David Yapkowitz Articles - Page 79

The Golden State Warriors have a lot of decisions to make heading into this offseason. They made some big front office news on Friday following the departure of former general manager Bob Myers. Mike Dunleavy Jr. will be tasked with trying to maximize this team’s window and re-making a championship contender. In doing so, he’ll […]

The Los Angeles Sparks are coming into Friday’s game against the Minnesota Lynx with a lengthy injury report. In order to potentially have enough available players, they made an emergency signing of former South Carolina star Destanni Henderson to a hardship contract ahead of the game. The Sparks have listed Chiney Ogwumike and Jasmine Thomas […]

The Los Angeles Sparks came into the 2023 WNBA season with revamped front office and coaching staff and a vision for a new foundation. So far, it’s been a bit of an inconsistent start to the year. Coming into Friday’s game against the Minnesota Lynx, the Sparks are 5-4 and looking to win back to […]

The Indiana Fever got their second consecutive win on Thursday with a 92-90 win against the Chicago Sky. They were coming off what had been their best win of the season on Tuesday against the Washington Mystics. While the Fever may have a 4-6 record, there have been encouraging signs and reasons for optimism. This […]

One year after winning the national championship, the Baylor Bears had a pretty successful season in 2022-23. They finished the year at 23-11 and 11-7 in Big 12 Conference play. They got past UC Santa Barbara in the first round of the NCAA Tournament but lost to Creighton in the second round. Baylor now looks […]

The Washington Huskies suffered through a disappointing 2022-23 season. They finished with a record of 16-16 overall and 8-12 in Pac-12 Conference play. They also suffered some heavy losses in the transfer portal. Talented freshman Keyon Menifield opted to take his talents to the SEC. They also lost PJ Fuller, Cole Bajema, Noah Williams and […]

The Washington Mystics have gotten off to an inconsistent start to the 2023 WNBA season with a record of 5-4. For a team with solid playoff aspirations, they’ve just been treading water so far. They’re coming off their worst loss of the season, a blowout against the Indiana Fever, after having won back to back […]

The Phoenix Mercury have been one of the more disappointing teams of the 2023 WNBA season so far. Although they have been navigating the absence of starting point guard Skylar Diggins-Smith who is currently out on maternity, they have enough talent on the team to make some noise. They began the season on an emotional […]

The Dallas Wings have been hit with the injury/absence bug to start the 2023 WNBA season. They have been without prized offseason trade acquisition Diamond DeShields and 2023 first round draft pick Lou Lopez Senechal since the start of the season. Both players are dealing with knee injuries and are expected to miss significant time. […]

The Indiana Fever had a lot of eyes on them to start the 2023 WNBA season largely due to the addition of South Carolina star Aliyah Boston. Boston has certainly lived up to the hype in the early weeks of the season and is looking the part of the franchise player she was billed as. […]

After a very successful 2022-23 regular season that saw the Arizona Wildcats knock off UCLA in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game, the season ended in humiliating form for the Wildcats. They entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed and lost in the first round to No. 15 seed Princeton. Following the season, star […]

The Utah Jazz started off the 2023 NBA season as one of the more surprising teams in the league. While they were initially projected to join the Victor Wembanyama tanking sweepstakes, they were in the midst of the Western Conference playoff picture up until the final weeks of the regular season. Since they missed the […]

There’s been a lot of conversation over the past couple of seasons as to the changing NBA game and the disappearance of real centers. Although the game has definitely shifted towards a more perimeter-oriented game, there’s still some dominant centers left such as 2023 NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic and regular season MVP Joel Embiid. […]

The Dallas Wings suffered their first loss at home this season, 79-61, on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Sparks. After winning two consecutive games, the Wings have now lost two games in a row. They’ve been an average team so far this season as they navigate a new head coach in Latricia Trammell and some […]

The UConn women’s basketball team had a successful season by regular standards. They finished 31-6 overall and 18-2 in Big East Conference play. They were a consistent top ten team in the AP rankings throughout the season, won the Big East Tournament and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament. But this isn’t […]

The Denver Nuggets finished off the Miami Heat in five games in the NBA Finals to win their first championship in franchise history. While it was the duo of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray that powered the Nuggets during their championship run, they don’t win the title without big contributions from their role players. One […]

The Chicago Sky have been dealing with a short-handed roster for the first few weeks of the 2023 WNBA season. Two players who were expected to be key rotation players in second-year wing Rebekah Gardner and rookie Morgan Bertsch both suffered injuries early in the season and are currently sidelined. Ruthy Hebard is currently out […]

The Denver Nuggets are on the verge of their first championship in franchise history as they currently hold a 3-1 lead against the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. They’re heading home for Game 5 and are in good position to close out the series. They can’t get complacent though. They need to show the […]

The Miami Heat find themselves in a position no team wants to find themselves in. They’re facing a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals against the Denver Nuggets and are staring elimination between the eyes as they prepare for Game 5 on the Nuggets homecourt. If they hope to extend the series, however, and force […]

