Ashish Mathur Articles - Page 70

The Memphis Grizzlies are on the upswing with Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. leading the way. The team was in eighth place in the rugged Western Conference standings before the 2019-20 season was suspended due to COVID-19. It was an impressive feat considering most pundits picked the Grizzlies to finish with one of the worst […]

The Dallas Mavericks have an incredibly bright future with Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis leading the way. Doncic is already a superstar for the Mavs in his second season in the NBA, while Porzingis regained his All-Star form in 2019-20 after missing the entire 2018-19 campaign recovering from an ACL tear. Luka was averaging 28.7 […]

The Orlando Magic appear to have a bright future with Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon, Markelle Fultz and Mo Bamba leading the charge as the team’s core. The squad was in the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference standings with a record of 30-35 before the 2019-20 season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the Washington Wizards […]

The Washington Wizards have playoff aspirations for whenever the 2020-21 season starts since All-Star point guard John Wall will be back in the lineup next to superstar shooting guard Bradley Beal. Wall was set to miss the entire 2019-20 campaign recovering from his Achilles tear. Next season, Beal will make $28.7 million and Wall will […]

Two-time league MVP Steve Nash says he modeled his basketball game after Detroit Pistons legend Isiah Thomas. Zeke has been in the news lately since Michael Jordan’s The Last Dance docuseries has shed light on just how fierce the rivalry was between Thomas’ Pistons and Jordan’s Bulls back in the day. On the latest episode […]

Hall of Famer Steve Nash says Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan is the only player he’s ever been scared of going up against in the NBA. Nash, one of the best point guards in basketball history, spoke about Jordan on the latest episode of All The Smoke with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson: “We didn’t […]

Hall of Famer Steve Nash played two years on the Los Angeles Lakers with Kobe Bryant after having countless battles with the Black Mamba when he was starring for the Phoenix Suns. On the latest episode of All The Smoke with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Nash talked about why it was an “eye-opener” to […]

Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Twitter account was hacked on Thursday. Some of the tweets from the hacked account are NSFW: Antetokounmpo’s agent confirmed The Greek Freak’s account was hacked. All the NSFW tweets have been deleted. The 2019-20 NBA season was suspended on March 11 after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for […]

The Utah Jazz were in fourth place in the Western Conference standings before the 2019-20 season was suspended due to COVID-19. The team had a record of 41-23 and looked primed to go on a deep postseason run. Shooting guard Donovan Mitchell and center Rudy Gobert each made their first All-Star teams this season. However, […]

Atlanta Hawks swingman Vince Carter was a guest on rapper T.I.’s podcast recently. During the interview, VC spoke about why he has never been interested in “ring chasing.” Carter, who is retiring from the NBA after the 2019-20 season, said he never wanted to sell his soul just for a championship ring (h/t Timothy Rapp […]

Charlotte Hornets president Mitch Kupchak has a bunch of moves to make to turn the franchise into a playoff contender again. The first transaction that will help Kupchak accomplish his goal of turning the organization into a winner is trading veteran small forward Nic Batum as soon as the 2020 offseason begins. Batum has a […]

In typical Pat Riley fashion, the Miami Heat president made a big trade during the season when he didn’t have to. The Hall of Famer acquired former Finals MVP Andre Iguodala from the Memphis Grizzlies, giving Miami yet another elite wing defender and versatile offensive playmaker. Riley also acquired Jae Crowder in the same deal, […]

The Detroit Pistons aspire to be a playoff team in 2020-21 since All-Star power forward Blake Griffin will be recovered from left knee surgery. Griffin only appeared in 18 games this season before undergoing surgery. He put up 15.5 points and 4.7 rebounds for the Pistons while shooting 35.2 percent from the field and 24.3 […]

The Atlanta Hawks had the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference standings before the season was suspended due to COVID-19. Despite having one of the best point guards in the league in Trae Young and a rising star in John Collins, the Hawks were only able to rack up 20 wins before the season was […]

The Sacramento Kings haven’t made the playoffs since 2006. They have the longest playoff drought in the NBA and fans of the team have no idea when it will end. Before the 2019-20 season was suspended due to COVID-19, the Kings had a 28-36 record. They were playing their best basketball of the campaign before Utah […]

The Minnesota Timberwolves have multiple moves to make before the franchise can be considered even a playoff contender. The organization is currently building around Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell. New Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas made the big move to acquire Russell from the Golden State Warriors, giving Towns the All-Star point guard […]

The Houston Rockets are among the NBA teams that can open their practice facility on Friday. However, they won’t do so. According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, the Rockets are going to wait until May 18th in accordance with the decision of Texas Governor Greg Abbott to allow gyms to re-open statewide […]

Before the 2019-20 season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cleveland Cavaliers had the worst record in the Eastern Conference standings. The Cavs were 19-46 and dealt with loads of dysfunction. While things in Cleveland got better after J.B. Bickerstaff took over for John Beilein, the Cavs still have a bevy of moves […]

Legendary comedian Jerry Seinfeld made a cameo in one of last Sunday’s episodes of The Last Dance. He was chatting with Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan and awkwardly said hi to head coach Phil Jackson. Seinfeld watched one of his cameos with Jimmy Kimmel and reacted to it, via NBC Sports Chicago: “It’s not a […]

