“It only hurt me as a father to hear people saying stuff that was negative, that wasn’t true, to bring him down. But in the end, it all paid up. Jimmy ain’t got no championship. Karl bypassed him.”

“I’m just happy that those back-to-back Rookies of the Year in Minnesota grew into the men that people asked us to be, which was world champions,” Towns said of himself and Wiggins. “And we found a way to get it done in our own ways.”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7618092/2026/09/30/karl-anthony-towns-nba-championship-work-ethic/?unlocked_article_code=1.FFE.i2mv.JECpWPgva7jn&source=emp_shared_article&smid=ta-ios-share

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7646672/2026/09/30/jalen-duren-contract-pistons-weight-clause-removed/?unlocked_article_code=1.FFE.3fje.jVmf2Gq7AVGs&source=user_shared_article&smid=ta-ios-share

Per league sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity as negotiations continue, the weight clause initially proposed as part of the Pistons’ five-year, $200 million offer is no longer part of the talks. The clause was never put in writing. That $200 million offer, which Duren has thus far not accepted, is fully guaranteed and includes no weight-related provisions.

Duren, the 22-year-old All-NBA forward who is eligible for a five-year, $287 million max-salary deal, has until 11:59 p.m. ET Thursday to accept this deal or a one-year, $9.6 million qualifying offer that would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. If he were able to procure a four-year, max-salary contract elsewhere next summer, he would earn marginally more over the course of the next five seasons than he would have by accepting the Pistons’ current offer. But the choice, which would be unprecedented for a player of his caliber, would still involve serious risk.

Most players hit the prime and have some of their best seasons in their 6th year. Here are some examples

LeBron James 2008-09. Arguably his best season, this was when LeBron became the best player in the league with his first MVP win.

Kevin Durant 2012-13. Maybe not statistically his best season, but an MVP runner up prior to his MVP season. Durant is a bit of a unique case where he was so good early on and hit his prime in like year 3.

Stephen Curry 2014-15. Curry wins his first MVP and the league begins to shift to the 3P era. Really the year where he and the Warriors started to take over the league.

Kawhi Leonard 2016-17. A 3rd MVP finish and the only time he received first place votes. Maybe not as impressive as 2016 with the DPOY, but with Curry’s unanimous MVP that season, 2017 was the year Kawhi was in the conversation for best in the world.

Giannis Antetokounmpo 2018-19. Giannis wins his first MVP. This was the start of peak Giannis and when he started to put the Bucks in title contention.

Nikola Jokic 2020-21. Jokic’s first MVP win and has not finished lower than 2nd since. This was the year Jokic took a leap from good to all time great.

Joel Embiid 2021-22. A highly contested MVP runner up and won a scoring title, you could argue this was the start of the best version of him. Embiid is a bit of a weird case because he had so many injuries early in his career, with only 31 games in his rookie season, maybe year 6 was closer to 22-23 when he won MVP and won a second scoring title with 33 PPG.

Jayson Tatum 2022-23. Statistically Tatum’s best season, averaging 30 PPG and tied for a career high 4th place MVP finish. Was his most efficient season of his career.

Donovan Mitchell 2022-23. His first year in Cleveland, his first All-NBA season and a career high in points with a 6th place MVP finish.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 2023-24. An MVP runner up and led his team to a 1 seed. Although not as impressive as the last 2 seasons where he actually won MVP, this is when Shai showed he was that caliber of superstar.

Luka Doncic 2023-24. Sort of like Durant he was great early on, but 2023-24 still marks his highest MVP finish to date (3rd) and his first scoring title with a career high 33.9 PPG.

Jalen Brunson 2023-24. This was the year Brunson started to be put into conversations as a superstar. His first All Star season, his 5th place MVP finish, and playoff performances that showed he could put a team on his back. Posted a career high in points both regular season and playoffs.

Anthony Edwards 2025-26. Didn’t play enough games to qualify for awards, but coming off 7th place MVP finishes 2 years in a row, Ant posted a career high in points, efficiency, and likely would have been in the conversation for 1st team All NBA.

