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Joel Embiid has lost the NBA MVP award to Nikola Jokic two years in a row, but with two weeks remaining in the 2022-23 regular season, his chances at finally winning the coveted award have never been higher. As of Monday morning, he is a minus-225 favorite at Caesars Sportsbook while Jokic (plus-175) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (plus-325) lag behind. The Philadelphia 76ers still have games remaining against Jokic's Denver Nuggets and Antetokounmpo's Milwaukee Bucks, but Embiid is undeniably in pole position as the race nears its conclusion. But that doesn't mean Embiid has gotten over the disappointment of the past few seasons. In a Q&A with The Athletic's Shams Charania, Embiid grumbled about the ways in which he believes the award's criteria changes annually while appearing to take a shot at Jokic. "The criteria does change," Embiid said. "If we want to talk about the last th...

Former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook plans to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers once he finalizes a buyout with the Utah Jazz, his agent told Adrian Wojnarowski. Westbrook was trade d from the Los Angeles Lakers to the Jazz as part of a three-team deal ahead of the trade deadline earlier this month. In 52 games for the Lakers this season, the majority of them off the bench, Westbrook averaged 15.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game. But while his counting stats were still solid, his defense, inefficient shooting (41.7 percent from the field, 29.6 percent from 3-point land) and poor fit next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis were once again a problem for the Lakers. There was also the fact that James was publicly lobbying for the team to trade him, which did not help the vibes in the locker room.  But despite some of Westbrook's issues with the Lakers, and his declining play in recent years, the Clipp...

Mac McClung, the only G League player in History to even enter the dunk contest, let alone win it, put on a show for the ages on Saturday night in Salt Lake City, nailing all four of his attempts on the first try. That's one of the things that has killed this contest: Guys bricking a bunch of attempts before finally putting one down. McClung was perfect , joining Spud Webb as the only players in History 6-foot-2 or shorter to card three 50s in a single dunk contest.  Below, I'm going to rank McClung's four dunks, beginning at the end.  1. The walk-off McClung saved his best for last. Trey Murphy III was hanging around with some pretty impressive stuff of his own, but when McClung threw down this 540, as Draymond Green could be heard saying on the TNT broadcast, it was a wrap.  MCCLUNG SAID "IT'S OVER" 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/2J6DUeDXQY — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) Feb...

The Philadelphia 76ers are signing Dewayne Dedmon, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Dedmon, a veteran big man who last played for the Miami Heat, was traded in a salary dump to the San Antonio Spurs before the deadline. The Spurs proceeded to waive Dedmon, allowing him to find a new team. Backup center has been an enormous problem for the 76ers for essentially Joel Embiid's entire career. This season, the 76ers are nearly 12 points worse per 100 possessions when he goes to the bench, and his rest minutes and missed games have played key components in playoff losses to the Raptors (2019), Hawks (2021) and Heat (2022). Philadelphia is hoping that Dedmon can help reverse those trends, but his play this season has been underwhelming. He played a career-low 11.7 minutes per Game for a Heat team that ultimately moved him without receiving value in return. At his peak he offered a valuable combination of...

The Golden State Warriors have filed a complaint against the Portland Trail Blazers stemming from the proposed trade that would send Gary Payton II back to the Bay Area, per The Athletic's Shams Charania. It was reported Saturday night that Payton's physical after the trade revealed a core muscle injury that could keep him out for up to three months. The league is launching an investigation into the matter, and if the Trail Blazers are found to have misled the Warriors regarding Payton's health, they could be punished with a fine and or loss of draft picks, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The initial four-team trade, which was in place prior to the trade deadline on Feb. 9, also included sending James Wiseman to Detroit, Saddiq Bey going to Atlanta and Kevin Knox heading to the Trail Blazers along with five future second-round picks. Wojnarowski is report ing that the Warriors are working with the l...

