David Yapkowitz Articles - Page 62

The Miami Heat came into the NBA free agency period looking for a way to improve on a roster that made a phenomenal playoff run all the way to the NBA Finals. It’s not like this was a fluke either. Since trading for Jimmy Butler, the Heat have made the Finals in two out of […]

The Denver Nuggets are coming off their first championship in franchise history. The key to repeating next season will be if they’re able to shore up some of their depth. Nuggets head coach Michael Malone plays a tight rotation of only eight players or so, so it’s not like the Nuggets need tremendous depth. But […]

The Philadelphia 76ers opened NBA free agency trying to figure out how to navigate the James Harden situation. They reportedly also have interest in acquiring Damian Lillard in a possible deal after news of his trade request broke this weekend. They’ve lost three of their free agents in Georges Niang, Jalen McDaniels and Shake Milton, […]

The Chicago Sky got a little bit of a surprise this past week following back to back wins against the Los Angeles Sparks. Since their 2021 WNBA championship, they’ve been slowing watching the exodus of each member of that team. This past offseason they lost Candace Parker, Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley and Azurá Stevens leaving […]

The big news that came out on the second day of NBA free agency wasn’t actually anything to do with a free agent signing, but the news that Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard had finally requested a trade. With that news, the Miami Heat immediately became the frontrunner to land Lillard in a trade. […]

The Toronto Raptors have had a very eventful NBA free agency period so far. They’ve been one of the most intriguing teams to monitor as they’ve teetered between keeping the team as is or blowing it up. It appears as if they’ve chosen the path of continuity even amid losing starting point guard Fred VanVleet. […]

The transfer portal has changed college basketball forever. It’s almost like a free agency for the NCAA and it’s created more of a level playing field for mid-majors to be able to compete with high-majors. It’s also helped players with a way out of situations that are out of their control. Take Dexter Akanno for […]

The Sacramento Kings were linked to some of the bigger names on the NBA free agency market such as Draymond Green and Kyle Kuzma but they made their biggest NBA free agency splash by re-signing one of their own key players in Harrison Barnes. The Kings next NBA free agency move came with another re-signing, […]

The Dallas Mavericks kicked off NBA free agency by making one of the biggest dominoes fall in Kyrie Irving. Although it was always likely that Irving was going to re-sign with the Mavs in free agency, he was rumored to be possibly meeting with other teams. They kept the Irving and Luka Doncic pairing though […]

The Memphis Grizzlies knew they needed veteran depth this upcoming season for two reasons. The first being their lack of playoff ready players in the postseason and the second being the need for additional depth amid Ja Morant’s 25-game suspension to start the 2023-24 season. They made one key move right around draft night when […]

Before NBA free agency even began, the Boston Celtics made a huge roster move in shipping out fan favorite Marcus Smart in a three-team trade with the Memphis Grizzlies and Washington Wizards that saw Kristaps Porzingis join the Celtics. Amid a pending decision on Grant Williams, the Celtics began NBA free agency relatively quiet. They […]

With NBA free agency underway, the San Antonio Spurs are probably focused on the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft in Victor Wembanyama. Wembanyama is considered a generational prospect and the future of the Spurs franchise. But they’re still going to need to build a solid team around him. They’ll look internally […]

NBA free agency officially kicked off on Friday and while player contracts cannot become official until July 6, teams and players can agree in principle to contracts. There was a huge flurry of activity once the clock hit 6 p.m. eastern time which is when teams and players could officially begin negotiating contracts. The Minnesota […]

NBA Free Agency is finally here with players and teams able to negotiate contracts. Contracts cannot become official until July 6 but deals that are agreed upon in principle are what’s being reported. The Minnesota Timberwolves entered NBA Free Agency looking to bolster their depth around stars Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns. They made a […]

Making a WNBA roster is tough. With only 12 teams with a maximum of 12 roster spots each, it’s become the hardest professional sports league to break into. Due to salary cap constraints, most teams only carry a maximum of 11 players bringing the true number of roster spots down from 144 to about 136. […]

With the NBA offseason here, it appears as if Golden State Warriors stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson have decided to try their hand at another sport. In a golf tournament dubbed ‘The Match,’ Curry and Thompson find themselves competing against NFL players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce in Las Vegas. The teams had some […]

NBA free agency has yet to hit and the day before the madness begins, the NBA world had a bombshell dropped on them in the form of Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden. Rumors swirled about Harden potentially opting out of his contract and becoming an unrestricted free agent. Instead, James Harden made the choice to […]

The Phoenix Suns made a blockbuster move at last season’s traded deadline when they acquired Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets. The move decimated the Suns depth but it was a move they needed to make. Then on draft day, the Suns made another big trade to acquire Bradley Beal from the Washington Wizards. That […]

NBA free agency is right around the corner and while teams can begin negotiating contracts on Friday, Jun. 30, some dominoes have already fallen. Most of the activity in the days leading up to NBA free agency is contract guarantees. For players that have player options and teams that have team options, the past week […]

