The Charlotte Hornets continued their preseason roster shuffling. Charlotte waived forward Brandon Slater and signed guard Marcus Garrett. Slater was on a non-guaranteed camp contract. Garrett was signed to an Exhibit 10 deal. Both players will likely join Charlotte’s G League team in Greensboro to begin next season.
Garrett appeared in four games for the Hornets while on a 10 Day contract in March of last season. He spent the majority of the season with the Greensboro Swarm of the G League.
In 42 games with the Swarm, the 6-foot-5 combo guard averaged 10.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Garrett also spent part of a season in the NBA with the Miami Heat on a two-way contract.
Grant Williams, Josh Green To Miss Hornets Training Camp
The Charlotte Hornets will be without two key veterans when training camp starts in less than two weeks. Forward Grant Williams and wing Josh Green will both be sidelined for training camp, as they recover from injures that occurred last season.
Williams is working his way back from a torn right ACL and meniscus that he suffered last November. Green is rehabbing from a left shoulder surgery that he underwent in June.
Hornets head coach Charles Lee said that there isn’t a timeline for either Williams or Green to return. He said both players are progressing well, but that Williams is a bit further ahead in the process than Green is.
Being without Williams is a blow to a Hornets squad that is a bit light on frontcourt depth. Charlotte has a deep wing rotation, including rookies Kon Knueppel, Liam McNeeley and Sion James. In addition, Brandon Miller is returning from a season-ending wrist injury. Miller should have no restrictions when camp opens.
Heat All-Star Tyler Herro will undergo surgery on his left foot Friday and will be sidelined to start the 2025-26 season. Sources told ESPN that Herro is expected to miss eight weeks.
The 2025-26 NBA season is on the horizon and that means fantasy basketball drafts will be taking place. There’s plenty you can do to prep for your draft, but the most important thing will be fantasy basketball rankings, which Yahoo analyst Dan Titus will be providing in a wide range of formats, including points leagues, category leagues as well as positional tiers. Be sure to bookmark this page and keep track of his full list of rankings all season long.Â
Dan’s Points League Rankings PG | SG | SF | PF | C
The season keeps ticking and we keep picking. Last week was particularly brutal for the entire panel with some game being nothing like we expected.
Two game in particular really stood out as ones that made perfect sense when we first made the picks, but the games themselves played out in weird ways. The first was the Seahawks beating the Steelers, in which 7-of-10 pickers went with Pittsburgh only to see Aaron Rodgers and co. get whooped. The far bigger surprise was on Sunday night though when J.J. McCarthy turned into a pumpkin on national TV, giving the Falcons the win. The panel were 9-of-10 for Minnesota in that game, thinking their comeback win over the Bears to open the season was indicative of more success to come.
How wrong we were.
Week 3 is a minefield of injuries and tricky picks. Bengals vs. Vikings is one that’s very difficult to parse due to injuries to both Joe Burrow and J.J. McCarthy, making this the QB duel between Jake Browning and Carson Wentz we all expected. Meanwhile in an NFC West divisional matchup we have the battle of the 2-0 teams with the Cardinals and 49ers locking horns. There’s no doubt San Francisco is the better team on paper, but injuries to George Kittle and Brock Purdy’s status being up in the air has this game on shaky ground.
Kevin Durant has a FORTUNE in Bitcoin … but he lost the password
There’s no shame in losing a password. I’ve done it, you’ve done it — it’s just a factor of having dozens of different accounts on various services and being told you shouldn’t re-use the same password on different sites. That said, the worst this gets for most of us is missing out on a Jimmy John’s coupon locked behind the vault of a Yahoo Mail account you haven’s used in a decade. For Kevin Durant there’s an untold fortune locked behind a door he can’t open.
Durant was a guest at the Boardroom conference this week alongside his longtime business manager and agent Rick Kleiman, where we got one of the most hilarious anecdotes of the year.
Kevin Durant seems to have made a lot of money on Bitcoin. Except he hasn’t cashed out because he lost the password for his Coinbase account. And it’s been years since he’s known what it is.(This is from him on stage with Rick Kleiman at the Boardroom conference this week)
The timeline goes a little something like this: Kleiman was at a birthday party for Kevin Durant circa 2016 and everyone was talking about Bitcoin. The next morning the pair invested money together to buy Bitcoin through Coinbase. Then they both forgot about it, lost the account info, and have been locked out for almost a decade now.
