What would it take for Kobe Bryant to win the 2015-2016 NBA MVP award? As we handicap the MVP race for the 2015-2016 season, we’ll take a look at last season’s top five finishers— Stephen Curry, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis and LeBron James— along with Kevin Durant. But a question many Angelenos and basketball fans around the world have is what kind of numbers would Bryant have to put up in his age-37 season to take home the crown? To
The Warriors played at the fastest pace in the NBA (100.7). Stephen Curry led all individuals with the fastest pace among players (102.4). In fact, 5 of the 6 fastest paces were Warriors players. [Read more…]
It pays to be patient. That is the financial lesson of the NBA’s offseason, which saw the biggest pay raises go to players who turned down contract extensions and gambled on themselves. Among the top 11 pay increases this summer, five went to players who felt like they were being lowballed by their teams — and proved it when they cashed in with bigger deals as restricted free agents this summer. Chicago’s Jimmy Butler, Orlando’s Tobias Harris, Detroit’s Reggie Jackson, Oklahoma City’s Enes
With the new NBA season less than two months away, most players around the league are slowly but surely starting to prepare both physically and mentally for training camp and the upcoming grind. For Draymond Green and Marreese Speights of the Golden State Warriors, there is still plenty of time to admire what they were able to accomplish last season. Speights mentioned a couple of weeks ago what players on other teams can expect from Green next season thanks to the fact that
The Warriors and Rockets were the two top teams in the Western Conference last season, led by the league’s top two MVP candidates in Stephen Curry and James Harden. Both sides seemed on a collision course all year for the Western Conference Finals. Ultimately, the Warriors prevailed on their way to an NBA title, and Curry (media) and Harden (players) essentially split the MVP hardware. Given all those high-profile meetings, it’s only natural for some animosity to develop along the way. It
The silence following Jonas Valanciunas’ contract extension was deafening. When the Toronto Raptors gave a reported $64 million over four years to Valanciunas, there were no proclamations from pundits that the NBA’s financial sky was falling. Owners didn’t start forming plans of collusion. No one drew comparisons to Jim McIlvaine. On the other side, there have been no whispers that Raptors GM Masai Ujiri engineered another steal. Virtually no one has suggested that Valanciunas got fleeced. Agent Leon Rose – who days
The kinder, gentler NBA schedule is out. First, here’s the stuff you want. Opening Night is Tuesday, Oct. 27 and has a TNT doubleheader with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers visiting the Chicago Bulls and the New Orleans Pelicans visiting MVP Stephen Curry and the defending champion Golden State Warriors, who will be handing out rings and hoisting their title banner. Both are rematches of playoff showdowns. The following night, it’s ESPN’s turn with Kevin Durant returning for the Oklahoma City Thunder
So the month of August begins with another head-scratcher award for Sam Hinkie. The mad scientist in Philadelphia had earned plenty of props on this site for his acquisition of three rotation players — Jason Thompson, Nik Stauskas and Carl Landry — along with a first-round pick and the right to swap two additional two first-round picks with Sacramento in the early-July deal that allowed the Kings to clear the cap space to sign Rajon Rondo, Marco Belinelli and Kosta Koufos. The