Latest news with #ZachRandolph
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Zach Randolph denies giving DeMarre Carroll $10K for sneakers: "That's a little too much cap in your rap"
Zach Randolph denies giving DeMarre Carroll $10K for sneakers: "That's a little too much cap in your rap" originally appeared on Basketball Network. It's well-known that many NBA players lead lives of excess and luxury. With wealth flowing into their accounts at an astonishing pace, they often find themselves unsure of how to manage it all. Often, they spend it on luxurious houses, cars, and designer shoes. Advertisement According to NBA veteran DeMarre Carroll, this was the case with his former teammate on the Memphis Grizzlies, Zach Randolph. If Carroll, a 6'6" forward who played 11 seasons in the league, is to be believed, Z-Bo gave him a wad of money to purchase a pair of all-white Air Force 1s — a staple in a hooper's wardrobe. Believing it was a test from the veteran who mentored him during his rookie season, DeMarre spent a significant amount on multiple pairs, estimating he had about $6,000 remaining. Later, he recounted how Z-Bo, impressed by his effort to fulfill the request, rewarded him with an additional $4,000, bringing his total to $10,000. Zach took time on "The Big Podcast with Shaq" to refute DeMarre's story, saying he would not want to toss around large amounts of money like that. A bad business move When DeMarre joined the NBA as Memphis' 27th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, Zach was already making a hefty salary of $16.5 million per year. While he was not frugal, he emphasized that his former rook's story was an exaggerated fabrication. He sent Carroll on plenty of errands and tasks, but he never once handed out $10,000. Advertisement "Everybody asked me that, bro. Come on, man. What kind of business move is that?" Z-Bo said with a laugh. "DeMarre, please quit telling that lie. You my little bro. I love you, bro. But come on, man." Nike Air Force 1s, especially the white-on-whites, are a staple in the NBA. They're comfortable, stylish, and versatile enough to match any outfit. However, Randolph found it ridiculous that anyone would believe he would hand out six grand to buy one pair. "I'm going to give you $6,000 for some damn Air Force Ones? Come on, little bro. I want you to make your story sound good, but that's a little too much cap in your rap, man. God damn," Zach stated. Related: "I can't think of a better person to do it" - Scottie Pippen on Michael Jordan presenting him at his Hall of Fame induction Even Shaq was impressed when he heard the story The podcast host Shaq has had his fair share of extravagant spending throughout his career. From customizing cars to generously buying whatever strangers desired, he has indulged in a wide range of costly ventures. However, even O'Neal couldn't believe someone would spend that much on one pair of shoes. Advertisement "I heard that story, I was like, 'Damn, $10,000?' I only gave five. Only gave five!" Big Diesel chimed in. Zach understood what DeMarre was trying to do, but believes he went overboard. While he appreciated the effort to make a good impression, Zach couldn't help but refute such an outrageous claim. "Man had made a hell of a story up. I said, '$10,000?' I know he tried to make his big bro look good, but that's just a dummy move right there," Randolph stressed. Many NBA players do stupid things with the money they make in the league. Z-Bo, though, was a lot more responsible with his. Related: Marc Gasol names the post players who gave him hell as a rookie: "Z-Bo and Al were the two toughest guys I had to guard" This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jun 20, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Grizzlies Legend Sends Message to Ja Morant After Personal Issues
Grizzlies Legend Sends Message to Ja Morant After Personal Issues originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Back in 2023, the NBA suspended Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant for 25 games due to what they called "conduct detrimental to the league" after multiple off-court incidents involving displaying firearms on social media. Though this incident occurred a couple of years ago, many fans and basketball personalities still discuss it, and it is a big part of the discourse surrounding Morant. Advertisement Recently, a Grizzlies legend sent a message to the Murray State alum regarding his off-court incidents just a few months after the team's early playoff exit in the first round at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (12) © Ken Blaze-Imagn Images Despite the discussions surrounding him, there is no doubt that Morant is one of the top guards in the NBA today and is crucial to Memphis' career. This sentiment is also shared by former Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph, who offered some encouraging words to the 25-year-old. In a recent appearance on The Big Podcast, Randolph said Morant will "be alright" and that he must keep his "head up high." Advertisement 'I just tell him, you going to be alright, just keep your head up high because I've been through [expletive]…It's about how you bounce back," Randolph said about Morant. After playing in just nine games for the Grizzlies in 2023-24, Morant played 50 games for the team this past season. On the year, he averaged 23.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. Though they had a disappointing end to their latest campaign, the Grizzlies are aiming to bounce back in 2025-26 and re-establish themselves as legitimate contenders in the West. In order for them to do so, they must continue to rely on Morant, who is just two seasons removed from an All-Star season. Advertisement Related: Desmond Bane's Honest Reaction to Grizzlies-Magic Trade Surfaces Related: Kevin Durant to Grizzlies Trade Report Receives Major Update This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 20, 2025, where it first appeared.
