting photos of himself with James and Kevin Durant, with the caption: “Same Team…Winning Team.”
OK. Look, I can see how this all looks. But we really shouldn’t read too much into it. For starters, I can’t even confirm what Curry’s bio said before today. I think we can trust it didn’t previously have a mention of his gold medal considering, ya know, he didn’t have one two weeks ago. At the same time, this literally means nothing… probably.
I mean, yeah, sure, Curry could have fit both “Guard for the Warriors” and “Olympic Gold Medalist” into his bio. But maybe he just wanted to bask a little in the only success he’s likely to have in 2024. Who knows?
What I do know is we’ve been down this road before with athletes who ultimately stayed where they were. It’s silly to read too much into people’s social media activity — even if there is a more sinister plot behind it all.
Reese’s Pieces are official
Angel Reese #5 of the Chicago Sky looks on during the game against the Seattle Storm at Climate Pledge Arena on July 05, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
It was only a matter time before Angel Reese and the Reese’s Pieces brand collaborated on something. From the moment Reese first revealed that her fans go by the same name as the candy, it seemed too perfect not to happen.
Well, that moment finally arrived Wednesday. The sides announced an apparel deal, and FTW’s Meghan Hall wrote about it here:
“Now, per Boardroom, Reese put those good vibes in the atmosphere to work and officially landed an endorsement deal with The Hersey Company to be a brand ambassador with Reese’s. The partnership includes several Reese’s-themed apparel items, like tees, hoodies and hats. IT’S PERFECT.”
The best kind of partnerships are the ones that happen organically like this. Smart move by Hersey.
After the Brooklyn Nets traded Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks for quite the haul, their trade of Kevin Durant is looking even better.
The Brooklyn Nets have been one of the more interesting teams in the NBA in recent memory and not for all of the best reasons. After the past two seasons, Brooklyn have traded three superstars along with a valuable two-way player in Mikal Bridges, but they’re at least getting their praises for their return.
In a recent article by Bleacher Report, their NBA staff decided to regrade some of the biggest trades that have happened in the last five years. As every Nets fan knows, Brooklyn has been involved in some of the biggest trades over the past couple of seasons, including trading Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns.
As a recap of the trade, the Nets received Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder, Cameron Johnson, 2023 first-round pick (Noah Clowney), 2025 first-round pick, 2027 first-round pick, 2028 first-round swap, 2029 first-round pick while the Suns received Durant and TJ Warren.
While many had said at the time that the Nets do not do a good job of managing their superstar era of Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden since all of the stars requested their own trades before anything substantial happened.
Given that Brooklyn was able to get so much for Durant and then get so much for Bridges after trading him to the New York Knicks last month, the franchise is now looking like one of the best organizations in terms of getting equitable returns for their players.
As a result, Bleacher Report gave the Nets an A++++ grade because of the combined returns for Durant and Bridges and now, Brooklyn is set up well for the next few years in terms of draft capital. Here’s what Dan Favale had to say about the Nets’ grade:
“Bridges was just flipped to the New York Knicks for five additional first-round picks and another first-round swap. Brooklyn was also able to leverage Phoenix’s 2027 and 2029 selections into regaining control of its own first-rounders for 2025 and 2026.
All told, the Nets basically turned KD and two swaps into seven extra first-round picks, the return of the rights to a pair of their own firsts, another two swaps and Cam Johnson. (Crowder was also used to scoop up seconds from Milwaukee in 2028 and 2029—another savvy move).”
Brooklyn Nets guard Dennis Schroder is speaking his mind on Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant viral Team USA photo after winning the gold.
Brooklyn Nets guard Dennis Schroder is fresh off leading Germany through the 2024 Paris Olympics while also being regarded as one of the five best players to play in the tournament. After Germany was defeated by Serbia in the bronze medal game, Schroder commented on the differences between European basketball and American basketball, something that Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant responded to in his own way.
While it seemed that the back-and-forth between the two NBA players would end there, it looks like Schroder has more to say about Durant responding in the way that he did. Schroder, who streams on Twitch, recently discussed Durant’s photo showing the members of Team USA with their gold medals after beating France with the caption “entertainment and IQ.”
On his stream, Schroder called Durant “weak” for saying what he said given that Durant is held in higher regard in the NBA space than Schroder is. It seems that Schroder did not appreciate Durant taking a shot at him on social media, something that Durant has been known to do throughout his career.
“They won, and Kevin Durant tweets, ‘High IQ and entertainment.’ For me, that’s just being weak,” Schroder said. “You’re that type of a star, and you have to say something to a person like me who not even meant it to be negative. It was just what I see from both sides, you know what I’m saying? I didn’t appreciate it.”
As a recap, when Schroder was asked about the differences between American basketball and European basketball, he said that European basketball is “no entertainment, it’s straight IQ basketball. Straight coaching.” Durant may have taken these comments from Schroder as a slight implying that European basketball is how the game is supposed to be played while American basketball is just for entertainment and no substance.
Seeing as both guys don’t hesitate to speak their peace, this could be something that last into the regular season.
“that is just being weak, you are that type of star and have to say something to a person like me”
Dennis Schroder calling KD weak for trolling him but inadvertently dissing himself at the same time lmao pic.twitter.com/Dx7El5Vmux
Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns will play the San Antonio Spurs at the University of Texas in February.
A battle between two Olympic basketball stars will take place at the Moody Center on the campus of the Texas Longhorns in February of 2025.
Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns will take on Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on February 20, 2025 at the Moody Center in what will be a homecoming for Durant – who spent one season with the Longhorns in 2006-07.
Durant averaged 25.8 points and 11.1 rebounds in his lone season at Texas, earning AP and Big 12 Player of the Year while becoming the first freshman to win the Naismith Trophy as the best player in college hoops.
The Moody Center has hosted the Spurs in a pair of games each of the past two seasons since opening in 2022, although this will be Durant’s first time playing in the arena.
The future Hall of Famer had his jersey retired by Texas in 2008 and the men’s basketball facility named after him in 2017 after he made a $3 million contribution.
Durant and Team USA secured a gold medal victory over Wembanyama and France last week in Paris, giving KD his fourth gold medal ahead of his age-35 season.
