Tag: Newsletters

Russell Westbrook still has a lot of healing to do with the Clippers, but there’s not a lot of time to do it

It’s so hard to watch Russell Westbrook right now

This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Mike Sykes. 

There are lots of criticisms that you could throw down on Russell Westbrook in critiquing the way he has played throughout his entire NBA career, but Westbrook lacking confidence has never been one of them.

After all, this is the same dude who, once upon a time, said that Steph Curry is “nothing I haven’t seen” while the Warriors point guard was in the midst of putting together an MVP season we literally had never seen before. He’s always played with conviction and confidence.

Until now.

There’s something wrong with Westbrook and I didn’t actually realize it until Draymond Green was playing 20 feet off of him in the Clippers’ Thursday night game against the Warriors.

If Westbrook had the ball, Green was back in the paint and at the rim. If he didn’t, then Green would just step out a bit past the free throw line — and that’s only because he wanted to avoid the 3-second violation, with all due respect to Jarett Allen and the Cavaliers.

This isn’t a defense Westbrook hasn’t seen before. Folks have guarded him like this in the past because, obviously, he’s not a shooter. Never has been. Never will be.

But what he could do is eat up that space. He could attack. Instead of any of that,  he didn’t really do…anything.

And, look. Maybe that’s the right play, considering that he finished the night 0-8 on jump shots. But, man. That’s not the Westbrook play. Former point guard Isaiah Thomas put it perfectly in this tweet.

“OKC Russ is firing that even if he 1/10. Mindset and confidence is everything.” 

Mindset and confidence are everything. Thomas is right. And that confidence is something Westbrook doesn’t seem to have right now.

He’s broken. Being with the Lakers actually seems to have broken him. And, you know what? Who could blame him? Anyone would lose confidence after being demoted and benched in big moments. You’re kicked out the door and called out of your name shortly afterward. All the while, you place high expectations on yourself that you just can’t seem to meet.

Yeah, it’s OK to be a little shaken after all of that. Getting back over that hurdle mentally is going to be tougher than anything Westbrook has had to do physically.

What’s more, time is actually running out to do it. There are only a few weeks left in the NBA season and the Clippers are going the wrong way in the standings after losing 4 straight — all with Westbrook starting at point guard.

It’s sad to see. It sucks to watch. But it’s sink or swim time, and the Clippers would prefer to do the latter.

Russell Westbrook can’t be the weight that holds LA down.

Quick Hits: NHL trade deadline deals…the fastest strikeout ever…and more

Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports

— Here’s our Mary Clark breaking down all of the latest news as it comes from the NHL Trade Deadline. She’s a beast.

— Wandy Peralta threw a strikeout in about 20 seconds and I’m pretty sure that’s an MLB record. It has to be. Right? RIGHT??

— Our Christian D’Andrea and Robert Zeglinski are all over the NFL combine, including the latest on the extremely fast DTs in the draft.

— Is it over for Trey Lance in San Francisco? A Seinfeld body language test from our guy, Charles Curtis, might just indicate that.

Enjoy the weekend, folks.

Russell Westbrook went from MVP to the ultimate NBA journeyman and it’s so painful to see

Hopefully, Russell Westbrook has finally found a new home

Welcome to Layup Lines, our basketball newsletter where we’ll prep you for a tip-off of tonight’s action, from what to watch to bets to make. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every afternoon

Howdy, folks. Welcome back to Layup Lines. It’s Sykes, once again, here to usher you into another weekend of basketball. Before that, let’s talk Russell Westbrook.

The future Hall of Famer will make his season debut for the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night.

It’s yet another benchmark of what can only be called a tumultuous season for Westbrook at this point. He’s gone from starter to sixth man to vampire to traded to buyout bargain, all within the span of a few months. That’s a journey that no player wants to go on.

This is the dark side of the “Super Max” deal — the contract Westbrook signed back in 2017 with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The designated player extension — what we know as the Super Max — was originally intended to be used as a tool for star retention. It allowed teams who already had stars in hand to pay them up to 35% of their cap space if they hit certain landmarks like winning an MVP or making an All-NBA team.

That’s the deal Westbrook signed after becoming an MVP. Yes, obviously, it’s been lucrative. But it’s led him down a perilous journey where he’s now playing for his fifth team in five seasons. No one wanted to pay him that money.

