LaMelo Ball's cold-blooded, career night spoiled by Giannis Antetokounmpo's game-winner as Bucks edge Hornets

The Los Angeles Lakers, against all odds, have found a way to maximize Russell Westbrook in the regular season. He may be a bit overrated, but he's at least actively contributing to a Lakers team that spent an entire offseason trying to trade him. Without his playmaking, they may not have been able to stay afloat when they were without stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis. As a regular-season player, he has been solid.

As a team near the top of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, largely happy with its current rotation and short on moveable assets, the Philadelphia 76ers aren't expected to be major players at the Feb. 9 NBA trade deadline this season. However, that doesn't mean they won't look to upgrade the roster around the edges. Specifically, the Sixers would probably benefit from some added depth at the center spot and on the perimeter.

The 2023 NBA trade deadline is now just over a week away on Thursday, Feb. 9, and as such the rumor mill is heating up. So far there hasn't been much in the way of news about potential blockbusters, but there are plenty of role players available that could help contenders bolster their squads for the stretch run.

Antetokounmpo recorded 34 points (14-24 FG, 1-3 3Pt, 5-6 FT), 18 rebounds and four assists in 36 minutes in Tuesday's 124-115 win over the Hornets. The Hornets have been dominated by opposing frontcourt players all season, and Antetokounmpo ensured that trend continued Tuesday, as he came through with another efficient, high-scoring effort. Antetokounmpo even delivered a rare quality showing from the free-throw line, though fantasy managers have surely committed to punting that category while the two-time MVP has converted only 64.6 percent of his 13.2 attempts per game this season. Fortunately, Antetokounmpo has at least resumed knocking down shots in the paint since he returned to action after he had endured a string of inefficient outings before sitting out five straight games with a knee injury. In his first five games since his return, Antetokounmpo is averaging 37.4 points on 61.5 percent shooting from the field.

There is now just more than a week until the 2023 NBA trade deadline on Thursday, Feb. 9, which means teams across the league are working harder than ever to either bolster their squad for the stretch run or move their best players to get into a better draft position.

Just days before the 2023 Super Bowl, one of the star players that is set to take the field for the game has been arrested on absolutely shocking charges. Offensive Lineman Josh Sills, who is in his rookie season for the Philadelphia Eagles, will be in court on February 16 in relation to claims that are so shocking and vile that we recommend you read for yourself here.

A week ago at this time, Kansas was on a three-game losing streak that had some questioning whether the Jayhawks were actually legitimate contenders to repeat as national champions. Me? I more or less just chalked it up to a ridiculously tough three-game stretch against ranked schools. As I explained...

By my count, there were nearly a dozen high-major coaches who entered this season needing a big year (perhaps even needing to make the NCAAs) in order to stave off being fired. Four of those coaches have turned their fortunes, though a lot of work remains in the next six weeks. Let's check in on those four guys.

The 2023 NBA trade deadline is Feb. 9 at 3 p.m. ET. This means that trade season is upon us. Already, there has been one notable swap -- the Los Angeles Lakers acquired forward Rui Hachimura from the Washington Wizards last week in exchange for three second-round picks and Kendrick Nunn.

Paul totaled three points (1-6 FG, 0-3 3Pt, 1-2 FT), two rebounds, three assists and one block across 27 minutes during Wednesday's 132-100 loss to Atlanta. A first glance at Paul's numbers Wednesday might lead to the belief that he didn't see the court much in the blowout loss, but his 3/2/3 line actually came across 27 minutes. The future Hall of Famer simply couldn't get anything going against Trae Young and the Hawks, as he went just 1-for-6 from the field and recorded nearly as many turnovers (two) as assists (three). It can be tempting to blame poor performances on Paul's advancing age, but he was playing quite well coming into Wednesday, averaging 21.6 points, 10.4 assists, 5.6 boards and 2.8 three-pointers over his previous five contests.

Green has been ruled out for Thursday's game versus the Cavaliers due to left knee surgery injury management. Green will rest for the second half of the back-to-back set after he made his season debut in Wednesday's 122-112 loss to the Trail Blazers to complete a quicker-than-expected recovery from the surgery he underwent last May to repair a torn ACL and LCL in his left knee. The 35-year-old performed well during his 10 minutes of court time, recording three points (1-4 FG, 1-4 3Pt), four rebounds, one assist and a steal. So long as the Grizzlies' other key wings are healthy, Green doesn't project to see a major uptick in his playing time moving forward, but his perimeter shooting and wing defense should make him valuable from a real-life perspective as a member of Memphis' second unit.

Murray ended Tuesday's 122-113 win over New Orleans with 32 points (10-21 FG, 7-12 3Pt, 5-5 FT), five rebounds and six assists over 36 minutes. Murray looked better than ever against New Orleans, and he drilled seven three-pointers on the way to one of his best totals of the season. Although Murray has recently struggled with a knee injury, he showed no ill effects against the struggling Pelicans. His 32 points marked his second-best scoring total of the season, and he's currently on pace to crush his previous seasonal per-game averages in both assists (5.7) and rebounds (4.1).

Head coach Taylor Jenkins said he's expecting Green (knee) to get some minutes during Wednesday's matchup against the Trail Blazers, Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports. Green's recovery process following offseason left knee surgery has been slow, but he's nearing the end of his rehab. He's officially listed...

Nurkic (calf) played 26 minutes and finished with 12 points (5-7 FG, 2-3 3Pt, 0-1 FT), five rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block in Monday's 129-125 win over the Hawks. Nurkic missed just one game on account of the calf injury he suffered in last Wednesday's win over...

Gordon is expected to only appear in one of the two games in the back-to-back set Friday against the Raptors and Saturday against the Thunder, Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle reports. It's unclear which of the two games Gordon will suit up for, but it sounds like the veteran...

Tari Eason is a good offensive rebounder. He might even be a great one. Among rookies this season, he ranks third with 2.2 of them per game. Alperen Sengun is the only Rocket to pull in more of them thus far this year. But Eason only plays 19.4 minutes per game. He's started only three times in his career. If I were to tell you Eason had one of the greatest offensive rebounding games in the history of professional basketball, you'd probably scoff. But that's exactly what happened against the Thunder on Wednesday.

The Los Angeles Lakers have been on the wrong end of some high-profile officiating miscues of late. The most recent was LeBron James clearly getting fouled by Jayson Tatum on a game-winning layup attempt against the Boston Celtics on Saturday (which the Last Two Minute Report confirmed the following day), only to have the refs swallow their whistle and allow the game to go into overtime, where the Lakers lost.

After two games on the road, the Troy Trojans are heading back home. The Trojans and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles will face off in a Sun Belt battle at 7 p.m. ET Thursday at Trojan Arena. Troy has some work to do to even out the 1-3 series between these two since December of 2015, but a win here would be a good start.