Anthony Davis declared the Los Angeles Lakers can banish sorry memories of the previous two seasons by roaring back to past glories in the new campaign.
The Lakers, NBA champions in 2020, lost in the first round of the 2021 playoffs before trailing in 11th in the Western Conference last term with a 33-49 record, missing out on the postseason.
Considering their star-studded squad, those were underwhelming performances, but this year Davis says the story can change. He is talking about championships again.
"We're motivated to get back to where we belong," Davis said.
"The last two seasons were not what we envisioned. It was not Lakers basketball and we know that, not what our organisation's standard is."
Coach Frank Vogel was sacked in April and Darvin Ham has come in, charged with getting the best out of a roster that, along with Davis, features the likes of LeBron James and Russell Westbrook.
The star trio are listed as probable for Tuesday's season-opening game against last season's champions, the Golden State Warriors, at Chase Center.
Westbrook has been waylaid by a hamstring injury, and it remains to be seen how Ham uses him, if fit. He appears set for a reserve role, initially.
If the Lakers needed any reminder about their 2021-22 failings, it will come when the Warriors collect their championship rings, with the Los Angeles players knowing they simply were not a factor last time out.
After losing five of six warm-up games, the Lakers will know they cannot let that form drip into the new campaign.
Davis said: "Our standard is to compete for championships, and in the last two seasons we have not. So, it's motivation and hunger from every guy on the floor, everybody in the locker room, all the coaches, the front office, to make sure that we get back to that level of basketball that we know we can play at."
The Atlanta Hawks announced they have signed wing De’Andre Hunter to a four-year, $95million contract prior to Monday’s deadline for teams and players to reach rookie-scale extensions.
ESPN reported terms of the new deal, which will begin next season and run through the 2026-27 campaign.
The fourth overall pick of the 2019 draft after the Hawks traded up to select him, Hunter has averaged 13.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game through his first three NBA seasons and shot a career-best 37.9 per cent from 3-point range in 2021-22.
The 24-year-old is also valued for his defensive ability and versatility as the player often assigned to guard opponents top scoring threats.
Hunter is coming off a 2021-22 season where he averaged 13.4 points in 53 games and starred in Atlanta’s first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat. He averaged 21.2 points for the series and recorded a career-high 35 points and 11 rebounds in the Hawks’ Game 5 loss.
The University of Virginia product becomes the latest core player that Atlanta have locked up on a long-term deal. All-Star guard Trae Young and forward John Collins agreed to five-year extensions last offseason, while center Clint Capela is under contract through 2024-25 after signing a two-year extension in September 2021.
Atlanta, who finished 43-37 last season and earned the Eastern Conference’s eight seed through the play-in tournament, also acquired standout guard Dejounte Murray from the San Antonio Spurs in July. The 2021-22 All-Star is signed for two more seasons.
Stephen Curry is the best player in the NBA, former forward Kendall Gill has told Stats Perform.
Curry and the Golden State Warriors overcame the Boston Celtics in six games in the 2022 NBA Finals to land the point guard's fourth title.
It was made extra sweet for Curry by winning his first Finals MVP after averaging 31.2 points.
That prompted 2021 Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo to call Curry "the best player in the world" as the main man on the NBA's premier team.
Gill agrees in part with Antetokounmpo's assessment, telling Stats Perform of Curry: "He's changed the game because he's not the huge athlete that most people think you need to be in this league.
"He's small for basketball, but I think that he's shown all these kids out here that you don't have to be a massive, huge, strong athlete to play this game of basketball at this level.
"He's changed the game as far as shooting, now you see everybody trying to shoot three-point shots.
"Back when I played, we would never do the things that the guys did today, where you actually have a lay-up, you're right in front of the basket, but then you reject it and throw it out for three, even though you're wide open under the basket.
"That's how Steph Curry has changed the game because of his elite three-point shooting.
"And in the era of super athletes and big guys, Steph is probably, in my opinion, the best player in the league right now.
"And it's not because he won a championship, I disagree with Giannis on that, but because of all of the things that he brings to the table, because of the way that he wins.
"He has a winning pedigree, his jump shot, the way that he handles the basketball, the way he gets his team-mates involved, the way that he moves without the basketball.
"You don't see anybody else able to dominate a basketball game like Steph Curry can at his size. And that's why I think that he's the best."
