This week, LeBron James took to social media to criticize the NBA’s challenge rules. Specifically, James argued that teams should retain their right to challenge after successfully overturning a call.

James was watching Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, like many angry fans, when he commented. In that game, Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd made two successful challenge calls early but could not issue a third. Current NBA rules set a hard cap of two challenge calls for each team per game.

“Have to change that challenge rule!” James said in his social media post. “No way you have two successful challenges and can’t anymore for the rest of the game! Makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE.”

Ultimately, the Mavericks avoided major officiating incidents and pulled out a 108-105 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves to take a 1-0 series lead. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving have led the team further than many people thought possible, and Dallas is now one game closer to its first trip to the Finals since 2011.

Despite Dallas’ win, James’ comments about the league’s challenge rules encapsulate a pressing issue. All three major sports leagues besides the NBA allow coaches to keep their right to challenge after successful calls. The NHL discourages failed challenges by issuing delay-of-game penalties for failures. MLB revokes the right to challenge again in those cases. The NFL allows a third challenge following two successes but also charges a timeout to the challenging team for a failure.

In a fast-paced sport like basketball, capping the number of potential challenges, regardless of their outcome, is an attempt to prevent delays. But if teams need to overturn three or more calls in a game, especially a postseason game, James and others have argued that they must have that right.

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic won his third MVP award Wednesday, beating young Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Mavericks leader Luka Doncic. Jokic and the Nuggets are currently trailing the Minnesota Timberwolves 2-0 in the Western Conference Semifinals, the big man still took a moment to thank his team for the accomplishment.

“It’s got to start with the teammates; without them, I cannot do nothing,” Jokic said Wednesday on Inside the NBA on TNT. “Coaches, players, organization, medical staff, strength coaches, development coaches. It is all one big circle. But I cannot be whatever I am without them.”

Jokic, usually a casual presence in interviews, appeared to be very happy during the segment. He bantered with Shaquille O’Neal, who told him to his face that he believed Gilgeous-Alexander deserved the award. Jokic went on to say that many players deserved it and that it likely came down to minimal differences in play.

Though Jokic seemed to appreciate the honor, his third MVP in four years, he has always stated that personal awards are not nearly as important to him as team accomplishments. After winning his first NBA championship with the Nuggets last year, the chances of a repeat victory are crumbling at the hands of Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves.

Instead of an MVP award, Edwards has earned a rarer and potentially more distinctive honor in recent weeks. After a superstar-caliber, series-sweeping performance against the Suns, in which he averaged 31 points per game and two road wins over the Nuggets, the young, swaggering point guard has begun to earn comparisons to Michael Jordan.

For his part, Edwards has tried to downplay these comparisons, claiming that he cannot be expected to size up to a six-time NBA champion. On the other hand, after losing to Denver in four straight games last year, the Timberwolves’ improvement in the 2023-24 season has been drastic. Edwards can take a sizeable amount of credit for that. In Games 1 and 2 against Denver, he scored 43 and 27 points, respectively.

As Jokic turns his attention back to his team for Game 3, he finds himself in an unfamiliar position – he and the Nuggets have not trailed in a playoff series since 2022. As the team prepares for two road games in Minnesota, it will be paramount to win at least one, if not both, of those games to have any realistic chance of moving on to the Western Conference Final.

Though his return to the starting lineup may be gradual, Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns proved Wednesday night that he is the x-factor for a team on the brink of playoff contention. Coming back from injury with a brilliant performance, the big man proved that he still has the ability to propel Minnesota from a first-round exit to a potentially deep playoff run.

In the Timberwolves’ game against the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday, Towns made his first appearance since recovering from a right calf sprain he suffered in late November. He only appeared on the floor for 26 minutes but scored 22 points with four rebounds and three assists. Minnesota won 125-124.

Though the Timberwolves, now 36-37, have managed to scrape together a credible season thus far without the services of its star center, Towns’ limited presence seemed to make an immediate difference. Fatigue was an issue but he still managed to produce as the team’s second-highest scorer, and trailing by one with 3.6 seconds remaining, he hit two free throws to win the game.

“As soon as they told me that, me and [Anthony Edwards] both looked at each and said the same thing: ‘Game’s over.’ Two free throws for me. That’s game, set, match,” Towns said. “I don’t think anyone in our team was doubting I was going to miss and I didn’t have one doubt in my mind I was going to miss either.”

With Towns back in the lineup, an already-tall Timberwolves roster gains even more size, as the center will likely share the floor with fellow bigs Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid, Kyle Anderson, Taurean Prince and others. Minnesota has been known to feature many of all of its taller players on the floor at the same time, a scheme the team used to great effect against Atlanta.

Coach Chris Finch noted after the game that Towns could slot perfectly back into the team’s existing style of play, as he did late in the game Wednesday.

“It’s obviously one of the beauties of KAT. You can give him the ball in a lot of places on the floor in high-leverage situations. He’s going to get a clean look, put a lot of pressure to get the foul,” Finch said.

