Author: NBA Basketball News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games

Milwaukee Bucks (1-6) at Boston Celtics (5-2)
Wednesday, November 4, 2026
7:30 PM ET
TV:  NBCSB, My24 Bucks+, League Pass
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, WTMJ 103.3 FM, Sirius XM
Regular Season Game #8, Home Game #6
TD Garden

The Celtics go for their 5th straight home win as they return home to host the Milwaukee Bucks. This is the first of 3 games between these two teams this season. They will play in Milwaukee on November 8 and again in Boston on April 11. The Celtics won the series last year 3-1, losing one game in Milwaukee. The Celtics are 124-113 overall, all time against the Bucks and they are 77-40 in games played in Boston.

The Celtics are 3rd in the East with only Philadelphia (7-1) and Detroit (6-1) ahead of them in the standings. The Bucks are 14th in the East with only Brooklyn behind them. The Celtics are 4-0 at home and 1-2 on the road. The Bucks only win this season was a home win against the Indiana Pacers. The Celtics have won the last 3 games against the Bucks.

The Bucks have overhauled their roster since last season. They made the big trade that sent Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis to Miami for Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez, Jr, and Kasparas Jakucionis. They also traded for Caris LeVert from Detroit and signed Pete Nance and Kam Jones to two way contracts. They signed Bogoljub Markovic as a free agent. They also drafted Braydon Burries with the 10th pick and Nate Ament with the 13th pick. They lost Thanasis and Alex Antetokounmpo, Andre Jackson, Kevin Porter along with Giannis and Porter. They also hired Taylor Jenkins as their head coach, replacing Doc Rivers.

After this game, the Celtics will head out on a road trip that will take them through Charlotte, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Toronto. They play Dallas and Orlando at home before a West coast trip that takes them through Denver, Sacramento, Golden State, and Washington. They then play one game at home against Atlanta before playing at San Antonio and Dallas. Then it’s home against Charlotte before a game at Brooklyn.

After this game, the Bucks will return home to host Toronto and Boston before playing at New York and Orlando. They then host Atlanta and play at Miami and host Portland. Then they play Philadelphia and Toronto on the road before hosting Brooklyn. Then it’s one game at Detroit before a 3 game home stand against Oklahoma City, San Antonio and New York.

The Celtics have been changing their starting lineup with Jordan Walsh, Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman, and Neemias Queta getting starts along with Derrick White, Paul George, Jayson Tatum and Mitchell Robinson. Against the Rockets, White, Scheierman, Gonzalez, Tatum and Queta got the start. The starting lineup is a work in progress for the Celtics and so it’s hard to predict who Joe will go with from game to game.

I’m just guessing that White, Gonzalez, George, Walsh and Queta will start in this one. Since Tatum is out, it’s possible that Scheierman once again starts but I’m guessing that Walsh will get the start. For the Bucks, they have started Burries, Herro, Jaquez, Kuzma and Turner in all 7 games so far and I’m going to guess that the same lineup starts this game.

The Celtics still have Devin Carter on the injury report due to illness. After missing the final 3 games of the preseason, Carter was diagnosed with mononucleosis and is without a timetable for a return. After playing both games in 2 back to back sets, Jayson Tatum is listed as out for rest. Payton Pritchard is also listed as questionable with a right shoulder contusion. Milwaukee has just Kam Jones (ankle) as questionable on their injury report at this time.

Probable Starting Matchups
PG: Derrick White vs Brayden Burries

SG: Hugo Gonzalez vs Tyler Herro

SF: Paul George vs Jaime Jaquez, Jr

PF: Jordan Walsh vs Kyle Kuzma

C: Neemias Queta vs Miles Turner

Celtics Reserves
Chris Cenac, Jr
Mike Conley, Jr
Luka Garza
Jordan Walsh
Ron Harper, Jr
Sam Hauser
Payton Pritchard
Mitchell Robinson
Baylor Scheierman

Two Way Players
Devin Carter
Dillon Mitchell
Amari Williams

Injuries/Out
Devin Carter (illness)  out
Jayson Tatum (rest) out
Payton Pritchard (shoulder) questionable

Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla

Bucks Reserves
Nate Ament
Ousmane Dieng
AJ Green
Kasparas Jakucionis
Caris LeVert
Bogoljub Markovic
Ryan Rollins
Jericho Sims
Gary Trent, Jr
Kel’el Ware

Two-Way Players
Kam Jones
Pete Nance
Corman Ryan

Injured/Out
Kam Jones (ankle) questionable

Head Coach
Taylor Jenkins

Key Matchups
Hugo Gonzalez vs Tyler Herro
Herro is in his first season in Milwaukee after being traded from Miami. He is averaging 21.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists. He is shooting 45.9% from the field and 43.1% from beyond the arc. He is a very good shooter and so the Celtics need to defend him well wherever he is on the court. I’m guessing that Hugo gets the start here again, but with Joe playing mad scientist with the lineups, you never know.

Paul George vs Jaime Jaquez, Jr
As with Herro, Jaquez is in his first season with the Bucks.  He is averaging 16.6 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game.  He is shooting 50.6% from the field and 44.0% from beyond the arc.  He is a good shooter and so, as with Herro,  the Celtics need to stay with him and defend him well. 

Honorable Mention
Jordan Walsh vs Kyle Kuzma 
Kuzma is averaging 10.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game.  He is shooting 43.9% from the field and 29.0% from beyond the arc.  Although he is struggling from the perimeter, he is very capable of hitting 3’s if left open.  Tatum is out so the Celtics may start Hauser, or Scheierman or Walsh or any one of several other players here if Tatum doesn’t play.