Gill rates the Warriors as one of the favourites to win the championship again in the coming season, with Golden State beginning the defence of their title by hosting LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
"My early picks are the Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets in the championship," Gill said.
"The reason why is because James Wiseman has come back and the way that he's looked in the preseason, he's going to help them out a great deal. He didn't play at all last year, was their number one pick, and at seven feet tall, he's gotten more mature.
"You throw Klay Thompson in there, you throw Steph Curry in there, Draymond Green when he's not punching [Jordan] Poole in the face, they are going to be very tough to beat out in the Western Conference.
"The Golden State Warriors just have something special. You know that Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, as long as those two are on the floor for them, and they had the rest of the guys in place, they always would probably be the favourite."
The new NBA season is about to get underway, with narrative everywhere across the league.
The defending champions in Golden State are many people's favourites to go again, but the Warriors have not exactly prepared perfectly after two of their stars recently came to blows during the preseason.
The Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving saga seems to have ended with hope that the pair can fire the Brooklyn Nets to glory, especially if the team's third star in the form of Ben Simmons can finally join them on the court.
Will back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic lead the Denver Nuggets to glory? Or can Luka Doncic do the same for the Dallas Mavericks? Might Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks get back to the top again?
Stats Perform's experts give their predictions on who could thrive in the regular season, who might take the MVP crown and who will go all the way and lift the Larry O'Brien Trophy in June 2023.
Liam Phillips
East first seed: Milwaukee Bucks
West first seed: Denver Nuggets
MVP: Joel Embiid
Champions: Denver Nuggets
Simply put, the Nuggets will have a terrific regular season record as long as Jokic is healthy, and he is one of the most durable superstars of his era.
Jokic has played at least 73 games in six of his seven years, and the other season he played 72 out of 72 in the shortened 2020-21 season.
The Nuggets went 48-34 this past season with their second and third-best scorers being Aaron Gordon (15.0 points per game) and Will Barton (14.7).
With ascending talents Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. returning from long-term injuries to assume those roles and give the Nuggets three elite scoring options, they could ride the best offense in the league all the way through the Finals.
Ben Spratt
East first seed: Milwaukee Bucks
West first seed: Denver Nuggets
MVP: Luka Doncic
Champions: Milwaukee Bucks
There are no shortage of potential contenders in the West, with each of the Nuggets, the Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers looking strong candidates depending on injuries or – in the case of Golden State – off-court (or, rather, practice court) issues.
In the East, however, a fit Bucks team would appear to be clear of the rest, particularly given the Boston Celtics' tumultuous offseason.
The Bucks were a disappointing 13-13 in the regular season and playoffs last year when missing Khris Middleton, who did not play the final 10 games of the postseason as the Bucks narrowly lost to the Celtics.
With his return and the omnipresent threat of Antetokounmpo, it might be difficult to bet against the 2021 champions.
Nicholas McGee
East first seed: Philadelphia 76ers
West first seed: Golden State Warriors
MVP: Giannis Antetokounmpo
Champions: Golden State Warriors
Preseason fights, Klay Thompson being restricted to limited action in the exhibition schedule, key bench players leaving in free agency. Will any of it matter? No.
The Warriors have navigated discord before during title defences and will do so again in 2022-23. Even with the likes of Gary Payton II and Otto Porter Jr. departing, the Warriors have excellent depth with several emerging talents complementing a core that reaffirmed their championship pedigree by beating the Celtics in six games last season.
Golden State will bank on Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody taking the next step in their second seasons, while Jordan Poole has the chance to ascend to stardom once the fallout from him being punched by Draymond Green dies down.
Everything revolves around Stephen Curry, though, and there is no sign of him slowing down or his game-tilting range reducing at 34 years old.
This is a team with an insatiable appetite for proving themselves all over again, and they have all the resources to do so once more. If James Wiseman stays healthy and blossoms into an impactful starting center, it will be difficult to envisage anyone stopping them.
David Segar
East first seed: Milwaukee Bucks
West first seed: Memphis Grizzlies
MVP: Giannis Antetokounmpo
Champions: Milwaukee Bucks
As Ben said, it is difficult to see a stronger contender in the East than Milwaukee, presuming their stars can stay fit.
With Ja Morant getting better all the time and the Phoenix Suns looking like they might fall away slightly, it would not be a huge surprise to see an ever-improving Grizzlies team top the West and perhaps even make it to the NBA Finals this time.
