Jerry Stackhouse knows that if we do not wash our own laundry, it just gets dirtier (Getty Images)

If you think pro athletes speaking out against some of the moves their players union has and is attempting to make is rare, understand that it isn’t. Throughout baseball, football and pro hockey, various public factions and flare-ups go on record all the time. The NBPA, especially in recent years and certainly in the months surrounding the 2011 NBA lockout, remained a united front. And because that front was lined up behind executive director Billy Hunter, the front hasn’t moved in the right direction of late.

Hunter is currently on a leave of absence, with the expectation that he’ll be asked to step down later this month as the head of the league’s players association. On Wednesday, Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant called for his fellow players, and especially stars, to show more activity when it comes to immersing themselves in the details of their union representation. On Thursday, Brooklyn Nets veteran Jerry Stackhouse was the first to come out against longtime Bryant teammate and union president Derek Fisher, who is waging a war to oust Hunter.

In Fisher, Stackhouse apparently sees someone who is complicit with Hunter. From the Detroit News’ Vincent Goodwill:

"Derek has stepped up and has really tried to grab the reins but I think he has to go too," he said. "If you're not aware of everything that's happened on your watch for so long, I think the whole system is flawed."

John Wall's been huge for the Wizards, but is he a franchise player? (Ned Dishman/NBA/Getty Images)

The Washington Wizards took down the New York Knicks, 106-96, at the Verizon Center on Wednesday night, upsetting the East's No. 2 seed behind scorching shotmaking from the likes of Trevor Ariza and Martell Webster (a combined 10 for 16 from 3-point land), strong-enough fourth-quarter defense against Knicks star Carmelo Anthony and a strong performance from starting point guard John Wall. The 2010 draft's No. 1 overall pick scored a team-high 21 points, dished nine assists and grabbed five rebounds in 39 minutes; he looked like an explosive, dynamic whirlwind on both ends of the floor in leading the woeful 13-35 Wizards to their ninth win over a playoff-caliber team, and their fifth over a division leader.

Three of those division-leader-toppling victories — against the Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers and Chicago Bulls — have come since Wall's return from a knee injury that cost him the season's first 33 games; the Wizards were 5-28 without him, and are 8-7 with him in the lineup. The turnaround in the Wizards' fortunes doesn't exactly have the team's fans thinking about the playoffs, as they were before Wall went down a month before the start of the season, but it has led to some supporters rekindling their beliefs that the 22-year-old triggerman could actually be the kind of franchise-changing centerpiece many believed him to be coming out of Kentucky. Stan Van Gundy, it seems, isn't one of them.

The former Miami Heat and Orlando Magic head coach recently drew some DMV ire for saying in a D.C.-area radio interview that the Wizards, even with a healthy Wall, have no foundational pieces: "He’s certainly got talent, but I don’t know that even John Wall is a great player to build your franchise around [...] I think there’s a lot of people in the league — I’d certainly be one that would share this opinion — I don’t think John Wall’s good enough to be the guy that you build around." With Van Gundy in D.C. last week to call a college basketball game for NBC Sports Network, CSN Washington's Ben Standig caught up with the coach to see if anything had changed. It hasn't:

Rasheed Wallace during his rookie year (Getty Images)

New York Knicks big man Rasheed Wallace was once a Washington Bullet. Not a Washington Wizard, but a Washington Bullet – drafted by the team in 1995 two years before the squad changed its name to the “Wizards.” Wallace’s tenure in Washington only lasted for a season, and not for the reasons you’d guess. He had bone to pick with referees and sometimes frustrated with his perimeter leanings – this was obvious even before the days of League Pass, back when every NBA team was given one or more mandated nationally televised appearances – but because the Bullets had a stacked frontcourt even before grabbing Wallace.

In the years since he was dealt from the team in 1996, Wallace has often taken several sly digs at the franchise and former GM John Nash for dealing him to Portland for Rod Strickland and Harvey Grant. In retrospect, it appears like the classic big-for-small and young-for-old deal that Washington seems famous for, and Strickland is often thought of the guy wearing the backwards shorts while eating fast food before games.

It’s time to give Washington a break, though. But not before we give Wallace, who visited the city with his Knicks on Wednesday, one more shot at the franchise. From the Washington Post’s Michael Lee:

“Every time I’m back here, people say, ‘Man, why’d you leave?’ ” Wallace said, shaking his head, at Wednesday’s morning shootaround at Verizon Center. “It wasn’t up to me.”

You can't spell 'best team, duh' without 'beards.' (USA TODAY Sports)

The Dallas Mavericks ripped off a 15-4 run to start the fourth quarter against the Portland Trail Blazers, then watched as their lead dwindled to just three points with less than two minutes left — things seemed to be setting up for exactly the kind of tight late-game situation in which Portland has flourished (they're 18-11 in games where the score's within five points in the final three minutes, according to NBA.com's stat tool) and Dallas has struggled (12-15, same stat) this season. But in the final minute, a wide-open, game-tying 3-point attempt by Wesley Matthews fro the right wing rimmed out — Portland went just 1 for 10 from 3 in the fourth quarter — and on the ensuing Dallas possession, Vince Carter nailed a long jumper from beyond the left elbow to put the Mavs up five with 26.9 seconds remaining, and Dallas held on for a 105-99 home win.

