Welcome back to NBA Star Power Index — a weekly gauge of the players who are most controlling the buzz around the league.
Brad Stevens didn’t take long to make his first blockbuster move as the Boston Celtics’ new general manager.
Walker’s contract, which still has two years and just under $74 million remaining on it, was supposed to be a bit harder than this to get rid of — but Sam Presti was once again ready to jump on another team’s desperation to move an All-Star point guard.
Might we look back at this deal with Boston in similar fashion? There’s certainly a chance Walker, if he can get and stay healthy, ends up being a much better player than Horford over the next year or two — which would be a tough pill for Boston to swallow having given up the No.
When he was on the court and at full strength, he was everything the Celtics expected when they did the sign-and-trade with the Charlotte Hornets after losing Kyrie Irving.
It’s been a frustratingly familiar tale in Boston — bringing in big-name players who are supposed to put them over the top only to watch those players figuratively crumble.
In came Walker, who was an All-Star his first year in Boston, but was ultimately never more than a third wheel behind Tatum and Brown.
George has laid a few high-profile eggs in his career, but he’s had a lot of monster moments, too.
With the Clippers tied 2-2 with the Jazz and Kawhi Leonard out, George led the Clippers to a 119-111 Game 5 win in Utah with 37 points, 16 rebounds and five assists on 12 of 22 shooting.
So the potshots were fun while they lasted, but George, who has scored at least 20 points in each of the Clippers 12 playoff games thus far, is getting the last laugh.
LeBron James’ Lakers are no longer playing, but he still made news on Wednesday with an “I told you so” rant.
This is the best time of the year for our league and fans but missing a ton of our fav players.
There’s no doubt there have been a lot of high-profile injuries this season, but the data is less conclusive in terms of the actual injury rate this season as compared to others.
The league is a business, and the players had a say in this, and surely I don’t see a bunch of guys lining up to take less money.
Shorten the regular season, which would make the games more meaningful and hopefully pump up the rating that have long been declining.
Load management becomes a thing of the past, but it also wouldn’t be as necessary, because the players would be fresher for the playoffs and hopefully, as a result, less likely to suffer injuries.
Seeing Trae up close and the things he’s able to accomplish and the things he’s able to go out on the floor and do night in and night out at such a young age with the poise that he has, with the swag that he has, the confidence that he has in his abilities, I’m proud to be a part of it.
There was a lot of talk about Giannis Antetokounmpo taking the challenge of guarding Durant, but Mike Budenholzer stuck with mostly P.J.
They had him off balance as a ball-handler in a way you almost never see, and in some instances, flat-out uncertain.
He’s the best scorer I’ve ever seen in my life…that’s my brother, we compete, we fight every game, we’re gonna fight again in Game 7″PJ Tucker vs.
This is after he said, following his similarly scared second-half showing in Philly’s Game 4 meltdown that he “definitely should have been more aggressive and attacked more.” Over the last two fourth quarters, Simmons hasn’t taken one shot in almost 17 minutes of game time.
On Wednesday, Simmons went 4 for 14 from the line, making him the first player this season — regular or post — to miss 10 free throws in a game.
It is not clear whether Paul has actually contracted COVID are simply come into contact with someone who has it.
If the Suns are without Paul for even one game of the conference finals, it will obviously be a huge blow.
In addition to Paul’s COVID news drop, word broke on a hellacious Wednesday NBA morning that Leonard is out indefinitely for the Clippers, who fear their superstar has suffered an ACL injury, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.