Easily the best part of this is Durant confidently saying “it’s in the cloud,” which I’m absolutely 100 percent sure he doesn’t know what that means and it’s also inaccurate.
Most crypto sites have extreme security on accounts because of the prevalence for theft and fraud, so it’s not as simple as clicking the “forgot password” button. Now the real question becomes: How much money is in this account?
One would have to assume that if a ton of money was invested, upwards of $1M, then the duo would have had safeguards in place. We’ll operate under the assumption that Durant invested $100,000 in Bitcoin at the time, which is a ton for most of us — but a small risk for someone like Durant.
Durant’s birthday is September 29 — so let’s assume they bought the $100,000 of Bitcoin on September 30, 2016. It closed the day at $609.73. This means that Durant could have bought 164 coins with the money. Now, I think if you’re tossing that kind of money around you want a nice, clean, round number. I think Durant actually bought 200 Bitcoin even at a cost of $121,946.
Fast-forward to today: 200 Bitcoin is now worth $23,579,632.
There is literally millions and millions of dollars in Bitcoin in an account that Durant can’t access. What a time to be alive.
Trae Young Defends Himself Over Leadership, Playoff Success
Trae Young responded to Patrick Beverley’s podcast criticism Thursday, defending his leadership while questioning Beverley’s own playoff achievements despite playing alongside elite teammates throughout his career.
The exchange began when Beverley criticized Young’s playoff resume and leadership qualities during a Wednesday podcast appearance. Beverley stated Young “had not won enough to even speak to me” and cited anonymous sources questioning Young’s teammate relationships.
Young countered by highlighting that both players reached one conference finals despite Beverley’s longer playoff history. He suggested Beverley’s comments were motivated by attention-seeking rather than genuine basketball analysis.
“You don’t know what it’s like to be in my position, you don’t know what it’s like to put my shoes on,” Young said during his response. “I promise you – there’s not a selfish bone in my body.”
Kevin Durant intervened Wednesday, calling Beverley’s comments “delusional” on social media. The Hawks organization also posted highlight clips of Young scoring against Beverley throughout their careers.
Beverley had claimed during his podcast that former Atlanta players expressed reluctance about playing alongside Young. He questioned Young’s leadership despite the guard’s statistical accomplishments.
“I’ve talked to people who played in Atlanta. They don’t wanna play there. Why? They don’t think he’s a good leader. They don’t think he’s a good teammate,” Beverley said.
The feud comes as Young faces a crucial contract year with Atlanta. Young can become an unrestricted free agent after this season, currently earning $46 million with a $48.9 million player option for 2026-27.
Quin Snyder praised Young for his development as a leader throughout last season.
Alanna Smith, Aja Wilson Named WNBA Co-Defensive Players Of The Year
Minnesota Lynx forward Alanna Smith and Las Vegas Aces center Aja Wilson have been named the 2025 Kia WNBA Co-Defensive Players of the Year, marking the first time in league history the award has been shared.
Smith and Wilson each received 29 votes from a national panel of 72 sportswriters and broadcasters, the WNBA announced today. Seattle Storm guard Gabby Williams finished second with nine votes, followed by Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas with three votes and Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier with two votes.
This represents Smith’s first Defensive Player of the Year award and Wilson’s third, having previously won in 2022 and 2023.
Smith started all 42 games for Minnesota in her seventh WNBA season, averaging 26.6 minutes per game. The 2024 All-Defensive Second Team selection helped lead the Lynx to the No. 1 seed in the WNBA Playoffs.
Minnesota posted a league-best 97.5 defensive rating with Smith anchoring their defense. She finished second overall in combined steals and blocks with 135, ranked third in blocks per game at 1.9 and total blocks with 80, while adding 55 steals.
Smith, drafted eighth overall in 2019, has evolved into a defensive cornerstone for the Lynx. The team advanced to the semifinals following a 2-0 first-round victory against the Golden State Valkyries.
Wilson started all 40 games for Las Vegas while averaging 31.2 minutes per game in her eighth season. The three-time All-Defensive First Team honoree helped the Aces secure the No. 2 seed following a 16-game win streak to close the regular season.
Wilson led the WNBA in blocks per game at 2.3, total rebounds with 407, defensive rebounds with 316, and combined steals and blocks with 156. She also ranked second in total blocks with 92 and rebounds per game at 10.2.
The dominant two-way player also led the league offensively in 2025, recording 937 total points, 23.4 points per game, 332 field goals made, and 248 free throws made.
