Quote of the Day
“I don’t really know what to think about that. I don’t even know. I really don’t even know. That’s ‘How to Lose a Game 101.’ I don’t know. It was crazy.”
Cardinals’ QB Kyler Murray
Monday’s quiz
Last time Toronto Blue Jays won a playoff series was 2016; who did they beat?
Sunday’s quiz
Since 2021, Detroit Lions have the NFL’s best record against the spread (51-22)
Saturday’s quiz
Jared Goff played his college football for the Cal Golden Bears.
Titans 22, Cardinals 21
Arizona led 21-6 with 13:00 left; RB Demercado appeared to run for a 72-yard TD to salt the game away, but he dropped the ball just before he crossed the goal line; it became a touchback.
Arizona’s first four drives: 22 plays, 173 yards, 21 points.
Arizona rest of game: 42 plays, 185 yards, no points.
Cardinals lost their last three games by total of five points.
Rookie QB Ward threw for 265 yards in his first NFL win.
Titans’ last three drives: 25 plays, 205 yards, TD-INT-FG
WR Ridley caught five passes for 131 yards.
Tennessee also scored a TD when Arizona picked off a Ward pass with 5:00 left, but the guy fumbled and the Titans recovered it in the end zone for a TD.
Broncos 21, Eagles 17
Eagles led 17-3 after the third quarter.
Broncos in first 3 quarters: 45 plays, 171 yards, 3 points.
Denver in 4th quarter: 27 plays, 190 yards, 18 points.
Down 17-10, Denver scored a TD with 7:36 left; they went for 2 points and the lead, and made it, talking the lead for good.
Eagles’ last five drives: 20 plays, 54 yards, no points.
Eagles are 4-1, but they’ve been outgained in all five games.
Philly converted 2-11 third down plays, Broncos 5-16.
Philly is 7-10-1 ATS in last 18 games as a home favorite.
Buccaneers 38, Seahawks 35
Buccaneers kicked a 39-yard FG at the gun for a walk-off win.
Tampa Bay is 3-0 on road, with wins by 1-3-3 points.
Tampa Bay is 13-2 ATS last 15 games as a road underdog.
Mayfield threw for 379 yards, two TD’s.
Both teams averaged 10+ yards/pass attempt.
Seahawks’ first 3 drives: 15 plays, 95 yards, no points.
Seahawks’ last six drives: 30 plays, 311 yards, 35 points, one INT
Seattle is 7-13-1 ATS in last 21 games as a home favorite.
Panthers 27, Dolphins 24
Carolina drove 78 yards, scored game-winning TD with 1:59 left.
RB Dowdle ran ball 23 times for 206 yards and a TD.
Panthers outgained Miami, 418-248.
Carolina won both its home games, scoring 30-27 points.
Miami led 17-0 with 5:00 left in first half.
Dolphins ran the ball 14 times for only 19 yards.
Dolphins are 0-3 on road, giving up 30.3 ppg.
Under McDaniel, Miami is 9-13-1 ATS in games with spread of 3 or less points.
Vikings 21, Browns 17
Vikings drove 80 yards in 10 plays, scored game-winning TD with 0:25 left.
Under O’Connell, Vikings are 28-10 SU in games decided by 8 or fewer points.
Under O’Connell, Vikings are 20-13-3 ATS as a favorite.
Vikings are first team in ’25 to gain more than 277 yards vs Cleveland.
Rookie QB Gabriel threw for 190 yards, 2 TD’s in his first NFL start.
Rookie RB Judkins ran for 110 yards on 23 carries.
Minnesota converted 3-9 on third down, Cleveland 3-15.
In their 1-4 start, Browns have scored 16-17-13-10-17 points.
Patriots 23, Bills 20
New England led 6-3 at halftime.
Patriots kicked a 52-yard FG with 0:15 left for the win.
Patriots scored 33-42-23 points in wins, 13-14 in losses.
New England is 2-0 on road (33-27 @ Miami/23-20 here)
Bills outgained NE 363-338, but had 3 turnovers (minus-2)
Buffalo in first half: 27 plays, 125 yards, 3 points.
Buffalo in 2nd half: 36 plays, 263 yards, 17 points.
Patriots are 2-5 SU/5-2 ATS in last seven visits to Buffalo.
Famous birthdays, October 6th:
Tony Dungy, 70
Alfredo Griffin, 68
Elisabeth Shue, 62
Rubén Sierra, 60
Jeremy Sisto, 51
Freddy Garcia, 49
Jake Bauers, 30
Bryson Stott, 28
Herb Jones, 27
Trevor Lawrence, 26
Kyle Pitts, 25
Jonathan Kuminga, 23
— Blue Jays 13, New York 7
Toronto led 11-0 in the fourth inning.
Daulton Varsho was 4-for-5, scoring 4 runs, with 4 RBI
Toronto leads series 2-0; Game 3 is Tuesday in New York.
— Mariners 3, Tigers 2
Julio Rodriguez won the game with an 8th inning double.
Skubal pitched 7 innings, but Tigers got only three hits.
Series is tied, 1-1; Game 3 is Tuesday in Detroit.
Texans 44, Ravens 10
Texans’ first five drives: 36 plays, 266 yards, 31 points.
QB Stroud threw for 244 yards, four TD’s.
Houston outgained the Ravens, 417-207.
Texans won last two games 26-0/44-10, after an 0-3 start.
QB Jackson didn’t play; Baltimore trailed 24-3 at halftime.
Baltimore’s first six drives: 28 plays, 112 yards, 7 points.
Ravens gave up 41-38-37-44 points in their four losses.
Ravens are giving up 409.4 yards/game.
Saints 26, Giants 14
Giants led 14-3 New Orleans early in the second quarter.
Rattler threw an 87-yard TD pass to Shaheed.
Howden returned a fumble 86 yards for TD on first play of 4th quarter.
Saints converted 7-15 on third down, Giants 3-10
Giants’ first two drives: 16 plays, 129 yards, 14 points.
Giants rest of game: 53 plays, 207 yards, no points.
Giants are 5-9-1 ATS in last 15 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.
Giants committed 5 turnovers, had 8 penalties for 95 yards.
Cowboys 37, Jets 22
Cowboys in first half: 32 plays, 298 yards, 23 points.
Dallas led 23-3 at halftime.
Since 2021, Cowboys are 12-6 ATS as a road favorite.
Dallas scored 40-40-37 in wins/tie, 20-14 in losses.
Jets are 10-17 ATS in last 27 games as a home underdog.
Jets are 6-19-1 ATS last 26 games vs NFC teams.
Jets are 8-16-1 ATS in last 25 games coming off a loss.
Jets are 8-17-1 ATS last 26 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.
Colts 40, Raiders 6
Indy went 3/out on their first five drive.
Colts’ next six drives: 47 plays, 295 yards, six TD’s.
Colts are 3-0 at home, scoring 33-29-40 points.
Under Steichen, Indy is 7-2 ATS as a home favorite.
Raiders drove 80 yards, kicked FG on their first drive.
Raiders’ next six drives: 26 plays, 121 yards, no points.
Las Vegas lost last four games, giving up 20-41-25-40 points.
Raiders are 20-26-1 ATS in last 47 games coming off a loss.
Commanders 27, Chargers 10
Washington’s first two drives: 8 plays, 30 yards, no points.
Washington’s next four drives: 27 plays, 177 yards, 20 points.
QB Daniels is 16-7 as an NFL starter.
Commanders are 7-3 ATS last 10 games with a spread of 3 or fewer points.
Chargers’ first two drives: 18 plays, 119 yards, 10 points.
Chargers rest of game: 47 plays, 221 yards, no points.
QB Herbert has been sacked 16 times in Chargers’ first five games.
Chargers’ WR Keenan Allen caught his 1,000th career pass.
Lions 37, Bengals 24
Lions led 14-3 at halftime.
Detroit’s first two drives in 2nd half: 12 plays, 108 yards, 14 points.
Lions won last three games, scoring 52-38-34-37 points.
Detroit is +7 in turnovers in its last four games.
Bengals lost last three games, by a combined 113-37.
Lions are 12-2 ATS last 14 games as a road favorite.
Detroit is 16-7 ATS in last 23 games vs AFC teams
Detroit is 25-11 ATS last 36 games coming off a win.
Wednesday’s 6-pack:
Longest active home win streaks in college football:
15— Alabama, Boise State
12— Indiana
10— Memphis, Miami, Ohio U
9— Arizona State, Georgia Tech
8— Jacksonville State, Ole Miss
6— LSU, Oklahoma. TCU
Quote of the Day
“I don’t mind kids transferring. You just can’t transfer four times, because it’s not good for you. Four schools in four years, you’ll never have a college degree. But that last place you’ll be at, they’ll really be loyal to you? No, you’re a mercenary.”
John Calipari
Wednesday’s quiz
Since 1988, what two pitchers have thrown the most pitches in a playoff game (147)?
Tuesday’s quiz
In the history of the Cincinnati Bengals, Ken Anderson has the most passing yards.
Monday’s quiz
Bill O’Brien was the football coach at Penn State before James Franklin.
— Dodgers 5, Brewers 1
Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a complete game (111 PT)
Muncy/Hernandez homered for Los Angeles.
Dodgers’ bullpen got total of three outs in the first two games.
Dodgers lead series 2-0; Game 3 is in Los Angeles Thursday.
— Dodger P Blake Snell has very interesting career numbers:
March/April 7-12, 3.89 in 32 starts
May 6-12, 4.57 in 32 starts
June 11-12, 4.44 in 29 starts
July 13-6, 2.43 in 36 starts
August 23-10, 2.45 in 48 starts
September/October 21-10, 2.15 in 45 starts
Much, much better in second half of the season.
— In the 30 years before Indiana hired Curt Cignetti as its football coach, they averaged 4.1 wins per year. Cignetti is 16-2 at Indiana; he makes $9M a year.
Worth it.
— The world is going nuts, or maybe just daytime TV sucks; I walk into a bar for lunch Tuesday and there is a discussion on TV as whether the Baltimore Ravens should fire John Harbaugh.
Huh????
Harbaugh is 186-120 coaching the Ravens, won a Super Bowl. They’re off to a bad start this year; fire the defensive coordinator and move on. Discussing firing Harbaugh is nonsensical.
— I’m a believer that QB’s/WR’s should get stat credit for yardage they gain on pass interference penalties. Would have to be a separate category, but it would be interesting to see the numbers at the end of a season.
— I’m watching Miami-Atlanta NBA exhibition game the other night; they show the Hawks’ owner Anthony Ressler sitting with his wife and it dawns on me that he is married to actress Jami Gertz, who has 102 acting credits on IMDB.com
She was in the movie Less than Zero with Andrew McCarthy/Robert Downey Jr, a very good but very sad movie. She represented the Hawks at the NBA Draft Lottery twice. The Resslers have been married since 1989.
— Famous birthdays, October 15th:
Jim Palmer, 80
Joe Klecko, 72
Mark Wade, 60
Vanessa Marcil, 57
Fred Hoiberg, 53
Connor Barwin, 39
Blaine Gabbert, 36
Teoscar Hernandez, 33
Jack Flaherty, 30
Brandon Pfaadt, 27
— Liberty 30, New Mexico State 27
Liberty led 20-6 at halftime, held on for dear life.
New Mexico State missed a 47-yard FG on the last play.
Aggies outgained Liberty, 388-293, but had three turnovers.
— Florida International 25, Western Kentucky 6
Panthers kicked four field goals, led 19-6 at halftime.
FIU ran ball 39 times for 249 yards.
FIU had lost its previous five games vs Western Kentucky.
— Arkansas State 15, South Alabama 14
Red Wolves kicked a 38-yard FG at the gun for a walk-off win.
1-6 South Alabama led 14-3 after three quarters.