Keys to the Game
Defense –  Defense is always the biggest key to winning.  Defense really does win championships.  The Celtics are 11th with a defensive rating of 109.3.  The Bucks are 26th with a defensive rating of 118.6.   The Celtics must work hard on defense and keep their focus on the defensive end so as not to allow any easy baskets for the Bucks. They especially need to defend the perimeter as the Bucks are 3rd in the league attempting 43.7 three pointers per game. 

Rebound – Next to defense, rebounding is always a big key to winning.  The key to rebounding is effort and focus.   The Bucks are 3rd with 49.6 rebounds per game while the Celtics are 20th with 42.4 rebounds per game. The Celtics especially need to fight for offensive rebounds as the Bucks are 2nd with 15 offensive rebounds per game while the Celtics are 13th with 12.6 offensive boards per game.  The Celtics have to fight as a team to try to grab every rebound to avoid the Bucks getting 2nd chance points.  The Bucks are 3rd, getting 19.0 second chance points per game.

Don’t Underestimate the Bucks – The Bucks have not been playing well so far this season, going just 1-6 in their first 7 games.  However,  the Bucks are still a rival in the Eastern Conference that can play hard, which makes up for a lot of problems.  The Celtics have to give max effort on the boards and on defense and they have to give that effort for the entire game and not just 1 or 2 quarters. 

3 Point Shooting – The Celtics are 8th in the league, averaging 40.6 three pointers per game.  They are shooting 34.5% as a team from beyond the arc.  The Bucks are 3rd, averaging 43.7 threes a game and 20th in the league shooting 33.3% on threes as a team.  Against the Rockets, no one on the Celtics could hit their 3’s.  If the Celtics’ 3’s aren’t falling in this game,  they need to take the ball inside. 

X-Factors
Home Game – The Celtics are home once again after a 2 game road trip.  They have the home crowd behind them to give them extra motivation.  The Bucks are on the road for the 2nd straight game and have the distractions of travel and a hostile crowd.   The Celtics need to take advantage of playing at home and play with energy and effort.  The Celtics have not lost at home this season and the Bucks have not won on the road.  They need to keep it that way. 

Officiating – Officiating is always an x-factor in every game. Every crew officiates differently. Some call it tight, others let them play. The Celtics need to adjust to how the refs are calling the game and not allow bad calls or no calls to take away their focus from playing the game.  The Celtics also have to be aware of the new points of emphasis for this season and try to avoid flopping, off‑arm push‑offs, reckless closeouts, delays before free throws, and illegal screens. They have been especially calling flops and push offs and so the Celtics need to especially avoid doing both. 

The 2026-27 NBA season has started, and we’re already excited to see the Washington Wizards usher in a new era. But apparently, while the AJ Dybantsa Age is just starting, there’s a new report that at some point in the future, you may not be spending as much time at Capital One Arena to watch a game like in the past.

According to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver would like to see games shorten to 40 minutes.

Adam Silver reportedly likes the idea of cutting NBA games to 40 minutes, per @SIChrisMannix 👀

(Via @SInow) pic.twitter.com/YFNHmmYJzI

— NBABase (@TheNBABase) November 3, 2026

Here are some of the pros:

• Lowered risk of injury to players. Presumably, if players, especially starters, appear for fewer minutes a game, they will have fresher legs toward the end of the game.
• Fewer minutes, but not necessarily fewer games: NBA fans of the future can compare to the current era and the 1990s more easily when it comes to team records.
• The NBA will meet the FIBA standard length: FIBA games played in Europe, Asia, Africa and elsewhere in the Americas are 40 minutes long with 10 miunte quarters. The WNBA also plays games based on this standard length.
• TV time: When you watch a Washington Mystics game where Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen and Shakira Austin beat the Indiana Fever and their ballyhooed roster, the game fits a bit more neatly in a two-hour window including timeouts. A Washington Wizards game where Dybantsa, Anthony Davis and Trae Young beat the Indiana Pacers is more like 2 hours and 30 minutes with a 48 minute game length. If they play two hours with a 40 minute game, perhaps the Big Three will be at a collective lower risk of injury. If TV timeouts were more tightly controlled like an international tournament (AmeriCup, the World Cup or Olympics), games can regularly be a bit under 2 hours each.

And here are some cons:

• Potentially less time for bench players. If there are 82 games at 40 minutes each without overtimes, there would be 656 minutes left than an NBA regular season with 82 games at 48 minutes each. That’s the equivalent of 13.67 games at 48 minutes a game and 656 fewer minutes, not including overtime, to give to players, especially bench players. Also, superstars and starters who are averaging over 30 minutes in games with 12-minute quarters may not see much of a drop-off in playing time if games suddenly had 10 minute quarters.
• Career statistical marks will be harder to achieve by younger and future NBA players. Certain records, like the career scoring record with LeBron James holds (and it’s still increasing) will be even more difficult to reach.

Would you like to see NBA games align with the 40 minute FIBA standard? Or do you think the time limit should stay at 48 minutes? Let us know in the comments below.

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Christian Wood remains an unsigned free agent after spending the past two seasons with the Lakers.

But that hasn’t stopped him from making headlines while in LA.

Photos show the 31-year-old Wood going out on a dinner date with American model and television personality Amber Rose at Matsuhisa, a Beverly Hills restaurant.

Rose is 43 years old, which means there is a 12-year age gap between these two.

Wood has not been in the NBA since the 2023-24 season, when he made 50 appearances with the Lakers and averaged 6.9 points over 17.4 minutes per game. He was waived when Los Angeles signed Alex Len in February 2025.

Rose has dated numerous high-profile celebrities, including Kanye West, Wiz Khalifa (with whom she was married to for over a year and has a son), Machine Gun Kelly, 21 Savage and NBA player Terrence Ross.

Rose also gained a lot of attention for supporting Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential election.

It’s hard to imagine that Wood can make his way back into the NBA at this point, given how he has been out of the league for several years.

But perhaps this relationship with Rose can help him remain relevant.