The Oklahoma City Thunder were one of the best stories of the 2019-20 season. Despite trading superstars Russell Westbrook and Paul George in the same offseason, OKC was able to compete in the tough West and was in fifth place in the conference standings before the campaign was suspended due to COVID-19. The Thunder had […]

Los Angeles Lakers small forward Kyle Kuzma says that his favorite moment of the season was when the team defeated the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers in back-to-back games. "Beating Milwaukee and then beating the Clippers, back to back." Kyle Kuzma and Jared Dudley discuss the best moment of the season 😤 pic.twitter.com/z6grEZl1zc — […]

Golden State Warriors All-Star shooting guard Klay Thompson has released a powerful short film that gives fans an inside look at his ACL rehab. Thompson tore his left ACL in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors. He was set to miss the entire 2019-20 campaign but will be back on […]

Golden State Warriors superstar point guard Stephen Curry and his wife Ayesha needed a little break to catch their respective breaths after running around with their kids. The Warriors star may be an elite athlete, but even Curry needs to catch his breath from time to time, especially since he has been playing with his […]

San Antonio Spurs legend Tony Parker says the 1992 U.S.A. Dream Team changed basketball forever. Parker says the Dream Team changed the landscape of basketball worldwide since that summer run inspired some of the best European basketball players as kids to make it to the NBA: “It had a huge impact in Europe. If you […]

The Brooklyn Nets will be title contenders whenever the 2020-21 season starts since Kevin Durant will be in the lineup next to Kyrie Irving. The two-time Finals MVP was set to miss the entire 2019-20 campaign recovering from his Achilles tear. Multiple reports have said the Nets are expected to use their young assets to […]

The NBA has notified all 30 teams that they intend to allow practice facilities in states where shelter-in-place regulations have been eased to reopen on Friday, per Marc Stein of The New York Times. The NBA, I'm told, just notified its teams that it intends to allow practice facilities in states where shelter-in-place regulations have […]

The Phoenix Suns have a talented core of Devin Booker, Kelly Oubre Jr., Deandre Ayton, Mikal Bridges, and Cameron Johnson. The team has plenty of moves to make before it can call itself a playoff squad again, but the good news is that Phoenix has the foundational pieces to build around. You can never have […]

The Indiana Pacers were one of the pleasant surprises of the 2019-20 season. The team won 39 games before the campaign was suspended, despite All-Star shooting guard Victor Oladipo only appearing in 13 contests. The high-flyer missed the early part of the season recovering from his ruptured quad tendon injury. If the 2019-20 season gets […]

The Portland Trail Blazers desperately need a dynamic wing that can be a third option on offense behind star guards Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, respectively, and play high-level defense as well. At this stage of his career, Carmelo Anthony isn’t quick enough to stay in front of all these elite small forwards who are […]

The New Orleans Pelicans had one of the deadliest offenses in the NBA before the 2019-20 season was suspended due to COVID-19. The team was averaging 116.2 points per game and had its eyes set on making the playoffs with 2019 No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson leading the way. The Pelicans went 10-9 with […]

Chicago Bulls new vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas has tons of work to do in order to turn the franchise into a winner again. Considering that the Bulls are still in rebuild mode, Karnisovas’ best course of action is to get rid of Chicago’s worst contracts and turn them into draft picks. Karnisovas […]

The Denver Nuggets were in third place in the Western Conference standings before the 2019-20 season was suspended due to COVID-19. This was impressive considering the team made only 707 triples, putting them in 25th place in the NBA. In today’s league, the Nuggets need to become a more lethal team from beyond the arc […]

The San Antonio Spurs have some big decisions to make whenever the 2020 offseason begins. Since the franchise was on its way to missing the playoffs in 2019-20 for the first time since 1997 before the campaign was suspended due to COVID-19, most pundits expect changes to happen in San Antonio this summer. Spurs head […]

The New York Knicks are hoping former CAA agent Leon Rose can save the franchise. Rose is the new president of basketball operations for the Knicks and being tasked to fix one of the most dysfunctional organizations in the NBA. The Knicks haven’t had a winning record or made the playoffs since the 2012-13 season. […]

The Los Angeles Clippers were title contenders in 2019-20 for the first time in franchise history with superstars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George leading the way. The Clips were in second place in the Western Conference standings before the season was suspended due to COVID-19 with an impressive record of 44-20. If the season gets […]

The Toronto Raptors had a shot at defending their title and repeating as champions if the 2019-20 campaign wasn’t suspended due to COVID-19. The team was in second place in the Eastern Conference standings, boasting a record of 46-18. It was fascinating to watch the Raptors still play like an elite team despite the departures […]

The 2019-20 Philadelphia 76ers were a tough team to gauge. The Sixers played like an elite team at home, going 29-2 at Wells Fargo Center. However, the 76ers were a lowly 10-24 on the road and All-Stars Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid continued to be a bad fit alongside each other. At different points during […]

Back in March, the BIG3 partnered with the producers of the popular summer reality series “Big Brother” to help develop a quarantined reality show featuring a three-on-three basketball tournament. BIG3 founders Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz envisioned a reality show in which 16 players were quarantined in a house while participating in a tournament. While these plans […]

The Houston Rockets had a record of 40-24 before the season was suspended due to COVID-19. The team had the second-best offense in the NBA in terms of points per game, as Houston was averaging 118.1 points per night with MVPs James Harden and Russell Westbrook leading the charge. However, the Rockets were once again a […]