Newly-signed New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr took his family to the New Orleans Pelicans game on Saturday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Smoothie King Center. They were able to sit courtside, and were welcomed by the home-crowd fans with an uproar of applause.
Carr and his sons Dallas, Deker and Deakon along with daughter Brooklyn and wife Heather have been given the superstar treatment by the Saints and Pelicans organizations for his first day in the city.
The Pelicans would go on to lose the game to the Thunder by a score of 110-96, giving him a realistic outlook on the current state of the team. Maybe he can make another trip when Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram return.
The team put the rest of the NBA on notice. It is not to be toyed with. Zion Williamson made sure the Phoenix Suns knew that, too.
He punctuated the Pelicans’ win with a thunderous dunk worthy of ever 50 score the NBA’s dunk contest has ever seen. It rattled the entire arena, mostly in a good way for the home crowd. We can’t say the same for Chris Paul and the Suns, though.
It didn’t go over too well with the team. The dunk nearly started a scuffle between the two squads.
Queue up the unwritten rule talk. The Suns were mad. Super mad.
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Russell Westbrook isn’t the problem for the Lakers. He’s actually the solution
Alright. It’s still too early to tell exactly what sort of team the Lakers are. We can’t anoint them, obviously. But we also can’t bury them either. Especially now since, well, they may have finally made a move that could save their season.
And the engine behind it all might be the biggest surprise of all. It’s the much-maligned Russell Westbrook.
Lakers fans have been demanding that they trade their former All-Star point guard for a full season now, and rightfully so. There are times when he’s looked completely unplayable for LA.
But 3 games ago, Darvin Ham played a card that probably should’ve been used a long time ago: Playing Westbrook with the bench.
This version of Russell Westbrook has looked like the best version of himself that everyone remembers. He’s got the reigns of the offense again. He’s been playing with the second unit along with Anthony Davis in the pick-and-roll and has looked incredible.
He’s darting to the rim with vigor again and collapsing the defense leading to easy scores for his teammates.
And, most importantly, he is finally buying into his role. He celebrated the team’s first win against the Nuggets where he came off the bench despite not being in to close things out in the 4th quarter.
He genuinely seems to enjoy playing this role right now. He called it “beneficial for everybody in my opinion,” which is in stark contrast to what things were at the beginning of the season.
"When I'm in a right position to be able to help my teammates and make them better, it's beneficial for everybody in my opinion."
This is just a different Westbrook. And, honestly, through the last 3 games, he’s probably been the Lakers’ most productive player. That bears itself out in the numbers.
Westbrook hasn’t just been a part of the Lakers’ turnaround — he’s the force that is literally charging it. He’s been good. Very good. And Lakers fans have him to thank for giving them hope early this season.
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NBA Twitter reacts to the Brooklyn Nets getting blown out in their home season opener by the New Orleans Pelicans. =
24 teams took the NBA courts Wednesday in what was the first packed game day of the 2022-23 season.
The Brooklyn Nets once again stole the night’s show — not for a good reason — as they got blown out at home 130-108 by the New Orleans Pelicans.
Both Kyrie Irving (15 points) and Ben Simmons (four points, six fouls) had poor season debuts, and as one would expect, Twitter didn’t let them off the hook.
Reports indicate that the New Orleans Pelicans are uninterested in trading away Brandon Ingram in a possible Kevin Durant deal.
While Kevin Durant’s trade reiteration has forced some teams to reconsider entering the trade market for the forward, it seems that the New Orleans Pelicans are no longer interested in offering one of their top assets.
According to a report from Christian Clark of Nola.com, the Pelicans are uninterested in giving away Brandon Ingram. Clark wrote, “If Durant gets moved, the New Orleans Pelicans could be players in the sweepstakes, but that would likely require them to surrender Brandon Ingram. League sources say the Pelicans are unwilling to do so.”
Obviously, the Nets price tag on Durant clearly requires a couple of talented established talents alongside draft compensation, which is making it difficult to make any leeway on an actual trade.
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As the season approaches the Nets front office will be scrambling to get the roster fully prepared, which means finding the right trade and to get it done with enough time to train as a team.
Reports indicate that former MVP Kevin Durant would not be interested in a trade to the New Orleans Pelicans.
As the Brooklyn Nets continue to receive offers for former MVP Kevin Durant, it’s been reported that despite the New Orleans Pelicans’ assets that Durant likely would not want to land in Louisiana.
NBA writer Michael Scotto of HoopsHype talked with NBA executives and inferred that Durant would not want to land in the small-market of New Orleans. Scotto continued, “Other rival executives believe Durant wouldn’t want to be traded to New Orleans.”
According to Scotto, the Brooklyn Nets are “holding out for a kings ransom.” The Rudy Gobert trade to the Minnesota Timberwolves increased the trade value for sharpshooting forward Durant. One rival manager said, “Durant is worth a James Harden type of package.”
Rival execs believe that Durant should be an untouchable asset, calling him, “[the] best professional scorer the game has ever seen.”
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Kings All-Star Domantas Sabonis seems to be working out with Durant and jokingly said that he’s “waiting” to see how to trade unfolds. The team will absolutely take their time with trading these two stars so we’re in for a long ride.
The NBA world felt shockwaves when the Jazz sent Rudy Gobert to Minnesota in a blockbuster trade for a historic return. When the Jazz got eliminated from the playoffs in April, speculation began on whether the Jazz would break up their All-Star duo and enter a rebuild. In our offseason preview for the Jazz, we concluded that they were in good hands for a rebuild under newly hired Danny Ainge because of his history of extracting optimal value in trades.
The former Boston Celtics executive managed to outdo his previous haul from the 2013 trade with the Brooklyn Nets by not only getting three unprotected first-round picks again (2023, 2025, 2027), but also an additional Top 5 protected first in 2029. If you include this year’s 22nd overall pick, Walker Kessler, the Jazz got five first-round picks for Gobert, all without taking on any long-term money. They also traded Royce O’Neale to the Nets for a first-round pick on the eve of free agency.
Now the big question is, what happens next? And what that really is asking is if the Jazz will also trade Donovan Mitchell now that the roster has taken a major competitive hit in the short term. As hard as it is to move an all-time generational defender, who by all accounts was fully bought-in to the organization and the city of Utah, the return they got was too good to pass.
One of the top free agents on the market has made a decision regarding his player option.
Below is the latest intel gathered by HoopsHype on some of the top names on the free agent market, including Bradley Beal, and notable prospects in this year’s draft class like Jake LaRavia.
