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The HoopsHype Daily: Carmelo Anthony has played his way into a fully guaranteed deal with the Blazers

MELO HERE TO STAY: The talk surrounding Carmelo Anthony’s deal with Portland a few weeks ago was mostly centered around the fact that his contract was non-guaranteed until January, meaning there was little risk on the Blazers’ end. Well, with weeks …

MELO HERE TO STAY: The talk surrounding Carmelo Anthony’s deal with Portland a few weeks ago was mostly centered around the fact that his contract was non-guaranteed until January, meaning there was little risk on the Blazers’ end. Well, with weeks to go until that deadline, Portland took the drama out of the matter by fully guaranteeing it for the rest of the year now, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The decision by Portland was an obvious one, as Anthony is playing surprisingly great basketball for his new team, averaging 16.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.5 three-pointers over eight games. Most impressively, the 35-year-old forward is shooting 38.7 percent from three for the Blazers, his best mark from the outside since 2013-14. Additionally, with Melo on the floor, Portland has been 12 points per 100 possessions better than they are when he’s on the bench, displaying what a major impact the veteran is making in the Pacific northwest.

The Blazers, winners in four out of their last five games, have overall looked refreshed with Anthony in the starting lineup after a painfully slow start to the year where Mario Hezonja, Anthony Tolliver and Nassir Little were all splitting time at power forward for them. That Melo guy is proving to be a bit of an upgrade there.

PROTEST FILED: The Rockets are officially filing a protest over James Harden’s missed dunk. Houston’s goal, apparently, is to replay the final 7:50 of the game against San Antonio with the adjusted score, which would have the Rockets up 15. 

SURPRISE SOPH: Charlotte’s Devonte Graham is currently one of NBA’s best shot creators. You can also easily make the argument he’s outplaying teammate Terry Rozier.

FRESH POD: HoopsHype’s Alex Kennedy is joined by former Magic point guard Jameer Nelson to discuss his NBA career, adjusting to life post-NBA and whether he wants to get into coaching. The one-time All-Star gave some juicy information about what playing with Dwight Howard was like, particularly following the very public trade request.

LAST NIGHT IN THE ASSOCIATION: A young star exploded while a respected veteran had a hilarious flub.

☀️ Devin Booker came into last night’s game against New Orleans in a bit of a slump, shooting under 44 percent and averaging fewer than 20 points over his last five games. You wouldn’t know it by how he played against the Pelicans, though, as the young star went off for 44 points on 13-of-24 shooting while chipping in eight boards and nine dimes. Phoenix needed that version of Booker considering they had lost four of their last five games.

🦖 Kyle Lowry had the flop of the year, convulsing over minimal contact from PJ Tucker’s elbow. Lowry’s moment of hilarity was representative of Toronto’s night, as the Raptors dropped their second home game in a row, this time falling to the Rockets 119-109. 

FIZDALE OUT? The Knicks, now 4-18, fell to the Nuggets at home last night by 37 points. Knicks’ brass wasn’t at their seats near end of the game, leading to speculation that head coach David Fizdale’s seat is getting extremely hot.

😬 For what it’s worth, Knicks players, who were previously so quick to defend their head coach, are now replying to questions about Fizdale with “no comment”. Probably not the best sign.

GOOD GUY JIMMY: Heat forward Jimmy Butler came into this season with a damaged reputation with regards to his grating locker-room presence. Well, so far this campaign, Butler has been on his best behavior in Miami, and his teammates have nothing but glowing things to say about him. He might still be difficult at times, but his personality fits much better within the Heat culture than it did in any of his previous stops.

RISING STAR’S FOCUS: After a brutal sophomore season, Jaylen Brown began training for his third year two days after the end of 2018-19, says Celtics assistant coach Tony Dobbins. All that working out has paid off, as Brown is currently enjoying his best year as a pro, averaging 19.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.

ZION UPDATE: After a report came out on Wednesday regarding Zion Williamson’s injury insinuating there may have been some sort of setback towards his return, Pelicans general manager David Griffin talked to the media yesterday and hinted the 2019 No. 1 overall pick might not be back before the eight-week mark that was originally forecast.

🏥 That means, in all likelihood, we won’t see Zion until 2020, which is obviously a major bummer. 

AND ONE FOR BAGLEY: After seeing action in just the season opener so far, 2018 No. 2 overall pick Marvin Bagley has been out for roughly six weeks due to a right thumb fracture. Yesterday, the Kings announced that their elite prospect has been cleared to resume full-contact basketball activities. Bagley averaged 14.9 points and 7.6 rebounds as a rookie.

AGENT CHANGE: Andrew Wiggins is signing with CAA Sports for his representation, reports Woj.

👀 CAA is the biggest agency in basketball, repping the likes of Devin Booker, Karl-Anthony Towns, Chris Paul and, most interestingly, D’Angelo Russell, who was once interested in joining Wiggins and Towns with the Wolves. We’ll see if that leads anywhere.

UPDATE ON WALTON CASE: Kings head coach Luke Walton, who was sued for sexual assault by a former sports reporter over an incident that occurred during his time as an assistant with Golden State, saw the lawsuit get dropped yesterday, according to TMZ.

The HoopsHype Daily: The Lakers and Bucks continue to look like the two best teams in the league

LAST NIGHT IN THE ASSOCIATION: Two of the top teams in the league continued to roll. After dropping a rough game against Dallas on Sunday, some questioned how the Lakers would fare now that their schedule is about to get tougher. Well, after …

LAST NIGHT IN THE ASSOCIATION: Two of the top teams in the league continued to roll.

🔥 After dropping a rough game against Dallas on Sunday, some questioned how the Lakers would fare now that their schedule is about to get tougher. Well, after back-to-back convincing victories against the Nuggets and Jazz, both on the road, it’s safe to say: They’re faring pretty well. LeBron James scored 20 points and dished out 12 assists (while getting away with the most egregious uncalled travel of the season), Anthony Davis had 26 points and Dwight Howard hit the seventh three-pointer of his career.