Nobody can blame the teams that have moved him for moving him. Paying 35% of the cap to a player who isn’t an All-Star isn’t smart — much less one that isn’t even a starter on your team.

You can find multiple contributors who might be better a better fit instead. Your team probably doesn’t get worse. It might even get better — the Lakers certainly seem to be seeing a boost in the aftermath of Westbrook.

But, man. Doesn’t this all just feel wrong?

I mean, Westbrook is absolutely going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He’s one of the best five or so point guards to ever play the game and, officially, one of the best 75 players the league has ever seen.

To see him passed around like this just doesn’t feel right at all. It’s been hard to watch over the years, honestly. We’re in Olajuwon on the Raptors territory with him now. It was painful then and it’s painful now.

Westbrook’s diminishing skill here deserves bigger blame than his contract does. And, ultimately, there’s nothing we can really do about it. The Super Max is here to stay — and it’s also worked in a lot of cases. It kept Bradley Beal and Damian Lillard around with their teams. Steph Curry won a championship on a Super Max deal.

Hopefully, let’s just hope the buck stops here for Russ. He deserves a much better finish to his career.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Irony can be so cruel, y’all. The Kevin Durant trade has worked out extremely well for the Nets so far.

Mikal Bridges is the brightest light the organization has seen in quite some time. He seems like he can be a leader for the squad in the future. So, of course, the team wants fans to get to know their new franchise face. In a video, the team asked Bridges who his favorite player was growing up. His answer, our Bryan Kalbrosky writes, was hilarious and sad all at once.

It’s Kevin Durant.

“Bridges had to pause before answering the question because he understood just how funny it was, and then he broke out laughing.

The former Villanova star, who found out he was traded from the Suns after a call from one of his former teammates, had a pinned tweet that said he never wanted to leave Phoenix.

What a cruel twist of fate: He only had to leave the only NBA team he had ever played for because he was traded for his favorite player — who he never got a chance to play alongside.”

That’s cruel, Basketball Gods. So cruel.

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

Bucks (-1.5, -120) vs. Heat (+100), O/U 219.5, 7:30 PM ET

Mandatory Credit: Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports

The Bucks and Heat know each other extremely well. Yes, Milwaukee is on a 12-game winning streak right now and are hitting their stride at the right time. But they’re 3-2 against Miami in their last 5 with some extremely close games played. With Giannis Antetkounmpo out due to his wrist injury, I think the Heat +1.5 feels like a pretty safe bet.

Shootaround

— Our Cole Huff wrote an incredible story on this trainer whose hoop dreams didn’t quite materialize but still landed him in a place of love. You should absolutely check this out.

— This act of kindness from James Harden is so incredible. Salute to him.

— The vibes seem immaculate, once again, for the Lakers. We’ll see how long all this lasts.

—LaMelo Ball needs his driver’s license revoked, dog. I’m sorry.

That’s all, folks. Enjoy the weekend.

Nate McMillan wasn’t the problem for the Atlanta Hawks — the vibes were

The Hawks didn’t have a Nate McMillan problem. They had a vibes problem.

This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Mike Sykes. 

Nate McMillan was unceremoniously relieved from his duties by the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.

By no means did he do a perfect job. The Hawks had high expectations for this team they poured everything into. But…they’re just a play-in team. And that’s not good enough. So, sure, it’s fair to lay some blame at his feet. But the problems in Atlanta are bigger than just Nate McMillan.

So much bigger.

We’ve seen this story before, folks. McMillan was removed from the Hawks’ job the same way that he got it. Nearly two years ago to the day on March 1, the Hawks tapped McMillan as their interim head coach after they fired Lloyd Pierce.

Pierce’s problem was his reportedly “strained” relationship with Trae Young toward the end of his tenure. By then, multiple players on the roster were OK with the Hawks moving on.

Essentially the same exact thing is happening with McMillan. Yes, there are things you can point to in Atlanta’s performance that say change is necessary. They’re a play-in team with an average offense and one of the worst defenses in the NBA. None of that is good.

But the real reason McMillan’s gone is — you guessed it! — he can’t get along with Trae Young.

Their beef has been well documented this season. The two even had a heated exchange that ultimately led to Young not playing in a game against Denver early in the season after he reportedly refused to participate in a team shootaround.

