With the trade deadline looming, a pair of teams have reportedly expressed interest in Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins.
With the deadline around the corner, trade news is beginning to buzz around the NBA. While many names have been linked to the Golden State Warriors as potential additions, Andrew Wiggins’ name has been mentioned in different rumors as a player that could be leaving the Bay Area.
On a recent edition of Fan Duel’s “Run It Back” show, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that two teams are expressing interest in the Warriors forward. According to Charania, the Dallas Mavericks and Indiana Pacers have expressed interest in Wiggins.
"The Mavericks and Pacers are two teams, I'm told, that are expressing interest in [Andrew] Wiggins."@ShamsCharania updates on the the Warriors trade deadline plans. pic.twitter.com/XfkOHNW4XP
Wiggins has struggled during the 2023-24 season, averaging a career-low 12.2 points on 43.7% shooting from the field with 4.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.
Through five seasons with the Warriors, Wiggins has averaged 16.8 points on 46.6% shooting from the floor with 4.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 31.6 minutes per game. Wiggins was a key piece in Golden State’s championship run in 2022, earning an All-Star starter bid along the way.
The NBA trade deadline is set for Thursday, Feb. 8 at 12 p.m. PT.
Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to the Lakers winning the first-ever In-Season Tournament.
The Los Angeles Lakers have won the first NBA In-Season Tournament after beating the Indiana Pacers 123-109 in the Final.
Anthony Davis was unstoppable with a huge double-double of 41 points, 20 rebounds, six assists and four blocks, while LeBron James added 24 points and 11 rebounds. Austin Reaves added scoring off the bench with 25 points as well.
Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to AD’s performance and the Lakers title.
Here’s a quick primer for the NBA In-Season Tournament tiebreakers.
It feels like the NBA’s In-Season tournament just started, but two teams have already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. The Lakers and Pacers have officially moved on, meaning two of the eight available spots for the knockout round have been taken.
There are six spots left and just under a week to figure out which teams will get them. And considering where things stand right now, it looks like things could get pretty tight down the stretch.
Now is as good a time as ever to discuss the current standings and go over the tiebreakers for the rest of the tournament. So, without further ado, let’s dig in.
What’s up, folks! Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thanks so much for chopping it up with me today. I appreciate you.
The in-season tournament is finally here! We’ve been waiting months for this moment and it’s finally culminating. Just in case you need a refresher on how things work for this, here’s a quick one we put together just for the occasion.
It should be lots of fun. It’ll be interesting to see whether this thing works out or not. The stakes aren’t the most riveting — players and coaches of the winning team get to split an $18 million pool.
That’s not nothing, obviously. To be clear, I’m not already trying to fix this idea when it hasn’t presented any problems yet. But I do think there’s a way to raise the stake a bit more for next season if the NBA wants to. It’s a pretty easy add — just involve the NBA playoffs.
“I think the greatest incentive for everybody to do it would be an automatic playoff bid. … If it was a playoff spot, I think everyone would take it very, very serious, right? I think the older teams would take it serious. But then it might … what would [the winning team] do then?”
Now that’s a spicy tournament.
Theoretically, it’s pretty simple to do. If this tournament works out well, the league could spice things up with an automatic playoff berth for the winner. Make it so that the team that wins gets no lower than an automatic 6th seed in the conference.
If you’re one of the top seeds in the playoffs, maybe you get to choose your opponent between the play-in teams that make it in. Or maybe you get to choose your homecourt format for the first round of the playoffs. There are some things the league could throw in to make that interesting for the best teams, too.
It’s probably best the NBA didn’t go that route this year. It’s hard to justify raising the stakes so high on an unproven event. There’s a chance this thing doesn’t go well and nobody likes it. That’s probably not going to happen — but there is a chance!
It’s best to test things out first and see how they work before the stakes are raised again. But don’t be surprised if this is something that’s being considered in a few years. It gives the players something other than cash to play for and makes things a tad bit more riveting.
Just food for thought, though. For now, let’s enjoy the format we do have. Here’s to a good in-season tournament, NBA.
James Harden still doesn’t get it
(AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
On Thursday in his first press conference with the Clippers, James Harden made his best Jay-Z impression. “I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man,” the hip-hop laureate once famously said.
“When I meant a leash, I don’t mean just shooting the basketball every time. Like, I think the game and I’m a creator on the court. … I’m not a system player. I am a system. You know what I mean?”
I’m not a system player. I am a system. Sheesh.
