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      Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets Wins Second NBA MVP Award

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      A 6-foot-11 center, Jokic stands out among N.B.A. big men with his ability to score from inside and outside and bang the boards while finding open teammates.Nikola Jokic, the Denver Nuggets center with the passing touch and shooting stroke of a guard, won the N.B.A.’s Most Valuable Player Award for the second consecutive season.Jokic, 27, received 65 of 100 first-place votes. Last season, he was the top choice of 91 of 101 voters from members of the news media and a fan vote.The 6-foot-11 Jokic stands out among big men with how he can score from inside and bang the boards, yet also hit from outside and find open teammates. He averaged 27.1 points per game during the regular season, the second most among centers, behind Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, who was the league’s overall scoring leader and finished second with 26 first-place votes. Jokic was best among centers in assists, with 7.9 per game.His ability to palm the ball and execute passes, rebounds and floaters with one hand has been likened to a player in water polo, a game Jokic enjoyed as a child in Serbia, where the sport is phenomenally popular. His combination of skills has made him the focal point of the Nuggets’ sixth-ranked offense.Jokic’s stats during the regular season were consistent with last season’s M.V.P. figures, and he increased his defensive rebounding to 11 a game from 8. He ranked in the top 10 in points, assists and rebounds.He became the first player in N.B.A. history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a season. Only Wilt Chamberlain, Kevin Garnett and Oscar Robertson have come within 10 percent of those three figures in statistics for a single season.Jokic was a 19-year-old playing for Mega Basket of Serbia in the Adriatic League when the Nuggets drafted him in the second round in 2014. Jusuf Nurkic and Gary Harris, Denver’s first-rounders that year through a trade with Chicago, drew the attention, while Jokic was considered a speculative pick.He came to the N.B.A. in the 2015-16 season and finished third in the rookie of the year voting, averaging 10 points a game. By his fourth season, in 2018-19, he was averaging 20.1 points per game and had been named an All-Star. That season, he led the Nuggets to their first playoff berth in six years and their first playoff series win in 10. Denver made it to the conference finals in 2019-20.The loss of guard Jamal Murray for the 2021-22 season to a knee injury was a blow to the Nuggets, and as a sixth seed in the Western Conference playoffs, they lost in the first round to a hot Golden State team that was peaking at the right time, four games to one.The Nuggets’ future is always going to look bright with Jokic on the roster. He said last month that he expected to sign a supermax contract extension with the team. “If offer’s on the table of course I’m going to accept it,” Jokic said. More

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      Ja Morant’s Injury Isn’t the Only Problem for the Grizzlies

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      A young Memphis team is getting a crash course in high-stakes basketball from championship-tested Golden State.Dillon Brooks of the Memphis Grizzlies returned from his one-game suspension determined to leave an imprint on his team’s Western Conference semifinal series with the Golden State Warriors. He was going to make things happen Monday night in Game 4. Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, his imprint largely entailed chucking errant 3-pointers off the back of the rim and dribbling the ball off his foot.Brooks is (typically) one of the better players on one of the N.B.A.’s most exciting young teams, but there is no substitute for postseason experience. The Grizzlies are getting some, and it will pay off for them in the future, but the future is not now. Their championship-tested opponent is making sure of that.On Monday, the Grizzlies had every opportunity to even the best-of-seven series at two games apiece — in San Francisco, no less. But they were trailing by 3 points when Brooks ceded the spotlight to Jaren Jackson Jr., a teammate who had plenty of time — about 15 seconds remained in the game — to exercise patience. Instead, Jackson launched a 3-pointer with three defenders in his vicinity. Golden State’s Draymond Green got a hand on the ball, and Jackson missed.“We rushed a couple of plays there,” Memphis Coach Taylor Jenkins said after his team’s 101-98 loss. “We’ve just got to learn from it and get better for the next game.”Golden State was losing for almost the entire game Monday, but came out on top when it mattered: in the end.Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports, via ReutersAhead of Game 5 on Wednesday, the Grizzlies are coping with yet another new experience: the possibility of elimination. They trail in the series, 3-1, after Ja Morant, their All-Star point guard, missed Monday’s loss with right knee soreness. On Tuesday, the Grizzlies announced that Morant was doubtful for the rest of the postseason after testing revealed he had a bone bruise. It is looking bleak for them.Against a lesser opponent, perhaps the Grizzlies could have more easily overcome their youthful exuberance — combined now with Morant’s absence. The Warriors are not a lesser opponent. They proved as much in Game 4, even after they missed their first 15 3-point attempts, and even after they scored just 38 points in the first half, and even after they trailed by as many as 12.“Gutted it out,” said Stephen Curry, who recalled his impassioned exchange with Green after Green disrupted Jackson’s shot in the final minute. “Something to the effect of, ‘That’s what you do.’ Every opportunity we have to appreciate his greatness on that end of the floor, especially at this stage, that’s what it’s all about.”Not so long ago, there was an expectation that the series would offer up some 21st century basketball at its finest. Here were two teams capable of filling box scores with offensive fireworks.Beyond that, the series seemed like it had the potential to shape up as a delightfully entertaining generational skirmish. The Grizzlies, behind Morant, were the new kids on the block, contenders ahead of schedule. Golden State, of course, had reassembled its core after two injury-marred seasons.Both teams have increased the intensity and physicality during the series.Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe series, then, was supposed to be an aesthete’s treat, crammed with soaring dunks and deep 3-pointers and mutual respect. Instead, through four games, it has been more Royal Rumble than Alvin Ailey. Green was ejected for committing a flagrant foul in Game 1. Golden State’s Gary Payton II fractured his elbow in Game 2 after Brooks clubbed him across the head as Payton went up for a layup. And after limping off the court in Game 3, Morant took to social media to accuse Golden State’s Jordan Poole of making a dirty play of his own.About an hour before the start of Game 4, a disjointed series got even stranger when Golden State announced that Steve Kerr would not be available to coach because he had entered the league’s coronavirus health and safety protocols. Instead, Mike Brown, one of his assistants, would call the shots. The oddest part of all? Earlier in the day, the Sacramento Kings had named Brown as their new head coach. (He will remain with Golden State for the duration of the postseason.)Kerr’s absence added to the series’ sense of attrition. Payton could be gone for the rest of the postseason. Morant was sitting behind the Grizzlies’ bench in a sweatshirt. And now Kerr had to watch the game from home, part of a television-viewing audience that settled in for an evening of cornea-wrenching theater.Golden State has a well-deserved reputation for playing a refined brand of basketball. But this is a team that can also win ugly, no small asset in the postseason.“We’ve been here before, and we know how to pull off games like this,” Curry said.Without Morant, Memphis wanted to muck it up. After supplying limited minutes in recent weeks, Steven Adams started at center and was solid, finishing with 10 points and 15 rebounds. The problem was everyone else. Brooks shot 5 of 19 from the field. Kyle Anderson went 2 of 7 from the free-throw line. And Jackson missed all seven of his 3-point attempts.“It’s tough when that happens,” he said. “I wanted more of myself than that.”The question is whether Memphis has much more to give. What these young Grizzlies seem to need is a postseason cram session — a rapid infusion of the secrets to winning high-stakes games. They won a lot during the regular season, ending with the second-best record in the N.B.A. But winning when each game is emotional, when critical foul calls won’t go their way, when the defense makes easy shots difficult and difficult shots impossible, when free throws don’t feel so free? It can take years to learn all of that, and many players never do. The Grizzlies may have to try to play as though they have — without their best player.Morant has not been immune to knee issues. In November, during a torrid start to the regular season, he sprained his left knee and then entered the league’s health and safety protocols, missing 12 games. He missed several more games toward the end of the regular season with knee soreness.Still, Adams said the team was capable of making fixes for Game 5, fixes that he said were both “simple” and “reassuring.” And what were they?“I can’t disclose that information, mate,” he said. “Keep it under wraps. But it’s not a complicated thing. It’s not something that we can’t do. Put it that way.”Memphis still has time to figure it out. But not much, especially against Golden State. More

