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San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich unveiled his preferred super-sized training lineup alongside Victor Wembanyama. 

In a rush to celebrate former assistant Becky Hammon and the Las Vegas Ace’s second consecutive WNBA title, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich squirmed in his seat ready to bolt.

“I thought about getting booted tonight,” he said Wednesday after his team’s 117-113 victory over the Houston Rockets. “But I just thought this [had] to be my priority. It was close.” Victor said.

Fortunately, Popovich stayed long enough to coach Prized No.1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama and the rest of the Spurs through preseason game No.3, which was billed as a dress rehearsal for the start of the regular season. The club released a lineup that competed in live action alongside one another for just the first time all preseason.

Headlined by Wembanyama, that group, according to Popovich, represents San Antonio’s starters for the October 25th regular-season opener against the Dallas Mavericks.

That and more will be discussed in these three takeaways from Wembanyama’s third exhibition outing.

Big ball, best 5

The Spurs chose to use a gargantuan starting five against the Rockets. With the 6-foot-8 Jeremy Sochan running point for the second straight exhibition outing, San Antonio tipped off with Wembanyama (7-foot-4), Zach Collins (6-foot-11), Devin Vassell (6-foot-5) and Keldon Johnson (6-foot-5), and the group ran off a 17-2 lead in less than five minutes to begin the game.

Besides clogging the paint with Wembanyama and Collins, this lineup has the collective length to consistently disrupt passing lanes. Count on this team to be the team’s most effective lineup this season. Wembanyama’s gravity, scoring prowess at every level, and passing ability only lift the lineup’s ceiling, offensively. But with what happened on Wednesday, fans can expect some ups and downs as San Antonio keeps experimenting.

“They better play well or we’re in trouble,” Popovich said. “Those are the big guys. They’re tall. They’re big. They’re gonna start. They’re getting used to each other, trying to figure out where to be in relation to the perimeter players.”

A 7-foot Manu

Manu Ginobili retired in 2018 from the Spurs. But if people ever wondered how this Hall of Famer might have looked in a seven-foot frame, Wembanyama showed a glimpse in the first quarter. Picking off a pass from Aaron Holiday, the Frenchman pulled off Ginobili’s flashy nutmeg move on the ensuing break by dribbling the ball in between the legs of Reggie Bullock Jr., before hitting Charles Bassey with a behind-the-neck pass under the basket.

“I’ve been waiting for the occasion to try it,” Wembanyama said. “I don’t want to limit myself to what’s conventional. I want to expand my game as much as I can. I think that was a good move.”

The play signified yet another example of the 19-year-old displaying something spectators probably have never witnessed before from a player his size. 

It is not just Victor Wembanyama

Keldon Johnson led the San Antonio Spurs in scoring last season (22.0 points per game), but Wembanyama will get more help on both ends in 2023-24 from rising fourth-year veteran Vassell, who looks poised for a breakout season. Vassell averaged a career-high 18.5 points last season. But he appeared in 38 games due to a knee injury that led to surgery.

Now healed, Vassell, according to reports within the organization, has taken a leadership role, and has made strides shooting the 3-ball, even after knocking down at least 34.7% from deep in all of his first three NBA seasons. In three exhibitions, Vassell has connected on 12 of 20 from range. He drained six 3-pointers on October 13 (his career regular-season high is five).

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Adam Silver hints at NBA making changes to All-Star Game format.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced on Tuesday in a televised press conference on ESPN that changes will be made to the All-Star Game and while not saying if any decision has been finalized, he hinted that the current format of top vote-getters acting as captains and drafting their own teams may be shelved.

“Maybe a return to something more traditional, in terms of how the teams are presented,” Silver said in the interview on ESPN’s “First Take” program. “We went to sort of this captain-draft notion, but clearly, historically, it was East vs. West, so that’s something we are looking at.”

This season’s All-Star Game is at Indianapolis on February 18th. The league has not yet made any official announcement regarding format changes. The first 66 All-Start Games all had the East vs. West format. The previous six have witnessed leading vote-getters from each conference serve as captains who could draft their teams. LeBron James was one of the captains all six times, with Giannis Anetokounmpo being captain three times, Kevin Durant twice and Stephen Curry once.

The last four All-Star Games have used a target score at the end of games, ensuring that the matchup ends on a made shot. The fourth quarters have been untimed; the winner is the first team to reach whatever the leading team had after three quarters, plus 24 points, the 24 is a nod to Kobe Bryant’s last jersey number.

