Marcus Smart says Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a 'deeper bag' than Luka Doncic

“A point guard (Marcus Smart) got it over me, a center (Rudy Gobert) got it over me, a power forward (Jaren Jackson Jr.) has gotten it over me,” Adebayo told Yahoo Sports. “The goalposts move for me, in certain degrees. It’s me and a lot of undrafted dudes, and we still have a top-five defense.” “These other guys have All-NBA dudes (around them). Some of it is, they don’t really care about us and that’s fine. I think they should pay attention to consistency because being top five DPOY, I think I have the longest streak of All-Defensive teams, so the goalposts move for me.” -via Yahoo! Sports / July 10, 2024

Marcus Smart: “Great teammate, you know what I’m saying. And I think Kyrie gets a little bit more than his fair share of criticism because of just who he is. He’s not gonna back down from anybody, on the court or off the court, no matter what topic you want to talk to him about, no matter what game or aspect, he’s not gonna back down. And I think that gives him a lot more shade than normal. But as a teammate, man, Kyrie was great. You know what I’m saying? Me and Kyrie, we didn’t see eye to eye at first. You know what I’m saying, it was tough. He’s trying to figure out on a new team, we were trying to figure out how to play with him. -via YouTube / July 4, 2024

“You came and told me, now it’s not catching me off guard. You know what I’m saying, now I got a fucking migraine. I got a migraine.” “Exactly, some bullshit, but it was crazy. It was crazy, man. But the love that was shown from the city and the organization was, you know what I’m saying, that’ll always have a place in my heart for sure. So like I said, I ain’t got no hard feelings. I understand the business, but personally, like I said, needed a call.” -via YouTube / July 4, 2024

Lev Akabas: The 7 NBA players with the most Wikipedia page views during the season all play in the Western Conference -via Twitter @LevAkabas / July 17, 2024

Q: This might be a question for Jason Kidd, but with Thompson playing the majority of his career [at shooting guard], how do you think he’ll work alongside Luka and Kyrie? HARRISON: “In terms of a basketball player, he’s one who’s relentless and has a crazy work ethic. He’s one of the best shooters the game has. I’m excited. Excited to have my team. And he’s a winner, too. I think we now have one of the best shooters in the NBA, maybe the best. And you add that to Luka and Kyrie, it’s only going to open up the floor. I think he opens up the floor for them and they open up the floor for him. I really think it’s a really good combination.” -via Dallas Morning News / July 16, 2024

ClutchPoints: Luka Doncic wins the 2024 ESPY Award for Best NBA Player 🔥 (via @malika_andrews) pic.twitter.com/2G77iFcnUI -via Twitter @ClutchPointsApp / July 11, 2024