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      Celtics’ Horford Turns Back the Clock and the Bucks

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      Horford, Boston’s 35-year-old center, delivered 30 points and one big dunk as the Celtics tied their series, 2-2.Early in the second half of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Monday night, Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks star, rumbled down the floor and dunked the ball on Al Horford, the 35-year-old Boston Celtics center who has been tasked with slowing him down.The Bucks had all the momentum in the game and were on the verge of putting the Celtics on the ropes in the series.And then Antetokounmpo, the two-time Most Valuable Player Award winner, miscalculated. He followed up his dunk by staring daggers at Horford and received a technical for taunting. Horford stared right back, nodding his head several times.Giannis got a tech for this.. pic.twitter.com/gZpEsXPsTf— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 10, 2022
      “The way he was looking at me and the way that he was going about it really didn’t sit well with me,” Horford told reporters after the game. “And at that point I think just something switched with me.”Horford turned in one of the best performances of his career. He scored 16 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter, carrying the Celtics to a 116-108 win that tied the series, 2-2.At least two of his points were a bit of payback directly on Antetokounmpo: a dunk in the fourth quarter over the Bucks star that saw the typically reserved Horford let out a scream.In Horford’s previous 131 playoff games, he had never scored 30 points in a game. In doing so, though, he may have saved the Celtics season.“We love Al,” Celtics guard Marcus Smart said. “He’s the best vet we’ve ever had. Best vet I’ve ever had. You know, he comes in and it never changes with him. Things going bad or good, he’s going to be him. Nine times out of 10, it’s going to work in our favor.”Monday’s performance was made all the more remarkable by the fact that entering the 2020-21 season, Horford was in the basketball wilderness.He had just finished a disappointing season with the Philadelphia 76ers after signing a contract worth more than $100 million. Horford, a five time All-Star, was offloaded to the rebuilding Oklahoma City Thunder, who had little use for an aging center in his mid-30s. The Sixers had to attach a first-round draft pick just to get the Thunder to consider the deal. And then Horford was shut down in midseason. Not because he was injured or playing that poorly. But because he didn’t fit in Oklahoma City.Brad Stevens, the new Celtics president, traded Kemba Walker, another former All-Star with limited productivity in recent years, for Horford, a player he had coached in Boston for three seasons from 2016 to 2019.While Horford made 5 of 7 3-pointers, his teammates struggled to connect from distance.Michael Mcloone/USA Today Sports, via ReutersIt was thought to be a low impact move. What could a past-his-prime, slow-moving center provide to a young Celtics team looking to get more athletic?Quite a bit, it turned out. Horford started 69 games for Boston in the regular season, helping to anchor one of the league’s best defenses. In the first round against the Nets, Horford averaged 13 points and 7.5 rebounds and shot 60 percent on 3-pointers.“I feel like this past summer, I understood that I needed to take it to even another level,” Horford said. “We really started with the summer and just continued in season. And now these are the moments that I want to be a part of.”His motivation, he added, was simple: “That’s from sitting at home. That’s from watching the playoffs. That’s from not knowing what my future was holding and really just hoping to have an opportunity to be in this type of environment.”Against the Bucks, Horford has been the primary defender on Antetokounmpo. It’s a more challenging matchup than one might expect: Antetokounmpo cannot as easily bully Horford in the paint the way he can most defenders. And Horford, even at this stage in his career, is mobile enough to limit Antetokounmpo from speeding past him with long strides.Antetokounmpo scored 34 points on Monday, but he needed 32 shots to get them.Horford’s biggest contribution, meanwhile, has been his shooting. On Monday, Horford made 5 of his 7 3-point attempts. The rest of the team combined to shoot 9 for 30. In several instances, Horford’s baskets came when it seemed the Bucks were on the verge of pulling away.For the Celtics to win this series, they will need to continue to hit their deep jumpers since they are not getting consistent access to the basket because of the rim protection of Antetokounmpo, a former defensive player of the year, and Brook Lopez, the Bucks’ towering center.In Game 2, the Celtics shot 20 of 43 from behind the 3-point line — an exceptional 46.5 percent. They won the game in a blowout. With Horford hitting his shots in Game 4, the Celtics were able to stretch the floor again, and that allowed Jayson Tatum to find more room to navigate in the paint. He recovered from a dismal Game 3 to match Horford with 30 points on Monday, including several key baskets down the stretch.There remain some red flags, though, for Boston in the series. Both of its wins have required uncommon performances — unusually good 3-point shooting, and Horford’s brilliance in Game 4 — and the Bucks still have the best player on either team in Antetokounmpo.Milwaukee, because of its size, also has been able to get into the lane more easily. That produces a more reliable offense, and it puts pressure on officials to call fouls.And other Boston players will need to hit shots. It’s unlikely that Horford, 35, will be able to keep up Monday’s pace, either in shooting or scoring. And in most games, if Horford is the best player on a Boston team with Tatum and Jaylen Brown, something is amiss.Just not Monday night.“Al, man,” Smart said, heaping even more praise on Horford. “He’s been doing this for a very long time, and he understands what he brings to the game and to the team. And we need every last bit of it every night we can. So it’s a big, big, big, big, big, and I mean this, big key, Al being with us.” More

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      Don’t Be Fooled by Tyrese Maxey’s Smile. The Sixers Guard Can Ball.

