David Yapkowitz Articles - Page 69

The Western Conference got a major shakeup at the NBA trade deadline when Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving suddenly found themselves out West. Kevin Durant was traded to the Phoenix Suns and Kyrie Irving wound up with the Dallas Mavericks. While the new moves make the Western Conference that much tougher, for some of the […]

The Detroit Pistons have had a forgettable season. They are 15-44 are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. Only the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets have worse records in the NBA. But there have been some flashes of potential with the young core that the Pistons have in place. One member of […]

The dust from WNBA free agency has settled and most WNBA teams are now filling out the backend of their rosters. WNBA teams are allowed to bring 20 players to training camp and need to cut down to the league maximum of 12 players. Although many of the training camp invites don’t have a legit […]

Last week, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James made history when he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. Abdul-Jabbar retired with the Lakers but he began his career with the Milwaukee Bucks where he began racking up points. Current Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo surpassed Abdul-Jabbar as the Bucks franchise all-time scoring […]

The Milwaukee Bucks have been playing some solid basketball recently. They knocked off the Eastern Conference leading Boston Celtics on Tuesday, albeit the Celtics being short-handed and they moved to within a half game of the Celtics for first place in the East standings amid an 11-game win streak. But as they looked to increase […]

With the NBA trade deadline officially in the rearview mirror, it’s now buyout season. In order for potential free agents to be eligible for the playoffs, they must have been waived or bought out by March 1. Each year, NBA teams, usually teams that aren’t doing so well, come to buyout agreements with veteran players […]

The Houston Rockets have had a forgettable season. They are currently 13-44 and at the bottom of not only the Western Conference standings but at they are at the bottom of the league standings overall. Earlier this season, the Rockets made headlines when John Wall spoke out about the apparent lack of culture and accountability […]

The Houston Rockets have been going through a season not worth remembering. At 13-44, they have not only the worst record in the Western Conference, but also the worst record in the NBA overall. On Wednesday in the Rockets game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, they received some troubling news as second-year guard Jalen Green […]

The Utah Jazz got a bit of bad news on Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies when Collin Sexton suffered an apparent hamstring injury and was subsequently ruled out for the remainder of the game as per the team. Sexton started the game and only played about four minutes before exiting the game. Collin Sexton (left […]

The Milwaukee Bucks pulled off a big win on Tuesday against the Boston Celtics, albeit the Celtics being without several key players. Nonetheless, the Bucks have established themselves as a roadblock for the Celtics aspirations of reaching the NBA Finals again and they’ve done so behind the stellar play of Giannis Antetokounmpo. Antetokounmpo has been […]

The New Orleans Pelicans were dealt a major blow over the weekend with the news that Zion Williamson suffered a setback in his attempts to get back on to the court. They were hit with another blow on Sunday when it was revealed that guard CJ McCollum is now on the injury report for Monday’s […]

Ja Morant made headlines a couple of months ago for his comments along the lines of not worrying about the rest of the Western Conference when it came to the Memphis Grizzlies’ chances to make a solid playoff run. The comments caused quite a stir and after the flurry of trades that happened at the […]

When it comes down to last minute crunch time situations, NBA teams have their go-to plays to get as best a look as they can for a potential game-winning or game-tying shot. For the Miami Heat, they ran one of those plays on Friday against the Houston Rockets. With the scored tied at 95 and […]

The Los Angeles Lakers were one of the most active teams at the NBA trade deadline in hopes of improving their roster and trying to make a postseason run. In a three-team trade including the Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz, the Lakers reacquired D’Angelo Russell whom they originally drafted with the 2nd overall pick in […]

The 2023 NBA trade deadline has come and gone and the Boston Celtics were one of the teams that was active pulling off a deal to bring in veteran shooting big man Mike Muscala. But it’s the trade they didn’t make that is now making headlines. Reserve point guard Payton Pritchard was a player whose […]

The New York Liberty pulled off arguably the biggest move of WNBA free agency with the blockbuster signing of superstar Breanna Stewart and then followed that up with the signing of veteran guard Courtney Vandersloot to add to their earlier trade of Jonquel Jones. With Sabrina Ionescu already in place, the new additions figure to […]

Jayson Tatum has been having an MVP-caliber season for the Boston Celtics. He has had multiple explosive scoring games this season and on Friday against the Charlotte Hornets, he dropped 41 points in a win. The game as his eighth game this season scoring at least 40 points and it moved him into a tie […]

The game of basketball has changed in today’s day and age. ‘Positionless’ basketball has become the norm in that players are becoming more versatile with a higher emphasis on the three-point shot and players not being pigeonholed into one position or another. Players are able to play multiple positions do different things on the court […]

The NBA trade deadline may have been on Thursday but the WNBA had some trades of their own as well. With the dust from the WNBA free agency period largely settled, teams are still in the process of filling out their rosters and looking at potential trades. The Connecticut Sun pulled off one of those […]