Arkansas State outgained the Jaguars, 367-293
— Last five baseball players to play for five teams in one season:
2018- Oliver Drake- Indians, Angels, Brewers, Twins, Blue Jays
2024- Mike Baumann- Orioles, Angels, Marlins, Mariners, Giants
2025- Jose Urena- Angels, Dodgers, Twins, Mets, Blue Jays
— Steve Weinman, who spent 13 years in the Chicago Bulls’ front office, has been hired by Wake Forest to be the general manager for the Deacons’ men’s/women’s basketball teams.
He’ll work closely with the head coaches on “roster construction, recruiting strategy, transfer portal evaluation, resource allocation and planning”.
— Air Force Falcons are only college football team that has gone over the total in every game they’ve played (6-0) this season.
— RIP to Sandy Alomar Sr, who passed away at age 81; he played 15 years in the big leagues for six different teams, mostly the Angels. He has two sons who played in the minor leagues, Sandy Alomar Jr and Roberto Alomar.
Sandy Alomar Jr had 1,168 career hits; he made the All-Star Game in 1970.
RIP, sir.
Kings sign Russell Westbrook: Former league MVP heads to seventh different team for 2025-26 season
The Kings will be Westbrook's fourth different team since the start of the 2022-23 season
The Sacramento Kings are signing free agent point guard Russell Westbrook, his agent told ESPN's Shams Charania. Details of the deal weren't immediately reported, but the expectation is that Westbrook is signing for his veteran minimum to help bolster Sacramento's backcourt rotation.
Westbrook, 36, will be playing his 18th NBA season for his seventh different team after spending the 2024-25 campaign with the Denver Nuggets.
With Westbrook going to Sacramento, he will provide point guard depth to a team that entered the offseason without a true player at the position on the roster. The Kings signed free agent point guard Dennis Schröder to a three-year deal earlier this offseason but had strong interest in Westbrook dating back to the opening of free agency in July.
Westbrook appeared in 75 games and made 36 starts last season for Denver, averaging 13.3 points, 6.1 assists and 4.9 rebounds in 27.9 minutes per game. He finished seventh in Sixth Man of the Year voting for the second consecutive year.
Mavericks, Jason Kidd agree to multi-year contract extension ahead of coach's fifth season in Dallas
Several teams showed interest in poaching Kidd, but he's staying in Dallas
The Dallas Mavericks and coach Jason Kidd have agreed to a multi-year contract extension, the team announced Tuesday. The agreement comes just over a week before the team's season opener against the San Antonio Spurs. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Kidd, 52, served as Mavericks coach for the last four seasons and posted a 179-149 record over that span. That includes a trip to the 2024 NBA Finals, where Dallas lost to the Boston Celtics in five games. Prior to his time in Dallas, he spent two seasons as a Lakers assistant after three-plus seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, where he went 139-152. He got his coaching start in 2013-14 with the Brooklyn Nets, where he went 44-38 in one season before being traded to Milwaukee.
Kidd became the subject of several coaching search conversations over the past few years, and the Mavericks denied the New York Knicks a chance to interview him for their vacancy earlier this offseason.
A Hall of Fame inductee as a player in 2018, Kidd faces a big season with the Mavericks. Dallas stunningly dealt away Luka Doncić to the Los Angeles Lakers in early February 2025, receiving Anthony Davis, among others, in return. The trade was widely panned, and things went from bad to worse in Dallas when Davis was injured in his team debut and Kyrie Irving later tore his ACL. The injury-ravaged Mavericks finished 39-43 and got into the Play-In Tournament, where they beat the Sacramento Kings but lost to the Memphis Grizzlies with a playoff berth on the line.
Then the Mavericks' fortunes miraculously reversed when they won the NBA Draft lottery despite having just a 1.8% chance to do so. That allowed Dallas to select Cooper Flagg, the consensus player of the year at Duke last season who has already impressed in the preseason.
With Flagg in the fold alongside Davis, Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford, the Mavericks figure to have a fearsome frontcourt defense, with Klay Thompson and Max Christie among key wings returning. Free agent signee D'Angelo Russell will be the team's lead ballhandler until Irving returns, if Irving returns at all this season.
Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo reveals he doesn't want to end his basketball career in Milwaukee
Antetokounmpo has a vision for the final chapter of his career
Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has spent his entire 12-year NBA career as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks. However, Antetokounmpo has begun to think about how he wants to conclude his basketball journey.
Antetokounmpo wants to finish his playing days in his home country of Greece.
"I'm 30 years old, I can play in the NBA until I'm 36-38. I'd like to end my career in a Greek team, why not?" Antetokounmpo said on ANT1's The 2night Show. "I don't want to live in the United States. As soon as I leave the NBA, I want to return to Greece. I could end my career here, whether this team is called Filathlitikos, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, or Aris, I'm talking about all the teams now."
Antetokounmpo, who grew up in Athens, played for Filathlitikos from 2011-13 before he was selected by the Bucks with the No. 15 pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. Since making his way to the United States, Antetokounmpo has recorded a length list of accolades, including becoming a two-time NBA MVP, a nine-time NBA All-Star and helping Milwaukee win an NBA title in 2021.
During his time with the Bucks, Antetokounmpo has put together averages of 23.9 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 5.0 assists, while shooting 55.1% from the field. In 2024-25, the Bucks star averaged 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 6.5 assists, while connecting on 60.1 of his shots.
The Bucks made the NBA playoffs in 2024-25 but were eliminated in the opening round in five games by the eventual Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers.
Antetokounmpo was the subject of trade rumors involving the New York Knicks during the offseason, but those talks never gained any serious momentum. However, just last week, Antetokounmpo revealed he's "locked into" the Bucks for the 2025-26 season, but is reserving the right to change his mind in six-to-seven months depending on the direction of the Bucks franchise.
Bucks sign Alex Antetokounmpo to two-way deal: Giannis now has two brothers on Milwaukee roster in NBA first
Three Antetokounmpo brothers will be on the Bucks roster as Milwaukee tries its best to keep Giannis happy
The biggest story in Milwaukee -- and one of the biggest in the NBA -- this offseason has been the "will he, won't he" drama surrounding a potential Giannis Antetokounmpo trade request.
After another disappointing playoff exit, Antetokounmpo genuinely considered asking out of Milwaukee for the first time in his career, but chose to stick it out for one more season with the Bucks to see if the roster changes can get him closer to competing for another title. The first concrete sign that Giannis was coming back for the 2025-26 season was the Bucks agreeing to a new one-year deal with his brother Thanasis.
They went a step further Monday by adding a third Antetokounmpo, signing Alex to a two-way contract, as relayed to Shams Charania by his agent. It's the first time in NBA history that three brothers will all be on the same roster.
Thanasis has long been paired with Giannis on the Bucks' roster, and they now are joined by Alex, who spent 2022-24 with their G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd. It's a not so subtle effort from the Bucks to make Giannis as comfortable and happy as possible in Milwaukee, as family is extremely important to the Greek star and he'll now have two of his brothers with him for most of the season.
Alex will still spend time in the G League, but can be active on the Bucks' main roster for 50 games this season. The lone basketball playing Antetokounmpo brother that is not on the Milwaukee roster right now is Kostas, who last played in the NBA with the Lakers back in the 2020-21 season.
Time will tell if Milwaukee's plan of signing as many available Antetokounmpo's pays off in the form of Giannis staying long-term, but they cannot be faulted for trying. That said, Giannis made it clear the most important thing is an opportunity to win a title. If the Bucks make another early playoff exit in 2026, it may not matter how many Antetokounmpos the Bucks sign, the star may re-evaluate his situation next summer and look for a new home.
28 dribbles on 29 shots: How the Jazz are setting Ace Bailey up for immediate success
The top-five pick is catching balls on the move rather than being asked to create for himself
Ace Bailey, or at least his former representation, seemingly did everything possible to not get drafted by the Utah Jazz. Bailey reportedly had "preferred" destinations which may or may not have influenced a few teams that were in position to take him in June's draft. But Utah decided the talent was too great to pass up -- even against the looming threat of Bailey not reporting to camp or just being a general malcontent -- and took him with the No. 5 overall pick.
So far, this looks to have been a very smart decision.
For starters, there have been nothing but positive reports about Bailey's attitude. Teammate Kyle Anderson has called Bailey's positivity "infectious," while coach Will Hardy has praised the 19-year-old's "willingness to ask questions" and ability to "see the game and learn on the fly."
With the obvious qualifier that we're talking about preseason basketball, and just two games at that, Bailey has looked extraordinary on the court so far. Over 70 minutes against the Rockets and Spurs, Bailey has put up 45 points on 19-of-29 shooting.
Impressive numbers, obviously. But it's the way those shots are coming, within what is clearly a concerted effort on the part of the Jazz to put Bailey in his most optimal scoring positions, that is putting to bed what was one of the universal concerns about his game in college.
That concern was that his offense came very hard. Everything was contested. Part of this was because Rutgers, outside of No. 2 overall pick Dylan Harper, didn't have anyone capable of drawing defensive attention away from Bailey. But it was also a problem that Bailey was so bothered by the pressure he did face.
Now, when we say bothered, it doesn't mean he couldn't score against pressure. He could. And he can. Bailey's ability to bail himself out with tough shots was perhaps the biggest feather in his draft cap. But in the NBA, making tough shots off whirling spins into mid-range fades cannot be the first page of your survival guide. Sustained, efficient scoring only happens when you are operating in breathable enough airspace to access consistently clean looks.
If you can't cleanly and consistently create that space for yourself, via your own handle (which is something we know Bailey has thus far struggled to do, as evidenced by his alarmingly high turnover rate against pressure in college), then it has to be created for you. And that's what the Jazz are doing for Bailey.
Rather than asking him to start from a stationary position and create advantages in isolation, the Jazz are putting Bailey on the move so that by the time he catches the ball he is either already in, or quickly moving toward, open space. From there, he only requires one or two pressure-free dribbles to get right into a clean shot.
This approach was on beautiful display in Bailey's preseason debut against the Rockets.
What you'll notice is that in all those buckets, only one came out of isolation (and even in that one he got to his spot at the elbow with exquisite efficiency and footwork, requiring just three dribbles punctuated by a luscious spin move). In fact, Bailey has needed just 28 total dribbles to get off his 29 preseason shots so far.
ou don't have to be a genius to do the math here. That's fewer than one dribble per shot. That is prime Klay Thompson stuff. Bailey isn't the all-time distant threat Thompson is and he's a better athlete, but the common theme between the two is that they're at their best when they're catching balls on the move rather than starting from scratch.
Bailey may well evolve as an individual creator (in fact, he almost certainly will), and when he does it should allow him to get to the rim and free-throw line more. Some people are already saying they see a young T-Mac, which is lofty but perhaps not unwarranted. But for now, Bailey is clearly most comfortable as a mid-range scorer on minimal dribbling (a more athletic Rip Hamilton should have everyone in Utah very excited), and it cannot be overstated how smart it is that the Jazz are positioning him in accordance with that talent until the rest of his arsenal comes around.
The Conversation: Have the Hornets quietly put a nice core together?
We're previewing the 2025-26 Charlotte Hornets, who have flanked LaMelo Ball with a pair of talented wings
What if this is the year that LaMelo Ball stays healthy? As bad as the Charlotte Hornets' 2024-25 season was, they had a positive point differential in the 466 minutes he played with Brandon Miller and the 879 minutes he played with Miles Bridges. Ball is a wildly divisive player, but his vision and his touch are undeniable. This is his sixth season in Charlotte, and he showed long ago that he can lead an efficient offense. In the East, as long as the defense isn't dreadful, that might be enough to get into the play-in, especially if young wings Miller (the No. 2 pick in 2023) and Kon Knueppel (the No. 4 pick this year) produce at a high level.
