Ryan Ward Articles - Page 24

The Los Angeles Lakers brass was convinced that Lonzo Ball would be the new face of the franchise in the post-Kobe Bryant era when they drafted him this past summer. Ball showed Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka the skills and leadership qualities they believed would make him a transcendent player on the NBA level, but so […]

On Monday night, the Los Angeles Lakers fell short against their crosscourt rivals with Blake Griffin’s L.A. Clippers getting the best of the Lonzo Ball and company at the Staples Center. It was the Lakers’ 12th loss of the season and their second consecutive defeat as they prepare for the defending NBA champion Golden State […]

After missing 12 games due to a wrist injury, forward Larry Nance Jr. returned to the floor for the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night to face the division rival L.A. Clippers at the Staples Center. Nance was immediately inserted back into the starting lineup for the Lakers with head coach Luke Walton adamant about […]

The Los Angeles Lakers will get a familiar face back in the starting lineup tonight against the L.A. Clippers. Head coach Luke Walton has elected to insert Larry Nance Jr. back into the starting five and as a result, Kyle Kuzma will now come off the bench. Before Monday’s game, Walton spoke to the media […]

At one point during the 2017 NFL season, the Kansas City Chiefs were widely considered to be the best team in the league. Veteran quarterback Alex Smith had the team playing at a very high level with Super Bowl aspirations. After a loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 12, the Chiefs are holding out hope […]

The New York Knicks have a superstar in the making with Kristaps Porzingis. The Latvian product is proving with every passing game that he’s the real deal and ready to shoulder the responsibility of being the face of the storied NBA franchise in the biggest market in the country. Along with making a case for […]

The San Antonio Spurs headed into the 2017-18 NBA season without two of their best players. Both Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard were unable to get on the floor to begin this season’s campaign and have still yet to play a minute on the floor for head coach Gregg Popovich. Fortunately for San Antonio, Parker […]

The Carolina Panthers were expected to be back at full strength in terms of offensive weapons for quarterback Cam Newton in Week 12 with veteran tight end Greg Olsen set to return after suffering a foot injury earlier in the season. Olsen was able to return on Sunday against the New York Jets but didn’t […]

One of the more popular questions NBA players get these days is who would be in their all-time starting five. Usually, most players in the league name a few legendary Los Angeles Lakers in their starting fives and that precisely what rookie Kyle Kuzma recently did in a Q&A session with fans on Twitter. Kuzma […]

After an impressive run with ended the franchise long playoff drought last season, the seemingly promising Oakland Raiders squad has struggled during the 2017 NFL season. Things have gotten so bad for the Raiders this season that they recently fired defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. to make a statement to turn things around. Head coach […]

Last season, the Dallas Cowboys were the team to beat in the NFC. Rookies Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott proved to be the real deal and led the team to an impressive 13-3 record and the number one seed in the conference. This season, however, has gone much differently for many reasons. The Cowboys are […]

The Los Angeles Chargers are a team that seemed to have a bleak future after making the move from San Diego before the start of the 2017 NFL season. Philip Rivers, the face of the franchise for the past decade, was thought to have a little time left playing at a high level while the […]

LaVar Ball, the controversial father of Lonzo Ball, has been making a lot of headlines as of late. Not only has LaVar been going back and forth with president Donald Trump following the return of LiAngelo Ball after the incident in China, but now the CEO of Big Baller Brand has been taking shots at […]

The Los Angeles Lakers are a struggling NBA franchise that may be on the cusp of turning things around. Although the team always turns a healthy profit on an annual basis, the product on the basketball floor has been less than stellar, but that could be changing with Magic Johnson and new general manager Rob […]

The Philadelphia Eagles are arguably the best team in the NFL heading into Week 12. Carson Wentz and company have a 9-1 record while appearing to be on a mission this season. Head coach Doug Pederson believes another promising young quarterback might end up following in Wentz’s footsteps with rookie Mitchell Trubisky of the Chicago […]

The Dallas Cowboys are struggling without their star running back Ezekiel Elliott coming out of the backfield. The offense has become stagnant and inefficient as they try to press on without their best offensive player and veteran tight end Jason Witten isn’t letting it get out of control by calling a team meeting to address […]

The Seattle Seahawks made a surprising move ahead of Thanksgiving Day by parting ways with veteran defensive end Dwight Freeney. Seemingly no one saw the move coming, including Freeney. On Wednesday, the one-time Super Bowl champion talked about the Seahawks releasing him suddenly and the Detroit Lions promptly bringing him on to help bolster their […]

The Dallas Cowboys have been without one of their most efficient offensive players with kicker Dan Bailey dealing with a groin injury. Bailey has been sidelined since suffering the injury back in October against the San Francisco 49ers, and now it appears he may be ready to make his return to the field for Dallas. […]

After three solid seasons with the New Orleans Saints, wide receiver Brandin Cooks became a hot commodity in the NFL leading to the 24-year-old ultimately landing with the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. In 10 games with the Patriots, Cooks has found where he’d like to spend the rest of his NFL career, […]