Here are some players who are going into year 6 for this upcoming season:

Cade Cunningham, Tyrese Haliburton, Scottie Barnes, Jalen Johnson, Evan Mobley, Alperen Sengun. What do the best versions of these players look like? Also, does Franz Wagner take a leap and make his first All Star game?

These are players where we should really see them elevate to another level, with only Haliburton I’d give a pass to because of the Achilles injury.

Nobody here really has MVP potential besides Cade, even if that is a long shot.

Who are you expecting to have a breakout kind of season?

“I didn’t enjoy anything, bro. I didn’t go out to eat with family, with friends like that. No movies like that. None of that. No concerts.”

“Because I was totally locked in to thinking that I had to follow what Kobe was doing. Thinking Kobe was not enjoying himself, not going on vacations, not doing any of that. So I felt tricked in a way.”

“My fourth year, I ended up going to the Philippines with him. I saw him relax. I’m like, ‘Oh, you was tricking me the whole time.’ I dedicated three years, three years, thinking you didn’t do shit.”

“To see you actually out here just chilling, it kind of fucked me up. But I couldn’t take it personally because he didn’t even know I was admiring him like that.”

Guard Ryan Nembhard has agreed to a two-way NBA contract with the Denver Nuggets, sources tell ESPN.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/d04463534f961

A public sale record for a game-used NBA jersey occurred Tuesday night when Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls jersey from Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals — the famed “Last Dance” season — went for $12.26 million through Pharrell Williams’ auction house Joopiter.

Tuesday’s sale topped the previous high for a Jordan jersey when the one he wore in Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals landed nearly $10.1 million in a 2022 Sotheby’s auction. Babe Ruth’s 1932 World Series “called shot” jersey still remains king in the sports jersey world, though, selling for $24.12 million in 2024.

Joopiter placed a pre-auction estimate for the Game 3 jersey between $10 million and $15 million. The jersey received one bid before the auction closed Tuesday evening.

“It has been a privilege for Joopiter to bring such an important piece of Michael Jordan’s legacy to market, and to see it establish a new auction record for an NBA jersey,” Joopiter’s global head of sale Caitlin Donovan said. “Sports collectibles are in an exceptionally exciting period of evolution, as the category continues to mature and objects of true rarity, provenance and cultural significance are increasingly recognized on the global collecting stage.”

Joopiter has now brought several rare Jordan sports cards and memorabilia to auction. A signed Jordan 1986 Fleer rookie card with a Mint PSA 9 card grade and Gem Mint 10 autograph grade sold for $2.5 million in June 2025 through the auction house. Jordan’s custom 1997 Ferrari 550 Maranello is currently up for auction, with bidding over $1 million, and is set to end Wednesday.

The record sale is just another sign of Jordan’s continued popularity within the sports collectibles industry. He’s consistently the most searched athlete within the space on eBay every month and has more cards graded than any other athlete across all sports, according to graded card population tracker GemRate. His sports card also stands as the most expensive public sale ever, according to online sales database Card Ladder, as a Jordan/Kobe Bryant 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite dual NBA Logoman patch autograph one-of-one, PSA 6 card/10 auto grade sold for $12.9 million in August 2025 through Heritage Auctions.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7644430/2026/09/29/michael-jordan-last-dance-nba-finals-jersey-sells-for-record-12-26-million/

​

Former NBA All-Star D'Angelo Russell is taking his talents overseas for the 2026-27 season.

The 30-year-old guard has reportedly agreed to a deal with the Shanghai Sharks of the CBA, with this being his first experience outside of the U.S. in his career.

The former Los Angeles Lakers star hit the free agency market after being released by the Memphis Grizzlies last week.

Memphis waived Russell as part of a roster-trimming move, clearing the way for the veteran guard to sign with another team once he clears waivers.

Russell had exercised his $5 million player option for the 2026-27 season before being sent from the Washington Wizards to the Grizzlies in a six-team trade.

The 30-year-old former No. 2 overall pick averaged 10.2 points, 4.0 assists, and 2.3 rebounds across 26 games for the Dallas Mavericks last season.

Source: https://basketnews.com/news-256450-dangelo-russell-signs-with-shanghai-sharks.html

Per MSG Sports PR.