Daily Mail
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Former NBA star Zach Randolph 'under police investigation over claims he attacked a woman in Los Angeles'
Former NBA All-Star Zach Randolph is reportedly under investigation for an alleged domestic violence incident in the Los Angeles area. As TMZ reports, a woman told police Randolph got physical with her during an incident that was said to have occurred in September of 2024. It is not known why she waited to report the alleged abuse, but officers told TMZ she did present photographs purportedly showing injuries suffered at Randolph's hands. Police are investigating the matter, but no arrests have been made. Daily Mail has reached out to the LA County Sheriff's Office and Randolph's agent for comment. The 43-year-old Randolph remains a beloved fan favorite in Memphis, where he played for the Grizzlies from 2009 to 2017, but he has occasionally run into legal problems. There were his youthful transgressions during his early NBA days in Portland, where he was picked up for underage drinking and later accused of punching a teammate on what was then derisively known as the 'Jail Blazers.' More recently, in 2017, Randolph was arrested in LA for allegedly possessing marijuana with an intent to sell. 'The charges are false and misleading,' Randolph's agent and attorney Raymond Brothers told The Associated Press at the time. 'We're looking at all options to resolve this matter.' Despite Brothers' claim, Randolph entered a no-contest plea and was sentenced to 150 hours of community service. The burly 6-foot-9 power forward is best remembered for his crafty, below-the-rim game, which often befuddled younger and more athletic opponents. He was also one of the better rebounders in the NBA during his prime, twice leading the NBA in offensive boards per game. And although he was seen by some as a disappointment in Portland and New York, Randolph was embraced in Memphis and later inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. Randolph married his long-time girlfriend Faune in 2014 and divorced in 2020. The former couple shares five children, according to multiple online reports. One of Randolph's children, Mackenly, followed in his footsteps by being named to the McDonald's All-American high school basketball team last year. She's now playing at Louisville, where she's coming off her freshman season with the Cardinals.
New York Times
02-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Steph Curry adds to list of legendary games. Plus, revisiting bad preseason predictions
The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic's daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. I'm very excited to hear Zach Lowe is back to podcasting as he's joining his old friends with The Ringer. The podcast world is better when he's talking into a microphone. And it's just in time for the playoffs. We almost had Zach Randolph as the only Zach with a podcast this season. Who wants poorly aged preseason takes?! If you're doing this job correctly, you're not rooting for teams or players. You put your biases aside or eliminate them altogether. You jettison whatever childhood allegiances you have in order to approach this profession with proper objectivity. That way, you can properly root for the one true thing that matters. No, it's not the love of the game or the health of the league. It's your own predictions! Oh man, there's nothing better than getting a prediction correct and rubbing it in everyone's smug faces! Advertisement Of course, it doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes, you have some real brutal predictions that make you question your own existence by the end of the season. Let's dive into the worst predictions I made in the preseason, point a finger and laugh hysterically at me. These aren't that bad because injuries derailed them Embiid, PG and Maxey will combine for 85 points per game: They ended up at 66.3 points per game combined. They combined for only 112 games played, which is not ideal and why they find themselves amid a tank-a-palooza. Immanuel Quickley will average 20 points and eight assists: He ended up at 17.5 points and 5.9 assists, as of this publishing. He played just 30 games. I think a healthy Quickley makes this one a lot closer. Twenty and eight was aggressive, though. Franz Wagner shoots over 38 percent from 3: In the first 18 games, this didn't look that bad. He made 35.7 percent of his 3-pointers. Over the next seven games, he shot 23.4 percent before hurting his oblique and missing the next 20 games. Since his return, he's at 26.1 percent from deep. He can't shoot. Zion plays 75 games and makes All-NBA: Trust me, I know. Let's move on. These are real bad and will get progressively worse Suns finish with top-two offense: I believed they would buy into Mike Budenholzer. They very much did not. They're ninth in offense. Clippers miss out on the Play-In Tournament: I underestimated Ty Lue and how he'd coach