Tag: Torrey Craig

How one player in the Suns and Bucks NBA finals could get a ring no matter who wins the title

A weird fact.

Torrey Craig could have already claimed an NBA championship ring, even if the team he’s currently a member of — the Phoenix Suns — wins or the squad he was on — the Milwaukee Bucks — claims victory in the 2021 Finals.

That’s right: Craig played 18 games for the Bucks in the 2020-21 season, before the Deer dealt him to Phoenix in March. Since then, he’s played 32 games for the Suns including eight starts.

That would mean he could end up qualifying to get a ring no matter who wins.

It’s a pretty cool fact, but it brings up an important question: would he accept a ring from the Bucks if they beat the Suns? That would be kind of weird.

Many fans and experts are pointing out that this is similar to what happened with Anderson Verajao, the forward who was traded by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 and then eventually landed on the Golden State Warriors that same season. He told the media if the Cavaliers won, he wouldn’t accept it.

To me, that makes all the sense in the world. It would look kind of weird to fight for a ring, lose to a team you battle in a series and then accept it. But we’ll see! It’ll be moot if the Suns win.

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Free agency stock watch: Jeff Green, Georges Niang, Torrey Craig and more

The NBA playoffs are nearing the end of the second round and players around the league are beginning to separate the good from the great. 

The NBA playoffs are nearing the end of the second round and players around the league are beginning to separate the good from the great.

Under the brightest lights, these games have massive implications for the future value of upcoming free agents. Of course, executives around the league always have tough decisions to make about who they plan to re-sign as well as who they plan to pursue or let walk during free agency. But with postseason play, some of those hard choices are becoming easier to make.

For this exercise, we have also included salary projections from ProFitX, which is a financial and performance index powered by artificial intelligence. Their program models historical and future performance data to monitor and project insights on contracts.

As part of our ongoing series at HoopsHype, we are looking at whose free agency stock has gone up – and down – over the last several games.

LeBron James throws down furious slam over Torrey Craig at Denver

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James imposed his will in the third quarter of their game against the Denver Nuggets.

As LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers tried to end their incredible first half of the season on a high note, LeBron showed that even against some of the best defenders in the NBA, even in Year 17, that he can make fearsome defenders look minuscule.

LeBron and the Lakers were locked into a tightly contested match-up, as anticipated, with the No. 2-seeded Denver Nuggets in their final game before the All-Star break. LeBron and Anthony Davis have both played like stars, scoring 15 points apiece, but James did something even bigger with a drive during the 3rd quarter of Wednesday’s game. When he was guarded by one of Denver’s more feared defenders, Torrey Craig, he made the 6-7, 221 lbs., forward look small.

LeBron James and the Lakers currently have a three-game lead over the Nuggets for the best record in the Western Conference. Coming into tonight, both teams had won on the other’s homecourt, though the Nuggets win at L.A. came without LeBron James.

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