It was Dallas' first win over a playoff-caliber opponent in three weeks and it came on a night where star Dirk Nowitzki wasn't at the top of his game (16 points on 7 for 19 shooting) — if you're a Mavericks fan, you're hoping a victory like that could help spark the largely uninspired 21-28 group to go on a bit of a hot streak. Unless, of course, you'd prefer to see your Mavericks sporting rich, full facial hair. From Brad Townsend at the Dallas Morning News:

While answering questions following Wednesday night’s home victory over Portland, Dirk Nowitzki kept scratching his increasingly scraggly beard.

So Nowitzki was asked: What’s the deal about the beards several Mavericks are sporting? And does Dirk’s wife, Jessica, approve of it?

“Not really,” Nowitzki said in response to the second question.

He said the mostly team-wide beard pact was started about two weeks ago by O.J. Mayo, Dahntay Jones and Vince Carter.

“We said we’re not going to shave until we’re back to .500,” Nowitzki said. “So it’s been rough. There’s been some itching going on. And since we’re still down seven games below .500, that’s a long way to go.”

Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire learn about The Cheesecake Factory's vegan options (Getty Images)

Two years ago, we relayed the news that then-Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony was fasting from certain foods during the regular season’s midpoint, including meats, soda, and most carbohydrate-based products. His play during that time, for whatever reason, suffered before he went back to his usual routine. He attempted the same thing this season, same diet, and Deadspin pointed out last month that Anthony was getting the same results.

Amar’e Stoudemire is Anthony’s teammate on the most recent brand of the New York Knicks, and he’s enjoying a fantastic renaissance year. He’s also enjoying his greens. His brussels sprouts, even. From the New York Post:

Stoudemire recently went off the vegan diet for over a week, but his play didn’t suffer. He didn’t take any chances, though, and he returned to veganism yesterday before scoring 19 points in the Knicks’ 106-96 loss to the Wizards in Washington.

“I just needed a break,’’ Stoudemire admitted.

Stoudemire said a mixture of asparagus, brussels sprouts and salads have worked wonders. Last night after the loss, he sat with a plate of spinach and broccoli as his teammates downed postgame pasta and sausage.

Grant Hill in his return to Orlando on Wednesday (Getty Images)

There’s no official announcement, most likely his camp would prefer to do as much after he clutches the Larry O’Brien trophy for the first time this June, but all indications in a borderline furtive discussion with the Orlando Sentinel point toward Los Angeles Clipper forward Grant Hill retiring after this season. Even if he stopped short of using the word "retire."

[Also: With Pau Gasol injured, will Dwight Howard step up?]

Hill gave away as much on Wednesday before his short-handed Clippers beat the super-short handed Orlando Magic by an 86-76 score. Perhaps it was the Orlando setting that moved Hill – a player that missed 374 out of a possible 574 games as a member of the Magic between 2000 and 2007 – that pushed Hill into this admission. Regardless of how he got there, it’s a bit of a downer. From the Orlando Sentinel:

Hill gave every indication to me that he'll retire after the season, his first with the Los Angeles Clippers and 18th in the NBA.

"I'm 40 — come on," he said.

Evan Turner thinks he's worth more than a nickel. (Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports)If you balked at buying Philadelphia 76ers tickets for 10 cents a pop back in November because you're not made of money, you really should've been trawling StubHub on Wednesday afternoon. You could've gotten a steal of a deal.

See, the 76ers aren't exactly an attractive watch these days. Yes, they'd won four of their last five games headed into Wednesday night, but even that only nosed them up to five games south of .500, which isn't very good, even for the East. Plus, the Sixers have the league's third-worst offense and play at the NBA's ninth-slowest pace, are playing without injured expected superstar Andrew Bynum, injured actual centerpiece Thaddeus Young and now recognizable (if past his prime) swingman Jason Richardson. Sure, point guard Jrue Holiday's a legit Eastern Conference All-Star, but he's not always very exciting; basically, your best shots at excitement at a Sixers game right now are Nick Young doing something ridiculous (likely) or Spencer Hawes checking into the game on his Segway (less so).

[Related: Sixers' Richardson out for season with knee injury]

Given that, it's kind of hard to justify dropping serious coin on a random mid-week 76ers game, especially when they're taking on a similarly not-so-thrilling opponent like the Indiana Pacers. Luckily, as Philly.com's Ryan Petzar shared Wednesday, you didn't have to drop very many coins for tickets to last night's game at all:

Hundreds of tickets for tonight's Sixers vs. Pacers matchup at the Wells Fargo Center are selling for less than a nickel on StubHub.

One enterprising Sixers fan on Twitter decided that with prices that low, he may as well buy an entire row.

And so, he did:

In analyzing exciting basketball plays, we have a tendency to identify extremely impressive athleticism as an innate gift that expresses itself freely. If a player out-runs, or out-jumps or out-quicks the opposition, the assumption is that he was able to do it because we was born with the ability to do so.

Luckily, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James disprove that idea on a regular basis. In the third quarter of Wednesday night's game against the Houston Rockets, they did so again. With 7:11 remaining in the period, Udonis Haslem won a jump ball against Jeremy Lin. Wade grabbed the ball and immediately fired a 3/4-court one-handed baseball pass to LeBron. He caught it near the rim and laid the ball in for an unlikely and really, really impressive alley-oop.