- Stephen Curry isn’t being modest about his accomplishments. The Warriors point guard expressed to former NBA guard Gilbert Arenas on a podcast that he’s the best point guard in history. “I have to, yes. It’s me and Magic [Johnson] is that the conversation? Obviously, I have to answer that way,” Curry said, adding, “Magic’s resume is ridiculous. So the fact that we’re having that conversation, that’s the place I never thought I’d be in.” Arenas brought up that Johnson was more of a “point forward” due to his height and that Curry’s style has been more influential when it comes to young kids trying to emulate him, Eurohoops.net relays.
The Serbian national team has officially announced its 12-man roster for the 2023 World Cup, which tips off on Friday (Twitter link). The Serbians are missing star center Nikola Jokic, along with accomplished veteran guard Vasilije Micic, who made the move from the EuroLeague to the NBA this offseason.
However, the squad still features multiple current and former NBA players, starting with Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic. Heat forward Nikola Jovic, Sixers big man Filip Petrusev, and former Grizzlies guard Marko Guduric are among the notable players representing Serbia at this year’s World Cup.
Here are a few more notes from around the international basketball world:
- The Bahmas defeated Argentina on Sunday in the final of an Olympic pre-qualifying tournament, with Suns guard Eric Gordon scoring a game-high 27 points, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Following the Bahamian victory, former NBA forward Andres Nocioni – who won an Olympic gold medal with Argentina in 2004 – questioned whether it was fair for FIBA to allow Gordon to suit up for the Bahamas despite representing Team USA earlier in his international career (Twitter link). “Let’s not lose the essence of international competitions,” Nocioni added in a follow-up tweet.
- A Croatian team led by Warriors forward Dario Saric and Clippers center Ivica Zubac scored an upset victory over Alperen Sengun and Turkey in the final of another Olympic pre-qualifying tournament on Sunday, as Eurohoops details. Croatia, the Bahamas, Cameroon, Poland, and Bahrain won this month’s pre-qualifying tournament to secure spots in next year’s Olympic qualifiers.
- Vangelis Papadimitriou of Eurohoops highlights a handful of non-U.S. NBA players who could be difference-makers in this year’s World Cup, including Canadian forward RJ Barrett and Dominican big man Karl-Anthony Towns.
Longtime rival point guards Stephen Curry and Chris Paul are looking forward to their new status as teammates on a contending Warriors team this year, writes Jonathan Givony of ESPN.
“It’s a beautiful thing about basketball, you can’t write these narratives,” Curry said. “To go full circle, we’ve had a lot of battles over the years. He’s in Year 18, I’m going into Year 15, it’s amazing we have an opportunity to play together, and hopefully win at the highest level. He’s super competitive, and so am I.”
“I’m excited about Steph, Draymond [Green], Klay [Thompson], all the different guys, Wigs [Andrew Wiggins],” Paul said. “I’m excited for us to get together and see what it looks like. It’s just crazy how life works. But when it comes to basketball, I’m probably closest to my happiest. I’m obviously happiest when I’m with my family, but basketball is my safe haven; it’s been that way for a long time.”
Paul, a 12-time All-Star, was sent from the Suns to the Wizards as part of the Bradley Beal trade earlier this summer. The Warriors then traded for the 38-year-old as the centerpiece of its deal to offload Jordan Poole and some other young players.
There’s more out of California:
- The new-look Warriors will have to fight to stand out in a crowded Western Conference as they pursue another ring. Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area unpacks 10 key regular season bouts that he believes will serve as a critical proving ground for Golden State.
- After finishing with the West’s third seed while returning to the playoffs for the first time in 17 years, the revitalized Kings be featured prominently on national TV this season. According to James Ham of ESPN 1320 (Twitter link), the club will play six regular season contests on TNT, five on ESPN and 11 on NBA TV. Ham adds (via Twitter) that 16 of those 22 national bouts will be played in Sacramento.
- Kings All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis is looking forward to the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament, as he told Kyle Irving of The Sporting News. “It’s another chance to win something,” Sabonis said. “In international basketball, these cups in the middle of the season are big. They mean something. And then history happens and it’s important. “I feel like this year, if people aren’t on board at the moment, once that first champion wins, everyone is going to be like, ‘Oh, I want that next year.’ It’s only going to get better and better.”
In an appearance on Gilbert Arenas’ podcast, Andre Iguodala reveals that he told Jordan Poole he’ll have to become a leader after being traded to the Wizards, relays Tristi Rodriguez of NBC Sports Bay Area. With the Warriors, Poole could lean on a veteran core consisting of Iguodala, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. He won’t have that in Washington, but Iguodala said Poole is beginning to take on that role.
