5 NBA Stories From the Week

It's been an interesting last few days around the NBA, and here I am to break it all down and give you the five stories that you should be following.

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1. Golden State Wins Game Three

I was a little - and I mean a very little - surprised by this. I thought Cleveland would take this game as it was at home. LeBron did what he normally does, a nonchalant triple-double of 33 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, and his teammates decided to show up. Kevin Love put up 20 and 13, JR Smith added 13 points, and Rodney Hood came out of nowhere for a 15 point showing. But on a night where Steph Curry went 3-16 and Klay Thompson went 4-11 it was Kevin Durant who carried the load with 43 points, 13 boards and 7 assists en route to a 110-102 win. What more can the King do?
- In this game, LeBron moved to 4th all-time in Playoff games (238). He is behind Robert Horry (244), Tim Duncan (251) and Derek Fisher (259).
- LeBron also moved to fifth on the NBA Finlas Rebounding list with 474 boards. He is behind some familiar names...Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (507), Elgin BAylor (593), Wilt Chamberlain (862), and Bill Russell (1,718).

2. Bryan Colangelo Is Out

Those are some mighty big collars there huh Bryan?

That's right, the Philadelphia 76ers announced today that Colangelo is resigning as president of basketball operations. This shouldn't come as too much of a shock, as the implications were pretty devastating against him. While his wife admitted ot being the one behind the Twitter burner accounts, there was just no way the Sixers could keep him around after the news broke. With one of the organizations biggest free-agency summers right around the corner, and with the 10th overall pick in the upcoming draft, the last thing they need is the appearance of dissent within the team. Guilty or not, Colangelo needed to go. In his stead, Brett Brown will act as the interim overseer of basketball operations.

3. Alvin Gentry Gets An Extension with The Pelicans

Good for him. Although the team did exercise the team option on Gentry before their 4-0 sweep of the Portland Trailblazers, I'm sure the sweep added a little more sweetness to the deal. Gentry is now under contract until the 2020-2021 season. After going 64-100 in the past two season, the Pelicans went 48-34 and grabbed the 6th seed in the Western Conference. Their upset of the 3-seeded Blazers was personally my favorite part of the Playoffs. The Pelicans are looking to re-sign Demarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo this off-season to keep the core of those two, Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday intact.

4. James Harden is the Players MVP Choice

While the official crowning of the NBA MVP will occur on June 25th, the National Basketball Players Association voted Harden as the MVP for the second time - last was in 2015, the NBPA's inaugural season. Will his choice as the players MVP matter? Maybe, Russell Westbrook won the players vote last year and in turn won the league's vote as well. Harden averaged 30.4 points, 8.8 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game and if it weren't for Chris Paul's hamstring injury, I think we wold be seeing a very different NBA Finals this year.

5. Deandre Ayton Thinks He Is Going Number One

The 19-year old, 7-foot-1, 250 pound center worked out for the Phoenix Suns yesterday, and afterwards had this to say

"I know I'm going number one. Nobody told me, that's just me. I think I deserve that. I've worked hard."

The Suns could definitely use him. With the NBA's worst record of 21-61 and the first overall pick in the draft, Phoenix will look to add to the core of Devin Booker, TJ Warren, Elfrid Payton and Josh Jackson. Ayton averaged 20.1 points and 11.6 rebounds a game in his lone season at Arizona.