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The New Orleans Pelicans are one of the NBA's surprise success stories this season -- well, they're only a surprise if you haven't really been paying attention. Slowly but surely, the Pelicans have laid the groundwork since the 2019 trade that sent franchise superstar Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and four first-round picks. Win totals in the 30s and three coaches in four seasons didn't necessarily bode well for the franchise's future, despite Ingram blossoming and the immediate impact of No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson. But things took a U-turn toward relevance last February, when the Pelicans acquired longtime Portland Trail Blazer CJ McCollum, along with Larry Nance Jr. and Tony Snell in exchange for four players, a protected first-round pick (which didn't convey) and two future second-rounders. McCollum's impact was ...

It's no secret that the Dallas Mavericks rely heavily upon the heroic efforts of Luka Doncic on a night ly basis to succeed. Just a couple days ago it took two Game -tying 3-pointers from Doncic and double overtime for the Mavericks to outlast the 12th-place Los Angeles Lakers. He leads the league in scoring at 33.8 points a night , and his 42.8 usage percentage this season already tops the previous NBA record, which was accomplished by Russell Westbrook in 2017.  The Mavericks need Doncic to put up monster numbers every game, and when he doesn't, well, you get results like Dallas' Saturday night loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. In 35 minutes of action, Doncic put up just 15 points, his lowest scoring total on the season, shooting a lowly 36.8 percent from the field as the Mavericks fell, 136-119, on the first night of a back-to-back in Portland.  The loss dropped the Mavericks to 2-8 in Game s w...

After 47 minutes and 58 seconds of rugby disguised as basketball, it looked as though the Los Angeles Lakers were going to escape their Thursday tilt with the Dallas Mavericks with a victory. After inbounding the ball with a tied score and six seconds remaining, the double-teamed LeBron James swung the ball over to an open Troy Brown Jr., who geared up for a game-winning 3-pointer but was seemingly smacked in the process.  The ball fell short, but Brown would have three chances to win the game at the line -- right? Wrong. No whistle arrived. The buzzer sounded. The Lakers and Mavericks went to overtime. After 10 minutes and two overtime periods, Dallas emerged with the 119-115 victory. The Lakers weren't exactly pleased with the outcome. "It looked clear as day that it was a foul," coach Darvin Ham said after the Game . James was less diplomatic. "That's a f---ing foul," he said, from a...

In January of 2021, I wrote a story with the following headline : "Trae Young's ill-advised 3-pointer tells larger tale: An average shooter who thinks he's Steph Curry." I got skewered for it. Told I know nothing about basketball. Next thing I know I'm defending my words on an Atlanta radio show as though they were based on something other than indisputable facts.  Trae Young wasn't an elite shooter then.  And he's still not an elite shooter now.  Understand, I'm not talking about Young's shooting talent, which clearly isn't cut from average fabric. I'm capable, believe it or not, of accounting for the difficulty of Young's shot diet, just as I understand that the shots he takes are his decision. Yes, we lend some statistical leeway to those tasked with conjuring up offense for themselves and everyone around them, and yes, a guy like Young is valuable beyond his a...

Nerlens Noel, Rich Paul and the Klutch Sports Group have agreed to settle their ongoing legal dispute , according to The Athletic's Shams Charania. Noel will now pay Paul his full commission on the $5 million salary he earned with the New York Knicks during the 2020-21 season and withdraw all pending legal proceedings related to the case, according to Charania. The saga began all the way back in 2017. Noel was a member of the Dallas Mavericks at the time, and agent Happy Walters negotiated a four-year, $70 million offer for Noel to remain in Texas. Noel, acting on the advice of Paul, rejected that offer and took the one-year $4.1 million qualifying offer from Dallas hoping it would allow him to cash in on a bigger deal, with Paul as his agent, as an unrestricted free agent in 2018. Obviously, that didn't happen. Noel had a tumultuous season in Dallas and only managed to secure a $3.75 million deal wit...

It's been over two years since Jonathan Isaac has suited up for the Orlando Magic. The 6-foot-11 forward last played in an NBA Game on Aug. 2, 2020 before tearing his left ACL, which has sidelined him since. However, after a lengthy rehab process, Isaac is set to play for the Magic's G League team, the Lakeland Magic, this week per ESPN. It's promising step toward his NBA return . Isaac is expected to play two Game s in the G League before rejoining the Magic, but has been practicing with Orlando since early December. The last time we saw Isaac play, he was showing flashes of becoming a versatile defensive threat using his length and size to be a quality rim protector, but being agile enough to guard out on the perimeter. On offense, he could stretch the floor out to the 3-point line, knocking down 34 percent of his attempts. Isaac could also put the ball on the deck and get his own bucket, and was ...

Austin Rivers scored only two points in Sunday's Minnesota Timberwolves matchup with the Houston Rockets. Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green combined for 36, but Rivers got the most important statistic of the night: the victory. Afterwards, the veteran guard indicated that he wasn't particularly impressed with Houston's young back court. "Someone needs to teach KPJ and Jalen how to play the right way, you know what I mean? They need those vets," Rivers told Michael Shapiro of the Houston Chronicle after the game. "I like those guys, they're super talented, they can really score. ... They need someone to help them take that next step." Rivers, a former Rocket, probably has a point. Nine players have given the Rockets 450 or more minutes this season, and eight of them are under the age of 23. The only veteran in that group is Eric Gordon, who hasn't seemed especially thrilled w...

