Latest news with #G-Leaguer
Calgary Herald
18-07-2025
- Sport
- Calgary Herald
Calgary Surge outlast Winnipeg Sea Bears, book ticket to CEBL playoffs
Article content WINNIPEG — The Calgary Surge have booked their ticket to the Canadian Elite Basketball League playoffs for the third straight year with a 93-89 win over the Sea Bears in Winnipeg on Thursday night. Article content The win moves the Surge to 12–6 on the season, making them the third team to clinch a spot in the 2025 CEBL playoffs. Meanwhile, the Sea Bears drop to 6–10. Article content Calgary has yet to miss the postseason since the franchise relocated from Guelph, Ont., in 2022. Article content Article content Greg Brown III led the charge on Thursday with a double-double, posting 20 points and 10 rebounds. The former G-Leaguer has made an instant impact in his debut CEBL season, climbing past Vancouver's Mitch Creek to take over second place in league scoring. Article content Article content Brown took over in the first half on Thursday, keeping the Surge within striking distance during Winnipeg's early offensive push. Article content 'My teammates have been helping me get to my spots and opening up the game for me,' Brown said on what has been the greatest factor in his success. 'They keep talking to me, where the angles are, where the space is … they have been helping me this whole season.' Article content 'I watched Gremlins growing up, and they run when light comes,' Brown added, explaining his unconventional inspiration. 'You always must show up when it matters and when the lights come on. I've always had that mentality from when I started playing until now.' Article content Article content While Brown stole the spotlight, the Surge's success continues to come from balanced contributions across the roster. Four other players hit double figures, including 16 points off the bench from Jamorko Pickett — a testament to Calgary's status as a multi-headed offensive monster that's tough to slow down. Article content Sean Miller-Moore (18 points), Khyri Thomas (16) and Evan Gilyard Jr. (15) also reached double figures for the Surge. Article content Winnipeg head coach Mike Taylor stressed the importance of strong defensive execution to contain Calgary's firepower, aiming to force them into transition and create opportunities on the other end. Article content 'I think we did a very good job executing our game plan,' Taylor said. 'Controlling the tempo and trying to keep them out of transition for the majority of the game. But in terms of those crucial possessions, we've got to be better.'
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
"I think it's a waste of time" - Tracy McGrady explains why it's pointless for young players to play in the G-League
"I think it's a waste of time" - Tracy McGrady explains why it's pointless for young players to play in the G-League originally appeared on Basketball Network. The G-League is a professional basketball league that serves as the NBA's developmental platform for players, coaches, referees, and even front-office personnel. It is basketball's version of the Minor League in baseball, where players hone their skills and earn experience with the hopes that they will one day get a call-up from the mother teams. Advertisement But while the G-League has helped many players reach their goals and fulfill their dreams, Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady thinks it's just a waste of time for these youngsters. "A lot of these guys are spending their time in the G League. For me, I think it's a waste of time because the G League isn't really paying money like that," said McGrady. "I think it's 30, 25, 35 thousand dollars what they're paying or something like that, versus overseas where you can make a real good living. You know, hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even some leagues are paying a million dollars." Pat Bev signed a two-year $4 million deal to play in Israel Currently, the standard G-League contract is $40,500.00 for a five-month season. Players drafted and assigned to the G-League on a two-way contract make much more at $578,576, but only 60 players are drafted per class. Still, that's peanuts compared to the $1.157 million minimum salary a player with zero experience makes if he is signed to the NBA. Advertisement Big man Ariel Hukporti of Germany, the last player taken in the 2024 NBA Draft at No.58, signed a standard contract with the New York Knicks worth $5.7 million for two years with a guarantee of $1.064 million. Hukporti ended up playing 217 minutes across 25 games for the Knicks. Meanwhile, former L.A. Clippers guard Patrick Beverley signed a two-year $4 million deal with Hapoel Tel Aviv BC of the Israeli Basketball League last year. Pat Bev had a decent season, averaging 10.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. Beverley, however, left Hapoel last February after negotiating a mutual termination of the contract. Still, he easily cleared the $1 million mark playing in Israel. Most youngsters still trust the G-League process Despite the disparity in pay, most NBA aspirants still go the G-League route when it comes to fulfilling their dreams, and many have been successful. In the last nine NBA seasons, at least 30 G-Leaguers received a call-up from their mother teams. This number is impressive, considering there are only 60 players picked in the NBA Draft every year. Also, a record 50 percent of players in the NBA during the 2023-24 season had G League experience. Advertisement Most notably, the most successful G-Leaguer in the NBA today is OKC Thunder guard Alex Caruso, who won a championship with the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers. Caruso was named to the All-Defensive first team in 2023 and second team in 2024. AC signed a four-year $81 million extension deal with the Thunder last December. Another successful G-Leaguer in the NBA is Miami Heat sharpshooter Duncan Robinson, who inked a five-year $90 million contract with the Miami Heat in 2021. T-Mac makes sense from the financial point of view. However, most continue to trust the G-League process, and the success stories of Caruso and Robinson inspire them even more to work harder. Related: Tracy McGrady thinks Jamaal Tinsley has better handles than Kyrie Irving: "Probably the best I've seen" This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jun 14, 2025, where it first appeared.