In the first year of the target score, the format saw a fourth quarter that was too dramatic. Last season’s game, however, was almost totally uncompetitive and became a disaster in terms of television ratings in part as some of the big names like James, Antetokoummpo, Durant, and Curry all missed much or all of the All-Star Game because they were injured.

“I mean, it’s fun to kind of get out there and do some dunks and stuff like that,” Utah’s Lauri Markkanen said after last season’s All-Star Game. “But we’re all competitors. I think everybody would enjoy it too if we just play against each other and it gets competitive.”

League officials announced last week that they have been hammering how important it is to improve the quality of the All-Star Game to players. It has been a talking point for years, as has the slam dunk competition which got a serious shot in the arm last season when Mac McClung gave a show for the ages.

“When you turn on an NBA All-Star Game, I think people expect to see some competition,” said Joe Dumars, the league’s executive vice president and head of basketball operations. “There’s a happy medium somewhere between a hard-fought playoff game and what you saw last year. … When you have the reaction that fans and people had around the game and just visually, it matters because it didn’t make the product look good.”

It’s unclear when the league will finalize any All-Star Game changes.

“We’ve lost sight a bit that it’s about the game at the end of the day,” Adam Silver said.

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Adidas sneaker contract with Damian Lillard uncertain.

Damian Lillard penned a contract extension with Adidas in 2014, and his days under this sneaker seem to coming to an end after their basketball Fall/Winter 2024 priorities deck release, which snubbed the new Milwaukee Bucks guard.

Lillard and Derrick Rose are two athletes who will no longer be with Adidas moving forward, according to Instagram user yuanchengxin1. The new basketball sneaker line will focus on Anthony Edwards, Trae Young, Donovan Mitchell and James Harden.

The Dame 8 EXTPLY was the most recent release of Lillard with Adidas, although the former iteration of his signature shoe, the Dame 8, was released in December of 2021.

There is no reported contract extension in sight or any known project in the works for a new sneaker, and the usual industry standard maximum of two years between launches has passed.

Damian Lillard shared an Instagram post six weeks ago to promote the release of the “Advantage Dame’’ (Tennis Ball neon) and “Out Of This World’’ (black/orange/lavender blue) colourways for his Dame 8 EXTPLY.

However, on the Adidas Basketball IG page, they shared pictures of Lillard’s arrival in Milwaukee, so there is a chance that there is still loyalty between the two parties.

Lillard might be working on a contract extension behind the scenes or is ready to become a free agent in the sneaker world as he will also be entering the upcoming NBA season on a brand new team.

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LeBron James says Bronny James’ athleticism matches his NBA rookie season.

Bronny James will always be compared to his father, whether fairly or unfairly. But when it comes to his raw athleticism, King James himself had some high praise for his rookie son.

Bronny who is now a freshman at USC, has always had an impressive quickness and agility about him. A social media user posted a video of Bronny’s highlights and argued that he is just as athletic as Lebron, despite being several inches shorter. The video got to his father’s timeline and he wholeheartedly agreed.

James said that Bronny may very well be just as athletic as he was at the age of 19. The four-time NBA Champion was in his rookie season with the Cleveland Cavaliers at that age, averaging 20.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game.

The question now is if Bronny James will show that same level of athleticism during the 2023-24 college basketball season. On July 24, Bronny James entered cardiac arrest in a summer workout with the Trojans. More evaluation discovered that he had a heart defect, and he got the required medical treatment. Earlier this month, James senior, shared a positive update on his son’s health.

“Bronny is doing extremely well,” James said at Lakers Media Day. “He has begun his rehab process to get back on the floor this season with his teammates at USC. (With) the successful surgery that he had, he’s on the up and up.

“It’s definitely a whirlwind, a lot of emotions for our family this summer. But the best thing we have is each other and we stuck behind each other and gave each other strength through the whole process. We are happy to see where he is today and we look forward to seeing what his future still has in store for him,” James said.

When Bronny does get back on the court, he will receive a lot of attention, and he will get the chance to prove that he has as much potential as his dad.

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Deandre Ayton wants ‘new beginning’ with Trail Blazers.

Portland Center Deandre Ayton made a promise to Portland Trail Blazers fans as the team started a season of uncertainty.

“I bring dominance,” he said. “My name is DominAyton.”

Ayton joined Portland in the three-team trade that sent Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks. He was smiling ear-to-ear when he was introduced this week, mugging for cameras and looking forward to a fresh start after playing for five years with the Phoenix Suns.

“New beginning,” Ayton said. “I get to show the world, show you guys who I am as a player on and off the court. Helping the young guys on this team win. Teaching them how to win.”

