𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

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It’s kind of unbelievable that both the men’s and women’s USA hockey teams beat Canada in Olympic gold medal overtime games. It’s the first time since 1980 that the men’s team won the gold in the Olympics! Was this revenge for Team Canada beating Team USA’s C squad in the 2023 FIBA World Cup bronze medal game? Only two groups of people truly know the answer to that. 🥇🥇

Getting Stern?

Are we seeing a more forceful Silver?

Trust me: I’m getting sick of the tanking talk too. I’ve talked about it a lot on the radio and in this space. One of the problems is that this is a main topic in the NBA right now, when it should be the stretch run of play. It’s something the league must address with rule changes.

It sounds like Adam Silver is committed to doing just that. I mean, really committed to this. On Thursday’s video conference call with league GMs, the NBA commissioner discussed potential tanking fixes. At one point, Nets general manager Sean Marks assumed the changes would be implemented this season and was concerned it would be unfair to teams currently tanking. Like the Nets. The response from Silver was surprisingly harsh, as our Joe Vardon and Sam Amick reported.

From the story:

“Have you guys given any thought to that?” Marks asked (NBA executive vice president Evan) Wasch, according to notes of the call provided to The Athletic by three executives on the call.

Wasch gently reminded Marks that the potential changes would be implemented next season so teams would have some time to change strategies, said those three executives on the call granted anonymity by The Athletic to share sensitive discussions.

Then Wasch asked Silver if he wanted to weigh in.

“I would just say, Sean,” Silver said, “you could assume for next season your only incentive will be to win games.”

Silver is channeling his inner-David Stern! Well … in his own way. Stern would have thrown in quite a few pieces of profanity at Marks. Aside from the ousting of Donald Sterling in 2014, Silver has often come across as far different from the longtime former commissioner he succeeded in 2014. Silver seems like it’s important for him to maintain happy, fun relationships with both ownerships and the players’ union. That’s not a bad quality to have. But some punishments have seemed soft in his tenure.

Sometimes, you need to get a little nasty and forceful. We saw him start to get that way with trying to make the All-Star Game more competitive. Now we’re seeing him attack the tanking culture in the NBA. How severe will the changes be? That depends on how fed up he decides to be in reshaping the product the league puts on the floor.

The last 24

🎤 Rap and roundball. The NBA and hip-hop have been intertwined for decades. Shakeia Taylor and Jason Jones look at the history of how the two have inspired culture and each other.

☘️ Comeback or no? A lot of people expect Jayson Tatum to return this season. “Nothing is set in stone.”

🚀 Same old thing. Why did the Rockets blow a double-digit lead to New York? “We don’t play with that dominant trait.”

🐺 Hands to yourself. Rudy Gobert has a flagrant foul issue. He was suspended last night and will have to sit for two games for every flagrant foul from now on.

🏀 Big impact. Harvey Mason Jr. played alongside Steve Kerr in college. Kerr changed his life.

Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.

NBA stock report

Best Spurs team in a decade?

Every Monday, we walk right into the heart of NBA trends. We stand around in the middle of the floor, look up at the big screens with lots of numbers in green or red fonts and then assess whether teams are headed up or down. Let’s dive into the NBA Stock Market:

📈 Spurs (40-16). The Spurs are the hottest team in the NBA, winning eight straight games. They’re within three games of the Thunder for the top spot in the West. Their offense has been nearly as suffocating as their defense. This is the second eight-game winning streak of the season for Mitch Johnson’s Spurs, who will try to extend it tonight in Detroit. We haven’t seen a double-digit winning streak from San Antonio since Gregg Popovich’s 2015-16 season when it won 13 in a row. Also, Victor Wembanyama did this over the weekend:

📉 Bulls (24-34). In case you were wondering whether the Bulls are interested in tanking toward some lottery help, they’ve now lost nine straight. Three of those nine losses have been by single digits, but Chicago is getting annihilated most nights. Its average margin of defeat during this streak is 16.5 points. Its defense has been the third-worst in the NBA over the last couple of weeks, and its offense has been the second-worst.

