David Yapkowitz Articles - Page 42

This weekend, the second annual Flight Club Invitational will take place at Crossroads High School in Santa Monica, CA. Billed as a partnership between Crossroads and Flight Club, the original sneaker consignment store, the event will take place across two days (Oct 12-13) and will feature some of the top high school basketball talent in […]

The WNBA Finals between the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx got underway on Thursday for their best of five series. The series begins on the heels of an announcement that the WNBA playoffs will be restructured in 2025 with the WNBA Finals moving to a best of seven format. But when it comes […]

After reaching the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011, the Dallas Mavericks major offseason acquisition was All-Star guard Klay Thompson. While Klay Thompson sat out the Mavericks first preseason game against the Memphis Grizzlies, he made his first appearance in Dallas jersey against the Utah Jazz in their second preseason game. Thompson got […]

The play that San Antonio Spurs fans have been anticipating all offseason finally happened on Wednesday. During the Spurs’ preseason game against the Orlando Magic, new point guard Chris Paul set up Victor Wembanyama with a perfect alley-oop pass for the slam dunk. During the play, Chris Paul drove baseline and found Victor Wembanyama cutting […]

The Memphis Grizzlies plan to be cautious with Ja Morant following an injury scare. The superstar point guard suffered an ankle injury during the team’s preseason game against the Dallas Mavericks, and they need him at full strength. The Grizzlies could have something scary brewing with the Ja Morant and Zach Edey two-man game, at […]

Trashing talking in the game of basketball is age-old tradition. One of the best trash talkers in today’s game is Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards. So it comes as no surprise that in the new Netflix documentary, ‘Starting 5,’ Anthony Edwards is at the center of trash talk directed towards Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, […]

It happened on Sunday, what Los Angeles Lakers fans had been anticipating since the NBA Draft, LeBron James and Bronny James shared the court together making history, sort of. During the second quarter of the Lakers preseason game against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, Bronny James checked into the game with LeBron James already on […]

One of the biggest questions that Los Angeles Lakers fans have coming into the 2024-25 season is when will they see LeBron James and Bronny James on the court together. The prevailing thought is that it has to come naturally and not feel like it’s being forced at all. And Lakers head coach JJ Redick […]

Following the Connecticut Sun’s Game 3 loss to the Minnesota Lynx in their semifinal series of the WNBA Playoffs, Sun coach Stephanie White was asked about an apparent confrontation between her players and Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve after Game 1. And in Game 4 on Sunday, there was another exchange, this time in-game between Cheryl […]

The Connecticut Sun held off elimination and forced a deciding Game 5 against the Minnesota Lynx in their semifinal series of the WNBA Playoffs. The Lynx had used an impressive Game 3 to take control of the series. But the Sun used a big fourth quarter to seize momentum and pull off the 92-82 win. […]

After a surprising 2022-23 season, the Sacramento Kings took a step back last year, failing to make the playoffs after losing in the play-in. To help get back in the Western Conference arms race, the Kings pulled off a sign and trade deal with the Chicago Bulls for DeMar DeRozan. With DeRozan in the fold, […]

Every WNBA team needs a player who doesn’t necessarily need the ball in their hands or to score to impact a game. A player who is willing to do the dirty work and whose impact won’t always show up on the stat sheet. For the Phoenix Mercury, that player has been Natasha Mack. As part […]

When Houston Rockets wing Tari Eason took the court at the Drew League in Los Angeles this summer, it was the first time he had stepped on the court in an actual game setting following a leg injury. Eason dealt with a leg injury all of last season that ended up cutting his second year […]

This season, the Boston Celtics are hoping to become the first team since the 2017 and 2018 Golden State Warriors to repeat as NBA championships. But in order to do so, they have be focused with the right mentality. During a recent episode of the show, ‘Hot Ones’ from First We Feast, Celtics star Jaylen […]

Before Chicago Sky rookie forward Angel Reese went down with an injury, she was arguably the best rebounding player in the WNBA. Reese set several rebounding records this season before a wrist injury cut her year short. But she’s taken criticism from some that have falsely claimed she’s only rebounding her own misses. And others […]

The Golden State Warriors open preseason on Saturday in Hawaii against the Los Angeles Clippers, but they will be without Andrew Wiggins whose status has been ruled out as per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. The official status of Andrew Wiggins is that he is feeling under the weather. Slater reports that Wiggins has done […]

The Minnesota Timberwolves shocked the NBA world this week with the Karl-Anthony Towns trade with the New York Knicks. Towns had established himself as a staple in the Minnesota community and had never shown any indication of wanting out even during some brutal seasons. He was so beloved by the fanbase and the community that […]

When it comes to the 2025 NBA Draft, it seems Cooper Flagg is the general consensus’ No. 1 overall pick. An incoming freshman at Duke, Flagg has already stood out during Team USA scrimmages against NBA players. But incoming Rutgers freshman Dylan Harper might be in the running for the top pick in the NBA […]

LOS ANGELES – With the Los Angeles Lakers hiring JJ Redick as their head coach, there is at least one player on the roster who finds it a little weird and that’s Jaxson Hayes. Jaxson Hayes was a rookie with the New Orleans Pelicans while JJ Redick was still on the roster and playing. For […]