up this team. I thought James Harden would be cooked and Kawhi Leonard wouldn't play much. Rockets end up in Play-In but compete for top six until April: I knew the Rockets would be good, but not this good. This ends up being wrong by about five or six games. Houston has been so fun. Cody Williams wins Rookie of the Year: Ay dios mío, this was bad. I really thought Williams would have an opportunity to put up numbers because the Jazz would be so bad. And he did. He was just horrendous. Shooting 32 percent from the field, averaging 4.6 points and has a 3.7 PER. This is an all-time bad rookie season. Advertisement The Cavs win the No. 7 seed from the Play-In Tournament: This was by far the worst prediction — and it's almost historically bad. I thought the Cavs were going to have to make trades early and we'd see similar injury problems to last season. Instead, they set a record for number of 12-game win streaks and have the East's best record by a lot. Want to vote on my worst prediction? You can do it here! Five players suspended for Wolves-Pistons spat 🚨 Punishments! The penalties for the Wolves-Pistons kerfuffle are out. Beef Stew gets the worst of it. ⛽ Past losses. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a different drive this season because of recent failures. Failing fuels him. 📈 Power Rankings. Law Murray gives all 30 teams an App Store description. The Lakers are rising. 🇫🇷 Stifle Tower. The Wolves (44-32) have been hoping for this version of Rudy Gobert to return. He's back. 🎧 Tuning in. Today's NBA Daily discusses whether Ja Morant is going to be De'Aaron Fox 2.0. 📺 Don't miss this game tonight. Knicks (48-27) at Cavaliers (60-15), 7 p.m. ET on ESPN or Fubo (try it free!). New York hasn't beaten Cleveland or Boston this season. The Joker, Chef Curry both made history We don't need any preamble. Nikola Jokić had 61 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a 140-139 double overtime loss to the Timberwolves last night. It's the third time in league history we've had a player break 60 points while recording a triple-double (Luka Dončić and James Harden are the others who've done it). It's the highest-scoring game with a triple-double the league has ever seen. Once again, the numbers just don't make sense. It was a hyper-efficient 61-point game too. He was 18 of 29 from the field, made 6 of 11 from 3-point range and went 19 of 24 from the free-throw line. After scoring 33 in the first three quarters, Big Honey went to work. He had 16 points in the fourth quarter, seven in the first OT and five in the second. He was battling Anthony Edwards left and right, as the latter turned a mediocre game into something incendiary with 24 of his 34 coming after the third quarter. Advertisement And he still lost his sixth straight game to Minnesota, dating back to the playoffs, because Russell Westbrook missed a fastbreak layup with the Nuggets up one instead of dribbling out the clock. And then, he fouled Nickeil Alexander-Walker on a 3-point shot with 0.1 seconds left. NAW knocked down (NAWcked down?) the winning free throws as Minnesota escaped with the win in Denver. Law Murray dropped the stat that Jokić has lost all four games in which he's scored at least 50, which is wild. Steph Curry went off on the Grizzlies Jokić didn't have the only big scoring night. In fact, I thought this would be the big game I wrote about for today because watching Steph Curry light up the Grizzlies in Memphis was headed toward a real experience. We were just a few minutes into the third quarter when Curry knocked down his 10th 3-pointer of the night. And we were officially on watch to see if he'd reclaim the record for most 3-pointers in a game, which Klay Thompson (14) took from him. Curry was 11 of 15 from deep at one point and then started missing some attempts. He didn't have the benefit of just playing around and continuing to jack up shots. The Grizzlies were right there with the Warriors in this game, and Golden State was trying to move past Memphis for fifth in the West. Curry kept playing team ball and kept going at the Grizzlies' defense in different ways. He'd eventually knock down his 12th 3-pointer, something he's done four times (a record). He finished with 52 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and five steals. He was 16 of 31 from the field and 12 of 20 from deep. It's his 10th 50-point game since turning 30, which is an NBA record. Yes, even more than Wilt Chamberlain (seven) had! The Warriors won 134-125 and moved into fifth in the West. Today's episode of 'No Dunks' covers these legendary performances. The story of the greatest players in NBA history. In 100 riveting profiles, top basketball writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NBA in the process. The story of the greatest players in NBA history. Why is the NBA so concerned with criticism? Fifteen years ago, the league did a brilliant job of embracing social media in a way other North American professional