About that defense, though: The team's two best defenders -- Josh Green and Grant Williams -- will be sidelined at the beginning of the season, and, when Ball was on the court last season, the Hornets' halfcourt defense allowed 104.1 points per 100 possessions, which basically means it was hopeless. (As a point of reference, Phoenix gave up a league-worst 102.5 per 100 in the halfcourt.) Charlotte is alarmingly thin at center, with Moussa Diabaté, Mason Plumlee and rookie Ryan Kalkbrenner competing for minutes, and it's flush with offense-first guards, having added Collin Sexton and Spencer Dinwiddie to a roster that already included Ball, Tre Mann and summer league standout K.J. Simpson.
You can envision a world in which the Hornets are buyers at the deadline, having shown the front office that it's worth adding reinforcements. You can also, however, envision them going the other way.
The State of Play
Last year: Ball led all Eastern Conference guards in All-Star fan voting, but didn't make the cut because the players had him third, the media had him seventh and the coaches didn't vote him in as a reserve. After an insane late-November stretch that included a 50-point game in Milwaukee and a 44-point game against Orlando two days later, Ball was sidelined with a strained calf. Later he dealt with ankle and wrist injuries, so he ended up playing only 47 games. That was 20 more than Miller managed, as his season ended when he had wrist surgery in January. The Hornets were 8-28 when they traded center Nick Richards to the Suns in the middle of that month, and they were 12-36 when they tried to trade center Mark Williams to the Lakers at the trade deadline in February. That deal was controversially rescinded, so Mark Williams returned to a center rotation that featured Diabaté and Jusuf Nurkić, the latter of whom was acquired on deadline day from Phoenix along with a first-round pick in exchange for Cody Martin and Vasilije Micić. Charlotte finished 19-63, with the league's second-worst offense and fourth-worst net rating.
The offseason: The Hornets drafted Knueppel with the No. 4 pick, wing Sion James with the No. 33 pick and Kalkbrenner with the No. 34 pick. They somehow picked up a future second-round pick by trading Nurkić for Sexton, and they also made yet another trade with the Suns, giving up Mark Williams (for real this time) and Micić for the No. 29 pick (which they used on forward Liam McNeely) and a 2029 first-rounder. In free agency, they reunited with Plumlee and signed Dinwiddie, both for the minimum, and they re-signed Mann to a three-year, $24 million deal.
Hornets believer: The most important thing I have to say is that Kon is a pro. If you just watch Knueppel play for five minutes, you can see it all: The processing speed, the shooting, the off-ball movement, the competitiveness, the physicality. He reminds me so much of Desmond Bane, and I think he's the perfect kind of prospect for this team: He'll be a stabilizing force and solid complementary player from Day 1, plus he has star upside. With him and Brandon Miller on the wing, I feel better about the Hornets' core than I have in ages. In a few weeks, everybody's going to say Miller is having a "breakout" season, and it will only be half-true. Yes, I expect him to take a step forward, but even if he comes back the exact same player as he was before his wrist injury, his efficiency will tick up naturally because he won't have to carry a crazy load anymore.
Hornets skeptic: I sure hope that's true about Miller. In his rookie season I really liked how he stepped up when Ball was out, but the numbers in those minutes last season -- 51.4% true shooting and 31% usage -- were discouraging. And with all due respect to Knueppel, the perfect prospect for this team would have been the guy he played with in college and went No. 1 to Dallas. Bane is an interesting comp, but what if Knueppel is more like Gordon Hayward? I don't mean the younger, much more athletic version; I mean the one the Hornets had a couple of years ago. At this level, Knueppel's poor foot speed and generally unremarkable athleticism could be major issues, especially on defense. And if this team is going to continue to build around LaMelo Ball -- if you like, we can debate the wisdom of this! -- then the other guys need to be plus defenders.
Hornets believer: You know what I meant about Knueppel. Winning the lottery would have been nice, obviously, but, failing that, it was ideal to get a player who will be at least a solid connective role player right away and could be closer to a primary playmaker down the road. Young Hayward isn't a bad comp in that respect, but Knueppel is much stronger than Hayward was at this stage. He was definitely a plus defender at Duke, and, unless Charles Lee asks him to press small guards 94 feet for some reason, I don't see quickness being much of a problem. Re: Ball, let me guess … you think the one-legged 3s are silly, he's not a winning player and the Hornets should just trade him?
Hornets skeptic: I wouldn't put it quite like that. At this point, though, the burden is on Ball to prove that he is a winning player. Defensively, he can make amazing reads off the ball, but he's not always engaged and he needs to put up much more resistance one-on-one. Offensively, he might have the best highlights in the whole league, but the shot selection is still a mess and he still doesn't put much pressure on the rim as a driver. I want to see him improve his finishing, get to the line more often and generally be more intentional when he's initiating in the halfcourt. I also want to see him simply be available more often, as he's played just 105 total games over the last three seasons. Should the Hornets trade him? I mean, if I were them, I'd at least listen to offers. Given that he's signed to a contract that will pay him $46.4 million in 2028-29, though, I doubt they're getting a ton of calls about him.
Hornets believer: We are talking about a 24-year-old who has already made an All-Star team and averaged 25 points per game in an NBA season. We are also talking about one of the most creative passers on the planet. Ball is far from a finished product, but that's to be expected. And between the injuries and the questionable decisions the franchise has made since drafting him, he hasn't exactly been in the best position to develop over the past few years. Still, he's gotten much stronger, and I've seen flashes of him improving in some of the ways you've outlined. Especially when Grant Williams and Josh Green get healthy, I think this year's Hornets will be able to put lineups on the court that minimize his weaknesses and accentuate his strengths much more effectively than they have recently. And in the spirit of being patient with young players, I must note that I'm curious to see if Tidjane Salaün is part of the solution in 2025-26. Charlotte knew he was a project when it drafted him, and he looked a lot more comfortable at summer league than he did as a rookie.
Hornets skeptic: I'm not writing off Salaün before his 21st birthday, but I'm not getting my hopes up, either, and I'd be more optimistic about the Hornets if they'd taken Matas Buzelis instead. I'm glad you brought him up, though, because I sort of feel about him the way I feel about the team. As a prospect, Salaün's main selling points were that he plays extremely hard and has a high ceiling by virtue of his physical tools. In the same way, the idea of the Hornets is intriguing every year. Maybe Ball stays healthy and rounds out his game, maybe they turn into fun League Pass team that puts up tons of points and gets enough stops to string some wins together. But you can't seriously expect either Charlotte or the guy it picked No. 6 in 2024 to do anything serious this season, can you?
NBA's biggest starting lineup questions: Five teams with interesting decisions, including Knicks and Lakers
These five teams have yet to settled on their starting lineups for the 2025-26 season
In the grand scheme of things, a team's opening night starting lineup doesn't have to be all that important. The starting lineup doesn't play the whole game, after all. And coaches regularly change that lineup as a season progresses for dozens of possible reasons. Who you are on opening night isn't necessarily who you'll be at the end of the season.
But there's something symbolic about a team's starting lineup. It may not represent who the team actually is so much as who a team wants to be. It can represent a stylistic declaration. Are we a big team or a small one? Do we emphasize offense or defense? Are we putting our five best players on the floor or the five that fit best together? The season is a months-long process of exploration. By April, the teams that hope to be playing into May and June have hopefully used that process to figure out who they are and what they need to be to win at the highest level. The players you put on the floor to begin the season are your starting point.
So with the season fast approaching, let's look at some of the teams that seemingly haven't settled on starting lineups, examine the possibilities, and try to figure out where they should begin the 2025-26 season.
New York's broken starting lineup was one of the major topics of the 2025 postseason. From Jan. 1 through the end of the regular season, the five-man unit of Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart allowed nine more points than it scored. The playoffs were worse. By the time Tom Thibodeau accepted defeat, it was too late. The Knicks were already down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference finals. He's now out of a job in part because of that lineup's issues.
The first four players are seemingly locked in. The question is the Hart spot. The early favorite for it seems to be Mitchell Robinson, who missed most of last season but shined in the playoffs. The appeal is obvious. Robinson covers Towns' limitations as a rim-protector. Playing the two of them together elevates New York's offensive rebounding to where it was in 2023 and 2024, when it was at the top of the league. As Hart was rarely guarded on the perimeter anyway, the notion that playing two bigs would stifle New York's spacing is a tad overblown.
The real concern for Robinson is durability. He's played 70 games once in his career and has appeared in just 48 over the past two seasons. If he's playing meaningful minutes with the starters and serving as the center when Towns rests, it's going to be hard to keep him below, say, 26 to 28 minutes per game. If the goal is to get him to April healthy, such a workload seems dangerous. He's never played 28 minutes per game in his career. Part of what facilitated last year's dominant postseason was the fact that he didn't play until the end of February. He just didn't have much time to suffer another injury. It probably isn't realistic to assume he can last six months as a starter.
For this reason, a large slice of New York's fandom has advocated an alternative: Deuce McBride. It was a look Thibodeau practically never went to. McBride played only 82 possessions with the other starters last season. There are two reasonable holdups to boosting that figure. The first, and the one Thibodeau was probably most concerned with, is size. Playing two small guards with a center that doesn't protect the rim is potentially quite dangerous on defense. The other is balance. Bringing Hart and Robinson off of the bench forces a total non-shooter and an iffy shooter to play most of their minutes together. That compromises the spacing of bench units.
But the benefits are potentially enormous. Offensively, McBride is too talented a shooter for opponents to guard him with a center as they did Hart. That prevents defenses from using three defenders against the Brunson-Towns pick-and-roll, which never quite gained traction last season largely because of Hart. If properly spaced, that's a potentially lethal play. Defensively, while McBride is small, he's a ferocious point-of-attack defender that's eager to get physical. Bridges is not. At this point in his career, he's more comfortable as an off-ball playmaker. Playing the two of them together would therefore pay dividends for Bridges, who has slipped significantly from his former All-Defense form.
There's no perfect answer here. Whether it's Robinson or Hart or McBride, every option comes with drawbacks. The best-case scenario for the Knicks would probably be to mix and match. Mike Brown has 82 games to see how all three versions of the starting lineup work and how each starting lineup affects the bench units that would be attached to them. That was Thibodeau's biggest failing in New York. We don't know the right answer today. We just need to figure it out by April.
Ime Udoka barely used Reed Sheppard last season. Rafael Stone's front office took steps to ensure that he'd have to this year. Sheppard, VanVleet and Aaron Holiday are the only real guards on the team. But jumping from "barely plays" to "starting on a team with championship ambitions" is a pretty significant leap. If Holiday were a bit better or they had more immediate access to their contracts from a trade perspective (many are locked until Dec. 15), they might not feel comfortable giving Sheppard the ball. As it stands, they may not have a choice.
Fortunately, Sheppard's theoretical fit is strong. The Rockets just ranked 21st in 3-point attempts and percentage. They badly needed shooting regardless. Sheppard brings quite a bit of it, yet he won't need to monopolize the ball. If Houston wants a point guard who will get out of the way while Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun work, Sheppard can do that. He can space the floor as Amen Thompson soaks up more ball-handling possessions. That might be the silver lining to all of this. Without VanVleet, they'll have a far better idea of who Thompson and Sheppard are going to grow into when this year is done. Sheppard's size is a problem on defense, but he was an elite defensive playmaker in college. On this roster, with a nearly limitless supply of long wings, he'll be able to gamble a bit more frequently.
Yet starting a player so young and so unproven would be fairly out of character for Udoka, especially given the defensive question marks that come with him. This is a coach who built around two centers that don't shoot last season. If he feels he has to start another wing like Tari Eason or Dorian Finney-Smith (when he's healthy), he'll do so. Sheppard is only going to start if he proves in camp that he deserves to. The Rockets badly hope that he will. Durant's individual offense was obviously a godsend, but this roster badly needed a low-maintenance deadeye shooter as well. So many of their bigger and defense-first lineups were just begging for an inch of breathing room. If Sheppard can bring it, Houston's championship hopes may not be as dead as many assumed once VanVleet went down.