Things got so bad after the incident that McMillan actually considered leaving in the middle of the season, per The Athletic. Ultimately, instead of waiting around for McMillan to make that decision, the Hawks just made it for him.

Here’s the kicker. Hawks’ GM Landy Fields is looking for a coach that will improve “player development and accountability,” according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. They want someone who will help in “defining what a Hawks player will be” — whatever that means.

Now, maybe I’m tripping. But isn’t that…exactly what it seemed like McMillan was doing?

He holds the team’s very best player accountable and asks him to do a thing with the team. It blows up in his face and boom — a few months later he’s out. None of this adds up to me.

I don’t think the Hawks had a Nate McMillan problem. Was he the solution? Maybe not. But their vibes are off. And they’ve been off for a while.

Maybe it’s Trae Young. Maybe it’s the fact John Collins basically lives on the trade block these days. Maybe it’s the pressure of giving everything up for Dejounte Murray. I don’t know.

But the Hawks need to figure it out. And they don’t have a coach to blame anymore.

Quick hits: Our latest NFL mock draft, Micah Parson’s load management take and more

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

The NBA’s Western Conference isn’t what it used to be but it might be more fun this way

The best is still yet to come for the West

Welcome to Layup Lines, our basketball newsletter where we’ll prep you for a tip-off of tonight’s action, from what to watch to bets to make. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every afternoon

Howdy, folks. Welcome back to Layup Lines. It’s Sykes, once again, here to talk hoops with you. Let’s talk about the Western Conference.

The West just isn’t quite what it used to be, is it? Once upon a time — not too long ago, honestly — the conference was an absolute powerhouse.

High 50 and 60-win teams at the lofty top of the conference looking down upon teams that needed to win 48 games to sniff the playoffs. That’s the West everyone remembers. That certainly isn’t this West, though.

The top two teams in the Nuggets and Grizzlies are certainly on 60-win paces with their respective records. But their point differentials of 4.5 and 4.2  pale in comparison to what we saw from those peak Warriors teams or even, say, the best of James Harden’s Rockets.

Meanwhile, throughout the entire conference, there are only currently 6 teams above .500. Many of them are just making the cut — the Pelicans’ are the conference’s 4 seed with a 26-23 record.

So the question is what happened? How’d the West fall so far from grace? The answers are pretty simple. The teams that were dominating the conference have mostly broken up.

The Warriors lost Kevin Durant to the Nets in the East. The Rockets lost James Harden to the same team. Kawhi Leonard left the Spurs for the Rockets and then came back to the West to play with the Clippers, but he hasn’t been healthy.

That’s the other factor here: Health. The Clippers’ two best players in Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, for example, have only played 20 games together. Chris Paul and Devin Booker have been in and out of the Suns’ rotation because of injury. Same with Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram in the West. The only two teams that haven’t had many injury troubles are the Nuggets and the Grizzlies, and they’re at the top of the standings.

So, yes, the conference is a bit worse because of it. But it’s not the end of the world. In fact, things might actually be a bit more fun this way.

Think about it. Only 3 games separate the Pelicans from the 13-seeded Lakers. That could easily change by next week. That’s where we are at the end of January — who knows what things could look like by the time we get to April?

The standings are going to come down to the wire this year and for a league struggling to bring meaning to a sometimes drab regular season, this is an absolute gift.

Maybe we won’t need that mid-season tournament after all.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

We finally got our first look at the NBA’s All-Star Starters on Thursday and I don’t have too many complaints. But if you’re curious at all about how the fan voting separated from the media voting and player voting for the starters, FTW’s Bryan Kalbrosky has a thorough breakdown of who voted for what.

Here’s how he broke it down. You can check out the results here.

The league office releases exactly how many votes each player received from the fans, other players, and select media.

For The Win separated the publicly-available data and isolated how every player in the league performed in each category using the exact number of votes received rather than rank, then sorted the results to determine where individuals tended to perform better than they did in other categories.

What stuck out to me was how much love Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic got from the players. They had the biggest discrepancy from the player vote to fan vote, which isn’t all that surprising. But it’s pleasant to see the players taking this stuff seriously.

Read the article to check out more.

