Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) drives on the Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Tue Nov 26, 2024 (AP News photo)

On Headline Sports podcast with Jessica Kwong:

#1 Jessica, the Atlanta Hawks deliberately benched Trae Young to keep him out of the NBA Cup Game on Nov 12th. The Hawks were fined $100,000 for benching Young. The Hawks claimed that Young was suffering from  tendinitis in his right Achilles. The NBA sited that the Hawks were in violation of the player participation policy. The league said that unless a team seeks approved reason to bench a star player and demonstrate that they would end up being investigated and disciplined.

#2 The Milwaukee Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo sat out Tuesday’s game against the Miami Heat due to a swelled up left knee. Antetokounmpo had been a question mark leading up to Tuesday’s game but after taking pre game warm ups it was decided he would sit this one out. The Bucks still won the game 106-103.

#3 The Houston Rockets have improved immensely thanks to the help from Alperen Sengun who tallied 22 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists and picking up his third triple double for the season. The Rockets got a 117-111 win in overtime over the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Rockets picked another win this time over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night 122-115.

#4 The Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James and the Phoenix Suns Kevin Durant are ageless as both were trading off dunks in their game on Tuesday night in a game the Lakers lost their third straight game. 127-100. Durant scored 23 and LeBron finished with 18. Although neither were the leading scorer that presence that both players bring give their teammates that much more confidence.

#5 Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Lindsey Harding has put in the hard work to get where she is today. Lindsey started out in the WNBA, played in Turkey and Russia, she was a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers, she was an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings 2022-23, then became a head coach for the G League Stockton Kings 2023-24 and won the coach of the year award and now is an assistant coach at the Lakers. She is one of six female NBA assistant coaches. She’s climbing the ladder and someday will become a NBA head coach.

Join Jessica for Headline Sports every other Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com