David Yapkowitz Articles - Page 78

The Duke Blue Devils had a fairly successful season last year. They finished 26-7 overall and 14-4 in ACC conference play while making it to the NCAA Tournament albeit losing to Colorado in the second round. The team has improved each season since Kara Lawson took over as head coach ahead of the 2020-21 season. […]

The Los Angeles Lakers had one of the best offseason free agent periods. For a team that made a surprising run to the Western Conference Finals after a strong trade deadline, they only improved the roster with several key free agent signings. One of those signings was former New Orleans Pelicans big man Jaxon Hayes. […]

The Washington Wizards have somewhat entered the first phase of the rebuilding mode with their decisions to trade Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis. They have a much younger roster now and a roster that is closer to finishing in the lottery than competing for either a playoff spot or a play-in spot. As it stands, […]

The Chicago Sky were dealt a tough blow earlier this season when head coach James Wade resigned from his position in the middle of the season to take an assistant coaching job with the Toronto Raptors in the NBA. Prior to that, Wade was the last coach in the WNBA who held the dual role […]

The Los Angeles Sparks have been hit with a mind-blowing number of injuries this season. While a few players such as Layshia Clarendon and Karlie Samuelson have since returned to the lineup, they’re still without a couple of key contributors. While starting guard and potential All-Star candidate Lexie Brown had returned to the court following […]

The Phoenix Suns overhauled their roster this offseason in a bid to build a contender around their superstars Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. They added a third star in Bradley Beal at the cost of Chris Paul. They also brought in a new head coach in Frank Vogel, all while shipping out Cameron Payne who […]

Over the past couple of years, Overtime Elite has emerged as a legit alternative to young basketball players who may not want to take the traditional college route through the NCAA or may not want to go the traditional high school route. While the program is still in it’s early stages, there’s no denying that […]

This season, the Chicago Sky have been one of those borderline teams. They could very easily be a playoff team and they could very easily be a lottery team. They were dealt a shocking blow halfway through the season when head coach James Wade announced that he would be stepping down from his position to […]

The Phoenix Mercury began this season with a lot of energy and excitement with the much anticipated return of Brittney Griner. The season has quickly gone south, however. They have not played well this season and they ended up parting ways with head coach Vanessa Nygaard. They will be without Brittney Griner for the foreseeable […]

The Indiana Fever surprised nobody when they selected South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft. Boston had long been considered the best prospect in the draft and the Fever put on a tanking display for the ages last season in hopes of landing the top pick to select […]

The Washington Mystics were looking like a team that could possibly be a dark horse contender come playoff time. That’s quickly gone south though as they’ve been hit with a rash of injuries. They are currently without star player Elena Delle Donne, starters Ariel Atkins and Shakira Austin and key reserve Kristi Toliver. As a […]

There’s the Las Vegas Aces, and then there’s the rest of the WNBA. That’s how this season has looked so far. The defending champs are in a class of their own and are the overwhelming favorites to repeat as WNBA champions. They are a league-leading 23-2 and they just matched the former Houston Comets record-setting […]

The Atlanta Dream have been slowly and steadily climbing up the WNBA standings. They’re currently 14-11 and tied with the Dallas Wings for the fourth best record in the league. They are not considered a championship contender, but they have the potential to be a scary team come playoff time. They are led by rising […]

In the WNBA hierarchy this season, the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty are in a class of their own with the Connecticut Sun not far behind. But the Atlanta Dream can be a dangerous team come playoff time. They have a talented roster that on paper looks capable of playing with anyone in […]

Coming into the 2023 WNBA season, much of the championship contender talk centered around the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty. And rightfully so, both ‘super teams’ have some of the best collection of talent in the league. But fans and pundits alike failed to account for the Connecticut Sun. The Sun have one […]

Over the years, the USC Trojans basketball team has had some talented big men to come through the program. Players like Nikola Vucevic and Taj Gibson come to mind. Most recently it’s been Evan and Isaiah Mobley who are both now in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Evan Mobley was just named to the […]

The summertime is always a fun time for NBA fans who have local pro-am leagues in their area. Among the most popular are the Drew League in Los Angeles, AEBL in Atlanta and the Miami Pro League in Miami. The NBA itself has even partnered with a few of these pro-ams to stream them live […]

With LSU’s NCAA championship win this past season, players have seen their stock rise and their NIL prospects increase. Two players in particular who have taken full advantage of their newfound popularity are Angel Reese and Flau’jae Johnson. Reese has blossomed into a legitimate WNBA prospect and she made a strong showing recently cleaning up […]

The FIBA World Cup is set to take place next month and will be held across three countries: Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. While Team USA has a roster full of NBA players set to compete, the rest of the field is full of NBA players suiting up for their home country. One of those […]

To say it’s been a tough season for the Seattle Storm would be an understatement. After losing Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird this offseason, the Storm have been fully immersed in a rebuilding year. So far, they’ve sputtered to a 5-19 record and they are 1-9 in their last ten games. They’ve had some silver […]