When the Spurs first drafted Jeremy Sochan out of Baylor with the 9th overall pick in 2022, I remember probably being more thrilled with the pick than warranted. I hardly knew anything about him, but I did know he had size and was not a guard, and that’s all I wanted. If you ignore 2019 (when the Spurs drafted a bust power forward in Luka Samanic and a truly “small” forward in Keldon Johnson) and 2015 (when they drafted and stashed center Nikola Milutinov), you otherwise had to go all the way back to 2014 and Kyle Anderson to find the last time they drafted a player who was not a guard or small wing in the first round. (And even then, Anderson was more of a guard in a forward’s body.)

As good as some of those picks were — steals with Dejounte Murray and Derrick White late in the first round, Devin Vassell as their first lottery pick since Tim Duncan — others were merely okay or even complete busts that failed to address what was constantly an area of weakness during the post-Kawhi Leonard era: size at the forward positions. They finally changed up their drafting pattern when they took Sochan, and he seemed like a great fit with the club, both by filling a position of need and bringing a sense of humor during a couple of rough “tanking” seasons.

He had a good rookie season with the Spurs, making the All-Rookie 2nd Team and proving to be one of the better perimeter defenders in the league. He also had a knack for defending the rim and grabbing rebounds despite being slightly undersized when playing center. Across his first three seasons, he averaged a consistent 11+ points and 6+ rebounds on solid shooting numbers — inside the arc. A good comparison for him would be Malik Rose (the Spurs’ undersized backup big man from their first two championship teams) but therein lies the problem. Rose was ideal for that role in the 2000’s, but a power forward/undersized center without a three-point shot just doesn’t fit today’s game, and that’s where Sochan found himself.

After winning the lottery and drafting Victor Wembanyama in 2023, experimentation began to figure out how to best utilize them together. There was the ghastly Point Sochan experiment in his second season (Wemby’s first), and he lost his starting spot and eventually fell out of the rotation while dealing with various injuries during his third season. Finally, by last season, it was clear he wasn’t part of Mitch Johnson’s future plans despite having good chemistry with Wemby. He requested a trade and was eventually waived and signed with the New York Knicks, where he didn’t play a role but at least won a championship against his former team.

That would be the last bright moment in his NBA career that started promising but dimmed with time. He signed a training camp deal with the Portland Trail Blazers this summer, but despite a solid preseason, he was waved before the start of the regular season. He was then drafted 1st overall by the Texas Legends in the G League Draft (the Dallas Mavericks’ affiliate), marking a stark fall from just a year ago.

At his introductory press conference, he was humble and respectful. When asked about the roller coaster of the last 10+ months, had the following to say:

Jeremy Sochan with the most humble and thoughtful response to his last 10 months or so, from NBA Champion (Knicks) to a standard G-League contract (Texas Legends).

– Drafted 9th overall by the Spurs in 2022, Sochan was a focal point of their early rebuild.
– 2025–26 season,… pic.twitter.com/n1ZUt3fkTI

— Abby Jones (@_abigaiiiil) November 3, 2026

“I think the way I grew up, my family, my parents; it’s always been like that. I could look at it negatively (the Portland situation). But when I look back at that situation, I think the two months I was there, I grew a lot. I was healthy throughout the whole training camp, preseason and open gym. So I think that was a blessing. When we got into preseason games, the minutes I got I think I used them to the best of my ability. I had good games. So what would be the point of being negative and angry for getting waived? Of course, you can look at it as that’s the NBA and I have a contract. But at the same time I have good momentum. So, why would I hold weight on something that I can’t control? And instead, be in this moment and do what I can do and keep that momentum going.”

He also discussed having to let go of the past and focus on what he’s learned so he can move forward.

Jeremy Sochan speaks on the highs and lows of his NBA career and how he’s trying to remain present while embracing this opportunity with the G-League.

For context, the Portland Trail Blazers signed Sochan to a one-year, non-guaranteed deal in August 2026. Sochan played in… pic.twitter.com/QaNIwM1rHA

— Abby Jones (@_abigaiiiil) November 3, 2026

“I think the biggest lesson for me is just being as present as possible. I keep going with this ‘presence’ because there’s a lot of things that you can’t control — in life and in basketball. Sometimes I feel like I’ve been a victim of the past where I’ve kinda held onto that, instead of acknowledging that and the just keep going. I think that’s the biggest lesson, for sure.”

It has certainly been tough to watch how far the former fan favorite has fallen. Even if it was for the better, I was personally sad to see Sochan leave San Antonio (enough so that I didn’t begrudge him for getting a ring with the Knicks). He mentions being a victim of the past, and while I’m not sure what his own context is, he is certainly a prime example of a player who would have been much better off in a bygone era of basketball than he is today.

Hopefully this isn’t the end of his NBA journey. While it’s odd to see a former NBA lottery pick with four years of experience enter into the G League draft, there are no experience limits, and he fit the requirement of having recently been waived from a training camp roster. Choosing the G League — as opposed to going overseas — shows that he is still very much interested in making it back to the NBA and is not ready to settle for anything less.

Hopefully his signature competitive drive and determination keeps him going, and he eventually makes it back someday. He was a fan favorite for a reason, and even if the parting was mutual, I think we can all agree that we want Sochan to get another chance in the NBA, even if it’s not with the Spurs.

The Sixers are 7-1 after Monday night’s 126-107 victory against Chicago. Three of their next four games are against fellow Eastern Conference contenders in Detroit, Cleveland and Boston. Perhaps for that reason, Nick Nurse might not make drastic changes to a rotation that keeps winning. After all, the Sixers haven’t opened a playoff round at home since 2023 so locking up wins against other teams in the Eastern Conference now can only help for seeding later. However, there’s one glaring mistake with Nurse’s rotation that he needs to address.

