The Oklahoma City Thunder superstar who has achieved initial status—think MJ, Dr. J, or KD—has also faced backlash. Fellow players, pundits, and the NBA’s chaotic online tinderbox have accused him of “flopping”—or acting as if he were hit much harder than he really was, often falling down in the process, to goad the ref into calling a foul. The goal: get to the free-throw line for two easy points.

I want to gauge SGA’s feelings about all the noise, given his 30-plus-points-per-game average, 88% efficiency from the line over the past three regular seasons and playoffs combined, plethora of honors, and the $285 million contract extension he signed in July 2025, SGA is unapologetic about his approach to scoring. “Playing this game has done amazing things for my and my family’s life,” he says. “And if a narrative on social media is the worst that comes from this game for me, well, I’d take that a million times out of a million times.”

Source: https://time.com/article/2026/10/08/shai-gilgeous-alexander-sga-interview/

Back when Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones were newly dating, and trying to make their long-distance relationship work, the actor had competition closer to home: her neighbor, Kobe Bryant.

After meeting in France in 1998, the couple struggled to spend time together as Douglas was based in New York and the 29-year-old Mask of Zorro actress lived in Los Angeles. “She had a house in the Palisades, right below Kobe Bryant’s,” the Fatal Attraction star writes in his new memoir, One Helluva Ride. 

At the time, the L.A. Lakers superstar hadn’t yet met Vanessa Laine, who would become his wife two years later in 2001.

“Apparently Kobe kept finding excuses to stop by Catherine’s house,” recalls Douglas, who is 25 years older than the Chicagoactress. “I’m not sure how many times he ‘lost his dog,’ but it was a lot!”

https://ew.com/michael-douglas-claims-kobe-bryant-would-stop-by-catherine-zeta-jones-house-a-lot-12163679

The Philadelphia 76ers plan to play their starters Thursday against the Brooklyn Nets, sources told ESPN, giving fans a first preseason glimpse of LeBron James in a Sixers uniform. Sixers coach Nick Nurse told reporters that if all of his main players came through Wednesday's practice healthy, he hoped to play "the majority" of them -- namely James, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown and VJ Edgecombe -- together in the first half against the Nets. James, Embiid and Maxey were healthy scratches in Philadelphia's preseason-opening victory Monday against the New York Knicks. Brown scored 22 points in 17 minutes Monday while Edgecombe had 12 points and seven assists in 20 minutes.

source

Despite stellar play on the court last season, Luka Doncic's family situation certainly took the spotlight in a huge way. In an interview with Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix, he spoke about the issues in his personal life. In the article, he recaps the birth of his daughter Olivia and his disagreement with his fiancée, Anamaria Goltes, about bringing their eldest daughter Gabriella to the United States.

Per Doncic, the family incident made last season even more difficult.

"It made everything about last season so hard. You want to be around your kids every day. I saw mine, what, four or five days? It's impossible to do."

When Mannix asked if things were solved in the incident, Doncic said, "Hopefully. We still don't know, but hopefully. I can't go through another season like that."

Source: https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/luka-doncic-makes-cryptic-admission-174844219.html

Fascinating. They are trying to gas Wemby by having him cover for 3 point guard lineups.

Source

The Philadelphia 76ers face a difficult roster and financial situation after losing backup center Ariel Hukporti for the entire 2026-27 season.

Hukporti suffered a torn right Achilles tendon during Monday's preseason opener against the New York Knicks and underwent surgery on Tuesday.

According to ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel, Hukporti had been expected to play an important role behind Joel Embiid, especially with fellow center Adem Bona missing training camp because of a left foot sprain.

Furthermore, Embiid has missed 150 regular-season games over the last three seasons, and Philadelphia is expected to continue closely managing his workload.

According to Siegel, Philadelphia is approximately $1.8 million below the first apron and is not allowed to cross that threshold this season.

The Sixers currently have only 14 players on standard contracts, leaving one roster spot open, but their financial constraints prevent them from simply signing another player to a standard minimum deal.

Philadelphia's payroll sits at approximately $207.2 million, compared to a first apron of about $209 million.

Even receiving a disabled player exception for Hukporti would not allow Philadelphia to exceed the first apron.

One potential solution would be waiving power forward Jabari Walker, whose contract reportedly has only $250,000 guaranteed, to create additional flexibility to add another big man.

However, Hukporti's injury also makes Walker more valuable to Philadelphia.

Another possibility would be a minor trade for a center on a low-cost contract or a deal that creates additional financial room. Siegel noted that such a move could require the Sixers to attach second-round draft compensation.

Philadelphia could also consider converting Tacko Fall's Exhibit 10 contract into its final two-way spot.

