#Danny Ainge

Typically, when an NBA team trades its best player, it signals a shift into rebuilding mode. The Utah Jazz traded their three best players this offseason: Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Bojan Bogdanovic. But if they were supposed to be rebuilding, their players seem to have missed the memo. Utah has the Western Conference's best record at 10-3.…

Entering a year where very few in the NBA believed the Utah Jazz would be a playoff team, the Jazz have shocked many as one of the best surprises in the league. Sitting at 20-21 and in 10th place in the Western Conference standings, Utah is currently in the final spot of the play-in tournament - a place not many expected them to be. But rather than…

Most of the best teams in the NBA are off Monday because they played on Christmas Sunday. However, there is money to made betting the Association and I have a bets in the Jazz-Spurs, Nets-Cavaliers and a player prop in Timberwolves-Heat. (Buyer beware: The NBA's "load management" stuff is bogus and players are sitting out more and more games. It…

The NBA regular season has hit the quarter pole. Almost every team is at 20 or 21 games played, which means the time for saying "it's early" is drawing short. It also means the teams who are positioning for NBA Draft Lottery ping pong balls are starting to come into focus. Whether you call it "Winless for Wemby", "Victoryless for Victor" or…

Utah Jazz forward Rudy Gay is now on the NBA trade block, per multiple sources. Through 12 games off the bench this season, the 17-year veteran is averaging 4.5 points and 3.4 rebounds. Equally important, Gay is averaging career lows of 15.8 minutes per game, 36.2% shooting from the floor, and 26.5% from beyond the arc. His production in recent…

As all of basketball media has noted, the Utah Jazz are not supposed to be good. A month into the season -- their first since trading away all-star center Rudy Gobert and all-star guard Donovan Mitchell -- the Jazz are in third place in the Western Conference. Typically, when you trade away all-stars for a bevy of role players, you get worse, not…

Summer is traditionally a time for home improvement projects, and no team is taking that mindset more seriously than the New York Knicks, who appear on the verge of completing their backcourt makeover by acquiring Donovan Mitchell. The New York Knicks may not be done wheeling and dealing. One day after officially signing Jalen Brunson in free…

While you've been busy handicapping the World Series, college football and the NFL, the 2022-23 NBA season has been zipping right along. In fact, by the end of this week, several teams already will have completed 20% of their 82-game schedule. So how do things look from an betting perspective a month into the NBA season? Put it this way: The…

We're a month into the 2022-23 NBA season, and it's one of my favorite times of the year. It's too early to make grand proclamations, but it's no longer too early to start thinking about making grand proclamations. With that in mind, I decided to revisit some of the biggest trades from the NBA offseason, to see how the teams are feeling now that…

For being a leader in the community and easy to root for on and off the court-Thank you, @rudygobert27 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/WGtp5PXO6d - Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) July 6, 2022 Already, this month saw Ainge moving small forward Royce O'Neale to the Brooklyn Nets for a 2023 first-round draft pick. Then Ainge delivered a blockbuster. He sent Gobert to the…

Wednesday's slate of NBA games produced an ordinary list of high-scoring performances. 14 players reached 30 or more points, among them a trio of three-time All Stars (Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell and Jayson Tatum), the 2022 Most Improved Player (Ja Morant), and a four-time MVP (LeBron James). Of the 14 players to break 30 points, only three did…

DraftKings posted a prop bet on what team Donovan Mitchell will play his next regular season with the New York Knicks - heavily rumored to acquire Mitchell in a trade - installed as the betting favorite at -325 odds, followed by the Utah Jazz at+200, and Miami Heat at+350. Jazz team president Danny Ainge is willing to trade all of their veterans,…

The Jazz and Spurs were supposed to be in a race for the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Will unexpectedly hot starts change their tanking plans? Early in this NBA season, the standings are a simple-celled creature. Most of what will become lies undefined before us. Last year's Western finalists (Golden State, Dallas) and this year's championship…

Let me let you in behind the scenes here at SLC Dunk. A lot of us were fully on board with #TankNote and the Utah Jazz going for a high lottery pick with what is looking like an absolutely stacked draft class. It's not just Victor Wembanyama (and I'm very proud to say I spelled that right first try). Guys like Scoot Henderson and the Thompson twins…

