Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson paid tribute to his late friend and former NFL player Gavin Escobar at the Warriors-Mavericks game on Wednesday night. Thompson arrived at the American Airlines Arena sporting Escobar's No. 89 Dallas Cowboys jersey. Thompson and Escobar were from Rancho Santa Margarita in California, where they attended Santa Margarita Catholic High School. Escobar, who played for the Cowboys for four seasons, died tragically in September 2022 at the age of 31 in a rock-climbing accident, leaving behind a wife and two children. Thompson's gesture to honor his friend went viral on social media, with fans commending the NBA star for the heartfelt tribute.

The Dallas Mavericks are getting ready for their most important game of the regular season, but it remains uncertain whether their superstar duo will be able to play. On Tuesday's injury report, the Mavericks listed Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and Markieff Morris as questionable to play Wednesday night against the Golden State Warriors. Irving's availability is especially in doubt after suffering a setback with his right big toe pain, which has persisted since March 8 and forced him to miss three games earlier this month. Doncic has missed the previous five games with a left thigh strain, leaving the Mavericks struggling to win matches.

The Warriors are fighting to defend their sixth place and win two straight road games for the first time this season. Meanwhile, the Mavericks aim to close the gap on their visitors and boost their home-court advantage in round one. Doncic is expected to return to the Mavericks' lineup since the team hopes the Slovenian All-Star could come back during the upcoming homestand. Though the Mavericks have been sliding in the past month and have an 8-29 on the road record, they have dominated the Warriors recently, winning ten of the past thirteen meetings, including four straight played in Dallas.

With only a dozen games left in the regular season, the Phoenix Suns have just suffered three consecutive losses, which has led to doubts about whether or not they can stay in the fourth seed in the Western Conference. The Suns have the toughest schedule remaining out of the four teams chasing the fourth seed, with home games against the 76ers and the Nuggets, and a road game against the Kings, all playoff contenders in their respective conferences. Despite the obstacles, the Suns own the tiebreaker over the Warriors, Clippers, and Mavericks, and they have a half game lead on the Clippers, a two-game lead on the Mavericks, and a 2.5-game lead on the Warriors.

The Suns will have to play without star player Kevin Durant for at least one more week due to a lingering ankle injury. Coach Monty Williams has called on the team to remain positive despite the loss of Durant. While the remaining games on the schedule will be tough, the Suns have shown themselves to be a playoff-caliber team, having won more games than any other Suns team in the last 10 years. The team has the talent and the determination to stay in the West's top four, but they'll have to bring their A-game every night from now until the end of the season.

As uncertainty weighs on the banking system and the financial sector faces turmoil, the Federal Reserve is set to make a decision about raising interest rates at its policy meeting on Wednesday. However, according to an economist from Goldman Sachs, there are concerns that small and midsize banks may not have sufficient support, which argues against raising rates. Even though inflation has eased after a 40-year-high, rate-raising may exacerbate the crisis of confidence American consumers already feel with their savings accounts. Meanwhile, the average credit card rate has risen beyond 20%, a new record high, while households use credit to finance basic needs. It seems that, for now, the best course of action may be for the Fed to pause interest rates to allow stability among banks to take hold.

GameStop (GME) shareholders believe that heightened short positions in financial and banking stocks could set up GME for a short squeeze. Indeed, the short interest in GME as of Feb. 28 was 22.1%, one of the highest percentages in 8 years. Many investors are now turning to SVB Financial Group (SIVB) subsidiary Silicon Valley Bank, as it is believed to have a possible connection to GME’s success.

Hedge funds have been selling off financial and banking stocks, increasing their bearish bets on banks over the past 9 weeks. Vanguard and BlackRock remain the largest shareholders of SIVB, controlling a 0.04% and 0.03% of its portfolio respectively. These two companies, according to GME shareholders, will be forced to hedge their positions by selling out of long positions and recalling short GME shares due to their losses in SV