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      Maxey, the second-year Philadelphia 76ers guard, is showing a maturity beyond his 21 years during the playoffs. And the Sixers need him.Many of the key members of the Philadelphia 76ers have become jaded by the realities of life in the N.B.A.Their mettle has been questioned at times, even though they have collectively played professional basketball for decades. Sometimes their ability and their durability have been questioned, too. They approach the season with a guarded demeanor that offers little hint of the joy they might find in the game they play for a living.Then there’s Tyrese Maxey.He laughs. He giggles. His most common facial expression is a smile. He teases his teammates.On the court, though, Maxey’s play betrays little of that. On a team with veteran stars and a coach who all have something to prove, Maxey is a linchpin whose steady play has given cover for the team’s lapses every once in a while.On Sunday night, the 76ers did not need a heroic performance from Maxey to tie their best-of-seven second-round playoff series with the Heat at two games apiece, even as Miami’s Jimmy Butler scored 40 points in Philadelphia’s 116-108 win. But Maxey still made a difference in Game 4: He scored 18 points, hit all six of his free throws and helped the 76ers maximize strong performances from their stars.The Sixers’ best players — center Joel Embiid and guard James Harden — combined for 55 points, with Embiid scoring 15 points in the first quarter, Harden scoring 13 in the second, and both making important plays as the game wound down. Harden’s 18 second-half points included four 3-pointers.Maxey has established himself as part of the team’s engine.Maxey opened the playoffs with a 38-point game against the Raptors, and he averaged 21.3 points per game for the first-round series.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press, via Associated PressThe 76ers are driven by their stars, but when the stars are limited by injuries or the ebbs of the game, Philadelphia has been able to count on Maxey. This was his second season in the N.B.A. and first as a full-time starter. He was an occasional part of Philadelphia’s starting rotation last year, and played limited minutes in the 2021 playoffs.This postseason, though, he made an immediate contribution. Maxey scored 38 points in Game 1 of the 76ers’ opening-round series against the Toronto Raptors, lifting Philadelphia when Harden’s play was inconsistent.“I saw growth,” Harden said about Maxey that day. “I saw, like, from being up and down, not really having consistent minutes last year in the postseason to starting and having a huge role on a championship-contender team. He just was calm out there and took his shots when they were open. He took his attacks when they were available. He just made the right play, which he does.“He’s ultra-confident. That’s what we’re going to need going forward.”Maxey nearly had a triple-double in Game 2 of that series, with 23 points 9 rebounds and 8 assists. Philadelphia beat Toronto in six games, and Maxey scored 25 points in the clincher.His next-best playoff performance came in Game 2 against the Heat. Although it’s said that young players and role players usually shoot better at home, Maxey made 54.5 percent of his field goals and scored 34 points in Miami. Philadelphia played without Embiid for a second straight game because of a concussion and a facial injury.In the 76ers’ Game 3 win over the Heat, with Embiid back in the fold, Maxey scored 21 second-half points after not scoring in the first. He was 5-for-5 from 3-point range after halftime, and made seven of his eight second-half field goals.“I just started being aggressive,” Maxey said of his shift in the second half. “I kind of let the game come to me.”He averaged 17.5 points per game during the regular season, and is averaging 22 points per game in the playoffs while playing more minutes. The higher stakes and heavier workload — about 41 minutes per game now versus 35 minutes per game during the regular season — could prove too much for many young players. But it hasn’t been for Maxey.The 76ers have come to expect this kind of play from him, so much so that guard Danny Green referred to Maxey in the same breath as Embiid and Harden when discussing production from Philadelphia’s key players during a recent postgame interview on TNT.Maxey showed his on-court maturity late in Sunday’s game, with Philadelphia ahead by 6 and holding off Miami’s final push.Less than two minutes remained in the game when Harden missed a driving floater and Embiid grabbed the rebound and passed to Green. He got the ball to Maxey outside the 3-point arc, and Maxey surveyed the court with the kind of studied gaze that often comes more easily to veterans. He saw Tobias Harris free on the baseline clear across the court and threw him an alley-oop pass with 1 minute 40 seconds left.“He’s ultra-confident,” Sixers guard James Harden said of Maxey. “That’s what we’re going to need going forward.”Matt Slocum/Associated PressAfter the game, Maxey’s youthful exuberance was back. He conducted his postgame interview beside Harris, a forward eight years older than Maxey. Before the interviews started, Maxey joked about how he’d been sitting in the locker room thinking about life.A reporter asked a question and Harris began speaking. His voice was hoarse and Maxey jumped back in his seat. Harris laughed before continuing, later explaining that he lost his voice when he was hit in the throat.A few minutes later, something tickled Maxey so much that he covered his mouth with both hands to stifle his giggles.In those moments, it was easy to remember that Maxey is only 21 years old. That he plays beyond his years on the court has given the 76ers hints of a third star for the future. More

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      Anybody Can Dribble a Basketball. But Few Can Do It Like This.