The Golden State Warriors made a move at the NBA trade deadline to bring back fan favorite Gary Payton II but now that move appears to be in jeopardy. The move was a four team trade that also included the Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons and Portland Trail Blazers and involved James Wiseman going to the […]

The 2023 NBA trade deadline has come and gone and the Phoenix Suns pulled off the biggest blockbuster of the week when they acquired Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets. What was even more remarkable about the trade was the Suns didn’t even have to give up any of Chris Paul, Devin Booker or Deandre […]

While there was a flurry of activity at the NBA trade deadline, the Phoenix Suns pulled off arguably the biggest and most impactful move with their addition of Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets. What was even more remarkable about the Suns trade for Kevin Durant was the fact that they didn’t even need to […]

The Houston Rockets made a long awaited move at Thursday’s NBA trade deadline when they shipped out veteran guard Eric Gordon to the Los Angeles Clippers. Gordon’s name had been mentioned in trade chatter for a while now and he was considered one of the most likely players to be traded at the NBA trade […]

The NBA trade deadline has come and gone and one of the teams who stood pat was the Chicago Bulls despite chatter that they might decide to blow things up. One player who has seen his name mentioned in trade rumors is Nikola Vucevic. As the NBA trade deadline drew near, it became more and […]

The Detroit Pistons were one of the more active teams at the NBA trade deadline. They made a move to acquire James Wiseman from the Golden State Warriors while shipping out Kevin Knox and Saddiq Bey in the process. Knox was sent to the Warriors who then rerouted him to the Portland Trail Blazers while […]

The first major domino of the 2023 NBA trade deadline fell on Wednesday, a full day ahead of the actual deadline and it sure was a blockbuster. The Los Angeles Lakers had been rumored to be shopping Russell Westbrook as recently as this past weekend when Kyrie Irving demanded a trade from the Brooklyn Nets. […]

The first major domino of the 2023 NBA trade deadline fell on Wednesday with the finalization of a three-team trade involving the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz. The trade has Russell Westbrook being shipped out to the Jazz and it is widely expected that he will receive a contract buyout and thus […]

The NBA trade deadline might not be until 3 p.m. EST on Thursday, but a trade has already been completed as per Shams Charania of The Athletic. The trade involves the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz. In the deal, the Lakers will be acquiring D’Angelo Russell from the Timberwolves and Malik Beasley […]

The 2023 NBA trade deadline has finally arrived and the Milwaukee Bucks are one of the contenders that should certainly look to upgrade their roster. As it stands, the Bucks are 37-17 and in second place in the Eastern Conference Standings and only one game back of the Boston Celtics for the top seed in […]

The Brooklyn Nets sent shockwaves through the NBA world on Sunday with their trade of Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks. It was reported that both the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers as well as the Phoenix Suns were potential finalists for an Irving trade and with each subsequent hour, details of those […]

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been playing better basketball behind Anthony Edwards as compared to their poor start to the season and they’ve managed to make up some ground in the Western Conference playoff race. They took on the West-leading Denver Nuggets on Sunday but they were dealt a major blow during the game as it […]

With the Brooklyn Nets trade of Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, details of other teams’ offers for the star guard are starting to come forward. It was reported that the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns all had levels of interest in a potential deal for Irving. It had […]

The dust has nearly settled in WNBA free agency with most of the big name players and key free agents having signed already. That doesn’t mean there aren’t quality players still available. For teams still looking to fill out the end of their rosters and bring in players capable of stepping up in case of […]

With the second half of the season fully underway and little room for error in the race for the postseason, the Washington Wizards, who at 24-28 are essentially tied with the Indiana Pacers at 25-29 for the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference standings and the final play-in spot, have a big game against the […]

Ever since the Philadelphia 76ers were eliminated from the Eastern Conference playoffs in 2021 after choking away a 3-1 series lead to the Atlanta Hawks, things haven’t been the same for Ben Simmons. He was traded to the Brooklyn Nets after refusing to report to the Sixers and he just hasn’t been able to get […]

The Duke Blue Devils have had a decent season so far under first-year head coach Jon Scheyer. The Blue Devils are currently 17-6 overall and sport an 8-4 record in ACC conference play. They are also currently on a three-game win streak with wins against Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and most recently on Saturday against […]

The Seattle Storm have officially hit rebuilding mode after the departure of franchise superstar Breanna Stewart to the New York Liberty in WNBA free agency. It’s no easy task reshaping a roster after losing a player of that caliber essentially for nothing. After the WNBA free agency moratorium period ended and players could officially sign […]

There’s no question that Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks has become a very polarizing player among fans and even among his NBA peers. His most recent incident came on Thursday during the Grizzlies game against the Cleveland Cavaliers when he hit Donovan Mitchell in the groin after falling down while missing a shot at the […]

The Memphis Grizzlies received good news this week on Thursday when it was announced that they would have two All-Star selections in Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. But the Grizzlies will be waiting on another announcement this weekend as to whether or not their All-Star duo will be in uniform on Sunday against the […]