The New York Knicks just pulled off the biggest move ahead of training camp with the trade for Karl-Anthony Towns. On the surface, the trade appears to have vaulted the Knicks in contender status in the Eastern Conference. But to be a contender, teams need quality role players around their stars. In a possible move […]

With the Lakers preparing for the start of the 2024-25 season, one player who is expected to play a bigger role on both offense and defense is Austin Reaves. The former undrafted Oklahoma product has developed into a steady starting guard in the NBA. This past season, Reaves was often tasked with guarding the opposing […]

LOS ANGELES – As the Los Angeles Lakers prepare for the start of the 2024-25 NBA season, one of the biggest headlines is the rookie season debut of Bronny James. The cameras will be out documenting his every move as they were during Lakers media day. But what is Bronny’s mindset coming into the season? […]

LOS ANGELES – If there’s one player on the Los Angeles Lakers’ roster who is used to hearing his name in trade rumors, it’s D’Angelo Russell. As recently as this offseason when Russell opted in to his contract, he still was being mentioned as a potential trade candidate. But training camp and preseason is about […]

LOS ANGELES – Ever since the Los Angeles Lakers won the 2020 NBA championship, they have made only one deep playoff run in the last four seasons. In 2021 and 2024 they were eliminated in the first round while failing to make the playoffs in 2022. At Lakers media day on Monday, LeBron James spoke […]

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers are set to begin the 2024-25 NBA season and one of the biggest storylines surrounding the team is LeBron James and Bronny James getting to play together. LeBron and Bronny will make history as the first father-son duo to play on the same NBA team together. At Lakers […]

The Connecticut Sun struck first during their semifinal series in the WNBA Playoffs against the Minnesota Lynx with a 73-70 win on the road. Amid the Sun win, veteran forward DeWanna Bonner made WNBA playoffs history by playing in her 83rd playoff game as per ESPN. It’s the most WNBA Playoff appearances ever by a […]

The Los Angeles Sparks had a disappointing 2024 season in terms of the win/loss column. They also decided it was time to move on from head coach Curt Miller, parting ways with the longtime WNBA coach after only two seasons. But despite that, there were still bright spots for the Sparks. One of those bright […]

The New York Knicks just pulled off the biggest trade of the offseason in acquiring Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns. But before that, they signaled their intentions to contend in the Eastern Conference with a previous trade. The Knicks acquired Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets, but he reportedly isn’t looking to sign […]

When the Los Angeles Sparks made the decision to trade the No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft to the Chicago Sky, they were of the belief that they were getting a first-round talent in return. That particular player for the Sparks was Li Yueru who had yet to play a full WNBA […]

The Minnesota Lynx are set to host the Connecticut Sun for Game 1 of the WNBA Semifinals on Sunday but they might have to do so without a key player. Backup forward Cecilia Zandalasini appeared on the Lynx injury report as questionable for Game 1 due to a quad injury. A injury to Cecilia Zandalasini […]

The Denver Nuggets come into the 2024-25 NBA season having lost a key piece in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to free agency and the Orlando Magic. The Nuggets did add a few key players though in free agency including Russell Westbrook. In the days ahead of training camp, Westbrook spoke about why he believes that he might […]

The New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves pulled off a blockbuster trade on Friday evening with Wolves star forward Karl-Anthony Towns heading to the Knicks. The Timberwolves are receiving Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo as part of the trade. Following news of the announcement, Towns took to social media to convey his no doubt shocked […]

The Charlotte Hornets have a decent young core of players as the 2024-25 season approaches. But they might be without one of them for a certain time period. It was revealed on Friday that Mark Williams had suffered a foot injury during an offseason workout, the Hornets announced. The Hornets also announced that Mark Williams […]

When Kia Nurse first joined the Los Angeles Sparks in a trade with the Seattle Storm ahead of the 2024 WNBA season, she was coming into only her sixth season in the league. At age 28, Nurse was old enough to have a good sample size of experience in the WNBA, while being young enough […]

NBA training camps are set to open at the beginning of next month and teams are in the process of finalizing their rostersthe process of finalizing their rosters. At this point in the offseason, there are still some quality free agents remaining on the market. The Pistons made the decision to add to their roster […]

The Chicago Sky shocked the WNBA world with the news that they had fired head coach Teresa Weatherspoon on Thursday. Weatherspoon had been at the helm for only one season. Following news of the firing, Sky rookie star Angel Reese took to social media with an emotional reaction to the decision. “I’m heartbroken. I’m literally […]

With NBA training camps set to open at the beginning of October, most NBA teams have finalized their rosters. A teams are still making training camp moves here and there as players hit the waiver wire. The Atlanta Hawks added to their roster this week by signing Daeqwon Plowden to a contract as per Michael […]

The 2024-25 season is an important one for Golden State Warriors players Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody. Both Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga are eligible for contract extensions but the Warriors would need to reach an agreement with either player by Oct. 21. But contract talks with both players are currently underway as per Kendra […]

With the departure of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency, the Denver Nuggets are going to be relying on Michael Porter Jr. on the wing more than they have in recent seasons. The Nuggets held media day this week and ahead of training camp, Michael Porter revealed that he had undergone a new body transformation for […]