🦌 Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks won their 13th game in a row, blowing the Pistons out 127-103. Giannis, arguably the MVP frontrunner so far this year, scored 35 points on 21 field-goal attempts while chipping in nine rebounds and two blocks. Looking ahead a bit, how insane would a Finals featuring LeBron, A.D. and Giannis be? Because it looks like that’s where we might be headed.

ROCKETS PROTESTING: In the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s night game against San Antonio, the Rockets’ James Harden threw down a dunk that was pretty inexplicably ruled no-good by the officials. Considering the matchup ended up going to double-overtime and Houston wound up losing, one could make the case that the missed call and the lost two points more or less cost the Rockets the game.

🤦‍♂️ At least Houston seems to believe so, because according to ESPN, they’re leaning towards exercising their right to file a protest on the missed dunk in hopes that the NBA will either reward them the win, or force the Spurs and Rockets to replay the final 7:50 of the game at a later date.

NO SWEAT OFF HIS BACK: Carmelo Anthony won Player of the Week for the West on Monday, something that many protested considering the numbers dropped by Luka Doncic and James Harden, among others, during that stretch. Melo isn’t sweating it, though.

🤔 For what it’s worth, Chris Haynes spoke to league sources about what went into the decision to name Anthony Player of the Week, and there was pretty solid reasoning behind it.

BAD TEAMS, GOOD PLAYERS: We compiled a list of the players with the most points scored on losing teams throughout league history. We were somewhat surprised to see Pete Maravich rank pretty high on the list.

SHOCKED: Just days before trading him, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey told Chris Paul he wasn’t trading him, so, logically, Paul was shocked to find out when he got traded anyway. He’s happy to be in Oklahoma City now, at least.

KUZ STRUGGLING: The Athletic goes in-depth with quotes and video breaking down Kyle Kuzma’s shooting struggles since returning from injury. Kuzma had a semi-bounce back outing last night against Utah, making three of his five three-point attempts, but he missed five out of his seven free-throws, so he’s clearly not all that comfortable yet.

ALL-STAR RETURNS: After missing roughly three weeks of action due to a thumb injury, D’Angelo Russell made his return last night for Golden State. Russell didn’t look bad in his return, scoring 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting, but it wasn’t enough to get the Warriors back in the win column, as the former dynasty dropped their 19th game of the season out of 23 chances.

HIGH PRAISE: Reggie Miller thinks Luka Doncic is the best point guard in basketball at the moment. If we ignore the outdated positional labels, that’s a pretty reasonable statement from the Hall-of-Famer.

ELITE MARKS: He still can’t shoot threes whatsoever, but Markelle Fultz is producing elite numbers out of the short mid-range area, knocking down 55.2 percent of his looks from that spot of the floor. Fultz had another solid outing last night, scoring 13 points on 50 percent shooting against Phoenix.

COACHING CHANGE OFFICIAL: Terry Stotts told reporters Pau Gasol will be joining his coaching staff upon his return from Spain. Gasol has always been heralded as a very cerebral player, so this move seems only natural.

A CALMING LEADER: Really cool piece courtesy of the Athletic, where Scott Agness spent an entire game looking closely at the way Nate McMillan coaches, and asked players about some of the things he noticed after the game. Really unique angle. 

JOB ON THE LINE: Marquese Chriss’ contract is non-guaranteed until January, and he could lose his job if the Warriors decide they want to promote Ky Boman or Damion Lee from their 2-way contracts to full-time deals. He explains his mindset with the tricky situation here.

UNWISE SPENDING: Klay Thompson reveals some of the unhealthy spending habits he had early on in his career, including buying too many clothes and playing poker for money on team flights.

No. 1 PICK WATCH: LaMelo Ball, younger brother of Lonzo, believes he deserves to go No. 1 overall in the upcoming 2020 draft. And an executive in the NBL agrees with him.

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The HoopsHype Daily: The NBA’s poor ratings continue to persist, and the league is starting to take action

Flexed scheduling and NBA content online without consent are two of the NBA’s main answers to their poor ratings this season.

LESS RATINGS, MORE PROBLEMZ: The NBA’s rating issues continue to persist, with the Sports Business Journal reporting that TNT’s ratings are down 23 percent this season when compared to last, while ESPN’s are down 20 percent. This trend has obviously created quite the predicament for the league, who, despite the shift with regards to how young people consume their entertainment these days, obviously didn’t expect to see such a drastic year-to-year drop-off in numbers.

There are a few plausible explanations as to why ratings have decreased so vastly. For one, LeBron James, who remains by far the most popular player in the league, moving to the west coast has no doubt hurt viewership on the east coast, where people just can’t stay up until past midnight on school/work nights to watch their favorite player suit up. Furthermore, the disbandment of the Warriors, who were a major ratings draw during their dynastic run, certainly hasn’t helped matters. People may have loved to hate Golden State, but they were tuning in in droves to watch them on national TV. And thirdly, the games broadcast on national TV this season just haven’t been that appealing. Golden State and New Orleans, two of the worst teams in the West, have gotten a bunch of games on TNT and ESPN, because the league expected Stephen Curry and Zion Williamson, two of the biggest draws the NBA has to offer, to be healthy. Without them, though, the NBA has been displaying an unwatchable product.

In response to their ratings issues, the NBA has started to flex a lot of Golden State’s games out of national spotlight in exchange for more competitive matchups. They have also started to target content creators on YouTube, particularly those like the popular channel FreeDawkins, who are posting complete game highlights within minutes of games ending, on the platform without permission, in hopes of attracting more live TV viewers.

