It feels like just yesterday, I was looking at the Raptors' rough start to the 2025-26 season, where head coach Darko Rajakovic and his staff were undoubtedly on the hot seat if Toronto couldn't turn things around ASAP. Now here we are near the end of a near unblemished November for the Raptors, where they've compiled an 8-1 record to date. It's a complete 180-degree flip on those discussions, even if their level of competition has been considered "easy" in a sense.
That's when UConn announced that starting senior center Tarris Reed Jr. was out with a sprained ankle. Reed, one of the nation's best big men who is averaging 20.0 points and 9.3 rebounds, is considered to be game-to-game, according to the team. Without Reed, UConn struggled mightily to slow down Arizona, with the Wildcats putting forth one of the most dominant paint displays against the Huskies under Dan Hurley en route to a 71-67 road win.
My relationship with Buzz Williams and the staff was great. Coach Buzz is a realist. Sometimes he is going to be raw. He is going to push you hard, break you down and build you up. He has developed players like Jimmy Butler and Jae Crowder.
Even though it's not too often that two rivals like the Knicks and Heat do business with each other, the former could be a soft landing spot for Yabusele. The Heat needs a big man and will likely attempt to add one after December 15. Who knows if the Heat would look to New York, but he's a player who does become trade-eligible on December 15, and one who does have characteristics of being a culture-type player.
"We are extremely honored to have been part of this organization for the last 20 seasons," Joey and Jesse Buss told ESPN in a statement. "Thank you to Laker Nation for embracing our family every step of the way. We wish things could be different with the way our time ended with the team. At times like this, we wish we could ask our Dad what he would think about it all."
And then obviously the minutes played. Egor, I believe, leads the rookies right now in minutes. And Noah, as one of the younger guys, third year in the league, just turned 21. He's earned those minutes. He's doing great things, and we believe and know they can do even better.
In his second game back inside Kaseya Center after getting traded last February, Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler will miss Wednesday's game, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania first reported hours before Wednesday's contest. Warriors star Stephen Curry was initially ruled out after tweaking his ankle multiple times in their 121-113 loss to the Orlando Magic on Tuesday. Draymond Green, who was also previously listed as questionable, will be OUT.
Despite laboring on an injured right ankle, Steph Curry still found a way to score 34 points and rise another spot on the NBA's all-time scoring list during Tuesday's game in Orlando. The Warriors guard (25,744 points) moved past Vince Carter (25,728) to climb to No. 22 on the scoring ladder. Surpassing Carter was significant for Curry for a very personal reason. His father, Dell Curry, played with Carter for three seasons in Toronto at the end of his career.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have been fined $100,000 by the NBA for violating the league's player participation policy for sitting both Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley for the team's Nov. 12 game on the road against the Miami Heat. Both players were classified as star players by the league's policy, which was adopted prior to the 2023-24 season to curtail load management and promote participation in the NBA's regular season.
" Patrick Beverley has no criminal record," the statement said. "He cares deeply about his little sister - a young lady, a minor. Given that, when he unexpectedly found her alone in the home with an 18-year-old man in the middle of the night, he was understandably concerned, as any brother would be about his sister. However, we don't believe what followed happened the way it's been described and we look forward to the opportunity to address that in court."
"It felt great," said George, who shot 2-for-9 from the field. "It felt great to finally play basketball again. Been like eight months since I played, so it was a long journey. A lot of ups and downs, a lot of hiccups ... but felt good to finally get out there and I felt good. "Rusty, but I felt good."
