Jackson, playing just his seventh game for the Jazz after being acquired from Memphis ahead of February’s trade deadline, injured his right knee during Utah’s game against the Grizzlies on Monday, Oct. 26. ESPN reports Jackson suffered a torn MCL and will be out 6 to 8 weeks, but he does not need surgery.
The injury occurred when the Grizzlies’ Ty Jerome fell into Jackson’s leg as Jerome was fouled driving to the basket during the second quarter. Jackson exited the game shortly afterward and went to the locker room. He was ruled out with a right knee injury.
It’s a big blow for the Jazz, who also saw 2023 All-Star Lauri Markkanen exit Monday’s game with a wrist injury. Jazz coach Will Hardy said Monday night that Utah would know more Tuesday after Markkanen got imaging done.
Jackson had been averaging 16.3 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.3 blocks this season. The Jazz are 1-3 this season.
Ex-NBA guard Malik Beasley to plead guilty after involvement in gambling scheme
Longtime former NBA guard Malik Beasley has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges related to illegal sports gambling, his attorney told both The Athletic and ESPN on Tuesday.
Beasley, who was arrested earlier this summer, will officially enter his plea on Dec. 9 in Brooklyn.
Beasley was indicted back in June on federal charges related to a sports betting scheme alongside former NBA veteran Ed Davis. The duo, who played together for the Minnesota Timberwolves, were accused of working together to manipulate Beasley’s performance in four games during the 2023-24 campaign. Beasley was on the Milwaukee Bucks at the time, and Davis was out of the league.
Beasley reportedly owed millions of dollars in a gambling debt, which led to Davis loaning Beasley money. But in order to pay off that debt, Beasley and Davis reportedly decided to launch a betting scheme. They reportedly worked with three others to place tens of thousands of dollars on a game that Beasley played in against the Cleveland Cavaliers that season. Beasley ended up scoring just three points in that game, well below his season average of 11.3 points per contest. Beasley is also accused of rigging a game against the Charlotte Hornets in similar fashion that same season.
Beasley has not played in the league since the 2024-25 season, which was one of the best in his career. He averaged 16.3 points per game, his best output in years, and finished in second in the Sixth Man of the Year race while with the Detroit Pistons. He was due for a big payday after that season, too, but his free agency was interrupted both by a federal gambling investigation and an NBA investigation into Beasley. He went unsigned, and hasn’t played since.
Prosecutors alleged that Davis was in charge of the scheme. They were two of six men indicted in the scheme.
Beasley is the second active NBA player to plead guilty to charges related to gambling in the NBA. Jontay Porter was the first, and pleaded guilty in July 2024 amid a separate but similar scheme. The NBA banned him for life in 2024. It’s unclear if Beasley will face that same fate.
Knicks' honeymoon phase over already? Behind the champs' slow start
You might say that Mike Brown saw this coming.
After a summer spent enjoying the spoils of helming the first New York Knicks team to win an NBA championship since the Nixon administration, the first time Brown sat down at a podium to discuss what might lay ahead in the 2026-27 campaign, the Knicks head coach repeatedly emphasized the need for his team to adhere to its established competitive standard. For his players to avoid any slippage in their day-to-day habits. For every member of the roster and staff to remain laser-focused on, and energetic in pursuit of, the process of putting themselves in position to compete for another championship.
Because, the coach predicted, the hardest work was just starting.
“You know, a lot of people tend to shy away from adversity — especially early on, because, you know, you get scrutinized, and sometimes it can be tough dealing with that,” Brown said at the Knicks’ media day session in September. “I actually yearn for it. I yearn for it early. Because I want to make sure that not only myself, but we as a group can handle it.”
Well, Coach, I’ve got good news and bad news, and they’re both the same thing. That early adversity you ordered? It has officially arrived.
‘It’s the focus on the details’
After losing to the Philadelphia 76ers on opening night, falling to the Boston Celtics on Friday and dropping a 111-102 home game to an Orlando Magic team missing injured All-Star forward Paolo Banchero on Sunday — a game they led by 10 with 9:20 remaining in the fourth quarter, before conceding a 30-9 run over the next eight-plus minutes — the Knicks sit at 0-3 on the young season, one of only seven winless teams in the Association. New York suffered just four losing streaks of three or more games all of last season. Less than a week into its title defense, that counter already sits at one.
What’s past isn’t necessarily prologue; the Knicks aren’t destined to follow in either the Mavs’ or C’s footsteps. Still, though: Kind of puts a little extra mustard on the outcome of New York’s Tuesday night tilt with the Detroit Pistons, doesn’t it?
