Stuff Dan Devine Wrote/Did

2023 NBA All-Star Game: James Harden, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Edwards headline list of deserving snubs

Which players need to be dealt before the NBA trade deadline? You can set your watch to it: Every year, a number of excellent NBA players with legitimate cases for making the All-Star Game end up spending that mid-February weekend at home. (Or, more…

Who deserves the honor of being a 2023 All-Star Game reserve?

The NBA announced the 10 players who’d been voted in as starters for the 2023 All-Star Game last Thursday. Six of the players on my official media ballot made the final cut: LeBron James, Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic in the West, and Kevin Durant,…

Tough calls, no-brainers and the tall task of selecting 2023 NBA All-Star starters

For the fourth straight year, the decision-makers in the league office offered me a chance to be one of the media members who votes on which players should start in the NBA All-Star Game. (Reminder: Fan voting makes up 50% of the final result, with…

Now finally whole, the Nuggets are looking like a true NBA powerhouse

Before the season, I thought Denver would be one of the most interesting teams in the NBA, because after more than 18 months of injuries, false starts and frustrations — with, in fairness, a couple of MVP trophies mixed in — we’d get to see the…

First-time NBA All-Stars: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lauri Markkanen among crowded field of deserving candidates

Fan voting for the 2023 NBA All-Star Game continues apace, with a slew of established superstars poised to add another All-Star appearance to their lengthy and glittering résumés. One of the coolest parts of the annual midseason exhibition, though,…

NBA Second-Quarter Awards: Nets emerge as legit title threats and Nikola Jokic is still a wrecker of worlds

Every NBA team except for the Sacramento Kings has now played at least 40 games. As of Tuesday night, according to NBA.com’s John Schuhmann, more than 615 of the 1,230 contests on the regular season slate are officially in the books. That means we’ve…

The Van Gundy Leg Fight with Dan Devine First Ballot: The Hall of Fame Podcast

From defensive masterminds to offensive wizards, the NBA is full of legendary coaches. But how often do we see these coaches put their body on the line? After a heated 1997 Eastern Conference Semifinals, the New York Knicks and Miami Heat met again…

Clippers need to start seeing prime Kawhi Leonard soon, or their best-laid plans could crumble

Two months ago, Tyronn Lue assured us that the sky wasn’t falling on his Los Angeles Clippers — a team tipped as a championship contender (and maybe even the favorite) before the season began, but that had muddled through injuries and offensive…

The Nets are finally playing like the team everyone expected, but is it sustainable?

“They take us for granted,” Kevin Durant recently told Yahoo Sports’ Vincent Goodwill, referring to what seemed like precious little attention being paid to his Nets starting to play their best ball of the season. “Me and [Kyrie Irving] especially.…

The five most interesting players of the Christmas Day slate

The NBA’s Christmas Day showcase tends to serve as a reintroduction to the league for viewers who’ve been focused more on other stuff through the first two months of the season: college football, the NFL, the fate of American democracy and the…

The Knicks are playing good basketball again. So, how are they doing it?

More than anything else, James Dolan and Leon Rose hired Tom Thibodeau to try to make the Knicks feel like the Knicks again. After a couple of mostly aimless decades flitting from one would-be savior and monorail sales pitch to the next, New York’s…

It's time to add the New Orleans Pelicans to the list of legitimate title contenders

Heading into the season, two questions hung over the Pelicans like Original Nightmare Pierre preparing to dive-bomb upon you and feast on your soul. One: Would a New Orleans roster that developed a playoff-caliber identity in Zion Williamson’s…

Jaren Jackson Jr.’s mastery of paint has made Memphis’ defense a work of art

That the Grizzlies enter Friday tied for fifth in points allowed per possession isn’t that shocking. After all, Memphis finished with the NBA’s No. 7 defense two seasons ago, when head coach Taylor Jenkins’ squad topped .500 and made the playoffs for…

The most interesting thing about each of the NBA's five worst teams

Just past the quarter-mark of the 2022-23 NBA season, we’re still working out which teams merit consideration as top-shelf, true-blue championship contenders. (The Celtics, Bucks and Suns: sure. Everybody else? Varying levels of TBD, though we have…

After monster 51-point performance, Devin Booker emphatically inserts himself into MVP race

On Monday night, Sam Amick of The Athletic asked Devin Booker about the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award — about whether the thought of being recognized as the league’s top player motivated Booker, and about where the 26-year-old saw himself in the…

How Anthony Davis has looked to the past in an attempt to salvage the Lakers' future

When Anthony Davis helped propel the Lakers to the 2020 NBA championship, he did it by unleashing a career-best brand of all-court dominance: as an interior finisher, a possession-destroying defender … and a knockdown jump shooter. On top of shooting…

NBA First-Quarter Awards: Celtics, Luka Doncic make statements in early part of season

After a 12-game Wednesday slate, the NBA will take Thanksgiving off. When it puts the turkey and stuffing away to get back to work this weekend, though, most of the league’s 30 teams either will have played or will be approaching their 20th game —…

Let’s talk about these Portland Trail Blazers

In an NBA season that packs 82 games into six months, it’s always wise to take early results with a grain of salt — to react to what you’re seeing, but not overreact to what it all might mean in the grand scheme of things. With one month down,…

The Kings are scoring a ton of points. So how are they doing it?

The Sacramento Kings made two discrete decisions during the offseason aimed at ending what has become the longest postseason drought the NBA has ever seen. First, general manager Monte McNair plucked Mike Brown off the Warriors’ bench, entrusting the…

Nets are already showing improvement under Jacque Vaughn, but is it sustainable?

NEW YORK — Edmond Sumner sprinted to the corner in transition, stuck his hand in the air, and called for the ball. Kevin Durant, keenly aware that all 10 eyes on the defense were fixated on him as he crossed the timeline, spotted Sumner and slung a…