The final game of the Los Angeles Lakers season delivered the largest cable audience of the NBA Playoffs. Monday’s Lakers-Nuggets first round NBA playoff Game 5 averaged 4.53 million viewers across TNT (3.96M) and truTV (568K), up 6% from Grizzlies-Lakers Game 4 last year (4.26M) and the most-watched game of the playoffs on cable. The five-game Nuggets-Lakers series delivered four of the seven largest audiences of the first round thus far ..read more

Ja Morant has hired Mike Miller of Lift Sports Management as his new representation. Miller also represents Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter Jr. Source: RealGM More on this storyline ClutchPoints: Paolo Banchero has just become the 2nd-youngest player (21 years-165 days) in NBA History to begin his playoff career with 3 straight 20+ point games ? The only player he trails? LeBron James (21 years-119 days). pic.twitter.com/ljBzwoLJ8t -via Twitter @ClutchPointsApp / April 25, 2024 He nods and goes back to the line, sinking as many as he deems necessary before a slight satisfaction creeps acros ..read more

Ja Morant has hired Mike Miller of Lift Sports Management as his new representation. Miller also represents Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter Jr ..read more

LIFT Sports: stay on dat side @Ja Morant stay on dat side @JaMorant pic.twitter.com/oc8LpGCFn4 — LIFT Sports (@LIFTSPORTSMNGMT) April 25, 2024 ..read more

StatMuse: Tatum today: 23 PTS 10 REB 10 AST First Celtic with a playoff triple-double since Marcus Smart in 2020. statmuse.com/nba/player/jay ..read more

Memphis Grizzlies swingman Yuta Watanabe said Friday he will play in his native Japan next season. The 29-year-old revealed the plan on Instagram Live after the Grizzlies missed the playoffs in his sixth NBA season, the longest stint for a Japanese player in the world’s top league ..read more

“I just want to play basketball. I want to step into the game and do what I do in practice,” he said. “I grinded through my 20s but now I hope to play basketball the way I like.” Watanabe played just five games in his second stint with the Grizzlies after a mid-season trade in February from the Phoenix Suns. While injuries contributed to his time on the sideline, he also revealed he missed a string of games for mental health reasons. “I was finding things tough,” he said ..read more

Takeshi Shibata: Former Raptors shooter Yuta Watanabe via his Instagram Live just revealed his plan to go back to Japan for the 2024-25 season, ending his 6-year NBA career. Best wishes for him! To my basketball friends in North America, please send your encouragements to Yuta ..read more

Michael Scotto: Two teams with the ability to make a sign-and-trade agreement potentially happen are the Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans. I know there are members of the Pelicans organization who like Nicolas Claxton, and the future of Jonas Valanciunas is uncertain, given how close the team will be to the luxury tax next season and his lack of usage at the end of the games, including the Play-In loss to the Lakers. Source: HoopsHype What’s the buzz on Twitter? Erik Slater @erikslater_ ICYMI: My Nets free agent notebook with latest intel and reporting on Nic Claxton, Lonnie Walke ..read more

Michael Scotto: Two teams with the ability to make a sign-and-trade agreement potentially happen are the Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans. I know there are members of the Pelicans organization who like Nicolas Claxton, and the future of Jonas Valanciunas is uncertain, given how close the team will be to the luxury tax next season and his lack of usage at the end of the games, including the Play-In loss to the Lakers ..read more