We can say pretty safely that we know four Laker starters when everyone is healthy: Luka Dončić, LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Deandre Ayton will start. Offensively, you're in great shape with that group. Defensively? Well, it might not be quite as bad as it seems. Ayton was far better at his Phoenix peak, but it's possible a change of scenery reinvigorates him. James may be 40 (and will miss the start of the season for the first time in his 23-year career), but he showed last year that he's still a strong defender when he wants to be. Dončić is at least in shape. But still, that's two players who were liabilities last season, a quadragenarian and Ayton, who hasn't consistently tried on defense for several years. Logically, you probably want the fifth starter to be a defender.
But who? If Marcus Smart is healthy, he's a former Defensive Player of the Year. But at this stage of his career, he's far better at defending bigger players than he is at hounding guards. He might also be better in a role that limits his minutes, purely from a health perspective. Jarred Vanderbilt can obviously defend guards, but he's such an offensive liability that the Lakers may view the tradeoff as a net negative. Remember, their strength is ball-handling more than spacing. Putting a total non-shooter like Vanderbilt on the floor neuters that ball-handling because it means forcing them to operate with far less room.
The alternative here is to just embrace the offense and start Rui Hachimura. Good luck stopping that five. There's no difference between wins in the 100s and wins in the 120s. Starting Hachimura might also be necessary from a roster-building standpoint. He's on an expiring contract. Starting him pumps up his value if the Lakers plan to trade him to preserve cap flexibility. It also keeps him engaged while he's playing for a contract. The last thing they need is for him to grow uncomfortable in a lesser role. Hachimura was a full-time starter last season. Asking anyone to take a demotion, regardless of team needs, can make things uncomfortable in the locker room.
This might be a fluid situation. Starting Hachimura early, while they evaluate what Smart still has in the tank and how they can milk any offensive value out of Vanderbilt, might make sense. The Lakers have a real history of making trades during the season as well. Their hope is that Smart or Vanderbilt eventually becomes their top defender. It's also possible that they find that player midseason, and starting Hachimura in the interim maintains continuity from last year's team. For now, that seems like the likeliest approach.
Donovan Clingan is presumably going to start for the Blazers at center. One position solved. The other four, at least once everyone is healthy, should be relatively straightforward. Portland has a 21-year-old guard it drafted No. 3 overall (Scoot Henderson) and a 22-year-old guard (Shaedon Sharpe) it drafted No. 7 overall. They should probably be the starting backcourt. It also has a 24-year-old forward (Deni Avdija) it traded for and a 25-year-old forward (Toumani Camara) it traded for that were the two best players on the team last season. They should also probably start. Again, this should be simple.
But Portland also traded for Jrue Holiday over the summer. Holiday, at this stage of his career, probably did not want to join a team competing for a Play-In berth, and he certainly wouldn't want to come off the bench for such a team after starting for multiple champions. His stature around the league is such that bringing him off of the bench could create issues in the locker room, though Holiday is the consummate professional and likely wouldn't cause them intentionally. There is at least an argument to start him early in the season while Henderson recovers from an injury. But further complicating matters is the presence of the declining Jerami Grant, who said at media day that he doesn't expect to come off of the bench either.
The logical play for a team in Portland's position is to emphasize the youth. They aren't ready to compete for a championship yet, but there's talent in the building here. They just need to find a cornerstone player or two. Those four younger players all have chances to fill such a role, but their best hope of getting there involves starting. Henderson has started only 42 games in two years. Sharpe was removed from the starting lineup for a stretch last season. Yes, there's something to be said for forcing younger players to earn their keep, but at a certain point, an organization's priorities need to be in order. It's time to see what they have with these guys. Doing so is far more important than chasing a Play-In berth.
Anthony Davis is a center. I know that. You know that. Everyone but the Dallas Mavericks seem to know that. Unfortunately, the Mavericks are the ones making the decision here, so the expectation here is that Davis will start alongside a center, either Dereck Lively or Daniel Gafford, immediately giving Dallas two big men who aren't real threats from 3-point range. Cooper Flagg will be the small forward, and fortunately, he doesn't really take anything off the table. However, if the Mavericks are going to have a functional offense, they are going to have to start offense-centric guards.
So let's say that's D'Angelo Russell and Klay Thompson. Five years ago? You're feeling pretty good about that backcourt. Today, Thompson can really only defend big forwards, and Russell can't really defend anyone at all. So in order to even hit the bare minimum from an offensive standpoint, Dallas would probably have to accept an inability to defend the point of attack unless Flagg, as a rookie in a power forward's body, is capable of consistently defending guards. That feels like an unfair expectation. Dallas does have point-of-attack guards it could use. Max Christie, for instance, or against bigger players, Naji Marshall. But with offense at such a premium, removing Russell or Thompson would get iffy. Again, there's a possibility that Flagg just solves this. There have been some rumblings about him playing point guard, and if he can do that, it solves some problems for Dallas. But it's likelier that him doing so is a developmental tactic that helps down the line than an immediately beneficial short-term strategy.
The Mavericks could address all of this by playing Davis at center. He and Flagg as the front court would still be a dominant defensive pairing. Thompson could defend forwards. Russell could play point guard on offense. The fifth starter could defend primary opposing ball-handlers. This is the best version of the current Dallas personnel. But to be frank, if the Mavericks knew how to optimize their roster, they'd still have Luka Dončić. They're committed to this double-big alignment. That's going to create deficiencies elsewhere on this extraordinarily unbalanced roster, and which deficiencies they choose to address and ignore will say quite a bit about what kind of team they're trying to put around Davis and Flagg.
NBA Most Improved Player odds: Best bets at every tier and why the Thompson twins are both favorites
We're looking at the wide-open field for MIP
Kudos to Dyson Daniels on breaking one of my least favorite streaks in the NBA. Last season, he won Most Improved Player without making the All-Star team. The last player to do so was Pascal Siakam, and he and CJ McCollum are the only active players to win the award without also having made the All-Star Game for the first time in that season. With Ivica Zubac finishing second, the only first-time All-Star to even finish in the top five was Cade Cunningham in third place.
Could Daniels represent a change in how the electorate perceives this award? That will take years to play out. What we can note for now is that we had six first-time All-Stars last year along with three second-time All-Stars and three third-time selections. In other words, many of the young players who had been blocked out by older stars in the past have already broken through. There certainly could be a new crop of first-timers this season, but there are fewer logical candidates for that than usual.
So without the first-time All-Star marker as our north star, what are we looking for in a Most Improved Player? Timing is the starting point. Seven of the last 15 awards have gone to third-year players, and four of the remaining eight have gone to fourth-year players. No second-year player has won the award since Monta Ellis in 2007. We're therefore looking for players at the end of their rookie deals, and as 17 of the past 18 winners have been first-round picks, we're looking primarily at a 60-player group: the first rounds of the 2022 and 2023 NBA Drafts.
Even within those groups, we can trim the fat further. Knock out three players for already having made All-Star teams (Paolo Banchero, Jalen Williams and Victor Wembanyama), 10 more for not having full-time roster spots (Johnny Davis, AJ Griffin, David Roddy, Marjon Beauchamp, Wendell Moore, Patrick Baldwin, TyTy Washington, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Olivier-Maxence Prosper and Nick Smith) and we're already down to 47 before even considering team circumstances and individual performance through two years. The majority of candidates we will seriously consider will come out of that pool of players.
But for the moment, we'll keep the field open. Below, we'll break down the odds for Most Improved Player into three tiers: the favorites (those with odds of +2000 or shorter), the middle of the pack (odds between +2000 and +4000) and the long shots (+4000 and beyond) to try to figure out where the best betting value lies in this always contentious market.
The favorites
There are only four players in this tier. For reasons we'll explain shortly, we're going to hold off on covering one. There is another I'm less interested in: Andrew Nembhard (+1200). There is another Pacer that offers more value down the line. The difference between Nembhard's regular-season 3-point shooting (33.5%) and playoff 3-point shooting (47.3%) has thrown people off of his night-to-night value a bit. Unless you believe he's going to shoot like he does in the playoffs, he's just not going to score enough to realistically factor into this race.
So that leaves with two candidates I do like, and they happen to be brothers: Amen Thompson is the favorite at +900, while Ausar Thompson isn't far behind at +2000. The logic for Amen is obvious. With Fred VanVleet out, the ball is going to be in his hands far more than it was a year ago, and with Kevin Durant in place and Reed Sheppard likely to get more minutes, Houston should have more space to operate with offensively. That's a formula for Thompson to get to the basket quite a bit and rack up both points and assists, which in turn is a formula for a first-time All-Star selection if the Rockets are as good as we expect them to be. If that's how this plays out, he's an obvious candidate.
As for Ausar, we're cheating a little bit. We saw Amen break out in his second season, but Ausar missed the beginning of his sophomore campaign because of a blood clot. He worked his way into a starting role midseason, but the theory here is that he's due for a breakout similar to his brother's with his role now assured and a full training camp to get ready. He won't have the ball as much as Amen, but the bar here is lower as he isn't starting with the same expectations. Ausar was terrific down the stretch last season and should be able to build on that success now.
The middle of the pack
We mentioned a player in the first category that we were skipping over. That would be Deni Avdija (+1700). We did so because there are two other Blazers with reasonably short odds that also needed to be covered, so we're going to lump them together. Shaedon Sharpe is at +3000, while Scoot Henderson is at +4000. The theory here is that Portland's defense is going to be good enough to make the Blazers at least a play-in-caliber team. Therefore, if one of these players breaks out on offense, they could compete for a true playoff spot.
Avdija having the shortest odds doesn't make much sense to me. For starters, his breakout has sort of already happened. He was terrific down the stretch, and when his shot is falling, he's a very good offensive player. But he's much more of a secondary creator than a primary offensive option. Portland's long-term hopes hinge on the more athletic and higher upside Henderson and/or Sharpe taking a major leap. I think both could be good bets, but in different ways. If you want to bet one now, bet Sharpe. He has reportedly been a training camp standout. Henderson is recovering from a hamstring injury and will miss the beginning of the season. You'll get much better odds if you wait until his odds drop ahead of his return. Someone is going to become the early favorite here, and Henderson, without playing, will become a long shot.
As for the rest of this group, I'm immediately ruling out Matas Buzelis (+2000) and Reed Sheppard (+2200) for being second-year players. Josh Giddey (+3000) and Payton Pritchard (+3500) are both a bit more interesting for reasons that extend beyond their ages. Both are going to have the ball more than ever this season. Giddey averaged 20 points, 8.5 assists and 9.9 rebounds after the Zach LaVine trade last year. If he does that over the full season while shooting anywhere close to the 45.3% he nailed from 3-point range in that stretch, he's going to finish near the top of the ballot. Even if the 3-point shooting predictably dips, he can make up for it with more volume. The same is true for Pritchard, who is playing without Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis ahead of him in the pecking order. Do I expect him to post All-Star-caliber stats in a role with unlimited freedom? Probably not. But the value here isn't crazy.
Outside of Sharpe and perhaps Giddey, my favorite player in this tier is Bennedict Mathurin (+2500). Mathurin has always been an odd fit in Indiana's free-flowing system. He wants the ball in his hands and to operate like a more traditional star scorer. We saw the volatility of that style in the playoffs, when he seemingly was either great or invisible with no in-between. Well, now that Tyrese Haliburton is out, Indiana badly needs someone to take on a high-volume scoring role. Mathurin, in a contract role, will eagerly oblige.
The final two players in this range are Michael Porter Jr. and Jonathan Kuminga, both at +4000. I'm out on both. Kuminga may be great when he's inevitably traded, but he won't get enough minutes before that to realistically factor into this race. The theory for Porter is that, on a normal bad team with the ball more than he had it in Denver, he could break out as the high-usage scorer he was meant to be as a prospect. Frankly, nothing that happened in Denver suggests he's a capable enough ball-handler to be a 25-point scorer consistently. That's the bar, and I can't see him reaching it.