LAST NIGHT IN THE ASSOCIATION: The Raptors lost at home for the first time while the Rockets dropped a wild one to in-state rival San Antonio.

🔥 Led by Jimmy Butler’s 22 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists, the Miami Heat became the first team to beat the Raptors in Toronto this season, besting them 121-110 in overtime. Butler scored eight straight points within the first minute of the extra session, and became just the 10th player in Heat history with a triple-double.

🚀 In Texas, San Antonio beat the Rockets 135-133 in a wild double-overtime contest that contained historic performances (James Harden had the worst shooting performance in a 50-point game ever while tying the record of most missed threes in a game) and major controversy, as a Harden dunk that clearly went in was ruled no-good, which wound up costing Houston the game. ESPN’s Tim MacMahon is reporting that the Rockets are optimistic the league will look into it, and either count the basket and award Houston the win, or order the final 7:50 of the contest to be replayed. No, seriously.

Never change, Rockets.

NEARLY CALLED IT A CAREER: Carmelo Anthony told Rachel Nichols that he was ready to retire had the Blazers not offered him a job last month. A future Hall-of-Famer, Anthony is coming off a stretch that earned him Western Conference Player of the Week honors, but followed that up with a 2-for-9, nine-point showing against the Clippers last night.

HOT SEAT WATCH: SNY is reporting one member of the Knicks organization believes David Fizdale’s firing is coming soon. New York is 4-17 and have the league’s second-worst net rating at -9.6.

MVP RANKINGS: We have voted and ranked the Top-10 players in the running for league MVP so far this season. Spoiler alert: A certain Greek Freak is at No. 1.

STOCK UP/STOCK DOWN: Find out which NCAA players have helped their stock the most ahead of the 2020 NBA Draft.

HISTORIC AWARDS: Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo were named Players of the Month for their respective conferences yesterday. It was the first time a pair of European players swept the award in the same month. Yeah, this is the best crop of international players we’ve ever had at the same time in the NBA.

GOOD TEACHERS: Celtics big man Robert Williams has elite defensive potential, and with fantastic defenders such as Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown teaching him, he’s more than likely going to reach his massive ceiling on that end of the floor.

TOXIC SOCIAL MEDIA: Myles Turner deactivated his Twitter account and deleted all of the photos on his Instagram after a brutal three-point, three-rebound, five-foul performance against Philadelphia. He didn’t give many details on why he did that, but he did tell local media that he did it for himself.

Probably the smart decision for Turner, considering the cesspool social media can be at times, especially for high-profile athletes. 

LEGEND RIPS KYRIE: Celtics legend Kevin Garnett, while promoting a new film he’s in with Adam Sandler, told the media that he wasn’t surprised with Kyrie Irving’s decision to leave the Celtics, and said that you need cojones to play in Boston.

He also said that Irving and Kevin Durant should have signed with the Knicks over Brooklyn, for whatever that’s worth.

ONE POINT GUARD DOWN: Heat point guard Goran Dragic will miss at least one more game with a groin injury he suffered over the weekend, and considering how careful Miami is with injuries, he could very well miss a bit more time.

AND ANOTHER RETURNS: Raptors All-Star Kyle Lowry returned from three-plus week layoff last night, coincidentally enough, against the Heat. Lowry was understandably rusty, scoring 12 points but shooting 2-for-18 from the floor and 0-for-11 from the foul line. 

NO SIGN OF ZION: Turner Sports’ Kristen Ledlow reports Zion Williamson has turned a corner in his recovery this week, but his return will come after the original 6-8 week timeline. Considering Williamson’s injury was originally announced by New Orleans on Oct. 21, that means we probably won’t see the 2019 No. 1 pick until 2020.

TELL US HOW YOU REALLY FEEL: Pacers assistant coach Dan Burke, following Indiana’s 119-116 loss to Philadelphia on Saturday, said he hates the Sixers, and that the league allows Joel Embiid to get away with “a bunch of crap” that wouldn’t be tolerated from other players.

If only every player/coach was that honest.

FRIVOLOUS EGG TOSS: TNT’s Inside the NBA closed out last night with Charles Barkley pelting Shaquille O’Neal right in the head with an egg. That continues to be one of the best sports shows on television.

SALARY QUIZ: WHO’S THIS NBA PLAYER? 🤔

Click here for the answer.

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The HoopsHype Daily: The Jazz are looking more like a fringe playoff team than a dark horse contender lately

The Jazz have lost their last four games against playoff teams. At what point do we start to worry about them?

PANIC TIME IN UTAH? The Utah Jazz, once thought of as a dark horse title contender, are 1-4 in their last five games (all on the road) and have the NBA’s seventh-worst net rating in that stretch, behind “powerhouses” like Chicago, Golden State and Memphis. Things have gotten so bad recently that Utah trailed the Raptors by 40 (FORTY!) points at halftime of their game on Sunday. Even if we look at their season as a whole, however, and forget about their recent road trip, Utah has disappointed overall this season. For the year, they’re 12-9 and have a mediocre +1.2 net rating, the No. 13 mark in the league. 

Particularly concerning has to be the play of their big acquisition from this past summer, Mike Conley. The former Grizzlies point guard is averaging 13.9 points per game, down from 21.1 last year, and shooting a paltry 36.9 percent from the floor, the third-worst mark in the league among players with at least 200 field-goal attempts.

🏦  Considering Conley is the 17th-highest paid player in the league, that level of production is unacceptable if the Jazz are going to make their usual second-half run this season. It’s unlikely Utah decides to do anything drastic (i.e., a major trade), at least not anytime soon, but if they continue down this path, they might need to do something to shake things up and find their previous years’ form.

LAST NIGHT IN THE ASSOCIATION: A 10-game losing streak ended last night while an 11-game win streak was extended.

😌 The Atlanta Hawks, losers of their 10 previous outings, finally got off the schneid last night, beating the lowly Warriors 104-79. Trae Young led the way for Atlanta with 24 points and seven assists.

🦌 Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Bucks won their 12th game in a row, downing the Knicks 132-88. Yes, you read that scoreline correctly. The highlight of the night belonged to Giannis, who threw down this absurd dunk on Julius Randle. Antetokounmpo finished the contest with 29 points, 15 rebounds and three assists, so, all around, a pretty quiet game for him by his usual standards.

MAX FVV? ESPN’s Bobby Marks says a team told him they could see impending free agent Fred VanVleet landing a deal worth between $25 million and $30 million this summer. By the way, he meant that figure as an annual amount, not as the total worth of the deal, which is insane. VanVleet is an underrated floor general enjoying his best career campaign, averaging 18.6 points and 7.5 assists per game, but still… that’s a pretty rich deal for a player of his caliber.

📝 At the same time, it’s a very weak free agent class coming up, so players like VanVleet are going to get overpaid, there’s no doubt about it. On our end, we have the Raptors point guard ranked as the 14th-best free agent of 2020.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Giannis Antetokounmpo won Player of the Week for the East yesterday. Unsurprising. The winner out of the West, though, was a good bit more shocking, since the honor went to Carmelo Anthony, who averaged 22.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.7 triples last week. Pretty great comeback story so far for the future Hall-of-Famer.

THE WIGGINS RESURGENCE: Andrew Wiggins is having the best season of his career, and he credits Ryan Saunders, his head coach, for believing in him, as well as wanting to prove the naysayers on TV and social media wrong.

GEM UNLOCKED: The Miami Herald goes in depth on how the Heat were able to discover Kendrick Nunn, their current second-leading scorer, last year while he was coming off the bench for the Warriors’ G League team.

FRESH POD: Our very own Alex Kennedy is joined by NBC’s Tommy Beer to discuss the NBA’s ratings being down, the midseason-tourney idea, the Knicks’ struggles and Carmelo Anthony’s return.

PHILANTHROPIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins has started a program called Assists for Education, where for every assist his team makes this season, he’s donating $10 to help provide school supplies and clothing to area students.

RELATIONSHIP MENDED? Enes Kanter, formerly Knick owner James Dolan’s biggest hater, is now… defending his former boss. Kanter says they’re buddies now, that they text occasionally and that it’s wrong when people constantly blame Dolan for the Knicks’ troubles. Whatever you say, Enes.

RECORD-SETTER: Curious about what records LeBron James is set to break this season? Read all about it here.

AIR GIANNIS: Nike has huge plans for Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, and with good reason, too, as the Greek Freak is a major international superstar.

AWKWARD SNEAKERS: Thunder point guard Dennis Schroeder got bullied by multiple teammates, including former MVP Russell Westbrook, into changing the sneakers he wore for games. The sneakers in questions? Well, they were Kevin Durant XI’s, so… yeah. Makes sense.

SALARY QUIZ: WHO’S THIS NBA PLAYER? 🤔

Click here for the answer.

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The HoopsHype Daily: Tristan Thompson is playing great basketball; that’s made him a potential trade candidate

Playing some of the best basketball of his career, Thompson is a major trade candidate for contenders seeking rebounding and toughness.

TRISTAN ON THE BLOCK? Cavs big man Tristan Thompson is playing some of the best basketball of his career, averaging 14.1 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.2 blocks per game. Because of that, and the fact he’s on a rebuilding Cleveland team with a 5-14 record, he’s someone that often pops up in trade rumors.

Not so fast, though, cautions Cavaliers beat writer Chris Fedor, who says Cleveland would like to extend Thompson and make him a part of their future core because they love his leadership and veteran presence. At the same time, Thompson is a free agent next summer, and if the Cavs don’t get the sense they’ll be able to re-sign him, he could be on the move ahead of February’s trade deadline. He’ll have a ton of suitors among the contenders, particularly those who lack toughness and rebounding inside.

After all, we’ve already seen him help a team win a title in 2016 thanks to his useful skill set, so could be quite popular if Cleveland does make him available.

THIS WEEKEND IN THE ASSOCIATION: Two MVP frontrunners continued playing at a ridiculously high level, while a 10-game winning streak ended.

🐎 Luka Doncic’s Mavericks and LeBron James’ Lakers clashed in L.A. on Sunday, and the outing only slightly disappointed due to the fact that it was a blowout. And considering the Lakers came into Sunday riding a 10-game win streak, it was surprising to see them be the ones getting blown out at home. Doncic was fantastic in the contest, scoring 27 points, securing nine rebounds and dishing out 10 assists. 

Three of Doncic’s 27 points came in the form of this beautiful step-back jumper he hit on LeBron, who he still considers an idol. 

🚀 James Harden dropped 60 points against the Hawks on Saturday, and it only took him 24 field-goal attempts to get there. It’s the highest-scoring performance since 1983-84 for a player with that few shot attempts. What’s more, Harden also became just the third player in league history to have a 60-plus point game in three consecutive seasons, joining Wilt Chamberlain (1960-1963) and Elgin Baylor (1959-1962) on the illustrious list.

ALDRIDGE TRADE VALUE: The Spurs are having a rough year, one that could lead to them shipping away some of their veterans. We spoke to various NBA executives to determine what seven-time All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge’s trade value might look like.

NO TRADE FUN: We’re on Day 139 without a single trade in the NBA. That’s the longest stretch since 1968, without counting lockout years. It’s been pretty boring, but things could pick up once Dec. 15 passes, since most of the players signed this past summer will become trade-eligible then.

ROTATION PLAYER DOWN: Magic forward Al-Farouq Aminu suffered a meniscus injury over the weekend, and will be out indefinitely.

🤦 One of the worst signings of last summer, Aminu is under contract in Orlando for three years – with a player option on the last season, no less! – and is owed $29.2 million. He’s averaging 4.3 points so far for the Magic, and has only added to the logjam of offensively-challenged, defensively-gifted forwards on Orlando’s roster.

TOP ROOKIE SIDELINED: One of the early frontrunners for Rookie of the Year, Ja Morant will be listed as week-to-week as he recovers from a back injury.

CHANGES IN CHICAGO? After years of futility in Chicago, it looks like Bulls general manager Gar Forman might finally be on the hot seat. In a season where some thought they could be a potential playoff dark horse, Chicago is 6-14 and has the league’s eighth-worst net rating.

RESURGENT DWIGHT: Lakers big man Dwight Howard, who is enjoying a solid season off the bench for L.A. in a reduced role that he’s done well to buy into, wanted the chance to prove himself for his former team, the Wizards, before they traded him. He never got the chance to.

DION BACK: Heat guard Dion Waiters apologized privately to teammates, and publicly to fans, for his actions that led to his 10-game suspension. The suspension is now over, but Waiters was still listed as inactive for Miami on Sunday, in the first game he could have returned. With how well the Heat are playing, it’s tough to see Waiters cracking the rotation anytime soon.

​EVERYONE LOVES DIRK: Retired Mavs legend Dirk Nowitzki attended Sunday’s Lakers/Mavericks contest, and during a first-quarter timeout, L.A. honored him with a tribute video, which Lakers fans followed up with a standing ovation. Lovely touch from Los Angeles, and Dirk very much appreciated it.

BOOKER ON FIRE: …in practice. Have you ever wanted to see Devin Booker hit 45 straight threes? Now’s your chance. (It’s oddly soothing.)

SALARY QUIZ: WHO’S THIS NBA PLAYER? 🤔

Click here for the answer.

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The HoopsHype Daily: Former No. 2 overall pick Jabari Parker won’t rule out a return to team that drafted him

A POSSIBLE COMEBACK: Jabari Parker misses Milwaukee and won’t rule out a return there after the season . Parker is currently in great form, averaging 19.3 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists on 51.0/25.9/72.5 shooting splits in his last 13 games, …

A POSSIBLE COMEBACK: Jabari Parker misses Milwaukee and won’t rule out a return there after the season. Parker is currently in great form, averaging 19.3 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists on 51.0/25.9/72.5 shooting splits in his last 13 games, which coincide with him entering the starting lineup since John Collins got suspended.

Parker is under contract for one more season after this one, one that would cost the Hawks $6.5 million unless the swingman opts out using the player option his deal contains. If Parker keeps up the pace he’s on, it’s very possible he could land a contract larger than the one Atlanta has him under, but it’s doubtful the Bucks will be the ones offering him big-time money considering their tight cap situation.

FORMER TEAMMATES: The Undefeated interviewed Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis about the events that have transpired over the last year, including Davis’ trade request.

MORE NEEDED: Kristaps Porzingis’ play this season will determine how far the Mavs can make it in the playoffs. If he continues to struggle against elite competition as he did during Tuesday’s game against the Clippers, Dallas will be in trouble come playoff time.

💰 Porzingis is the 31st-highest paid player this season, and his salary goes up each of the next four years, so the Mavs have to help him find his pre-injury form.

MELO’S RETURN: Behind the scenes on Carmelo’s first few days in Portland, including commentary from Melo himself, as well as from Damian Lillard.

BECOMING A LEADER: Bleacher Report reports on Kyrie Irving’s infamously sour attitude and how he’s slowly becoming a leader with his new team, Brooklyn.

🤔 Kyrie’s Nets, without his services due to injury, fell to the Celtics 121-110 last night, in a contest in which Boston fans spent the night jeering their former point guard. After the game, Irving posted a long-winded statement on social media regarding his disdain with the situation and sports/life in general. Good luck reading through that and trying to figure out exactly what he was trying to say.

TOUGH INJURY: Brandon Ingram says he went through a spell of depression and questioned his future in basketball due to the blood clots he had to deal with last season.

MAPLE JORDAN: How Andrew Wiggins has managed to undergo a breakout season in his own words, as well as those of his coach, Ryan Saunders, and his general manager, Gersson Rosas.

LAKERS ROLLING: The Lakers are playing elite-level basketball and their coaches have a lot to do with it.

LOUD NOISES: Speaking of the Lakers, Anthony Davis and Co. traveled to New Orleans for the first time since the star big man was traded. Predictably, he was loudly booed throughout the game.

🔥 Davis didn’t seem to mind the reaction, however, as the star big man dropped 41 points against the Pelicans, setting the record for highest point total by a player in their first matchup against their former team.

PHILANTHROPY: Magic forward Jonathan Isaac is having his best season, and the fact that he’s getting more confident off the court is really helping.

KLAY ON THE MIC: Injured All-Star Klay Thompson was Golden State’s sideline reporter on Wednesday, and it went as fantastically as one could imagine. Here he is, breaking down all of his bobbleheads in the most Klay way possible. 

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The HoopsHype Daily: We got a good look of just how scary the duo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George can be

LAST NIGHT IN THE ASSOCIATION: A terrifying development took place in the NBA last night… the Los Angeles Clippers appear to be figuring out how to play together. Facing the 11-5 Dallas Mavericks, who ranked first in net rating as of two days ago, …

LAST NIGHT IN THE ASSOCIATION: A terrifying development took place in the NBA last night… the Los Angeles Clippers appear to be figuring out how to play together. Facing the 11-5 Dallas Mavericks, who ranked first in net rating as of two days ago, in Dallas, Los Angeles took control of the game early and never looked back, winning the game 114-99, and becoming the first team to hold Dallas under 100 points all season.

