David Yapkowitz Articles - Page 78

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 […]

The NBA Draft can be a very emotional time for players and their families. It’s the culmination of years of hard work. It’s the beginning of a dream. It’s not uncommon for players to get emotional on camera and to shed tears. Such was the case for Jordan Hawkins after he was selected with the […]

For the past few weeks it seems, the NBA social media world was flooded with rumors and chatter regarding the New Orleans Pelicans and Zion Williamson. It seemed like no matter where you looked, the Pelicans were apparently ready to move on from Zion Williamson in a trade. Since joining the Pelicans, Williamson has struggled […]

The Charlotte Hornets surprised many when they made the decision to draft Brandon Miller with the No. 2 overall pick in the NBA Draft. Scoot Henderson of the G League Ignite was the consensus No. 2 prospect behind Victor Wembanyama for much of the year but the Hornets obviously felt otherwise. There had been rumblings […]

When the Charlotte Hornets selected Brandon Miller with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, it was no secret that the Portland Trail Blazers were going to select Scoot Henderson. Henderson had been the consensus No. 2 prospect in many mock drafts but the Hornets decided to surprise everyone. In any case, […]

With NBA Draft finally here, it’s no secret that Victor Wembanyama is going to be the No. 1 overall pick to the San Antonio Spurs. The Charlotte Hornets have the No. 2 overall pick and have reportedly been deciding between Scoot Henderson of the G League Ignite or Alabama’s Brandon Miller. Whether Henderson is drafted […]

Nothing is really work this season for the Phoenix Mercury. They are at the bottom of the WNBA standings with a record of 2-9. Part of that can probably be explained though with the absences of stars Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi who have been battling injuries as of late. They also have not had […]

It’s been an uneven past couple of seasons for the Kentucky Wildcats. After missing the NCAA Tournament in 2021, they bounced back the past two seasons. But for a program accustomed to winning, they have not advanced to the Final Four since 2015. They also lost Oscar Tshiebwe and Chris Livingston to the NBA Draft […]

Ever since the Seattle Storm’s 0-4 start to the 2023 WNBA season, the team has been playing much better even if their overall record might not show it. They are currently 3-7 and in contention for a playoff spot in the Western Conference. They’re coming off a big road win against the Dallas Wings on […]

After seven seasons with the Indiana Fever, Tiffany Mitchell decided she needed a fresh start. The No. 9 overall pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft, Mitchell was drafted by the Fever and had spent her entire career to this point with the franchise. But when the WNBA free agency period rolled around, Tiffany Mitchell chose […]

The NBA Draft is not until June 22 and it is absolutely no secret who the No. 1 overall pick will be. Victor Wembanyama has been projected as the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft for quite some time now. He is considered a generational prospect and head and shoulders above, quite literally and […]

The Golden State Warriors dropped some big news on Friday with the announcement of a new general manager in Mike Dunleavy Jr. following the departure of Bob Myers. Heading into the 2023 offseason and the NBA Draft, Dunleavy will have his work cut out for him as he attempts to reshape the Warriors into a […]

The Washington Mystics have gotten off to an inconsistent start to the 2023 WNBA season with a 5-4 record. They’re on the verge though of securing their sixth win of the season against the Phoenix Mercury as they lead by double-digits in the fourth quarter. The Mystics came into the game with a clear injury […]