However, it feels like Giannis is ready for another big campaign and, in a team that includes the likes of Middleton, Jrue Holiday and new arrival Joe Ingles, he should have plenty of capable support.
Only Embiid (30.6) and LeBron James (30.3) averaged more points per game than Antetokounmpo's 29.9 last year, a career high for the Greek.
Anything can happen in the NBA, but of all the big teams who could threaten, Milwaukee feel like the one with the fewest issues heading into the season, and they will want to make up for their early playoff elimination at the hands of the Celtics last time out.
The Golden State Warriors have continued the mission to keep their championship core in place, with forward Andrew Wiggins agreeing a four-year, $109million contract extension.
Wiggins was entering the final year of his previous deal and will now be owed a total of $143million over the next five seasons.
The news, reported initially by ESPN, comes just hours after Golden State and Jordan Poole were revealed to have agreed to a four-year, $140million extension.
Wiggins was a crucial contributor to the Warriors title run in June, with the 27-year-old averaging 18.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists in the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics.
The number one overall pick in 2014, Wiggins had several productive seasons on losing teams with the Minnesota Timberwolves but had his best moments as a pro in the 2022 playoffs as a two-way force for the Warriors.
Wiggins has averaged 19.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 598 career games.
With Wiggins, Poole and star Stephen Curry signed at least through the 2025-26 season, attention now turns to veterans Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, who are under contract this season and have player options in 2023-24.
The Warriors were well over the NBA's luxury tax threshold last season, paying over $300million for their roster, an NBA record.
This year's bill will be even more expensive for team owner Joe Lacob.
Despite Lacob's track record of paying exorbitant taxes to maximise the Warriors' chances at more championships, some have wondered if there will be enough money to go around in two years to keep Green and Thompson in the Bay Area.
Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo is undergoing treatment for a brain tumour, the NBA has announced.
An eight-time NBA All-Star, Mutombo is regarded as one of the best defensive players in history and sits second in the league's all-time charts for blocks, behind only Hakeem Olajuwon.
Mutombo also won the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award on four occasions. He retired from playing in 2009 and has turned his focus to humanitarian work.
On Saturday, a statement issued by the league on behalf of Mutombo and his family confirmed the 56-year-old's condition, adding that the former Atlanta Hawks and Denver Nuggets center was in "great spirits".
"NBA global ambassador and Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo is currently undergoing treatment for a brain tumour," the statement read.
"He is receiving the best care possible from a collaborative team of specialists in Atlanta and is in great spirits as he begins treatment.
"Dikembe and his family ask for privacy during this time so they can focus on his care. They are grateful for your prayers and good wishes."
Mutombo also played for the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks and Houston Rockets in his celebrated career.
Jordan Poole is finalising a four-year, $140million extension with the Golden State Warriors.
ESPN reported the 23-year-old's agents had told of the imminent deal on Saturday, with an official announcement expected to follow.
The deadline for rookie extensions for members of the 2019 NBA Draft class is Monday, with Poole's future a priority for defending champions Golden State.
The Warriors guard played in all 22 playoff games last season en route to the title, although he only started in the first five of those, losing his place in the lineup after Stephen Curry returned to full fitness.
Poole averaged 17.0 points in 27.5 minutes in the postseason, having contributed 18.5 points per game in the regular season, making him the team's third scorer behind Curry (25.5) and Klay Thompson (20.4). His free-throw percentage of 92.5 led the league.
The 2021-22 season was Poole's third in the NBA but his first as a key man in a title-contending team, as only Andrew Wiggins (2,330) played more minutes for Golden State in the regular season (2,283).
Poole was the 28th pick when drafted by the Warriors three years ago, but he led players in his class in combined regular season and postseason minutes (2,889) by a wide margin last season (Tyler Herro second, 2,532).
As the Warriors look to defend their title while transitioning to a younger generation, with James Wiseman set for a big year, Poole will again have a prominent role this season.
His and the team's preparations for the new campaign were marred by a practice court incident involving Draymond Green, however.
Reports told of a confrontation between the pair, before footage emerged on social media showing Green punching Poole.
Green was fined by the Warriors but not suspended, with coach Steve Kerr describing the episode as his "biggest crisis" in eight hugely successful years with the team.
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