Michael Backus

@vikashneo @ShamsCharania You have to have your head fully up your ass to believe that this is Shams obsession and not one of the central stories in the late season NBA. Everyone has been talking about Giannis being traded for a year or more, and Shams' story gives us insight into why it's a shit show.

@ShamsCharania Holy dickride man I’ve never seen someone so obsessed with Giannis and the bucks, Joel embiid complaining about being forced to sit out, but Giannis complains and you post 10 times about it. Holy man

"This is as toxic of a team situation as any in the league": Inside the lost season of the 2025-26 Milwaukee Bucks and the fractured relationship between the franchise and its cornerstone Giannis Antetokounmpo. espn.com/nba/story/_/id…

@StephenKing Well yeah. Normally, I don't blame any president for dips and rises in gas prices, it's a complex system, but in this case, it's clear why the gas price went up and it seems to go hand in hand with an admin that stormed in with no plan for things that were totally foreseeable

In February, the average price of a gallon of regular gas in the United States was $2.91. Now it’s $4.22 . That's what you get when you elect an idiot the president of the United States, allow him to start a war without congressional approval.

@ShamsCharania Interesting piece. Makes you think better of Giannis in that it DOES seem like he was engaged in finding a way out and the Bucks are the ones who hemmed and hawed. Still, Giannis wanting to win as many games this season seems a fuck you to the Bucks, who need a good draft pick

@StevieJETX This is ignorant. Flagg's TS this year is .552, well below league average. Kon's is .640, which is not only elite, but amazing for a jump shooter.

Hornets fans literally telling me “I know Flagg is better at scoring, rebounding, passing, and on defense but I Kon’s FG% is 1% better so he’s the ROTY” 💀

@LakerCj Dude, your argument comes down to the guy's wife is ugly? Stay in the shallow end of the pool. Not even agreeing with grainy photo guy, tho I get the argument. And he's right about Kobe being overrated defensively; he was capable but was a neg defender for his career

@DL2Muse @Cooper_Flagg No! For one, team success DOES matter for all NBA, Flagg hasn't played a game that meant anything in all of 2026. Williams had a BPM of 4 that year (2.7/1.4) with TS .573, Flagg's BPM this year is 1.5 (1/.5) with a well below league avg TS of .552. Can't compare these seasons

Should Cooper Flagg be selected for All NBA? Jalen Williams in 2025: 21.6 PPG 5.3 RPG 5.1 APG 2.3 StocksPG ———————— Cooper Flagg this season: 21.1 PPG 6.6 RPG 4.6 APG 2.1 StocksPG JDub was selected to All NBA Third Team.

@nathanmarzion I still don't see how the Bucks put a contending team around him. After this year, though don't control their picks until 2031; this team is not very good and they lack the resources to get a lot better. Hard to see how there's a better option than trading Giannis.

He won't outright say this, but it's clear Giannis wants a lot of change (as he should). He wants a coach that won't make excuses, he wants a #2 guy, he wants a better style of play, and he wants better communication from the front office. Get serious again, and he'll stay here.

@TheDunkCentral Not sure I buy this; Bontemps poll came out a few days ago and he polls actual voters from a cross-section of the country and his poll had Kon getting 80 first place votes to Flagg's 20. Hard to believe a couple of late games in silly season would sway 60 voters.

BREAKING: After dropping 45, Cooper Flagg is now favored to win NBA Rookie of the Year over his former teammate Kon Knueppel.

@NationMffl You can't forget that Flagg struggled the first half of the year and Kon was head and shoulders the best rookie in that period. Flagg is amazing, I'd take him over KK at this point, but Kon's had the more consistent season from beg to end.

PJ Washington on Cooper Flagg: “I just don’t understand why anyone else can be Rookie of the Year… He’s done everything. Especially at his age. The things he’s doing, it’s unbelievable… It’s two different ballparks… He’s 19, doing what he’s doing. Being the main guy is a lot harder than being a rotational player hitting corner shots or just hitting 3s. He’s initiating most of our offense. To be 19 doing that is unheard of.” (via nytimes.com/athletic/71750…)

@jeff_on_sports That's fair. I don't mean to denigrate Flagg, but we also shouldn't forget the first half of his season was rough (tho from the start, his ability to get to the rim was amazing) & big scoring games playing for a tanking team where he's the 1st option doesn't carry as much weight.

@MikeJBackus I forgot the Lakers and Magic are actively tanking teams and not desperately vying for playoff seeding right now!

lmao people were saying cooper flagg wouldn’t go top 3 in 2026 and the kid is the same age as boozer, DP, and AJ rn putting up 45 and 51 in back to back NBA games

@LukaDoncicStanD Look who he's lost to in the last three or four years and tell me he deserves it over Jokic twice, Embiid (scoring more than a point a minute that season) or Shai last year.

Anyone else would have had 1 MVP at LEAST by now. Luka is one of the most disrespected athletes ever

@awfulannouncing Idiot god boy say what?

"I was saying years ago, I would love to see a white American superstar in the NBA…Cooper Flagg is a great white American player, and he is going to be a superstar. That's great to see, I think it's just good for the league" – Chris Broussard

@MavsMuse Dude hasn't played a game that matters in all of 2026; I like his game, but you're giving way too much credit to big games in silly season where one third of the entire league is tanking, including Dallas.

One of the reason I love Cooper Flagg is he’s one of those players that turns it up to a whole different level when it’s necessary. The MOMENT the roty straw poll came out saying Kon was running away with it, Coop dropped 96 points in 48 hours and broke all kinds of records. That’s the kind of thing you only see from the Kobes and Jordans and LeBrons. He has that fire and drive, but also the skill to make it happen. We’re watching the future of basketball in a 19 year old kid right now.

@PerSources Tell yourself that boyo, I'm sure it will help your deluded sense of self importance.

Every NBA media member that doesn't vote Nikola Jokić for MVP doesnt know anything about basketball.

@mikevwvo @hutchinson So because you have a blue mark and say the most idiotic bullshit possible we should take your ravings seriously. Go fuck yourself.

@hutchinson Remember, when looking at comments, who does or doesn't have a checkmark. It's not perfect, but most of the trolls and weirdos don't have a checkmark and are best ignored as being TDS/Elon haters/unserious/ignorant/ foreign or bots.

Seriously what the fuck happened with Gen X why are they so Trumpy??

@DocLanceP @HeatNationCom @BleacherReport You want Herro? Cool, take him.

@HeatNationCom @BleacherReport smdh, give me a break. Any trade with Miami starts with either Bam or Herro.

Trade idea from @BleacherReport... HEAT GET: Giannis Antetokounmpo BUCKS GET: Andrew Wiggins, Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, 2030 1st-round pick, 2032 1st-round pick (top 3 protected)

@LegendOfWinning Agree. Teams can usually fashion together a great defense even with weak links. Esp easier to hide small men on D. So for me, Jokic's defense is a much bigger problem than Shai's (and Shai is a totally functional defender on a great defensive team) bec we need 5s to rim protect.

I hate this argument so much… Not making an All-Defensive team does not mean that defense isn’t considered when determining how valuable a player is. It’s just that most players defense isn’t good enough to make up the offensive gap but Wemby, just like Giannis, is the exception

@zakfilm I guess but one film is terrible (Magnolia) and one is at best perplexing so... I agree, at one time, he was regularly cast in roles that require some acting. But that is long gone, he's basically a wind up action toy now.

People are too quick to forget that Tom Cruise is actually a great actor. In 1999, Magnolia and Eyes Wide Shut came out which displayed his tremendous range and vulnerability to the craft. Even his audacity with such unusual detail on the absurd. Both performances are some of the finest acting seen among PTA and Kubrick films. He made these roles his own.

@LegendOfWinning Well, the last Bontemps straw poll says it's not that close, 80 first place votes for Kon, 20 for Flagg. These are the same group who votes on the award, so I see no way Flagg ends up winning.

Kon has been consistent and available. His floor is so high that he is already a legit elite offensive weapon. But Cooper’s ceiling is far greater and shows flashes of already being a top 20 player, like last nights 51 points I’m still leaning towards Kon but this has been a great ROTY race