The Denver Nuggets are the current betting favorite to win the 2023 NBA Northwest Division at -150 odds, but the Minnesota Timberwolves aren't far behind at+165 odds after they added three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert in a trade. Since the creation of the Northwest Division at the start of the 2004-05 season, the Minnesota…

NBA scouts and executives didn't need to see Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson each turn in thrilling performances in their made-for-TV matchup to know were both really, really good. Wembanyama has been hyped as one of the most tantalizing basketball prospects ever for a couple years now, while Henderson likely would have gone No. 1 overall in…

The Utah Jazz were hesitant to find a trade partner for guard Jordan Clarkson. As it turns out, Jazz executive Danny Ainge wants to retain the NBA veteran - at least for now. Rumors suggested that Clarkson would get traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for Russell Westbrook. ESPN NBA Insider Zach Lowe believes the guard is now off limits for a trade. A…

Nowadays, betting on sports has become more mainstream than the original taboo label placed upon it decades ago. As many states legalize sports gambling and rake in the profits, odds are now a focus for any content-creation lane within the industry. Some are even building sportsbooks within their arenas or stadiums, promoting it to live bet the…

With the first full week of the 2022-23 NBA regular season in the books, here are seven early observations about a wild card in Brooklyn, a dilemma in Utah, and more: Simmons deserves time to get back into a rhythm following a long basketball hiatus. But his first week of action is a little worrisome. Back when he was with the Sixers, he was a…

If you're an avid NBA bettor who views the start of the regular season the same way a 7-year-old kid views Christmas morning, here's some good news: Santa's coming to town in less than a week! Nearly four months to the day after the Golden State Warriors won their fourth NBA title in eight years, the NBA returns Tuesday with an opening-night…

On Thursday, Utah Jazz center Udoka Azubuike practiced with his team for the first time in seven months. He finally received clearance to play. "I was excited about it," Azubuike told reporters after the scrimmage. "We did some exercises in the morning before practice, and that felt good. Then, me going out there, getting a rep and you know, I'm…

While some people in the Tri-State Area are excited about the championship prospects of the Brooklyn Nets, the region remains, by and large, behind the New York Knicks. The Knicks are 2-1 so far in the preseason, and it has some New Yorkers wondering if the embattled franchise could actually return to the playoffs this season. The team did make the…

Dallas Mavericks G.M. Nico Harrison was asked about the league's ongoing tampering investigation involving Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks. The NBA executive is unfazed. "I'm not worried about it," explained Harrison. "Honestly for me, it's not even worth even thinking about because we're so focused on our team. It really doesn't matter after…

The Northwest Division is a mixed bag. You've got the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves, two teams with title aspirations (as lofty as those may be). On the other end of the spectrum, there's the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder - bound for shameless "tankathon's" in pursuit of projected top picks Victor Wembanyama and Scoot…

With the start of the 2022-23 NBA season just a week away, it's time to start looking at win totals for all 30 teams. The offseason wasn't without drama, and big names on the move like Dejounte Murray, Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell are sure to tilt a few games in their new teams' directions. But just how much of an impact will these players have…

The Utah Jazz have signed guard Darryl Morsell to an Exhibit 10 contract. This is a nonguaranteed deal. On Sunday, the team also waived Saben Lee. Morsell went undrafted out of Marquette. He played his first four seasons with Maryland. In 157 appearances in the NCAA, the shooting guard averaged 9.6 points, 4 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per…

The Utah Jazz traded away All-Star center Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Interested teams, sensing a rebuild in Salt Lake City, inquired about the availability of Jazz star guard Donovan Mitchell. They were told to back off. But it was just GM speak. The phone lines were back open in short order. Jazz CEO Danny Ainge, who blew up and…

I grew up in eastern Idaho about an hour away from Yellowstone National Park. A lot of my earliest memories are related to Yellowstone in some way like the Yellowstone fires in 1988 or the constant reminder in school that Yellowstone is a supervolcano and, if it ever erupted, we'd be the next Pompei but with cows and potatoes. The most interesting…

If there was any shed of doubt regarding Victor Wembanyama's status as the potential first-overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, he dominated playing under NBA rules in the preseason vs. the G-League Ignite. While PG Scoot Henderson also looks like an NBA-ready stud and a potential franchise-changing player, the French 18-year-old is the ultimate…