The Minnesota Lynx have not gotten off to a good start to the 2023 WNBA season and they’ve already received bad news about their prized lottery pick, Diamond Miller. They did have something to cheer about on Sunday though as they pulled off a comeback from being down double-digits against the Los Angeles Sparks at […]

The Denver Nuggets are in the drivers seat of the NBA Finals with a commanding 3-1 series lead against the Miami Heat. While history is certainly on their side, it’s not like choking away a 3-1 lead has never been done before. The Nuggets will be on their homecourt so they’ll have the advantage there, […]

Coming back from a major injury is never easy for professional athletes. Seattle Storm veteran guard Kia Nurse knows that all too well. Kia Nurse suffered an ACL injury during the 2021 WNBA playoffs against the Las Vegas Aces in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals. The injury kept her out of the 2022 […]

The Dallas Wings have been one of the better teams in the WNBA to start the 2023 season with a record of 5-3 and having won two consecutive games. They are led by Arike Ogunbowale who is one of the league’s blossoming superstars. But Ogunbowale has had some help in the form of a career […]

The Miami Heat find themselves in the unenviable position of staring down at a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals following their 108-95 loss on Friday against the Denver Nuggets. They dropped both games at home and now face the prospect of elimination heading back to the Nuggets homecourt for Game 5. While it’s certainly […]

The Washington Mystics haven’t exactly been burning down the nets to start the 2023 WNBA season. Through their first seven games, they are 4-3 and are looking to get back to back wins against the Seattle Storm. While they have a roster that is certainly playoff caliber, they are also adjusting to having a new […]

The Seattle Storm have gotten off to a rocky start to the 2023 WNBA season with a 1-5 record. It was always going to be a tough year with growing pains due to having a very young and inexperienced roster in the wake of losing Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird. They made a recent roster […]

The Phoenix Suns sent shockwaves through the NBA world this week when it became public that they intended to part ways with Chris Paul before June 28 when his contract becomes fully guaranteed for the 2023-24 season. Although Paul is in the twilight of his career, he still capable of helping a contending team. Should […]

The New York Liberty turned a lot of heads this offseason when they acquired Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot in free agency and traded for Jonquel Jones. As one of the proclaimed ‘super teams,’ they automatically became one of the early favorites to win the 2023 WNBA championship. With a win against the Atlanta Dream […]

The Atlanta Dream fell to 2-4 on to start the 2023 WNBA season as they dropped their second consecutive game, this one to the New York Liberty after losing to the Las Vegas Aces on June 2. Despite the uneven start, the Dream have been seeing another step forward in the development of budding star […]

The Seattle Storm started out the 2023 WNBA season a little rocky at 0-4. They managed to get their first win of the season though against the Los Angeles Sparks in dramatic fashion coming back from being down 18 points early in the game. If they’re hoping to build off that momentum though, they’ll have […]

The Miami Heat find themselves trailing 2-1 in the NBA Finals against the Denver Nuggets with Game 4 set to tip-off soon. It’s essentially a must-win game for the Heat who want to avoid going back to the Nuggets homecourt facing a 3-1 deficit. While the Heat collectively need to step it up from how […]

In the WNBA, teams are allowed to sign players to hardship contracts when they have only nine or less available players on the roster. For the Chicago Sky, that was their reality heading into Friday’s game on the road against the Los Angeles Sparks. They are facing injuries to Rebekah Gardner, Morgan Bertsch and Isabelle […]

The Indiana Fever have been one of the WNBA’s bottom-dwellers for the past couple of seasons but this season brings about new promise. The Fever ended up with the No. 1 pick in the draft and to nobody’s surprise they selected South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston. Through the Fever’s first six games of the year, they’ve […]

The Seattle Storm knew that coming into this season there was going to be a lot of growing pains. With Breanna Stewart signing with the New York Liberty in free agency and Sue Bird retiring, it meant that a rebuild was underway. Only three members of the Storm’s 2020 championship team remain in Jewell Loyd, […]

The Seattle Storm have been struggling to start the 2023 WNBA season. They started out 0-4 and got their first win of the season against the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday after trailing by as many as 18 points early in the game. It was to be expected though that the Storm might struggle a […]

The Phoenix Mercury have bee one of the struggling teams so far as the 2023 WNBA season is officially underway. They received an emotional boost at the beginning of the year with the much-anticipated return of Brittney Griner, but they’ve only been able to manage a 1-4 start. It’s a long season though and there’s […]

Growing pains and losses are all a part of rebuilding and the Minnesota Lynx are definitely experiencing that this season. The started out the season at 0-6 and just picked up their first win on Saturday against the Washington Mystics. They have a franchise cornerstone in Napheesa Collier but not much else around her. Their […]

The Denver Nuggets have taken a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat after pulling off a 109-94 win on Wednesday as the series shifted to the Heat’s home floor. It was the phenomenal play of the Nuggets star duo in Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray that powered them to the win […]

Through the first few games of the 2023 WNBA season, the Chicago Sky have been one of the better teams with a record of 5-3. That’s pretty solid for them considering they lost their championship core this offseason. Candace Parker, Courtney Vandersloot and Azurá Stevens all signed elsewhere as free agents. Allie Quigley decided to […]