NBA media days – The best quotes from around the league as teams kick off the 2022-23 season – ESPN

NBA training camps and the 2022-23 season are right around the corner, and players and coaches are set to preview their team's upcoming campaigns with their respective media days this week.

For some teams, this year's media day will be the first introduction of some of their big offseason additions. These include the Atlanta Hawks' new shooting guard Dejounte Murray, the Cleveland Cavaliers' new shooting guard Donovan Mitchell and the Minnesota Timberwolves' new center Rudy Gobert. Each of which will meet with reporters for the first time as a member of their new respective squads.

This year's rookie class will also make their NBA media day debuts. First overall pick Paolo Banchero will get some facetime with Orlando Magic beat reporters fresh off his Summer League performance as he prepares for his first NBA training camp.

The same goes for Jabari Smith Jr. of the Houston Rockets, Keegan Murray of the Sacramento Kings and a handful of other coveted rookies that will be expected to help their teams right away this year.

ESPN's countdown of the league's best players returns for its 12th season. See which stars made the cut, which vaulted to the top and which are sliding down the list.

NBArank 1-5: International stars on the rise NBArank 6-10: How far LeBron and KD fell NBArank 11-25: L.A. duo and rising Wolves NBArank 26-100: Russ, Ben and a host of Qs Debate! LeBron's ranking and top-10 tweaks

Then there are some veteran teams that will have some serious questions and concerns to address heading into the season. The Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets, who bear the pressure of being serious win-now contenders this year, got plenty of the media's attention last year for all the wrong reasons.

LeBron James and Russell Westbrook will have to explain to Lakers reporters why they will bounce back from last year's losing campaign.

Meanwhile, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving will have to answer for their spree of off-the-court distractions and offseason of near departures in their first media appearances since their first-round playoff exit last season.

Here's what players are talking about as media days kick off across the league:

Did we just become best friends?

Back in November 2019, after years of on-court run-ins, Russell Westbrook attempted to bury Patrick Beverley -- suggesting that his defensive reputation was more branding than actual execution.

"Pat Bev trick y'all, man, like he plays defense," Westbrook said at the time. "He don't guard nobody, man. It's just running around doing nothing."

Beverley later revealed on JJ Redick's podcast that Westbrook's barb "damaged my career."

That's what made Beverley's comments about Westbrook at Lakers media day Monday so jaw-dropping.

"You can't really take everything you do in the game and put it in real life," Beverley told ESPN. "Since I've been here ... if I was to have a best friend on the team right now, for sure it'd be him. We spend the most time together. We've been locked and lift weights together and all that stuff. So I'm super excited."

Whether Beverley and Westbrook have truly let bygones be bygones or if this was just an orchestrated effort by the pair of point guards to throw a wet blanket on their fiery past in front of the media remains to be seen.

During Beverley's news conference, he was asked to elaborate on how his relationship with Westbrook has grown since he was traded to L.A., causing the 11-year veteran to launch into a facetious fairytale.

"We went on this boat ride, you feel me? It was just us two. It was real intimate," Beverley said. "It was 2,000 candles, you feel me? He landed in a helicopter. I came in one of my underwater vessels. We talked three hours over wine. He had a two-Michelin-star chef come pull up, cook some steaks. I had my chef pull up and make the desserts. And that's how we got to where we are now."

Beverley did share a legitimate story with the Lakers' regional television partner that he and Westbrook have spent time together during pregame chapel services over the years and that Westbrook once gifted his sister courtside tickets.

"I look at my sister, she's on the floor, he gave her her seats," Beverley told Spectrum SportsNet. "[Didn't] know me from a can of paint. ... From that point on [the relationship improved]."

The Lakers plan to use Beverley as their primary wing defender and hope he can convert from the outside as a career 37.8% 3-point shooter, sources familiar with the team's thinking told ESPN, rather than use training camp as a battle for the starting point guard spot between him and Westbrook.

However, there will be others on the roster -- namely Dennis Schroder, Kendrick Nunn and Austin Reaves -- that Westbrook will have to separate himself from in order to secure a job with the first unit.

-- Dave McMenamin

Durant, Nets GM address offseason drama

The Brooklyn Nets had an ... eventful summer. But after Kevin Durant's surprising trade request -- and subsequent rescinding of said trade request -- the Nets are whole again and have the roster to contend for an NBA championship.

Durant and Nets general manager Sean Marks addressed their tumultuous offseason during Brooklyn's media day.

"No," Durant said when asked if he was surprised he's still a Net. "I know I'm that good that you're not just going to give me away. That's one thing I did appreciate about Sean and [Nets owner] Joe [Tsai]. ...

"I know who I am."

Sitting next to Nets coach Steve Nash, Marks addressed KD's trade request and the adversity facing Brooklyn this season.

"If [Durant] wanted out, and still wanted out, he wouldn't be here," Marks said.

"You want people who have the conviction to be here."

The Lambo is back for the Pels

Zion Williamson is a Lamborghini and needs to treat his body as such.

