Injuries, for professional basketball players, are sometimes just an unfortunate part of the business. You can't help it if an injury is sustained in practice, or even during a preseason game, if you're going out and giving maximum effort for the team that pays you millions of dollars to do so.
But what about off the court, when a player isn't doing anything related to basketball? That's when some personal discretion might come into play, and apparently, the Celtics' Glen Davis doesn't have any. Because he reportedly sustained a "non-basketball" injury, which, according to at least one report, just might keep him out for the entire season.
Free-agent time should be like Christmas for these under-30 former first-round picks. If they had played better, stayed healthy or fulfilled their potential, they would be cashing in on new contracts or contract extensions. Instead they are fighting for their NBA lives, afterthoughts in free-agent time, hoping to find one interested team for another opportunity to stay in the league.
The alternative might be Europe or perhaps even the NBDL. With each NBA team holding on tight to free-agent dollars because of the economy and the 2010 free-agent class, contracts -- especially lucrative ones -- will be difficult to procure. So while names such as Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Trevor Ariza and Hedo Turkoglu will fill the offseason newswires, these 10 players will be searching for work in virtual obscurity.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
LeBron James, however, also didn't disappoint. Against a (typically) phenomenal defense, The Chosen One racked up 38 points on 21 FGAs, and added seven rebounds and six assists. All of that in 36 minutes.
It is a good thing for Roger Federer that he isn't a woman. Or maybe it is too bad that Candace Parker is. After all, they are in the same boat, but in very different classes of travel. Federer is in first, while Parker appears to be in stowage.
The ship both are sailing on is the Love Boat. Federer announced happily on his Web site Thursday that he is about to become a father. Parker is pictured on the cover of ESPN the Magazine scheduled for release on Friday in full bloom – pregnant.
In December, news broke that the WNBA's Jordan -- Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks -- had eloped in Reno with fiancée Shelden Williams. The couple had been engaged forever, and the timing seemed odd. A month later, Parker confirmed reports that she was pregnant with her first child. A plan to spend four months playing in Russia during the offseason (for $1 million, no less) went in the drawer, and it's not clear if Parker (due this spring) will suit up for the Sparks this season.
The suspicion would be that the couple didn't plan to have a baby right now. Parker is the subject of the cover story in ESPN The Magazine this week, where she tells Allison Glock that the pregnancy was as much of a shock to her as it was everyone else. (The full cover can be seen after the jump.)
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
At some point, Dwyane Wade's wings will melt, for he flies too close to the sun. Another 40-point night for Flash -- 42, to be exact, on 17-of-23 shooting. He added eight assists, six rebounds and (an unfortunate) eight turnovers.
Wade has broken the 35-point threshold in four straight games, and topped 40 in three of those. Since the All-Star Break, he has averaged better than 36 points per game on 58 percent shooting with 10 assists to boot. Wade is, for lack of a better word, insane. He has a great shot to not only win the scoring title, but to get over 30 ppg. You think someone wants that fourth seed?
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
If I told you one player in the Mavericks-Spurs match-up would take 32 FGAs, some 21 more than any teammate, how far down on said list would Tony Parker be? ... Yeah, not very far. But still -- 32 FGAs for Parker!
T.P. turned those (plus eight free throws) into 37 points, which he paired with 12 assists. Spurs win by 17. Jason Kidd is not the defender he used to be. (Actually, he's not even the offensive player he used to be. Two points and four assists in 35 minutes.)
The 3 PM ET trade deadline in the NBA has come and gone, and while there were plenty of big names rumored to be on the move, few teams actually had the guts to pull the trigger. There were plenty of deals made, however, including one that might have one Eastern Conference team feeling like it's back in the title conversation. A wrap-up of today's events after the jump.
Brown is the only player in the deal with money owed in 2009-10, and it's a whopping $736,000 player option. But there is in fact a compelling storyline here: McCants and new teammate Francisco Garcia have an ongoing blood feud.
Last month, Sacramento authorities reported that Candace Parker, the greatest women's basketball player in the world, eloped with longtime boyfriend/fiancé Shelden Williams, a current Kings back-up. That development hardly affected Parker's on-court status, but this one might: according to European club coach Gundars Vetra, Parker is expecting her first child.
Vetra would know: Parker had been in talks to play for his Russian club (Ekaterinburg) during the WNBA offseason. The apparent pregnancy would, um, prevent that. It will also (I assume) prevent Parker from playing for the L.A. Sparks this season.
And while a discussion on the inherent challenges of professional women's sports is a bit beyond the purview of this post, let it be said that losing an incredible superstar like Parker for a season is a blow for the WNBA. It's the equivalent of Michael Jordan retiring at his peak to play baseball. Hearty congratulations Parker and Williams, nonetheless. They are almost Sacramento's power couple right now, and I've never read a bad word about either.
Update 9/27: After undergoing surgery on his thumb, Glen Davis will miss six-to-eight weeks. 
Free-agent time should be like Christmas for these under-30 former first-round picks. If they had played better, stayed healthy or fulfilled their potential, they would be cashing in on new contracts or contract extensions. Instead they are fighting for their NBA lives, afterthoughts in free-agent time, hoping to find one interested team for another opportunity to stay in the league.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
It is a good thing for 
In December, news broke that the WNBA's Jordan -- 
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
Don't be surprised that the worst team in the league has also been the most active on the trade circuit this week. Sacramento continues its cost-cutting measures this morning, 
Last month, Sacramento authorities reported that 
