What a funny old day in the National Basketball Association that was. The NBA Draft is always full of mystery and intrigue but just as the All Star game was overshadowed by a blockbuster trade, the same went and happened with the draft.
The Los Angeles Lakers had Timofey Mozgov on this disgusting contract – 30 years old and one season into a four-year $64m contract averaging 7.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game in 16-17 – and they needed to get the hell out of it.
Dunno if you saw the news but former Breakers and current Tall Blacks scoring extraordinaire Corey Webster might just have himself another shot at that NBA thing and he's not even the only one in his family who can say that either.
The year was 2015 and kiwi basketballer Corey Webster was trucking away with the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA preseason, trying to earn himself a contract for the big time.
For the third year in a row it’ll be the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. It has taken us seven months to get to this point but, to be honest, we all coulda picked it from the very start.
If there’s a more quotable player in the NBA than Steven Adams then they don’t also have a classic kiwi accent. Or that yeah-nah, sweet-as, no-worries humour either.
James Harden didn’t play very well the other day, you might have heard. Game Six, Harden’s Houston Rockets facing elimination on their homecourt against the San Antonio Spurs...
When people realised that Steven Adams was an underrated NBA player, the echo chamber of people exhorting that idea then turned him into an overrated one. And now that he’s dismissed as overrated, he’s actually resumed his role as an underrated player.
You won’t find too many people disappointed that the LA Clippers got dumped from the NBA Playoffs in the first round. They’ve been a fun team these last few years but they haven’t exactly been a popular team.
The Chicago Bears did something risky the other day. They gave up a bunch of picks to trade up from third place to second in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft, dealing with San Francisco, in order to then draft quarterback Mitch Trubisky out of UNC.
Staring at elimination, there’s really nothing else to do but to play as hard as possible and take a few risks. The young Thunder team just didn't have the weapons, is all.
Hopefully the NASA shirt said all that Stevie hoped it would because he got his first ever podium game and couldn't hardly get a word in. Just shrug and wait for the next question, bro.
Patrick Beverley got absolutely smashed by The Big Funaki... but dusted himself off to lead the Rockets to a game one victory over Adams' OKC Thunder. Playoff basketball, baby.
As the saying goes, you ain’t done it ‘til you’ve done it in the playoffs. The regular season is the bread and butter but the playoffs… the playoffs are the glorious meat in the sandwich.
Yeah so that’s that. The regular season is all done-skees and we’re left with two last games to recap here before kicking into the playoffs – where the Thunder will take on the Houston Rockets, which you already knew.
The usual disclaimers: it’s all Wildcard opinion, no strict parameters, based entirely on the loose-outlined concept of ‘best’. As in the best players in each position. Feel free to argue furiously.
This feature is all about Steven Adams, keeping kiwis up to date on the exploits of our finest basketballer, right? But over in Oklahoma City there’s only one bloke who matters and his name is Russell Westbrook.
Another episode of the Stache Bro MVP Show made some noise but all the headlines were about Russell Westbrook and that 41st triple double. King of the Prairie!
There are only so many teams able to drop everything to sign a veteran QB but there were contracts there waiting for him if he wanted them. All sorts of contracts. In the end he signed the one that offered him the most years.
Front seat for a duel between the two leading MVP candidates and front seat for the Katchafire concert in Orlando. Another week in the NBA for Steven Adams.