The long shots
We're going to split the long shots into two groups. The first are plausible first-time All-Stars. The second is players due for massive role increases after having toiled in obscurity.
For the first group, we have four names: Trey Murphy (+5000), Jalen Johnson (+6000), Coby White (+6000) and, I can't believe I'm saying this, Deandre Ayton (+20000). Let's get the obvious out of the way: I don't remotely suspect Ayton to actually be an All-Star.
I'm just playing the narrative game on incredibly long odds. If the Lakers are awesome and he looks more like he did in Phoenix, there will be a groundswell of support behind him similar to the one Julius Randle received when he won in 2021. The model here is basically Ayton being a model citizen, playing great defense, setting screens, getting to the line more and benefitting from the great playmaking he'll have in Los Angeles. I don't think he'll ultimately compete for this award, but I can't ignore the chance at 200-to-1.
The other three are much more plausible. White posted All-Star scoring numbers in the second half of last season. Johnson would have been an All-Star last year if he hadn't gotten hurt. But Murphy is my favorite player in that group as he can scale up if Zion Williamson gets hurt or play well off of him if he doesn't. He flashed star upside last season when injuries made him the primary option for a stretch, and he's a nerd favorite, so if he plays like he did at his best last year, there is already baked in support.
And then there are the the less obvious breakout candidates. Here, we have three names: Jay Huff (+5000), Neemias Queta (+6000) and Jarace Walker (+15000). We obviously have two Pacer front court players here. One is a former No. 8 overall pick whose been buried on the depth chart but looked good in small doses. The other is a per-minute darling with the skill set best suited to replace the bulk of Myles Turner's role. Either are solid choices. Queta, simply by virtue of jumping from a bit player to a possible starter on a high-profile team, is going to get some buzz early in the season if he plays well. He's not Boston's traditional center archetype as a rim-runner rather than a shooter, but the Celtics have so much shooting still in place that he should be able to benefit from plenty of easy buckets.
And there's one unusual candidate that I want to mention. In our MVP odds preview, I mentioned Alperen Sengun as a 300-to-1 long shot I liked. For the same reasons, I want his MIP odds at +10000. One of Houston's young players is about to take a big leap just by virtue of the extra touches available without Fred VanVleet. We covered Amen Thompson already. Well, if you're a Thompson bettor, you basically have to hedge Sengun as well in case he's the one who shines in VanVleet's absence. Sengun was one of the best players at EuroBasket, drawing notable comparisons to Nikola Jokić. It's not likely as he's already made an All-Star Game, but there's a world in which he takes a very significant, All-NBA leap, and there are voters who tend to reward that sort of leap.
Kevin Durant's Rockets debut provides glimpse of what could be NBA's next great trio
Durant, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson combined for 52 points and 20 assists on Wednesday
Kevin Durant made his Rockets debut on Wednesday night and he looked ... well ... like Kevin Durant, finishing with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting in 23 minutes as Houston defeated the Jazz, 140-127.
Durant missed his first three shots. Not to worry. He made his next seven and closed his night with 12 third-quarter points. His first bucket as a Rocket was the elbow pull-up we've seen him make thousands of times.
There isn't too much to say about Durant. He did his normal thing. He looked exceedingly comfortable playing with his new teammates, and why wouldn't he? This is one of the most malleable superstars the NBA has ever seen. He fits anywhere. With anyone.
But this particular combination of teammates in Houston is super intriguing for the different things they all bring to the table, notably what looks like the NBA's newest Big 3 in Durant, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson.
Do the math, and that's a combined 52 points, 20 assists and and 14 rebounds on the night. Barring injury, all three of these guys could be All-Stars. But again, more than that, it's about all the different things they do. This isn't a situation like Durant and Kyrie Irving or James Harden or Devin Booker, where they are all, for the most part, on-ball scorers who occupy similar areas of the floor.
Thompson, the all-world athlete and perhaps the most uniquely gifted player the league has seen since young Ben Simmons, is nothing like Durant, who in turn is nothing like Sengun -- something of a Nikola Jokić lite. With Sengun's ability to handle the ball and orchestrate offense from any spot on the floor, the pick-your-poison two-man actions with Durant stand to be deadly.
What are you supposed to do when Sengun is backing you down in the post with Durant one pass away? Play Sengun one-on-one and he cooks. Double down on Sengun, and he kicks to Durant for the jumper. Cover them both, and Thompson cuts down the lane while your collective attention is understandably distracted.
Sengun has racked up 32 points and 19 assists through 45 minutes of preseason action so far after opening a lot of eyes at FIBA EuroBasket this summer. He could be in line for a monster season, particularly as a facilitator, with Durant occupying so much attention and a bunch of long athletes exposing the cracks these two will create.
Meanwhile, Thompson, who now has 30 points, nine assists, nine rebounds, four steals and a block through two preseason outings, is going to be doing things like this on the defensive end and in the open floor.
So, get ready Rockets fans. The Fred VanVleet injury sucks, but this team is still ready for liftoff on the strength of this sensational trio, a still-stout defense, tons of size, and elite coaching in Ime Udoka. We got a look at all those things in Durant's debut on Wednesday.
NBA Rookie of the Year odds: Cooper Flagg is the heavy favorite, so is he still worth a bet?
The Mavericks' No. 1 overall pick has minus-money odds to win some hardware in his first NBA season
When we covered Defensive Player of the Year odds, we dived into why making a minus-money bet before the season even begins is unwise. Yes, Victor Wembanyama is probably going to win the award, but the value there just isn't worthwhile. There's far more risk than reward at a minus-money price.
Well, here we have yet another award with a minus-money favorite. The longest odds you can find on Cooper Flagg right now to win 2025-26 NBA Rookie of the Year are -175 at DraftKings. Yet there are three critical differences between Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year that actually make Flagg a reasonable bet:
There is no 65-game minimum for eligibility. Sure, if Flagg misses half of the season, he probably won't win. But you won't have to worry about counting absences. You can win this award playing 50 games. Patrick Ewing did so. Brandon Roy played 57 in 2007. You just get far more flexibility when it comes to injuries on this award than you do the others.
Team performance doesn't matter. Yes, Flagg is going to be on a team that aims to be competitive, but in Wembanyama's case, he is relying on the Spurs to be a reasonably successful team defense in order to win Defensive Player of the Year. That won't be the case for Flagg. As the best rookies are generally high draft picks and high draft picks generally belong to bad teams, voters are far more understanding if a great prospect lands on a losing team. Most winners miss the playoffs.
The fact that team performance doesn't matter means that statistics tend to play an outsize role in picking winners here. Defense can be somewhat opaque. How do you measure a shot-blocker's value against a point-of-attack guard's? We don't have great defensive metrics. It's far simpler where rookies are concerned. The winner is usually the player who accumulates the most points, rebounds and assists. We've never had a Rookie of the Year winner average single digits in points, for instance, and in the past two decades, only Stephon Castle (in a historically weak class) and Malcolm Brogdon (who won only because Joel Embiid got hurt) were below 15. This is relevant because very few rookies even receive enough of an opportunity to score that much. Generally speaking, you'll know who most of the candidates are going into a given season. Brogdon was the last winner picked outside of the lottery, and again, he won because Embiid didn't. So trimming the field here is easy. That isn't the case for Defensive Player of the Year, which encompasses the entire league.
So while I could not endorse a Wembanyama Defensive Player of the Year bet, I think Flagg is at least a reasonable choice. He will be practically everyone's pick, including mine, so if you're going to bet on this award, you're probably just looking for valuable places to hedge. So where will you find them? Again, think of what we just covered. You're not looking for subtle, valuable role players on good teams. You're looking for players who will put up big numbers. Putting up big numbers as a rookie usually means playing on a bad team willing to let you make mistakes in the name of growth.
We're not going to bother dividing into tiers this time because the pool is so small and there are so few realistic candidates. Instead, we'll simply go through the notable names and determine who is and is not a viable bet at the odds currently available.
The other player projected as a likely future star in the 2025 NBA Draft was Dylan Harper. He can be found at +1200 on BetMGM right now, and that is frankly a sucker's bet. He shares a backcourt with De'Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle. Devin Vassell takes a lot of shots. Wembanyama uses far more possessions than the average center. Harper just isn't going to have the ball enough to seriously compete for a stats-based award. That he's also recovering from a thumb injury is just the icing on this disappointing cake. Harper is going to be a great NBA player. He is not going to win Rookie of the Year.
It's a similar story for No. 3 pick VJ Edgecombe, available at +1000 at multiple books. He was great at Summer League. He's supposedly looked great at camp. He is also, at best, fourth in the pecking order offensively for Philadelphia, and could potentially be the No. 3 player at his own position with Jared McCain returning and Quentin Grimes playing for a contract. If Edgecombe is a winning player as a rookie, that's an enormous win for Philadelphia. It just doesn't mean he's likely to put up Rookie of the Year numbers.
Ok, so the No. 2 and No. 3 picks are out. Where can we find value in the lottery? At picks No. 4, 5 and 6. Tre Johnson is available at +1200 at DraftKings. Ace Bailey is available at +1800 on Caesars. Kon Knueppel has the longest odds of the trio at +2800. He is the least interesting of the three just considering the presence of LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller, not to mention older ball-handlers like Collin Sexton and Tre Mann. There are already quite a few cooks in that kitchen, so he's likely going to mostly be an off-ball player early on. Still, the odds are promising, and Ball and Miller both have injury histories that suggest they'll miss time and cede shots to teammates. I wouldn't be crazy about Knueppel, but he's a justifiable portfolio addition.
Johnson and Bailey are going to get to take a million shots. Of the two, I'm far more interested in Johnson. High-volume 3-point shooting is far likelier to pop statistically and generate highlights than Bailey's more mid-range focused game, and while I don't expect either to be prolific playmakers early on, Johnson, just by virtue of being a guard, is probably going to have more chances to rack up assists. Bailey's teammate Walter Clayton (+4000) is similarly interesting. He's already 22, so the learning curve will be shorter for him than most rookies, and he'll have every opportunity to handle the ball early on.
Go down to No. 8 and you find our first significant long shot, Egor Demin, who is available at +12500. Demin's major defect is his shooting. This is also an award that Ben Simmons won. Big ball-handlers with the passing gene often look better with NBA spacing than they do at the college level, and the Nets will be eager to let Demin cook after all of the criticism they took for picking him at No. 8. I wouldn't expect him to win, but 125-to-1 in the event that Flagg bows out of the race for any reason is a very nice flyer. He's dealing with a foot injury at the moment, though, so don't get your hopes up too quickly.
And from here, we're already running out of rookies we'd expect to play enough to make a serious run at this. Derik Queen (+15000) would be very interesting in a world in which Zion Williamson were dealing with a nagging injury or potentially traded... but Williamson is still in New Orleans, and Queen is just too duplicative to put up the requisite numbers. Jeremiah Fears is too low on the New Orleans offensive pecking order. Khaman Maluach will split minutes with several other Phoenix bigs. Cedric Coward will probably play enough, but if Jaylen Wells couldn't beat Castle in a 3-and-D role for Memphis last season, it's hard to imagine Coward beating the more imposing Flagg.
Kasparas Jakučionis (+6000) is the last notable name worth a look. There are going to be ball-handling opportunities early in Miami with Tyler Herro injured, and even when he comes back, this is still a pretty limited offensive roster. If he shows he can carry a meaningful load early on, Erik Spoelstra will lean on him. If nothing else, it wouldn't hurt the Heat to pump up the trade value of one of their youngsters, so if he can play, the chances will be there.
Still, Flagg is the obvious favorite here. If you're betting on this award, the play might be similar to Paolo Banchero's race during the 2022-23 season. For a variety of reasons, he was the obvious favorite. Those who bet him early obviously profited. However, surprise contenders emerged as the season progressed. It was Bennedict Mathurin early on and Jalen Williams later. If you're vigilant, you can catch candidates before the books do. Remember, there aren't going to be that many of them. Can you think of many Rookie of the Year races with four or five true candidates? It doesn't really happen. So if you want to bet Flagg, do it. He's probably going to win. Just stay alert. Someone is going to challenge him, and if you want to have the hedge, your best bet is probably to get a sense of who it will be and grab that player at +500 a month into the season rather than throwing a bunch of darts at the board now.
