Credit: Steve Simoneau/Associated Press  Earlier this year, the Orlando Magic finally retired Shaquille O'Neal's number 32. He is the first player to have his number retired by the franchise, which is kinda crazy when you think about it. But if they are going to finally start retiring numbers, nobody better to start with than Shaq.  Shaq was drafted #1 overall by the Magic in the 1992 NBA draft. While he only spent four year ..read more

                                             (Credit: Mark J. Terrill/AP)  The biggest off-season trade in the NBA was definitely the three-way deal between the Milwaukee Bucks, Portland Trail Blazers, and Phoenix Suns that sent Damian Lillard to Milwaukee. After spending 11 seasons with the Trail Blazers, it's a new chapter for Lillard's career. The Bucks won the NBA championship in 2021 and are hoping by adding Lillard into the fold they'll be able to get back on top. Lil ..read more

                                               (Gene Wang/Getty Images)  Former NBA All-Star Dwight Howard has had an interesting time in Taiwan, playing for the Taoyuan Leopards of the T1 League. Last season was his first season with the Leopards and at the moment, he is slated to return to the team, though his future technically remains up-in-the-air. The Leopards proposed to give him a 65% pay cut because he missed 10 of the team's 30 games due to injury and they wan ..read more

                                                    (Credit: AP Photo/Ashley Landis)  Earlier this summer, the Denver Nuggets won their first ever NBA championship, defeating the Miami Heat in five games. Nikola Jokic was named NBA Finals MVP, capping off a dominating season in which the Nuggets finished with the third best record in the NBA and best record in the Western Conference (53-29).  While the Nuggets are still basking in their championship glory ..read more

                                               (Credit: XINHUA/today.line.me)  A new segment coming to this blog is "Middle Kingdom Monday", which will take a look at what's happening around the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). I've been studying Chinese for 5+ years now and figured I would use this blog as a chance for me to share my thoughts into the CBA as well as Chinese culture! The opening Middle Kingdom Monday piece looks at what former Brooklyn Nets guard M ..read more

                                               (Credit: AP Photo)  On Wednesday, the Minnesota Timberwolves got a real shot in the arm thanks to the return of their star center Karl-Anthony Towns, who put up 22 points and 4 rebounds in a 125-124 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.  It was Towns' first game back from a Grade 3 calf strain, which caused him to be out since late November.  Towns along with Anthony Edwards (24.7 points per game) is one of the top ..read more

                                               (Credit: Kelley L. Cox/USA TODAY Sports)  One of the feel good stories of this year's NBA season is the rise of the Sacramento Kings, who are currently 3rd in the Western Conference with a 40-27 record. Point guard De'Aaron Fox (25.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, & 6.3 assists) and power forward Domantas Sabonis (19.0 points, 12.4 rebounds, & 7.1 assists) are forming a really good one-two punch for this Kings team, doing ni ..read more

                                               (Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn/USA TODAY Sports)  The Los Angeles Lakers are 0-5 with road losses to the Warriors, Nuggets, and Timberwolves and home losses to the Clippers and Trail Blazers. LeBron James is averaging 25.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, 7.2 assists, and 1.6 steals per game while Anthony Davis is doing his part with 24.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game. However, the rest of the team is pretty weak. Lonni ..read more

                                               (Credit: Cary Edmondson/USA TODAY Sports)  The NBA regular season tips off tonight with both NBA Finals teams playing, though not against each other. The Boston Celtics squared off against the Philadelphia 76ers while the Golden State Warriors faced the Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA obviously wanting to feature both of their NBA Finals teams on opening night. In this blog post, I want to address the possibility that we see a ..read more

                                               (Credit: Jeff Chiu/Associated Press)  At the moment, the Golden State Warriors are up 3-1 on the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the NBA playoffs. It's the only Western Conference series that's clearly going in favor of one team. The top-seeded Suns are being pushed to the brink by the eight-seeded Pelicans tied 2-2 in their series; the two-seeded Grizzlies are up 3-2 on the seven-seeded Timberwolves after winning 111 ..read more