NEWSLETTER
As we near the NBA Playoffs and the Play-In Tournament gets underway, we have a TON going on around The Association. There are some superstar injury updates to address, an All-Star hanging up his sneakers, coaching moves, and a whole lot more. Time for some NBA Notes!
NBA Notes
Zion Williamson Exits Early; Lakers & Kings Win Play-In Games
It was an eventful night on Tuesday as the Western Conference opened up the Play-In Tournament with the Pelicans and Lakers in the 7v8 game and the Kings and Warriors in the 9v10 game. One game was a lot of fun, another one wasn’t all that close.
The Pelicans and Lakers played a thriller in New Orleans. The Lakers jumped out to a big lead only to see New Orleans claw back thanks to a monster effort by Zion Williamson. But after 40 points and 11 rebounds, Zion departed the game with just under four minutes remaining due to a hamstring injury. The Pelicans tried to hang on, but without their best player, the Lakers were able to pull out the win.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Williamson’s injury is a left hamstring string that will keep him out of the Pelicans Play-In game on Friday. Thanks to the loss to the Lakers, New Orleans now has to take on the Kings this Friday night with the eighth seed on the line. Zion’s hamstring will reportedly be re-evaluated in the coming weeks, so if the Pelicans do indeed advance by Sacramento, they’ll likely be without their best player for at least part of the first round.
As I mentioned, the 9v10 game was the Kings controlling the Warriors for most of the 48 minutes. Sacramento cruised to a 118-94 win over the Warriors. Keegan Murray was absolutely awesome dropping 32 points and hitting 8 of his 13 attempts from three. When he’s shooting well, Sacramento is really really hard to beat. Last night was a nice measure of revenge for a young Kings team that lost in seven games to the Warriors last season in the Playoffs.
As for Golden State, last night could very well be the end of that core as we know it. Steph isn’t going anywhere, and Draymond Green is under contract for the next few years, but last night really felt like the swan song for Klay Thompson as a Warrior.
Thompson was downright brutal last night. He was 0-10 from the field and 0-6 from three and didn’t record a point. His contract is up, and largely thanks to injuries, he’s just not the player he used to be. Even if he’d take a pay cut to stay, it feels like the Warriors need to use that money elsewhere. We’ll find out soon enough, but it could be the end of an era in The Bay.
Jontay Porter Banned From NBA For Life
Eli covered the full story this morning, but Jontay Porter has been officially banned from the NBA for gambling on basketball. There were two games earlier in the season that large sums of money were placed on a few unders for Porter game props. Porter ended up leaving both of those games early with injuries allowing those bets to hit. Those bets were then flagged by the league.
Those flagged bets, duh, led to an investigation. The league found Porter leaked his own health status to an individual he knew would be placing bets. Another bettor reportedly placed an $80,000 parlay on Porter unders that would have paid out $1.1 million, though the sportsbook did not end up having to pay out the bet due to suspicious activity. How someone could think placing a parlay that massive on player prop unders for a role player at best and not get them noticed is beyond me.
Judging from the investigation, the decision to ban Porter is absolutely the right call. It will be interesting to see what developments come from this given the relationships the NBA – and really all other pro sports leagues – has with legal sportsbooks.
Team USA Olympic Roster Set
When the Paris Olympics roll around this summer, it will have an absolutely STACKED men’s basketball roster representing Team USA. The men’s roster was announced this morning via social media on X by USA Basketball, and it’s … quite good.
LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, and Jrue Holiday will be the 12 players vying for another Gold Medal for Team USA.
The one player I think might have the biggest argument for being snubbed is Jalen Brunson. Certainly, all 12 players on the roster are very good and can be justified as selections. But Brunson will be a top-five finisher in NBA MVP voting this year and essentially carried the Knicks to a two-seed after they went through some rough injury trouble down the stretch.
Who do you think got snubbed? Or do you think USA Basketball got it perfectly right? Either way, Team USA should and will be heavily favored to take home the Gold from Paris this summer.