“He’s already starting to make the right strides,” Iguodala said. “I’ve heard about what he’s been doing with his teammates. The other day, I was asking him about his teammates, and he knew everything about every one of them. And I’m like ‘OK, now we starting off on the right path.’ He brought them all out to L.A. He did! He’s leading.”
Iguodala defended Poole’s final year with the Warriors, which was marked by turmoil leading back to Green’s punch during training camp. Iguodala says Poole continues to improve and should put up even bigger numbers now that he has his “own team.”
“He averaged 20 (points per game) last year, on a bad year. He’s going to get to the line. He’s the only one who got to the line for us last year consistently,” Iguodala said. “People act like he had a bad year. I’m like, ‘OK, a bad year? Y’all blamed him for the year we had last year and he averaged 20.’ (He will average) 25-plus, easy.”
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- After taking some time off following Summer League, Magic rookie Jett Howard is “back in the lab” and getting ready for his rookie season, Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel writes in a subscriber-only piece. Howard has also been watching new teammate Paolo Banchero with Team USA and trying to learn from his approach to the game. “Just how to be useful in any position that they put you in,” Howard said. “He’s like a Swiss Army knife. That holds value itself. He can guard the 1 through 5 and we look up to that.”
- The Heat don’t appear to have any interest in Christian Wood, even at the veteran’s minimum, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel states in a mailbag column. There may not be consistent minutes for Wood considering the other players in Miami’s front court, and Winderman doesn’t believe the team wants to hand out another guaranteed contract given the uncertainty over Damian Lillard.
- Ron Kroichick of The San Francisco Chronicle looks at how Grant Liffmann was able to rise from a Warriors post-game TV host to a vice president’s role with the Hawks.
The basketball world never sleeps, even in the NBA’s offseason. While we’re between NBA seasons, several other leagues and competitions are coming down the stretch of their respective seasons. From the WNBA season to the 2023 FIBA World Cup, basketball is in no shortage. The Big3 is one such league that enjoys its seasons during the summer, a 3×3 league where numerous retired NBA players square off.
The Big3 has continued to grow since 2017, adding partnerships and viewers year after year. However, the league has had a rocky relationship with the NBA. As The Athletic’s Jason Jones writes, Ice Cube, the league’s CEO and founder, has said on multiple occasions that the NBA has little to no interest in investing in the product.
According to Cube, he and business partner Jeff Kwatinetz asked the NBA to become business partners in 2017.
“We have been supportive of the Big3 since its inception, but we declined to invest,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said to The Athletic.
Cube sees several opportunities for the two leagues to coincide, with the Big3 offering a chance to help develop players according to Cube. The relationship between the two leagues isn’t completely shattered, with the Big3 playing games in NBA arenas, but Cube still wants to continue building a partnership with the NBA.
Jones writes that while the Big3 doesn’t see itself as a direct competitor to the NBA, the thought of any potential conflict between the two leagues has prevented some NBA investors in putting money into the Big3. Cube said that his league has historically performed better on CBS than more established sports leagues but is dismayed at the lack of media attention the league gets. He also said the NBA discourages such coverage and support for his league, according to Jones.
“Those claims are not true,” Bass said.
Jones notes that Cube has experience working with other professional sports leagues, as he’s working with the NFL. The NFL partnered with Cube’s Contract With Black America Institute to increase economic equity and partnerships with Black-owned businesses.
According to Jones, Cube wants to continue expanding the Big3 to a point where it can put teams in cities and has teams controlled by their own ownership groups.
Cube has been encouraged by the support of some NBA players for his league, such as Kyrie Irving and Jaylen Brown. Still, Cube also wants to see more players continue to vocalize their support for the Big3.
“I would love to see more of them on board, more current NBA players who already have a name in hoops,” Cube said. “But if not, we’ll be here when they want to play.”
I recommend reading the piece by Jones in full. There are several interesting tidbits about the growth of the league that features retired NBA players such as Joe Johnson, Michael Beasley and Jason Richardson.
There are other notes from around the basketball world:
- More planning goes into developing the NBA’s regular season schedule – released earlier this week – than meets the eye. The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov interviewed Evan Wasch, the NBA’s executive VP of basketball strategy and analytics, about the making of the schedule (podcast link). Wasch discussed numerous aspects of the NBA’s game calendar including the new in-season tournament, calculating rest days and rotating opponent matchups. Wasch said that his team of schedule-makers started with the Christmas games as an anchor point and worked backward from there.