📈 Cavaliers (36-22). The Cavs have won 12 of their last 14, and they’re 5-1 since acquiring James Harden before the trade deadline. Cleveland said goodbye to De’Andre Hunter and Darius Garland in this good stretch of basketball. And Evan Mobley has only played in six of these 14 games. Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen and Jalen Tyson have been tremendous, and Harden has shot the lights out in his brief time as a Cav.

📉 Mavericks (20-36). The Mavs beat the Pacers yesterday to snap a nine-game losing streak, but things have still been pretty bleak outside of Cooper Flagg. And even he’s injured with a mid-foot sprain, so this could get a lot uglier for Dallas. Technically, this is exactly where the Mavs want to head. Plummet toward the bottom of the standings so you can improve your chances of landing high in the draft lottery. They’re one of many teams tanking, so the traffic jam in that free-fall will be intense. But this is their last year they control their first-round draft pick until 2031. 

📈 Pistons (42-13). Detroit has won five straight, by a total of 93 points. Of that margin, 53 come from two wins over the Knicks. The Pistons, who lead the East by 5 1/2 games, have lost back-to-back games only twice this season. It happened right around Thanksgiving with losses to Boston and Orlando. Then it happened again right after Christmas with losses to Utah and the Clippers. So I guess major U.S. holidays are the time to expect it?

📉 Kings (12-46). They’ve lost 16 straight, a franchise record.The Kings have had some horrendous teams and seasons in their history, and yet they’ve never been this bad for so many games. The hope is that their 14 percent chance of winning the lottery will come through. The last time Sacramento had the No. 1 pick was when they selected Pervis Ellison in 1989. Ruh roh.

(Check out the full NBA standings here, and read the extended version of the NBA Stock Report every Monday in my NBA Rewind.)

Poisoned Ivey?

What’s going on with former No. 5 pick?

In a bit of a surprise at the trade deadline, the Pistons gave up on Jaden Ivey by sending him to a division rival — the Bulls. All Detroit received back in the deal was Kevin Huerter and a top-19 protected pick swap with Minnesota in 2026 (the Wolves are currently slotted at 21st). That’s not a big haul for a guy who averaged 16.1 points and 4.4 assists in his first 181 games.

Ivey was deemed expendable because he’s a restricted free agent this summer and hasn’t been close to the same player we saw in his first 2 1/2 seasons. His return from a broken left leg last season and preseason right knee surgery wasn’t what the Pistons were hoping to see. They decided to improve their outside shooting and not worry about Ivey’s future. The Bulls were hoping to grab a guard they could get excited about.

However, Ivey has only played in four of the seven games, and he had some very concerning comments about his ability after being kept out of last Thursday’s game against the Raptors.

“I don’t think it’s something that is gonna limit me or keep me from doing my job, ’cause I’m still able to go and play basketball,” Ivey said.

He then left a message for those holding their breath for the old Jaden Ivey, the high-flying blur of a guard whom the Detroit Pistons took with the fifth pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.

“I’m sure people can call it out — I’m not the same player I used to be,” he said. “(The knee soreness is) why. I’m not the J.I. I used to be. The old J.I. is dead. I’m alive in Christ no matter what the basketball setting is.”

Yikes! That’s not encouraging for the future of Ivey and his place, not only with the Bulls but also the NBA in general. His knee apparently doesn’t give him much hope for getting better.

Ivey was an exciting draft prospect in 2022. The former Purdue All-American went fifth in a pretty top-heavy draft class (Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren and Jabari Smith Jr.). Ivey fell to the Pistons and was paired in the backcourt with Cade Cunningham. Maybe Ivey would be better served in a Sixth Man type of role, but he had a high ceiling as a scorer.

In Ivey’s first two seasons, he was a solid scorer but inefficient. He was averaging 17.6 points and four assists while shooting 41 percent from 3 last season before he broke his leg on New Year’s Day. His quickness has diminished, and he averaged just 8.2 points in 33 games for the Pistons this season before the trade. Hopefully, the Bulls can get him right and back on track. And you just hope Ivey is being a little mopey as a 24-year-old dealing with injuries.