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

Grizzlies (-3.5, -105) vs. Timberwolves (+135), O/U 237.5, 7:30 PM ET

Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

This is going to be a fun one. The playoff series between the Wolves and Grizzlies was pretty incredible. Everyone isn’t healthy for this one with both Karl Anthony-Towns and Steven Adams sitting this one out. Still, there will be lots of energy between these two sides and lots of scoring. The Grizzlies are on a 4 game losing streak and I think it continues tonight behind the brilliant play of Anthony Edwards. I’m taking the Wolves +3.5.

Shootaround

— Here’s what the last All-Star game without LeBron James was like.

— Everyone has questions about Zion Williamson making the All-Star game over Anthony Davis

—It’s still unbelievable that Joel Embiid isn’t an All-Star starter

—Speaking of Joel Embiid, here are the biggest snubs from the All-Star game.

That’s all, folks. Enjoy the weekend!

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The Clippers are broken and it’s up to Kawhi Leonard to fix them, but it’s unclear if he actually can

The Clippers need Kawhi Leonard to save them. Can he do it?

Welcome to Layup Lines, our basketball newsletter where we’ll prep you for a tip-off of tonight’s action, from what to watch to bets to make. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every afternoon

Howdy, folks. Welcome back to Layup Lines. It’s your boy Sykes ushering you into the weekend. This time with a word on the Clippers.

The Clippers’ 122-91 loss to the Nuggets on Thursday night is absolutely the low point for LA’s season. The 31-point deficit is somehow not indicative of how lopsided that game was. Their stars didn’t even play in the 2nd half.

The Clippers looked listless throughout the game. Every problem they’ve had all season surfaced in one game. Their offense was too slow. They went dreadfully cold from deep, shooting 5 of 37. They weren’t healthy. And, most importantly, Kawhi Leonard didn’t look like himself at all in the 14 minutes he played.

And that’s the crux of the issue, right? Point guard is a popular issue to talk about with the Clippers. Reggie Jackson just doesn’t feel like the answer the Clippers have wanted for the last few years. And John Wall hasn’t stepped up to be the player the Clippers need him to be. Their offense still feels unorganized and slow. The Clippers are still mostly a jumpshooting team with no north-to-south rim pressure.

But none of that matters if Kawhi Leonard is Kawhi Leonard. If he’s the star that he was two seasons ago prior to tearing his ACL, then LA’s issues get pushed to the margins. Without him being that player, those issues become much larger.

But Leonard hasn’t even gotten an honest chance to be that player. He’s only played in 17 games this season so far and a chunk of that was been coming off the bench. He’s not close to being himself.

If he can’t get there, the Clippers’ season is over. Will it happen? Only time will tell. In the immediate future, there’s a possibility that he’ll play the second leg of a back-to-back for the first time this season on Friday night against the Timberwolves.

So there’s that, Clippers fans.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

NBA All-Star voting is here and, yes, it is completely ridiculous. My colleague, Cole Huff, picked out some of the most ridiculous selections from the first returns here.

Somehow, there’s no Julius Randle, for example. Which is completely ridiculous. And no Bam Adebayo or Domantas Sabonis? What’s going on, man.

But there’s one that has me bothered in particular. How is Tyrese Haliburton not a top 4 vote-getter in the East at the guard position? Not only that, but he’s behind Derrick Rose of all people. Fam. What is wrong with y’all?

Bryan Kalbrosky detailed this particular travesty. He nailed it.

“Rose has yet to exceed more than 13 points or 6 assists in a single game thus far. Haliburton, meanwhile, has already exceeded 13 points in 31 games and he has only failed to reach 6 assists in two of his 37 appearances.

Fans are presumably giving Rose some love as a legacy candidate, which makes sense. But let’s leave that to commissioner Adam Silver, who decided to name Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki as special team roster additions during their final seasons in 2019.”

Enough said.

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

Nuggets (-5.5, -210) vs. Cavaliers (+180), O/U 220.5, 9 PM ET

(AP Photo/José Luis Villegas)

I can’t imagine there are too many people out there who anticipated a potential NBA Finals matchup between the Nuggets and Cavaliers, but we’re here. The Nuggets might have the best player in the NBA in Nikola Jokic, but the Cavaliers have the league’s best defense statistically and two dominant bigs in the frontcourt with two dynamic guards. This is going to be a good one. And with the Nuggets coming off of a back-to-back, give me the Cavs +5.5.

