DeAndre Hopkins Charges For Any News Appearances, Will Give Discounts to Critics
DeAndre Hopkins | Norm Hall/Getty Images
DeAndre Hopkins, unsurprisingly, has thrived in his first season with the Arizona Cardinals. Paired with quickly-rising young star Kyler Murray and offensive whiz Kliff Kingsbury, Hopkins has 103 catches for 1,324 yards and six touchdowns through 14 weeks, including an incredible Hail Mary catch to beat the Buffalo Bills a few weeks back.
He also apparently doesn t practice all the time. That s something that goes entirely under the radar in terms of national coverage, but such mini-controversies are the bread and butter of local coverage. Hopkins was asked about it today during his media appearance and gave an extended speech about how he doesn t pay attention to the critics (but his grandpa does) and that anyone who thinks less of him for not practicing every day should come see him play on Sunday.
James Harden | Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
The NBA made it exactly one day until COVID-19 reared its ugly head and forced the league to readjust. Last night, both opening games went off without a hitch. Today, the Houston Rockets-Oklahoma City Thunder game has been postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak in the Rockets organization. Both teams will have to wait to kick off their 2020-21 seasons.
Houston Rockets-Oklahoma City Thunder game tonight has been postponed. Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 23, 2020
It feels like March again when the OKC-Utah game got postponed, quickly followed by the postponement of the entire season. That isn t going to happen this time around, but I am not a fan of this evil déjà vu.
Kyrie and KD Were As Expected, But the Rest of the Nets Impressed
Kyrie and KD | Sarah Stier/Getty Images
The Brooklyn Nets kicked off the 2020-21 NBA season on Tuesday night by beating down the Golden State Warriors. The game was never particularly close after opening tip, which isn t a huge surprise. The Warriors will be overly reliant on Stephen Curry all season thanks to Klay Thompson s torn Achilles suffered before the season began and when he only shoots 7-of-21 (and 2-of-10 from three) they have no shot to beat anybody, much less a team as talented as the Nets.