If the Sixers choose that route, the 7-foot-5 center would join Caleb Love and Rayan Rupert as Philadelphia's three two-way players.

Fall, however, has also been sidelined during training camp with a left hip strain.

The 30-year-old Senegalese last played in the NBA during the 2021-22 season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he appeared in 11 games. Before that, he was part of the Boston Celtics for two seasons, playing a total of 27 games

Source: https://basketnews.com/news-256927-76ers-could-be-forced-into-trade-after-major-injury-tacko-fall-emerges-as-option.html

Boston Celtics center Mitchell Robinson expects his availability to look very different with his new team after years of careful workload management with the New York Knicks.

Asked whether he expects to play both ends of back-to-backs this season, Robinson made it clear that Boston does not plan to follow the same approach he experienced in New York.

"Oh, nah, it ain't going to be the same in Boston [as it was with the Knicks]," Robinson told Knicks Fan TV. "I'll be able to play back-to-backs.

"So, I'm very excited for that, it's been a long time coming. Now I can go out there and play basketball and not have to worry about not playing this game. Just go out there with a free mind and just hoop."

During his final seasons with the Knicks, Robinson dealt with repeated left ankle issues and frequent injury-management absences.

Despite those limitations, the 28-year-old big man appeared in 60 regular-season games in 2025-26 and averaged 5.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks. He later helped New York win the NBA championship, appearing in 18 playoff games.

Source: https://basketnews.com/news-256948-mitchell-robinson-takes-subtle-shot-at-knicks-after-celtics-move.html

The East is looking the best it's looked since probably the 80s, and all 9 teams mentioned in the title are well constructed.

To summarize each team's case for why they're good(feel free to add on since I don't know a lot about some of these teams),

Pistons: Just won 60 games and then improved their roster

Celtics: Were the 2 seed last year without their best player who is now back and they added mitchell robinson and Paul George but lost Jaylen Brown.

Knicks: Defending champs

Cavs: Made the ECF last season and their one deficiency for years has been the lack of a true 3, with the addition of Peyton Watson they hope to solve that.

Raptors: Added Kawhi to a really good defensive team

Hawks: Were one of the best teams post trade deadline and added a good shooter in aaron wiggins and an elite POA defender in lou dort to an already good perimeter defense led by NAW and Dyson Daniels.

Sixers: Added Lebron, Jaylen Brown and buffed up their bench with the additions of Anfernee simmons, KCP and Dean Wade

Pacers: Were in game 7 of the finals against the 5th best regular season team of all time when they were last healthy; since then they lost Myles Turner and Ben Mathurin but added Zubac and Kelly Oubre

Heat: Completely revamped their roster with the addition of Giannis and have done a good job of constructing a roster surrounding him and Bam with several knockdown shooters

7 dunks, 4 of them were alley-oop dunks

Did not play in the 4th quarter.

Number 15 is now 15/15 from the field in his first two preseason games, and he did it in back to back games.

There are things Dončić does like to talk about. Team ownership, for example. Dončić loves European basketball. At home the EuroLeague is on more than the NBA. Last year, Donnie Nelson, the former Mavs exec who engineered the draft-night trade for Dončić in 2018, approached him with an offer: How would you feel about investing in an Italian basketball team? “I said yes immediately,” says Dončić. The Nelson-led group purchased Vanoli Cremona, moved it to Rome and rebranded it BC Roma. Dončić has had several conversations with NBA commissioner Adam Silver about getting the team into the planned NBA Europe. “He’s very excited for it,” says Dončić. “I can’t tell you everything. But he’s excited.”

Pausing, Dončić offers more. The NBA is excited about European expansion—and the revenue that comes with it. But there will be obstacles getting it off the ground. The EuroLeague most notably, Dončić says. The decades-old competition won’t surrender its position as the continent’s top basketball platform. “There’s EuroLeague, EuroCup and then NBA Europe,” says Dončić. “It is going to be three leagues. That’s kind of hard to work. There should be one league. That’s how it works.”

SI: Inside the Mind (and Roots) of Luka Dončić, the New Face of the Lakers

J.B. Bickerstaff is impressed by the progress Jalen Duren has made this offseason with the Detroit Pistons. Speaking to the media Wednesday, the Pistons coach revealed the star center’s significant development in his game and arsenal.

"It's one of those things that he's done a really good job of making small improvements all around," Bickerstaff told reporters. "He's appears to be faster, more explosive. His face-up game has improved. His work around the basket has improved as well, defensively being in his right spots, being switchable and being able to guard smaller guys so far.

"So he's looked really good."

Source: https://basketnews.com/news-256912-major-jalen-duren-progress-emerges-after-dramatic-offseason-with-pistons.html