Those Pistons — who finished with the No. 1 seed in the East last season, and who swept the Knicks by an average of 28 points per game during the regular season — improved to 3-0 on Sunday with a 106-93 road win over the Sixers. They figure to be champing at the bit for a shot at the champs … and, even without injured All-NBA center Jalen Duren, eminently capable of knocking the Knicks’ lights out if New York can’t find the 48 minutes’ worth of tighten-the-screws attention to detail, crispness and physicality that Brown acknowledges has thus far eluded his club.
“It’s the focus on the details,” Brown told reporters after Sunday’s loss. “You know, you go on a run, and then you come down and you throw the ball away. Like, probably three-fourths of our turnovers weren’t from [the Magic’s] pressure — and again, that’s nothing against them, they beat us, I give them a lot of credit — but we throw the ball [low], we throw the ball and it goes through our hands, we jump in the air … and those turnovers, they convert the other way.”
Combine that with Knicks opponents averaging 20.7 points per game off those turnovers — more than four points per game more than last season — and the margins that New York often mastered last season en route to 53 wins, a top-six point differential and eventually a title have grown considerably thinner.
“We do a pretty good job on some of the closeouts, and then other closeouts, we stop short, especially to a hot guy, and we let him shoot a comfortable shot,” Brown said. “We play great defense, make them take a tough shot, and then we don’t box out. Those are the little things that we’ve got to continue to embrace — especially when we’re not shooting the ball well.”
New York’s shooting woes
The Knicks are most certainly not shooting the ball well right now.
Their offensive process, by and large, hasn’t been bad. The Knicks are generating a higher share of their shots at the rim this year than last while also taking an above-league-average percentage of their attempts from 3-point range — including the NBA’s highest rate of corner 3s, which have accounted for 14% of New York’s total field-goal attempts through three games, according to Cleaning the Glass.
Which is to say: The Knicks have broadly been creating a lot of the right kinds of looks, ranking in the top 10 in multiple shot quality and expected field-goal percentage metrics. The issue is, they’re just not making many of them.
Through three games, the Knicks are shooting about 3% worse at the rim, 5% worse from 3-point land, and 16% worse on midrange tries than they did last season. Only one Knick, Karl-Anthony Towns, has made more than half of his shots; the other four members of New York’s vaunted starting five have all been slow to get their shots online coming out of the gate.
Jalen Brunson is putting the Knicks’ early-season struggles on his shoulders. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Maddie Meyer via Getty Images
Jalen Brunson, who spent much of his summer rehabilitating after undergoing surgery on his shooting wrist, sits under 40% from the field. OG Anunoby and Josh Hart are just barely above that mark. Mikal Bridges, whose mid-postseason turnaround was so vital to the Knicks’ torrid run through the East during the springtime, has been positively frigid out of the gates: 5-for-23 from the field and 0-for-10 from 3-point range, for just 10 points in 90 minutes across three games.
All told, only the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors are underperforming their expected shot quality by more than the Knicks thus far, according to Synergy Sports Technology. That frozen start goes a long way toward explaining how a Knicks team that has ranked in the top seven in offensive efficiency in each of the last four seasons currently sits a dismal 29th in points scored per possession, and dead stinkin’ last in half-court scoring efficiency.
Brunson spoke Sunday about the Knicks’ need to tighten up their organization in the half-court — getting to the right spots, at the right pace, to execute properly and create the openings that can lead to cleaner looks and better scoring chances — which, ultimately, rests with their superstar point guard.
“Everything falls on my shoulders,” said Brunson, who scored a team-high 28 points on 28 shot attempts against Orlando, in the Knicks’ locker room after the loss. “I’ve just got to be a better leader when it comes to that, when it comes to making sure our guys are ready to go and in the right spots. There’s a lot of other little things, but that’s the main thing. It’s just organization on my part.”
That lack of organization and precision has been particularly notable in close-and-late situations, in which the Knicks — and Brunson, in particular — performed so brilliantly last season. New York has been outscored by a league-high 18 points in 10 minutes of “clutch” time thus far this season, according to NBA Advanced Stats, scoring well under one point per possession with more turnovers (four) than assists (two).
Brunson has missed five of his seven shots in those high-leverage moments — emblematic of the run of play for a Knicks squad that has thus far only intermittently resembled the team that locked into such an incredible offensive rhythm last postseason.
