NBA

Tyronn Lue Says 1 Move ‘Crushed’ LeBron James During Cavs Tenure

Cleveland Cavaliers v Boston Celtics
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There was a time when LeBron James and Kyrie Irving were the best duo in the NBA, but it didn’t last forever.

Now, details are emerging about how James reacted when Irving was sent to the Boston Celtics after the 2016-17 season.

Former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Ty Lue said that James had an immediate reaction when he heard the news about Irving’s departure.

“Bron was doing an autograph signing with jerseys for his foundation… he dropped the marker and just lays back in his chair for about 10 minutes, doesn’t say a word, like pissed off,” Lue said.

Just one season before, James and Irving were a crucial part of the Cavs team that won an NBA title.

But a year later, things were looking very different, and there were plenty of rumors about Irving heading to another team.

Most people weren’t shocked when Irving was sent packing to the Boston Celtics.

Losing Irving hurt, but having him go to Boston was even worse for James because he regularly battled against that team and had built a rivalry against the Celtics.

James knew the weight on his shoulders was going to grow even heavier without Irving by his side.

Sure enough, guiding the Cavaliers became more difficult, and he would only spend one more year with the team.

All Cavaliers fans are happy about this period in the team’s history, but most agree that the moment Irving left for the Celtics was the beginning of the end.

With Irving heading to Boston, the challenges facing James became larger, and the chances of another championship slipped away.

He was clearly upset about losing Irving, and so were all Cavaliers fans.

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Tyronn Lue Opens Up About Cavs’ Missed Opportunity

Cleveland Cavaliers v Los Angeles Clippers
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There was a time when the Cleveland Cavaliers were the best team in the entire NBA.

In fact, they claimed one of the most amazing titles of all time when they took down the Golden State Warriors after being behind 3-1 in the championship series.

However, former Cavs coach Tyronn Lue believes the team could have done it again and again if LeBron James and Kyrie Irving hadn’t left the team.

“Yes, sir [LeBron and Kyrie would’ve won another championship together]. I also think if KD doesn’t go to Golden State, I think we win [3 in a row] and Kyrie stays. You can’t leave after that. We had a chance to win two or three,” Lue said.

The Cavaliers were on top of the world around 2014-15.

They went to the Finals four straight times, and one once during that legendary series against the Warriors.

The combination of James and Irving was just too good at times, and other teams didn’t seem to have a good enough response to them.

It took a super team like the one the Warriors built to stop the Cavaliers, and Lue thinks they could have done even more.

Unfortunately, Irving and then James left the team, and that bright era faded quickly.

The great news for Cavaliers fans is that good times are back, and the team is once again incredibly competitive and ended last year with the best regular-season record in the East.

There remains a lot of speculation about what could have happened if James and Irving had never left the team.

How many more championships would they have taken home?

Lue truly believes that at least two other titles would be theirs.

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Tyrese Haliburton Gets Honest About Relationship With Joel Embiid

San Antonio Spurs v Philadelphia 76ers
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Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers has made a lot of friends during his years in the NBA.

One of his closest friendships happens to also be one of the most surprising.

Haliburton recently revealed that he has built a strong connection with Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, who is infamous for his quiet and distant personality.

“Not many guys are close with Joel Embiid. I think I’m one of the few. He even FaceTimed me recently — and I told him, ‘you don’t ever call anybody,’ so I knew it was him genuinely checking in on me,” Haliburton said.

Embiid is one of the greatest players in the league, but also one of the most secluded.

He has made no secret of the fact that he keeps to himself, choosing to spend time with his family and close friends instead of other people in the NBA.

He focuses on his private personal life, getting better at basketball, and that’s about it.

But Haliburton and Embiid have struck a special bond that grew during their time together on Team USA at the Paris Olympics.

Since then, they have only become closer as they have both battled their own set of problems.

Both players have had to push back against fans who expect more from them, and they have also had to fight injuries that have derailed them.

Haliburton said Embiid was checking on him and making sure he was okay during his long and frustrating road to recovery following an Achilles injury.

This shows just how close they have become and how real their friendship is.

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Brandin Podziemski Speaks Out About Jonathan Kuminga’s Situation

Golden State Warriors v Los Angeles Lakers
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The dramatic Jonathan Kuminga saga continues with the Golden State Warriors, and no one is sure if an end is in sight.

Kuminga might stay with the Warriors with either a short or long-term contract or could be part of a sign-and-trade deal that has him moving to a new team.

Golden State teammate Brandin Podziemski recently spoke on Willard & Dibs about the future of Kuminga.

No matter what happens, Podziemski will always care for Kuminga and just wants him to succeed.