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      There’s hardly a more exciting play in basketball.A player is pounding the ball up and down with eyes darting left and right, deciding a point of attack. The player feints with one hand, and leans that way, so the defender follows. The ball flicks the other way, and the hapless defender slips, or in an even more embarrassing outcome, falls. The crowd oohs and aahs.Few basketball skills require more consistent creativity than ball-handling. The opportunities for flashy dunks and showy passes come and go. But innovative ball-handling is a constant need, particularly in the N.B.A., where athletic defenders are primed to close off every point of attack.This year’s N.B.A. postseason has featured some of the best dribblers in basketball history, including Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Chris Paul and Stephen Curry. Curry creates space for deep 3-pointers while defenders swarm him. Harden baits defenders into fouling him all over the court. Irving is a wizard at misdirections and spin moves to get to the rim. Paul operates the ball like it is on a string. All four can get by defenders with ease.The New York Times asked three generational dribblers to discuss ball-handling: God Shammgod, Tim Hardaway and Oscar Robertson.Shammgod, an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks, had a brief N.B.A. career, but his dribbling became a thing of lore on New York City’s outdoor courts. His signature move — the Shammgod crossover, in which he pushes the ball forward with one hand and then pulls it across with the other — influenced a generation of players.Hardaway, who played in the N.B.A. from 1989 to 2003, was one of the league’s best point guards. His notable move was a double crossover called the UTEP Two Step, nodding to the college he played for, the University of Texas at El Paso.Oscar Robertson was an early purveyor of the crossover dribble in the 1960s.Focus on Sport, via Getty ImagesRobertson, a Hall of Famer and the first player to average a triple-double for an entire N.B.A. season, was an early purveyor of the crossover dribble in the 1960s.This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.What makes for a great ballhandler?SHAMMGOD Most of all imagination. Just learning how to manipulate the ball and manipulate angles. To be an elite dribbler, I would say you have to know how to use your body, use your footwork. Because dribbling is all footwork.HARDAWAY Not turning the ball over. Being under control. Knowing when to take your man and how to set your man up.ROBERTSON Experience and time. I started playing when I was young. I was a guard. I started hammering the ball, dribbling and making a lot of mistakes. And then, literally, you get involved and you learn different players, and what they’re trying to do to you. And you have the confidence in going inside at just anyone.Shooting is a skill that has evolved over time. Centers are now launching 3-pointers. How has the approach to ball-handling changed?SHAMMGOD It’s changed a lot by hiring different coaches to help. I like to say there’s a difference between teaching somebody moves and teaching somebody how to dribble. Most people, when they come and they work with somebody, they want to learn moves. They want to learn the Tim Hardaway UTEP Two Step. They want to learn the Shammgod crossover or [Allen] Iverson crossover. But to me, that’s really not dribbling. That’s learning how to do moves.Tim Hardaway, creator of the UTEP Two Step, in 1993.Brian Drake/NBAE, via Getty ImagesHARDAWAY You know, back when we were playing, there weren’t that many cameras. There wasn’t social media. So now they catch every little tidbit from each angle so it can be five different angles where you see a guy shaking his man and getting to the hole or crossing somebody over and getting to the hole. Five different angles where you see the guy slip or fall.ROBERTSON Guys who can handle and dribble the ball are the most successful athletes. If you cannot dribble the ball around anybody, you’re not going to do very well in basketball.How did you develop your crossover?SHAMMGOD Growing up, I used to just look at every dribble move I could imagine. And then I would go practice it in slow motion. I would have two-pound ankle weights on my wrist.I would dribble in slow motion. I would watch film in slow motion so I could watch the point guard’s footwork or how they do a move. And then the biggest thing for me is when I used to take the weights off my wrist, it’s just like when you punch with wrist weights off. You take them off your hands, they’re flying everywhere.HARDAWAY I’m from Chicago. My parents’ basement wasn’t finished, and so I used to go down there when it was cold outside. I just used to go downstairs and just dribble and just work on my game. Dribbling, pretending the man was in front of me. In and out moves between my legs, crossovers behind my back — I used to just spend hours downstairs at a time. Just dribble, dribble, dribble.ROBERTSON Just watching guys that I played with in Indianapolis, a place called the dust bowl, which was outside. It was on concrete, but they called it the dust bowl. And there were some really great basketball players. It’s almost unbelievable. I’m sure they have these players in all parts of the country who played great outdoors but didn’t do very well when they went inside.Who are your favorite ballhandlers?SHAMMGOD Of course, the ones that easily come to mind: Kyrie. Steph. James Harden, Chris Paul.HARDAWAY I grew up watching a great person named Isiah Thomas, great ballhandler. It moved on to myself. And then, it moved to Rod Strickland. Oh, man, Rod Strickland had crazy handles that nobody even recognizes anymore. And then, you know, you had guys that were coming up after us. Shammgod. And he’s out of New York. Derrick Rose had some nice handles out of Chicago. Then you look at these guys. Chris Paul, you know, at 37, still doing what he’s doing with the ball is amazing. Of course, Kyrie. Steph Curry, [Ja] Morant. James Harden.ROBERTSON I think Curry is very adept at handling the basketball. And also Ja Morant.They understand what the defense is trying to do to them. When you’re going out there, you’ve got to control your speed. To a certain extent, you can’t go 100 miles an hour because you don’t want to run into anybody. So these guys go in, they’re watching the defense.Stephen Curry fending off another skilled ballhandler, Ja Morant, last week during Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.Justin Ford/Getty ImagesWhat’s your most memorable crossover in a game?SHAMMGOD The game against Rutgers University. It was against Geoff Billet at Madison Square Garden at the [1997] Big East tournament. It was on the right side of the court. That was when I first did the move. I threw it out to go to the basket and he tried to run to steal the ball. And the only thing I could do is pull it back on my left hand.HARDAWAY It’s a crazy story. I’m driving, and my son said: “Dad, I know you don’t like talking in the car while you drive to the game. But I want to ask you. Everyone is talking about the crossover. What is a crossover?”I said, “Boy, you’ve never seen me do the crossover?” He said, “No!” I said: “OK, I see it, but you can’t go nowhere. You’ve got to stay in your seat.” Because he liked to roam and walk around. Go back to the play room, play PlayStation and all this and all that. I say: “You’ve got to stay in your seat for the whole game. At halftime, you go use the bathroom. Other than that, you’ve got to stay in your seat the whole game because I don’t know when it’s going to happen, but I guarantee you it’s going to happen.”And sure enough, like the second play of the game against New York Knicks, Game 7 [of the 1997 Eastern Conference semifinals]. I came down and I said, “I’m going to point to you.” And I did a crossover, laid it up and I pointed to him. I could see him jumping up and down, point blank, being like: “Yeah, OK, I see it. I understand.” So that was one of those memorable moments when you would talk to your son and then show him in action what was the crossover and how you do it.ROBERTSON I didn’t think about it, to be honest.To what extent is ball-handling an art?SHAMMGOD I think it’s art to the fullest extent. It’s crazy, because right now, even if you say my name to a dictionary, it won’t bring up me. It will bring up a move and it will bring up the way the move is done.HARDAWAY Man, it’s like rhythm. It’s like dancing. Isiah used to do it. Nate Archibald used to do it. I used to do it. Dribbling a ball is like dancing and keeping up with the beat of a song. And if you watch Kyrie, that’s how he dribbles. If you watch Rod Strickland, that’s how he dribbles.You watch Kemba Walker and if you watch Steph Curry, it’s like dribbling to a beat of a song. When you see those basketball commercials and they’re bouncing a ball, it is like going to the beat of the song. That’s how it is. And it’s just gracefully just moving with the basketball and really having that confidence that nobody can guard you. Nobody can stick you, and you get around them and you look at them in their eyeballs, and you will see that fear in their eyes, “Damn, I’m in trouble.” That’s the art of dribbling right there.ROBERTSON I just think you either have it or you don’t.Source photographs: Focus on Sport/Getty Images; Joe Murphy/NBAE, via Getty Images; Dale Tait/NBAE, via Getty Images; Jeff Chiu/Associated Press; Cary Edmondson/USA Today Sports, via Reuters; Daniel Dunn/USA Today Sports, via Reuters; Mark J. Rebilas/USA Today Sports, via Reuters More

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      An N.B.A. Star Who Can’t Watch N.B.A. Games? It’s About Bad Habits.

