Tag: NBA

Who let off a gnarly fart on the Spurs bench? The 4 suspects in question

WHO DONE IT?!?!?

Somebody on the Spurs needs to watch what they’re eating, man.

Welcome to Fartgate, folks.

Spurs players were visibly upset by the bench ahead of their game against the Clippers on Monday. What was wrong? It looks like somebody let off one of those rotten egg farts that are likely to ruin your entire day once it hits your nose.

I can’t confirm that was the smell, obviously, considering that I wasn’t there. But judging by the way Victor Wembanyama covered his nose with his shirt and how Chris Paul walked away visibly angry, one can assume that this was a pretty funky one.

Look at how upset these dudes are.

We saw who smelt it. Now, we need to figure out who dealt it. I’ve got four suspects, ranked from the least likely to most.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

1. Victor Wembanyama is definitely innocent

Wembanyama was the first one who seemed to smell the fart. And you know what they say? He who smelt it, dealt it. Generally, I think that’s a fair rule.

But look at the disgust on this man’s face as he covers his nose with his shirt.

I think this is an innocent man.

2. Chris Paul is too mad to be guilty

We’ve seen Chris Paul upset before, but I don’t know if we’ve seen him this upset in a while.

It looks like he just got into it with Scott Foster. Only a psycho would get this mad about their own farts.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Paul might just be that kind of guy! But I just don’t see it here.

3. Silent but deadly from Julian Champagnie?

Ok. So here’s where things get really interesting. Julian Champagnie is clearly in the vicinity of the fart — let’s call it the Blast Zone.

HMMMM. CURIOUS.

There’s a chance he might be that awkward person who doesn’t react to funky farts because he doesn’t want to put anyone on blast.

There’s also a chance that he’s the one who let it rip. He’d be the prime suspect if not for this next guy.

4. Jeremy Sochan is too frolicky for it not to be him

It’s definitely Sochan. Just look at his face. He’s laughing while walking out of a cloud of nuclear gas.

Not only is he the farter here, but he’s also one of those dudes who think all of his farts are funny. Those are the worst kind of farters. They’re the sort of people who take pleasure in robbing you of one of your senses for the next five minutes because their flatulence just fried your nose. It’s awful.

I could be wrong here. But I think it’s pretty clearly Sochan. We’ll probably never know. I just hope everyone’s nose is OK after this.

James Harden morphed into Kawhi Leonard for one play and stopped the Spurs all by himself

What if James Harden played defense like this all the time?

James Harden has been maligned for most of his career as a generally poor defender.

At best, he wasn’t trying because of the offensive load he was taking on. At worst? He just didn’t care. Defense never seemed like it was his problem. Unless, of course, he was playing in the post. Then he took it personally. Just ask Daryl Morey.

But on Monday, Harden looked like an All-World defender for once. It was almost like he morphed into his teammate, Kawhi Leonard, to lock up Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs all by himself.

Harden registered four different deflections on this possession by my count.

That’s some incredible defense. It didn’t really amount to much in that quarter — the Spurs ended up dropping 40 points to start the game.

Still! That’s impressive work from Harden. And LA still ended up getting the win despite having to pull off a 26-point comeback.

Why the NBA has zero games scheduled on Tuesday night in 2024

The idea is to encourage fans to participate in the civic process.

If you tuned in to the NBA last night, you got to see every single team take the court. Tonight, on November 5, the opposite will happen.

Due to the 2024 presidential election, every single team in the league will have a night off on Tuesday. The league made a similar decision in 2022 for the midterm elections.

This is the first time that the league has scheduled no games for a presidential election, but the idea is to promote voting and once again “encourage fans and the broader NBA community to participate in the civic process” this year, per NBA.com.

Basketball will quickly return to its regularly scheduled programing with an enjoyable slate to look forward to on Wednesday.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=1373]

Watch: NBA superstar Steph Curry gifts Jayden Daniels his jersey

Steph Curry gifted his jersey to Jayden Daniels after Monday’s game between Warriors and Wizards.

Washington superstar rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels attended his first Washington Wizards game as the Commanders quarterback on Monday night. As you might expect, when the Wizards showed Daniels, alongside his mother, linebacker Bobby Wagner, and minority owner Mark Ein, the crowd went crazy.

Daniels being in attendance was such a big deal that the official NBA X account posted the video of him in the crowd.

A noted basketball fan, Daniels was into the game and rooting for the hometown Wizards against the legendary Steph Curry and four-time NBA champion Golden State Warriors.

Golden State would win, as Curry led the way with 24 points. Afterward, Daniels would meet Curry, and the two would speak. The NBA superstar took off his jersey, signed it, and gifted it to the NFL’s hottest young quarterback.


The star quarterback has helped lead the Commanders to a 7-2 start, their best start since 1996.

Christian Braun said Nikola Jokic scaring Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert over play prediction is normal

Nikola Jokic keeps finding new ways to amaze everyone.