When it comes to the bench, Nurse is playing Anfernee Simons, Dean Wade and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope regularly. These are veterans who figure to factor into the playoff rotation as well come the spring. However, whether Labaron Philon sees the court in April and beyond or not, the rookie out of Alabama should be seeing more than the eight minutes per game he’s currently averaging. Even in a 19-point win against the Bulls, Philon played just two minutes.

While Philon was drafted towards the end of the first round this past summer, now’s the time to find out what kind of player he could become. Of course, he can always grow into a bigger role next season and beyond, but should the Sixers set him on a path that’s essentially burning a year of his rookie contract? Maybe that’s a harsh way of phrasing things after only eight games, but it’s the realest way of saying Philon isn’t playing nearly enough.

For context, Tyrese Maxey was drafted 21^st overall in 2020 which is just one spot earlier than Philon’s 22^nd overall in 2026. In the 2020-21 season, Maxey’s rookie year, Maxey played 15 minutes per game and started eight games. That’s a considerable uptick from the amount of minutes Philon is currently playing. Additionally, under Nick Nurse in 2024-25, Jared McCain played 25.7 minutes per game as a rookie in an injury-shortened season that saw him still start eight games. Neither of these comparisons is perfect as McCain was nearly a lottery pick having been selected 15^th overall in 2024 and Maxey would have probably been a lottery pick under non-COVID circumstances in his draft eligible season in college.

Part of the reason we’re saying the Sixers have a backup center problem yet again is because they whiffed on the Johni Broome pick recently and Adem Bona doesn’t seem to have any offensive skillset. Granted, those two players were recent second-rounders by Philadelphia, but the point stands. You want to get your draft picks on the court in their rookie seasons in the regular season when your rotation should be deeper. It’s cheap production if they’re good right away, gives you more clarity on what they could develop into down the line, and would also make it easier to move off of them in trades while they still have some trade value if the early returns aren’t to your liking.

In the short term, don’t we all agree Maxey could use more of a breather than what he’s currently getting? Maxey is averaging a whopping 37.4 minutes per game which is currently second in the NBA to only Denver’s Jamal Murray. Maxey’s injury history is nowhere near as lengthy as Joel Embiid’s, but that doesn’t mean Maxey wouldn’t benefit from seeing his minutes scaled back a bit. Maxey’s also doesn’t seem like the kind of player that would be concerned about various individual accolades that might not come his way if his playing time decreased. More importantly, everyone can agree Maxey needs to be healthy and full go come playoff time for Philadelphia to make a deep run.

In the long term, wouldn’t it be great if Philon developed into a sixth man at the very least for this team? Remember how awful Philly’s bench was in the playoffs last year? Philon represents a long-term solution to what’s been a long-term problem for the Sixers even if it’s hard to see him ever getting on the court with long-term building blocks in Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Jaylen Brown all at the same time.

Make no mistake, winning is fun and the Sixers are doing a lot of it right now. But the best teams in every sport can fuse the present with the future and win in the current season and in seasons of tomorrow. I get it Sixers fans, the current season is probably all that’s on your mind and I can’t blame you as the Sixers have as good a chance as any other team does to win the NBA championship in 2026-27. But there’s going to be basketball played in 2027 and beyond and Labaron Philon was drafted to be a part of that basketball for Philly so this season should also be about finding out what role Philon can have within this organization’s long-term plans. 

The Nets rebuild can probably be traced back to June 25, 2024 when Brooklyn made two trades within minutes of each other that signals half steps were over. One sent Mikal Bridges to New York for five first rounders, a first round swap and a second rounder; the other an exchange of firsts with the Rockets that brought back a first rounder and a first round swap they had originally sent Houston in the first James Harden trade.

The second step was the two-year-long tank that helped the Nets get two high — although not as high as they had hoped — firsts in Egor Demin and Mikel Brown Jr. as well as five other late firsts. The hope, at least among fans, was that the losing or at least the deliberate losing would be over. Not yet, apparently, as Brooklyn is off to a 1-6 start and the two rookies have shared the court for only a few minutes. For the second straight year, the Nets are also the youngest team in the league, not a recipe for contention.

Now, into the fan caldron of disappointment, Jake Fischer seemingly dropped some knowledge that would seemingly ensure a longer rebuild. Speaking to Yahoo! Sports, the writer suggested that the next step could be trying to move veterans Michael Porter Jr and/or Julius Randle presumably at the February trade deadline, presumably to a contender, for more assets, presumably more picks or maybe other assets. Scoring, already an issue, and wins would be sacrificed.

“Brooklyn, I would still categorize as a team that is in more of a sell situation. I believe that Brooklyn will hope that a Julius Randle, a Michael Porter Jr. could still potentially draw some real returns,” Fischer said.

“The Nets, they don’t have their draft pick this year and they’re looking to be better and compete in the Eastern Conference, take some strides forward in the East.

“I don’t think they’re going to be a full sell job right now, but I do think that they are still in a position to solicit trade offers for their veterans to get draft capital, potentially young pieces back in return.”

Reading carefully, rather than scanning aggregators’ headlines, reveals that Fischer isn’t making predictions that the Nets will push hard to move both. He talks about “a Julius Randle,” “a Michael Porter Jr.” not both. Nor does he specifically mention the trade deadline. Nor does he gauge interest levels on the other side.

Adding to the Nets’ cache of assets, of course, does make sense from a number of aspects. If, as Sean Marks has said, the ultimate goal is a player or players who will “automatically and absolutely change the trajectory of the franchise.” then the accumulation of assets makes sense, particularly in an era where trades, not free agency, is the route to acquiring stars and superstars. Look at all the stars who moved this summer. Only LeBron James signed as a free agent and that of course was an oddity.