There were plenty of rumors about Harden wanting a different role in Philadelphia. He didn’t seem to enjoy the play style centered around Joel Embiid. Those were only rumors, though.
Here he kind of confirms all of that. And that’s probably not what you want to hear if you’re a Clippers fan.
Harden is about to be the third option on this team behind both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. There’s not going to be a ton of room for Harden to create. He’s going to have to feed off of other players. It remains to be seen whether he can do that or not here.
If his last stint in Philly is any indication, he can’t. Let’s hope that’s not true.
What to watch
Make sure you take a good look at each of the NBA’s in-season tournament courts tonight. They’re certainly going to be a sight to behold.
I’ve made my opinion that I don’t like these very clear. Some of them are already beginning to pop up on social media. The Pacers were kind enough to share a time-lapse video of the staff laying the court down and it looks wild.
Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to Bruce Brown signing a deal with the Pacers.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski, Bruce Brown has agreed on a two-year, $45 million deal with the Indiana Pacers. Denver – limited in what it could pay – loses a key piece to its repeat hopes.
Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to the Nuggets losing out an important piece of their 2023 championship puzzle.
What banners did you hang, Paul George? Central division banners?
Now, listen. I’m not one to fall victim to the whole RINGZ OVER EVERYTHING culture that has taken over NBA coverage for years.
That’s a zero-sum game for all of us. Only one team can win a championship every year, but that doesn’t mean that other players and other teams aren’t worth appreciating.
But it’s hard not to admit that the guy is probably a bit off when it comes to looking back on his tenure with the Pacers.
George talked about how he “hung banners” in Indiana on his new Podcast P show. And the rest of us are just trying to figure out which banners he’s talking about.
— Podcast P with Paul George (@PodcastPShow) March 16, 2023
“I genuinely feel as much as they aren’t happy with how things went about, they boo me because, at the end of the day, it’s love. And I’ve still got love there. I hung banners there. I’ll always be grateful for the time that I was there.”
Banners, y’all. Are we talking Central Division banners? He has to be, right? George’s number isn’t retired in Indiana. He’s not even sure if his number is going to be retired in Indiana himself.
Generally, when people talk about banners, they’re talking about championships. But the Pacers never actually made it to the NBA Finals during George’s tenure. Indiana came close, sure. But LeBron James was standing in the way. So, yeah. Everyone was a bit confused.
The internet absolutely roasted George for this take.
It’s not time for Brooklyn to force their hand with a Kyrie trade just yet
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 the weekend. How about that Kyrie Irving news, huh?
The Brooklyn Nets are in a precarious situation. Their All-Star point guard has demanded a trade after contract negotiations fell through and, now, is forcing the Nets to make a choice: Either lose him for nothing this summer or make a trade. It’s the organization’s choice.
But, really, Brooklyn doesn’t have to do anything. Not just yet.
Yes, of course, the NBA’s trade deadline is on February 9. If the Nets want to get anything back in return for Irving right now, there’s only about a week left to do it. But Brooklyn doesn’t have to move Irving or sign him to an extension — not right now. That’s why we’re in this situation in the first place.
Irving wants to be paid his max salary. That’s why the two sides were in the midst of contract negotiations throughout the last week. Irving’s representation made it clear that he wanted to be there despite his trade request in the summer. The Nets, however, have been dragging their feet, per NBA Insider Marc Stein, because they believe there’s not a robust market for the guard and that he’ll need their help to leave for a desired destination via sign-and-trade in the summertime.
Irving is currently eligible for a 4-year, $198 million extension with the Nets and he could reasonably sign that sort o max deal in the offseason. But the only way he gets it is by either signing with Brooklyn outright or having them organize a sign-and-trade for his max salary. No other team can offer him as much as the Nets can, and it’s clear he wants to be paid his max.
He could just leave outright and decide to spurn them in the summer and that’s the risk Brooklyn would be taking on by doing nothing here. But what’s the harm in that? The market isn’t expected to be robust anyway, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Brooklyn could let him play out his deal, see where things end up and, if he leaves in the offseason, blow things up anyway. Trade Kevin Durant, see what’s out there for Ben Simmons and just move on from this Nets era. The Nets would have the pieces to move forward from that alone. Sure, they missed out on a return for Irving. But so what? It’d just be a sunk cost at that point. It probably wouldn’t speed up any rebuild in a tremendous fashion.
So, no. The Nets don’t have to do anything right now. The team does still have leverage and this isn’t a done deal.
We just have to wait and see how it plays out.
The Tip-Off
Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.
(Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
There were basketball things that happened in the NBA outside of the Kyrie news today.
Before this, Dillon Brooks vs. Donovan Mitchell was the subject of (not too much) debate around the league. Everyone thinks Brooks should be suspended for delivering a cheap shot to Mitchell, including my colleague Charles Curtis.
Here’s more:
“Normally, a cheap shot to the groin from another player might be a fineable offense if there’s no history from the offender.
And when you hear from Mitchell there are other cases of Brooks being dirty that players around the league have noticed, it’s time for the NBA to take a stand and hand down a suspension that will draw the line at what Brooks can and can’t do.”
Dillon Brooks’ history here is exactly why the NBA needs to do something here. He, quite literally, cannot keep getting away with this.
Wizards (-3.5, -150) vs. Trail Blazers (+140), O/U 236.5, 7 PM ET
Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports
This is going to be a pretty good game. Don’t look now, but the Wizards have the longest winning streak (6 games) in the NBA. But they’ll absolutely have their hands full covering Damian Lillard, who is averaging 39.1 points on 53% shooting from the field. The dude is on fire.
I’d take the Blazers here +3.5. Nobody seems to have answers for Lillard and the Wizards love to play a close game.
The Pacers’ newly minted All-Star point guard subtly called the officiating crew for Thursday’s Lakers-Pacers game out after Indiana didn’t shoot a single free throw in the 4th quarter.
The Pacers had a poor quarter overall. They only scored 15 points and had an offensive rating of 65.2. Normally, they’ve got one of the best offenses in the league — especially when Haliburton is in the driver’s seat. So what happened?
Reporters asked the Pacers’ point guard about it in the post-game press conference and his explanation was incredible.
Basically, he blamed the lack of foul calls as the reason why the Pacers’ offense was bogged down. He also hilariously brought up the completely ridiculous “sleepless nights” tweet from the NBA Officials‘ Twitter account that still makes me cackle when I think about it.
This man is already an All-Star in the post-game press conference.
"I think we didn't get our first foul in the 4th until the last 30 seconds. I'm not going to say anything, but what was the tweet? Sleepless nights?"
Tyrese Haliburton brings up the NBA referees "sleepless nights" tweet after the loss to the Lakers 👀pic.twitter.com/eUHAOqhjfH
“Yeah, I don’t know, man. Some missed shots. I think there was a lot of stuff that went into it. Poor 4th quarter all around. I think we didn’t get our first foul until the last 30 seconds.”
Then, he made THIS face. And you know the vibes that come with this face.
Haliburton said he wasn’t going to say anything, but that face says it all. Then he finishes with “What was the tweet? Sleepless nights?” And it’s just perfect.
Like everyone else, referees make mistakes. We made one at the end of last night’s game and that is gut-wrenching for us. This play will weigh heavily and cause sleepless nights as we strive to be the best referees we can be.https://t.co/WyN8QVuTOl
This happened after LeBron James and the Lakers complained for essentially an entire day after the officials missed a game-changing foul call at the end of their matchup against the Celtics. Now, the shoe is on the other foot. At least, according to Haliburton.
For what it’s worth, Haliburton said the Pacers didn’t get a foul call “until the last 30 seconds” of the game, which is incorrect. The Lakers were called for 3 fouls in the quarter, but none of them actually led to free throws for Indiana. So his point still stands, sort of.
CONSPIRACY. He’ll definitely get a fine for this one. But I’m sure LeBron James, of all people, will appreciate it.
NBA trade season is here and this is everything you need to know about the next 3 months
Over the next few months, we are almost certain to see lots of chaos swirling around the NBA. The good kind of chaos, though.
The league is in a unique position right now. There’s more parity in the league now than there has been in decades. In total, there are 21 teams with a record of either 3 or fewer games below .500 or 3 games or more above .500.
That number is up from 17, which was the most the league had ever seen a quarter of the way through the season, according to Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated.
So here’s what that means. More than half of the teams in the NBA probably think they can compete for a playoff spot, at the bare minimum. And a smaller fraction of that group probably thinks, if things break right, then their team can probably compete for a championship.
That’s exactly why trade season is about to be wild. There are going to be lots of rumors flying around with teams trying to pry players from one another. It can either be very quiet with teams hoarding their players to try and compete or a complete madhouse with teams trying to shuffle the deck and make a run. That’s the fun of it — we have no idea what will come from now until February.
Regardless, there are certain things you need to know before we dive into this chaotic period. So let’s dig in.