The New England Patriots are 8-2 on the season heading into Week 12 with the defending Super Bowl champions looking like the best team in the AFC once again. Unfortunately, Tom Brady is a bit banged up ahead of the team’s divisional clash with the Miami Dolphins. According to Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk, Brady […]

It has been an up and down rookie season for Lonzo Ball of the Los Angeles Lakers. At times, Ball looks like the next face of the storied NBA franchise and then there are games in which he appears to be nothing more than a role player struggling to find his way on the professional level. […]

The Los Angeles Lakers were able to snap a two-game skid on Sunday night at the Staples Center with Lonzo Ball and company coming out on top against the visiting Denver Nuggets. Not only was Ball able to break out of his recent slump with the second triple-double of his career, but the team’s all-around […]

The Los Angeles Lakers crushed the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night at the Staples Center. It was an impressive team effort from the purple and gold as they humbled the visiting Nuggets in Los Angeles with Lonzo Ball and Julius Randle having some solid performances. Brook Lopez, who scored 21 points in the win, talked […]

The Los Angeles Lakers continue to see a star in the making when it comes to rookie Kyle Kuzma. The first-round draft pick has become one of the team’s best players in a very short time as he seemingly fits Luke Walton’s system perfectly. On Friday night, Kuzma had another solid performance with the Utah product […]

The Los Angeles Lakers fell to the visiting Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night at the Staples Center with Joel Embiid finishing with a career-best performance with 46 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, and seven blocks. Lonzo Ball, however, had a game he’d like to forget with the rookie point guard struggling from start to finish. After […]

The Los Angeles Lakers have made it clear that once the right situation comes around that they’ll be parting ways with Luol Deng one way or another. Deng wants out of Los Angeles because he’s fallen out of Luke Walton’s rotation and even though both sides want to make this happen, it may not be […]

The Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers are two teams on the rise in the NBA with talented young cores led by Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Ben Simmons, and Joel Embiid. On Wednesday, these two promising young teams will go head-to-head for the first time in a highly-anticipated matchup at the Staples Center. Following practice […]

The quest for a playoff spot in the AFC isn’t over for the New York Jets. Although Todd Bowles squad has struggled for most of the season, the team is still in contention for the postseason, and as a result, New York won’t be sending Josh McCown to the bench. The Jets will continue to […]

The Minnesota Vikings are one of the hottest in the NFL after Week 10 with Mike Zimmer’s squad having won five straight games. Not only are the Vikings cruising through the regular season thus far with an NFC North division-leading 7-2 record, but they’re doing it with a backup quarterback, Case Keenum, leading the way and […]

This past week has been an interesting one, to say the least for veteran tight end Martellus Bennett. He was released by the Green Bay Packers in what appears to an ugly parting of the ways and promptly claimed by the New England Patriots reuniting him with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. Following his first […]

The Dallas Cowboys have to move on without star running back Ezekiel Elliott. The Pro Bowler has five more games left on his suspension, and his absence has already taken a toll on the team’s offense with the Cowboys scoring only one touchdown in an ugly loss against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 10. While […]

The New York Giants have gone from a perennial playoff team and a heavyweight in the NFC to a team that’s headed for a disappointing end to the 2017 NFL season. Eli Manning and company seem completely lost this season as the team deals with numerous injuries to key players like Odell Beckham Jr. and […]

Arguably, not since LeBron James back in 2003 has a rookie endured the kind of pressure and high expectations that Lonzo Ball of the Los Angeles Lakers is currently dealing with in his first NBA season. That added pressure of being a potential superstar in the making along with everything his controversial father, LaVar, has […]

The Utah Jazz received some bad news about one of their best players on Sunday. Center Rudy Gobert went down with an apparent knee injury on Friday night against the Miami Heat as the result of a collision with Dion Waiters and now he’ll miss a considerable amount of time. According to Shams Charania of […]

The New York Knicks have gone through some major changes over the past couple of years. The team has parted ways with Phil Jackson while also trading away the face of the franchise in Carmelo Anthony and now appear to have their superstar of the future in Kristaps Porzingis. With so many drastic changes on […]

As a man of many talents with an undying passion for sports, actor Michael Rapaport is as versatile as they come. Rapaport has a top-50 podcast (I AM RAPAPORT), directed short films and documentaries and along with starring in countless movies and TV shows, he’s now an author. Rapaport has taken his passion for sports […]

On Wednesday, the Green Bay Packers made a move that no one saw coming. The team decided to part ways with tight end Martellus Bennett who was Green Bay’s biggest free-agent acquisition in the offseason. Bennett signed a three-year deal with the Packers for $18.45 million after one season with the New England Patriots. It […]

It has been another long and disappointing season for the San Francisco 49ers. The storied NFL franchise has yet to win a game as the NFL passes the halfway point of the 2017 campaign and with the team struggling running back Carlos Hyde doesn’t want to talk about his future in San Francisco at this point. […]

The Baltimore Ravens are struggling to get back on track offensively. Despite having one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league, the Ravens have fallen flat on offense this season resulting in the team being one of the worst in the NFL in that category. Joe Flacco, who is having a forgettable season thus far, […]