“We’re not going to be the same,” Brunson said. “We’re not going to be the way we were playing last year. That’s just human nature. But we have to accept this part of the journey, find a way to be better, and hopefully throughout a couple of games, we’ll be able to look back and say, ‘Hey, we grew from that.'”
Will the Knicks turn it around?
The schedule does afford some get-right opportunities. After Tuesday’s matchup with the undefeated Pistons, New York will play four of its next six games against the Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks — teams with a combined 1-8 record. Thaw out those jumpers a bit and get some regression to the mean in the overall shot-making, and New York could relocate its rhythm in a flash.
On the other hand, though, the Knicks feel a long way from prematurely marking those down as wins given the way they’re misfiring right now.
“Games like [Sunday’s loss to the Magic] will tell us that, you know, like I said before, our crap stinks,” Brown said. “It does. And we’re the only ones that can do something about it. There’s no light switch that we can just turn on and think that we’re going to go win ballgames. Nobody’s going to give us anything.”
No, the Knicks will have to take the wins they need to right the ship — and, as Brunson stressed, they’ll have to do it by sticking together.
“One thing I said throughout the entire training camp, and honestly to this day, is: we’re going to see who we are within the first couple of weeks of the season,” Brunson said Sunday. “We’re hitting adversity now. How are we going to respond?”
They need a collective response. Better shooting across the board. Better physicality at the point of attack from Bridges and Anunoby. Better foul avoidance from Towns, who’s averaging a career-high 4.6 personals per 36 minutes. Better play in the middle when Towns hits the bench, with Andre Drummond coming back down to Earth after his strong first half in the season opener against Philly and James Wiseman providing up-and-down minutes on Sunday against Orlando.
Better everything, really. Except, maybe, better treatment from the adoring masses who spent the summer throwing flowers at the Knicks’ feet.
“Everyone’s been telling us what a great job we did — how fun it was, what we did for the city, the constant praise,” Brunson said. “We need kind of, just … the opposite.”
Well, Cap, I’ve got good news and bad news, and they’re both the same thing. Keep playing like this, and the honeymoon period of that constant praise might be over a hell of a lot sooner than anybody anticipated.
Cavs vs. Timberwolves: How to watch, odds, and injury report
CLEVELAND, OHIO – JANUARY 10: Guard Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Cleveland Cavaliers guards guard Anthony Edwards #5 of the Minnesota Timberwolves during the third quarter at Rocket Arena on January 10, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavaliers defeated the Timberwolves 146-134. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Cleveland Cavaliers have had a frustrating start to the season. They’ve shown how good they could be with impressive stretches throughout their first two games, but poor closes to both contests have made it clear that they’re far from a finished product.
The Cavs will welcome a good Minnesota Timberwolves team to town on Monday. Minnesota made a big move this summer by trading for LaMelo Ball, and so far, things have paid off. The Timberwolves have beaten the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic by a combined 47 points in their first two contests. They’ll be hosting the Toronto Raptors on Sunday evening.
Anything bought from the links helps support Fear the Sword. You can also shop all of Homage’s Cavs gear HERE. The link to the 2016 championship shirt HERE.
Suns’ point guard rotation warrants patience after two games
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – OCTOBER 24: Devin Booker #15 of the Phoenix Suns passes the ball around Will Richard #3 of the Golden State Warriors during the first half at Mortgage Matchup Center on October 24, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns defeated the Warriors 131-122. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Well, that didn’t take long, did it? It appears that Devin Booker is the primary point guard on this team rather than Jalen Green. It’s Point Book SZN once again, isn’t it?
“Settle down, Voita! We’re two games in!” I know, I know. But I am here to observe and report, and therefore I am reporting what I have observed through the first two games of the 2026-27 season. Ultimately, the fact that the sample size is so small has merit. We don’t know what this team is yet. Nor do they. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to sit on my couch until game 20 on December 20 to note what is occurring.
This past offseason, there were rumors floating around that the Phoenix Suns wanted to see more facilitation out of Jalen Green. And that would be the ideal scenario for the organization because, after all, they have Devin Booker. He’s a shooting guard, and if you can put him alongside somebody capable of taking the reins and running the offense, Booker becomes an even more potent player. He can navigate off-ball screens, find himself open for catch-and-shoot opportunities, and operate within the spaces a shooting guard typically occupies.
But wanting something to happen doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to occur. And through the first two games of the season, it appears that Point Book remains.