Express Tribune
18-03-2025
- Sport
- Express Tribune
Social media reacts after Mavs send Anthony Davis to G league ahead of return
The Dallas Mavericks have assigned Davis to their G League affiliate, the Texas Legends, allowing the 10-time All-Star to participate in full practices and scrimmages as he recovers from a strained left adductor. Davis, acquired in the high-profile Luka Dončić trade, has played just one game for Dallas since the Feb. 8 deal, posting 26 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists, and three blocks before exiting with an injury. Social media had a field day with the news. Traded Luka for a G-Leaguer 💀 — Stevie (@RaptorsShaq) March 17, 2025 While sources indicate discussions about shutting Davis down for the season, the former NBA champion remains determined to return. His presence could provide a crucial boost to a Mavericks squad that has been battling roster shortages due to injuries. Los Angeles Lakers fans were quick to point out the downturn in Davis' fortune ever since he was traded for Luka Doncic. Ever since, the Slovenian Luka has been instrumental in Lakers' upturn in form. They sent my guy AD to the G League smh — LakersSpin (@LakersSpin) March 17, 2025 Dallas has been operating with the league-minimum eight active players multiple times in recent weeks, including in Sunday's home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Guard Jaden Hardy, who has missed seven games with a sprained ankle, was also assigned to the Legends as he nears a return. Meanwhile, two-way players Kessler Edwards and Brandon Williams are approaching their NBA game limit, further restricting the Mavericks' options. Despite an open roster spot, Dallas is hard-capped at the first apron and does not have the financial flexibility to sign a player to a 10-day contract under the league's hardship exception. It's funny when people tried to defend the Mavs trading Luka for AD by saying 'well with Anthony Davis they have a better chance to win a chip in the next 2 years' but that never made any sense because Luka Doncic is currently better than Anthony Davis lmfao — Brandon Awadis (@brawadis) March 16, 2025 With the postseason race tightening, Davis' recovery timeline could play a significant role in determining the Mavericks' fate down the stretch. Biggest name to ever be assigned to the G-League? — NBA Hoops Online (@NBABoards) March 17, 2025
Boston Globe
22-02-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
‘Magic in the Air' is a slam dunk on a game that was defined by its joyful pursuit of aesthetic brilliance
In the aftermath of last weekend's NBA's All-Star debacle — which felt not like a celebration of the sport, but more like a corporate retreat hosted by an achingly obnoxious Kevin Hart , with intermittent basketball interludes — Sielski's lines more than lingered. It felt like a diagnosis demanding an overdue treatment. Advertisement So I asked him: How do we get back there again? ' Adam Silver sure would like to know,'' said Sielski of the NBA commissioner. 'You know what I think it is? I think there's an aesthetic aspect that basketball is missing.' Not entirely, and not all the time, he noted. We agreed that Stephen Curry sticking long-distance daggers into Team France, for instance, during the gold medal men's basketball game in the Paris Olympics is about as aesthetically pleasing as sports can be. But familiarity and redundancy has sapped a sense of wonder, Sielski said. Mac McClung — the G-Leaguer and gymnast-in-basketball-gear who jumped over a car on his way to winning the dunk contest for the third straight year — is the rare exception. And even McClung comes with a bit of a sideshow aspect considering he has played all of five NBA minutes this season. 'The true joy of basketball derives from watching these athletes do what they do in a breathtaking way,'' said Sielski. 'The reason McClung is brought back for the dunk contest, and the reason why people remain interested in him, is because physically he defies every stereotype. He's a short white guy, which suggests to the average viewer that there's a challenge in him dunking the ball. It seems extraordinary when we see him do it and I think that sense of wonder has been lost because we've seen so much that it's impossible to match the feeling of seeing Julius Erving or Michael Jordan dunk for the first time. That feeling is retained a little bit with someone like McClung, sort of like with [5-foot-6-inch dunk champion] Spud Webb in the '80s. Advertisement 'Basketball right now needs more of those feelings, the sense that you're watching something extraordinary and maybe even unprecedented. The NBA has to find a way back to that somehow.' Such joy is easily found in Sielski's book, which is not a chronological narrative history of the dunk, but structured rather as a series of compelling chapter-by-chapter stories that could stand as exceptional long-form features on their own. My favorites were on Joe Fortenberry , a massive Texan who played for the 1936 US Olympic team in Germany and was credited by New York Times sportswriter Arthur Daley with the first dunk, and David Thompson , the sky-walker for North Carolina State at a time when dunking was banned by the NCAA, and later an ABA and NBA superstar who became a what-if with the Denver Nuggets. 