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Tim Reynolds: Scottie Barnes is the 9th player in NBA history (including playoffs) with a 23-point, 25-rebound, 10-assist game. Wilt did it 18 times. Elgin Baylor twice. Maurice Stokes, Bob Pettit, Bill Russell, Billy Cunningham, Maurice Lucas and Nikola Jokic did it once. And now, Scottie.
Marc J. Spears: The inaugural ‘Bill Russell Impact Classic’ basketball game will take place Feb. 12, with host U of San Francisco vs Oregon State on what would have been the late Celtics’ legend’a 92nd birthday. A posthumous honorary doctorate will be presented to Russell’s widow, Jeannine.
The simple fact of being a player-coach alone made Lenny Wilkens an outlier from another age. According to Wikipedia, there have been 40 NBA players who also simultaneously served as their team’s coach, with Richie Guerin being the leader in wins under that arrangement (199) and the great Bill Russell leading in championships with 2 (in 1968 and ‘69). But by the time Wilkens did it, it was already an antiquated strategy — he was the third-to-last person ever to fill both roles at once, with Kevin Loughery and Dave Cowens being the only other player-coaches to serve after Wilkens stopped:
This season, an NBA record-tying 135 international players represent 43 different countries and territories, but the game’s globalization is traced with consistent contributions from Black pioneers across the early 19th century — trailblazers who, by their own hoops-centric spearheading, helped paved the way for Lloyd, Cooper and Clifton to do their parts. “We’re always looking for ways to continue to educate our players on the history of the game,” NBPA executive director Erika Swilley told The Athletic. “These guys, at 18-19 (years old), weren’t born. They have a context. You know, if you were to ask them who the pioneers are of the game, a lot of them say, like, Bill Russell or, you know, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and I don’t think they can even fathom that there was a time that the NBA (and basketball) wasn’t integrated.”
The recently completed Charlestown Bridge now has an official name. The structure has been renamed the William Felton “Bill” Russell Bridge, honoring the legendary Boston Celtics player and his profound impact on the city of Boston. In an October 2024 article, the Boston Globe noted that the bridge's renaming concludes a longstanding debate over the bridge's name. Questions surrounded whether the span should be known as the “Charlestown Bridge” or the “North End Bridge,” the name traditionally used by Charlestown residents.
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Karen Kenyatta Russell: Bill Russell is a bridge. The renaming of the recently completed Charlestown Bridge to the William Felton “Bill” Russell Bridge honors not only my father, but also the City of Boston. This is more than a symbolic gesture. It is a recognition of the ways in which place, history, and legacy intertwine.
Karen Kenyatta Russell: Naming this bridge for Bill Russell reminds us of the enduring connection between a man and a city, a connection defined by triumph and tension, resilience and hope. It calls on Boston to remember both the banners that hang in the rafters of TD Garden and the principles for which he stood. In honoring Bill Russell, Boston honors itself.
Brandon Rahbar: Sam Presti doesn't see the point in comparing players from different eras: "If you took Oscar Robertson and gave him a personal trainer at 12, think of how good that guy would be. If Bill Russell had access to the shoes we have today..."
Wilt Chamberlain’s Los Angeles Lakers uniform from the 1969 NBA Finals, when he faced off against arch-rival Bill Russell and the Celtics for the last time, will sell next week at Sotheby’s, and bidding could potentially stretch into the millions at Sotheby’s. The last time a Chamberlain jersey from the NBA Finals crossed the auction block (from the 1972 Finals), it sold for $4.9 million in 2023.
Very few photo-matched Chamberlain gamers have ever sold publicly. Some of the other most expensive results, other than the record-breaking 1972 Finals jersey, include a 1960 Warriors jersey worn by Chamberlain for the full season including playoffs which sold for nearly $1.8 million in 2023, as well as a jersey matched to an undated photo from the late 1950s, which sold for nearly $490,000 in 2022. Bidding for the uniform currently sits at $320,000.
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In the process of disagreeing with a recent Washington Post column arguing for Bill Russell as the best player in NBA history because of what he faced off the court, Kendrick Perkins took things a step further on the latest episode of Road Trippin’. Rather than simply argue that off-court challenges should not factor into a player’s greatness or that someone like Michael Jordan still accomplished enough on the court to supersede Russell’s historic racial advocacy, Perkins took Russell down a peg by comparing his strength in the face of racism to modern players dealing with haters on social media.
“I would never take what the guys, Bill Russells, and what they had to go through for us to be able to perform at a high level … or even be in the NBA, for the NBA to even exist. I wasn’t there,” Perkins said on his Road Trippin’ podcast. “But I will say everyone’s had their own form of adversity. Back then, it was racism and death threats. But having to battle through the adversity of f*cking social media as a player elevates right up into there, when you talk about mental toughness.”
One argument often used against LeBron James' GOAT case is that he didn't have the same playoff success as Michael Jordan (six titles in 15 seasons), or Bill Russell (11 in 13). But delve deeper and you can see that that argument may not be airtight. Only two NBA75 players in league history had more playoff wins than any team during their eras, one of them by a landslide and one narrowly. The former is James, and the latter is Scottie Pippen. During James’ time in the NBA, the team with the most playoff wins is the Boston Celtics with 144. James’ individual playoff wins during that same span of time? 184. Oh, and he’s tied with the dynastic Golden State Warriors for championships won with four apiece.
Netflix: Shaq reveals his top 10 greatest NBA players of all time 👀 Watch one of the all-time greats make his next play on Power Moves with Shaquille O'Neal premieres June 4.