The NBA is living in its most chaotic timeline
This is For The Win's daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here's Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners! It thrills me to no end that we all have the privilege of living on the wildest NBA timeline possible. It feels like every single week there's chaos in #ThisLeague.
Before the season even starts, we get the surprise Karl-Anthony Towns trade. February? We get the Luka Doncic trade. Whew, boy. Still not over that one. In March? We get Taylor Jenkins' strange firing. On Tuesday, the Nuggets said "hold my beer" and fired Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth with just three games left in their season before heading into the playoffs.
Speaking of the playoffs, that's where this latest story gets juicy. The Nuggets are in the middle of a playoff race like we've never seen before. With each team only having a handful of games to play, only one game separates the No. 3 seed from the No. 7 seed in the West. The Timberwolves are No. 8 and only two games out. Nothing is locked in yet. Denver is smack dab in the middle of all that mess. And, yet, here they are, completely remaking their leadership at the end of the season.
THE NUGGETS ARE FINE? Denver's championship odds have remained flat despite the firings.
There's so much chaos in this league, man. And, while I have my extreme criticisms about the way the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement works, all of this chaos is a direct result of it.
The NBA's CBA condenses the championship contender window for every team in the league. The longer you wait to compete, the more expensive your team gets. The more expensive your team gets, the closer you get to the NBA's vaunted second tax apron. Once you get to that point, it's almost impossible to revamp your team. Just ask the Phoenix Suns how that's going.
Because every team feels this intense pressure to win right now, they make rash moves. The Mavs trade for Anthony Davis because they don't believe in Luka Doncic's defense and off-court behavior. Memphis fired Jenkins because he's lost the locker room and believes in his assistant's offense. The Nuggets fire Malone because they're tired of petty beefs holding them down.
Teams are doing their best not to waste time and, at the same time, are making extremely rash decisions that we, the fans, get to laugh about because there's no way any of this actually makes any sense.
This might be the first time I've ever been thankful that my team isn't ready to compete yet. Keep tanking, Wizards. Take your time.
Cardiac Canucks
We've all seen some epic comebacks in our lives but I can guarantee you you've never seen anything like this. The Canucks pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in history — not just in the NHL, but in all of sports.
Here's what happened. There's a minute left in the game. Vancouver is down 5-2 to the Stars. And then:
Aatu Raty scored a goal in the final minute of the 3rd period.
Pius Suter scores another goal 30 seconds later with 30 seconds left.
Seven seconds left on the clock and Suter scores again.
That's three goals in the span of one minute to tie the game and go into overtime. I still can't believe it after seeing it with my own eyes.
Of course, Vancouver wins it in OT. There's no other way this game could've gone. This was the latest three-goal comeback in NHL history by a few minutes. The Canucks have a habit of being involved in these extremely weird games — Vancouver once gave up seven goals in the third period to lose a game 7-4.
Good thing they were on the winning side this time.
South Carolina is back with a vengeance
It hasn't even been a week since Dawn Staley's Gamecocks lost the national championship game to Paige Bueckers and UConn.
So, how do they come back from it? By grabbing the NCAA's leading scorer. Former FSU guard Ta'Niya Latson is headed to South Carolina.
Now this is how you come back from one of the most brutal losses your program has ever seen. Latson averaged 25.2 points per game efficiently last season. She's one of the most dynamic guards in the country and, arguably, exactly what South Carolina was missing.
She'll be paired up with MiLaysia Fulwiley and Joyce Edwards next year. That team is going to be a problem, folks.
Quick hits: 9 potential Masters winners ... Caitlin Clark's legendary Iowa scrimmage ... and more
— Blake Schuster put together a list of nine players who could definitely win the Masters this week.
— Caitlin Clark told Dave Letterman about her legendary scrimmage where she scored 22 points in two minutes. Cory Woodroof has more.
— Nothing funnier than Nikola Jokic TikTok parodies. Charles Curtis has more.
— Luka Doncic's ejection seems to be for the wrong reasons. Hilarious.
— Here's Christian D'Andrea with 11 NFL veterans who will play in the UFL this spring.
— Here's Prince Grimes with the best bets for The Masters this year.
That's a wrap, folks. Thanks for reading. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️
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