Source - https://investor.msgsports.com/press-releases/news-details/2026/MSG-Sports-Board-Approves-Spin-Off-of-Rangers-Business-From-Knicks-Business/default.aspx

MSG Sports will spin off the New York Knicks and Rangers into separate publicly traded companies, after its board approved the move. Transaction will be completed on Oct. 26. MSG Sports will be MSG Knickerbockers Corp while MSG Rangers Corp. will be comprised of the Rangers, MSG training facility and Hartford Wolf Pack. Transaction to be finalized after league approvals and other conditions.

Continuing the 21-day series of ranking the Top 50 players by WAR for every franchise that has played in all 50 seasons covered by my dataset (1976-77 through 2025-26), in third place are my beloved Boston Celtics.

The Celtics rank 2nd in cumulative regular season WAR (1,690.9) behind the Spurs, and 2nd in cumulative playoff WAR (194.3) behind the Lakers, but third in combined WAR.

Unfortunately for me and other Celtics fans, this arbitrary cutoff point really misses a lot of Celtics history as 13 of their 18 championships aren't covered, including them winning in the preceding year (1976), and the entire career of arguably the greatest Celtic of all, Bill Russell, isn't covered, as well as other franchise legends like Bob Cousy, Sam Jones, and Tommy Heinsohn. It also only captures two seasons of John Havlicek and four of former MVP Dave Cowens.

That being said, there is still quite a bit of Celtics history packed into these 50 seasons, beginning with the final years of the Cowens/Havlicek era, the Bird years, the Big 3 Celtics, and the Jays era.

For the full explanation of the methodology and Estimated RAPTOR/LAKER, see Day 1: San Antonio Spurs.

For a quick refresher: these rankings use total WAR = regular-season WAR + playoff WAR, and only WAR accumulated with that franchise counts. Since WAR is cumulative, longevity and playing time are naturally part of the metric — this is intended to measure total value accumulated for a franchise, rather than peak ability.

Here's the Celtics Top 50:

To this point, league sources say Detroit has continued to refuse to engage with interested teams regarding sign-and-trade talks. The Sacramento Kings and Milwaukee Bucks are among the teams known to be seriously interested in Duren. The Kings, league sources say, have not spoken to the Pistons since late June.

League sources also confirmed an ESPN report indicating that the Washington Wizards would have interest in a Duren-for-Anthony Davis trade, but that scenario – like all the others – does not appear to be of interest to the Pistons.

source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7646672/2026/09/30/jalen-duren-contract-pistons-weight-clause-removed/

With Jalen Duren's contract extension saga with the Detroit Pistons still unresolved, the possibility of the All-Star center not signing a long-term deal with the franchise continues to grow.

If Duren ultimately decides against Detroit's five-year offer and instead accepts the qualifying offer, he would make NBA history.

According to Hunter Patterson of The Athletic, Duren would become the first player in NBA history to accept a qualifying offer immediately after earning both All-Star and All-NBA honors.

Duren and the Pistons have until Thursday to determine the next step. The 22-year-old can accept Detroit's one-year, $9.6 million qualifying offer, agree to the five-year, $200 million contract the Pistons offered several weeks ago, or the sides can extend the deadline.

Patterson notes that accepting the $9.6 million qualifying offer would also effectively give Duren one-year no-trade protection, providing him with additional control over his future.

The decision could also put Duren in position for a significantly larger annual salary when he reaches the open market.

Based on the NBA's projected $176 million salary cap for the 2027-28 season, Duren could be eligible to sign a four-year, $189.2 million contract with another team.

That would give him an average annual salary of approximately $47.3 million, compared with the $40 million annual average of Detroit's current five-year, $200 million offer.

Duren is coming off the best season of his career.

The 22-year-old averaged 19.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists across 70 games last season, earning his first NBA All-Star selection and a spot on the All-NBA Third Team.

Source: https://basketnews.com/news-256460-jalen-duren-on-verge-of-history-with-decision-no-all-star-all-nba-player-has-ever-made.html

ESPN's Hoop Collective published a 2+ hour podcast highlighting various media days around the league with more than half a dozen different reporters who were there in person. At the end of the podcast, Brian Windhorst thanks all the reporters who were on the show, including Ramona Shelburne. That struck me as strange, because Shelburne's segment didn't appear in the podcast, so it appears that it was filmed but cut. It made me look into what she would have reported on, and found out she was at Blazers media day.