Again, I recognize that it’s a small sample size. Perhaps it’s a matter of survival, with the Suns prioritizing getting a win on the board before fully integrating Jalen Green into the point guard role. And you’ll have people tell you that in the modern NBA, there really isn’t such a thing as a true point guard, to which I agree. But if the goal is to have Jalen Green become more of a facilitator, the early returns aren’t particularly encouraging.
Because it’s Devin Booker who possesses a 27.3% assist percentage, while Jalen Green sits at 11.4%. It’s Booker with a 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio, compared to Green’s 0.8. Booker has generated 22 points off assists, while Green has generated 9. And when it comes to potential assists, Booker has 7 compared to Green’s 8.
The funny thing is, when you look at Collin Gillespie, who’s coming off the bench with the second unit, his numbers are better than both of them. Gillespie currently possesses a 28.2% assist percentage and a 1.83 assist-to-turnover ratio. His 28 points generated off assists lead the team, while his 11 potential assists rank second, one behind Miles Bridges.
2 games into the season, and Point Book is alive & well. Wasn’t the plan for Green to take on more facilitating duties?
The early numbers suggest Book is still carrying that burden, while CG12 might be the best distributor on the roster.
Note the graphic above represents 3 minutes on the Gillespie/Booker/Brooks/Bridges/Maluach combo. And a glorious 3 minutes it was.
It’s too early to start banging the drum for Collin Gillespie to be in the starting lineup alongside Devin Booker to alleviate some of the responsibility on Booker’s shoulders. But as we saw Saturday night against the Warriors, that’s going to be a significant burden if Booker has to score 43 points every night to help this team win while also serving as its primary facilitator and distributor.
As the season progresses, we’ll have more opportunities to see what it looks like when Jalen Green assumes more of those facilitation and distribution responsibilities. From there, decisions can be made. Because remember, this is a year of evaluation for Jalen Green. How does he respond to the role being asked of him? And how does he handle the adversity that comes with it when success in that role doesn’t immediately follow?
It’s going to take time and repetition for the organization to fully understand his skill set and how it complements the players around him. The fan base? We’re not nearly as patient. We see something that isn’t working, pound our fists on the table, and demand that it be changed. If there’s anything we’ve learned over the years, it’s that things don’t necessarily work that way. This isn’t a video game where you can simply swap players in and out. It takes time, the management of personalities, and a willingness to provide players with opportunities rather than making decisions based on knee-jerk reactions.
But this is another footnote in the collection of things we’re observing throughout the season. And through two games, this is where we stand.
United States Grand Prix qualifying results: Who takes pole in Austin?
(Photo by David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
AUSTIN, Texas — Lewis Hamilton topped the timing sheets in the final hour of practice before qualifying for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, ahead of Max Verstappen and teammate Charles Leclerc. And with Leclerc having led the way during both FP1 and FP2, is a Ferrari pole in the future here in Austin?
Or will Verstappen, or another of Ferrari’s rivals, steal their thunder?
Ferrari brought an upgrade package to the United States Grand Prix, one that Leclerc described as a “small step in the right direction” to SB Nation and the rest of the assembled media during his availability on Thursday. But while Leclerc cautioned that he did not “expect anything hugely significant” from the new components, results from the first three hours of practice indicate that Ferrari is indeed firmly in the mix for Saturday’s qualifying session.
But Verstappen and the rest of the grid are always lurking.
Qualifying gets underway at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, and we will be following all the action live both here and on the brand-new SB Nation app. So follow along and join in the conversation in the F1 Community!
USGP provisional starting grid
Here is the provisional starting grid for the United States Grand Prix, which will be filled in as the hour unfolds.
Lamar Jackson injury: Ravens star out for Week 7 vs. Bengals
(Photo by Logan Bowles/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Baltimore Ravens will be without Lamar Jackson for the third consecutive week, as the quarterback continues working his way back from a high-ankle sprain he suffered back in Week 4 against the Tennessee Titans.
Jackson returned to practice earlier this week, for the first time since suffering the injury in the second half against Tennessee, but has been officially ruled out by the Ravens ahead of Sunday’s clash with their AFC North rivals the Cincinnati Bengals.
“I just know it was a sprain, and it hurt bad,” Jackson said as quoted by the official Ravens website. “It was very, very, very, very, very painful.
“Just trying to move how I move,” Jackson said. “If I can’t do that, I can’t help my team. I can’t put my team in a situation to win. I feel like I’m doing a disservice, if anything.”