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      “I have principles when it comes to this game,” Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton said. So when others don’t seem to, he said, “I don’t watch it at all.”Do not ask Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton to watch the N.B.A. away from work. He doesn’t want to see other teams play.“I just can’t watch it because I have principles when it comes to this game,” Ayton said in a recent interview after practice. “And, you know, I’ve just seen too many principles and bad habits that it messes with me. So I don’t watch it at all.”This is a far cry from early in Ayton’s career. He was selected with the first pick in the 2018 N.B.A. draft and was, at first, receiving attention for not matching the production of two players drafted soon after him: Luka Doncic at No. 3 and Trae Young at No. 5. It didn’t help that in his second season, Ayton was suspended for 25 games for testing positive for a diuretic, a violation of the league’s antidrug program.Since then, Ayton has blossomed into one of the best centers in the N.B.A. and a key part of Phoenix’s quest to win a championship. Ayton is one of the few throwback big men who have thrived in the contemporary N.B.A. by focusing on post-ups and rebounding, one who could’ve fit in just as well in the 1990s as he does now.The Suns raised eyebrows by not offering Ayton a maximum contract before the season, making him a restricted free agent this summer, one year after he helped them make the N.B.A. finals. Outwardly, Ayton shrugged it off and went on to have the best regular season of his four-year career, averaging 17.2 points and 10.2 rebounds on a career-high 63.4 percent shooting. He has expanded his offensive game beyond just dunks and has been a key partner for Chris Paul, the team’s All-Star point guard.Ayton, right, sets a screen for Chris Paul against the Pelicans during the first round of the playoffs.Gerald Herbert/Associated PressAyton, who grew up in the Bahamas, has been a fixture in the Phoenix area since he was a teenager at Hillcrest Prep Academy for part of high school. He then went to the University of Arizona, in Tucson, for one year. Now the Suns are facing the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the N.B.A. playoffs.In an interview, Ayton discussed his impending free agency, one particular challenge of chasing a championship with Paul and how fatherhood has changed him.This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.Are there watch parties going on in the Bahamas right now? How is your playoff run being viewed at home?Some of my friends that are still back home down there, they have their watch parties. Everybody gets together and watches some of the games during work. They send you pictures of newspapers, so they’re definitely tuned in, for sure, because I represent the Bahamas everywhere I go.How does this playoff run mentally compare to last year’s run for you?It’s a lot more different. At first, last year, I was building confidence as we got further and further in the playoffs and going to the finals. But this, confidence isn’t a thing no more. That’s out the window. I’ve seen it all. I know what I can do.How much, if any, extra motivation do you have going up against Luka Doncic, given that you were both drafted in the same class and that you’re constantly being compared to him?There’s not motivation. I’m happy for the man, regardless of wherever it takes us, because I take pride in being a part of this class and us being the best draft class of all time. Obviously, through the competing, we’re trying to beat each other up, but at the end of the day I’m never motivated by somebody else’s success.You became a father last year. What has fatherhood taught you about yourself?I definitely stopped a lot of bad habits early.Like what?Like the way I eat. The way I sleep at night. Just being mindful of time. I’m very, very cautious about time and knowing time and place, especially with a child. And just representing myself the best way I can, on and off the court.Is your son going to play ball like you?Oh, yes! Once he sees a ball, he’s looking for his hoop, like: “Where’s the hoop? Where’s the hoop? I’m ready.” Then you pass it to him. I say: “Go to alley oop. Go to alley oop.” And he catches it and dunks it at 1 year old.Do you ever see Jayson Tatum and go, “Listen, my kid’s going to be a better baller than Deuce?” [Deuce — Jayson Tatum Jr. — is the toddler son of the Boston Celtics star.]I say that about all the dudes. All the players’ kids: “My son, we’re going to see your son. Regardless, you’re going to see him. You’re going to have to see him, man.”Devin Booker, left, Ayton, Paul and Suns Coach Monty Williams are the core of the team’s new identity as a tough, disciplined team.Gary A. Vasquez/USA Today Sports, via ReutersYou’ve talked in interviews about how pride is an identifying feature of being from the islands and how much confidence you have in yourself. Honestly, how upset were you that the Suns weren’t willing to give you a maximum contract before the season?I’ve been at the bottom of the barrel in my life so many times, and I’ve been through so many disappointments. And it wasn’t nothing to me. I was more motivated with my back against the wall, knowing who I truly am. And the decision they made, it was out of my control, and all I can do is really just continue to play because at the end of the day, you can be mad all you want. But negotiating, that’s a business at the end of the day. So what? You’ve still got to go play.I had teammates around me that put a smile on my face every day. Coaches would put a smile on my face every day. Front office, it was still the same energy. Nothing changed. It didn’t happen. All right. On to the next one. Now we’re here. No. 1 team in the league. And now we’re on a mission.Given how you played this year, what is your optimism on getting the contract that you feel that you deserve from Phoenix?I put that in God’s hands and my agent’s hands. I’ve just got to do my part and make sure we’re the last team standing in this thing when it is all said and done. The only thing I can control is getting a dub.How has your relationship with Chris Paul evolved now that you’re more experienced in the league?That’s big bro. That’s my brother because we come to each other with anything, to be honest, and we have a huge chemistry going on in the pick-and-roll and to where we don’t even have to talk.Let me ask it this way: Does he yell at you less now?Oh, hell yeah, he still yells. What?! He yells. He yells, man. He’s yelling with you more than at you, but he’s yelling for sure. You’re going to hear what he has to say, period. Nothing changes about C.P.Is there anything you want to do off the court outside of basketball?I’m a gamer.Who’s the best gamer on the Suns? Is it you or Devin Booker?Me. Book doesn’t play games I play. Book plays “Call of Duty.” I play the game we play in real life. I play basketball. I play NBA 2K. He wants to freaking jump out of airplanes and have parachutes and shoot.Do you play as yourself in 2K?I have imagination. I’m playing as a 6-foot-3 point guard who got unlimited dribble moves and beyond shooting like Steph Curry, period.You’re, at this point, a pillar of the franchise. With the allegations that were made against the owner of the team, Robert Sarver, do you have any discomfort with remaining for the franchise if it is owned by him going forward?[Sarver, the owner of the Suns, is under investigation by the N.B.A. after several current and former employees accused him of saying racial slurs and making other inappropriate comments.]I’ve never had any problem with Sarver. He’s never shown me any of those ways, to be honest. He’s always treated me well. And I’ve been to his house for dinner and, you know, just sometimes he’ll call me over his house just to chop it up and see how I’m doing. He always asks about my family. So, I mean, Sarver has never done me wrong. Me, I was just blinded by all that stuff that came out, to be honest. More

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      An N.B.A. Coach’s Journey from FedEx to the Top Job

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      Boston Celtics Coach Ime Udoka struggled to catch on in the N.B.A. as a player. But once he did, he leveraged his experience to become a leader on the sideline.BOSTON — Ime Udoka was always willing to offer instruction. But his players sensed that there were limits to how much he felt he could teach them. Sometimes, he needed to show them.So Udoka would hop on the phone and summon old friends from the neighborhood. These were former high school teammates, hoopers he knew from the playgrounds and even a few pals who had played overseas. The request from Udoka became a familiar one: Could they swing by practice and toughen up his guys?“They were older, stronger and smarter, and they would just run us off the court.” said Mike Moser, who played for the first team that Udoka coached. “But you’d learn.”As Garrett Jackson, another former player, put it: “They’d punk us.”Udoka, 44, has since made a splash in his first season coaching the Celtics, whose Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Milwaukee Bucks was tied at a game apiece ahead of Game 3 on Saturday. But back when Udoka was still roaming N.B.A. courts as a defense-minded forward, he was already plotting his future — by coaching a bunch of teenagers in his spare time.Udoka talking with Jayson Tatum during Game 2 of the playoff series against Milwaukee. Tatum averaged a career-best 26.9 points per game during the regular season.Maddie Meyer/Getty ImagesFor four summers, from 2006 to 2009, Udoka patrolled the sidelines for I-5 Elite, an Amateur Athletic Union team that he helped launch in Portland, Ore. For Udoka, it was a formative experience and set the foundation for everything that followed.“I got the bug being around those young guys,” he said.With I-5 Elite, Udoka jumped into drills. He laundered his players’ dirty socks. Talent, he told them, was not as important as effort. Alongside Kumbeno Memory and Kendrick Williams, two childhood friends who ran the team with him, Udoka shaped I-5 Elite in his no-frills image. His former players have seen him apply the same blueprint to the Celtics, who blasted the Bucks in Game 2 of their series. Marcus Smart, in his eighth season with Boston, became the first guard since Gary Payton in 1995-96 to win the N.B.A.’s Defensive Player of the Year Award.“The most important thing I learned from Ime is resilience,” said Moser, now an assistant coach for the women’s basketball team at the University of Oregon. “You can’t really know Ime without knowing what he’s been through and what it took for him to make it to the N.B.A. It’s almost ridiculous when you think about it.”Udoka grew up in Portland obsessed with basketball, a student of the game who skipped his prom to play hoops. He emerged as an N.B.A. prospect at Portland State, only to tear up his knee before the draft. Odd jobs followed, including a stint with the Fargo-Moorhead Beez of the International Basketball Association. After he wrecked his knee again, Udoka spent much of the next year loading trucks for FedEx, hoping for another crack at the N.B.A. He cycled through training-camp invites and 10-day contracts.Udoka during a game against the Nets in 2006.Jim McIsaac/Getty ImagesWhen Udoka finally landed with the Trail Blazers in 2006, it was the break he needed and the start of a productive career that included two seasons and part of a third with the San Antonio Spurs. He also pounced on an opportunity when Nico Harrison, a marketing executive at Nike, set aside a few dollars for Udoka to launch an A.A.U. team, Memory said. It was something Udoka had talked about doing with his friends for years, and now they could make it happen. (Harrison is now the general manager of the Dallas Mavericks.)At the time, A.A.U. basketball was known as a breeding ground for well-funded street-ball games. Udoka, though, was going to do things his way, which meant the hard way.“We were never just going to roll the balls out there,” Udoka said. “We were going to teach them how to play. Structure, discipline, defense — those were all things I stressed. And that’s how I was as a player.”Memory and Williams handled the X’s and O’s — Udoka, as strange as it sounds now, was not certified as a coach — but it was Udoka’s program, Williams said. As soon as Udoka’s N.B.A. season ended, he would rush to the airport to meet up with I-5 Elite.“You’d literally be watching him play on TV for the Spurs, and then he’d be in the gym with you the next morning,” Jackson said.I-5 Elite’s first recruit was Moser, who, as a 15-year-old forward, was awe-struck that an N.B.A. player — from his hometown, no less — was showing interest in him. Udoka worked with Moser at the Trail Blazers’ practice facility and invited him courtside for games. But Udoka also challenged him. From his spot on the bench, Udoka noticed that Moser tended to stand around when teammates launched shots. Udoka wanted him to pursue offensive rebounds.“Stop watching, Moser,” Udoka would growl. “Stop watching.”Moser eventually got the message. (Really, he had no choice.) Later, as a sophomore at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Moser emerged as one of the country’s leading rebounders.Mike Moser (43) gets a rebound in a U.N.L.V. game in 2012.Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesThere were more talented teams on the national circuit. But Udoka, along with Memory and Williams, squeezed the I-5 Elite roster for every drop of potential. Weekend practices were rigorous. Udoka had a soft spot for role players and glue guys, for scrappers who treated every possession like it was a final exam. One such player was Jeff Dorman. Udoka was always lobbying the other coaches on Dorman’s behalf, even though he was playing behind Terrence Ross, who had an N.B.A. career ahead of him.“Dorman was an unsigned senior,” Memory said, “and Ime would be like: ‘Put Dorman out there, man. I think he’s got something. Give him a chance.’”Dorman went on to play at Clackamas Community College, where he was an all-conference guard, and at Seattle Pacific, a Division II school.Communication, Udoka understood, was not one-size-fits-all. Some players needed more discipline while others needed more encouragement. Some were from the suburbs while others were from the city. So Udoka tailored his approach, seeking to learn as much as possible about each of them. He offered them rides to practice. He ate meals with their families. He knew, even then, that relationships were essential to coaching, he said. But he refused to compromise on his standards.“It wasn’t hard to get on them and hold them accountable,” Udoka said.Sometimes, he added incentives. The team, Moser said, was scuffling through an uninspired practice one afternoon when Udoka paused the proceedings: Who wants $100? Winner of the next scrimmage takes the prize.“And it was $100 per player, man,” Moser said. “Ime was not cheap.”The temperature in the gym went from lukewarm to molten.“There were some prison fouls going on,” Moser said. “But that’s how he encouraged us to be — a tough, hard-nosed group.”Jackson recalled being on the road for a tournament with I-5 Elite when his college recruitment was heating up. Back at the hotel one night, he was on the phone with a college coach who was curious about Udoka: What was he like to be around? At that very moment, Jackson said, Udoka surfaced from around the corner cradling a heap of sweaty uniforms.“The guy is in the N.B.A.,” Jackson said, “and he’s washing our clothes at the hotel.”Udoka left his playing career to become an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs under Gregg Popovich.Rocky Widner/NBAE, via Getty ImagesAs it became clear to him that he might have a future in coaching, Udoka worked at his craft, attending coaching clinics organized by the N.B.A. players’ union. In 2012, Gregg Popovich, the coach of the Spurs, called to offer him a job as an assistant. Udoka wrestled with the decision: Did he want to close the book on his playing career?“And it was unusual because he’s usually very decisive,” Moser said. “I remember talking with him about it for hours. And then he just kind of decided: ‘You know what? I’m going to do it.’”Udoka never looked back. He spent nine seasons as an N.B.A. assistant before the Celtics hired him last summer, and he brought some familiar faces with him. Among them: Jackson, 30, who joined Udoka’s staff as an assistant for player enhancement.“When he got the job, I knew I wanted to help him,” Jackson said. “I didn’t know what the role was going to be, and I didn’t care. I was like, ‘I’ll do whatever you want me to do.’” More

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      W.N.B.A. Season Preview: New Talent Is Here, but an Absence Looms

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      The league will honor Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner, who remains in custody in Russia, as its new season begins Friday.The longest W.N.B.A. season in league history will begin on Friday. For the first time, teams will each play 36 regular-season games as the next step in the league’s plan for incremental growth — a plan stifled for the past two seasons by the coronavirus pandemic.As the league enters its 26th season, new sponsors and some increased engagement from team ownership is inspiring some optimism about the state of the W.N.B.A. Growth in viewership at the college level means more buzz for graduating players aiming to become professionals, while new broadcast deals and a heavier emphasis from the league’s primary partner, ESPN, have made games more accessible.Looming over all that optimism, though, is the continued absence of one of the league’s best players, Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia — where she also plays professionally — since February on drug charges. An image of Griner and her jersey number No. 42 will be on each team’s court throughout the season.“We are keeping Brittney at the forefront of what we do through the game of basketball,” W.N.B.A. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement.Here’s what to expect from the 12 W.N.B.A. teams this season.Seattle StormThis could be Sue Bird’s final season. The Seattle Storm drafted her No. 1 overall in 2002. She turns 42 in October.Matt York/Associated PressNo matter what happens, this season will likely mark the end of an era for the Storm and for women’s basketball. After contemplating retirement last season, Sue Bird announced in January that she would return and with the hashtag #1moreyear suggested this season would be her last. When she was drafted No. 1 overall by Seattle in 2002, the franchise had played only two seasons; four championships later, won in part by Bird’s consistency, the Storm have become one of the most dominant teams in W.N.B.A. history.The 41-year-old’s farewell tour will inevitably include many teary tributes and gaudy highlight reels, but the Storm will aim for its final stop to be a champions’ parade. The team is playing its first season in the new Climate Pledge Arena, which the Storm are sharing with the N.H.L.’s Kraken. The Storm will still have Breanna Stewart, who met with the Liberty in the off-season before signing a one-year deal, and Jewell Loyd, who also met with the Liberty before re-signing for two years. Bird, Stewart and Loyd form the team’s core, and the likelihood of playing without them in the near future makes the team’s quest for a league-leading fifth title more urgent than ever.Los Angeles SparksNneka Ogwumike will have some offensive reinforcements on the Sparks this season with the additions of Liz Cambage, Jordin Canada and Chennedy Carter.Michael Conroy/Associated PressA host of new faces crowd the Sparks roster, as Los Angeles looks to reignite this season. The team struggled last year in the wake of Candace Parker’s departure and the fallout from a legal battle with Penny Toler, the team’s former general manager.The Sparks had an excellent season defensively in 2021 but fell short of the playoffs for the first time since 2011 because of their woeful offense. This year, they’ve added starpower designed to boost their scoring with the flashy young guards Chennedy Carter and Jordin Canada and center Liz Cambage, who owns the single-game scoring record and is looking for a fresh start after promising seasons in Las Vegas that still ended short of titles. The question is how all those talents will fit together under Coach Derek Fisher: There aren’t many role players on this Los Angeles team, so sorting out responsibilities could prove challenging.Those players will join Nneka Ogwumike, still the team’s best chance at filling that Parker-size hole, as well as the veterans Brittney Sykes and Kristi Toliver as they chase a new kind of chemistry befitting the franchise’s storied legacy.Indiana FeverNaLyssa Smith, a rookie out of Baylor, could be the difference-maker for the Indiana Fever, as it rebuilds.Adam Hunger/Associated PressFor the sixth year in a row, the Fever will try to return to the playoffs — or at least not be the worst team in the league yet again. Without a modicum of success to show for years of high draft picks, Indiana was compelled to nearly start from scratch this year. The team amassed four picks in the first round alone after cutting Kysre Gondrezick, their top pick in the 2021 draft at No. 4 overall.A gaggle of rookies, then, will join the veterans Danielle Robinson, Bria Hartley, Tiffany Mitchell and Kelsey Mitchell, as Lin Dunn, the interim general manager, tries to right the ship.NaLyssa Smith, Indiana’s top 2022 draft pick at No. 2 overall, was dominant at Baylor and enters the W.N.B.A. with something to prove after an underwhelming senior postseason. She’s been clamoring to compete at the professional level and, at 6-foot-4 with impressive athleticism, Smith could well prove to be the difference-maker the Fever desperately need.Dallas WingsArike Ogunbowale, the sharpshooting All-Star, has been the center of Dallas’s offense.Tom Pennington/Getty ImagesLast season, the Wings had one of the youngest rosters in the league. Though they seem to have found some stability, having made only one non-draft addition, the 6-foot-7 center Teaira McCowan, there’s still some uncertainty about how the team will balance all that potential. Dallas has a lot of depth but few clear front-runners who can define the team’s core.Arike Ogunbowale is one exception to that rule. The sharpshooting All-Star has been the centerpiece of Dallas’s offense, and she signed a multiyear extension in the off-season. She had help from guard Marina Mabrey, her former Notre Dame teammate; they work together so well they have earned the moniker Marike.This season, the second-year Wings Coach Vickie Johnson, will try to take the team past the first round in the playoffs for the first time since 2015 by finding consistency in the frontcourt. Forward Satou Sabally, with her refined footwork inside and ability to find high-percentage shots, seems like the perfect balance for Ogunbowale’s pull-up-from-anywhere mentality — the Wings just have to make sure she’s touching the ball.Minnesota LynxLynx center Sylvia Fowles won the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2021. She has said this will be her last season.Andy Clayton-King/Associated PressThe four-time champion Lynx will lose the final piece of their last two title-winning squads at the end of this season with the retirement of the 6-foot-6 center Sylvia Fowles, who was playing at a near-M.V.P. level last season despite being 35 years old then.Fowles’s continuing dominance could push Minnesota back into position to win in the postseason. However, she and Coach Cheryl Reeve will face the added challenge of competing without forward Napheesa Collier, the team’s leading scorer last season, who is pregnant and likely to miss most or all of the season.The five-time All-Star Angel McCoughtry, who injured her knee last season, will join Fowles in the effort to push the Lynx back to the playoffs for the 12th consecutive year. The veterans Kayla McBride and Aerial Powers round out a Lynx roster that could, once again, outperform expectations, thanks to Reeve’s consistent coaching and the team’s experience.Las Vegas AcesA’ja Wilson led the Aces to the brink of the championship series last season.Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesThe story of the Aces centers on one crucial off-season move: the introduction of Becky Hammon as the highest-paid head coach in the W.N.B.A. Combined with the construction of a shiny, new Aces-specific practice facility in Henderson, Nev., Hammon’s hiring was part of owner Mark Davis’s efforts to flaunt his investments in the team so far. All that’s left is for the team to finally win its first title.Hammon will undoubtedly be in the spotlight — perhaps even more so than her players — after returning to the W.N.B.A., where she first flourished as a player, and passing up what many saw as a likely shot to become the first female head coach in N.B.A. history.In her first head coaching role, the longtime San Antonio Spurs assistant will try to retool the Aces following the departure of center Liz Cambage and forward Angel McCoughtry, veteran talents who accounted for much of the team’s production. Last season ended with an ugly upset loss to the Mercury in the playoffs, one game away from the championship series. This year, Hammon will work with A’ja Wilson, the 2020 M.V.P., to take the talented team to the next level, relying on guards Chelsea Gray and Kelsey Plum to amp up the Aces’ offense.New York LibertyBetnijah Laney made her first All-Star team in 2021, helping lead the Liberty to the playoffs.Sarah Stier/Getty ImagesThe Liberty’s 2021 season was a surprise: It was Betnijah Laney who took the reins to lead the team back to the playoffs for the first time since 2017 and not Natasha Howard, the former defensive player of the year who missed most of the season with a knee injury or the highly-touted guard Sabrina Ionescu.This season, they’ve added Stefanie Dolson from the reigning champion Sky and hired a new coach, Sandy Brondello, to put all the pieces together. The team is full of potential but a complete mystery as far as chemistry. Despite losing 10 of their last 12 games at the end of the 2021 regular season, the Liberty were two points shy of upsetting the Phoenix Mercury in the first round of the playoffs — a confusing outcome consistent with their unpredictability last season.If Brondello, who led the Mercury to a championship in 2014, can find consistency among a group of veterans who have found a lot of success on other teams, the Liberty might be able to make a deeper run in the playoffs.Phoenix MercuryThe Mercury will try to claim the franchise’s fourth title behind veterans like Skylar Diggins-Smith, right, and Tina Charles, center.Rebecca Noble for The New York TimesThe Mercury begin the season under a particularly large shadow: the continued detention of their star center, Brittney Griner, in Russia, where she has been held since February. Her indefinite absence leaves a huge hole in the team and league, on and off the court. Until she returns, the Mercury will have to figure out how to play without one of the most dominant centers in W.N.B.A. history for the first extended period in nearly a decade.An esteemed group of veterans will also be fighting for another title. Skylar Diggins-Smith and Diana Taurasi were joined by Tina Charles in the off-season, sparking much discussion about so-called superteams in the W.N.B.A. Coach Vanessa Nygaard, in her first year, has been charged with getting the team into shape to try to claim the franchise’s fourth championship. Phoenix made it to last season’s championship series before losing in four games to the underdog Chicago Sky.Taurasi, who will turn 40 years old in June, insists that she’s not planning on retiring anytime soon. But she — the league’s career leading scorer — has had nagging injuries over the past few seasons, making the Mercury’s pursuit of another deep postseason run even more pressing than usual.Connecticut SunJonquel Jones is back for Connecticut after winning the league’s Most Valuable Player Award last season.Sean D. Elliot/The Day, via Associated PressThe Sun have been nothing if not consistent over the past few seasons, both in their regular season dominance and in their inability to finally secure the franchise’s first championship. If they were ever in win-now mode, though, this would be the time, having re-signed Jonquel Jones, last season’s M.V.P., in the off-season.Jones rejoins Alyssa Thomas, Jasmine Thomas, DeWanna Bonner and Brionna Jones — one of the league’s most consistent core groups. While other teams around the league are working out their rotations, the Sun and their longtime coach, Curt Miller, will look to refine a long-established dynamic. Even their biggest move of the off-season — securing the return of guard Courtney Williams — was to bring a team veteran back into the fold after her brief stint with the Atlanta Dream.Connecticut can nearly take for granted the fact that this group will reprise one of the better defenses in the W.N.B.A., with its veterans who seem to summon unfathomable energy to stifle opponents year after year. The trouble comes when the shots stop falling for the physical team. Williams, and perhaps some offense-minded young players coming off the bench, will have to close that gap.Atlanta DreamAtlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 draft, fights for the ball during a preseason game against the Sun.Sean D. Elliot/The Day, via Associated PressThe Dream seem like they have been in rebuilding mode for several seasons now, winning single-digit games in each of their past three seasons and facing turnover at the coaching and ownership tiers.But this season, Atlanta will attempt to actually start fresh, with the first-year head coach, Tanisha Wright, and a slew of young talent joining Tiffany Hayes and Monique Billings, who have stuck with the Dream through all those losses. Aari McDonald, whom the Dream drafted with the third overall pick last year, will be joined by the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft, Rhyne Howard — whom Atlanta traded up to snag — and Kristy Wallace, who spent the past few years honing her skills in an Australian professional league. The veterans Erica Wheeler and Nia Coffey, both of whom last played for the Sparks, round out the upstart group, which will aim to outperform expectations and make it to the playoffs for the first time since 2018.Chicago SkyKahleah Copper had a breakout season with the Sky in 2021 and was named M.V.P. of the finals.Paul Beaty/Associated PressAfter winning their first championship as underdogs in 2021, the Sky return as contenders to become the first W.N.B.A. team to win repeat titles in two decades. Many core members of last season’s team are back, including Candace Parker; Kahleah Copper, last year’s finals M.V.P.; and the veteran guards Allie Quigley and Courtney Vandersloot. The team added center Emma Meesseman, who was the finals M.V.P. when the Mystics won the 2019 championship.The Sky must have been certain that this group would be enough when they traded away all of their 2022 draft picks, relying instead on their veteran squad and the talents of Coach James Wade to lead them to another deep postseason run. Copper in particular, who stuffed her 2021 finals highlight reels with circus shots and tough layups, will look to continue her breakout run this season.Washington MysticsThe Mystics’ season could hinge on whether Elena Delle Donne has fully recovered from a back injury.Nick Wass/Associated PressSince winning the W.N.B.A. championship in 2019, the Mystics’ fate has revolved around one variable: whether Elena Delle Donne, who has played just three games in the past two seasons, can get and stay healthy. Delle Donne sustained a back injury in the 2019 W.N.B.A. finals that required multiple surgeries, left her with lingering back issues and has taken extensive therapy and conditioning work to overcome.If Delle Donne and Alysha Clark, who missed last season with a foot injury, can stay on the court, Washington’s roster suddenly looks a lot more solid. Ariel Atkins, Natasha Cloud and Myisha Hines-Allen are all settled well into Coach Mike Thibault’s system, and Elizabeth Williams, a new addition, can provide support in the post if Delle Donne isn’t ready to go. More