leagues lacked. They allowed highlights to be shared and celebrated. They empowered people to create brands off of their IP. Today, the NBA has almost 10 million more followers than the NFL on Twitter (I'm never calling it that), nearly triple the following of the NFL on Instagram and 8.5 million more subscribers on YouTube. The NBA owns social media, and they try to mention streams and impressions when discussions about ratings turn negative – especially in comparison to the NFL's monster ratings. Hall of Famer David Aldridge had a brilliant article on the criticism the league receives in today's media climate, even as the NBA has the most skill and athleticism we've ever seen. At times, the game of basketball seems maximized with its capabilities and the stars in front of us. And we're still not fully aware of what someone like Victor Wembanyama will be able to do. Advertisement It isn't just outside forces taking it down. League pundits like Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal have regularly criticized the current product. One thing I've often been confused by is why the NBA puts so much stock into what is said online or even on the airwaves. That's the most impressive thing about the NFL to me. It never wavers under criticism; the league just trudges forward. The NFL knows its product will endure, and I think the NBA could take a similar approach. The NBA can be too online and seemingly concerned with what a very small bubble of diehard fans are saying within those online communities. It's good to care about what the fans want, but at a certain point, the criticism shouldn't matter. Not from them. Not from Chuck and Shaq. Not from any pundits doing it for clicks or views. You know what that point is? When you sign a $76 billion rights deal as everybody is talking about your product or bad ratings. That's what I would wave in the face of those people. Adam Silver should fake cry and dry his eyes with $100 bills when people ask him about ratings instead of questions about the actual game. It's not that you're above criticism or critique, but I just don't think the NBA needs to be still so preoccupied with these conversations. The basketball product is good. The league got paid. I'd focus on celebrating the game. 📬 Love The Bounce? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
2025 NBA Draft scouting report: Derik Queen, C, Maryland
Summary: Burly, ball-handling big with feathery touch, crafty footwork, and the skill to dazzle if his conditioning and jumper don't hold him back. Comparisons: Zach Randolph, Naz Reid, Isaiah Hartenstein At-rim finishing: Queen has supreme touch finishing from all angles, and he can do it using either his strong right hand or his left off-hand out of any action, whether it's face-up drives, slashes from behind the line, rolls following an on-ball screen, or cuts within the flow of the offense. Ball-handling: Displays a low, tight handle generating his own shot, often looking like a guard when he's leading the break or slashing to the rim from the perimeter. He mixes in advanced handles and pace shifts, plus he loves using a spin move going in either direction. [Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem is back: Enter for a shot to win up to $50K] Post game: Utilizes drop-steps, up-and-unders, and pivot moves to create space inside. Can score over either shoulder with hooks. Comfortable facing up slower bigs and using a jab step or short jumper. Playmaking: Queen could develop into a facilitator at the elbows and low post due to his knack for making highlight-reel passes and feel for executing the simple plays too. Shooting potential: Possesses natural touch on floaters, hook shots, and fades, all of which adds to the belief that he'll someday develop a 3-pointer. Rebounding: Queen uses his wide frame and strong hands to carve out space on the glass, securing boards using his natural feel for tracking misses then positioning himself for the rebound opportunities. Defensive switchability: Flashes the ability to step out and defend on the perimeter. Moves his feet laterally better than he does offering rim protection. So if he gets in tip-top shape this could end up the best defensive role for him. Theoretical jumper: Queen likes to shoot a lot of jumpers, but does so poorly at below 30% on the season. He has a slow-motion release. Limited athleticism: Lacks explosive leaping ability from a standstill, which will hinder his ability to elevate and protect the rim defensively. Modern tweener: He lacks a clearly defined position: too heavy-footed to defend wings, too undersized to defend centers. And if his jumper never develops, he'll be a tough fit on offense given the deemphasized post game. Conditioning: Effort comes and goes, so it'll be important for a team to determine if this is because of a lack of want-to, or something it can change. The pessimist will point to how sometimes he doesn't even put his hands up to contest shots around the rim.
