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Come Fan with UsSaturday, August 8, 2026

Good morning. There is a jersey misspelling epidemic in the NBA.

That and much more in Thursday’s NBA newsletter.

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Good morning. Let’s basketball.

THE NBA IN LIKE 30 SECONDS: Nothing terrible happened in Mexico City except the Rockets beating the Wolves. The Pacers stunned the Heat. The Lakers, Knicks and Nuggets both lost again. Against Denver, the Blazers dropped 84 points in the first half! The Thunder picked up another win. Isaiah Thomas blew up (again) in another Suns’ win. The Hawks beat the Jazz even though they’d misspelled Paul Millsap’s name on his jersey. (BALTCHE LIVES!) The Wizards beat the Pistons.

You can get more info about all of those games at our NBA Scores hub. Alternatively, check out Jason Patt’s big recap of the top stories.

BUT SERIOUSLY: I’m starting to think all of these misspelled names on jerseys are odes to Andray Blatche, who is no longer in the NBA. We miss you, Baltche.

ABRAMS ALERT: Jonathan Abrams with a sprawling profile of NBA lifer Paul Silas.

D.C. AND MISSISSIPPI UP: I put together a map looking at states and territories’ per-capita production of NBA players.

GOOD JOB KNICKS: Amanda Seyfried has abandoned basketball because of you.

JAY. ARR. SMITH. Nice job ignoring your superstar teammate on the final play of the game.

’IT’S INSANE TO THINK THAT AFFLALO COULD BE THE PROBLEM’: Arron Afflalo got benched for the second half last night and didn’t speak to media. Something’s rotten in Denver.

KOBE VS. DUNCAN: Sam Amick is so good. This story on Kobe vs. Duncan as financial concerns (with input from Kobe) is really interesting.

WELP: Blake Griffin allegedly smacked a dude in the face in a Las Vegas club and faces battery charges.

GOOD QUESTION: Is Gregg Popovich ready to turn the Spurs over to Kawhi Leonard?

THE NEXT CHOSEN ONE: Meet Malik Newman, a 17-year-old business enterprise who is very good at basketball.

RELEVANT: Why do athletes play through injury?

BUT SHE IS LIGHTNING ON HER FEET: Taylor Swift is objectively bad at sports, an investigation.

YES: Shane Battier singing Billy Joel. If Battier wants to tour around doing karaoke, that’d be a good use of everyone’s time to be honest. (I also think he should be cast as Hank McCoy in any future X-Men film.)

PANDA FRIEND FOREVER: Metta World Peace wore his panda bear sneakers in a game in the Chinese Basketball Association. (I’m among the polar bear truthers, by the way.)

[WHISPERS]: I agree with Ric Bucher about something: people need to chill on Derrick Rose.

DRAFT! Yahoo!‘s top 10 freshmen.

AGAINST LANCE: Explaining Lance Stephenson’s pretty rough start in Charlotte.

HMM: The NBA’s problem with women’s fashion.

DEAR BAY AREA PEOPLE: This event, a collection of short sport films, is going to be great. Only $10, in Oakland, November 20. Check it out.

YES: Honoring Milhouse Van Houten.

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