Shootaround

— Jayson Tatum is teasing the release of his signature sneaker coming soon.

— Bones Hyland has the meme of the NBA season so far. Hands down.

—Klay Thompson has returned to his roots in the midrange and it’s working for the Warriors

—Anthony Davis is on the steady road to improvement for the Lakers

That’s all, folks! Enjoy the weekend.

The New Orleans Pelicans are a legitimate NBA title contender and it’s time to take them more seriously

Zion Williamson’s Pelicans could be playing deep into June

Welcome to Layup Lines, our basketball newsletter where we’ll prep you for a tip-off of tonight’s action, from what to watch to bets to make. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every afternoon

What’s happening, family? It’s Sykes, once again, with another edition of Layup Lines. Can we talk about the Pelicans for a sec?

The brutal beatdown the Boston Celtics gave the Phoenix Suns has left more questions than answers about the top of the Western Conference. The East seems to be the better conference this year.

But I think we should be looking at the Pelicans as a potential West juggernaut like the Celtics and the Bucks are in the East.

I know, I know. They haven’t really proven it to us yet. And they can’t, honestly. Not until the playoffs. They’re only 16-8 and somehow the No. 1 seed in the conference now. That record doesn’t exactly sound remarkable until you think about their circumstances.

Many teams have had some bad injury luck so far this season across the board. The Pelicans have not, generally speaking. Only 10 players have missed time so far and they’ve only missed 52 man games while injured, per Spotrac’s injury database. That’s near the bottom of the league.

However, when you look at the players who have been injured for them so far this season, the blows are significant. Their big 3 of CJ McCollum, Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram have missed a whopping 19 of those 52 games and counting. New Orleans’ lineups are totally inconsistent with only one lineup so far playing in at least 10 games and having over 100 minutes played together.

That’s not normally the mark of a contender. Yet, somehow, the Pelicans have the 2nd best net rating in the NBA just behind the Celtics at +6.9. That’s good — really good. And with better health for their stars, it can get better.

The fact that they’ve been able to stay afloat despite the inconsistencies from their big 3 speaks to their depth and the rest of their cast. Jonas Valanciunas is an absolute rock who doesn’t miss games and consistently produces. Trey Murphy III has emerged as a legitimate 3-and-D wing and has also flashed All-Star potential this year. Jose Alvarado is one of the best backup point options in the NBA. Herb Jones is still elite defensively when he plays.

The Pelicans can legitimately go 10 deep when they want to and there aren’t too many teams across the league that can say that. The Celtics might actually be the only one.

It’s too early to say what the Pelicans’ ceiling actually looks like or whether they’re actually a Finals contender. But through this quarter of the season, there’s no question that they look like the real deal.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

 (Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)

In WNBA news, Brittney Griner is finally home after being wrongfully detained in Russia for essentially 10 months. Russia finally agreed to a proposed prisoner swap from the U.S. in which Griner came back for Viktor Bout, who is a war merchant.

Yesterday, I wrote about the cost of the swap and how dangerous it was for Bout to be free again. He’s a very dangerous man.

“Mr. Bout was accused of selling weapons to Al Qaeda, the Taliban and militants in Rwanda. According to several investigations and his U.S. indictment, he and his associates flouted arms embargoes in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Algeria, where he sold weapons to both the government forces and the rebels fighting them.”

But here’s the deal. An American woman who was wrongfully detained and imprisoned in a penal colony has been returned home. And, at the end of it all, that’s all that really matters.

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports 

Pelicans (+1.5) vs. Suns (-1.5, -119), O/U 227.5, 8:30 PM ET

Speaking of the Pelicans and Suns, the two sides are actually matched up on Friday night. This is going to be for the top seed in the West and could be a potential tiebreaker game when the end of the season rolls around.

There’s a lot at stake here. Chris Paul is back for Phoenix, but both Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones are out in New Orleans. I think the Pelicans will ultimately be better, but tonight give me the Suns -1.5.

Shootaround

— Watch the precious moment Cherelle Griner found out Brittney was safe and sound

— Lonzo Ball is a funny dude. Who knew?

— Jordan Poole has no time for your bets.

— The best photos from the season so far

Enjoy the weekend, folks!