In her place covering the Clippers at media day was Ben Golliver, a writer who began his career covering the Blazers. He's a longtime NBA writer now and has been LA based for some time, but new to ESPN so it seems like an unusual move to displace Shelburne, who has a lot more seniority at the company and deeper connections to Clippers organization. If ESPN felt like they needed to someone to cover Blazers and Clippers media day, it would have normally been a more natural fit to send Golliver to cover the Blazers instead.

Shelburne also still does Laker related reporting, including breaking the sale of the Lakers to Iger and Kushner this summer, but was not assigned to Lakers media day either. Instead Brian Windhorst was ESPN's in person reporter at Laker media day, which was an atypical assignment for him.

So all these assignments were somewhat conspicuously different from the norm. The assignments appear to stem from an effort to not associate Shelburne with the Clippers to start the season and and also not wanting to assign her to the more high profile and prestigious job of reporting on the Lakers. ESPN had her assigned to a small market team not projected to be a contender and then cut her reporting segment entirely from a national show on which it would have appeared.

It suggests to me that despite their public defense, ESPN is internally embarrassed by their Clippers cap circumvention story and coverage and/or felt it would look bad to have Shelburne continue to do it so soon after their misleading story.

Sources

• Shelburne identifying herself and asking Lillard a question at Blazers media day: https://youtu.be/yDw8ThkkXA4?si=bfUuhMenY5tQxqV-&t=538
• Windhorst thanking Shelburne among guests who appeared on the podcast even though she wasn't in the final cut. Golliver's segment covering the Clippers can be seen earlier in the episode: https://youtu.be/fG1dCTMvY1A?si=rXr7naniT6zQ-s2c&t=8952

ESPN today announced its 2026-27 regular season schedule for Inside the NBA presented by Eli Lilly. Produced by TNT Sports from its Atlanta studios, the iconic studio show will make 25 regular season appearances across ESPN and ABC, providing fans with a consistent presence throughout the NBA season.

October

• Wed, Oct. 21 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN doubleheader/NBA Tip-Off)
• Thu, Oct. 22 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN doubleheader/NBA Tip-Off)
• Wed, Oct. 28 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN doubleheader)

November

• Wed, Nov. 4 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN doubleheader)
• Wed, Nov. 11 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN doubleheader)
• Wed, Nov. 25 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN Thanksgiving Eve tripleheader)

December

• Sat, Dec. 12* - ABC (NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC)
• Fri, Dec. 25* - ESPN/ABC (NBA Christmas Day presented by State Farm)

January

• Wed, Jan. 6 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN doubleheader)
• Fri, Jan. 8 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN doubleheader)
• Wed, Jan. 13 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN doubleheader)
• Fri, Jan. 22 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN doubleheader)
• Wed, Jan. 27 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN doubleheader)
• Sat, Jan. 30* - ABC (NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC/NBA Rivals Week quadrupleheader)

February

• Sat, Feb. 6* - ABC (NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC)
• Wed, Feb. 10 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN doubleheader)
• Fri, Feb. 12 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN)
• Sat, Feb. 13* - ABC (NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC)
• Wed, Feb. 17 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN doubleheader)
• Fri, Feb. 26 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN doubleheader)
• Sat, Feb. 27* - ABC (NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC)

March

• Fri, Mar. 5 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN doubleheader)
• Sat, Mar. 6* - ABC (NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC)
• Sat, Mar. 13* - ABC (NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC)

April

• Sun, Apr. 11 - ESPN (NBA on ESPN doubleheader/NBA regular season finale)

Source: https://espnpressroom.com/press-release/espn-announces-2026-27-inside-the-nba-presented-by-eli-lilly-regular-season-schedule/

Phoenix Suns player Dillon Brooks' legal issues just got worse ... he's been charged with driving under the influence ... TMZ has learned.

On Monday, prosecutors in Scottsdale, Arizona, filed a criminal complaint with the misdemeanor DUI charge ... stemming from Brooks' arrest back in March.