Barring an unforeseen skid at the end of the regular season, the Timberwolves will soon begin to prepare for the playoffs after securing either a guaranteed spot or berth in the play-in tournament. The team remains a prohibitive long shot to win the NBA Championship coming out of an extremely competitive Western Conference. But with Towns likely returning to full strength by April, the team could be prepared for any test ahead.

After missing 13 games due to testing positive for COVID-19, Karl-Anthony Towns returned to the court on Wednesday night. Following the game, he detailed his experiences with the disease.

“I am a high-risk case,” Towns told ESPN. “COVID did not treat me well whatsoever. A lot of scary nights. One of the things that I told my sister when I got COVID was that ‘Hey, I got it, and I don’t get a good version of it. I got a lot of COVID in me, but I am going to fight and beat it.'”

Not only did the 25-year old fall victim to coronavirus, but his family did as well. Towns lost his mother and six other family members to coronavirus. His mother, Jacqueline Cruz Towns died last April after she was placed on a ventilator and later in a medically induced coma. She was 58.

“Through all the long nights where I was just not feeling well whatsoever and the vitals weren’t good and decisions had to be made on my health, I kept [my family and my niece and nephew] in mind,” Towns added. “They pushed me to continue doing things. When COVID kept messing with my body, my mind, and spirit, I thought about them and my mother.”

Towns also elaborated upon the guilt he felt receiving treatment that wasn’t available to everyone, and he noted that his “rough journey, as a result of an underlying condition.”

Continuing, Towns added that his experience with COVID-19 was longer than most people’s and while he was not mentally ready to play on Wednesday, he did because of the support system provided by his teammates and coaches.

Changing the subject, Towns echoed LeBron James‘ belief that the NBA All-Star Game should not happen.

“I personally don’t believe there should be an All-Star Game, but what the hell do I know?” Towns said. “S—, I obviously haven’t dealt with COVID, probably a guy who has some insight into that. What should I know about COVID, right?”

The 2021 NBA All-Star game is set to be played on March 7 in Atlanta.

LeBron James showed another flash of brilliance Sunday night when he drove into the lane for a poster dunk on Timberwolves center Gorgui Dieng as the Lakers won 142-125 over Minnesota. James found himself with a mismatch on the perimeter and took advantage of it.

Crossing over from right to left, James had Dieng on his hip before taking another dribble and throwing down a monstrous right hand dunk.

James dealt with foul trouble only playing 12 minutes in the first half, but was well rested going into the break ahead 73-65.

He topped off the dunk with another highlight this time in the third quarter. After the Timberwolves tried to save the ball on the baseline, it was thrown back to James who pulled up for a tough angle shot 30 feet from the basket with a fresh shot clock and nailed it. James has been averaging a whopping 25.6 points, 10.7 assists and 7 rebounds per game this season. His assist average is the highest ever in his career.

Minnesota could not get stops consistently as “The King” finished with 32 points, 13 assists and four rebounds in 28 minutes of action. “For me and AD, we just, it starts with us. If we’re on the same page it makes it a lot easier for the rest of the ballclub, and that’s both on and off the floor. So we’re just trying to lead by example, lead by command, lead by our voices, lead by our play and see where it takes us. It’s been pretty good for us so far,” James said.

Anthony Davis had a season high 50 points on 68 % shooting, and did so without making a single three-pointer.

“The team was telling me, they weren’t telling me how much I had, but they were saying, ‘Get 50.’ Usually I don’t really pay attention. I just go out there and play and try to get the win. But it’s hard when your teammates are constantly reminding you, ‘Go get 50! Go get 50!’ So they made sure I was constantly reminded,” Davis told ESPN.

Any questions about how this year’s team would mesh have been answered. The Lakers are now atop the Western Conference standings with a 21-3 record having won four in a row and 14 of their last 15 games with no signs of slowing down.

Rookie Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns has been showing the basketball world why he was the number one overall pick in the NBA Draft this past June. In the very building he was officially announced as a NBA player, Towns would put on a performance that would show the 7-foot center would flourish in years to come.

Facing the Brooklyn Nets in the Barclays Center, he recorded a double-double with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds which helped lift the Timberwolves in beating the Nets 100-85. “It felt like I was at the park out here tonight,” Towns said after the game. “Just having a blast, having fun and no matter what happened.”

Towns also had a family reunion in having dinner with his parents Saturday night before the game on Sunday afternoon. Also, he learned that his grandmother was not in the arena because of her aging condition. “My grandmother doesn’t get a lot of chances to see me play. I mean, not at all,” said Towns. “She watches every single game we play on TV. I personally bought the [NBA] League Pass. She prays every single day for me, she goes to church every single day and prays for me.” He also stated that his grandmother wanted him to play baseball for the New York Yankees but that basketball was his calling. “I can only imagine today she almost probably cried when I was on the floor for a little bit, probably started crying knowing her. Also funny enough, she didn’t even want me to play basketball. She wanted me to be a baseball player for the New York Yankees, so I think I did a better job [playing basketball].”

Photo: ATLANTA, GA – NOVEMBER 09: Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves reacts after hitting a basket against the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena on November 9, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)