“Obviously, everybody on our team knows it’s the media’s job to try to nitpick and find things to write and talk about and separate teammates so they have a story to write. Like, we all know that’s how it works; especially the guys who have been around it for 10 to 15 years, they know how it works,” Podziemski said. “Everybody in the locker room knows no matter how that situation’s resolved, it doesn’t change our viewpoint of JK as a person [and] as a player. Obviously, we all want him to be in Golden State; that’s the whole point. But it doesn’t change anything.”

This situation has been brewing for a long time, but a resolution could be right around the corner.

Most reports state that Kuminga will probably choose a low qualifying offer that keeps him with Golden State, but it won’t be for long.

In all likelihood, he will be on the move to a new team by the trade deadline.

Kuminga reportedly doesn’t want to be with the Warriors anymore and hopes to play for a team that gives him more responsibilities and minutes on the court, but he only has so many options right now.

Like all other Golden State players, Podziemski has grown close with Kuminga.

Their friendship will continue, even if they no longer play on the same team.

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Tyronn Lue Turns Heads With Surprising Michael Jordan Claim

Michael Jordan #23
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Michael Jordan is perhaps the best NBA player of all time and was dominant in ways that challenged every team’s defensive schemes.

He ruled the league in the 1980s and 90s, and his legacy lives on to this day.

But how well would he do if he were competing in this era’s NBA?

Speaking with Shannon Sharpe, Los Angeles Clippers head coach Ty Lue made a bold claim: Jordan would be dropping 45 points a night if he were playing in 2025.

“Today? 45,” Lue said confidently. “You can’t touch nobody. It’s a foul. He averaged 37 one year. Yeah, add eight to that. There wouldn’t be a year he wouldn’t average 45. The physicality’s pretty much gone. Anything, you’re going to the free throw line, and just how smart he was. Especially nowadays, you can take advantage of these guys just as far as IQ alone.”

Jordan’s career average was 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists.

As mentioned by Lue and Sharpe, there was a time when he was producing 37.1 points per game toward the beginning of his career.

He had multiple seasons when he was putting up more than 30 a night, but could he really get to 45 during every game?

Lue noted that the league is quick to call fouls these days.

Jordan was a master of maneuvering his body and forcing refs to blow a whistle, and he would have even more success with that approach now.

He didn’t just play the game well; he played his opponents.

This is the sort of conversation that will never have a definitive answer, but that doesn’t mean people will stop talking about what-ifs.

NBA fans, players, and coaches love to think about hypothetical scenarios related to Jordan and what he could do in this day and age.

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Tyrese Haliburton Gets Honest About His Injury In NBA Finals

2025 NBA Finals - Game Six
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Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers recently entered an exclusive and painful club: NBA players who have suffered a serious Achilles injury.

Months after the Game 7 injury that sidelined him, Haliburton is talking about how it all went down and how he got support from Kevin Durant.

“I called KD after I got my MRI in Game 5. I said, ‘Bro, do you regret playing in the game you tore it?’ He said, ‘No, not at all.’ I was going to switch anyway, so I’m glad you said that. Makes me feel a little bit better. I don’t regret it,” Haliburton said.

Haliburton knew that he was running a risk keeping himself in the championship series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but he was willing to stay in the game in order to help his team win.

Sadly, the Pacers lost the series, and they also lost Haliburton.

Now he will be out of commission for months and will likely miss all of 2025-26.

The good news is that he will get support from others who have been in this situation before, such as Durant.

And the additional good news is that Durant was able to fully recover from the injury and remain one of the best players in the NBA.

Haliburton is young and driven and is looking to bounce back and be at 100 percent again.

There will be many challenges ahead for him, but Durant and his recovery will give him reason to believe in himself and his ability to come back stronger than ever.

He may have pushed himself too hard and it cost him, but Haliburton doesn’t regret a thing.

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Tyrese Haliburton Offers Timeline On His NBA Return

2025 NBA Finals - Game Three
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The Indiana Pacers are preparing for a long period without Tyrese Haliburton.

Haliburton is hard at work recovering from his Achilles injury and wants to be back on the court as quickly as possible, but he knows that isn’t possible.

In fact, he recently revealed that it’ll be more than a year before he’s playing for the Pacers again.

“I think it’ll be 15 months until I play my next game,” Haliburton said.

That means that the Pacers will be without Haliburton for the entire 2025-26 season.

That’s not surprising, and most people expected this, but it still stings to hear it come directly from Haliburton himself.

This sort of injury is devastating, and it has ruined some NBA players in the past, prohibiting them from ever performing at 100 percent again.

Haliburton doesn’t want to be one of them, and he is intent on coming back and playing just like he used to.

