This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here. There's rarely a dull moment in the NBA, where the off-court drama often surpasses the incredible athleticism showcased nightly on the hardwood.
This year's training camps were overshadowed by three provocative non-basketball stories that fuelled the hot-take-industrial complex for weeks: Suns owner Robert Sarver's one-year suspension for making inappropriate comments toward employees; Celtics coach Ime Udoka's own one-year ban for reportedly having a sexual relationship with a team staffer; and Draymond Green's caught-on-video punching of Warriors teammate Jordan Poole.
Earlier in the off-season, one of the league's signature players, Kevin Durant, demanded a trade from Brooklyn, only to rescind his request after the Nets refused to move him.
The fact that Draymond's Warriors and Udoka's Celtics were the NBA finalists last spring while Sarver's Suns and Durant's Nets are title contenders shows that even the top teams can't escape the chaos.