The FOX Posts

The NBA and the NBPA agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement early Saturday morning, but that doesn't mean that the entire player 's union is thrilled with the agreement. Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green took exception to the new clauses in the collective bargaining agreement meant to curb spending among top teams while encouraging spending in smaller markets. "Players lose again…. Smh! Middle and Lower spectrum teams don't spend because they don't want to," Green tweeted. "They want to lose. So increase their spending capabilities, just to increase them. They continue to cut out the middle. And this is what we rushed into a deal for? Smdh! Never fails."  This is hardly a new occurrence in Green's eyes, either. "Never seen someone go to a table with the assets that makes an entire machine go, and lose EVERY time! Blasphemous," Green tweeted. He...

It seems to me, and maybe this is because I'm more in tune with all things Warriors than any other team in the NBA, that frustrations regarding the way Golden State, and more specifically Stephen Curry, are being officiated are higher than normal this season.  Two things about that. One, the Warriors are two games above .500 clinging to a playoff spot with one of the worst road records in the league. Fans are on edge, and thus, even more prone to whining than usual.  Two, the Warriors' extreme free-throw disparity has been widely cited all season. At 20.1 per game, Golden State attempts the fewest free throws in the league. At 25.4 per game, their opponents attempt the sixth-most free throws in the league.  This is a hill they are trying to climb every night, and it's steep. You have to make a lot of shots to overcome that kind of free-throw discrepancy, and the natural tendency is to want to blame the...

There are no easy answers for why Ja Morant has done the things he's done -- or alleged to have done -- nor what they do or don't say about his future. But there is, for better or worse, an easy way to get past them. Win. And starting Wednesday night against the Houston Rockets, this is what Morant will again attempt to do. His expected return comes as the Western Conference feels as open as its been in at least a generation, as questions about his character and future linger, as a young star wrapped in talent and troubles enters an inflection point in the place he's perhaps best equipped to succeed -- the court. "Obviously, took that time to better myself, get in a better space mentally," Morant told media Tuesday. "It's an ongoing process, a continued process for me. Obviously, I've been there for two weeks, but that doesn't mean I'm completely better. So that's an ...

The Atlanta Hawks and Bogdan Bogdanovic have agreed to a four -year , $68 million contract extension , a deal that has been confirmed by CBS Sports ' Bill Reiter. Bogdanovic had an $18 million player option for the 2023-24 season, which he is declining, meaning this new contract will kick in at the start of next season.  In his third season with the Hawks, Bogdanovic is averaging 14.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and nearly three assists while primarily coming off the bench. Bogdanovic provides the Hawks with high-level 3-point shooting, where he's making over 40% of his attempts.  Despite missing the first month of the regular season due to a knee injury, Bogdanovic has steadily improved over the course of the season, which included shooting over 50% from beyond the arc in February.  From a financial standpoint, this new deal saves the Hawks a tiny bit of money for next year, and it's a palatable deal in ...

You can hear the call of the playground kids when it's about to go down behind the gymnasium: Fight! The whole school goes running. Sadly, kind of hilariously, it's no different for adults. We see an NBA " fight " trending on Twitter, and we all go running.  It was Milwaukee's Brook Lopez vs. Sacramento's Trey Lyles on Monday night. There had been chirping all Game . Lopez was visibly heated for much of the second half. Then, as the final ticks were winding down on the Bucks' 132-124 win, Lyles got needlessly testy with Giannis Antetokounmpo (well, I shouldn't say it was needless; Giannis definitely didn't need to tauntingly dribble right in front of him when there was very clearly emotions boiling on both sides) as he was dribbling out the clock, before finally shoving the two-time MVP.  Lopez didn't like the shove one bit.  And the next thing you knew, it was on.  ...

As we've covered frequently this season, the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award tends to be handed out fairly formulaically. Of the past 17 winners, 10 have simply been the season's highest-scoring reserve. This year's race appeared to be the rare exception, but in a similarly predictable way. Former MVP Russell Westbrook was the betting favorite for most of the season, and while he didn't lead all reserves in points, he did lead them in assists (7.7 per game in 49 bench outings) while leading all reserve guards with 6.1 rebounds per night. Sixth Man of the Year, more often than not, is a box score award. But once Westbrook was traded, a bit of a vacuum opened. The season's two leading bench scorers both had flawed candidacies. Bennedict Mathurin plays for a possible lottery team, and 19 of the past 20 winners have made the playoffs. Norman Powell plays for the team Westbrook joined, and We...

The Los Angeles Lakers continue to tweak their roster ahead of the trade deadline. Fresh off of trading veteran guard Russell Westbrook in a multi-team deal, the Lakers have made another move, this time trading center Thomas Bryant to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Davon Reed and three second -round picks , according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The Lakers receive Denver's second -round picks in 2025, 2026 and 2029.  Bryant signed a one-year deal with the Lakers prior to the start of the season, and he was pretty productive during his time on the floor in L.A. In 41 appearances (and 25 starts), Bryant averaged 12.1 points and 6.8 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per performance for the Lakers. He'll provide the Nuggets with a solid center option behind reigning two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.  The move was likely one Bryant was on board with, as he had grown unhappy with his role in L.A. and asked the...

