We are living in some weird times, to say the least. Seemingly out of nowhere, the NBA season was shut down due to the Coronavirus. Pretty well every single league followed suit and now we're all stuck at home with no sports to watch. In light of this, many franchises have had to make some harsh operating decisions. Yesterday, Joshua Harris, the owner of the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers, revealed that he would be cutting salaries by 20 percent for all staff who makes over $50,000 per year.

Paul Pierce is considered to be a legend in Boston. He helped the team win a title in 2008 and while his hot takes get him in trouble, there is no doubt he is a respected player around the NBA. Pierce was drafted tenth overall by the Boston Celtics in 1998 although he was projected to go much higher. While speaking to the “All The Smoke” podcast, Pierce admitted that he actually wanted 

“The Clippers was the number one pick, and I was like, ‘Ooh, I wanna go home and play,’” Pierce said. So I worked out for them, and then I asked them for a second workout… I was projected to go No. 2 to the Vancouver Grizzlies. Clippers wanted a big man, they picked [Michael] Olowokandi.”

Pierce went on to explain how he felt while he saw himself slipping in the draft. As you can imagine, it wasn’t a very good feeling.

“The Draft comes, and I just slipped. I’m an All American, I’m a top 5 player in college, I’m up for National Player of the Year, so I’m wondering why is it that I’m slipping. I’m slipping in the draft,” Pierce explained.

While Pierce didn’t get drafted high, there is no denying things ended up working out for him.

During the early 2000s, the Los Angeles Lakers had a complete stranglehold over the NBA. In 2002, the Lakers were going for their third-straight championship with Shaq and Kobe Bryant at the helm. They ended up going against the New Jersey Nets who didn’t have much of a chance. The Lakers easily won the series in just four games and proved themselves as one of the greatest dynasties of all time.

In a recent interview, Shaq was asked about the 2002 NBA Finals and unsurprisingly, the NBA legend had some harsh words about the series. Considering the results, Shaq’s comments are almost impossible to disagree with.

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“It was boring,” Shaq said. “It was boring because, what was that center’s name – Todd MacCulloch? Todd MacCulloch playing me? Stop it. You know what’s crazy? I actually got mad when we were playing in Jersey. You think Todd MacCulloch is going to stop me at the crib in Jersey in front of my grandma and grandpa?….Sheeeeeit! No. Stop it.”

After this championship, the Lakers eventually split up with Shaq going to the Miami Heat. Meanwhile, Kobe stayed in Los Angeles and won two more championships in 2009 and 2010.

Now that Kobe is no longer with us, we’re sure Shaq looks back on those early Lakers days with newfound fondness.

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Jimmy Butler’s first season with the Miami Heat has been going quite well and had it not been for the NBA shutdown, there was a real case to be made that the Heat could go deep in the playoffs. While there is still a chance this could happen, there is simply no telling how the rest of the season will play out. With this in mind, it shouldn’t be surprising that Butler would want to spend his time at home working out and trying to stay in shape for when the league eventually returns to action.

Butler has been known for his superior work ethic and now, he is sharing it with the world. Yes, that’s right, Butler is now using his YouTube channel as a means to share his workouts. In fact, Butler posted a workout over the weekend that will surely help get you through this quarantine.

Butler’s workout encompasses a wide range of exercises that target a multitude of body parts. If you’re looking to improve your game, these exercises could be of use to you. Even if you’re not a ballplayer, these are great exercises that can help you stay in shape while you’re stuck in your home with nowhere to go.

Hopefully, we can see Butler on the court in the near future as we try to combat this pandemic. 

Sports debates are always riddled with discussions over who is the greatest of all time in a given sport. In basketball, we love to talk about who the five greatest players of all time are. Depending on when you were born, this list is always going to change. If you were born in the 50s and 60s, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Wilt Chamberlain are probably high on your list. Meanwhile, those born in the 80s and 90s will most likely talk about players like LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Shaq, and Kobe Bryant.

Trae Young is one of the younger players in the NBA, no pun intended. Having said that, you would think he has a top 5 list that reflects his age. This assumption would be correct as he recently took to Twitter and gave his personal five best. At the top, he has LeBron James, followed by Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, and Steve Nash.

Love him or hate him, LeBron James has been hailed as one of the NBA’s greatest players of all time. The Akron, Ohio native is respected on and off of the court for his basketball skills, philanthropic efforts, altruistic nature, and of course, Taco Tuesday videos. His former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate, Iman Shumpert, sat down with Vlad TV to discuss what it was like ballin’ in the paint with the basketball icon.

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Shumpert recalled moving form the New York Knicks to the Cavaliers and joining forces with LeBron. “It felt weird,” Shumpert said of the early days. “But Bron has a very genuine characteristic. It’s like, he has to share basketball knowledge. It might be his biggest superpower, his ability to get everybody on the same page. It’s actually kinda scary. He can explain this game forward and backward.”

The free-agent went on to call LeBron’s basketball IQ “unbelievable.” Shumpert said James knows the “playbook, knows where everybody’s supposed to be, know the other team’s coach’s playbook, style of coaching, how his ball club’s gonna play.” He added that it’s amazing that LeBron James can know intimate knowledge of every player’s strengths and weaknesses around the court and how their coaches are going to move because of Bron’s passion, skill, and talent of the game. “Make me feel like I didn’t do my homework!” Watch Iman Shumpert praise LeBron James below and check out what else he had to say about playing alongside Carmelo Anthony.

Trae Young has been one of the most exciting young stars in the NBA over the past little while although, over the past week and a half, we haven't been able to see him out on the court. There is a very good reason for this. The NBA has been shut down due to the Coronavirus. Every single player has been quarantined at home and is trying to make good use of the time. For many players, the days are pretty boring and the self-isolation is starting to create a craving for some basketball. 

When your job has been taken away from you through no fault of your own, it can be very maddening. For Young, he knows this feeling all too well. Yesterday, Young took to Twitter where he stated that "Each day starts to get longer & longer..." and no, he's not talking about the Summer Solstice.

Charles Barkley is one of the most beloved people in all of sports media and last week, he had us all scared as he revealed that he had been tested for the Coronavirus. After a trip to New York, Barkley felt as though he had the flu and needed to get some rest. Since then, he got a test for COVID-19 has been in self-quarantine. For the past few days, fans have been waiting on the results and with Barkley going silent, many were worried.

Today, it was reported by Yahoo! Sports that Barkley tested negative for the Coronavirus and is on the mend. This is great news considering so many people around the world have begun to test positive for the virus.

Rudy Gobert has been the subject of a ton of scrutiny and criticism over the past couple of weeks due to his Coronavirus diagnosis. Most people would have had sympathy for him but because he was reckless prior to his positive test, people began to make fun of him. Obviously, Gobert feels awful about what happened especially since he ended up giving the virus to his teammate, Donovan Mitchell. Now, Gobert is on the mend although he has been feeling some unforeseen side effects of the virus.

In the tweet below, Gobert admits that he has completely lost his sense of taste and smell. Most COVID-19 patients suffer from a fever, stuffy nose, dry cough, and problems breathing. For Gobert, these symptoms seem somewhat unique although others have reported the same loss of smell and taste.

Tacko Fall has been a fan-favorite ever since his college days. He went head to head with Zion Williamson at March Madness and almost pulled off an upset. At 7'5", Fall is one of the tallest people in the entire world. He knows what it's like to have to change the way you live your life, simply because of the way you were made. As a basketball player, his height certainly comes in handy but at times, it can also be to his detriment.

Fall decided to document these struggles recently and the results were all pretty funny. As you can see in the video below, Fall can be seen trying to duck out of the way of door frames, struggling to fit in his car, and failing at taking a shower. Luckily, he was able to balance these things out with his ability to reach the higher shelves.