Sports

Photo: Amanda Loman/Getty Images Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard applauded Gary Payton II’s amazing defense following Saturday’s 136-119 home win vs. the Dallas Mavericks (4 steals). (via Portland Trail Blazers): “He’s just so disruptive. It was one stretch where it was like three straight plays, I’m like, ‘This dude…

Photo: Los Angeles Lakers/Twitter The bond between Russell Westbrook and his teammates on the Lakers is much stronger than last season when the former NBA MVP was struggling with his role. A prime example of that was the support that Westbrook received from Thomas Bryant, Wenyen Gabriel, Juan Toscano-Anderson. According to…

Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports Both the Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat are among teams that are interested to trade for Jae Crowder, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. This comes in with no such surprise. The Bucks and the Heat have been consistently floating amongst ball clubs that are…

Photo: A.J. Mast/NBAE via Getty Images Amid swirling rumors of being the Indiana Pacers’ main trade chip for the last few years, Myles Turner at least got support from a big name within the organization that doesn’t want him to part ways. According to Marc Stein, there is no one…

Photo: Peter Baba The Dallas Mavericks point guard Luka Doncic on if international NBA players have gained more respect: “I think (we get) more respect than we used to. You have a lot of international players that are really good and people enjoy great basketball players. It doesn’t matter from…

Photo: David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, the Atlanta Hawks are signing G League Long Island guard/forward Donovan Williams to a two-way contract and waiving swingman Jarrett Culver. Williams has averaged 15.6 points for Long Island this season. The Atlanta Hawks are…