Tyler Huntley stepped in for Jackson against Tennessee, and led the Ravens to an overtime win over the Atlanta Falcons in Week 5. While Huntley was fairly sharp against Atlanta, completing 24-of-32 passes for 201 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the 30-23 win, he completed just 19-of-31 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown as the Ravens lost to the Cleveland Browns in Week 6.
Knicks call plan to use fake championship rings as employee phishing test 'an unfortunate mistake,' will issue rings to employees
The New York Knicks appear to be pivoting after a report that the team used the promise of championship rings as a cybersecurity test. In a statement to the New York Post on Friday, a spokesperson for Madison Square Garden (MSG) confirmed a report from The Athletic that the company had sent emails last month offering employees championship rings as a phishing test.
The company said it had recently undergone a hack, which led to the test, likely under the urging of Knicks owner James Dolan, who is known to be worried about cybersecurity.
“The company had previously sent out an email to its corporate team as a simulation of a phishing attack designed to strengthen our security against hackers,” the spokesman told The Post. “MSG was recently hacked and extorted using an employee login and password obtained through a similar phishing attack. Using the rings as a lure to gain employees attention was an unfortunate mistake.”
Part of the oddness of the targeted phishing test is that, as The Athletic reported, many longtime MSG employees were not going to be receiving rings at all. That includes some who work in the Knicks’ business operations — a role that would typically result in receiving a ring.
The Knicks also appear to be walking that back as well: The spokesman told the Post that the company will be giving “more than 275 championship rings and jewelry to players, coaches, employees and other members of the Knicks family.” The jewelry will total more than $3.7 million, per the company.
Individual teams typically get to decide who, in addition to the players, will receive rings after a championship, but many owners will give out more simple versions of the players’ rings to employees within the organization.
Knicks players received their massive, diamond-encrusted rings during the team’s home opener on Tuesday, with the championship banner also getting raised into the rafters at MSG. The rings feature a removable top that reveals a miniature Madison Square Garden.
These 7 looming contract decisions could define the NBA season
The conversation surrounding the NBA, perhaps more than any other North American professional sports league, is usually driven as much by transactions as the games themselves. Trade rumors, contract negotiations and free agency decisions can alter championship races and reshape the landscape of the entire league.
From superstars weighing extensions worth hundreds of millions of dollars to veterans trying to secure one final payday, these seven contract situations could play a major role in determining where some of the NBA’s most impactful players play next and how the 2026-27 season unfolds.
It’s easy to assume Antetokounmpo’s long-term future is settled after the blockbuster trade that sent him from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Heat this offseason. But Antetokounmpo only became contract extension-eligible on Oct. 1, and the size of his contract remains unresolved. He could make significantly more by waiting to come to terms on a new deal with the Heat.
Antetokounmpo, who has a $62.8-million player option for the 2027-28 season on his contract, is currently able to sign a three-year, $194-million extension. That figure jumps to four years, $276-million on Jan. 6, according to ESPN, and five years, $357 million next offseason. Antetokounmpo told reporters last month at Heat media day that he wasn’t taking extension questions because “it’s too early.” There’s an expectation throughout the league that the two sides will eventually agree on a long-term extension, but Antetokounmpo had an intriguing response while discussing his future and the move to Miami.
“I want when this chapter is over, if I’m only going to be here a year or two, whatever it’s going to be, I want to leave my mark,” Antetokounmpo said.
Negotiations between Towns and the Knicks grew increasingly contentious this offseason, and the team paused talks earlier this month after Towns publicly expressed frustration with the process. Whether they can settle those differences carries major implications for how long the Knicks can keep their championship core together after last year’s title. Towns is set to make $57 million this season and holds a $61 million player option for the 2027-28 campaign. He is eligible for a four-year, $276 million extension, though ESPN reported the Knicks’ most recent offer was closer to $200 million.
The gap is especially notable since Towns says he’s willing to accept less than a max deal to help preserve the roster moving forward. But neither side has been able to agree on a number, and the dispute continues to linger over the franchise.
After arriving in Houston last season, Kevin Durant enters his 20th NBA campaign facing one of the more intriguing contract decisions in the league. The Rockets can offer Durant an extension, but both sides may benefit from waiting to see whether Houston emerges as a legitimate championship contender this season.
Durant has a $46-million player option for the 2027-28 season after a rockier-than-expected first year with the Rockets. But Durant remains an offensive force who averaged 26 points on 52% shooting and earned second team all-NBA honors last season. If this season goes well, an extension could make Houston the city in which Durant retires. If this season falls short of expectations, contenders around the league would undoubtedly monitor Durant’s availability.