LeBron James to miss start of 2025-26 NBA season, Lakers star sidelined with sciatica, per report
James is already hurting on the road to his NBA-record 23rd season
The Los Angeles Lakers will be without LeBron James when they kick off the 2025-26 NBA season against Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 21, ESPN reports. James is reportedly sidelined for three to four weeks due to sciatica on his right side. This will mark the first time James missed a season opener in his 23-year career.
Reports surfaced this week that James was dealing with nerve irritation in his glute, and would "likely" miss the entire NBA preseason. The hope was that the 40-year-old superstar would be ready to suit up for the season opener later this month, and it was reported that he was ramping up his workload.
James enters his NBA-record 23rd season. He averaged 24.4 points, 78 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game last year. The NBA's all-time scoring leader opted into his $52.6 million player option to remain with the Lakers this offseason.
Lakers coach JJ Redick said this offseason that the Lakers would be cautious with James' health, as he dealt with foot and ankle injuries that sidelined him in recent years. Still, the four-time NBA MVP and 21-time All-Star is incredibly important when it comes to this team's identity.
The Lakers registered their first 50-win campaign since 2019-20 this past season, but lost in five games to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs. Last season was, of course, when the Lakers acquired Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks, who averaged 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.5 assists in his 28 games played for the Lakers. Without a doubt, he will be the centerpiece on offense to begin the season for Los Angeles, but more will also be asked of Austin Reaves.
The Lakers' sharpshooter was L.A.'s third-leading scorer behind Doncic and James with a career-high 20.2 points per game. Reaves' points per game and assists per game numbers have increased in all four of his NBA seasons, and he just became one of 10 players in Lakers history to average 20 points and five assists per game in a single season.
As for who replaces James in the lineup to begin the year, that's where things get interesting. Redick could opt for new guard Marcus Smart, or keep things big and replace James with forward Jarred Vanderbilt instead.
Al Horford explains why he left Celtics for Warriors, role Jayson Tatum's injury played in the decision
Horford believes the Celtics had different priorities than he did entering the season
Al Horford stood in limbo for the majority of the NBA offseason as an unrestricted free agent. In the end, the longtime Boston Celtics standout made a difficult decision to sign elsewhere. He agreed in late September to a two-year deal with the Golden State Warriors, ending his second stint in Boston, where he won the first championship of his career. The decision was twofold, said Horford, who indicated that he and the Celtics had different priorities for the 2025-26 season.
This late in Horford's career, opportunities to add another championship ring are dwindling. He already reached the mountaintop with the Celtics, but with Jayson Tatum set to miss at least the majority, if not all, of the upcoming campaign with a torn Achilles tendon, Horford's best chance of winning another title may not be in Boston.
"There was two things there," Horford, 39, said to The Athletic. "I think the financial part was a component, but more than that, it was the winning part of it, trying to contend for a championship. And I think there was a lot of things up in the air -- and it just felt like they weren't in that same vision, obviously, because JT getting hurt, that takes a big toll. Up until then I was staying in Boston the whole time."
The Celtics were in a tricky spot financially this offseason because of the second apron. They traded Kristaps Porziņġis and Jrue Holiday in salary-shedding moves and watched as key reserve Luke Kornet walked in free agency. The talent exodus was in many ways a necessity.
Because of those departures and Tatum's potential to miss the entire season, the Celtics project to take a step backward from their perennial spot in the Eastern Conference's upper echelon.
"I think once that offseason happened and it started to progress, it became clear to me the team had different priorities," Horford said. "Obviously, getting rid of Jrue, getting rid of Kristaps. And I know it's all salary stuff, but it was like a domino effect, and it was tough for me."
Horford's exit is another blow to the Celtics, whose frontcourt became thinner with each departure. He left a legacy across two stints with the franchise as an integral part of the 2024 championship run and one of the NBA's top defenders on an annual basis. He remained highly prominent in the Celtics' lineup even at age 38.
Golden State is, on paper, a terrific landing spot for Horford. He was everything the Celtics needed him to be, and he should fit just as well with the Warriors because of his defensive versatility and ability to step outside the 3-point line on the other end of the floor.
The Conversation: Is there any hope for Joel Embiid and the Sixers?
We're previewing the 2025-26 Philadelphia 76ers, who are on the two-timeline plan
Jared McCain's rookie season ended in mid-December of last year, but he still managed to play more minutes (592) than Joel Embiid did (574) for the 2024-25 Philadelphia 76ers. The same is true of reserves Jeff Dowtin Jr. (621), who was on a two-way contract and also played 17 games for the Sixers' G League team; Kyle Lowry (659), who barely played for the final three months; and Jared Butler (682), who joined the team at the trade deadline.
In all, 15 players logged more minutes than Embiid did for last season's Sixers. The guy who played the fifth-most minutes, Ricky Council IV, is not currently on an NBA roster. (The Brooklyn Nets were reportedly going to bring him to camp if not for an injury.) Paul George missed half the games, too, and, by the end of the regular season, they were in full tank mode, trying to hang on to their top-six-protected pick. For a franchise that had invested about $400 million in Embiid and George the previous summer, it was an absolute nightmare.
Good news, though: 2024-25 is over. The late tank worked, and, if you're a Sixers fan who hasn't already purchased a V.J. Edgecombe jersey, you've likely at least considered it. McCain will miss the start of the season because of a thumb injury, and neither George nor Embiid has played in the preseason, but, in theory, Philly will soon get a proper look at the team it has put together. The hope is that the ceiling is just as high as the Sixers envisioned when they're at full health and that the floor is nowhere near as low as it was last season.
The offseason: They grabbed Edgecombe with the No. 3 pick, used the No. 35 pick on stretch big Johni Broome and re-signed Edwards for three years and $7.1 million with a team option. They also re-signed Eric Gordon and Lowry and signed Trendon Watford away from Brooklyn, all on minimum contracts. Yabusele left for the Knicks, and they used two of their two-way slots on Jabari Walker and Dominick Barlow, who might have a chance to take some of his minutes. After a long standoff, Grimes signed the one-year qualifying offer.
Sixers believer: Nothing about last season was fun in Philadelphia, but, with the exception of winning a championship, it was the best thing that could have happened to the franchise. By bottoming out, the Sixers were able to draft V.J. Edgecombe, who is probably a future star and definitely going to help them immediately. Daryl Morey's front office also learned from all the things that went wrong in 2024-25, as they've put together a significantly younger, more athletic roster than they had a year ago. Everyone except Tom Ziller seems afraid to say it, but the 2025-26 Sixers can be contenders if they are relatively healthy this time around. I know you're about to hit me with the same tired, boring "Joel Embiid can't be relied upon anymore" take that I've heard a million times, but once he's back on the court and looking like himself again, you'll change your tune.
Sixers skeptic: The reason you've heard so many people say Embiid can't be relied upon anymore is not that there's some sort of anti-Philadelphia conspiracy going around. It's just the truth, no matter how much you and I wish it were not. The Sixers drafted Embiid 11 years ago, and the only time he has ever finished a season healthy was 2019-20 in the bubble. Embiid himself has acknowledged that playing through his knee injury -- and Bell's palsy -- in the 2024 playoffs was not the wisest decision. What scares me the most about Embiid is not that he barely played basketball last season, but the way he moved when he did play. At this point, I don't understand how anyone could be confident that he'll get back to an MVP level, let alone sustain it.
Sixers believer: I'm assuming you agree with this statement about Embiid: "Everyone has to consider the possibility that no surgery and rehabilitation, no matter how cautious and thorough, will ever be enough to keep him on the court for long."
Sixers skeptic: Yeah, obviously.
Sixers believer: Great. It's from a Philadelphia Inquirer article that is more than 10 years old. Before you write off Embiid, please remember that, before he had played a single second in the NBA, plenty of people were doing the same thing. His injury history has always been a cause for concern, but he has already overcome it to be named an All-Star seven years in a row and win an MVP award. Please don't act shocked if and when he makes this sentiment seem foolish again.
Sixers skeptic: Can we talk about the rest of the team? There are only so many ways to say that Embiid is a massive question mark, and pointing out that the organization has been walking this tightrope for more than a decade definitely doesn't make me feel any better about it. Weren't you a little spooked when, with Embiid and Tyrese Maxey out of the lineup, Paul George scored a measly two points on 1-for-7 shooting in 36 minutes in Brooklyn in February? How do you feel about George having arthroscopic knee surgery in the summer and Jared McCain vlogging about another injury? I get the Edgecombe excitement, but aren't you a little disappointed that the Sixers didn't keep Guerschon Yabusele or re-sign Quentin Grimes on a long-term contract? It's hard for me to flush last season when this season's vibes are already weird.
Sixers believer: Actually, I have some questions for you about the San Antonio Spurs: Weren't you spooked by how inefficient De'Aaron Fox was in the 17 games he played for them last season? How do you feel about him missing all of preseason -- and probably some real games -- because of a hamstring injury? It's not a great sign that Stephon Castle is already dealing with a bruised knee, is it? Are you sure that Victor Wembanyama is going to stay healthy after missing almost half of last season? To be clear, I'm not seriously saying that everybody should be freaking out about the Spurs, but it's annoying that McCain had thumb surgery just three weeks after No. 2 pick Dylan Harper did and only the former is treated like a bad omen. Let's respect the Sixers' history of genuinely insane stuff happening by not overreacting to minor snags! And by the way, San Antonio's crowded backcourt and collective lack of shooting are bigger problems than any non-health-related issue with Philly's roster, and the Sixers have the benefit of playing in the East. George is 35, but the fact that he remained an elite defender last season indicates that his decline has been greatly exaggerated (as has the importance of that one game in which he was dealing with three separate injuries). McCain won't miss many games that matter. Grimes can still re-sign next summer, and, as much as I'll miss Yabu, I expect Trendon Watford to more or less make up for his absence.
Sixers skeptic: If every single Spurs player except Wemby tears his Achilles next week, I'd still feel better about their future than Philadelphia's. There's no double standard here; one of these teams has the brightest future imaginable and the other one will be paying Embiid and George about $120 million combined in 2027-28. What sucks the most about the position the Sixers are in is that, if you ignore those two signings, they've made some amazing moves over the last few years! They got Maxey with the No. 21 pick, McCain with the No. 16 pick and Edgecombe with a pick they weren't really supposed to have. The Grimes trade was highway robbery, the Kelly Oubre Jr. signing (and re-signing) worked out as well as they could have hoped and Justin Edwards looks like a nice find. Adem Bona might be, too, and, after Yabusele (another smart signing) walked, it made sense to pick up Watford. Unfortunately, though, there's no mechanism for a clean transition to the post-Embiid era, so the Sixers are stuck doing the two-timelines thing. This has already cost them. While it's understandable that they wanted to stay under the first apron and maintain their ability to get under the tax with a trade, these constraints prevented them from paying Yabusele and Grimes what they're worth. Compromising in that way was a tell: No matter what Morey says, the organization isn't really all-in on this group anymore.
The Conversation: Are the Wizards doing their rebulid right?
We're previewing the 2025-26 Washington Wizards, who are staying patient
The Washington Wizards have won a total of 33 games in the last two seasons, and the rebuild is not over. Now that they've acquired three "second draft" guys -- AJ Johnson, Cam Whitmore and Dillon Jones -- they have nine players on the roster who were picked in the first round of the last three drafts. All that youth represents possibility, but it doesn't bode well for the Wizards' competitiveness in the short term. Neither does the fact that their 2026 first-round pick is top-eight-protected.