The Denver Nuggets may have lost their first matchup this season with the fellow Western Conference heavyweight Minnesota Timberwolves in a thriller last Friday night, but reigning MVP Nikola Jokic still did enough to spook star Minnesota guard Anthony Edwards and reigning Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert during a key late-game sequence.

In the Minnesota locker room, Edwards and Gobert openly chatted about how Jokic knew one of their plays out of a timeout before they got into position. The two Timberwolves franchise players couldn’t believe that Jokic telegraphed precisely what they were planning to do.

While it’s not confirmed that the video below was the sequence, it sure seems like it is based on how Edwards and Gobert watch in clear disbelief as Jokic gives directions and tells the other Nuggets where to stand.

The Nuggets obviously got a stop on the play:

On Monday, as the Nuggets prepared for a home game against the Toronto Raptors, Denver starting shooting guard Christian Braun was asked about Jokic spooking Edwards and Gobert after their conversation went viral. Braun claimed that Jokic really does this kind of thing every game.

For Braun, who is made better by Jokic’s uncanny intelligence and feel for the game, this is just a regular occurrence. That’s absurd, man:

At face value, it’s not surprising that a superstar like Jokic probably watches a lot of film and studies opposing teams’ tendencies. That’s a prerequisite task if you’re going to be an exceptional professional athlete. No elite talent goes out there every night and wings it that much.

But this Jokic instance felt a bit different. Basketball is much more of a free-flowing game than other sports, where film study comes in even handier. The Timberwolves hadn’t even entered their set yet. And Jokic knew exactly what they wanted to do before they initiated it anyway, much to the shock of Minnesota’s two best players.

Jokic is in Year 10 of an illustrious career. Somehow, he’s still finding new ways to shock and amaze everyone who watches him play.

How the election led to all 30 NBA teams playing in one night

NBA fans have the election to thank for something.

All the news leading up to the presidential election has undoubtedly been stressful for many people out there. But if you’re an NBA fan, the election has given you at least one thing to be grateful for.

Monday night will feel like a fever dream in the best way possible. All 30 NBA teams will be in action for the first time this season. The NBA made the scheduling decision to go completely dark on Tuesday in an attempt to give all of its fans time to vote.

A new NBA game will start every 15 minutes from 7 p.m. ET until 10 p.m. ET.

Shoutout to all of the NBA League Pass fiends out there. Tonight is your night, folks.

This isn’t the first time the NBA has done this. The league also took election day off in 2022. Just like this go round, all 30 teams played the night before.

Enjoy the basketball, folks.

Pat Connaughton/Blake Wesley NBA Tracker: Oct. 28-Nov. 3

Not the best week for the former Notre Dame players.

After winning their first game, [autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] and the Milwaukee Bucks have lost every game since. Connaughton tried to play his part with five points and two rebounds in an Oct. 30 loss to the defending champion Boston Celtics. But he followed that by shooting 1 of 7 from the field in a three-point, three-rebound, two-assist effort against the Memphis Grizzlies on Halloween. He wound up averaging 2.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists a game over the course of the week.

[autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] did not fare much better over the past week with the San Antonio Spurs. He started out all right with five points and two rebounds in just under 13 minutes while losing Oct. 30 to the Oklahoma City Thunder. But he played only half that number of minutes over the next two games combined and didn’t register a single meaningful statistic. The result was a scoring average of 2.8 and a rebounding average of 0.8 over the three games.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Christian Braun posterized Rudy Gobert and quickly regretted his celebration

The dunk was nasty, the celebration was a bit much.

Christian Braun threw down an early contender for Dunk of the Year on Friday night when his Denver Nuggets visited the Minnesota Timberwolves.

As the Nuggets nursed a six-point lead with barely five minutes left in regulation, Braun took a feed from Russell Westbrook, soared into the lane and launched himself over four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.

Braun attacking the rim regardless of who’s in front of him is nothing new. Neither was his reaction. The guard let out a road as thunderous as his dunk and shoved Gobert out of the way, starting a bit of a scuffle.

The brouhaha ended with the refs assessing double technical fouls and killing whatever momentum the Nuggets gained from Braun’s dunk. That ended up becoming a turning point for the Timberwolves, who stormed back with a 17-6 run and secured the 119-116 win on an Anthony Edwards go-ahead bucket with 25 seconds remaining.

After the latest tough Nuggets loss, Braun owned up to his part in sparking Minnesota’s run and admitted some regret over his actions.

“I got to be more responsible,” Braun told reporters after the game. “It’s two points. Obviously, those are the plays you want to make and those are the momentum plays I want to make, but getting a tech throws the momentum their way, so I got to do a better job of controlling myself.”

The Nuggets are wasting Nikola Jokic’s time

What a huge mistake from the Nuggets.

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 Mike Sykes

Happy Friday, folks! Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you had a happy Halloween and have an amazing weekend ahead of you.

It’s still super early in the NBA season, so it’s probably not the greatest time to overreact to slow starts to all of the teams that aren’t as good as we think they should be at this point. The Denver Nuggets are certainly one of those teams. Denver is 2-2 so far through four games but could easily be 0-4 after eking out two overtime wins against some bad competition early on in the season.