Jokic erased any lingering doubt about his future in Denver when he told reporters (and assured Nuggets fans) during media day last month that he will sign a new long-term contract with the team next summer. Jokic will make $59 million this season and has a player option for the 2027-28 season worth $62.8-million in his current deal. He’ll be eligible for a five-year supermax contract that could exceed $350 million depending on the NBA’s future salary cap projections next summer. Jokic appears set on minimizing any unnecessary drama and distraction related to the situation.
Anthony Davis enters his first games with the Washington Wizards facing a pivotal stretch that could shape the remainder of his career. While Davis remains one of the NBA’s best two-way big men when healthy, questions about his durability could dictate whether the Wizards, or another team, are willing to commit substantial cap space to him beyond his current contract.
Davis will make $58.4 million this season and holds a $62-million player option for the 2027-28 season. But given the 33-year-old’s extensive injury history, his availability will be just as important as his production in determining value. Washington has been non-committal about its plans with Davis beyond this current deal, which could make Davis a player mentioned frequently around the NBA’s trade deadline in February if another contender is willing to give him contract security. The first few months of this season will be an audition of sorts for Davis to prove he’s durable enough to be a difference maker again rather than a high-risk gamble.
After missing all of last season while recovering from the knee injury that also cut short his 2024-25 campaign, Irving enters the season faced with a prove-it year. Irving is extension-eligible and set to make nearly $39.5 million this season. His contract also includes a $42.4 million player option for the 2027-28 campaign.
At 34 years old, Irving must demonstrate to the Mavericks and the rest of the league he remains an elite player in order to merit another multi-year contract. Though his pairing with Cooper Flagg could be dynamic, their partnership also raises questions about the franchise’s long-term direction. With Flagg expected to be the centerpiece, Irving’s performance alongside him this season could help determine if Dallas sees him as part of that future or a veteran asset to be dealt elsewhere.
Porter is playing on an expiring deal this season, which makes him one of the NBA’s most fascinating contract situations. The 28-year-old could emerge as a coveted player around the trade deadline if the Nets determine they can’t agree on an extension. Porter is eligible to sign a four-year contract worth as much as $243 million with Brooklyn and said at media day last month his preference would be to remain with the Nets.
Porter averaged a career-best 24.2 points per game as the lead option for a struggling team last season and his size, shooting and championship pedigree on the wing would be valuable to a contender. Brooklyn’s decision may ultimately hinge on how competitive the team proves to be after adding veteran forward Julius Randle this offseason. If Porter can replicate last season’s production and help push the Nets into the Eastern Conference playoff race, he could significantly strengthen his case for another lucrative long-term deal.
Later in the evening, George drew the season’s first fine for flopping on a fourth-quarter collision at midcourt with Detroit’s Duncan Robinson. No call was made during the game, but the league issued a $2,000 fine after reviewing the play.
The league fined Paul George $2,000 for flopping after reviewing a play from Boston’s opening-night loss.
The postgame penalty was part of the NBA’s emphasis this season to crack down on “STEM” violations — or Secondary, Theatrical, Exaggerated Movements attempting to draw foul calls.
“It’s just something that we’ve seen that doesn’t present well in-game, live or on TV, and it’s not the fabric of NBA competition,” NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations James Jones said in a statement issued by the league. “We’re going to take a really hard stance on flopping. It’s something that we’ll look at more so than anything.”
NBA senior vice president and head of referee development and training Monty McCutchen clarified that the exaggerated effort to get a call is what will earn fines from the league, not necessarily the attempt to draw a whistle.
“A flop is not merely trying to entice a call. It has to be secondary, theatrical and exaggerated movement,” he said. A lot of these embellishments won’t have that STEM – secondary, theatrical, exaggerated movement – and thus would be legal.”
“Creating a perception of something that you know not to be true, that is separate and needs to be penalized,” he added.
Under the new initiative, if a player is called for flopping in a game, he will receive a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul and the opposing team gets a free throw. But if the flop is not called during the game, as in George’s case, the league can issue a decision after reviewing the play.
Players who continue to get punished for flopping will draw an increased amount for a fine and could be issued a one-game suspension after six or more flopping penalties.
George was last fined for flopping during the 2023-24 season while with the Los Angeles Clippers, according to Spotrac. During his previous 16 NBA seasons, he’s been fined a total of $300,000. That does not include $11.7 million he was docked for being suspended for 25 games without pay last season for violating the league’s anti-drug program.