Draymond Green’s habitual line-stepping failed him at the worst time in his incident with Jordan Poole

The Draymond Green incident just took over the basketball world

Welcome to Layup Lines, our daily basketball newsletter where we’ll prep you for a tip-off of tonight’s action, from what to watch to bets to make. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every afternoon

What up, folks? It’s Sykes, back again, with another edition of Layup Lines. We’re talking about the Draymond Green-Jordan Poole story here, too. Buckle in.

For those of you who don’t know, video has released of Green punching Poole during Warriors’ practice earlier this week.

Everyone was stunned by it. The visual impact of it adds another level to the situation, but it’s probably being made into a bigger deal than it actually is. At least on its own.

This is part of the deal with Draymond Green. He’s a habitual line-stepper who almost always pushes things too far. But, somehow, he also always manages to keep them from going over the ledge.

We see it every year with loads of technical fouls he accumulates or the different spats he gets into with officials. He’s even gotten into visceral shouting matches with his head coach before.

We’ve also seen him cross the line before like when he got a tech in the 2016 NBA Finals that probably cost the Warriors the series against LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers. Or even this year when he got into it with Jaylen Brown during the Finals.

But to punch a teammate? In the way he did it? That’s way over the line, off the edge and at the bottom of the hill. It’s way too far. But, again, this is Draymond Green.

The Warriors will punish him. Maybe it’ll remain a fine or maybe they’ll actually suspend him for some meaningful games. Despite seeing the visual, we still don’t know the particulars of this situation and what preceded it so it’s hard to know exactly what should be done.

But there’s no punishment that’s going to stop Draymond Green from being this version of Draymond Green. That’s who he is and who he always has been.

The only way to stop it is to move him off the team. And, well, the Warriors just aren’t going to do that.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

Speaking of Draymond Green, everyone is wondering why the Warriors aren’t suspending him. The video changes things and gives us a bit more context, but my colleague Prince Grimes doesn’t think they should give a more severe punishment just because we saw what happened.

“The video is new to us, but it isn’t new to the team. The people who needed to know what happened likely went straight to the video before any kind of discipline was even discussed (and they probably aren’t happy the video got out). But if they did their due diligence in talking to everyone involved, which I’m assuming they did, then they settled on a punishment that all parties were agreeable to.

If that’s not the case, and this causes some dissension in the locker room, then sure, do what needs to be done.

But if Poole was able to put this behind him without any kind of suspension for Green, then why should anyone else care?”

Hard agree.

Shootaround

—LeBron James said he’d dunk on his own mom if she played for the Clippers. Yes, you read that right.

— Andre Iguodala left us with bread crumbs so we had no choice but to pick them up.

— Everyone is comparing Bobby Portis’ situation to Draymond’s, but they’re two totally different things.

— LeBron James wants to own a team in Las Vegas. That would be pretty cool.

Enjoy the weekend.

The Rockets and Thunder just put together the biggest, most insignificant trade in NBA history

This might be the biggest trade in NBA history that actually didn’t matter

Welcome to Layup Lines, our daily NBA newsletter where we’ll prep you for a tip-off of tonight’s action, from what to watch to bets to make. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every afternoon

Welcome to Layup Lines. It’s your boy Sykes here once again. Let’s talk about the most insignificant humungous trade in NBA history.

It’s rare that anyone misses news about an 8-player trade. Well, for that matter, it’s rare to ever see an actual trade with so many players involved. But, believe it or not, one happened on Thursday. It did! I promise.

You just didn’t hear about it because, well, it actually didn’t matter much. The Thunder and the Rockets swapped a bunch of names many non-hardcore NBA fans might not actually know, according to details from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Here’s the move:

  • The Rockets got Ty Jerome, Theo Maledon, Derrick Favors and Moe Harkless along with a 2025 second-round pick
  • The Thunder got David Nwaba, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke and Marquese Chriss.

Yep. Exactly. Nothing to see here. Just a bunch of dudes, swapping teams.

I wonder how this trade call went. The Thunder were probably like “Yo, do you want to include Theo Maledon in this?” and the Rockets were probably like “…who?” And then they probably proceeded to do the same thing for the next 30 minutes as they mapped the rest of this out.

And that’s not to shame any of these dudes for being involved. Making the NBA is an accomplishment on its own that they should all be proud of. And many of them have been solid contributors on good teams.

