Is "Baller" Trademarked Yet?

The NBA All-Star Weekend was last weekend, and it got mixed reviews from fans, writers, and personalities.  While there were several moments I enjoyed, there were also some rough ones to get through.  In this post, I am discussing some positives and negatives of the weekend, as well as some ways to improve the All-Star Game, ranging from realistic to satirical.   Positives The Dunk Contest I think it is unanimous that this was the best part of the weekend.   The event is always fun to watch, while Mac McClung was exceptional in the event.   Even the dunks that didn’t score as well (including Trey Murphy III’s second round and Kenyon Martin Jr.’s first dunk) were often fun to watch.   That said, McClung’s highlights easily stole the show.   The setup of the Rising Stars Challenge After years of the Rising Stars Challenge not resulting in an exciting game in different formats, the NBA tried something new:   4 teams in a knockout tourna...

Now that the trade deadline has past and I have figured out where everyone/everything is going, I have graded each regular season trade for each team.  I ranked them in order by how much attention they seem to get and not by how much I am interested in the trade or when they occurred.  All grades are based on how I view the trades at this time and will almost certainly change in the future.   Kevin Durant Phoenix receives:   Kevin Durant, T.J. Warren Brooklyn receives:   Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, 2023 1 st round pick, 2025, 1 st round pick, 2027 1 st round pick, 2029 1 st round pick, 2028 1 st round pick swap Phoenix Grade:   A If there is a player to count on fitting in with whatever team acquires them, it would have to be Durant, something that is rare for a superstar.   While he can absolutely take over games due to his scoring ability, he is also able to operate off the ball and generally seems to prefer focusing on ...

On February 9 th , 2023 at 3:00 P.M. EST, the NBA reached the trade deadline, ending trades for the remainder of the season.  While I operate through what every team gave up in trades in order to grade each move (that might take a little while), there are still definitively winners and losers of the deadline, along with some others that I’m not sure about yet.  In this post, I will discuss 5 winners, 5 losers, and 5 that are uncertain.   Winners Phoenix Suns The Suns have dealt with injuries and depth issues all season yet were somehow 30-26 and in 5 th at the trade deadline.   With the West still open enough, they went all in and got Kevin Durant.   While he’s been injury prone since leaving Golden State, KD is still one of the best players in the NBA, especially on offense.   With Chris Paul starting to decline, they still have Devin Booker coming back from injury, who is one of the best scorers in the league, and Deandre Ayton (at least for now)...