Ayton will be filling the shoes of Jusuf Nurkic who was sent to Suns as part of the blockbuster trade last season. The Blazers signed Robert Williams III in a trade with the Boston Celtics, and due to this, the Trail Blazers now have a team of 25-year-old big men who have been on teams that played in the NBA Finals.

“We are going to put a lot of pressure on the paint on the offensive end, and defensively we will protect the rim,” coach Chauncey Billups said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Ayton, the No.1 pick in the 2018 draft, averaged 18 points and 10.0 rebounds in 67 matches with Phoenix last season but it seems his time with the Suns was ending. He signed a four-year deal with the Indiana Pacers last year before the Suns matched it, and rumours spread this summer that he would be traded.

Billups emphasized that Portland would not ask Deandre Ayton to run the show, like Joel Embiid with the Philadelphia 76ers or Nikola Jokic with the Denver Nuggets. The Trail Blazers in the post-Lillard era would be more of a team effort.

“We’re not bringing in Deandre for him to be Embiid, where we’re gonna throw him the ball 30 times a game and say, ‘Alright, go be MVP.′ That’s not gonna be his role. However, he probably will have a more expanded role than he had at Phoenix,” Billups said. “But again, like we’ve got a lot of young guys that are gonna be trying to figure it out. Y’all know how I feel about connectivity and being connected and those things take a lot of time.”

For his career, Ayton averaged 16.7 points, 10.4 rebounds and one block per game. He was a key ingredient in Phoenix’s run to the NBA Finals in 2021. The next season, the Suns finished with the best record in the League.

Last season, Phoenix was eliminated by Denver in the second round of the playoffs. Ayton did not play in Game 6 of the series because of an injury to his rib.

Blazers general manager Joe Cronin maintains that Ayton has not reached his potential yet.

“Especially with big men, it takes a lot to get to where their peak is. I think Deandre is at least a couple of years from that,” Cronin said.

For his part, Deandre Ayton said he was going to change the narrative.

“I’m in an organization that wants me and wants me to succeed. So there’s a lot more passion when you feel that mentally, you’ve seen it physically as well,” he said. “So there will be a lot more grit and a lot more domination this year.”

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NBA Players discuss the new participation policy.

The NBA Board of Governors approved a new participation policy mainly geared toward star players, in September.

With new policies and penalties abound, the NBA has made it a rule that all healthy players should be on the court. 

There is no argument from the players, who said they are not interested in sitting.

Some players do not agree with load management any more than the fans who cannot understand why some of the world’s best athletes often need a night off. However, they need the NBA to understand that there are situations like Kawhi Leonard’s lone season in Toronto when they must listen to their bodies or their doctors.

“I was coming from an injury and you have to know the details of the doctor,” Leonard, now with the Los Angeles Clippers, said Monday. “But if the league is seeing or trying to mock what I did with the Raptors, they should stop because I was injured the whole year. But other than that, if I’m able to play, I’ll play basketball. I’ll work out every day in the summertime to play the game, not to sit and watch people play. No league policy is helping me to play more games.”

A few of Leonard’s absences in recent years are the type the league wants to eliminate with its Player Participation Policy that will take effect this season. Leonard missed 22 games in 2018-19, the Toronto Raptors were careful to avoid overuse after he came back from a thigh injury that limited him to nine games the previous season. The NBA believes that those scheduled nights, called load management have become too rampant and can be potentially bad for business if they drive away viewers.

“I think the league is trying to figure out ways to make our game better, to help grow the game, understanding that fan engagement is important for all of us,” said New Orleans guard CJ McCollum, the president of the players’ association. “As a fan of sports, when you go to a game, you want the stars to play. You’re paying a premium on the ticket … or maybe it’s the cable package or whatever you have, you want to see the best players play.”

The participation policy will prevent teams, without approval, from resting multiple key players  (read as anyone who was an All-NBA or All-Star selection in the prior three seasons) in the same match, or sitting healthy ones in national TV or in-season tournament games.

The league vowed to investigate certain absences, with penalties that would surpass $1 million if a team has three violations.

“Obviously the NBA is always trying to find a way to get the best players playing. And why? Well, because we want people to tune into their TVs and watch,” said Michael Malone, coach of the NBA champion Denver Nuggets. “And they’re going to watch when the best players show up every night and play.”

That has happened far too infrequently in recent years. Even as the league has reduced back-to-back games from teams’ schedules and reduced and improved their travel, some top players rarely come close to 82 games. Players bear the brunt of the criticism from fans, even though Commissioner Adam Silver, well before the new policy was introduced in September, has said it’s often the teams deciding when they will be rested.

