James Salmon Articles - Page 3

The Dallas Mavericks are one of numerous teams linked to Buddy Hield after his contract extension talks stalled, but there is plenty of water still to go under the bridge before it becomes a realistic possibility for the Pacers sharpshooter to make his way to Texas. Per Marc Stein, there is “no traction” in discussions […]

Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell is not expected to sign a contract extension this summer, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. But even after it was rumored that there was some pressure on the Cavs to extend him by 2024, for Cavs fans, this is not quite as much of a disaster as it might immediately […]

Kyrie Irving has weighed in on the cyber drama between Miles Bridges and Austin Rivers, adding a little extra fuel to the already simmering fire. Rivers kicked things off when speaking on The Ringer, suggesting the Hornets needed to surround LaMelo Ball with people who “can help him tap into his potential.” He then appeared […]

Lakers owner Jeanie Buss has made a big claim about star big man Anthony Davis in the lead-up to the 2023-24 season, suggesting that he may have been the best player in the league when playing last year. Davis, as he so often does, had an injury-interrupted season, missing a large portion of December and […]

Cade Cunningham was enjoying a strong start to his second season in the NBA in 2022-23 – averaging 19.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists over his first 12 games – before suffering a stress fracture in his left shin which required season-ending surgery. But teammate Jaden Ivey has no concerns about the impact the […]

The Denver Nuggets might have the most secure starting lineup in the NBA. Their starting five of Jamal Murray, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Porter Jr, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic obviously led them to the franchise’s inaugural NBA championship, but even before they won, coach Michael Malone showed a huge amount of trust in that group. […]

The Toronto Raptors took a step backwards last season. After jumping from 27 wins in 2020-21 to 48 in 2021-22, they were unable to return to the playoffs, splitting their regular season down the middle with 41 wins and 41 losses before losing in disappointing fashion to the Bulls in the first play-in game. This […]

The Golden State Warriors didn’t quite have the season they were hoping for in 2022-23. After their core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green won their fourth championship together the season prior, they won only 44 games, and though they got past the plucky young Kings in the first round to set up […]

The Cleveland Cavaliers are well and truly on the way up. From 2020-21 to 2021-22 they doubled their win total from 22 to 44, and last season they bumped that up even further to 51, making their first playoff appearance since their LeBron James days in the process. Led by a young core consisting of […]

The Charlotte Hornets have been mired in NBA purgatory for years. For six consecutive seasons they finished between 9th and 11th in the Eastern Conference, before last season dropping to 14th with just 27 wins. That disappointing 2022-23 season, however, did help them to secure Brandon Miller, adding to the quietly growing compilation of talent […]

A couple of decades into arguably the most decorated career in NBA history, LeBron James is already in unchartered territory, and in 2023-24 he’ll look to continue to defy Father Time in what will be his 21st season at the top level. And if a recently released video is anything to go by, age does […]

Manifestation is a tool used by many professional athletes around the world, and for Kyrie Irving that process appears to have started earlier than most. The Dallas Mavericks star shared a post on Twitter with an image of a note he wrote to himself way back in 4th Grade. The content of the note? “I […]

Every new draftee to the NBA has dreams of sharing the floor with the likes of LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo. But for new Rockets forward Cam Whitmore, the 20th pick in the 2023 draft, that dream extends beyond just sharing the floor with them. He wants to posterize them. Speaking on Playmaker’s “To Inspire”, […]

If only golf were as easy as the pros made it out to be. For Justin Thomas, that simplicity with which he and his colleagues appear to play the game is a major part of the mindset they’ll adopt in the Ryder Cup as they attempt to knock off Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and co. […]

Load management has been an intriguing topic of conversation in the NBA for many years. The propensity of many teams to rest players throughout the course of what is a very long season is at odds with the league’s desire to get as many bums on seats and eyes on TVs as possible, and recently […]

The Warriors have already been reported as hosting a number of NBA veterans for workouts as they look to bolster their roster in the lead-up to the 2023-24 season. Names who have headed to San Francisco to strut their stuff include former Warriors Kent Bazemore and Juan Toscano-Anderson as well as Will Barton and Dewayne […]

Don’t we just love a comparison in the NBA? The latest has seen Stephen Curry competing with Magic Johnson for the title of Greatest Point Guard of All Time after Curry put himself at the top of the tree – though in fairness, he was asked the question, and he did caveat his answer by […]

It’s been a tumultuous little off-season for Cameron Payne. After being traded by the Suns to the Spurs, he was waived earlier in the week. He’ll be looking for a new home for a result, but particularly after the last game in the NBA he played there will no doubt be a number of suitors. […]

Giannis Antetokounmpo has long been one of the best players in the league, but his insatiable drive to improve is well-documented and his latest attempt to take his game to another level will include one of the greatest to ever do it. Speaking on the 48 Minutes podcast, Antetokounmpo revealed his plans to head to […]