In the midst of the Brooklyn Nets' 102-101 win against the Miami Heat Sunday night, the team lost superstar Kevin Durant, who left the Game in the third quarter with what the team announced as a right knee injury . After the Game , Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said that Durant will have an MRI on the knee Monday to determine the severity of the injury . The injury occurred at the end of the third quarter when Heat guard Jimmy Butler landed on Durant's knee after falling from an attempted layup. Durant immediately began grabbing at his right knee and stayed on the ground for a moment before ultimately limping back to the locker room. Shortly after, Brooklyn ruled him out for the rest of the Game . Here is the play where the injury occurred: Kevin Durant had to leave the Game after Jimmy Butler landed on his knee on this play. 🙏pic.twitter.com/pb7TVwSill — 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧' 𝐍𝐁𝐀 (@_Talkin_N...

The Los Angeles Lakers are progressing towards a 10-day contract with veteran wing Sterling Brown, according to The Athletic. Brown, a five-year NBA veteran , has played for the Milwaukee Bucks, Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks, but had been unable to catch on with a team thus far this season. On paper, the Lakers make perfect sense as a temporary home. Los Angeles has struggled with wing depth all season, and things have only grown more difficult due to recent injuries. Lonnie Walker IV has missed three straight games due to a knee injury, and Austin Reaves will miss Friday's game against the Atlanta Hawks due to a left hamstring strain. ...

The last time Lauri Markkanen was on the floor he was  a split-second away from delivering a truly remarkable buzzer-beater . Having apparently learned his lesson, he made sure not to leave anything to chance on Thursday night against the Houston Rockets.  Markkanen scored 18 points in the first quarter to help the Utah Jazz get out to an early lead, and neither he nor the team ever looked back. He finished with a career -high 49 points and eight rebounds on 15 of 27 from the field as the Jazz snapped a five- Game losing streak with a 131-114 win over the Rockets.  This was a truly complete offensive showing from Markkanen, who did a little bit of everything against a Rockets defense that, it must be said, was not always providing that much resistance. He knocked down six 3-pointers, threw down five dunks, hit some tough looks in the mid-range and was a perfect 13 of 13 from the free throw line.  ...

The Golden State Warriors are nearing the three-year mark of their James Wiseman project, and it's not going well. The 2020 second-overall pick is yet to earn a regular place in the rotation, let alone the starting lineup, and was relegated to the G League for a period earlier this season.  Hindsight is 20-20. We all know the players the Warriors could've taken in place of Wiseman, starting with LaMelo Ball, who went one pick later to the Hornets. Onyeka Okongwu would be a massive help to Golden State right now. Devin Vassell would be good for any team. Tyrese Haliburton is a franchise player. Tyrese Maxey. Desmond Bane. All of these guys and more are good to potentially great players in the league already.  It's not fair to talk about the players that went later in the draft. There are always surprises. Nobody drafting at No. 2 in 2020 would have been looking at a Vassell or a Maxey or a Bane. But Bal...

The Golden State Warriors will soon have Andrew Wiggins back in the lineup. Wiggins, who hasn't played since Dec. 3, has been cleared to practice , the team announced Wednesday. He'll be re-evaluated later this week. Wiggins was initially sidelined because of a strained right adductor. He has missed the last four Game s because of a non-COVID illness. "He's gotten really good workouts the last couple of days and another one just now," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after their 122-119 loss against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday. "So, trending in a good direction." Golden State's next game is Saturday against the Orlando Magic at Chase Center. The team will then host the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. "I'm not sure about Saturday, but things are going well because he's been in the gym every day and he's finally getting the reps that he needs to get his legs and cond...

LeBron James continued to surge toward the NBA 's all-time scoring record with 43 points in the Lakers' 121-115 victory over the Hornets on Monday, but he'll have to wait to put more points on the board. The team announced that he'll miss Wednesday night's Game against the Miami Heat due to a non-COVID illness .  Barring an extended injury absence, James is going to break Kareem's Abdul-Jabbar's mark of 38,387 career points this season -- likely before the All-Star break. Below you can see where the race stands following Monday's action.  ALL-TIME SCORING LEADER CAREER POINTS POINTS TO PASS Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 38,387 ___ LeBron James 37,903 485 James is now averaging 29 points per game. If he maintains that pace, he would be projected to set the all-time scoring mark at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Feb. 7.  If James take a few e...

When LeBron James missed time due to injury earlier in the season, he gushed about the performance of teammate Anthony Davis in his stead. "AD was the best player in the league over the last four-to-five Game s," James told reporters late in November. He wasn't far off at the time. In the five Game s James is referring to, Davis averaged 33.2 points and 17.4 rebounds per Game .  More importantly, he lifted a team that was 2-9 at the time of James' injury back up to 5-11 upon his return. He didn't slow down when James returned to the fold either. From Nov. 11 through Dec. 4, Davis averaged 34.2 points per Game as the Lakers won seven of 10. He dealt with illness, missed the better part of two Game s, returned for four more, and then, just like James, he was gone. His injury was a good deal more severe. A stress injury in his foot has kept him out since Dec. 18. The Lakers were 11-16 at the ti...

New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson sustained a strained right hamstring in the third quarter of Monday's 120-111 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers . He came up limping at the end of the third quarter and was quickly ruled out for the remainder of the Game . Pelicans coach Willie Green did not have an update on Williamson after the Game , but said that a thorough exam would be done to determine the extent of the injury . Durability has been a major concern for Williamson throughout his career, but this season he had largely been able to stay healthy. He has missed only eight of the team's 37 games has thus far, and has played at an All-NBA level while on the floor. He is averaging 26 points per game this season for a stellar Pelicans offense, and had 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting against the 76ers before getting hurt. The Pelicans are 23-14 on the season and only a game-and-a-half out of the No. 1 s...