Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to the Lakers blowing a 17-point lead against the Pacers.
The Los Angeles Lakers blew a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter against the Indiana Pacers, losing 116-115 in Los Angeles.
Benedict Mathurin (23 points) outscored LeBron James (21), and NBA Twitter took notice.
Obi Toppin is ready for another appearance in the dunk contest
You know how it goes with Knicks fans, man. They will be absolutely over the moon about nearly anything remotely positive that happens to their team. Remember their reaction after the first win of the season last year against the Celtics? Good times. Goooood times.
Today, though, they actually have something to be extremely pumped about. Obi Toppin just made one of the coolest back-to-back plays we’re probably going to see all year long and the regular season hasn’t even started yet.
Toppin blocked a 3-pointer on one end which is already generally super hard to do. But then, he followed that up by pulling out an East Bay dunk mid-game.
It was truly spectacular.
OBI TOPPIN EASTBAY OH MY 🤯 pic.twitter.com/EXHUrkSyQK
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 8, 2022
That’s a dunk contest dunk — in the middle of a game. To pull that out? Man. That’s a lot of skill and confidence.
Knicks fans were here for it. Even regular NBA fans had to appreciate it. It was that good.
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With the dog days of August upon us, NBA executives and several free agents are awaiting a blockbuster trade domino to fall with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Donovan Mitchell, and Russell Westbrook as potential candidates to be moved.
Several notable names remain on the free agent market, including Collin Sexton, Montrezl Harrell, Dennis Schroeder, Carmelo Anthony, LaMarcus Aldridge, Jordan Nwora, DeMarcus Cousins, Isaiah Thomas, Blake Griffin, Tristan Thompson, and Lou Williams, per our HoopsHype free agent rankings.
As those free agents wait for a blockbuster trade to open up potential roster spots, here’s the latest HoopsHype intel report on trade talks between the Knicks and Jazz for Mitchell, Westbrook’s future with the Lakers, Turner’s future with the Pacers, and several updates on the Houston Rockets.
LAS VEGAS – There are three consistent questions asked along the concourse between the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas when bumping into NBA personnel since the start of NBA Summer League:Â
“Where is Kevin Durant going?”Â
“What’s going on with Kyrie Irving?”Â
“What are you hearing about Deandre Ayton?”Â
Below is the latest intel gathered by HoopsHype on trade talks surrounding Durant and Irving and the free agency of Ayton.Â
After making a trip to the NBA Finals this past season, the Boston Celtics wasted no time to boost their roster to compete for the 2023 championship.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Celtics traded for Malcolm Brogdon, in exchange for Daniel Theis, Aaron Nesmith and a 2023 first-round pick.
As always, NBA Twitter reacted to the news, following Woj’s report.
Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to Malcolm Brogdon’s trade to the Boston Celtics.
After making a trip to the NBA Finals this past season, the Boston Celtics wasted no time to boost their roster to compete for the 2023 championship.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Celtics traded for Malcolm Brogdon, in exchange for Daniel Theis, Aaron Nesmith and a 2023 first-round pick.
As always, NBA Twitter reacted to the news, following Woj’s report.
With free agency just three days away, HoopsHype’s salary cap expert Yossi Gozlan came up with several trades he’d like to share.
Ben Mathurin’s confidence is through the roof right now. LeBron James might settle it down.
Ah, to be young. The irrational confidence that comes when you don’t really know anything about anything is absolute bliss. I wish I could get it back.
And, look. I’m not old — yerboi is only 29 years old. But at 19? If I knew what I knew now? I’d probably have viewed the world a lot different back then. But I also wouldn’t be where I am now, so it all worked out.
I say all that to say Benedict Mathurin has an extreme case of irrational confidence and, honestly, you’ve got to respect it.
This dude was just picked 6th overall in the NBA draft and had an absolutely wild path in getting there. He should be confident. He is good. He’s officially one of the best 400 or so basketball players in the world.
But should he be confident enough to call out LeBron James who might be one of the best basketball players ever? Ehhhh, probably not.
Alas. Here he is doing just that.
Bennedict Mathurin wants to test LeBron James đź‘€ (via @washingtonpost):
“A lot of people say he’s great. I want to see how great he is. I don’t think anybody is better than me. He’s going to have to show me he’s better than me.” pic.twitter.com/cx3ghu9n1R
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) June 24, 2022
“A lot of people say he’s great. I want to see how great he is. I don’t think anybody is better than me. He’s going to have to show me he’s better than me.”Â
Ben. My guy. It’s LeBron, bro. We’ve all seen it. You’ve got to respect this sort of confidence. But at the same time, we’ve all seen how left this can go.
Just ask DeShawn Stevenson or Stanley Johnson or Jaylen Brown. The whole calling LeBron out thing didn’t work out for them at all. Probably isn’t the best idea here, either.
But hey, man. Can you really blame Ben? He’s, like, 12 years old. He wasn’t even around for a lot of that.
Nobody thought this was a great idea. No one.
The NBA Draft is less than a week away, with more potential big trades on the horizon following the Christian Wood acquisition by the Dallas Mavericks, as noted throughout our new HoopsHype aggregate mock draft.
To get a better projection of where all of the projected top prospects stand currently, we compiled mock drafts from ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, The Ringer, Sports Illustrated, NBADraft.net, CBS Sports, SB Nation, Yahoo, Basketball News, and USA TODAY’s For The Win.
The most notable risers within the projected lottery selections included Dyson Daniels moving up further within the top 10 picks, Ousmane Dieng becoming a projected lottery pick, and Jalen Williams vaulting into the Top 20 range. Jake LaRavia and Dalen Terry, two of the biggest risers throughout the draft process, have moved into the late first round.
Other risers in the second round include Ryan Rollins, Andrew Nembhard, David Roddy, John Butler, Michael Foster, Gabriele Procida, and Dereon Seabron.
The notable name that fell was MarJon Beauchamp, who now is projected outside the top 20 picks despite receiving a green room invite. Josh Minott and Jean Montero were among those whose stock fell in the second round.
NOTE: These rankings reflect the composite score to get a feel for the overall consensus, not our own opinion. For example, if a player was the first pick on a publication’s mock draft, he received 58 points. If a player was second, he received 57 points and so on. We then tabulated the total number of points for each player’s consensus ranking.Â
HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report
Following the withdrawals of several prospects, the aggregate NBA mock draft has shifted noticeably, and more intel on teams have surfaced with the draft nearing.
To get a better projection of where all of the projected top prospects stand currently, we compiled mock drafts from ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, The Ringer, Sports Illustrated, NBADraft.net, CBS Sports, SB Nation, Yahoo, Basketball News, and USA TODAY’s For The Win.
The most notable risers within the projected lottery selections included Keegan Murray leaping Shaedon Sharpe into the top five range, Dyson Daniels entering the top 10, and Malaki Branham cracking the end of the lottery. Dalen Terry also vaulted 12 spots since our last aggregate mock draft and is currently positioned as an early second-round pick.
Some of the more notable names that fell slightly included TyTy Washington, Max Christie and Leonard Miller.
NOTE: These rankings reflect the composite score to get a feel for the overall consensus, not our own opinion. For example, if a player was the first pick on a publication’s mock draft, he received 58 points. If a player was second, he received 57 points and so on. We then tabulated the total number of points for each player’s consensus ranking.
HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report