This season, then, is about development. Veterans Khris Middleton and CJ McCollum are here to steady the ship, but the big questions are all about the young core: Where is the 20-year-old Alex Sarr's game going on offense? Can the 19-year-old Tre Johnson be more than a bucket-getter? Can the 21-year-old Bilal Coulibaly and the 20-year-old Bub Carrington improve their spot-up shooting? And with so many 19-to-21-year-olds competing for minutes, can Washington start to carve out an identity?
The State of Play
Last year: Twenty games into the season, the Wizards had defeated only one team: The Hawks (twice). And it didn't get much better from there: They finished with the league's worst net rating, worst offense and second-worst record. Midseason, Washington's front office made a bunch of moves, picking up two future second-round picks for Jonas Valanciunas, swapping four future seconds for a 2026 first (likely at the end of the round), absorbing Marcus Smart's contract to get an additional 2025 first and sending Kyle Kuzma to the Bucks for Middleton, AJ Johnson and a 2028 pick swap.
The offseason: Washington fell to sixth in the lottery, where it selected Tre Johnson, a 6-foot-5 wing out of Texas. It then traded down from No. 18 to No. 21, where it selected Will Riley, a 6-foot-9 forward out of Illinois, in the process picking up the No. 43 pick (which it used on Jamir Watkins) and two future seconds. The Wizards also acquired Whitmore for two second-round picks, Jones for a future second and McCollum, Kelly Olynyk and a future second-round pick from the Pelicans. Assuming Jordan Poole was not a part of Washington's future, the McCollum move was savvy: It sent Poole's (longer) contract, Saddiq Bey and the No. 40 pick (which became Micah Peavy) to New Orleans. It then flipped Olynyk to the Spurs in exchange for Malaki Branham, Blake Wesley and a 2026 second, and it re-signed Marvin Bagley III and Anthony Gill to minimum deals.
Las Vegas over/under: 21.5
The Conversation
Wizards believer: If you want to prove that you're not a casual, get it on this team now. Tell your friends that Will Riley is going to be the steal of the draft. Draft Bilal Coulibaly in your fantasy league. Don't just make outlandish claims about the potential of the Tre Johnson-Alex Sarr pick-and-roll; make outlandish claims about the potential of the inverted Sarr-Johnson pick-and-roll. Remember when Draymond Green praised Kyshawn George and Bub Carrington for getting the Wizards to play harder than they had in years? For a rebuilding team, that's the stuff that matters, not the record … which, admittedly, is going to be pretty bad again.
Wizards skeptic: Playing hard matters, but accumulating talent matters more. To me, the Wizards are interesting because they didn't get Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper and, as they position themselves to get Darryn Peterson or A.J. Dybantsa, they will be figuring out which of their young players are worth continuing to invest in. They've already given up on Johnny Davis, the 10th pick in the 2022 draft, and, while there should be plenty of minutes available for Carrington and Johnson in the backcourt, the wing rotation is looking pretty crowded. It's a weird roster in that way, and also in that there are barely any bigs here. I'm concerned that Washington still might not have found a real centerpiece, and that, with this odd collection of players, it'll be hard for the front office to even tell what it has.
Wizards believer: People say this kind of thing about every rebuilding team. If you don't have the patience to watch these young guys, then don't! You can just tune in when the Wizards are playoff-bound and ascendant and pretend that you saw it coming all along. Personally, I think they're going to be a more mature, well-balanced team in 2025-26. Jordan Poole was fine last season, I guess, but I'm much more excited to watch Johnson with the ball in his hands. There's a ton of length on this team now, and there should be internal development across the board.
Wizards skeptic: What kind of internal development, though? Will Sarr actually be able to finish around the rim consistently in Year 2? Will Coulibaly make defenses pay for ignoring him? Flagg would have changed everything for this franchise, but I'd feel so much better about the Wizards if they'd just wound up with Kon Knueppel. There is a long history of guys like Johnson -- tough shot-maker, not much of a driver, not much of a passer, not much of a defender -- flaming out.
Wizards believer: Flaming out?! Johnson hasn't even played an NBA game yet, and you're predicting he's going to be out of here like Davis? Again, be patient! Think about the big picture. The Wizards have a clean cap sheet going forward, a bunch of extra picks at their disposal and a ton of young players with upside. They also have guys like Middleton, McCollum and Corey Kispert -- yep, still here, and still a solid role player! -- to tie lineups together. You can complain about the lack of bigs, I guess, but I like that Sarr will be forced to play the 5 and I'm fine with guys like Coulibaly, George and Cam Whitmore sliding up to the 4 spot.
Wizards skeptic: I would have been fine with that a few years ago. Now more teams are playing double-big, and I expect Washington to get beaten up on the boards virtually every night. And while Kelly Olynyk wouldn't have done much about the rebounding issue, I kind of wish the Wizards had kept him anyway. He would have at least served as a connective playmaker and floor spacer, and there's a glaring shortage of guys like that on this roster. And to be clear, I'm not predicting that Johnson will flame out. I'm merely saying that, for a player with his strengths and weaknesses, it's in the realm of possibility. You can call me impatient if you'd like, but I really don't care what Washington's record is this season. I just want to know that the Wizards have found a real keeper or two.
The Conversation: How realistic are Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers' championship aspirations?
We're previewing the 2025-26 Los Angeles Clippers, who are even deeper than they were before
Wouldn't it be perfect if this was when it finally all came together for the Los Angeles Clippers? Six years after Kawhi Leonard chose the Clippers in free agency, he and the team are involved in what could turn out to be the biggest cap-circumvention scandal in NBA history. While they're being investigated, though, the Clippers are entering the season with perhaps the best roster they've ever had.
Los Angeles had a deep roster last year, but now Brook Lopez is the backup center, and Chris Paul is back in the building. The front office effectively turned Norman Powell into Bradley Bealand John Collins, and, unlike 2023-24, Leonard is ready to play right away. This is an old team, and it's coming off a nightmarish Game 7 performance against the Denver Nuggets, but it had an amazing offseason. Until the Sep. 3 episode of "Pablo Torre Finds Out" dropped, that is.
The State of Play
Last year: Despite letting Paul George walk in the summer of 2024, the Clippers outscored opponents by 1.3 points per 100 possessions without Leonard on the floor (in non-garbage-time minutes, per Cleaning The Glass) and went 24-19 in the games he missed. Leonard was one of the league's best players in March and April, but Los Angeles' 50-32 record was a testament to James Harden's playmaking, Powell's scoring and the team's third-ranked defense. With a series of moves in February, they acquired Bogdan Bogdanovic, Drew Eubanks, Patty Mills, and a couple of extra second-round picks in exchange for P.J. Tucker, Mo Bamba, Kevin Porter Jr., Terance Mann and Bones Hyland, and then they signed Ben Simmons off the scrap heap. Harden made his first All-NBA team since he left Houston, Ivica Zubac made his first All-Defensive team and the first six games of the Clippers' series against Denver were incredible. The final one, though, was a disaster: they were outscored 72-40 in the second and third quarters and trailed by as many as 35.
The offseason: The biggest news was the aforementioned scandal, but, before all that, the Clippers traded Powell and a 2027 second-round pick for Collins and split their non-taxpayer midlevel exception between Lopez (two years, $17.9 million, team option) and Beal (two years, $11 million, player option), the latter of whom accepted a buyout from the Suns. They also re-signed Harden (two years, $81.5 million, player option) and Nicolas Batum (two years, $11.5 million, team option), signed Paul for the minimum and drafted big man Yanic Konan Niederhauser with the No. 30 pick. Amir Coffey left for Milwaukee, and Simmons and Mills remain unsigned.
Las Vegas over/under: 48.5 wins
The Conversation
Clippers believer: Everyone calls the Clippers "deep," but I'm not sure that word adequately captures what their front office has put together. It's not just that they have 11 players who deserve to be in an NBA rotation; it's that they have every player archetype you can think of. They have an abundance of playmaking, shooting, perimeter defense, length and size. Tyronn Lue is going to have so much fun putting lineups together! I know you're going to complain about how old a lot of these guys are, but no team is better positioned to withstand injuries.
Clippers skeptic: I mean, it's at least a little weird that John Collins, who just turned 28, is the youngest player who will regularly see the floor, isn't it? I get that the depth should help them deal with injuries that pop up during the regular season, but it doesn't make me feel much better about them getting through multiple playoff rounds. We just saw Lue go away from Derrick Jones Jr. and Kris Dunn in the postseason because the Nuggets were completely ignoring them on the perimeter. And if they get marginalized again, then I don't think you can say the Clippers have "an abundance" of perimeter defense.
Clippers believer: Kawhi Leonard is a pretty damn good perimeter defender, too. Same with Nicolas Batum. But the point is that Lue has more pieces to play with this season, and the new ones will enhance what was already here. Both Jones and Dunn will be more viable in the playoffs because Brook Lopez and Collins can stretch the floor at the 5 spot. Jones is going to love screening for Chris Paul and rolling to the rim for easy dunks. The Clippers are going to be vastly improved on offense because their spacing is going to be better and they're going to take better care of the ball. I'm sure James Harden will be more efficient, too.
Clippers skeptic: Doesn't this depend on who's actually on the floor? On paper, yeah, the Clippers look like a better, more well-rounded offensive team than they were, but we shouldn't be assuming Bradley Beal is going to stay healthy, especially since they're asking him to exert more energy on the defensive end than he has in recent years. They'll turn the ball over less frequently if Paul is the backup point guard every night, sure, but is that even the plan for him? In fairness, I totally understand talking yourself into this team. I've done that with previous Clippers teams, though, and I just don't buy that this year is going to be significantly different in the end. Beal is basically Powell with a more prestigious brand name. Lopez and Collins can make 3s, but playoff opponents aren't exactly going to be terrified of them spotting up. If the Clips are fortunate enough to make the second round, Paul will turn 41 during the series. Also, I know it's a small thing, but I'm confused about them letting Amir Coffey walk. He made 42.1% of his catch-and-shoot 3s last season!
Clippers believer: Coffey would have been their 12th-best player! I liked him just fine, but come on. Don't do the thing where you dismiss the Clippers because they've disappointed you in the past. Don't pretend the front office didn't transform the team in the summer. They've never had a 4/5 like Collins in this era, and, they've never had a guy like Lopez, either, unless you count The Idea Of Mo Bamba. This is an ideal situation for both of them, and I think it's the perfect place for Beal, too. I suspect Paul will be in the rotation much more often than not, but he's a home-run signing regardless. Last season, they really needed another steady hand, especially when Powell was hurt. This iteration of the Clippers would have beaten last year's Nuggets, and I'd pick them against the new and improved version of the Nuggets, too. I'd pick them against anybody except OKC right now, actually, and in a couple of months I might be ready to say they'll win the whole thing.
Clippers skeptic: As long as Leonard's contract doesn't get voided, I can see the Clippers winning 50-plus games. They outscored opponents by 12.4 points per 100 possessions with Leonard on the court last season, and they've been similarly dominant in his minutes for most of his tenure. His health is a massive variable, though, and the same is true for virtually everybody else on the team. I was hoping they'd get younger and faster in the offseason, but they did the exact opposite, so I'm not sure where the big advantage is against a team like Denver. If the goal on an organizational level is not to win a championship but to put up a good fight while maintaining financial flexibility, then they've done an awesome job. I would hope, though, that they have higher aspirations than that.
Why Draymond Green believes the Warriors are better positioned to win a championship this season
Green believes there isn't a team the Warriors can't beat
The Golden State Warriors may not be at the height of their dynasty days when they won four championships in eight years, but they're still a team that people would rather avoid in the postseason. We saw last season how true that is, as they knocked out the No. 2 seed Houston Rockets in the first round before falling to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round.
Golden State gave the Rockets trouble despite having to build chemistry on the fly with Jimmy Butler, who was acquired just two months before the playoffs started. Now with the benefit of a full offseason and training camp together, Draymond Green feels the Warriors are better positioned to contend this year.