That was New Orleans Pelicans forward Larry Nance's message to his star teammate as Williamson prepares to return to the court for the 2022-23 season after a long injury layoff.

"You don't put the cheapest gas in a Lambo, you know?" Nance said at Pelicans media day on Monday. "You go to the pump and you put the 93 to 95, whatever that is, you put that in there 'cause you don't want to be on the highway driving and hear your engine. No, you don't want that."

Williamson missed all of last season with a broken right foot. A year ago at Pelicans media day, the Pelicans announced the injury, and it seemed that Williamson wouldn't miss much of the regular season, if any games at all. Instead, Williamson suffered numerous setbacks and never was able to step foot on the court.

This year's media day was different, however. Williamson was all smiles all day.

"I feel like I'm at my best right now," Williamson said. "I feel like I'm moving faster, jumping higher. I feel great."

-- Andrew Lopez

Goran Dragic on the D-Rose dunk: "This is my nightmare"

When a reporter began to bring up the time Goran Dragic, then in only his second season in the NBA, was on the wrong side of a dunk by Derrick Rose, all Dragic could do was smile and laugh.

"This is my nightmare," he joked.

The clip went viral for Rose's ferocious dunk and Bulls commentator Stacey King's animated reaction -- "What are you doing Dragic? Did you not get the memo?" -- but Dragic, now entering his 15th season in the NBA, is able to laugh looking back on it.

"The funny thing is this was the only time somebody dunk on me in my whole NBA career," Dragic said. "It's fine. I even talk to Derrick. We were together in Zagreb when we had an Adidas campaign and I came to him and I said 'You had to do it like that?'

"At least I'm on TV all the time."

-- Jamal Collier

Patrick Williams on training with DeMar DeRozan

DeMar DeRozan leaned back in his chair and laughed when asked about putting Patrick Williams through his offseason workout plan.

DeRozan had been plotting for Williams, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft entering his third season in Chicago, to join him in Los Angeles during the offseason ever since the end of last season when he proclaimed at his exit interview that "Pat is my main victim."

"The workout starts at 5 on the dot, not 5:01, not 4:59 -- 5 a.m. You can't be pulling in the parking lot at 5 a.m.," Williams said. "He puts himself through every situation he can possibly be in in the game -- every double-team, triple-team. It's different. One-on-one, one-on-three -- it's just different. Then of course he has a family. He goes home and tends to them, be with them, still be a father. ... Then we go back in the afternoon for more."

After missing most of last season with a wrist injury, Williams' development will be one of the biggest storylines to watch this season in Chicago.

"Even before the season ended last year, I was telling him how important this summer is for him," DeRozan said. "Coming into his third year, so much experience and understanding what needs to be done is gained your first two years. You kind of let it all out going into your third year."

-- Collier

Bulls give an update on Lonzo's knee

The Chicago Bulls did not have a firm timeline for Lonzo Ball's return when they met with the media Monday at the United Center.

Bulls vice president Arturas Karnisovas said the team and Ball's representatives reached a crossroads over the summer with Ball's recovery from a left knee injury suffered in January before electing to have another surgery, which is scheduled for Wednesday in Los Angeles.

"First of all, we gave him every opportunity to rehab and get back on the court without doing the surgery," Karnisovas said. "So that was our thought process, obviously with the thought in mind of what's best for the player. ... We need to do something else."

Ball is expected to be reevaluated in four to six weeks following the surgery, which will sideline him for training camp and at least the start of the regular season.

Chicago remained optimistic about its chances to compete while noting how improved the Eastern Conference would be this season, pointing to guards Alex Caruso, Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White, as well as new addition Goran Dragic, as players who will pick up the slack in Ball's absence.

"Anytime you lose a good player, it's always challenging," Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. "I think we'll have to see how these guys gel and mesh once training camp starts and we start practicing. I think we have enough back there that we can get the job done."

-- Collier

Clippers take the throne -- the kicks throne

The LA Clippers have several stations where players stop by to take pictures at media day. One is a kicks station, complete with an elevated throne. Paul George stopped by to show off his latest "PG" model and talk about his favorite kicks growing up -- the first shoes he loved were the Nike Huaraches worn by Michigan's Fab Five. Marcus Morris Sr. stopped by to greet George, who saw Morris wearing several gold chains with his uniform and said he should've worn his gold chain as well.

John Wall unloaded a bag of sneakers while Kawhi Leonard stopped by to look at all of Wall's kicks. Wall shouted, "Hey Klaw!" to ask what he thought. Leonard said Wall could use some New Balances -- his shoe sponsor -- but added, "You got some Kobes in there."

-- Ohm Youngmisuk

Jaylen Brown addresses KD trade talks

While the focus of media day in the Boston suburbs was on the suspension of coach Ime Udoka, and the fallout from it, Jaylen Brown also addressed one other lingering storyline from the offseason: his inclusion in trade discussions for Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant.