But, uh, this ain’t really changing anybody’s fortune. Well, except the Thunder, who literally saved a fortune by shaving $10 million from their cap bill. That’s about it, though.

Good luck to these guys. Hope they find steady homes in the NBA at some point.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

Everyone loves to talk about the bizarro world in which the Lakers never made the Russell Westbrook trade and went out to get DeMar DeRozan. But, as it turns out, it was actually a thing.

DeRozan, himself, thought it was a done deal. He talked about it on JJ Redick’s Old Man and the Three podcast and, man. Wow. Our Bryan Kalbrosky wrote about it.

“[DeRozan] revealed that he was so “hellbent” on going to the Lakers that he had pushed all his other options to the side. Because of this, he said he had to go into “scramble mode” to find his new home.

DeRozan would have fixed many of the issues that Los Angeles had last season, but the front office opted to make the move for Westbrook, and the rest is history.”

I bet the Lakers wish they’d kept that offer on the table now. Sheesh.

Shootaround

— Rui Hachimura’s media scrums in Japan look like LeBron James’ in America.
— Lonzo Ball’s mysterious knee injury just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

— Matisse Thybulle is catching some eyes in Sixers’ training camp.

— Chet Holmgren is still getting a taste of NBA life despite his season-ending foot injury.

That’s all, folks! Enjoy your weekend.

The Ime Udoka scandal deserves so much more care than anyone has been willing to give it

The Ime Udoka situation didn’t need to be reported the way it was

Welcome to Layup Lines, our daily NBA newsletter where we’ll prep you for a tip-off of tonight’s action, from what to watch to bets to make. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every afternoon

Welcome back to Layup Lines. It’s Sykes here to send you off into the weekend. A quick word on the Ime Udoka scandal that has taken the NBA by storm over the last few days.

For those of you who don’t know, Udoka has been suspended for the 2022-23 NBA season by the Celtics for some sort of inappropriate relationship he had with a woman on Boston’s staff.

We don’t know details on exactly why or what he did. We only know that there’s a relationship at the center of this. Outside of that details have been shaky.

But from the beginning, there’s been speculation about all of this including, but not limited to, what woman — or women — Udoka could’ve been involved with, what role those women play for the team, and whether their relationship was consensual or not.

It’s run rampant on the internet over the last couple of days. So much so that Brad Stevens even felt the need to address it during the Celtics’ extremely vague press conference about the entire situation.

“Nobody can control Twitter speculation — rampant bulls–t — but I do think that we as an organization have a responsibility that we’re there to support them now because a lot of people were dragged unfairly because of that.”

This “rampant bulls***,” as Stevens called it, only exists because of the way this story was reported to the public from the beginning.

There were very few details available for people to grab on to. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski initially reported it as Udoka facing “possible disciplinary action” for an unspecified violation of team guidelines. The very next day, Woj reported a season-long suspension was “imminent,” which is a huge jump from “possible disciplinary action.”

There’s more. The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that the Celtics’ organization knew about this “consensual” relationship in July but are only choosing to act now, which is a very odd decision considering that it’s resulted in a year-long suspension for the Celtics’ head coach. But none of this is explained at all.

In fact, later on, the relationship is described as “intimate” instead of consensual, which is a completely different thing.

To make measures worse, other media members have received information from sources close to the matter but are hesitant to reveal anything. And that’s totally reasonable considering the sensitivity of the matter. But if you can’t say anything about it, then why speak at all? That’s the question nobody seems to be asking here.

This is the sort of piecemeal reporting we’d get for a trade negotiation or an offer in free agency. But lives are in the balance here. People’s peace has been taken away from them. Udoka’s fiancé, Nia Long, has to see all of this and constantly live through it.

This could’ve all been avoided had things been carefully reported out wholly and fully. What we have now feels more like lunch table gossip.

And these women all deserve way more respect than that.

The Tip-Off

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

John Wall meant a lot to me and so many other Wizards’ fans. Over the last decade, he almost single-handedly lifted the franchise from obscurity into NBA relevance.

So to see him struggling with mental health and contemplating suicide after everything he’s been through is hard. I wrote about it on Thursday. He described the grip depression had on him in a piece for the Player’s Tribune and it was deep.