“I think the league’s approach in trying to get players to player more, I think that’s great. I’m trying to play as many games as I possibly can,” Boston’s Jaylen Brown said. “It don’t always be the players. I know that’s the narrative, that it’s the players that decide not to play. I won’t go into detail, but that’s not always the case.”

There is another new policy which addresses them more directly. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement requires players, in most cases, to play in 65 regular-season matches to qualify for awards like MVP or the All-NBA teams.

“I think there are guys across the league that may sit out because they don’t want to play or they want to rest or whatever it may be. But I think playing a minimum of 65 games, I think that’s smart for the league, for the fans, for everybody,” Miami’s Tyler Herro said. “This is a business at the end of the day. A lot of people come to watch us play. I wouldn’t want to be a fan that came to see me play and I’m not playing because I don’t want to.”

Marcus Smart won the Defensive Player of the Year award last season in Boston and certainly would want to disqualify himself this season by missing too many matches. But he understands that he will need to miss some, and like Leonard, will not be compelled by the NBA’s new participation policy.

“I can care less what anybody says about that, because they’re not out there throwing their body around like I am,” said Smart, now in Memphis. “So I don’t see how you can tell me when I should and shouldn’t play. If I don’t feel like I can play, then I’m not playing. But if I’m available and I can play, best believe I’m going.”

Per reports by Shams Charania from The Athletic and Stadium, Kevin Knox has been re-signed by the Portland Trail Blazers. 

Knox is coming off a year where played for the Detroit Pistons and Portland Trail Blazers. The former Kentucky star was traded in the middle of the season from Pistons to Trail Blazers.

He concluded the year while avergaing 6.6 points and 2.8 assists per contest while shooting 45.8% from the field and 34.9% from the three-point range in 63 regular season games. This summer, Knox became a free agent, and on Saturday, Charania reported that he would re-sign with Portland.

Free agent forward Kevin Knox is signing a one-year deal to return to the Portland Trail Blazers, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Knox, the No. 9 pick in the 2018 Draft, averaged 8.9 points and 17.1 minutes in 21 games for Portland last season.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 9, 2023

After playing college basketball for one season with the Wildcats, Knox was the initially the ninth pick in the 2018 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks. In addition to playing for the Knicks, Pistons and Trail Blazers, he has also been with the Atlanta Hawks.

In the course of five seasons, the 24-year-old has a career averaging 7.5 points and 2.9 rebounds per contest while shooting 38.5% from the field and 34.2% from the three-point range in 275 regular season matches (he has been in three NBA playoff matches too).

Meanwhile, the Trail Blazers are off a year where they were the 13th seed in the Western Conference with a 33-49 record. Portland has missed the postseason for two consecutive years.

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Gigi Datome, Ex Pistons and Celtics player retires.

Gigi Datome who previously played for the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics, will be retiring from basketball. 

On Saturday, Italy lost to Slovenia in the FIBA World Cup by a score of 89-85. This victory placed Slovenia in seventh place and Italy in eight place in the tournament.

Datome who played for Italy, previously announced on Instagram that he would retire at the end of the World Cup. So, the game on Saturday marked the end of his 20-year career as a pro.

He finished his last game with one point and two rebounds in ten minutes of playing time.

Grazie Gigione 💙#FIBAWC x #WinForItalia 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/3jSOxZTZGx

— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 🏆 (@FIBAWC) September 9, 2023

During his time in the National Basketball Association, Gigi played two seasons in the NBA for the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics. With more than 37 matches with the Pistons, he averaged 2.5 points and 1.4 rebounds per contest while shooting 35.8% from the field.

With the Celtics, he played 18 regular season matches and averaged 5.3 points and 1.4 rebounds per contest while shooting 49.4% from the field and 47.2% from the three-point range.

He also competed in three NBA playoff games (the Celtics were swept in the first round by the Cleveland Cavliers in 2015). In addition to playing in the NBA and G League, Datome had an long overseas career

Debatebly, Gigi Datome’s best season was in 2013 when he appeared in 29 games for Acea Roma and averaged 16.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.6 steals per contest while shooting 48.2% from the field and 41.9% from the three-point range in 33 minutes of playing time.

His career averages are 8.5 points and 3.2 rebounds per contests while shooting 47.7% from the field and 42.9% from the three-point range in 565 games.

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Portland Trail Blazers reportedly sign former NBA 1st round pick.