🔥 Kawhi Leonard and Paul George combined for 54 points, five three-pointers, six assists and seven steals while Lou Williams added 21 points of his own. Los Angeles is starting to look as scary as many expected them to be once they landed Paul George.

🤔 Leonard and George also did a number defensively on 20-year-old phenom Luka Doncic, who had his worst game of the season. Against L.A., Doncic went 4-for-14, missed all eight of his three-point attempts and had seven turnovers. To his credit, even on a bad night, Doncic still managed to score 22 points, but overall, he struggled pretty mightily against one of the best teams in the league.  

NOT A FAREWELL TOUR: Carmelo Anthony speaks to Shams Charania about landing in Portland and wanting to play beyond just this season.

Interesting tidbit from the article: Rival executives thought the Blazers would try and land Kevin Love or Danilo Gallinari via trade before they turned their attention to Carmelo.

TRADE RUMORS: Dallas is a potential destination for Andre Iguodala, who’s currently a member of the Memphis Grizzlies but only technically.

✈️ Another player who could be on the move is San Antonio’s DeMar DeRozan. We asked a bunch of executives what his trade value is right now.

TWO ALL-STARS RETURNING: Celtics All-Star Kemba Walker is probable to return to action today after suffering a scary neck injury over the weekend. Khris Middleton is set to make his comeback as well, after missing a few weeks of action. 

KEMBA VS. KYRIE: The difference between the personalities of Kemba Walker and Kyrie Irving is stark, and Walker’s happier, more team-positive demeanor has made a huge difference for Boston.

BOOGIE A VALUED TEAMMATE: Despite his likely season-ending injury and the personal issues that were well-documented, DeMarcus Cousins has become a valued member of the Lakers.

MAJOR OLYMPIC ADDITIONS: Jamal Murray, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nickiel Alexander-Walker have committed to playing for the Canadian Men’s Basketball Team next summer in the Olympic qualifying tournament, in hopes of getting Canada qualified for Tokyo.

🇨🇦 Canada’s track record at getting the country’s top players to join the National Team is terrible. We researched the topic a few months ago.

On the coaching side of things, Basketball Australia made it official that Sixers head coach Brett Brown will lead Australia at the Olympics. That could help them get Ben Simmons to commit to representing his country at the Tokyo games.

NEGATIVE VIBES: Brandon Ingram says he has no hard feelings towards the Lakers after they traded him, but he admits a negative energy surrounded the team last season.

FORMER ALL-STAR TO THE BENCH: Timberwolves point guard and former All-Star Jeff Teague is coming off the bench for Minnesota going forward… and it was his idea.

ANOTHER UNDRAFTED ROOKIE THRIVING: Raptors guard Terence Davis, an undrafted first-year player out of Ole Miss, is looking like another great find by Masai Ujiri and Co. Here, he opens up about his journey.

NEW SCHEDULE AND LOAD MANAGEMENT: Zach Lowe reports on the league’s potential new schedule changes and how the NBA is dealing with load management behind the scenes.

Speaking of which, James Harden is not a fan of the proposed in-season tournament. At all.

DEFENDING FREE THROWS: Royce Young goes in-depth on how teams defend against free throws. No, seriously. It’s super interesting and features a lot of trolling while opponents are at the foul stripe. 

OH ME, OH MY: Former Clippers announcer Ralph Lawler, famous for his Oh me, Oh my call, still follows his former team religiously and misses his old gig.

HALL OF FAME GIF: Alonzo Mourning is the owner of one of the most hilarious NBA gifs ever. He was recently interviewed on the matter, and he admitted he finds it as funny as the rest of us do. 

LAST NIGHT IN COLLEGE HOOPS: No. 1 ranked Duke lost to Stephen F. Austin last night – at home, no less – on one of the craziest buzzer-beaters ever.

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The HoopsHype Daily: Joel Embiid scored zero points on Monday and yes, for those wondering, he did have a game

A FORGETTABLE EVENING: Joel Embiid played 32 minutes against the Raptors on Monday and went scoreless on 0-for-11 shooting. Along with the zero points, Embiid chipped in two assists, four turnovers and five fouls, though he did have 13 rebounds. …

A FORGETTABLE EVENING: Joel Embiid played 32 minutes against the Raptors on Monday and went scoreless on 0-for-11 shooting. Along with the zero points, Embiid chipped in two assists, four turnovers and five fouls, though he did have 13 rebounds. It’s the first time Embiid has been held scoreless in his career.

After the game, Embiid told the media, “I can’t have this type of production. I would have never thought I would be here talking about zero points in an NBA game, but it is what it is. Some nights you make shots, some nights you don’t. Some nights you’re hot, some nights you’re cold.”

Embiid’s performance last night was eerily similar to his showing versus Toronto in the 2019 playoffs when Marc Gasol and Co. did a number on the All-NBA center defensively, holding him to 17.6 points nightly over the seven-game series on ugly sub-38 percent shooting.

Is the memory of Kawhi Leonard’s bouncing series-winner still affecting Embiid? Or is Gasol just that good at defending him one-on-one? We’ll get a better idea of the answers to those questions on Dec. 8, when the Raptors travel to Philadelphia for the next showdown between the two Eastern Conference contenders.

LAST NIGHT IN THE ASSOCIATION: Two of the best players in the world put on a show Monday night.

🦌 Giannis Antetokounmpo exploded against the Jazz, going off for 50 points (on 17-for-31 shooting), 14 rebounds, six assists and zero turnovers. In the process, Giannis became just the fourth player since 1977-78 to score at least 50 points with 10-plus rebounds and zero turnovers, joining Michael Jordan, Carmelo Anthony and Moses Malone on the list.

🔥 The Lakers won their eighth game in a row with LeBron James leading the way, dropping 33 points and 14 assists on the road against the Spurs. LeBron also crossed the 12,000 field goal threshold, becoming the fifth player on the list along with Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

MELO MILESTONE: With 25 points in a win vs. Chicago, Carmelo Anthony moved ahead of the legendary Alex English on the all-time scoring list. His shooting percentage with the Blazers improved to 39.1 percent.

DINWIDDIE CALLED GAME: Spencer Dinwiddie hit a game-winning jumper against Cleveland, giving the Nets their fifth win in their last six outings. (All of those games have been without Kyrie Irving, by the way.)

LUKA-MANIA: We’ve put a Slovenian guard on top of our MVP rankings. It’s not Goran Dragic.

CAREER-HIGH… IN A LOSS: The Kings lost, but Buddy Hield scored a career-high 41 points on the road against Boston, hitting 11 three-pointers throughout the evening. He’s just the second player ever to hit that many triples in a loss; the other guy to do it was Stephen Curry. He’s in decent company, at least.

CAREER CAMPAIGN: Tim Hardaway Jr. has historically been a streaky shooter, but this season, the Mavs 2-guard is among the league’s elite spot-up shot-takers.

NEW POD: Alex Kennedy is joined by CBS Sports’ Dennis Chambers to discuss the latest trade rumors around the Association.

LIKE FATHER LIKE SON? According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, the Kings passed on drafting Luka Doncic because Vlade Divac, their general manager, wasn’t too fond of Doncic’s father. For what it’s worth, Grant Napear, Sacramento’s team announcer, vehemently denied the rumor, but doesn’t it just sound like something the Kings would do?

😞 To be fair, Luka’s dad denied the report, too.

BUCKING THE NARRATIVE: Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love speak glowingly of former teammate Kyrie Irving.

A STRONG DENIAL: The Knicks went out of their way to deny offering Richard Jefferson a contract either of the last two years after he joked about knowing it was time to retire when they were the only team that wanted him. James Dolan’s famously thin skin coming into play here.

A LOOK BACK AT MORE KNICKS CHAOS: Speaking of New York, The Athletic examined how the hiring of a consulting firm helped lead to the downfall of the Carmelo Anthony Knicks. 

FROM ALL-STAR TO SIDELINE REPORTER: Injured Warriors star Klay Thompson will serve as the team’s sideline reporter on Wednesday. Considering some of Klay’s other forays into media, that should be pretty entertaining.

STEPH DEVELOPING TV SERIES: The Warriors’ other injured star, Stephen Curry, is developing a basketball-related comedy series at Fox along with Will Arnett of Arrested Development fame. 

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The HoopsHype Daily: The NBA schedule might get a huge makeover soon, but are these changes worth it?

SCHEDULE CHANGES COMING? The league, the NBA Players’ Association and broadcast partners are discussing a bevy of changes to the schedule that could be voted on at April’s Board of Governors meeting. Among the potential changes: a reseeding of the …

SCHEDULE CHANGES COMING? The league, the NBA Players’ Association and broadcast partners are discussing a bevy of changes to the schedule that could be voted on at April’s Board of Governors meeting. 

Among the potential changes: a reseeding of the four conference finalists, a 30-team in-season tournament (similar to the ones so popular in European soccer), postseason play-in games and reducing the regular season schedule to 78 games. People, especially fans, are often hesitant to huge changes, but some of these ideas could turn out great if executed correctly, particularly the play-in games.

🤔 At the same time, one has to wonder how these changes could affect the NBA negatively. Could these shifts water down teams’ pursuits of the NBA title, since they could fall back on winning the less meaningful midseason tournament? Or, even worse, might teams totally neglect this potential new tournament and it turns out to be a worthless series of games?

There’s also the concern regarding statistics. The NBA has followed an 82-game schedule for so long that record changes will be harder to come by with a shorter regular season, an issue that could very well bother some of the league’s top players. Plus, won’t teams still load manage to gain an advantage? The one benefit of a shorter schedule would be less of a need for load managing, but if the change is just from 82 games to 78, that’s really not enough for load management to go away entirely.

Finally, it’s interesting to see that with all these discussed potential schedule changes, one was completely ignored: the elimination of conferences and reseeding of playoff teams 1-16. The East, for so long, has lagged behind the West, with some pretty undeserving squads (including various with losing records) making it to the playoffs in place of far more deserving Western squads. This is one area where the league should be focusing their attention, yet, apparently, it’s not being discussed.

IS BROOKLYN BETTER WITHOUT KYRIE? The Brooklyn Nets’ struggles early this season have been well-discussed. Although without Kevin Durant, not many expected them to open the year so poorly, winning just four of their first 11 contests and ranking 21st in net rating (-2.4), behind the Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards. Well, over their past five games, the numbers are starting to shift far more to the positive, with Brooklyn winning four of their contests in that span and sitting at a decent 13th place in net rating at +1.6.

So what’s the difference between the Nets’ first 11 games and their last five? The presence of Kyrie Irving.

Irving has missed Brooklyn’s five most recent outings due to an injured shoulder (he’ll be out at least through Wednesday, according to reports), and, for some reason, his absence has actually buoyed the Nets’ play. But does that actually mean Brooklyn is better off without their All-Star point guard?

The numbers don’t really bear that out. Without Irving, Brooklyn’s offensive rating has plummeted from 108.5 (10th overall) to 104.0 (25th) while their points per game have dropped from 116.8 per contest (seventh overall) to 104.6 (25th overall). We’ll know more about the legitimacy of the Nets’ recent form over the coming games, particularly when they face Boston on Wednesday, but for now, it’s still way too premature to say they don’t need their elite point guard.

LAST NIGHT IN THE ASSOCIATION: A showdown featuring a past MVP and a young gun who looks ready to win the award himself someday headlined Sunday’s NBA action, while a big man on a top contender enjoyed a career-best performance.