“The one thing I always held on to, in the darkest times, was the thought of my boys — just the little things, like wanting to be around for their first day of school, or their first vacation. Or wanting them to see their dad play in an NBA game for real, and not just on some highlights from back in the day. Those thoughts held me down during a lot of hard nights. But if I’m being honest, even the thought of being a father wasn’t enough for me to get help. That’s how depression lies to you. That devil on your shoulder is whispering to you, ‘Well, maybe they’d be better off without you here.’”

That’s rough. Extremely rough. But I’m glad Wall is still here with us. And so many others are too.

Shootaround

Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

— Malika Andrews rightfully called out Stephen A. Smith for placing any sort of blame on the woman involved with Ime Udoka.

— Nia Long finally broke her silence on the Ime Udoka scandal.

— Ben Simmons finally explained why he passed up that dunk against the Hawks.

— Everything you need to know about Celtics’ new coach, Joe Mazzulla.

Enjoy the weekend, folks.

Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA).

The NBA won’t be able to protect Robert Sarver for much longer

The NBA will have some more major Robert Sarver problems on their hands soon

Welcome to Layup Lines, our daily NBA newsletter where we’ll prep you for a tip-off of tonight’s action, from what to watch to bets to make. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every afternoon

What’s good, fam. It’s Sykes back again for Layup Lines. Let’s talk about Robert Sarver. Again.

To this point, it doesn’t really feel like anyone aside from the NBA’s board of governors thinks his punishment for fostering a toxic workplace goes far enough. Compared to the allegations of racism, sexism, and workplace abuse levied against him, his punishment feels like a slap on the wrist.

It’s not just fans who feel this way. So do players, including LeBron James and Chris Paul who plays for Sarver’s Phoenix Suns. It also includes the team’s sponsors, including its jersey sponsor in PayPal who just severed ties with the team behind this.

It also includes at least one prominent minority owner from the Suns organization itself.

Team vice chair and minority owner Jahm Najafi called for Sarver’s resignation in an open letter to employees on Thursday evening, per ESPN’s Baxter Holmes. He very clearly states there should be “zero tolerance” for what Sarver did and is calling upon the powers that be to hold him to a higher standard.

He had strong words for the team’s employees after the league’s determination.

“The fact that Robert Sarver ‘owns’ the team does not give him a license to treat others differently than any other leader. The fact that anyone would find him fit to lead because of this ‘ownership’ position is forgetting that NBA teams belong to the communities they serve.”

Not only is that powerful, but it’s also true.

Being fortunate enough to own an NBA team doesn’t mean one can foster a toxic work environment with no consequences. If anything, the standard should be held higher here. Sarver is ultimately an ambassador for the league on the biggest scale. His values reflect the NBA’s values and one would think that, obviously, they aren’t in line right now.

The NBA is the only entity currently defending his indefensible actions and that’s only because they don’t want to get into litigation — I get it. Discovery is a billionaire’s worst nightmare and there are lots of billionaires being considered here.

But this ain’t going away. Media day is coming — players will be asked about this. More people within the organization will speak up about it. More organizations will pull sponsorship dollars away.

The NBA can’t protect Sarver here. Not anymore. It’s too late for that. Instead of trying to, it needs to figure out the best course of action to separate itself from him.

If they continue to try to, they’ll pay dearly for it with a loss of money, fans and maybe even the trust of their players. And I’m sure they don’t want that.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The Showtime Lakers of the 80s had a reunion in Hawaii and, man, did it look like a blast. This is how I pray my 50s and 60s go. The homie Bryan Kalbrosky had more here.

This looked like a truly delightful experience for the old teammates to get together once again now more than three decades later. The guys played golf together and reflected on their success and all of their relationships.

Spectrum SportsNet will premiere a “ShowTime Reunion” special on Nov. 4 once the post-game show concludes after the Lakers play the Jazz.

I will absolutely be watching that reunion…right after I finish the “Winning Time” on HBO. Yes, I’m ashamed.

Shootaround

— Breanna Stewart stopped by on Special Delivery to talk to me about her new signature shoe, the Stewie 1. This is a game changer.

— The NBA can’t just tell us Robert Sarver has evolved. They have to prove it.

—The Celtics’ lead governor thinks the team might be a tad bit overrated.

—Steph Curry thinks KD was better off sticking with the Nets as opposed to going to Boston because of course he does.

That’s all, folks. Enjoy the weekend.

Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA).