Jedd Pagaduan Articles - Page 46

Andrew Wiggins was as crucial as anyone not named Stephen Curry to the Golden State Warriors’ championship run in 2022. But in the two seasons that followed, Wiggins’ stock fell off a cliff. Not only did he deal with injuries and some personal matters, forcing him to miss a lot of games, he was also […]

The Atlanta Hawks are starting to return to full strength and the league better be on the lookout for what this young Hawks squad can achieve moving forward. On Wednesday night, the Hawks have once again put the league on notice after becoming just the second team to beat the powerhouse Cleveland Cavaliers this season, […]

The Portland Trail Blazers have been a historically injury-ravaged team; their centers, in particular, have had a penchant for picking up serious injuries. This season alone, the Blazers’ frontcourt depth is already being tested, thrusting Donovan Clingan into the starting fray this early into his rookie campaign. But now, even Clingan is set to miss […]

On Tuesday night, the Phoenix Suns finally saw two of their best players, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, return from nagging calf injuries that have kept them out over the past few games. Durant’s absence, in particular, has been bad for the Suns, as they have gone just 1-6 with him on the mend. But […]

The San Francisco Giants, much like every other team in the NL West, have played fodder to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ dominance over the past decade or so. On Tuesday, this worrying trend for the Giants continued, as Blake Snell, in essence, used San Francisco as a stepping stone to secure a long-term deal from […]

The New York Yankees have made it clear from the start that their number one priority this offseason is to pull out all the stops in convincing star right fielder Juan Soto to stay in the Bronx. Not only did they give up a few quality prospects to bring Soto in via trade from the […]

The Los Angeles Dodgers, as rich as they already are, continue to get richer in terms of talent as they reportedly came to terms with Blake Snell on a five-year, $182 million deal to mark the first blockbuster signing of free agency. Snell only serves to elevate the Dodgers‘ injury-ravaged rotation, giving them a legitimate […]

The Boston Red Sox’s desire to spend big in their bid to return to legitimate World Series contention has been no secret; in fact, they have been among the league’s most active Juan Soto suitors, and that signing is going to cost a hefty sum that could approach the levels of Shohei Ohtani’s record-setting deal. […]

The Los Angeles Dodgers continue to flex their financial might; not resting on their laurels despite winning the 2024 World Series trophy not even a month ago, the Dodgers have reportedly come to terms to a five-year, $182 million contract with left-handed starting pitcher Blake Snell — with the rich getting richer as they brace […]

The Houston Rockets continued their rapid ascent towards the top of the league’s totem pole by being the second team to book their spot in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup following a thrilling 117-111 overtime win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. For a second, it looked as though the Rockets were going […]

All things considered, LeBron James’ four-season stint with the Miami Heat was a rousing success. But there is a sense that James did not achieve as much with the Heat as he could have, although that may have something to do with the lofty expectations that he set for the team. As one would recall, […]

Cooper Flagg has been ticketed by many to be the next big thing in the world of basketball, as the Duke Blue Devils forward can do it all — defend at a high level, handle the rock with confidence, and tip the scales in his team’s favor by being a walking mismatch problem. However, Flagg […]

The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off a humbling defeat to the Denver Nuggets, with Anthony Davis putting up his worst game of the season in a 127-102 defeat. And now, Davis’ playing status for their Tuesday night NBA Cup contest against the Phoenix Suns appears to be in a bit of doubt. The Purple […]

All teams in the NBA have been beset by injury woes to begin the 2024-25 season, and the Phoenix Suns are no exception. Two of the team’s stars, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, have been dealing with injuries, contributing to the Suns’ downturn in form. And with the Suns’ NBA Cup life on the line […]

Tyrese Haliburton has been subjected to a major fraud watch among fans amid his discouraging start to the Indiana Pacers’ poor start to the 2024-25 season. Haliburton has been very inefficient through the first few weeks of the campaign, and it started to look as though these struggles were getting to him on an emotional […]

On Monday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder handily took care of business against a Sacramento Kings team that was on the second night of a back-to-back, taking a 130-109 win away from home. But the win did not come without a casualty for a Thunder team that’s currently weathering injuries to two crucial rotation players […]

As if the already-dominant Boston Celtics needed to improve their roster even further, on Monday night, they saw the earlier-than-anticipated return of Kristaps Porzingis after the 7’3″ Latvian big man underwent surgery to address his “rare” leg injury after Boston won the championship back in June. And Porzingis’ impact was already apparent as the Celtics made […]

The Golden State Warriors appear to have hit a brick wall over their past two games. After losing steam on Saturday night in a 104-94 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, the Dubs were once again beset by late-game woes as they let a Brooklyn Nets team that was on the second night of a […]

The Denver Nuggets may have been laughed off the court by the New York Knicks on Monday night in a 145-118 defeat, but one of, if not the only silver lining of this crushing loss was the performance of veteran point guard Russell Westbrook. Westbrook started off slowly, much like the entire Nuggets team, but […]

Suffice to say, the start of the 2024-25 season has not gone according to plan for Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton. Haliburton has struggled out of the gates, averaging 15.8 points and 8.5 assists on poor shooting splits of 38/31/83 entering their Monday night matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans. It is getting to the […]

The injury luck of a few teams may be beginning to turn, but the Portland Trail Blazers are yet to experience a positive development in this regard. They entered their 123-98 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night already down five players in Deandre Ayton, Donovan Clingan, Scoot Henderson, Kris Murray, and Matisse Thybulle, […]

In a major surprise development for the reigning champion Boston Celtics’ season, Kristaps Porzingis made his season debut on Monday night as they hosted a Los Angeles Clippers team that was on the second night of a back-to-back. Back in June, Porzingis underwent surgery to repair the leg injury that bothered him in the NBA […]

Reports of the Los Angeles Clippers’ demise have been greatly exaggerated. Despite losing Paul George in free agency this past offseason as well as facing the seemingly never-ending Kawhi Leonard injury rollercoaster, the Clippers have gotten off to a strong start to the 2024-25 season, improving to 11-7 on the year after making quick work […]

The Boston Red Sox have been signaling their grand free agency ambitions all offseason long, as they have emerged as one of the few legitimate contenders to acquire Juan Soto’s services. But the Red Sox know that the potential addition of Soto may not be enough to make them a genuine World Series contender especially […]

The New York Yankees have historically been the MLB’s biggest spender, but as of late, other teams such as the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers, just to name a few, have been matching their financial might. And it looks as though this is going to cost them in the Juan Soto free agency […]

The Philadelphia Phillies have been among the league’s best over the past three seasons, but thus far, it has not resulted in a World Series breakthrough. In fact, the Phillies have gone backwards since making the World Series in 2022, falling short in the NLCS and NLDS, respectively, in 2023 and 2024. Thus, they are […]

With the annual December Winter Meetings almost upon us, there is an expectation that the Juan Soto free-agent sweepstakes is just about to heat up. Soto is the undisputed best free agent on the market, and it will be very difficult for the New York Yankees to keep him despite all the success they had […]

It’s never a good thing when a team’s best player falls prey to the injury bug. But thus far, amid Luka Doncic’s absence due to a wrist injury, the Dallas Mavericks have done a great job in holding the fort. On Friday night, they survived an avalanche from the Denver Nuggets to take a 123-120 […]

There were already warning signs that Tyrese Haliburton’s production for the Indiana Pacers was declining at the start of the 2024 calendar year. From January 1 until the end of the regular season, Haliburton averaged 17.2 points and 9.5 assists on 45/33/86 splits — solid numbers, but not at the 20 and 10 level everyone […]

The Los Angeles Dodgers are once again expected to be among the favorites to bag home the World Series in 2025; they are a well-oiled machine that is poised to be major players in free agency once again, as they are expected to throw their hat into the ring that is the Juan Soto sweepstakes, […]

The only saving grace of the Philadelphia 76ers’ nightmare start to the 2024-25 season has been the stellar play of rookie point guard Jared McCain. McCain has strung together quite a nice stretch; heading into their Friday night NBA Cup game against the Brooklyn Nets, the 20-year-old guard has scored 20 or more points in […]

The Boston Celtics, after suffering a gut-wrenching loss to the Atlanta Hawks in their NBA Cup group-stage opener, needed to be perfect from here on out to advance to the tournament’s quarterfinals. On Friday night, they handily took care of the hapless Washington Wizards, 108-96, as they met a familiar face in former Celtics guard […]

The Golden State Warriors have plenty of reasons to be happy for how they have started the 2024-25 season. After losing Klay Thompson in free agency, the Warriors have reloaded their depth, with Buddy Hield doing his very best Thompson impersonation, while the team’s defense is back to being one of the most suffocating in […]

From the moment the San Antonio Spurs secured the services of Chris Paul this past offseason, many regarded Paul as being the perfect fit for helming the offense of a very youthful Spurs team. But Paul’s contributions go beyond his incredible knowledge of the game as well as his considerable experience. He remains a productive […]

On Thursday night, it looked as though the Los Angeles Lakers were well on their way to victory lane against the Orlando Magic. With 19 seconds left, the Lakers were up by two, 118-116, and they had possession of the basketball. All they needed was to ice the game with two free throws. But then […]

The conditions surrounding the past few games for the San Antonio Spurs haven’t been ideal. For the past three contests, they have been without two of their best players, Victor Wembanyama and Devin Vassell, as the two have been dealing with knee injuries. But the Spurs have been doing their best to stem the tide […]

There’s nothing that quite gets LeBron James’ competitive juices flowing than by witnessing his opponent pull off a highlight. During the Los Angeles Lakers’ Thursday night contest against the Orlando Magic, James wasn’t about to let himself get overshadowed by a mean dunk from Moe Wagner, as he came straight down the other end and […]

The Toronto Raptors have experienced injury woes of their own to begin the 2024-25 season; most notably, Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley have missed plenty of games. In turn, RJ Barrett has been thrust into a larger role — and he has been delivering monster stat lines on a regular basis. On Thursday night, Barrett […]

The hiring of Charles Lee as the team’s head coach has done wonders for the Charlotte Hornets; they’re a much more competitive team night in and night out, and they seem to be getting the best out of the team’s burgeoning stars. On Thursday night, LaMelo Ball managed to bounce back after he was benched […]