Cops say Brooks was pulled over by officers in Scottsdale and, after investigating, he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Brooks was then brought to the Scottsdale City jail, where he posed for a mug shot and was processed before being released from custody around 3:30 AM.

https://www.tmz.com/2026/09/30/dillon-brooks-charged-with-dui/

Source per Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic:

MSG Sports will spin off the New York Knicks and Rangers into separate publicly traded companies, after its board approved the move. Transaction will be completed on Oct. 26.

MSG Sports will be MSG Knickerbockers Corp. It'll own the Knicks and Westchester Knicks.

MSG Rangers Corp. will be comprised of the Rangers, MSG training facility and Hartford Wolf Pack.

The transaction will be final after league approvals and other conditions.

Former Knicks team president and head coach Isiah Thomas will be on the MSG Knickerbockers Corp. board of directors. Thomas is also on The Sphere board, and also on the board of Mat Ishbia's UWM.

Former Knicks president Steve Mills will sit on the MSG Rangers Corp board. He had been on the MSG Sports board.

Per SEC filing:

The following individual has been appointed, effective as of the Distribution date, to the Board of Directors of the Registrant as a director elected by holders of Registrant Class B Common Stock to fill the vacancy after giving effect to the resignation of the three directors elected by holders of Registrant Class B Common Stock described above and the decrease in the size of the Board of Directors:

Isiah L. Thomas III, age 65, has been the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Isiah International, LLC, a holding company with interests in a diversified portfolio of businesses, since 2011. Mr. Thomas has served as a Commentator and Analyst for NBA TV, a sports broadcasting channel, since 2014 and Turner Sports, a sports broadcasting channel, since 2012. Mr. Thomas has also served as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of One World Products, Inc., (transitioning to Isiah Enterprises, Inc.) since 2020, leading its transformation into a sustainable materials and advanced manufacturing enterprise focused on industrial compounding, sustainable plastics, automotive applications, packaging and advanced manufacturing solutions following its acquisition of Eco Bio Plastics and the development of renewable material technologies. He previously served as the President & Alternate Governor of the New York Liberty of the Women’s National Basketball Association from 2015 to February 2019, the Head Basketball Coach at Florida International University, a higher education institution, from 2009 to 2012, the General Manager, President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach of the New York Knicks of the NBA, which is owned by the Registrant, from 2006 to 2008, the Head Coach of the Indiana Pacers of the NBA from 2000 to 2003, the Owner of the Continental Basketball Association from 1998 to 2000, Minority Owner & Executive Vice President of the Toronto Raptors of the NBA from 1994 to 1998 and point guard for the Detroit Pistons of the NBA from 1981 to 1994. Mr. Thomas has served as a director of StratCap Digital Infrastructure REIT, Inc. since July 2023, UWM Holdings Corporation, a residential and wholesale mortgage lender, since January 2021, Sphere Entertainment since April 2020, Get in Chicago, an organization focused on stopping gun and related violence in Chicago, since 2013 and he is the Founder of Mary’s Court Foundation, a charitable organization established in 2010. Mr. Thomas also serves as a director for ForbesBLK, a non-profit organization for black entrepreneurs and professionals, and Strategic Wireless Infrastructure Fund II, Inc., a private fund. Mr. Thomas graduated from Indiana University and received a Master’s degree in Education from the University of California at Berkeley.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7646672/2026/09/30/jalen-duren-contract-pistons-weight-clause-removed/?unlocked_article_code=1.FFE.3fje.jVmf2Gq7AVGs&source=user_shared_article&smid=ta-ios-share

To this point, league sources say Detroit has continued to refuse to engage with interested teams regarding sign-and-trade talks. The Sacramento Kings and Milwaukee Bucks are among the teams known to be seriously interested in Duren. The Kings, league sources say, have not spoken to the Pistons since late June. League sources also confirmed an ESPN report indicating that the Washington Wizards would have interest in a Duren-for-Anthony Davis trade, but that scenario – like all the others – does not appear to be of interest to the Pistons.

As Detroit’s president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon made clear at the team’s media day Monday, the team still has strong internal confidence that Duren will be on board for this coming season. The only question left, as Langdon clearly sees it, is which deal he will decide to take.

He posted this video on his IG.