"Yes and no," Brown said when asked if he'd talked to the front office about the trade discussions. "I've talked to my teammates, I've talked to ownership, organization, etc. I keep those conversations between us. All I can say is that now that I'm here, I'm ready to play basketball. I'm in great shape, probably the best shape of my life, so I'm excited to start the journey. Things have gotten to the start that we wanted it to go, but that's life sometimes, so put our best foot forward and do what we gotta do."

Brown, who will turn 26 next month, has blossomed into one of the NBA's top wing players, and he and Jayson Tatum are among the league's elite wing combinations. But it also isn't the first time his name has come up in such a scenario, as it did when superstars like Anthony Davis and Kawhi Leonard were available in the past.

Brown alluded to that when asked how it felt to go through that this summer, hinting that it's not the first time he has had to do so.

"I don't know how to answer that," Brown said. "It's been the same since I've been here, so it wasn't surprising or it wasn't not surprising, it didn't make me feel some type of way or whatever.

"It is what it is. I talked to my teammates, organization about it and now I'm just ready to play basketball."

-- Tim Bontemps

Keeping Luka fresh after a busy summer

Luka Doncic will likely get a lot of time off during training camp. The Mavericks want to proceed with caution when it comes to their MVP candidate, who spent his summer starring for the Slovenian national team, including playing in seven EuroBasket games earlier this month.

Unlike the past two years, Doncic reported to training camp this month in game shape. However, he took a beating during EuroBasket, playing through injuries to his shooting wrist, ankle, head and back.

"We're going to start a little light, but as we all know in this room, Luka loves to play basketball," coach Jason Kidd said. "He's ready to go, but we want just to start slow. This is a marathon. He just got done playing, but anytime he sees the practice game plan and sees scrimmage, he's ready to play."

Doncic, Kidd and Mavs director of player health and performance Casey Smith will discuss the superstar's involvement in practice on a daily basis. Doncic, whose EuroBasket run ended prematurely when Poland pulled off a stunning upset over Slovenia in the quarterfinals, said he feels "fine" physically.

"I'm probably not going to do everything, but I'm going to do a lot," Doncic said. "I don't know. We're still trying to figure out a plan."

--Tim MacMahon

When will Robert Williams III be ready?

When the NBA Finals came to a close a little more than three months ago, both the Boston Celtics and starting center Robert Williams III said they anticipated rest -- and not surgery -- would be the thing to fix his left knee that caused him problems throughout the playoffs.

But then came last week, when the team announced Williams not only had surgery on that same left knee, but that he wouldn't be able to resume basketball activities for another 8-12 weeks.

"I just feel like it never got back to what it was," Williams said when addressing why he chose to have surgery. "That's the bottom line.

"So, we want to do 100 percent of rehab and do things the right way."

The injury was the second significant blow to Boston's depth in the past few weeks, after free agent signing Danilo Gallinari tore his ACL in a World Cup qualifier for Italy in late August.

But Williams, who had a meniscectomy in late March and came back in less than a month to play in the first round of the playoffs against the Brooklyn Nets -- and ultimately missed seven playoff games as he shuttled in and out of the lineup as the knee flared up -- said repeatedly he had "no regrets" about playing through it.

"I'm solid, for sure," Williams said. "I played in the Finals, homie. You win some, you lose some, but I don't regret my decision at all. I was 24 years old and my dream was to play in the Finals. I don't regret that s---."

-- Bontemps

How do you do, fellow kids?

Mavericks have a plan for newcomer Christian Wood

The Mavericks' plan for Christian Wood, their most prominent offseason addition, is to use him as a sixth man.

Coach Jason Kidd confirmed that during media day, but it might have been news to Wood, who was acquired from the Houston Rockets in June for the No. 26 overall pick and four end-of-bench players.

"This is my first time hearing about it," said Wood, who was straight faced at first and then laughed, somewhat uncomfortably.

Wood averaged 19.1 points and 9.9 rebounds as the starting center for the rebuilding Rockets the past two seasons and is entering the final year of a three-year, $41 million deal. JaVale McGee will start at center for the Mavericks, as the 34-year-old lob threat and rim protector was promised during the free agency recruiting process.

"I'm motivated either way -- off the bench or starting, either way," Wood said, noting this is the first time in his career that he has had an opportunity to contribute to a winning team. "It's something I could figure out. I'm not really worried about who's starting the game, more so concerned about who's finishing the game.

"If people are asking like, 'How would he feel about coming off the bench?' I'm not too worried. It's something that most likely will [be discussed] in talks with extensions and talks with free agency, but during the season, it's not going to get me off of my pivot."

Wood profiles as a potential Sixth Man of the Year candidate if he embraces the role. He has proven the ability to score efficiently, is a threat to roll or pop after screening and figures to get a lot of good looks around the rim and at the 3-point line when paired with MVP candidate Luka Doncic.

"I want C. Wood to be himself," Kidd said. "I don't need him to be 'The Microwave.' I just need him to be C. Wood."

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NBA media days - The best quotes from around the league as teams kick off the 2022-23 season - ESPN