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Kerry Eggers: Brad Stevens, president of basketball operations for @celtics , on the guard he traded to @trailblazers , @Jrue_Holiday11 : "I think he stamped his Hall of fame candidacy here, if he didn't already have it. We'll look forward watching and following him from afar. He is as good a person as you could ever have in your building and as part of your team." #RipCity
Lights, camera, layup. The NBA Summer League is giving athletes another shot that takes place behind the camera. With assists from Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett and Hollywood power players Mark Wahlberg and Deon Taylor, the Summer League Film Festival is coming back starting July 17 in Las Vegas. The three-day festival will bring big-screen storytelling through 34 selected projects, spotlighting stories produced by NBA stars past and present including Nikola Jokic, Luguentz Dort, Tony Allen, Nate Robinson, Cole Anthony, Keyon Dooling and Udonis Haslem.
“The Olympics now was the next level because now I’m playing Team USA, Serbia, Puerto Rico,” Maluach said. “We’re playing good teams that they have great players, Hall of Famers. Me being able to watch them, being able to step on the floor with them and see the gap I have and what I need to do to get where they are, showed me I’m on the right path. And me playing in the Olympics showed me that whatever I’m doing is right and I should keep on doing that.”
LeBron James on Cooper Flagg: Unlike myself, he gets to join a team with Hall of Fame players and coach
LeBron James: I personally think that he wants to be great. He had a hell of a year at Duke. A guy that can do so many different things out on the floor, can play with the ball, can play without the ball. His jump shot is going to continue to get better. Super athletic, quick second jump. Also he has the benefit unlike myself, he gets to join a team that's established, with Hall of Fame guys: Klay Thompson, Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, right off the bat. Hall of Fame coach Jason Kidd. These guys can give him the whole blueprint while he continues to learn what his blueprint will be.
How special was it for you to have your No. 21 jersey retired by the Lakers? What did that moment mean to you? Michael Cooper: That’s the one that brought me to tears. Hall of Fame I cried a little bit because I was a little emotional because you’re thinking about all the people that helped you out along that path. But the criteria for getting your jersey number retired I was told by the late great Jerry West was a little different and you had to be an All-Star; you had to have certain criterias — you had to average 15 or something points, but with Jeanie Buss taking the lead of her dad Dr. [Jerry] Buss, who’s always been an innovator and creator and just doing different things out of the norm; when they came and told me that they were going to honor me, and I think a little bit of that had to do with me being in the Hall of Fame, I never ever could see my jersey being hung up in the rafters for however long basketball to be played wherever it is that the Lakers play is the ultimate honor and I’ve always played this game for the love of the game and once I got the love in me, I’ve always played for championships and I’ve always wanted to be part of something special; and the Lakers is like family. That’s the only organization that I’ve ever known. I’ve never played for another owner — I’ve played for different coaches, but Pat Riley was THE COACH for me.
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“One of the things I realize is I’m still excited for the start of the season,” Simon told the Naismith crowd, then looked up from his prepared notes to wave his hands, trying to make people understand. “After 41 years I’m still as excited as ever,” he said. “In fact in just 10 days from now, our 42nd Pacers season will open – and on that day I turn 90.” Simon pauses. Here it comes. “I’m glad you didn’t wait longer to give me this award,” he said “I mean…”
Derrick Rose: I don’t like talking about it because I don’t like talking about Hall of Fame. I feel like I’m already in the Hall of Fame when you think about when you ask kids from my city or you go around my city and you ask them about who I was… or my family members with me setting goals and standards for my family. What I’m achieving now, even after basketball, I feel like that’s Hall of Fame sh*t. But I want to let the record speak for itself without me actually telling you, “Man, this is going to be…” No. And the stuff that we did prior to me retiring, like the retirement video, like the Rose video, like the Sox pitch video, like that’s something that no other Hooper didn’t do yet. So I feel like that’s creating a lane, and that’s a Hall of Fame word.
Robert Horry: I belong in the Hall of Fame
Robert Horry tells TMZ Sports he knows he fits the criteria to be in the Hall of Fame ... but at the end of the day, he's not sweating it if the powers that be think otherwise. We caught up with Horry out at LAX this week ... and asked him all about how he's still waiting for his spot among the all-time greats.
While his stat line isn't comparable to Michael Jordan's or Larry Bird's, Horry says people need to realize the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame highlights more than just one's NBA career. "It's about your basketball career not what you did in the NBA," he said. "I know what I did throughout my career as a basketball player, those are Hall of Fame stats."
Gary Payton: People just don’t understand. I think—and I always tell Shawn—I say: “If we wouldn’t have gotten our egos messed up, and his ego messed up—if he would have stayed with me more years—he’d be a Hall of Famer by now.” You know what I’m saying? Because we would’ve made a bigger dynasty than what we did. We were one of the greatest duos to ever play with each other. And now, I’m trying to get him in the Hall of Fame for what he did with me. You know what I’m saying? I just think I had a blessing to play with a person with that much talent— because I could just throw the ball up to him, and he would go get it from anywhere.
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The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) held the FIBA Hall of Fame Class of 2025 induction ceremony in Bahrain on Saturday night. Pau Gasol, already inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023, stole the show with a touching speech, talking about his whole career, including his triumphs with the Spanish national team, and also his relationship with Kobe Bryant. As Gasol said, talking about his NBA teammates: “None was more important than my brother, Kobe. Our connection went far beyond that. He was unique. He challenged me to leave it all on the court every day to make us NBA champions. I’ll never forget how he welcomed me onto the team. We built something special. It wasn’t easy. Trust, accountability, unwavering commitment, and pure determination. I miss him and Gigi terribly”.
“If your desire in life is to lead and to teach, NBA head coaching is the ultimate crucible,” Carlisle said to The Athletic Sunday night in his office ab0ut 25 minutes after his Pacers had dropped 80 points on Cleveland in an exquisite first half and won Game 4 of the series, shredding the Cavs’ 3-2 zone that had flummoxed the Pacers just 48 hours earlier. “Everything is at such a high level,” Carlisle said. “It’s such a fever pitch. You’ve got to learn from a lot of mistakes that you make, and you’ve got to try to learn from watching other coaches who do it well. Watching guys like (Gregg) Popovich, Phil Jackson and (Pat) Riley. I worked for Chuck Daly for two years. I worked for Bill Fitch for three years. These guys were all best of the best, Hall of Famers.
Q: Is Brunson on a Hall of Fame trajectory? Bernard King: I’m not one to project what happens six, seven years from now. All I know is that he has decided that he’s going to be a great player. And when you make that decision, that means that you’re making all the sacrifices in the offseason necessary to take your skill sets to your game to another level. I see no reason why he will not continue to build and sustain this for the remainder of his career … he grew up around the game with his dad [assistant coach Rick] … he’s great for the city, he’s great for this organization, he’s great for young kids that watch the game.
Dwyane Wade doesn't feel trio with LeBron James and Chris Bosh are responsible for superteam trend
Do you feel responsible for the "superteam" trend after you got LeBron James and Chris Bosh to join you in Miami? Dwyane Wade: Not responsible for a superteam. Maybe responsible for players getting together and making a decision. I don’t know what was done that preceded us. We definitely watched Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman. We definitely watched Magic Johnson play with many great Hall of Fame players. We watched Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, and so forth. We’ve seen it before.
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