Crossover World

  Jamal Murray tore his ACL on April 12, 2021. Leading up to that night, he'd been playing at an All-NBA level for two months: In a 25-game stretch, Murray averaged 24.1 points on .509/.459/.935 shooting splits, 4.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists. He was even more efficient than he was in the bubble playoffs, and his defense had improved, too. Murray only got to play with Aaron Gordon, the Denver Nuggets' big trade-deadline addition, for five games. They won them all except the one in which Murray got injured. In 110 minutes, their new starting five scored slightly more efficiently than any iteration of the Kevin Durant-era death lineup in Golden State and defended like a top-five team. Two Nikola Jokic MVP awards later, Murray is back. So is Michael Porter Jr., who signed a five-year extension about a year ago and needed back surgery nine games into the 2020-21 season. The Nuggets remember how easily everything slid into place with Gordon in the mix. Newcomer Kentavious Caldwell-Pop...

  It's not a matter of if LeBron James passes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the No. 1 spot on the NBA's all-time scoring list, it's when. James sits just 1,326 points away from passing the Hall of Famer and Los Angeles Lakers legend, a milestone that should happen at some point this season given James is still performing at peak levels and is coming off a year in which he averaged over 30 points a night. If he averages around the same amount of points as he did a season ago for the Lakers, James could break the record somewhere in the middle of the season, assuming he stays healthy. It's a highly anticipated moment heading into the season, but in regards to LeBron's thoughts about and his relationship with Abdul-Jabbar, he didn't have much to say on the matter. Following the Lakers first preseason game Monday night, a reporter asked James what his thoughts were on the Lakers legend and if the two had any relationship, to which LeBron gave a very short answer. "No...

  Klay Thompson may have returned healthy to the Golden State Warriors last season, but the scars from his two missed seasons are still quite visible. The Warriors played their first of two preseason games against the Washington Wizards on Friday and will play another on Sunday, but Warriors coach Steve Kerr said that Thompson will not be playing at all during the trip to Japan. "Just feel more comfortable giving him a little more of a ramp up," Kerr said before Friday's victory over Washington. "He's just not quite ready to play at this point just based on where, you know, we're so early in camp. We just want to be safe and make sure he gets a good ramp-up before he plays in games." Typically, so little time to ramp up wouldn't be a problem for a veteran in a preseason context. The games tend to be so low-impact and demand so few minutes out of a team's best players that they can safely jog through them. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green played 1...

  NEW YORK -- Brooklyn Nets coach Steve Nash and superstar Kevin Durant are "fine," Nash said Tuesday. After the Nets opened training camp, Nash reiterated their message from media day: They've moved past Durant's unfulfilled trade request, and the drama that came with it. Even the it's either me or the coach and team president part.  "Knowing Kevin as long as I have, it didn't really bother me the way maybe everyone would think," Nash said. "That's a part of being competitors. I wasn't overly surprised and I wasn't even overly concerned. It was something that I thought we would address in time, and we did. And here we are and we're looking forward. It's something else that we can grow from as well." Nash said that, when he saw the news that Durant had issued an ultimatum to team owner Joe Tsai, "I never thought that was 100 percent. It's not black and white like that. There's a lot of factors, a lot of thin...

  MILWAUKEE -- When CBS Sports' annual NBA Top 100 list was released earlier this month, Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo stood alone at No. 1. Such lists are more for the fans and media rather than the players, but at Milwaukee's media day on Sunday, Giannis weighed in with his own thoughts.  To little surprise, he downplayed his own standing and declared Steph Curry the best player in the world after leading the Golden State Warriors to the title last season.  "Do I believe that I'm one of the best players in the league in the way I help my team be great and win games? "Yeah I do," Giannis said. "I'm mature enough, I'm old enough to understand that. Do I believe I'm the best in the world? No. I think the best player in the world is the person that is the last one standing, the person that takes his team to the finish line and helps them win games and become champion. "Two years ago when we did that, yeah, when I was slee...

  Kawhi Leonard has been fully cleared to participate in training camp with the Los Angeles Clippers, but it sounds like his load will be managed. Leonard missed the entire 2021-22 season after tearing his ACL in the 2021 playoffs, and Clippers president Lawrence Frank told reporters Thursday that they will take a "very cautious" approach with him.  "He feels great," Frank said, via ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk. "His plan is, look, he wants to participate in everything. And I think organizationally, we're going to be cautious. So it will be a step-by-step approach." The Clippers will begin training camp with three days at UNLV next Tuesday and then travel to Seattle for a pair of exhibition games. Frank did not say whether or not Leonard would play in the preseason. From ESPN: "When you're dealing with a major injury, you can't predict," Frank said. "I know with him, he wants to do everything, but we'll just kind of let's se...

  Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole were both key members of the Golden State Warriors 2021-22 championship team. Andrew Wiggins established himself as a player that is capable of providing contributions on both ends of the floor. Wiggins is known for guarding the best opposing player while also giving the team supplementary shot creation. Jordan Poole showed that he is a capable shot creator during the season as well, at times being the No. 2 scoring option behind Stephen Curry.   Both players will be free agents at the end of the 2022-23 season. There is no doubt that the Golden State Warriors likely want to keep both of them but will face huge luxury tax penalties if they do so. Andrew Wiggins Wants To Stay, But There's A Chance Jordan Poole Leaves An NBA executive has spoken to Sean Deveney of Heavy.com, claiming that Andrew Wiggins is "pretty well set" on remaining a Warriors player in the future if the team ends up paying him. However, he suggested that Jordan Poole m...