Either of the two players would seem to be the ideal final piece for teams hoping to make a final run at a title. Randle and MPJ can put up big numbers and have. Porter Jr. also has a ring. Yeah sure, both have baggage, but their ability to get buckets is undisputed. As Basket News noted,

Porter Jr. is averaging 20.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.6 steals, shooting 38.1% from the three-point line.

In the meantime, Randle holds the averages of 20.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.9 assists.

Their contracts also militate for moves unless the Nets see them as part of their future. MPJ will be an unrestricted free agent come July. If the Nets don’t plan on extending him — and there’s no indication at this point that they do, then trading him for assets in the interim would be imperative. Similarly, Randle has a player option at the end of this season and he too can leave in July if Sean Marks & co. decide not to make him an offer or an offer he believes fair. (MPJ earns $40.8 million, Randle $33.3 million with an option of $35.8 million.)

Of the two, Porter Jr. would seem to be the more likely to return assets. He’s nearly four years younger than Randle, although Randle is closer to iron man status, having averaged 68 games a year over the last eight. He also has proven that he can be a leader during his time at Flatbush and Atlantic.

It should also be noted that any trade is unlikely to produce the automatic and absolute game-changer Marks has spoken about. More likely, it’d be the big trade before the bigger trade which might happen in the summer of 2027.

One of the most intriguing but also less than concrete suggestions in Fischer’s comment is that the Nets might move away from accumulating draft picks to seeking “potentially young pieces” — that is, undervalued players on rookie deals. After all, they do have 13 firsts and 19 seconds over the next seven years. That strategy has been a key element in a number of recent rebuilds, most notably OKC’s acquisition of a young Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, in the trade of Paul George to the Clippers back in June 2019. That one trade got Sam Presti one building block after another from SGA to Aday Mara. We should be so lucky.

Of course the trade deadline — 3:00 p.m. ET on February 11 — is three months away and there are few trades in the first couple of months of any season. The unofficial start of trade season is December 15 for two reasons. It’s roughly 20 games into the season when teams understand what their needs are going forward as well as the first day that players signed or resigned during the off-season can be dealt. That expands the pool of players who are available by dozens. That’s especially relevant putting together complicated, multi-team deals. Perhaps the spate of early season injuries will move things up, but it’s unlikely.

So, we wait.

In his return to Utah on Oct. 25, Walker Kessler struggled, scoring two points (1-of-2 shooting) and committing four fouls. Afterward, he conceded that he let his emotions overwhelm him and never found a rhythm against the Jazz. Since then, he’s recorded three double-doubles in five outings — all of which have come the past three games — and averaged 2.6 blocks each night.

During the Los Angeles Lakers’ win over the Miami Heat on Monday, he tallied 15 points (7-of-13 shooting), 15 rebounds, two assists and two steals. A day prior in a victory against the Toronto Raptors, he posted 16 points (6-of-6 shooting), 15 rebounds, three blocks, one assist and one steal.

The second Laker in franchise HISTORY to record 16 points, 15 boards, & 3 blocks on a perfect shooting night: Walker Kessler 🫡 pic.twitter.com/6e7PHrlEWe

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) November 2, 2026

Through eight games, Kessler’s acquisition has been a smash hit for Los Angeles. He’s averaging 14.4 points (69.8% true shooting), 10.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 1.1 steals.

“He’s a big key for us. I think when he plays good, it gives us a way better chance to win,” Luka Dončić told reporters postgame on Monday. “He just need to keep going like this. Like we told him, we have his back. Obviously, he’s not going to play every game great, but what he’s been doing, it’s helping us win a lot.”

The Lakers’ success this season will continue being shepherded by Dončić, Kessler and Austin Reaves. Each of them has kicked off 2026-27 in excellent form, so it’s no surprise Los Angeles finds itself 6-2 with the league’s second-ranked offense and seventh-best net rating (plus-8.8). When those three share the floor, the Lakers have outscored their opponents by 104 points in 145 minutes while notching a 138.3 offensive rating and 105.8 defensive rating, per NBA.com.

Reaves, the longest-tenured Laker, seems to enjoy playing alongside his new starting center and understands his importance.

“He’s been great. It’s fun to watch,” Reaves said Monday. “Glad to have him on our team and he’s going to continue to get better every single game. But he’s been massive for us this whole year.”

Kessler and the Lakers will look for a third consecutive win Wednesday night on the road against the Sacramento Kings at 7 p.m.

You can follow Jackson on Twitter at @jackfrank_jjf.

The grass hasn’t been greener for Mitchell Robinson, even if his jersey is.

The former Knicks center is off to an inauspicious start with the rival Celtics after bolting in the offseason for a three-year, $47.4 million pact.

Robinson is averaging 6.2 points but just 4.4 rebounds and 0.7 blocks per game through six contests with a disastrous minus-42 rating when he’s on the court.

There has been speculation that the 7-foot, 240-pound big man reported to training camp in underwhelming physical shape, according to The Boston Globe.

“None of us have met the expectations, myself included,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said recently, per the outlet. “I have to be better, and it goes down the line. I like where Mitch is at from a mentality standpoint. I like his approach and his work ethic into doing the things that we’re asking to do.

“It’s obviously a little bit different, but none of us have met our own expectations, and we just have to keep working toward it. As long as we keep that mindset, not be distracted by the result, we got a chance. He’s somebody that takes pride in that process of getting better, and I’ve enjoyed working with him.”

The Knicks did not attempt to retain Robinson after he helped with the franchise’s first title in 53 years in June and the Celtics swooped in to add some needed size to their frontcourt.

Six games is obviously an extremely small sample size, but there have been some worrisome signs.

Robinson posted a minus-16 rating in Monday’s road loss to the Rockets and the Globe noted that he struggled on defense, “isn’t moving as well as expected” and not contributing on offense.

His teammates reportedly are having “major trouble” finding him for alley-oops.

Robinson’s points per game is actually slightly higher than his 2025-26 average, but his rebounds are notably down from 8.8 per game to 4.5 and his block have dipped from 1.2 to 0.7 per game.