The Los Angeles Clippers came into the 2023 NBA Draft with the last pick of the first round at No. 30. They also had a second round pick at No. 48. The draft hasn’t exactly been kind to the Clippers in recent seasons. Going back to the last ten years to 2013, there’s only two […]

So far in the 2023 WNBA season, it feels like it’s been the Las Vegas Aces, and then everybody else. The defending champs are currently 13-1 and hold the best record in the league. The New York Liberty are the closest behind them with a record of 10-3. The Aces’ only loss so far was […]

The WNBA is one of the hardest professional sports leagues to break into. Although there are technically 144 roster spots, due to salary cap issues most teams only carry 11 players making the total number of available rosters spots closer to 136. It’s not uncommon to see some of the top college stars cut before […]

The Charlotte Hornets surprised many when they made the decision to select Alabama’s Brandon Miller with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. While Scoot Henderson was the consensus second best prospect behind Victor Wembanyama, the Hornets brass all along had Miller as their top option. They now get to see a […]

The Denver Nuggets won the first championship in franchise history this season, dispatching the Miami Heat in five games in the NBA Finals. They were led by the star tandem of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray who put up phenomenal performances throughout the Nuggets playoff run. But even so, the Nuggets aren’t in this position […]

The Charlotte Hornets shocked the basketball world when they selected Alabama’s Brandon Miller with the No. 2 overall pick in the NBA Draft. It’s not that Miller wasn’t worthy of being a top draft pick, it’s just that Scoot Henderson from the G League Ignite was long considered the second best prospect in the draft […]

After the Washington Wizards made their NBA Draft selection at No. 8, Jarace Walker had no reason to believe that, that was where he was going to begin his NBA career. Unbeknownst to him, however, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski had just made an announcement of his own prior to the Indiana Pacers making their selection at […]

The Houston Rockets may have gotten one of the steals of the 2023 NBA Draft when they selected Villanova’s Cam Whitmore in the middle of the first round. Whitmore was still drafted in the first round but what makes him a possible steal is that he was lottery caliber player who was projected to be […]

The Alabama Crimson Tide were already going to look very different next season. They lost Brandon Miller, Noah Clowney and Charles Bediako to the NBA Draft and Nimari Burnett and Jaden Bradley to the transfer portal. They added quite a few new players in the transfer portal themselves but they were counting on a select […]

Voting for the WNBA All-Star game ended this week and on Sunday, the ten starters were revealed. The vote was split between fans, media and players with the fans accounting for 50 percent for the vote and the players and media accounting for 25 percent each. One of the players who was voted in was […]

The West Virginia Mountaineers sure got a shock this offseason when longtime head coach Bob Huggins abruptly resigned following his arrest for DUI. Huggins had been the head coach at West Virginia since 2007 and had amassed a record of 342-203. Unsurprisingly, West Virginia experienced a mini exodus of players in the transfer portal following […]

It seemed like the New York Liberty were finally getting back to full strength when Sabrina Ionescu returned to the lineup after missing two games due to injury. The Liberty have still been one of the best teams in the WNBA this season as they’ve been integrating several new players into the lineup. But the […]

The Phoenix Mercury have been the worst team in the WNBA with a league-worst record of 2-10. They’ve lost five games in a row. Help is on the horizon for them though as they received some good news on Saturday. Both Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi have missed the past several games for the Mercury […]

The Texas Tech Red Raiders are coming off a disappointing season in which they finished 16-16 overall and 5-13 in Big 12 Conference play. Tasked with improving their roster, they turned to the transfer portal as most college teams do nowadays. They picked up a big commitment from former Arizona State big man Warren Washington […]

The 2023 NBA Draft has come and gone and the next step for the players drafted is getting to showcase themselves in Las Vegas next month at the NBA Summer League. For a team like the Milwaukee Bucks, they had to do some real scouting and background work to find potential impact players as they […]

It’s not everyday that college basketball players get to play for a former NBA player. But that was the situation Romelle Mansel found himself in when he transferred to HBCU Jackson State last season. Mo Williams had just accepted the head coaching job for the Tigers at the beginning of the 2022-23 season, Mansel’s first […]

The Gonzaga Bulldogs were looking to reload this season after losing Drew Timme, Malachi Smith, and Julian Strawther to the NBA Draft and Hunter Sallis to the transfer portal. They were hoping to do so with a strong incoming class and the transfer portal. They did well in the portal with the additions of Graham […]

The 2023 NBA Draft is in the past and now that the dust has settled, it’s time to assess each team’s draft picks. The Oklahoma City Thunder came into the NBA Draft in an interesting situation. They are coming off one their best regular seasons in recent years having made a strong push for the […]

The Miami Heat had only pick in the 2023 NBA Draft and they used that on UCLA senior Jaime Jaquez. For a team that’s looking to get back to the NBA Finals after a phenomenal playoff run, Jaquez was a home-run pick. He’s ready to win now. A strong showing at the NBA Draft combine […]

The 2023 NBA Draft has come and gone and the hopes and dreams of many players have finally become reality. Now that all the dust has settled, the talk now turns to which teams made out well, which teams maybe did not so well and which teams came away with absolute steals. Every draft there […]