Sports TheFoxPosts.com

The Dallas Mavericks have completely collapsed since acquiring Kyrie Irving. The Mavericks are 7-12 with Irving in the lineup and 8-16 overall since acquiring him. The Mavericks are following a season in which they reached the Western Conference finals. They were seeded as high as fourth before the Irving deal. Now, they are going to need help just to reach the play-in tournament. As such, the Mavericks have decisions to make about how they want to move forward. Specifically, they need to decide if it is worth re-signing Irving at the expensive salary he will surely demand. According to Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes, the plan is indeed to bring Irving back next season . How far they are willing to go in service of that goal, however, remains to be seen. Irving asked the Brooklyn Nets to trade him in part because they could not come to terms on a long-term contract extension. The Nets reportedly preferred a d...

After serving an eight Game suspension for conduct detrimental to the league, Memphis Grizzlies star guard Ja Morant return ed to Game action against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.  Morant came off the bench for the first time in his career, and he received a loud ovation from his home crowd when he checked in for the first time late in the first quarter. Sporting a black mask to protect a nasal injury, Morant played a total of 24 minutes and he tallied 17 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals in Memphis' 130-125 victory. Jaren Jackson Jr. led the way for the Memphis with 37 points and 10 rebounds and Desmond Bane added 20 points and seven assists for the Grizzlies, who improved to 45-27 and now lead third-place Sacramento by two games with 10 remaining in the season. After the game, Morant expressed gratitude for the support he has received during a diff...

Kevin Durant has yet to play in front of his new-home Phoenix fans, and now he might not get that chance until the playoffs as news broke on Thursday that Durant could miss the remainder of the regular season after spraining his ankle during pre-game warmups Wednesday night.  This is a buzzkill, to say the least. And under normal circumstances, it would be a major concern for the Suns, now having to assimilate a superstar into the delicate alchemy of an NBA offense under the fire of p layoff com Pet ition.  But Durant is unique in this way. We've often spoke of him as the definition of a plug-and-play star. He fits anywhere, with anyone, because he doesn't require a certain amount of shots from certain spots to be his best self. He's always his best self. And this is so without detracting from anyone else being their best self.  He knows when to attack. When to let the game come to him. He knows how...

LeBron James is about basketball 24/7. You'd have to be to have the success he's had in the NBA , so as he recovers from a foot injury that has kept him out of the last four Los Angeles Lakers Game s, he has spent his time like the rest of us basketball diehards have: by watching League Pass. On Monday, he made it known on Twitter that he was watching Game s, and either he wasn't all that impressed with what he saw, or he has a ton of confidence in his 18-year-old son. Or both. "Man Bronny definitely better than some of these cats I've been watching on league pass today," James tweeted. "S*** lightweight hilarious." He followed that last sentence with four laughing emojis. Obviously, James doesn't mean to be taken especially seriously here, but we're compelled to wonder … who are the lightweights he is referring to? Here are a few guesses: ...

Udonis Haslem may not play much, but he is still technically a member of the Miami Heat. After over a decade as a key rotational big man for Miami, Haslem has evolved into a somewhat unique role over the past several years. Haslem has played less than 100 total minutes for the Heat every year since the 2017-18 season , yet he has become an integral part of the team's culture as a sort of pseudo-coach within the roster. But now, that time is coming to an end. When Haslem re-signed with the Heat last offseason, he did so planning to make this his final season in the NBA. He confirmed those plans with Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald Sunday. "I'm done," Haslem said. "I'm done no matter what happens. I gave my contribution. I think at this stage, there needs to be another voice for these guys. It's time for somebody to step up and be the voice." The Heat will honor Haslem in the c...

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James says he and the team will " monitor " his right foot over the next few days after a disconcerting moment in the team's win over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday in which on -court cameras caught him saying "I heard it pop" in regards to his foot.  Late in the third quarter of the Lakers' stunning victory, in which they overcame a 27-point deficit for the largest comeback in the league this season , James made what appeared to be a normal drive to the basket against Dwight Powell. However, when he fell to the ground after being fouled, he immediately clutched at his foot, and stayed down for a brief period in what appeared to be real pain. That is when the cameras caught him saying "I heard it pop."  🚨#Lakers superstar LeBron James said he heard his right ankle "pop" after this play late in the 3rd quarter vs. t...

MILWAUKEE --  Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo has officially been ruled out of his team's 2021 NBA Finals rematch with the Phoenix Suns on Sunday due to a right quad contusion. Antetokounmpo suffered the injury in the first quarter of the Bucks' 128-99 victory over the Miami Heat on Friday night -- a result that gave Milwaukee the longest winning streak in the league this season at 13 games.  A team spokesperson initially said that Antetokounmpo "knocked knees" with a Heat player, which Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer confirmed during his post Game press conference. After further evaluation, however, the team is now calling it a quad contusion.  "It's enough where he can't play today but I think we're also confident that this is a fairly common occurrence in our league," Budenholzer said during his pre-game press conference on Sunday. "You hit knees, ...

Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard has had an extremely well-decorated career, and he added some more hardware to his collection on Saturday night. Thanks to some elite sharpshooting over two rounds, Lillard won the 3-Point Contest at NBA All-Star Weekend in Utah. By finishing on top, Lillard became the first player in Trail Blazers history to win the contest.  Lillard came out firing in the first round while wearing his jersey from his days at Weber State. He scored 26 points in that first round, which was enough to propel him to the final s.  Dame pulled up in the Weber State jersey and dropped 26 to advance to the final round 🎯#Starry3PT x #StateFarmSaturday 📺: Live on TNT pic.twitter.com/2T54wP2LYP — NBA (@NBA) February 19, 2023 Jayson Tatum (20 points), Julius Randle (13), Kevin Huerter (8), Tyler Herro (18) and Lauri Markkanen (20) were all eliminated in the first r...

The Miami Heat are viewed as the frontrunners to land Kevin Love on the buyout market , per The Athletic's Shams Charania. Love was bought out by the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday, and will also talk to the Philadelphia 76ers , per ESPN. Love, who was a member of the Cavaliers since 2014, was the last remaining player from Cleveland's 2016 championship season.  It was first reported on Wednesday that Love and the Cavaliers were working toward a buyout , with the Heat viewed as the early favorites to sign him. He's surely drawn interest from several playoff-contending teams, but The Athletic reports that Miami's pitch to the veteran forward, which involves a defined role on a squad primed to compete in the playoffs, could be the deciding factor in him signing there for the rest of the season. Love's fit on the Heat makes a ton of sense, giving them a floor spacing forward who can still knock...

This has not been the season that LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets had in mind. Multiple ankle injuries have limited Ball to just 32 games, while the Hornets have the fourth-worst record in the league at 16-43, even after a nice 144-138 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night.  It can be easy to lose track of teams and players in situations like the one the Hornets are in this season, and to that point, it's likely that most casual fans are unaware that Ball has turned into a high-volume 3-point gunner. Ball was on fire in the Hornets' win on Monday, finishing with 30 points and a career-high 15 assists on 6-of-10 from downtown to set a franchise record for the most consecutive games with a 3-pointer at 47. He's also the youngest player in league history (21 years old) to have a 3-point streak of at least 35 games. (Ball also became the first Hornets player with a 30-point, 15-assist game.)...

LeBron James has done it. After 20 years, three teams, four championships and 1,410 regular-season games, King James has passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA's all-time leading scorer with 38,388 career points (and counting). Abdul-Jabbar was on hand at Crypto.com Arena to watch the 38-year-old James break his almost 39-year-old record, and fittingly, the new all-time leading scorer in NBA history broke the record in the same Los Angeles Lakers uniform that Abdul-Jabbar once wore. Now, the entire basketball world is taking the time to praise the NBA 's new scoring king. Here are some of the best reactions to LeBron's historic night . The whole world was watching "This is one of the greatest accomplishments in sports history." Some of the best to ever do it congratulate @KingJames 👏 pic.twitter.com/3nNvmKVYAo — NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 8, 2023 James h...

In the midst of Kyrie Irving request ing a trade from the Nets, other teams around the league are far more interested in the availability of Brooklyn superstar Kevin Durant, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. This isn't surprising in the slightest, with Irving likely headed out, it may trigger Durant also wanting out of Brooklyn, and if that's the case every team in the league will be calling the Nets to try and land K.D.  It's unclear at this time how Durant views his status with the Nets, but he request ed a trade from Brooklyn last summer, so there's a chance he could do it again. When Durant request ed a trade from the Nets this past offseason he listed the Phoenix Suns and the Miami Heat as his preferred trade destinations. Phoenix tried to center a trade around Deandre Ayton to Brooklyn in exchange for Durant, but the Nets weren't interested in Ayton. Ultimately, Durant rescinded his...

One week before the NBA trade deadline, the Rui Hachimura deal is the only one that has gone down. There are, however, plenty of rumors to go around. Here's the latest batch of reporting that, come Feb. 9, will either look prescient or funny: Hawks have lowered asking price for Collins; Jazz, Rockets interested If the Atlanta Hawks haven't been the league's most disappointing team this season, they're not far off. After a beatdown of the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, the Hawks are 26-26 and clinging to a play-in spot, just a single game up on the 11th-place Chicago Bulls in the loss column. Does Atlanta have a move up its sleeve before next Thursday's NBA trade deadline? On Wednesday, Sam Amick of The Athletic reported that "half the league" is calling the Hawks about Bogdan Bogdanovic, but it's John Collins who is "most likely" to be trade d, with the Hawks having recent...

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla will be in charge of Team Giannis during the 2023 NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake City, the league announced on Monday night. Mazzulla is the first interim head coach to get the nod at the All-Star Game since Ty Lue in 2016, and is just the third first-year coach to earn the honor in the past 24 years.  While the Celtics were idle on Monday, the Philadelphia 76ers' loss to the Orlando Magic guaranteed that the Celtics will have the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference at the cut-off point on Feb. 5. The All-Star Game coach es are determined by which team has the best record in each conference at that deadline.  Boston Celtics interim head coach Joe Mazzulla and his staff will coach Team Giannis in the 2023 NBA All-Star Game. pic.twitter.com/LHA4cWjzqT — NBA Communications (@NBAPR) January 31, 2023 The 34 -year -old Mazzulla is the youngest c...