The Celtics have a net rating of minus-18.8 when he’s on the court compared to compared to plus-19.4 when he’s off the court, per screwball.com.

The Knicks were better with Robinson on the court in each of the last two seasons per that metric, and his minus-38.2 net is the worst of his career.

“I would say for his offensive rebounding impact, we have him a little bit further away from the rim, setting screens and playmaking for us on the perimeter as part of our offense,” Mazzulla said recently, per the Globe. “I think that has a little bit to do with it.

“But as far as the two-man game, it’s just something to work on.”

The Celtics have managed a 5-2 start despite Robinson’s issues with their new system, and have a soft stretch coming up with three games against Milwaukee (twice) and Charlotte before a storyline-filled clash with ex-star Jaylen Brown and the 76ers next Tuesday.

Who: Phoenix Suns (1-4) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (5-1)

When: 7:00 pm Arizona Time

Where: Mortgage Matchup Center — Phoenix, Arizona

Watch: Arizona’s Family 3TV, Arizona’s Family Sports

Listen: KMVP 98.7

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The Suns are back at it on Wednesday evening as they return to the site of their only victory thus far this season. Home. What lies before them is a seven-game homestand, an opportunity to stabilize the front end of the season before things spiral into an unrecoverable tailspin.

Their opponent? The very team that sent them down this worrisome path in the first place, the Portland Trail Blazers, who led by as many as 52 points before handing Phoenix a 41-point defeat in the season opener.

In some respects, it feels like we’re watching two teams heading in completely different directions. Last season, these teams met in the Play-In Tournament, with the Suns holding home-court advantage as the seventh seed. But the Trail Blazers, led by Deni Avdija, dispatched Phoenix with relative ease, putting the Suns in a position no team wants to find itself in. They were suddenly at risk of becoming the first seventh seed to miss the postseason entirely. Thankfully, Phoenix won its next game, earning a date with the Oklahoma City Thunder. We all know how that went.

But as this season has gotten underway, Portland has continued to build on the momentum it established a season ago, racing out to a 5-1 start. Meanwhile, the Suns find themselves on the opposite end of the spectrum at 1-4. 

It’s a small sample size, of course. At any point during an NBA season, a team can go 1-4 over a five-game stretch, and while there might be some concern, you probably don’t think too much of it. But this is the foundation of the season. This is when we’re getting to know what a team looks like, what it’s capable of, what it does well, and where its opportunities for improvement lie.

When you look at the Portland Trail Blazers through that same lens, you see a roster constructed in a manner that makes sense, one capable of absorbing an injury or two without completely compromising its identity. That’s exactly what they’re dealing with. Ja Morant and Shaedon Sharpe are unavailable for this matchup, yet Portland possesses enough quality depth to remain competitive. Their absences don’t necessarily derail what they’re trying to accomplish.

The Suns, meanwhile, are experiencing something entirely different at the center position. Although Mark Williams is the only player listed as out on the injury report, his absence has created a ripple effect throughout the roster, one that becomes especially concerning when facing a team like Portland.

Perhaps Phoenix can use what happened in the season opener as motivation heading into Wednesday night. Nobody enjoys being embarrassed in the manner the Suns were, especially when the team responsible for that embarrassment is coming into your building. The question becomes: What are you going to do about it?

Tale of the Tape

Probable Starters

Injury Report

Suns

• Mark Williams — OUT (Left Shoulder Surgery)
• Jordan Goodwin — QUESTIONABLE (Right Calf Soreness)
• Rasheer Fleming — QUESTIONABLE (Left Ankle Sprain)

Trail Blazers

• Ja Morant — OUT (Left Hamstring Strain)
• Shaedon Sharpe — OUT (Right Meniscus Surgery)

What to Watch For

The Suns’ backcourt continues to be a point of evaluation for both the organization and the fan base. Jalen Green had what appeared to be a solid performance in the Suns’ last outing, finishing with 11 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and four turnovers. His playmaking abilities felt much more refined, although he certainly received some help from his friends, who were knocking down the shots he created for them.

The Suns’ backcourt continues to be a point of evaluation for both the organization and the fan base. Jalen Green had what appeared to be a solid performance in the Suns’ last outing, finishing with 11 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and four turnovers. His playmaking abilities felt much more refined, although he certainly received some help from his friends, who were knocking down the shots he created for them.

Green finished the game with 11 potential assists, meaning his teammates failed to convert only three times when he put them in a position to score. That’s a 73% conversion rate, which is pretty remarkable. Prior to Monday’s game, his assist conversion rate was 48%.

But then you look at the other aspects of Green’s game, and you can’t help but wonder why he can’t seem to put everything together at the same time.  He shot 1-of-6 from the free-throw line and 0-of-4 from beyond the arc, posting a true shooting percentage of 33.1%. Make a couple of those shots, and we’re potentially talking about a much different outcome against Golden State.

So once again, I’ll be watching how this backcourt performs, particularly whether Green can combine his improved playmaking with the scoring efficiency this team desperately needs.

I’ll also be paying close attention to how Phoenix defends Portland, because the last time these teams met, the Suns were utterly atrocious on that end of the floor. You can chalk some of that up to it being the season opener, with players still trying to understand their assignments, responsibilities, and positioning within the defensive scheme. But regardless of the circumstances, Phoenix surrendered far too many wide-open three-pointers.

And Damian Lillard was more than happy to oblige, connecting on 6-of-10 attempts from beyond the arc.

Key to a Suns Win

It’s simple. This one comes down to rebounding. The Phoenix Suns are the worst rebounding team in the league by percentage, and they’re going up against the best in the Portland Trail Blazers.