- The Thunder waived TyTy Washington Jr. on Friday, but The Athletic’s John Hollinger believes some team should take a hard look at signing the 21-year-old point guard (Twitter link). Washington was the No. 29 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft and appeared in 31 games last year with Houston, averaging 4.7 points. However, Washington played well in the G League, averaging 23.1 points and 6.1 assists to lead Houston’s G League affiliate Rio Grande Valley Vipers to the 2023 NBA G League Finals. Hollinger doesn’t see a team placing a waiver claim on Washington, since clubs could get more favorable contract terms by signing him to a minimum deal. Still, Hollinger thinks Washington would be a good fit on a rebuilding team or a team with an extra roster spot that could afford to develop him.
- The Athletic’s Mike Prada put out a list of every team’s national TV games for the ’23/24 schedule (Twitter link). Prada notes that the Warriors lead the way with 28 national TV games while the Hornets, Pistons, Rockets, Pacers, Magic, Trail Blazers, Raptors and Wizards all have just one apiece. The Lakers, Suns and Celtics join Golden State as teams with 25 or more national TV games. It’s important to note that Prada’s count doesn’t include NBA TV games.
Exploring possible destinations for some of the top remaining free agents, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report suggests that many people around the league think that P.J. Washington – the only standard restricted free agent still on the board – will eventually accept his qualifying offer from the Hornets. Pincus also confirms that the Lakers have conveyed interest in big man Christian Wood.
In considering a potential landing spot for Kelly Oubre, who averaged more than 20 points per game last season, Pincus notes that Memphis makes some sense. While it’s not clear if the Grizzlies have actually expressed interest in Oubre, Pincus points out that they haven’t really replaced Dillon Brooks at forward and have some young players – such as Ziaire Williams or Josh Christopher – who might appeal to the Hornets in a sign-and-trade scenario.
Here are a few more odds and ends from the league:
- Seth Partnow of The Athletic has published the first two installments of his player tier rankings for the 2023/24 season. Breaking down the top 125 players of the league into five tiers, Partnow lists 45 players in tier five – including Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson and Raptors forward Scottie Barnes – and 41 more in tier four, such as Kings center Domantas Sabonis, Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram, and Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns. Partnow’s top three tiers will consist of 39 players and will presumably be posted later this week.
- Now that hoarding cap room into the regular season is no longer a viable strategy, Rob Mahoney of The Ringer wonders how the new Collective Bargaining Agreement will change the way that rebuilding teams approach future offseasons.
- With no sign that the Damian Lillard or James Harden situations will be resolved anytime soon, John Hollinger of The Athletic questions whether the NBA’s player empowerment era has reached its ceiling. During the last several years, stars who ask for trades have sought increasingly specific destinations despite having less and less leverage, Hollinger observes, adding that the outcomes for Lillard and Harden could create new benchmarks for future star trade requests.
The Warriors are set to hold a private workout for longtime NBA wing Glenn Robinson III, sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Were he to sign on with Golden State, it would mark Robinson’s second stint with the team. A seven-year vet out of Michigan, he previously spent a portion of the 2019/20 season with the Warriors.
That Golden State team provided a unique opportunity for playing time for the 6’6″ swingman, as starting shooting guard Klay Thompson was out the entire season with a torn ACL and starting point guard Stephen Curry was sidelined for all but five games due to a hand injury.
Robinson played 48 games for the Warriors that year, starting all of them. Across those contests, he averaged careers highs of 12.9 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.8 APG and 0.9 SPG, across 31.6 MPG. He was eventually flipped to the Sixers midway through the season.
Since being selected by the Timberwolves with the No. 40 pick in 2014, Robinson has also suited up for the Pacers, Pistons and most recently the Kings in 2020/21. He hasn’t played professionally since then. Robinson is a career 37.3% three-point shooter, albeit on a relatively modest 1.7 attempts a night. The 29-year-old could theoretically help spread the floor for the Warriors, while offering solid defense on the other end in spot minutes.
A return to the Warriors this season could also provide him with a real minutes opportunity off the bench, as the 2023/24 iteration of Golden State could still use some veteran wings with size behind starters Thompson and Andrew Wiggins. Third-year wings Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga struggled to earn significant rotation time last season.
Golden State currently has 13 players inked to its standard 15-man roster.
- Due to injury and other factors, Kevin Durant hasn’t played in Golden State since he left the Warriors and signed with the Nets in 2019. As long as he’s not injured coming out of training camp, Durant will finally make his return to the Warriors’ home floor when the Suns open their regular season there on Oct. 24, according to Rankin.
Former Warriors general manager Bob Myers appears headed to television rather than another NBA front office. Sources tell Ryan Glasspiegel of The New York Post that Myers is close to a deal to become an analyst for ESPN’s “NBA Countdown.”