LeBron James has done it. After 20 years, three teams, four championships and 1,410 regular-season games, King James has passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA's all-time leading scorer with 38,388 career points (and counting). Abdul-Jabbar was on hand at Crypto.com Arena to watch the 38-year-old James break his almost 39-year-old record, and fittingly, the new all-time leading scorer in NBA history broke the record in the same Los Angeles Lakers uniform that Abdul-Jabbar once wore. Now, the entire basketball world is taking the time to praise the NBA's new scoring king. Here are some of the best reactions to LeBron's historic night. The whole world was watching "This is one of the greatest accomplishments in sports history." Some of the best to ever do it congratulate @KingJames 👏 pic.twitter.com/3nNvmKVYAo — NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 8, 2023 James heard ...

Kyrie Irving has been traded to the Dallas Mavericks, and the winner of the deal was... the Houston Rockets? Let's explain. The Rockets currently have control of every Nets first-round pick between now and 2027 thanks to the James Harden trade. The Nets just traded their second-best player, who happens to be close friends with their best player, for a package of largely win-now assets. In all likelihood, that means they are either about to trade their best player, Kevin Durant, or they are going to mortgage even more of their future assets to try to win around the 35-year-old Durant. Either way, those deep future picks headed to Houston are looking pretty valuable right now. But that's not the only victory for Houston here. The Rockets share a division with the Mavericks. Winning in that division with a 23-year-old Luka Doncic hanging around was always going to be difficult. Well, now the Mavericks have us...

Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks further damaged his reputation in the league by getting ejected for hitting Donovan Mitchell in the groin on Thursday night in the Grizzlies' 128-113 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Following the Game , both Mitchell and Cavaliers head coach JB Bickerstaff called the incident a cheap shot and questioned Brooks' character.  Brooks was going up for a layup with just under six minutes remaining in the third quarter, but his attempt was altered by Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley and headed out of bounds. Mitchell was trying to save the ball, but Brooks, who was on the ground, hit him in the groin. Mitchell responded by throwing the ball off of Brooks, who was still on the ground, and this started a fight between the two teams. Spida and Dillon Brooks get CHIPPY 😳 pic.twitter.com/jGhYHa8VAS — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 3, 2023 ...

Tari Eason is a good offensive rebounder. He might even be a great one. Among rookies this season, he ranks third with 2.2 of them per Game . Alperen Sengun is the only Rocket to pull in more of them thus far this year. But Eason only plays 19.4 minutes per Game . He's started only three times in his career. If I were to tell you Eason had one of the greatest offensive rebounding Game s in the History of professional basketball, you'd probably scoff. But that's exactly what happened against the Thunder on Wednesday. First thing's first: we specified offensive rebounding for a reason. Eason was invisible on the defensive glass, pulling in only a single defensive rebound. But in his 19 minutes against the Thunder, he pulled in a staggering 12 offensive rebounds.  Amazingly, that isn't quite an NBA record. It has happened three other times in NBA history. Popeye Jones did in 1994, Zydrunas Ilga...

The NBA has no greater hype man than Daryl Morey. Philadelphia's president of basketball operations once claimed that James Harden was a better scorer than Michael Jordan. Between Harden and Joel Embiid he finds ways to insert himself into the MVP conversation almost every year. But with the NBA announcing this year's All-Star starter s on Thursday, he took things in a new direction. Embiid missed the cut in the crowded Eastern Conference front-court race, and Morey blamed the media' s concentration of reporters with ties to Boston. "Completely hosed once again," Morey said on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia. "This time, to your point, the perpetrators of the crime were the shameless media, who most of them have recused themselves because they don't want the vote on something that affect players' paychecks. "But the shameless Boston media is way overrepresented. They ha...

We've heard about the "rookie wall" and how it can creep up on players midway through the season and their production, efficiency and impact just take a nosedive. But what about when the opposite is happening? Maybe we call it the "rookie ladder" or the "rookie Juggernaut," you know like the superhero from X-Men whose biggest scene was literally just him breaking through a bunch of walls. Maybe this visual will jog your memory: via Gfycat The name probably still needs to be workshopped, but the point I'm trying to make is that there's a slew of rookies right now who are breaking through that rookie wall and putting together some of their best performances. Keegan Murray is arguably the best example right now, a guy who is having the best month of his young career, while also having a positive impact on a winning team. Walker Kessler is another rookie that comes to mind who...