Phoenix has struggled mightily on the glass, both offensively and defensively. This roster doesn’t have many players who can go up and simply snatch the shit out of the basketball. Instead, seemingly every rebound becomes an adventure in which poor positioning forces someone to tip the ball toward a teammate or desperately try to tap it back to themselves.

Meanwhile, Portland has long, rangy defenders who understand how to position themselves and secure rebounds, creating second-chance opportunities that can bury an opponent. It’s something the Trail Blazers did well last season, and they’re picking up right where they left off.

If the Suns want any chance of winning this game, they’re going to have to earn every rebound through focus, positioning, and our good old friend, “give a shit”.

Prediction

There’s nothing I’ve seen thus far this season that gives me confidence the Suns are going to win this game. They’ve been atrocious at defending the three-point line, their rebounding has been equally concerning, and those are two areas in which the Portland Trail Blazers have excelled early this season.

Perhaps this will be like last year, when everything came together in the fifth game. The defensive intensity started to manifest itself in a way that was both replicable and exciting to watch, giving us a glimpse of what this team could become.

I’d love to believe we’re on the verge of witnessing something similar. I simply don’t see it.

Trail Blazers 131, Suns 124

A change of power has commenced in Dallas.

Sivan and Patrick Dumont are now in controlling power of the Mavericks after buying Mirian Adelson’s shares in October, giving the family a 69% ownership share, ESPN reported Tuesday.

“It’s really about long-term investment in the city of Dallas,” Dumont told the outlet. “The Dumont family is really committed to building what we hope is the best arena in the NBA, a really significant investment in the city that will help create the new 40-year home for the Dallas Mavericks, a great experience for our fans and inspire our team to win championships. That’s really what we’re focused on. We had the opportunity, and we’re really excited about it.”

Adelson, who had little involvement with the franchise despite her role, bought the majority share from Mark Cuban in December 2023 along with her daughter Sivan and son-in-law Patrick.

Thus, she still remains close to the team.

Cuban has since said he regretted selling after the Dumonts and Adelson pushed him out of the team’s basketball and business operations side, but he still maintains a 27% share of the team.

Per the terms of the 2023 sale, Dumont has the option to buy another 20% share from the Shark Tank figure at the original $3.5 billion valuation.

Based on his comments, it’s something the team governor plans to do.

“Our plan is to look at that and to do that over time,” Dumont said. “I just have to tell you: I love Mark. He’s been a great family friend for a really long time. He’s just a super passionate Mavs fan and he’s frustrated. I respect it. We’re going to hopefully do him proud. That’s my goal — to make all of our Mavs fans super proud about the success of the team and win a championship.”

Dumont has issued various changes among the franchise during his tenure.

The Mavericks are expected to debut a new arena at the Valley View Mall in time for the 2031-32 season after calling American Airlines Center home since 2001. The team’s practice facility and business offices are also undergoing renovations.

He is also tagged to the sudden trade of Luka Doncic, coming just months after the Mavericks’ run to the 2024 NBA Finals. Dumont approved of former general manager Nico Harrison’s decision to ship him to the Lakers — a bombshell trade that blew up the league overnight in February 2025.

The governor has since pivoted to put forth efforts in building around reigning Rookie of the Year, Cooper Flagg. After firing Harrison a year ago, former Raptors executive Masai Ujiri has all the power moving forward and has been given permission to make drastic changes.

“This is Masai Ujiri’s team,” Dumont said. “He’s got a ring. He knows what he’s doing.”

The Mavericks are 4-3 heading into Wednesday’s clash with the Spurs and will aim to make the playoffs after finishing just 26-56 last season.

Happy Birthday to Tyrese Maxey, who turns 26 years old today.

Between the Jaylen Brown trade and LeBron James signing for a minimum deal this offseason, it became easy to overlook just how important Maxey is to the Philadelphia 76ers franchise. The first eight games of the regular season have fixed that issue, with Tyrese exploding for 29.1 points per game on 50.3 percent shooting from the field, while also averaging 4.1 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.9 blocks. Maxey is even shooting well below career numbers from behind the arc over this small sample, so we could very well be looking at him averaging over 30 points per game this season. With the Sixers currently sitting with a 7-1 record, Tyrese is rightfully getting some early MVP conversation buzz. As Jaylen Brown said yesterday, this is Maxey’s team.

Jaylen Brown: "Maxey's been leading the way, 100 percent. He's been here, this is his team." pic.twitter.com/42uACLCWks

— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) November 3, 2026

We often neglect to account for how improbable Maxey reaching this point truly is within the bigger picture. He slipped to 21st overall in the 2020 NBA draft; players taken outside the lottery rarely reach All-NBA levels. Shooting was regarded as a weakness in his game and Tyrese has worked to become one of the absolute best shooters in the world. Maxey is a 6-foot-2 guard who was viewed as a defensive liability, and has now progressed to being a genuinely positively impactful player on that end of the court. The one percent better every day mantra could just be cute slogan for 99.9 percent of the population; for Maxey, he actually goes out and achieves it.

Maxey is already the career three-point field goals leader in Sixer franchise history (936 and counting). He currently sits 12th in franchise history on the scoring list, and barring injury, he’ll be at least 10th at the end of the season. At his current trajectory, it would only take about six more seasons of similar play following this one for Tyrese to become the franchise’s all-time leading scorer. We could very well be in the middle of watching the most prolific Sixers career ever.

Looking back, it’s fair to argue Maxey saved this franchise from bottoming out for at least the next half decade. Without him around, the locker room may very well have imploded during the rough patch of recent years. Maybe the front office decides to do the full reset and strip things down to the studs. Mike Gansey likely doesn’t think it’s worth giving up future draft capital to acquire Jaylen Brown. LeBron James certainly doesn’t sign here without Maxey’s presence. It’s a dark sliding doors world where Mike Muscala doesn’t hit that shot and Tyrese Maxey doesn’t end up a Sixer. Happy Birthday, Tyrese! We are very, very glad to have you.

