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BOB'S CORNER: Opals coach Sandy Brondello and her New York Liberty are out of the WNBA playoffs as US correspondent BOB CRAVEN takes us through the Final Four while also reporting on Kevin Durant's decision to stay in Brooklyn and LeBron James signing a new NBA deal.

THE WNBA finals are now set.  Following best-of-three series sweeps by the #4 seed Seattle Storm over the #5 seed Washington Mystics, and by the #1 seed Las Vegas Aces over the short-handed #8 seed Phoenix Mercury, the other semi final teams are now set. 

Both of the other first round series need a third game to decide the semi final participants.

The #2 see and defending champion Chicago Sky surprisingly lost the first game at home to the #7 seed New York Liberty, but then came back to destroy the Liberty in Game 2 by an WNBA playoff-record 38-point margin of victory. 

The Sky was clearly not the limit! They then easily took the deciding third game in New York by 18 points. 

The #3 seed Connecticut Sun easily won Game 1 of their series against the #6 seed Dallas Wings by 25 points, but then, in Dallas, the Wings turned in a big upset and eclipsed the Suns by 10. 

The deciding Game 3 in Dallas was a relatively easy 15-point win by the Suns.

The semi finals are best-of-5 games, using a 2-2-1 format with the higher seed being the home team for the first two games. 

Both initial games are this coming Sunday with #1 Las Vegas entertaining #4 Seattle, followed by #2 Chicago hosting #3 Connecticut.

In the Seattle sweep of Washington, Sue Bird set two more career milestones, becoming the fourth player to make 100 three-pointers in the playoffs, and with 15 points and 10 assists, became at 41, the oldest player in WNBA history to have a double-double. 

She is second oldest player, male or female, to Kareem Abdul Jabbar with a playoff double-double.

THERE was also some interesting NBA news regarding the Brooklyn Nets this week. 

Superstar Kevin Durant had demanded a trade from the Nets, although his reasoning was never explained.  There were rumors he and Nets’ GM, Sean Marks, a Kiwi and former NBA big man, and Nets coach, Hall of Famer Steve Nash, were not Durant’s favourite people.

However on Tuesday the Nets announced Durant met with team leadership, specifically Marks, Nash, and team owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai. 

Durant withdrew his trade request and will stay with the Nets, set to begin a four-year contract extension he signed last summer. 

In all of this, it’s interesting to note that the Nets refused to give Kyrie Irving, a close friend of Durant, a contract extension, which forced him to pick up his player option for this coming season.

Last season the Nets were bidding for the top spot in the Eastern Conference before Durant was sidelined by a knee injury for 21 games.  Now, with Durant back in the fold along with Irving, plus the addition of Ben Simmons, who is expected to return after not playing for the Nets last season after his trade from Philadelphia, Brooklyn will have a top trio. 

It then must be considered major contenders for best in the East, and a threat to take all the marbles, if everybody stays healthy.

AT age 37, Lebron James has signed a new two-year contract with the Lakers worth $US97 million. 

He will enter the coming NBA season as the No. 2 scorer in league history, 1,325 points behind the current leader, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  Barring injury, he should pass Kareem around mid-January.

The NBA also released its schedule for the coming season.  In addition, besides the usual games in the US and Canada, there will also be regular season contests held in Mexico and France.

All 10 LA Lakers whose jersey numbers are retired have also been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. 

The Lakers have said that Pau Gasol will have his No. 16 retired during a ceremony on March 7, 2023.  Gasol stands an excellent chance of being included in a strong Naismith Hall of Fame 2023 class in his first year of eligibility.  If so, he’ll make it 11-of-11.