That’s not the part about their season that concerns me most. It honestly doesn’t have anything to do with the play on the court. Rather, I think the front office’s mentality should be raising the Nuggets fans’ eyebrows today.

ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne is reporting that the Nuggets had a chance to grab Paul George this offseason but passed up on the opportunity. Why? Because grabbing George would’ve required Denver to give up younger players to go along with the salary required.

Here’s Shelburne with more.

“League sources said the Nuggets inquired about Paul George this offseason, but talks never escalated because Denver refused to discuss Braun, Watson or Strawther, and the Clippers weren’t interested in solely taking back future salary — likely the $147 million owed to Porter and Zeke Nnaji.”

Basically, the Nuggets are hesitant to give up on any young pieces, even if it means adding a proven All-Star caliber piece to a championship core.

Here’s the deal. Paul George is, by no means, a sure bet to help the Nuggets win a championship. He was an All-Star last season, but it’s been years since he’s been an All-NBA caliber player. He’ll be 35 years old by the end of this season and his next deal was slated to be very expensive. The Nuggets are wary of the NBA’s second apron, like plenty of other teams around the league are.

BEWARE OF THE APRON: How the NBA’s second apron is breaking your favorite teams apart

But here’s the thing: When you’ve got arguably the best player in the NBA on your side, sometimes you’ve just got to go for it. Sometimes that means going after a player like Paul George. Sometimes it means keeping expensive players like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope around. Sometimes it means letting go of younger guys who could turn into something to try and get things done now.

Jokic is 29 years old. He’s in the middle of his prime and coming off of a third MVP season in four years. Getting him the best help possible should be the Nuggets’ biggest priority. That might mean not waiting on Julian Strawther or Payton Watson to pan out.

The Nuggets want to have their cake and eat it, too. It’s the whole “two timeline” approach the Warriors tried, but way worse. At least for Golden State, Jordan Poole had developed into a starter. Jonathan Kuminga was a lottery pick. James Wiseman was oozing with potential.

The Nuggets don’t really have those players. At best, the names on the roster are supplemental pieces who might contribute big this season in bit roles. At worse, they won’t matter at all.

Those are the players Denver is betting on right now. And, after such a slow start to the season, it looks like the risk far outweighs the reward.

Wemby does Wemby things

Mandatory Credit: Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images

Speaking of slow starts to the season, Victor Wembanyama definitely got off to one this year.

That slow start is over after he achieved his second career five-by-five game on Thursday night. He finished the Spurs’ game against Utah with 25 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, five steals and five blocks.

He’s the only player in NBA history younger than 22 years old with a five-by-five game, according to Stat Muse. He also joins Hakeem Olajuwon and Andrei Kirilenko as the only two players in league history of have more than one five-by-five game, per Pod of Fame’s Jim Miloch.

This dude is about to break the NBA.

Shootaround

—  We debated about Bronny James cutting down the nets after his first basket. This is hilarious.

— Speaking of that first basket, LeBron was unmoved. Cory Woodroof has more on it.

— Robert Zeglinski ranked the best rivalries in the NBA today.

— Wemby refusing to speak Chet Holmgren’s name because of their rivalry is pretty wild.

That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Have a great weekend. Peace.

-Sykes ✌️

Report: Former Wisconsin Badger to have option declined, become free agent

Report: Former Wisconsin Badger set to have option declined, become free agent

The Washington Wizards are declining to pick up former Wisconsin Badger Johnny Davis’ team option for the 2025-26 season, according to The Athletic’s Josh Robbins.

That means Davis, who joined the Wizards as the 10th overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft, would become an unrestricted free agent.

Related: Big Ten basketball power rankings entering 2024-25 season: A first look at the expanded conference

This news doesn’t come as a huge surprise as Davis continues to struggle to establish his position at the NBA level. The shooting guard is currently playing just 5.3 minutes per game for a Wizards team that again projects to finish near the bottom of the league.

Those 5.3 minutes per game, albeit just three games into the 2024-25 season, also include averages of 0.7 points, 0.3 rebounds and 0.3 assists on 25% shooting. Those numbers are all down from his totals from the 2023-24 season — a year that saw him appear in a career-high 50 games at the NBA level.

Davis is currently listed on the Wizards depth chart behind rookies Carlton Carrington and Kyshawn George, veterans Corey Kispert and Jared Butler, and others. That, again, for a team that currently ranks No. 30 in ESPN’s latest power rankings.

Davis’ career-long NBA averages include 13 minutes per game, 3.9 points, 1.7 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 0.3 steals on 39% shooting and 28% from three. That is in 81 total games over two-plus seasons in the league.

The Wizards can still re-sign the former Badger star once he becomes an unrestricted free agent. Give his diminished role with the organization, it’s hard to see that becoming the case.

A change of scenery could be what’s necessary for the 2022 AP Big Ten Player of the Year and First-Team All-American. This will be a story worth monitoring with few former Badgers currently playing at the NBA level.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion.