Every basketball story we have written, newest first, with our take on what it changes.
Four days after Minnesota waived him, Antonio Reeves has a new club, and his first game could be the Belgrade derby. Partizan announced on Wednesday that the 25-year-old guard, who made 39.5% of his threes in 44 games for New Orleans, has signed, one day before they host Crvena Zvezda at the Belgrade Arena.
Our take Reeves is a signing for November, not tonight
Twelve shots, twelve makes, on his first official night in purple and gold. Walker Kessler scored 26 points in the Lakers' 127-105 win over Golden State, their first game since LeBron James left for Philadelphia, and according to the AP only Wilt Chamberlain, 14 for 14 in March 1969, has made more shots without a miss in a Lakers game.
Our take Doncic finally has a lob target he trusts
Two years ago Markus Howard won the EuroLeague scoring title for Baskonia; this month the club is paying him to play somewhere else. According to El Correo, Baskonia will pay Howard about €2 million, in instalments, to end a contract that ran to 2028, because Zenit St Petersburg will pay him only about €1 million a year.
Our take €2M only makes sense if it buys a scorer
Three guards have scored 224 of Olympiacos' 589 EuroLeague points this season, and on Friday against Fenerbahçe none of them is a sure starter. Evan Fournier is out for about 20 days, Jean Montero is doubtful and Tyler Dorsey trained on his own on Tuesday while the club decides his punishment, SPORT24 and Gazzetta reported.
Our take The Dorsey call matters more than the injuries
Casademont Zaragoza say they still hold Aday Mara's international transfer, and they have written to the NBA, the Thunder, FIBA and the Spanish federation to say he needs it to play. Oklahoma City's answer, given through a spokesperson, is that the league told them no clearance from the Spanish club is required, and Mara is set to make his debut in San Antonio on Tuesday night.
Our take Zaragoza lose the debut fight, not the money
Partizan scored 92, 92 and 86 in their first three EuroLeague games, then 76, 55 and 65 in three straight defeats. Now Tonye Jekiri, their second most productive player, will miss Thursday's Belgrade derby against Crvena Zvezda with a strain from the Fenerbahçe game, the club confirmed on Sunday.
Our take Partizan's gap is 25 points, not one centre
For 13 years Dimitris Itoudis sat next to Željko Obradović on the Panathinaikos bench; on Friday night he walked into the Telekom Center and took away his old boss's perfect start. Hapoel Tel Aviv won 91-81, the first EuroLeague defeat of the season for Panathinaikos, and Obradović said it plainly: "Η Χάποελ άξιζε να κερδίσει", Hapoel deserved to win.
Our take The minus 10 hurts more than the defeat
Dwayne Bacon took six three-pointers at the Unipol Forum on Thursday and made all six, and Olimpia Milano's season slid a little further. Dubai won 101-97, Milan's fourth EuroLeague defeat in a row and their fifth in six games, and coach Peppe Poeta admitted the record "is not what we wanted".
Our take Poeta's problem is defence, not a bad run
Baskonia are top of the Liga Endesa with three wins from three, and on Wednesday they sacked the coach who won them their first Copa del Rey in 17 years. The reason the club did not give is on the EuroLeague table: 1-4, 20th of 20, and 478 points conceded in five games, so Velimir Perasovic returns for a fourth spell and coaches at Virtus Bologna on Friday.
Our take Baskonia changed coach for its defence, not its results
Tyler Dorsey scored 25 points in Olympiacos' EuroLeague opener in Vitoria; on Tuesday in Valencia he played five minutes and four seconds. On Wednesday he asked on Instagram why the club did not "just go ahead and let me go now", and within about an hour Olympiacos left him out of Friday's game in Barcelona and sent him back to Athens, SPORT24 reported.
Our take The minutes told the story before Instagram did
Valencia Basket were 62-34 up on Olympiacos with eight and a half minutes left in the third quarter, and still lost 102-97 in overtime. Afterwards their coach Xavi Albert said something coaches rarely admit: "Ha habido un momento que no sé si ha sido miedo" (there was a moment when I don't know if it was fear).
Our take Valencia's problem, not Olympiacos' miracle
Partizan had prepared a gift at centre court for Željko Obradović's first game back in Belgrade, and he turned it down. By the final buzzer his Panathinaikos side had held Partizan to 55 points, their lowest total of the EuroLeague season, and won 72-55 to stay the only unbeaten team in the competition.
Our take He said everything to Partizan with his defence
“Initially, the injury is more serious than we thought,” Real Madrid coach Pedro Martínez said of Gabriel Deck's left shoulder, and he could not give a date for his return. It is the same shoulder that forced Deck out of an Argentina game in August.
Our take Plan for weeks, not days
“My guys fell three stories”, Gence coach Martin Knezevic wrote after his team lost 92-63 in Istanbul, blaming a hotel lift for five injured players. On Saturday his own club said no player was hurt, four of the five had played, and the next time he does something like this his contract will be terminated.
Our take The warning only delays the exit
Last November, Mathias Lessort's ankle was operated on by a surgeon who works exclusively with Olympiacos in Greece, and it took the Olympiacos owner's personal approval to make it happen. Olympiacos made that public on Thursday, hours after receiving a fourth complaint in a few days from Panathinaikos, one of which asks for two points to be taken off them.
Our take Olympiacos have more to lose tonight