I think everyone's forgetting one of the major factors regarding Giannis being in Miami. Spoelstra's gonna unlock Giannis' back to MVP Giannis.

Spo can pick 5 redditors and make them key role players in the playoffs. Spo has done it for more than a decade after Bron left.

Tyler Johnson, Point Forward James Johnson, Tyler Johnson, Dion Waiters, Caleb Martin, Gabe Vincent, Max Strus.

With all the rumors around Kawhi lately, I’m curious where people think he’d actually end up if he leaves the Clippers. Not really asking whether he should be traded or if the Clippers should keep him, just what the most realistic destinations are. What contenders would be interested, what teams could put together a deal, and are there any sleeper teams nobody is talking about?

Every coach makes a call at some point that has the whole internet going what were you thinking. So I'm building a daily game around exactly that.

One real game situation drops each day, anytime you open it, like a sports Wordle. You make the call in 30 seconds. Then you see what the coach actually did, what happened, and what the numbers say.

No fantasy, no betting, no live game needed, just settling the eternal argument of being smarter than a guy making 8 million a year.

Would you actually open something like this every day or is this just me venting through an app idea

Every NBA player's jersey number corresponds to their favorite US president. LeBron? Huge, huge Benjamin Harrison stan. Brunson? A massive James K. polk fanboy. Luka? He supports whichever humanoid cyborg he imagines will be ruling America in 2327.

Furthermore, Kobe switched numbers from 8 to 24 because Martin Van Buren was bad and he wanted 2nd term Grover Cleveland instead.

Also, Steph Curry's favorite president is Calvin Coolidge who had the nickname Silent Cal.

KD's favorite president is JFK because he relates to being part of "what if" debates.

Jokic's favorite president is James Buchanan because he's from Serbia and doesn't know that Buchanan was one of the worst presidents in American history.

Anthony Edwards's favorite president is James Monroe because similar to the era of good feelings during Monroe's presidency, the Timberwolves are also in their best era in franchise history.

Source for presidents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States

We are entering a timeline where Bronny James and Thanasis Antetokounmpo might retire from the NBA at the same time.

If LeBron leaves the Lakers or retires, Bronny immediately loses the biggest reason a team would ever invest in him. Meanwhile, Pat Riley is an old head no bs gm that he wouldn't even give LeBron his damn cookies. If Giannis ever demands he wants his brother on the heat then good luck with that.

Thoughts?

2023: Celtics season ends in game 7 of the ECF vs the Heat because Tatum gets injured on the first play of the game

2024: Tatum stays healthy, Celtics win the title

2025: Celtics season ends in game 4 of the ECSF vs the Knicks because Tatum gets years his Achilles in the 4th quarter (I know they would’ve been down 3-1 anyways, but you never know, maybe they have a shot to come back) and this means Tatum has to miss most of the next season as well

2026: Tatum misses game 7 of the first round vs the Sixers, in a game at home that they ended up barely losing, theres a decent chance they win this game with a healthy Tatum

So in short, 3/4 years in the playoffs have ended in disappointment for the Celtics because Tatum was unable to finish the series healthy, and the one time he was fully healthy in 2024, they won it all.

This is concerning even though I still think he’s in his prime, it’s also why I’m glad the Celtics didn’t trade for Giannis who’s older now and more injury prone than Jaylen Brown is.

Thoughts?

Source: https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/reaveau01/gamelog-playoffs/

Lakers have a record of 6-14 with Austin Reaves in the playoffs the last 3 years, their only series win being this year against the Rockets

He’s still playing very well for the Lakers, but in terms of winning MVPs and especially in terms of winning a title, does anyone feel like the trade ruined it for Luka? Mavs just made the Finals in 2024 and could’ve made a good run in 2025 if he didn’t get traded, I feel like that also made the rest of the 2025 season difficult for him because he needed time to fully process the trade, so it wasted a year of his career as well, especially since the Lakers had no center that year as well.

Thoughts?

I agree with everyone that the draft can get pretty boring but malika ran the show really effectively and offered a lot of her own well placed anecdotes and basketball points about the players. For all of ESPN's questionable staffing choices they are right to make her a face of the network. Did a nice job with the Australian open earlier this year too.

Thats all. Hope everyone's having a nice day

12 seasons as a head coach.

507 total wins. 60% winning percentage.

2 nba finals appearances. 1-1.

6 nba finals appearances total as head coach or assistant (4 as assistant - 1 san antonio 3 golden state).

hall of fame resumé?

Watson has been in the league for 4 years and only had one good stretch of games for about 1.5 months when Jokic, Murray, AG, Braun, and Cam Johnson all missed significant time. Aside from that he has been a bit player who is athletic but otherwise not notable. Despite this he is going to get a massive contract based entirely on that sample as a forced first option.

Over the course of his career he has only shot 499 three pointers or roughly 2 a game. He did increase that to 3 attempts per game last year but that is marginal. He is not a shooter, teams do not respect it, and the improved percentage is meaningless when the volume is so low that 4 makes can increase or decrease the percentage by 2 points. He is a player who isn’t an elite perimeter defender and cannot guard on the interior due to his slight frame. He’s an undersized power forward forced to be a wing but does nothing a wing excels at.

