Nets point guard Deron Williams is being paid $19,754,465 this season. That’s just over $240,908 a game and $60,227 a quarter. After a strong start to the season, Williams had a bad December hindered by a calf injury and was supplanted in the starting lineup by Jarrett Jack. Jack has thrived in his new role as a starter for Brooklyn, which has won four of five. With head coach Lionel Hollins all but saying that Jack will be the starter for the forseeable future, Williams
Every time someone summons up the nerve to ask, “What’s wrong with the Spurs?” the defending NBA champions have provided an emphatic response: Nothing. They did it in November, beating the Clippers and Warriors on the road on consecutive nights after losses to Houston and New Orleans. They did it again in December, beating the Clippers to end a four-game losing streak that included back-to-back excruciating triple-overtime losses. And they did it again last night, beating the Rockets for the first time
When Paul Pierce signed with the Washington Wizards on July 11, it seemed like Washington downgraded from Trevor Ariza, who departed to Houston. Two months into the season, it’s time for a fresh look. In our own free agency tracker, there were not kind words for the aging Pierce. “And while this may seem like a fine consolation prize for Ernie Grunfeld and Randy Wittman, anybody in Boston or Brooklyn who has been watching Pierce closely for the past two years
The league is beginning to recognize what kind of player the Brooklyn Nets have in Mason Plumlee, and the team is starting to realize it as well. After starting the last seven games at center, Brooklyn finally has a healthy, young core foundation piece for the present and future. Brooklyn was reportedly not enthused with a recent trade offer from Sacramento for point guard Deron Williams. It turns out, according to ESPN, that the Kings’ main target was Plumlee, not Williams. The Nets are reportedly unwilling
Now that Josh Smith is gone, what does the long-term future hold for Greg Monroe? A rival executive believes he will end up with the New York Knicks. “I could see $48 million for four years. I don’t think he’s a max (contract) guy, but he is pretty good. He might get more based on who is left on the board. I could see New York overpaying him,” the executive told SheridanHoops. Monroe has a trade veto after signing his qualifying offer
While many GMs were working the phones this week, Knicks president Phil Jackson was using a different, more contemporary form of communication: Twitter. On Thursday, Donnie Nelson and Danny Ainge swung a five-player trade that sent Rajon Rondo to Dallas and draft picks to Boston. On Friday, Daryl Morey, Flip Saunders and Sam Hinkie worked a three-team deal that landed Corey Brewer and Alexey Shved in Houston and draft picks in Minnesota and Philadelphia. But not Jackson, and not the Knicks. Jackson doesn’t
A visibly drained Jimmy Butler got off the team bus and walked through the tunnels of American Airlines Arena feeling under the weather. As he entered the locker room on December 14 in Miami, the 25-year-old swingman showed the exhausted demeanor of a player who’s led the NBA in minutes played and miles travelled per game since October of 2013. His availability for the game against Miami should have been uncertain. But with Joakim Noah sidelined with an ankle injury, Butler would not let his already-shorthanded teammates face off against
Toronto Raptors basketball was non-existent for a long time. There was more booing than cheering, the word “retooling” became too familiar, and games rarely gathered genuine excitement. That was their identity, or lack thereof. I went to my first Raptors game at the age of 13. Toronto had a good team that year, they won 47 games and finished first in the Atlantic Division. The Raps were hosting the Denver Nuggets at Air Canada Centre, a hot team with Carmelo Anthony and