🔥 It’s getting repetitive, but Luka Doncic went off yet again yesterday, dropping 41 points (on 15-of-29 shooting), six rebounds and 10 assists against the Rockets, leading Dallas to an impressive 137-123 road victory. In the process, Doncic became the seventh player in league history to post four consecutive games with 30-plus points and 10-plus assists, joining Michael Jordan, James Harden and Russell Westbrook, among other legends, on the list.

😮 Clippers big man Montrezl Harrell tied a career-high in scoring, dropping 34 points against New Orleans, shooting 13-of-18 from the floor and 8-for-10 from the foul line while chipping in 12 rebounds and two blocks. The outstanding performance comes two days after Harrell got into an intense verbal altercation with Russell Westbrook’s younger brother, one that led to Westbrook’s sibling getting kicked out of the arena.

NO IGGY BUYOUT? Woj says the Grizzlies are telling teams they won’t be buying out Andre Iguodala and the $17.2 million he has left on his contract, so if a contender – like the two L.A. teams, as has been rumored – want him, they’ll have to trade for him.

A DIFFERENT PATH: A fantastic piece on Patrick Beverley’s past, courtesy of ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. The Clippers’ point guard really opens up in the article.

UNLIKELY ROOKIE STAR: Kendrick Nunn went from G League sixth man last season to not just an NBA starter this year, but the second-leading scorer on the 11-4 Miami Heat. Learn about his journey, work ethic, and more, here.

TRADE MASTER: Boston Celtics president of basketball ops Danny Ainge is the league’s best at acquiring All-Stars via trades, and it’s not all that close, according to our research. 

SMART DEFENDER: Marcus Smart is an early Defensive Player of the Year candidate. We went in-depth on his point-stopping prowess in the post here.

TEES! You might want to take a look at this fire NBA apparel brought to you by BreakingT.

JERSEY SWAP: Learn more about the recent trend of NBA players swapping jerseys after games, which has really picked up in popularity over the last few seasons.

KNICKS OR RETIREMENT? Richard Jefferson, who calls games for the Nets now, joked that once he realized the Knicks were the only team that wanted to sign him, he knew it was time to retire. Zing!

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The HoopsHype Daily: Giannis Antetokounmpo and Carmelo Anthony had a fun little battle on Thursday night

On a night with just two games scheduled, The Greek Freak stole the show while Melo held his own against one of the NBA’s top teams.

LAST NIGHT IN THE ASSOCIATION: Thursday night featured a fun battle between the old school and the new school.

🦌 Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo posted another crazy stat line, going off for 24 points, 19 rebounds, (a career-high) 15 assists, three steals and one block in a 137-129 Milwaukee victory. In the process, Antetokounmpo became the first Bucks player ever to drop a 20-15-15 stat line, which is ridiculous considering stat-stuffers such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson are part of the team’s illustrious history. 

We currently have Giannis at No. 1 in our MVP rankings, and if he continues to perform at the level he’s currently at, he won’t be dropping down our list anytime soon.

😮 Opposite Antetokounmpo stood future Hall-of-Famer Carmelo Anthony, who looked much better than he did in his first game for the Blazers. Anthony dropped 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists for Portland, nailing three of his five three-point attempts for the evening. Though the Blazers lost again, falling to 5-11 on the season, if Anthony can give Portland that type of production once Damian Lillard gets healthy (which projects to be Saturday), he might be able to help Portland get off the schneid.

ALL-STAR DOWN: Nikola Vucevic is going to miss at least a month of action due to a right ankle sprain.

FRINGE PLAYER SIGNED: The Jazz signed Juwan Morgan while waiving Stanton Kidd on Thursday.

NO NURK IN 2019: Jusuf Nurkic shot down a report that he could be return from his brutal leg injury soon, tweeting that he won’t be back until 2020.

PAU TO SPAIN? Barcelona really, really want to sign Pau Gasol ahead of his retirement after the 2020 Olympic Games. Could you imagine a starting frontcourt of Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic playing in Spain?

SIMMONS TO SUIT UP FOR AUSTRALIA: Ben Simmons says if he’s healthy, he’ll be suiting up for Australia at next summer’s Olympics.

NO MAX OFFER: Zach Lowe reports that the Sixers did not offer Jimmy Butler a five-year max deal last summer, and it might have had to do with tension between the All-Star and the coaching staff.

ACCLIMATING NICELY: Speaking of Butler, The Athletic’s Michael Lee interviewed him recently about how he’s feeling in Miami, how he felt about leaving Philadelphia, and much more.

FIZDALE SAFE: Reportedly, one of the reasons Knicks head coach David Fizdale survived New York’s rough start this season was because the team didn’t feel comfortable promoting any of his assistants. Sorry, Keith Smart.

FEELINGS STILL THERE: Doc Rivers is happy to see his old club, the Celtics, doing well this year.

COURAGEOUS RETURN: Monty Williams on overcoming a terrible tragedy and becoming the Suns’ head coach.

AGING LIKE FINE WINE: These are the oldest players to receive MVP votes in NBA history. (Expect LeBron to join this list in due time.)

LAMELO-CENTRIC POD: Bleacher Report’s Mirin Fader joins Alex Kennedy to discuss the two weeks she spent with LaMelo Ball in Australia, including an interesting tidbit about his deteriorating relationship with his brother Lonzo.

LOVE NOT HATE: Danny Ainge doesn’t want Celtics fans to boo Kyrie Irving during his return next Wednesday.

MAJOR SNEAKER DEAL: Dwyane Wade has announced that Warriors guard D’Angelo Russell will be the new face of Lil-Ning’s Way of Wade sneaker brand.

R.I.P.: Reports came out on Thursday that Wataru “Wat” Misaka, the first Asian/non-white person to play professional basketball, passed away at the age of 95. Misaka appeared in three games for the New York Knicks in the 1947-48 season.

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