'I wanted to write a book that would be in-depth and tell the story of something in full, but also would be something that someone could pick up and read Chapter 8, and then Chapter 4, and each one would just be it's own self-contained entity,'' said Sielski, who said he was inspired by his friend Tyler Kepner's book, 'K'', which told the story of baseball through history of all the different pitches. 'I realized that the dunk would allow me to write about all of these gigantic figures in sport — Jordan and Dr. J and Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain — and tell some lesser-known stories too, like Joe Fortenberry's. Advertisement 'The end result, I think,'' he said, 'is that the book itself is full of joy.' Netflix's "Court of Gold" is worth a Thirty Ink Basketball docs are must-watch While the NBA may be searching for certain answers, we might just be in a golden age of documentaries about basketball. Netflix's 'Court of Gold,'' a behind-the-scenes look at the men's basketball competition at last summer's Paris Olympics, will turn you into a Kevin Durant fan if you're not already. And not just because he wears a Bruins hat through much of the six-part series. HBO Max's 'We Beat The Dream Team' doc — a way overdue telling of the band of US college stars that beat the original (and, really, only) Dream Team in a scrimmage during their tuneup for the '92 Olympics — is also excellent. And, around here, the most anticipated basketball doc of all – HBO Max's epic nine-part 'Celtics City' docuseries, executive produced by Bill Simmons – drops March 3. ESPN, MLB to end partnership The word Thursday night that ESPN and Major League Baseball will mutually end their 3½ decade rights partnership after this season wasn't a surprise, though it was not expected to be announced this soon. But for those of us that permanently have the 'Baseball Tonight' theme song rattling around in our heads, it is sad news. As Celtics radio voice Sean Grande noted on Thursday night's broadcast, it's disconcerting that ESPN is splitting with baseball, and TNT and the NBA are going their separate ways in the same year. Two sports television divorces that we couldn't have imagined even a few years ago … Ch. 7 is carrying four Red Sox spring training broadcasts, starting with Sunday's 1 p.m. matchup with the Blue Jays … Joe Buck will call a national MLB game for the first time since leaving Fox in 2021 when he handles play-by-play for the Yankees-Brewers Opening Day matchup on ESPN. I've missed Buck on baseball, so count me among those who have longed to hear it. Advertisement Chad Finn can be reached at
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Worst All-Star Weekend EVER!? NBA, TNT, LeBron & Kevin Hart TORCHED by KOC!
Kevin O'Connor spared no one from a total evisceration of the NBA All-Star Weekend, especially the new Sunday night game format. Why did TNT make the night more about themselves than the players? How did Commissioner Adam Silver allow an All-Star Weekend in San Francisco without Steph Curry in the 3-point contest? How is Kevin supposed to be excited about a "G-Leaguer" that "only uses props" in the Slam Dunk contest? KOC loves LeBron but says he's to blame as well for pulling out of the All-Star Game last-minute! EVERYTHING All-Star is a mess according to Kevin and Dan Titus. The guys also break down the several weird sound bytes from Draymond Green, including he and Jimmy Butler both being "alpha" personalities, Dray's prediction that the Warriors will win the title THIS season, and Green allegedly "turning down" the Warriors' Head Coaching position in the future once Steve Kerr retires. 0:22 - Team Shaq Wins 41-25! MVP: Steph Curry (2nd ASG MVP) 2:16 - Was Wemby Impressive? Injected energy into Team Chuck 3:40 - New Format vs. East vs. West – Which one's better? 5:35 - Charles Barkley vs. Draymond – Did Dray's generation ruin the NBA? 6:52 - How To Fix All-Star Weekend – KOC & Dan's ideas 9:41 - Giannis' Big Idea – Team USA vs. World + Global ASG Cities 12:20 - Mac McClung 3-Peats in the Dunk Contest 17:49 - Draymond on Butler & GSW's Title Chances 19:08 - Did Draymond Turn Down Future GSW HC Job? Serious or trolling? 21:08 - Fantasy Basketball Breakout Players w/ Dan Titus 26:36 - More Fantasy Pickups – Who's worth adding? 32:51 - Thanks for Watching! Like & Subscribe! 🖥️