The NBA preseason is in full swing, and a lot of fans are excited for basketball to be back, even if the season hasn't quite started. Though there were obviously a lot of fans who were tuned into the preseason games yesterday, there were also a lot of fans watching another insane contest. No. 1 projected pick Victor Wembanyama faced off against No.…

10 of the 15 Western Conference teams in the NBA will qualify at least for the play-in game next April. Some teams will be playing for a shot at the title while others hope to be bad and lucky enough to get a shot at drafting the supposed "can't miss" #1 prospect, 7-4 Victor Wembanyama. The Los Angeles Lakers seem to be somewhere in the middle of…

With October coming up here soon, the new NBA season is just around the corner. This offseason was a little slow with the trade request of Kevin Durant. But that didn't stop teams from loading up for another run at a title. With the start of the season comes predictions. I have already done a too early Eastern Conference standings prediction so…

Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson is more likely to sign a contract extension than get traded, according to sources. The eight-year NBA veteran has been mentioned in several hypothetical trade packages the last few weeks. Per Tony Jones of The Athletic, a multi-year deal could be in the works for Clarkson. "I would say that the Jazz are more likely…

Well, this came out of left field. With training cam right around the corner, Detroit Pistons GM Troy Weaver struck again, trading Kelly Olynyk and Saben Lee to the blowing-it-up Utah Jazz for veteran sharpshooter Bojan Bogdanovic. The DBB crew dove into analyzing the trade and figuring out the fit: Sean Corp: This is perhaps the most patient trade…

Celtics coach Ime Udoka is likely to be suspended for the entire 2022-23 season for having a consensual relationship with a woman on the organization's basketball staff, according to a report from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. ESPN was the first to report that Udoka was facing a possible suspension, while Shams Charania of The Athletic was first to…

Teams tend to fit neatly into boxes in the NBA. There are the haves and the have nots. There are franchises actively trying to lose and there are franchises deep into the luxury tax because their championship windows require full commitment. This isn't the NFL. Not every team has a chance. Even the Jets won Sunday. With that in mind, we present The…

Teams tend to fit neatly into boxes in the NBA. There are the haves and the have nots. There are franchises actively trying to lose and there are franchises deep into the luxury tax because their championship windows require full commitment. This isn't the NFL. Not every team has a chance. Even the Jets won Sunday. With that in mind, we present The…

By acquiring point guard Jalen Brunson from the Dallas Mavericks during the NBA summer, the New York Knicks were able to fill their most significant positional need. They also improved the center position by acquiring Isaiah Hartenstein from the Los Angeles Clippers. In 35 days, on Wednesday, the New York Knicks will begin their 2022-23 NBA…

Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell are gone, but the Utah Jazz's teardown may not be done. Veterans Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic, Jordan Clarkson and Rudy Gay are still on the roster. Even the recently acquired Malik Beasley (25) may be a little old for the Jazz's rebuild timeline. All of the above can help win-now teams to varying degrees, one of…

The Gold Crown Foundation dished out roughly 650 more assists Saturday. While the nonprofit founded by former Nuggets guard and coach Bill Hanzlik and business partner Ray Baker in 1986 has a long history of helping kids stay active through sports camps and leagues, the foundation's first Healthy Kids Expo paired athletic instruction with health…

The NBA hadn't yet shaken off all the dust from the explosive Utah-Minnesota trade when the Jazz hit the plunger again by dealing Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland. Former Celtics boss Danny Ainge has left quite an impression on the summer. Of greater concern around the league than what Rudy Gobert will do for the Timberwolves or how much Mitchell can…

Jazz Receive: T.J. McConnell, James Bouknight and a 2027 first-round pick from Charlotte (top-five protected) Hornets Receive: Jordan Clarkson, Myles Turner and Buddy Hield Pacers Receive: Gordon Hayward, Mason Plumlee, a 2023 first-round pick from Charlotte (via Denver), a 2025 first-round pick from Charlotte and a 2026 second-round pick from Utah…

As we officially put the finishing touches on "Bet Week" here onBasketballNews.com, NBA over/under win total projections have beenreleased for every team. Which numbers stand out most to hammer one way or another from abetting perspective? In this piece, I unveil my over/underpredictions for every team in the Western Conference. All odds…