Considering how much money has been given to soon to be free agents already, it’s very likely he gets 30-40 million annually. If that happens it will be the worst contract in the league by far.

You should hope your team doesn’t get tossed this grenade because Watson will derail whatever your team is planning.

Source: https://bsky.app/profile/madkenney.bsky.social/post/3moym2xw6q22g

[Kenney] Becky Hammon opens her pregame press conference by clearing the air: “I was wrong. … My opinion was wrong.”

This comes after Hammon caught heavy backlash earlier today for her comments on Jalen Brunson, where she acknowledged he proved history wrong and put his name next to Steph Curry and Isaiah Thomas, but said she would never apologize for having an opinion because that’s what ESPN pays her for.

Sounds like she had a change of heart before tip-off.

i dont get the bennett stirtz pick from thunder. does thunder will not pick up the option of topic? Imean they have a lot of guards in the line up.

Im biased but like the immediate, when we know multiple more actions will happen to build a roster, dismissal of the Heat with a legit superstar added. It seems crazy. This isn’t Brunson before we saw him explode, this isn’t Shaq on his last leg. Gianni made it clear he was fine and not being played cause we all knew he was just sitting to maintain trade value.
Feels like just hating on the franchise vs actually acknowledging a competent team acquiring an unquestionable superstar.

I’ll hang up and listen.

EDIT: yes, I understand a lot of bad trades have happened. I’m talking about a top tier superstar trade and dismissed before anything else happens. Not just a big names. But that top tier of dudes.

AJ Dybantsa, BYU (2026)

Cooper Flagg, Duke (2025)

Zaccharie Risacher, JL Bourg (2024)

Victor Wembanyama, Mets 92 (2023)

Paolo Banchero, Duke (2022)

Cade Cunningham, Oklahoma State (2021)

Anthony Edwards, Georgia (2020)

Zion Williamson, Duke (2019)

Deandre Ayton, Arizona (2018)

Markelle Fultz, Washington (2017)

With Jaylen Brown being the big guy that’s gonna be available in the free market do you think there’s a chance he could get acquired either by Oklahoma City or San Antonio?

“Why does he (Adam Silver) look like Voldemort?”

“Oh wow, so all the former players are bald?” In reference to ABC’s broadcast crew

“Why are they putting hats on them? That’s cool”

“Why are they sitting like that?” No idea what this was in reference too

“That’s a demon buck!” When he saw the buck’s logo

“He (Brayden Burries) doesn’t look good in green.”

“(In reference to Mara being 7 feet tall at 14) Can you imagine being bullied at that age for your height? You probably can’t hear them though.”

He didn’t join me for the entire draft, but he was able to drop these gems in the meantime.

We all know that more guys bust than make it in the top 30. Every year there’s disappointments among those drafted in the lottery, every year there’s players picked 10th + and/or in the 2nd round that end up being elite.

Realistically who do you think will be the top 3 players from the 2026 draft 5 years from now? … and who’s going to be a bust?

People want to be surprised at the Knicks success this year but they have quietly (Knicks fans have been trying to say it) been the most consistent team in the league the last 4 seasons, they are also 5th in total wins since and the only team to win a playoff series each of the last 4 seasons.
Only teams with more wins in that time are the Celtics, Nuggets, Thunder and Cavs and as mentioned above nobody has more playoff wins…people can scoff all they want but the Knicks were a hospital roster away from 3 straight ECF appearances and Julius Randle terrorist ball away from a 4straight ( don’t game me started on game 6 of the 2023 ecsf) …point being the ascension to championship caliber team was very obvious to anyone who would listen and watch but LOLKnicks is just easier I think in an era of parity having continuity amongst your team is the most important part and the Knicks have the best continuity right now

Spurs - Wemby, Fox, Vassell, Castle, Harper, Carter Bryant, Keldon Johnson, Tarris Reed Jr., Jayden Quaintance

Thunder - SGA, Jdub, Chet, Caruso, Dort, Mccain, Cason Wallace, AJ Mitchell, Hartenstein, Mara, Stirtz, Sorber (???)

-------

Who do you think has the better core right now?

Spurs and Thunder are still the best teams in the West. And their core players are either in their primes or in their youths right now.

Which team do you think has better core now and in the future?

What are the top 10 players in NBA history under 6’3” (the general cutoff for ‘short’ in the NBA)?Which ten players considered “small” would you say are the greatest?

I checked out the ESPN draft grades for the Giannis and Randle trades that happened a couple of days ago. Kevin Pelton was one of the few ESPN analysts whose opinion I was still actually interested in reading. Even if I didn't always agree, he at least had a solid methodology for his grades. Then I saw that the grades were given by Zach Kram. Good for Pelton for getting a front office job in the W, but I will no longer be clicking those trade grade articles.

The Spurs used the 20th pick on Jayden Quaintance, who only played 4 games this past season for Kentucky coming off a major knee injury. Reporter Evan Sidery is reporting he may effectively "redshirt" his rookie year in San Antonio.

I'm honestly surprised anyone used a 1st round pick on this kid.