Back-to-back wins helped get the taste of a really frustrating loss out of the mouths of Lakers fans to start the week. The absurd play of Luka Dončić also helped us forget as well.

It’s a fun time to be a Lakers fan, evidenced by Bill Simmons’ anger about the Lakers. Anything to take his focus off Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown feuding, I guess.

We asked again for questions from you guys and, once again, you answered…or asked? Either way, there’s plenty to talk about in this week’s mailbag!

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It might feel like the Lakers have an unsustainable offense, but I think some pretty encouraging numbers push back against that. So, let’s dive into this because there is a lot to this.

First, let’s look at the threes. Sure, many of Luka threes don’t seem sustainable except that it’s Luka taking those threes. But outside of that, the team is getting quality looks from beyond the arc.

The team is ninth in 3-point rate with 46% of their shots coming from beyond the arc. That’s a drastic change from last year when they ranked 22nd at 39.4%.

More notably, the team was dead last in catch-and-shoot 3-pointers attempted and made last year and 24th in 3-pointers attempted overall. This season, it hasn’t even been that drastic of an increase in volume, but it has improved. They’re 16th in 3-pointers attempted, 25th in catch-and-shoot 3-pointers attempted and 19th in makes.

The biggest changes are that they rank second in 3-point percentage, first in catch-and-shoot 3-point percentage and eighth in wide-open 3-point percentage. And yet, they still rank just 15th in the percentage of their points coming from threes.

That’s because they’re still getting to the rim, too. Last season, they were basically, across the board, the best team at scoring once they got to the paint. It’s the benefit of having LeBron James with Luka and Austin Reaves, two great finishers at the rim.

LeBron is, obviously, gone now. But for this specific stat, they replaced him with Walker Kessler, who has feasted at the rim as a roll man. Add in Collin Sexton and Quentin Grimes, two players north of the 85th percentile in field goal percentage at the rim, and you see why the Lakers rank second in the league in field goal percentage at the rim and first in field goal percentage in the paint.

To perhaps lay this out a little differently, the Lakers opened the season with Walker Kessler flourishing in the pick and roll. Teams rightly decided that wasn’t sustainable, so they started blitzing ballhandlers on ball screens and working to take away Kessler as a roll option.

The result is open 3-point shooters and the Lakers now have a team capable of punishing teams who leave them open. Certainly, they won’t keep shooting this well, but this is also the type of offense head coach JJ Redick wants to run. He wants a modern offense that puts up lots of threes.

So, don’t expect a change, but also don’t be quite so worried about it being unsustainable.

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Let’s jump to the other side of the floor now and look at the defense.

The good news is that when you have an offense as good as the Lakers have had, you don’t need to be great defensively to win. The bad news is, notably, bad defenses don’t typically win at the highest levels.

As commenters pointed out, two areas are at least partly responsible for the poor defensive rating: turnovers and rebounding.

The Lakers currently rank 27th in the league in turnovers and 27th in opponent points off turnovers. Teams are taking advantage of the Lakers being sloppy.

They also rank 26th in offensive rebounds allowed. Not surprisingly, they rank 29th in opponent second chance points.

Defensively, they’re great in lots of areas. They’re fifth in steals, fourth in blocks and second in points off turnovers. They’re mostly middle of the road or slightly below average in opponent field goal percentage (17th) and opponent 3-point percentage (23rd). And that’s not based on shooting luck, as teams are hitting 38.8% of their open threes.

The more this group gains chemistry and familiarity, the better they’ll look defensively as well. It’s not as simple as fixing those two aspects and being a good defense, but those are the two glaring outliers right now.

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The rotations have been pretty ironclad with Luka and Ausint since last year. Luka is going to play the entire first and third quarters and half of the second and fourth quarters to come in at around 36 minutes.

Austin will have his minutes broken up a bit more as he’ll leave late in the first quarter, return to open the second, then take another break in the middle of the period before returning to close the frame. Then, he repeats that in the second half.

That has been the rotation for the last two seasons for those two. It ensures that one of them is always on the floor, which is the right approach, and keeps both of them around 36 minutes per game.

When you have two elite on-ball players, you want to give both chances to maximize that skill. Austin is a great off-ball player as well, but giving him his own lineups and time on the floor without Luka, and vice versa, means the Lakers will have a full 48 minutes of an All-Star-level player on the floor.

There will be concerns about both of them after the injuries last season. But the Lakers also need them on the floor as well and 36 minutes per game isn’t an unreasonable expectation for a star.

The more likely route for them to get rest is nights off throughout the year. The team already rested Luka once and I imagine that’ll happen with some regularity this season.

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It’s definitely fair to be put off by Quentin Grimes’ slow start. Like many, I thought he would get a starting nod to open the season. But perhaps Redick and his staff saw what fans eventually saw when the season started, which was a fair amount of indecisiveness and uncertainty.

The good news is that we are only three weeks into the season and Grimes looked better in the most recent game. It’s a matter of him eventually playing more on instinct rather than thinking through the game, which you can tell he’s doing right now.

I actually think it’d be better for him, and the team long-term, to be in the starting lineup. It gives that group another creator and dynamic player who can drive or shoot. But it’s hard to make the argument to start him based on how he’s currently playing.

We’re still quite a bit away from being too worried about Grimes. Instead, I’d rather celebrate finding two big wins in Ziaire Williams and Matisse Thybulle so far.

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I have two reactions to this.

First, I think in this specific play, their judgement was that Thybulle was in an illegal guarding position and committed a foul before any push off occurred. Because there’s simply no way to argue there wasn’t a push off.

Secondly, as will most things that are a point of emphasis to start the year, I don’t suspect it will carry on into the season much. Stars aren’t changing how they play to accommodate the rule change. It’ll just continue business as usual.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.