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• 'Business as usual' for Middleton despite Giannis uncertainty

  Khris Middleton is not getting caught up in speculation surrounding team-mate Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is uncertain over his Milwaukee Bucks future.

  Antetokounmpo, a two-time NBA MVP, has recently cast doubt on whether he will be staying with the Bucks.

  The 28-year-old has made it clear that he wants to win another championship, having helped the Bucks to glory in 2021.

  But Middleton is staying focused on his preparations for the new season, instead of paying too much attention to the talk around the Bucks' star man.

  "I think it's kind of business as usual either way," Middleton told ESPN.

  "It doesn't affect me personally. I don't think it affects us as a team. I think this is something he said almost every year he's come up in contract extension talks.

  "We always want him back for sure. Let's be for sure and let everyone know that. We want this guy to come back because he's one of the best players in the world.

  "He's one of the best players in franchise history. So when he says things like that, I think he just wants to challenge the team, the organisation, to keep putting us in a position to win championships."

  Middleton believes Antetokounmpo's comments are about keeping the pressure on, for both himself and the team.

  "But I think it's just something that he just wants to keep putting pressure on everybody. That's himself also," Middleton added.

  "He's not just pointing a finger at everybody else saying, 'You guys have to do this for me'.

  "I think he's putting that pressure on himself to be better, to come in and be great every year. So there's no pressure on, there's no added pressure when he says that to us as a team, or me as a person, that I have to be better."

  The Bucks won their fifth straight division title last season, yet lost to the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs, resulting in the departure of head coach Mike Budenholzer.

• Rockets' Porter arrested, charged with assault of his girlfriend

  Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. was arrested Monday and charged with assault and strangulation of his girlfriend.

  Porter and his girlfriend were staying at the Millennium Hotel in New York, and per a police report, she was upset he returned early in the morning and locked him out of the room.

  Porter was able to gain access to the room with the help of hotel security, and he then assaulted her, according to the report.

  At 6:45 a.m., police responded to a 911 call accusing Porter of assault and after an investigation, the police arrested the 23-year-old with the felony charges of assault and strangulation.

  "Upon arrival officers were informed that a 26-year-old female sustained a laceration to the right side of her face and was complaining about pain to her neck," a police spokesperson said. "A preliminary investigation on scene determined that a known individual struck her multiple times upon her body and placed his hands around the neck."

  The woman, former WNBA player Kysre Gondrezick, was taken to the hospital for a medical evaluation.

  The Rockets issued a statement following the arrest to ESPN.

  "We are in the process of gathering information surrounding the matter involving Kevin Porter Jr.," the statement read. "We have no further comment at this time."

  Porter was second on the Rockets in scoring last season with a career-high average of 19.2 points per game while averaging a team-best 5.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds.

  He is entering his fifth season in the NBA and fourth in Houston after spending his 2019-20 rookie season with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

  Selected 30th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2019 draft, Porter was traded to the Cavs and sat out the beginning of the 2020-21 season following an investigation of a single-car crash.

  Cleveland ended up trading him to Houston in January 2021 after he incited an outburst in the locker room with team officials.

   

• NBA fines Harden $100,000 for disparaging comments made about 76ers

  James Harden didn't hold back in besmirching the Philadelphia 76ers, and now it's going to cost him.

  The NBA fined Harden $100,000 on Tuesday for comments he made about his status with the 76ers.

  While Harden famously called 76ers team president Daryl Morey "a liar," the league is punishing the 2017-18 NBA MVP for publicly saying he would not perform the services called for under his player contract unless he was traded. The league confirmed with Harden that he berated Morey because he believed the 76ers would not grant his trade request.

  A $100,000 fine is the maximum the NBA can fine a player.

  Harden picked up his $35.6million player option for the 2023-24 season in late June with the understanding that Morey would work out a trade, according to reports.

  It was reported last week that the 76ers told Harden's agent, Mike Silverman, that Morey was unable to find a trade for the 10-time All-Star and the franchise wouldn't deal him unless it could find a trade that would help the team contend for a championship.

  That prompted Harden to blast Morey at a promotional event in China.

  "Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organisation that he’s a part of," Harden said in a video that went viral last week. "Let me say that again: Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organisation that he’s a part of."

  The 76ers were reportedly involved in trade talks with both the Los Angeles Clippers and New York Knicks, but nothing came about of those discussions.

  Harden, who turns 34 on Saturday, was a solid complement to NBA MVP Joel Embiid this past season, averaging 21.0 points and a league-leading 10.7 assists to help the 76ers to the third-best record in the Eastern Conference.

  Philadelphia was knocked out in the conference semifinals for a second straight year after losing to the rival Boston Celtics in seven games, and Harden's play in the postseason was inconsistent. He had a pair of 40-point performances but averaged just 15.1 points on 30.0 per cent shooting with 8.4 assists in his other nine playoff games.

  For his career, Harden has averaged 24.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.5 steals in exactly 1,000 regular-season games.