Eric Koreen

4 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Eric Koreen

TORONTO - Do not confuse a person who has mastered "soft" skills with a "soft" person. In fact, knowing how to communicate effectively with a disparate group of people requires, on occasion, being acerbic or even aggressive. "We were in a timeout and he really chewed me out in front of everybody," Toronto Raptors rookie Ja'Kobe Walter said Monday of one late-season moment with head coach Darko Rajaković. Several players were chatting with the media after the end of a 30-52 season.

4 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Eric Koreen

The Memphis Grizzlies' nightmare close to the season added another gruesome chapter Tuesday night. In the Grizzlies' 121-116 loss to the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference's first Play-In Game, Memphis forward Santi Aldama failed to inbound the ball with the team trailing by three points with 5.1 seconds left. The Grizzlies were called for a five-second inbound violation, giving the Warriors the ball.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Eric Koreen

TORONTO - More than two years ago, Draymond Green stood in front of his locker at the Chase Center and delivered the highest compliment he, presumably, could think of: Scottie Barnes reminded Draymond Green of Draymond Green. "He could be a lot better than me," Green told The Athletic after a game between the Warriors and the Raptors in January 2023. "I saw a tweet the other day that said, 'Scottie Barnes' floor is Draymond Green.' And that's a damn good floor. And I believe that.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Eric Koreen

I am, somehow, getting worse at this. Don't let your kids grow up to make publicly available sports predictions. Before this Toronto Raptors season began, I paraphrased Olivia Rodrigo in acknowledgement that making predictions was a bad idea. This had been proven a year earlier, when my 15 increasingly bold predictions resulted in a 4-7-3-1 record (correct, incorrect, spiritually correct but factually incorrect, unknowable Drake predictions). Still, I took the leap this year.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Eric Koreen

Charlotte Hornets star point guard LaMelo Ball will miss the rest of the 2024-25 regular season, the team announced on Friday. He will undergo an arthroscopic surgery to address a right ankle impingement as well as a minor procedure on his right wrist. Ball, 23, played 47 games this year, averaging 25.2 points, 7.4 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game.