However, that means he cannot rush through this process and needs to handle it seriously and carefully.

If he has to take a year off, that is exactly what he should do.

Pacers fans will miss him, but they are glad he is doing the right thing.

But they are undoubtedly very worried about what the new season will be like without him.

After all, they haven’t just lost Haliburton because Myles Turner also left for the Milwaukee Bucks.

This will be a season of change for the Pacers, and it’ll require some intense and perhaps uncomfortable adjustments.

Haliburton has faced reality and knows he will be gone for a long time.

He has accepted that this is a long road to recovery, and now Pacers fans will have to do the same.

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Jonathan Kuminga Draws Interesting NBA Comparison

Houston Rockets v Golden State Warriors
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For months, everyone has been wondering what will happen between the Golden State Warriors and Jonathan Kuminga.

Kuminga wants to leave the team, and the front office isn’t particularly interested in keeping him.

And yet, he hasn’t found a new team, and the Warriors have yet to offer him a deal that makes everyone happy.

Kuminga wants to put an end to this situation and start a brand new chapter with a different team because this isn’t working for him.

Speaking to NBC Sports, an anonymous NBA executive compared Kuminga to Paul George during his time with the Indiana Pacers.

“One guy that was put in a similar situation is Paul George when he got to Indiana. When he got there, they were right on the cusp. Danny Granger was playing in front of him, and Lance Stephenson was there. And eventually, he was able to play with that David West group; they were competing for championships,” per an anonymous NBA executive.

When George came to the Pacers, it looked like he didn’t fit with the rotation, at least not right away.

Over time, the roster in Indiana worked well with George, and they became a true threat.

Many people have pointed out that Kuminga just doesn’t work in this iteration of the Warriors.

There is simply no way that head coach Steve Kerr will put him on the court alongside Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler.

The Butler trade from last season made things harder for Kuminga and made him even less important for this team.

If he wants to turn a corner like George did years ago, he may need to move on to another team.

But right now, it looks like he is stuck with Golden State.

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Former Player Compares Carmelo Anthony To Lakers Legend

Philadelphia 76ers v Los Angeles Lakers
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Carmelo Anthony’s storied NBA career earned him 10 All-Star appearances and a place on the 75th Anniversary Team as well as the Hall of Fame.

It also brought him plenty of amazing comparisons.

Raymond Felton talked with SiriusXM NBA Radio about Anthony and compared him to Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.

“I would put him on the levels with someone like Kobe Bryant. I never played with Kobe, but just the level of IQ of knowing how to score, knowing how to play against the defense. I think Kobe and Melo are definitely up there as two of the best that I played against. There’s a lot of guys I could throw out there that are great scorers, but the IQ of just knowing how to score against different defenders—Melo’s one of the best, if not the best,” Felton said.

Basketball IQ is one of the most important things that an NBA star can possess.

With it, they are able to work around just about anyone and find ways to score, no matter how oppressive the defense is.

During his career, Anthony was one of the most solid, reliable, and quietly confident stars in the league.

Like Bryant, he had high intelligence on the court and scored on all kinds of defenders.

Anthony’s career average was 22.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.7 assists.

Those numbers don’t tell the whole story of his legacy, which lives on to this day.

Anthony may not have become a champion, but he is respected by everyone he played against and is rightfully being compared to some of the best players to ever take to the court.

Felton knows how important basketball IQ is, which makes this compliment even more important.

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Bucks Could Make Big Trade Before Training Camp

Milwaukee Bucks v Sacramento Kings
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The clock is ticking for the Milwaukee Bucks, and it feels like a lot is riding on the 2025-26 season.

If the team flounders or falls short, Giannis Antetokounmpo could be gone.

Therefore, the team’s front office is hard at work putting together a squad that can help him win as much as possible.

According to Sam Amico, the Bucks may make another move before the new season starts.

They could attempt to trade for Anfernee Simons, currently of the Boston Celtics, before training camp.

Simons has only been a member of the Portland Trail Blazers, where he has averaged 15.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.3 assists over seven seasons.

He was recently sent to the Celtics, but that was done as part of a cash-saving move by Boston, who were shedding expensive salaries.

Most people have assumed that Simons would move on, and the Bucks could be a good place for him.

However, he is the sort of young player who wants to develop and receive more responsibilities.

But the Bucks might not be able to make that happen because this season is make-or-break.

They don’t have any room for errors, and cannot risk giving minutes to Simons if he won’t be consistent, healthy, and able to contribute every single night.

This rumor is a clear reminder that the Bucks are open to making more adjustments before the season starts.

Whether it be Simons or someone else, they are still intent on doing everything in their power to give Antetokounmpo the best position to storm through the East in 2025-26.

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