"We think we're even in a better position now to win a championship than we were last year," Green told ESPN. "Last year, Jimmy didn't even know any defensive terminologies, we were just making it work. So I think we actually have an opportunity to build this thing the right way, and work towards a championship the way you have to do it."
The Warriors spent most of the offseason in a contract stalemate with Jonathan Kuminga, but managed to come to an agreement at the buzzer to a new two-year, $46.8 million deal. They also added veteran big man Al Horford, as well as Seth Curry and De'Anthony Melton.
Horford's presence has already been a revelation for Golden State, as his instant chemistry with Stephen Curryhas been on full display in the preseason. Seth Curry and Melton will give Golden State more depth. And with the trio of Stephen Curry, Green and Butler still at the center, the Warriors are a team that shouldn't be overlooked, even in a loaded Western Conference.
"I think if we stay healthy, I don't see any team out there that we can't beat," Green said.
Health will certainly be top of mind for the Warriors, especially after Curry suffered a hamstring strain in Game 1 against the Timberwolves, forcing him to miss the last four games of that series. Butler also missed time in the first round with a pelvic contusion, though he was only sidelined for one game.
The Warriors, who have +2700 odds to win the championship at FanDuel, will need both to stay healthy in order to make any sort of serious run in the postseason. If they are, it's pretty difficult to bet against a clutch duo like Butler and Curry, and the championship experience of Green and coach Steve Kerr calling the shots on the sideline.
The Conversation: How much better did Luka Dončić's Lakers get?
We're previewing the 2025-26 Los Angeles Lakers, who are in transition
In the first round of last year's playoffs, the Minnesota Timberwolves pushed the Los Angeles Lakers around. The Lakers' thin frontcourt rotation was exposed, as was their overall lack of depth. In Game 4, they played the same five-man unit for the entire second half. Their base defense didn't hold up, and blitzing Anthony Edwards didn't work, either. They got stuck in the mud on offense, particularly late in games. Looking back in late September, coach JJ Redick said they weren't physically ready to play.
Can the Lakers avoid the same fate in 2025-26? Well, Luka Dončić seems to have addressed his much-discussed conditioning issues, and Redick plans to prep them for the postseason differently. Their rotation will be different, but not radically so: Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia have arrived, and Dorian Finney-Smith's tenure ended just six months after it began. In Dončić, LeBron James and Austin Reaves, they have a ton of playmaking at their disposal, but they don't have much of an identity beyond that. This time around, though, they have a full season to build something sturdier on that foundation.
The State of Play
Last year: The Lakers were 13-12 in mid-December, but had improved to 28-19 by the time that they pulled off perhaps the single greatest trade in NBA history. On the first day of February, they sent Anthony Davis, Max Christie, Jalen Hood-Schifino, a 2029 first-round pick and what turned out to be the No. 53 pick in the 2025 draft to Dallas for Dončić, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris. Dončić was hurt at the time, and the Lakers ramped him up cautiously. Despite this, and despite James missing two weeks in March with a groin injury, they finished 50-32 and third in the Western Conference. They definitely did not look like the higher seed in their series against Minnesota, however.
The offseason: The Lakers didn't offer James a contract extension, and, when he picked up his $52.6 million player option, Rich Paul released a statement to ESPN that made his future with the franchise seem uncertain. Dončić's future with the franchise, though, became much more secure: As soon as he was allowed to sign an extension, he did -- it's a three-year max deal with a player option, meaning the earliest he could hit free agency is 2028. After Portland bought out the remainder of Ayton's contract, the Lakers signed him to a two-year, $16.2 million deal (with a player option). After Washington bought out the remainder of Smart's contract, the Lakers signed him to a two-year, $10.5 million deal (with a player option). And after Finney-Smith committed to sign with Houston, the Lakers picked up LaRavia on a two-year, $12 million deal. They also re-signed Jaxson Hayes for the minimum and, surprisingly, waived Jordan Goodwin (to facilitate the Smart signing).
Las Vegas over/under: 48.5 wins
The Conversation
Lakers believer: Get ready for the coronation of Luka Dončić. He's in championship shape, just like JJ Redick and the rest of the world wanted, and this is his time to win his first MVP award. Eight months later, I still can't believe the Mavericks actually traded him, but it has clearly given the Lakers new life. Over the summer, LeBron shot a ton of catch-and-shoot 3s because he wanted to be ready for his first full season playing with Luka. It's funny how, when you have two of the best playmakers of all-time on your roster, a starting-caliber center like Deandre Ayton can just fall out of the sky. Ayton knows this is the biggest opportunity of his career, so he'll play with force on both ends. As long as the Lakers get decent bench production, they'll be contenders.
Lakers skeptic: I can't believe the Mavs traded Dončić, either! Bad news, though: The Lakers are still at least a couple of pieces away from contention. Losing Dorian Finney-Smith in free agency was a big blow, especially because this roster is short on reliable role players. Sure, I've seen Ayton, Marcus Smart, Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt and Maxi Kleber be productive in the past, but recent history suggests it's dangerous to count on them. LaRavia is a downgrade from DFS, Smart could turn out to be a downgrade from Goodwin and Ayton is obviously going to drive Redick crazy. There's a reason that, when asked what Ayton would bring to LA, all former teammate Devin Booker said was, "I mean, I guess we'll just have to see, you know? Yeah."
Lakers believer: I mean, I guess we'll see then! Ayton is saying all the right things, though, and Luka is going to make his job extremely simple. He's not be the prototypical shot-blocking, hard-rolling big man Dončić thrived with in Dallas, but neither Dereck Lively II nor Daniel Gafford has Ayton's touch from floater range. His contract is a bargain, and the Lakers got good value in free agency in general. LaRavia is exactly the type of connector that they needed on offense, and he's almost a decade younger than Finney-Smith. Smart is an upside play: You accept the injury risk because otherwise there's no way you could grab an elite defender who can make plays with the biannual exception. Speaking of injury risk, please apologize to Vincent! That man played in 72 games last season, made 37.2% of his catch-and-shoot 3s and competed defensively all year long.
Lakers skeptic: Am I supposed to apologize for remembering that the 2023-24 season happened? Moving on: I'm curious what you think would constitute a successful season for the Lakers. To me, it's a bit tricky. James is always in win-now mode, obviously, and we've already seen Dončić take teams deep into the playoffs, so my initial instinct is to hold them to a high standard. When I really think about the roster, though, I'm not sure this team is meaningfully better than it was when it lost in five games to the Timberwolves in the first round a few months ago. Realistically, the Lakers should be happy if they can get solid production out of Ayton and if lineups featuring Dončić, James and Austin Reaves are a lot better than they were last year. Winning more than 50 games would be a nice bonus.
Lakers believer: You need to think bigger. If Luka could take the 2024 Mavs to the NBA Finals, why can't he lead this team to at least the conference finals? The Thunder's defense and depth put them in a tier of their own, but, especially after the Fred VanVleet injury, I don't think the rest of the West is that scary. By the way, don't pay read too much into the Lakers' stats with the Luka-LeBron-Reaves trio on the court last season -- they had horrible 3-point luck, and the sample was pretty small.
Lakers skeptic: I think you need to think bigger, in terms of what this season actually means for the Lakers. James will be 41 in December, and, regardless of whether or not this is his final year, the front office is already trying to position itself to find Dončić's next co-star. This summer, that meant staying flexible; instead of trading future picks to maximize their chances of competing for a title in 2025-26, they signed three role players to two-year contracts and let Finney-Smith walk (because he wasn't interested in their two-year offer). You're severely underestimating the Nuggets and you're shortchanging the Timberwolves, Warriors and Clippers, but I think the biggest mistake you're making is overestimating how much this season really matters to the Lakers. They'd like to win every game they play, sure, but the bigger-picture goal is to build something new and sustainable around the 26-year-old face of the franchise. This is perfectly reasonable! It's also the reason that they're not nearly as deep as they'd need to be to compete for a title right now.
Saturday’s 6-pack:
Six highest-paid major leaguers in 1985, 40 years ago:
$2,130,000— Mike Schmidt, Phil
$2,090,000— Jim Rice, Bos
$1,950,000— George Foster, Mets
$1,745,000— Dave Winfield, NYY
$1,728,000— Gary Carter, Mets
$1,600,000— Dale Murphy, Atl
Quote of the Day
“We still have home-field advantage. All we can do is enjoy the flight back to Toronto, enjoy our beds at our homes and our families, and we’re going to get after it on Sunday. … We’ll get after it on Sunday. We’ll be ready to play.”
Blue Jays manager John Schneider
Saturday’s quiz
Which bowl game is played in El Paso, TX every December?
Friday’s quiz
Toronto Blue Jays won consecutive World Series in 1992-93; Cito Gaston was their manager.
Thursday’s quiz
Chargers’ QB Justin Herbert played his college football at Oregon.
— Mariners 6, Blue Jays 2
Eugenio Suarez hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 8th
Cal Raleigh also homered in 8th to tie game, 2-2.
Mariners took their starting P out after only 56 PT
Seattle leads series, 3-2; Game 6 is in Toronto Sunday.
— Dodgers 5, Brewers 1
Ohtani threw six shutout IP, also hit three home runs.
Milwaukee had five hits, was 0-8 with RISP.
Dodgers sweep Milwaukee 4-0; Brewers scored one run in every game.
— Bengals 33, Steelers 31
Bengals drove 52 yards, kicked 36-yard FG with 0:07 left for the win.
Flacco threw for 342 yards, three TD’s
WR Chase had 23 targets; he caught 16 passes for 161 yards.
Bengals were 7-14 on third down, Pittsburgh 7-10.
Bengals’ first two drives: 13 plays, 53 yards, two punts.
Bengals rest of game: 63 plays, 416 yards, 33 points.
Steelers led 10-0 early in second quarter.
Pittsburgh has allowed 369+ yards in five of six games.
— Louisville 24, Miami 21
Louisville had four INT’s, was +3 in turnovers.
Louisville led 14-10 at halftime.
Miami ran the ball 24 times for only 63 yards.
Cardinals were a 10.5-point underdog.
— Minnesota 24, Nebraska 6
Minnesota outscored Nebraska 17-0 in second half.
Gophers sacked Nebraska’s QB nine times.
Gophers outgained the Cornhuskers, 339-213.
Both teams are 5-2.
— Utah State 30, San Jose State 25
Utah State kicked 44-yard FG with 1:58 left for the win.
Aggies threw a 74-yard TD pass in 3rd quarter; they led 17-9.
San Jose State outgained the Agues, 534-461.
Spartans were 9-17 on third down, Utah State 5-15
— Famous birthdays, October 18th:
Mike Ditka, 86
George Hendrick, 76
Pam Dawber, 74
Alex Cora, 50
Yoenis Cespedes, 40
Zac Efron, 38
Osvaldo Bido, 30
Terance Mann, 29
— Most starting pitchers used, last two years:
31- White Sox, Marlins
27- Dodgers, Brewers
24- Angels, Mets, Giants
23- Braves, Red Sox
— Fewest starting pitchers used, last two years:
10- Mariners
12- Cardinals
14- Bronx, Nationals
16- Rockies, Royals, Phillies
— Dodgers-Brewers, Blue Jays-Mariners. This year’s Final Four
Only one player ever has played for all four of those teams: Henry Blanco, who played 16 years in the big leagues, for 11 different teams.
— Dolphins-Browns Sunday will have two lefty QB’s starting, first time that has happened in the NFL since 2006, an Atlanta-Tampa Bay game (Vick-Chris Simms)
By the way, this game could have winds as high as 60 MPH, with a 94% chance of rain.
— Since 2016, there have been 16 college football teams that started a season 0-6 ATS; those teams went 5-10-1 ATS in their 7th game. Penn State fits that bill this week.
Since 2020, there have been eight teams that started a season 6-0 ATS; those teams went 2-6 ATS in their 7th game. Memphis, Texas Tech fit the bill this week.