Myers announced in May that he was leaving Golden State at the end of his contract after spending 12 seasons with the organization. He put together a roster that won four NBA titles and has been able to sustain a high level of success for most of the past decade. Myers, who also was named the team’s president of basketball operations in 2016, is a two-time Executive of the Year winner.
There has been speculation that other teams would pursue Myers, even though he stated that he wanted a break from the league when he announced he was stepping down from the Warriors. He reportedly turned down offers from Golden State that would have made him one of the NBA’s highest-paid executives.
Glasspiegel notes that Myers has a previous connection to ESPN through a “Lead By Example” podcast that he hosted last season. ESPN distributed the show on its multimedia platforms.
ESPN has made several changes to its coverage team since the NBA playoffs wrapped up in June, Glasspiegel adds. It was reported this week that Malika Andrews will replace Mike Greenberg as “Countdown” host for the NBA Finals, and longtime analyst Jalen Rose was released as part of the network’s layoffs earlier this summer.
Also, ESPN decided to shake up its top announcing team, replacing Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson with Doris Burke and former Sixers coach Doc Rivers.
The full Christmas Day game schedule is now known thanks to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). As usual, the holiday features five games, including a matchup between the rival Lakers and Celtics in Los Angeles.
Additionally, the Knicks host the Bucks, the Sixers and Heat play in Miami, the Mavericks and Suns square off in Phoenix, and the Nuggets host the Warriors.
Both the Celtics and the Lakers are expected to be title contenders next season. The Lakers revamped their roster, while the Celtics did the same. Boston made a huge switch-up when they moved longtime Celtic Marcus Smart in a trade that brought in Kristaps Porzingis. By moving Smart, the Celtics committed to playing a bigger lineup, with Porzingis, Al Horford and Robert Williams all expected to have major roles. The Celtics also lost Grant Williams but added Oshae Brissett to help fill the void.
The Bucks and Knicks are both interesting players in the Eastern Conference. Milwaukee fell to the Heat as the No. 1 seed last year, but brought back the majority of their roster, including Brook Lopez to a two-year, $48MM deal and Khris Middleton to a three-year, $98MM deal. Jae Crowder also re-signed. Robin Lopez and Malik Beasley joined Milwaukee in free agency while the team drafted Andre Jackson Jr. and Chris Livingston.
New York didn’t have many moves to make in free agency, with most of their roster under contract. Josh Hart recently extended with the Knicks and they brought in Donte DiVincenzo, who will be squaring off against the team who drafted him. While the Knicks might not end up winning the chip, there’s thought that they improved on a roster that was the No. 5 seed last season.
The Heat and the Sixers may look vastly different by the time Christmas rolls around. Both teams are facing trade requests, but on different sides. Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard asked Portland a trade, with Miami as his preferred destination. There’s no telling when or if the Heat and Lillard will unite. If they do, the Heat immediately become one of the best teams in the NBA, pairing Lillard with Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler. If not, they’re likely worse off. Even though they added Josh Richardson, Thomas Bryant and Jaime Jaquez Jr. to their roster, the Heat lost Gabe Vincent and Max Strus, two key playoff contributors. The Heat did make the NBA Finals last season but did so after scraping past the play-in tournament.
Meanwhile, the Sixers saw James Harden request a trade out of Philadelphia and reportedly express a desire to be sent to the Clippers. That hasn’t happened yet, and Harden remains a member of Philly. There’s a chance the Sixers could bring Harden to camp and into the season, but it would be surprising if he was a member of the team by the time Christmas arrives. The Sixers won 54 games last season but losing Harden would hurt. Their best move this season has been to re-sign Paul Reed, but they have no avenue to adding additional talent and any Harden trade to the Clippers is unlikely to bring back a star return. That means an even bigger plate for last year’s MVP Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris. Additionally, Patrick Beverley and Mohamed Bamba signed with the Sixers this offseason.
Any matchup between the Sixers and Heat is of note, considering Butler’s history in Philadelphia and the unofficial rivalry between the two teams.
The Suns added a new star to their roster while the Mavericks kept their co-star this offseason. While Dallas finished last year outside of the playoffs after trading for Kyrie Irving, the Mavericks doubled down on his pairing with Luka Doncic by signing him to a new three-year, $120MM contract. Dallas fleshed out the rest of the roster by adding Grant Williams, Seth Curry, Richaun Holmes and Derrick Jones Jr. while drafting Dereck Lively II and Olivier-Maxence Prosper.
The matchup between the Suns and Mavericks features a battle between former Nets teammates Kevin Durant and Irving.
We went over the new-look Warriors and defending-champion Nuggets in a previous story.
Charania revealed the opening day matchups earlier today, which likely means the full schedule will be revealed sometime in the near future.