INDIANAPOLIS — There isn’t too much scoring in the NBA — 70-point games and record-breaking team offenses be damned.

The players don’t like to see what happened to Joel Embiid, or even Tyrese Haliburton, but they support the spirit of a league requirement for games played to determine eligibility for awards like MVP.

Clippers or Celtics? Joker, Embiid or even … LeBron? And who wants to be NBA commissioner Adam Silver for a day?

The Athletic again put on its collective hard hat, grabbed a lunch pail and jumped head first into All-Star media day, a savage, unruly affair in which players sit up on a dais, behind a gate, having questions shouted at them by YouTube influencers, goofballs on top of other goofballs’ shoulders, rappers, WNBA players and, yes, traditional reporters.

From the practice court at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Joe Vardon, Sam Amick, David Aldridge and Mike Vorkunov spoke to 18 players, most of them All-Stars, a couple from the Skills Challenge, 3-Point or Slam Dunk contests, and one second gentleman, to canvas them on who’s the NBA’s best player, the best team and what about the league needs to change.

Not everyone polled answered every question, but they all had plenty of ideas:

Who is the best player in the league?

Nikola Jokić, Joel Embiid — 3
Luka…

Former Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. reached a deal with prosecutors in a Manhattan court Tuesday, pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault and a harassment violation in the case involving his former girlfriend and WNBA player Kysre Gondrezick, per the Associated Press and Porter’s attorneys.

Porter, 23, agreed to a charge of reckless assault in the third degree and harassment in the second degree, per a statement from Porter’s attorneys. He must complete a 26-week Abusive Partner Intervention Program, according to the Associated Press, abide by a limited order of protection, attend all court dates and have no further arrests. After a year, if Porter complies, he will be allowed to withdraw the plea, effectively clearing his criminal record.

“The resolution will allow Mr. Porter to put this incident, which involved false felony allegations and false facts, behind him with no criminal record and move forward,” Porter Jr.’s attorneys, Phillip Jobe and Stephanie Kelemen, said in a statement.

Porter was arrested on Sept. 11 and charged with assault and strangulation of his girlfriend. A New York Police Department spokesperson said a 911 call was placed from the Millennium Hilton Hotel at 6:45 a.m. ET that morning. When officers arrived, the woman was at the location…

LAS VEGAS — This week, the NBA will descend upon Las Vegas in full force. Even for a city used to spectacle, it’s bringing something novel along with it. For the first time in decades, the league will hold real, live, actual — yes, they count — regular-season games in Sin City. It is a step into the breach unlike any other for the NBA.

Professional basketball has come to Vegas before. There have been exhibition games, the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, NBA Summer League, even a few Utah Jazz games in the 1980s, a playoff game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers in 1992, the NBA G League Ignite franchise since 2020 and, for the last six seasons, WNBA games. But the NBA has never put a product on display quite like the one it will on Thursday afternoon when the NBA In-Season Tournament semifinals tip off at T-Mobile Arena.

While it is a seminal moment for the league and the city, it is also one open to much conjecture and forecasting. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has tiptoed around expansion in recent years, and Las Vegas has come up as a potential home for a new franchise. This week will likely do little to silence those rumblings.

In July, Silver called Vegas “our 31st franchise;” now, everyone is waiting to see if Vegas will actually be the league’s…

CHICAGO — Brian Wright remained stoic throughout. There was no outburst, no wide smile, barely even a fist pump. As the San Antonio Spurs’ winning numbers were read off individually after flying out of a lottery machine in a conference room here he forced himself to sit still. The realization that the fate of his entire organization had just flipped came when Clay Allen, the Rockets general counsel sitting beside him, let him know those four numbers — 14, 5, 8, 2 — were the ones he had been waiting a whole season for.

It’s a remarkable thing, the NBA Lottery. The fortunes of men, women, franchises, and cities, all decided by the random procession of ping pong balls from a clear drum on the third floor of the McCormick Place West Convention Center. As representatives from 14 teams sat waiting for the final number to be drawn a little after six o’clock local time, the futures of six teams hung in the balance. Five of them needed just one more number to land the right to draft the prospected being discussed as the best since LeBron James. Another, the Wizards, had six different outs — if just one of them hit, they’d find glory.

Instead, as Wright sat unmoved, San Antonio found themselves atop the draft again, another generational big man in their sights. In 1987,…

New Rockets coach Ime Udoka told reporters that having dealt with “adversity” will help him “become a better coach and leader” as he was officially introduced by Houston on Wednesday.

• The former Celtics coach, who was suspended by the team for the 2022-23 season, said he stands by the statement he released in September about the situation and feels “more remorse” now. The discipline was a result of Udoka having an intimate relationship with a female member of the Boston organization, The Athletic reported.
• Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta said the NBA was “very comfortable” with Houston making Udoka its coach. “We’re a forgiving world. And anyone who isn’t forgiving, then shame on them,” Fertitta added.
• As far as on-the-court priorities, Udoka said everyone is aligned as to “what (they’re) trying to accomplish.”

Udoka — The steps you take when you’re dealing with adversity, there can beneficial things that come from it. Going forward, the things I learned will help me become a better coach and leader

— Kelly Iko (@KellyIko) April 26, 2023

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

How did Udoka address the suspension?

This was a moment everyone around the Celtics and the NBA had been waiting for. After Boston’s leadership avoided addressing anything…