The UCLA Bruins basketball team is heading into a retooling year. With the loss of four starters in Jaime Jaquez Jr., Jaylen Clark, Tyger Campbell and Amari Bailey as well as sixth man David Singleton, the 2023-24 team is going to look a lot different. The Bruins also lost Mac Etienne to the transfer portal. […]

The Minnesota Lynx had finally started to get healthy. For a period before the All-Star break, they had been without No. 2 overall pick Diamond Miller as well as veteran wing Aerial Powers and center Jessica Shepard. Miller and Powers were dealing with ankle injuries and Shepard had a non-COVID illness. All three players have […]

The Seattle Storm knew this season was going to be difficult. With the loss of Breanna Stewart to the New York Liberty and Sue Bird to retirement as well as the majority of the roster hitting free agency, this team was going to look very different from the past couple of seasons. The only players […]

The Golden State Warriors have been blessed to have had one of the greatest players to ever play the game in Stephen Curry on their roster for over a decade now. The explosive guard is arguably the greatest shooter ever and he’s helped lead the Warriors to four championships in the past nine seasons. He’s […]

The FIBA World Cup is set to tip-off next month and for the first time the event will be hosted by three different countries; Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. The tournament has major implications in that it will serve as a qualifier for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Plenty of NBA players with foreign nationalities are […]

The Washington Mystics have been hit hard by the injury bug this season. After looking like they could be a dangerous team this season, they’ve lost six of their last ten games and are 12-11 overall. They are currently playing without Elena Delle Donne, Ariel Atkins, Shakira Austin and Kristi Toliver. That’s three starters and […]

The Las Vegas Aces have been the best team in the WNBA this season by a mile. With a league-leading 22-2 record, they are the overwhelming favorites to make it back to the Finals and win the WNBA championship. Led by reigning MVP A’ja Wilson with a deadly backcourt in Chelsea Gray and Kelsey Plum […]

Just when it appeared as if the Minnesota Lynx were finally getting healthy, injury struck again. This time it’s a costly blow as the team announced that All-Star Napheesa Collier would miss Friday’s game against the New York Liberty due to an ankle injury. After losing No. 2 overall pick Diamond Miller for about a […]

To the surprise of nobody, the San Antonio Spurs selected Victor Wembanyama with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. They now have a potential franchise cornerstone and generational talent. The name of the game now becomes filling out the rest of the roster and providing a solid supporting cast around him. […]

Over the past few decades, the San Antonio Spurs have had one of the absolute best scouting teams in the NBA. The Spurs have been praised for finding diamonds in the rough and major contributors in the second round of the NBA Draft. The Spurs came into the 2023 NBA Draft with two picks and […]

The Connecticut Sun have been one of the surprise teams of the season in that despite losing former head coach Curt Miller and star center Jonquel Jones, they have placed themselves in the conversation for championship contender. Led by the duo of Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner, the Sun are 18-6 and have the third […]

After a slow start to the 2023 WNBA season, the Minnesota Lynx have been playing improved basketball. That’s partly because they are finally getting healthy. No. 2 overall pick Diamond Miller missed about a month this season due to an ankle injury but she has since returned to the lineup. Veteran wing Aerial Powers had […]

After starting off the 2023 WNBA season in poor fashion, the Minnesota Lynx have begun to play much better. A big part of that reason is they are finally getting healthy after having several key players on the Lynx injury report. The got rookie sensation Diamond Miller back after she missed about a month due […]

After spending the entirety of his 11-year NBA career with the Portland Trail Blazers, Damian Lillard finally did what NBA fans and pundits alike have been clamoring for and asked for a trade. Throughout his career, Lillard has proclaimed his loyalty to the Blazers organization, but the team has wasted years of his prime by […]

Kelsey Mitchell has played six seasons in the WNBA, all with the Indiana Fever. She’s developed into one of the best guards in the league and a consistent double-digit scoring threat. Last season she averaged a career-high 18.4 points per game, just a season after putting up 17.8 and 17.9 points per game respectively, the […]

The Los Angeles Sparks have been decimated by injuries this season. While they recently got some reinforcements back in the lineup with the return of starting wings Lexie Brown and Layshia Clarendon, it wasn’t enough for them to get back on the winning track this weekend. The Sparks suffered a franchise tying eight game losing […]

The Toronto Raptors came into this offseason in an interesting situation. After rumors floated around the trade deadline that they might look to blow things up, they opted to stay put and shift that decision to after the season. After Fred VanVleet opted to leave via free agency and join the Houston Rockets, that chatter […]

The Minnesota Lynx have been playing better since their early start to the 2023 season. Although they just lost to the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday, they are now 10-13 and firmly in the playoff picture after it looked like they might be in contention for a lottery pick. One of the reasons why they’ve […]

When the 2023 WNBA season tipped-off, the general consensus among fans and media alike was that the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty, the two proclaimed ‘super teams,’ were the favorites to meet in the WNBA Finals. As fate would have it, the Aces and Liberty are set to square off next month in […]