There is a ton of money available in NBA free agency next summer, and everyone knows it – especially players in the final year of their contracts. Across all sports, the contract year phenomenon occurs when an athlete performs at his highest level with millions of dollars on the line in a contract season. As a result, players naturally put in extra work in the gym and focus more clearly with their financial future hanging in the balance. Some players use these
What is the next big surprise? When will it happen? We are inside of 48 hours until the league’s moratorium ends, so fasten your seatbelts, folks. This summer’s free agency period has provided as much suspense and excitement as the NBA Finals. The San Antonio Spurs have agreed to terms with LaMarcus Aldridge and David West while retaining Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green in hopes of returning to the Finals. West said he wanted to play for a title
Blake Griffin has taken his game to a new level in the playoffs. Griffin is averaging 25.4 points, 13.4 rebounds, 7.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. Griffin has recorded a double-double in all nine playoff games, including three triple-doubles. With Chris Paul out for the first two games of the series against the Houston Rockets, Griffin has also become more of a vocal leader in the huddle. With that in mind, I joined Yahoo! Sports Radio host Geoff
Rudy Gobert had a coming out party for the NBA during the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge with 18 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks for the World Team. The Utah Jazz eventually traded Enes Kanter at the deadline, which promoted Gobert into a full-time starting role. Since then, Gobert has averaged 10.5 points, 14.1 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game while shooting 57 percent from the field. Another big man who’s played well lately has been New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony
BROOKLYN – You know the MVP race is something special when the player leading the NBA in PER (31.4), blocks per game (2.8) and field goals made per game (9.5) isn’t running away with the award. In fact, Anthony Davis is in a five-man cluster on the MVP leaderboard along with – in no particular order – Stephen Curry, LeBron James, James Harden and Russell Westbrook. But when most people are forced to pick one and only one name, you rarely hear
NEW YORK – Nearly three years ago to the date, Jeremy Lin began his rise as a worldwide icon during “Linsanity.” Lin had Madison Square Garden buzzing like Times Square on New Year’s Eve on a nightly basis. Three years later, Lin returned to the Garden on Sunday as a bench player on a struggling Lakers team headed for the lottery while keeping his “options open” heading into unrestricted free agency this summer. [Read more…]
Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers are used to contending for championships, but through five games the team is tied with the Philadelphia 76ers (0-6) for the fewest wins in the league — zero. Bryant’s disdain for losing and the struggles of the Lakers prompted an interesting question: Would the Lakers and Knicks benefit from a trade involving Bryant? New York has Phil Jackson, the Triangle offense and cap space to absorb Bryant’s contract and the Lakers aren’t going to contend
I noticed recently that ESPN’s Bill Simmons had been using the term “Third Banana” when referring to the third-best player on a team. A simple concept, but it did get me thinking. Who are the best “third bananas” in the NBA? I decided to put together a list ranking every team’s third-best player, and then I’d put that player into an overall league ranking, from 1-30. Ultimately I was hoping to stumble upon a correlation between how high a teams Third Banana