Both the Houston Rockets and the NBA have released a statement on the status of Kevin Porter Jr, after their young point guard was arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. With the story still relatively fresh, having only broken earlier on Monday, neither organization yet has a whole lot to say about the situation. “We […]

The Portland Trail Blazers have added to their big man stocks, signing Australian center Duop Reath to a one-year deal. Reath has played in a number of different leagues around the world after going undrafted in 2018 following a career in LSU, but recently impressed in the FIBA World Cup for a Boomers side distinctly […]

Track and field athlete Noah Lyles recently raised plenty of eyebrows when he questioned why American sports, and specifically the NBA, refer to themselves as ‘world champions’ when they win a title. The take wasn’t exactly well received around the league, though views on it did seem to soften when a similar quote from Gregg […]

In their various forms – which has included the Chicago Packers, Chicago Zephyrs, Baltimore Bullets, Capital Bullets, Washington Bullets and finally Washington Wizards – the Wizards have been around for over 60 years. Though they haven’t been the most successful team in the league in that time, having been around for so long they have […]

It must be frustrating having to play in the same era as Novak Djokovic – as it was to play in the same era as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal – but Daniil Medvedev can at least see the humor in it. He went down to the now 24-time Grand Slam champion in the US […]

Luis Rubiales, president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, has resigned from his position as a result of the fallout which has followed his kiss on World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso. The unwanted kiss, which occurred in the wake of the 1-0 victory over England, came as the former president celebrated with the players. Since […]

There are very few basketballers who get to win a World Cup during their careers; even fewer get to do so alongside their brother. On Sunday evening in Manila, Franz Wagner – along with his brother Mo – did just that. “It’s special,” Wagner said when asked about how it felt to win the FIBA […]

The Utah Jazz might not have ever achieved the ultimate success, but they’ve nonetheless made plenty of great selections on draft night. Those picks have helped them put together a number of quality teams – teams which were able to at least challenge for a championship, even if they couldn’t go all the way. The […]

It’s no secret that the Phoenix Suns are going to be stacked in the upcoming season. After acquiring Kevin Durant late last season they already were, with perhaps the greatest offensive player of all time joining Devin Booker as well as Deandre Ayton. But when Bradley Beal joined them during this off-season, that lethal trio […]

With less than 30 years of history to go by, the Memphis Grizzlies history of quality draft choices was never going to be as deep as some of their older opponents. But even for a side which only joined the league in 1995, there is a serious dearth of options to put on a list […]

The Sixers have had their fair share of high draft picks in recent years, and it’s safe say that there’s been a mixed bag of results from those hauls. But for all the misses in that time, there have been a couple of notable hits – well, at least one, and harking back further than […]

Life hasn’t always been easy for the Sacramento Kings. Small market teams are never going to have a whole lot of pulling power when it comes to the free agency market, making the draft all the more important, and a lot of the Kings’ woes, particularly in recent times, can be attributed to their misses […]

The NBA draft can make or break a franchise, with teams’ ability to both capitalize on their high draft picks, and to find diamonds in the rough further down the draft board, pivotal in their subsequent success – or lack thereof. The Mavericks’ ability to be continually competitive since the turn of the century can […]

As one of the smallest market teams in the NBA, the Hornets – or the Bobcats – have not often been the number one choice for free agents. More often they’re forced to develop their own talent through the draft or make savvy moves at the trade table, and this inability to attract free agents […]

Free agency is never easy for small market teams, with most players preferring to sign with the bigger franchises if they have the option. But for a team which falls into that category, the Trail Blazers have done okay over the years in this regard, picking up a handful of players who have made significant […]

Another day, another Michael Jordan/LeBron James comparison. This time around it’s from Jordan’s former star sixth man Toni Kukoc, who weighed into the debate with a balanced and relatively reasonable view – not a sentence which is used all that often in these discussions. As part of a broader response, Kukoc said: “It’s hard to […]

The FIBA World Cup has garnered the interest of plenty of basketball fans around the world, but Jimmy Butler is not one of them. The Heat star has been spotted watching on intently at the US Open at Flushing Meadows, but that interest in sports during his offseason doesn’t appear to extend to one of […]

Let’s not beat around the bush – Minnesota is not exactly the easiest place to sell to NBA players who have the option to play in Miami, New York or Los Angeles. The fact that the Timberwolves have been perennially unsuccessful during their three decades or so in the league doesn’t help either, and with […]

The Hawks have an unusual history in free agency. Over the course of their more-than-50-year history since moving to Atlanta, there aren’t exactly a plethora of great free agent signings jumping off the page, but they have found the proverbial needle in the haystack on a couple of occasions. The top three or four signings […]

Like all teams, the Grizzlies have certainly had their free agency misses along the way, with one particular $94 million contract for a player who would ultimately play under 100 games for the franchise and average less than eight points standing out. But while Chandler Parsons’ perennial injuries made him a notable miss, the Grizzlies […]