The NBA 's marquee regular-season showcase officially has its pool of players. On Thursday, the NBA announced the 14 reserves who will be joining the 10 starters in Salt Lake City for the 2023 All-Star Game later this month. The coaches from each conference picked two guards, three front-court players and two wildcards for the honor. Those players will be put in the draft pool to be selected by captains LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo on the day of the All-Star Game . Eastern Conference Western Conference Guard Jrue Holiday Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Guard Jaylen Brown Ja Morant Frontcourt Joel Embiid Domantas Sabonis Frontcourt Julius Randle Lauri Markkanen Frontcourt Bam Adebayo Jaren Jackson Jr. Wildcard DeMar DeRozan Damian Lillard Wildcard Tyrese Haliburton Paul George Those 14 players will be joined by the following 10 starters to give us our official 24-man All-Star pool.  Eastern Conference Weste...

There is now just more than a week until the 2023 NBA trade deadline on Thursday, Feb. 9, which means teams across the league are working harder than ever to either bolster their squad for the stretch run or move their best players to get into a better draft position.  As the deadline for making deals moves closer, the rumor mill will only get more active. Here's a look at the latest around the league.  'Half the league' calling Hawks about Bogdanovic Despite pulling off a blockbuster trade for Dejounte Murray in the summer, this season has not gone to plan for the Hawks, who enter Wednesday sitting in eighth place in the Eastern Conference at 25-26 and have dealt with even more internal drama around Trae Young and head coach Nate McMillan. There has been a steady stream of rumors coming out of Atlanta in recent weeks, mostly about the status of forward John Collins. But while the Hawks haven't ...

The Los Angeles Lakers, against all odds, have found a way to maximize Russell Westbrook in the regular season. He may be a bit overrated , but he's at least actively contributing to a Lakers team that spent an entire offseason trying to trade him. Without his playmaking, they may not have been able to stay afloat when they were without stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis. As a regular-season player, he has been solid. But ultimately, the Lakers will judge themselves on the postseason, and that's where the concerns surrounding Westbrook amplify. The Lakers are not immune to these concerns. According to Bleacher Report's Eric Pincus, the Lakers have concerns about Westbrook's viability in the postseason. Whether or not that will lead to a trade before the deadline is not clear, but these concerns should have been apparent even before they traded for him in the first place. In the 2020 Orlando bubbl...

MILWAUKEE -- Entering this season, Giannis Antetokounmpo, for all his brilliance, had just three 50- point Game s to his name. He now has two in the last month. In yet another ridiculous performance , Antetokounmpo finished with 50 point s, 13 rebounds and four assists on 20-of-26 from the field in the Milwaukee Bucks' 135-110 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.  "Guy had a hell of a night, made it look easy all night long," Khris Middleton said. "Playing efficient, playing dominant, he's playing unstoppable, playing like the MVP again. We need that from him every night, and he knows that." With this performance, Antetokounmpo became the sixth player in NBA history to have multiple 50-point games on at least 75 percent shooting from the field. The others are Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Kyrie Irving and Adrian Dantley; not a bad list to join.  ...

The Washington Wizards will be without their second-leading scorer on the season for the foreseeable future. Forward Kristaps Porzingis is listed as week- to -week with a sprained left ankle , the team announced Monday. Porzingis suffered the injury in the third quarter of the contest between the Wizards and Orlando Magic in Washington on Saturday. Porzingis landed awkwardly on the ankle and never returned to the Game after hobbling back to the locker room. Washington went on to win the Game 138-118.  You can see the play where the injury occurred below:  The Wizards say that Kristaps Porzingis will be listed as week-to-week with a sprained left ankle. Here's the play where he suffered the ankle injury.pic.twitter.com/y2bEwcR9js — ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) January 23, 2023 The injury is obviously a blow for Washington, as Porzingis is in the midst of a solid season. He...

By this time next week all teams will have played in their 42nd game, marking the midway point in the NBA schedule. With that in mind, it's a perfect time to step back and take a look at the Rookie of the Year race and see what we've learned about some of the top players from the 2022 draft class. Right off the bat the first thing that stands out about this draft class is the depth of talent we've seen so far, from future All-Stars to impactful role players.  We've already seen rookies on playoff contending teams hit multiple game-winning shots, and there's one guys in particular who is not only in the running for Rookie of the Year but Sixth Man of the Year as well (more on that below). While there can only be one winner for the best rookie from this class, it's clear that going forward there's at least 15-20 guys who have the potential to have lengthy careers in this league. Now let...