Category: Basketball

It’s still unclear how long that Steph Curry’s oblique abdominal tear will keep him off the court, though it will be two weeks at a minimum. But however long it is, the absence of their star will likely prevent the Warriors from competing for commissioner Adam Silver’s most treasured piece of basketball hardware: The Emirates NBA Cup.

I mention the sponsor out of the deep and abiding respect we hold for all of the NBA sponsors, and particularly Commissioner Silver’s good friends in the United Arab Emirates. The Cup has taken the basketball world by storm since it began in 2023, delighting fans and gamblers alike with its focus on point differential, and reminding a nation to check the color settings on their televisions thanks to the garish special courts.

Our personal favorite is the Los Angeles Lakers “Forum Blue and Urine” design, which showcases Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves on a court that makes it look like the Crypto.com Arena itself is severely dehydrated.

HOW DID LUKA SINK IT FROM 3/4 COURT TO BEAT THE 1H BUZZER LAST NIGHT?? 🤯

Bruce Springsteen was all of us watching this one!

The @Lakers pick up their first win in @emirates NBA Cup Group Play! pic.twitter.com/XRnQdJbB8l

— NBA (@NBA) November 7, 2026

The Warriors are 1-0 in Cup play, but Curry’s injury means he’ll miss Friday’s showdown with the San Antonio Spurs, who lost to the New York Knicks in last year’s Cup final, the most significant Finals loss to the Knicks they’d suffer all season. Yes, Charles Bassey is prepared to go toe-to-toe with Victor Wembanyama, having proved his mettle against Marcus Smart, but it may be tough for the rest of the team to match the firepower of the Spurs and Harrison “The Black Falcon” Barnes.

It’s hard to imagine Curry will be back to face the Sacramento Kings or the Portland Trail Blazers in two Cup games bracketing Thanksgiving, when families will gather together and express their gratitude for the mid-season tournament. It’s not impossible that the Warriors could be 3-1 after that, but 2-2 is a more likely record, which wouldn’t get the Dubs the wild-card spot. Even if they did get in, Curry would only be three weeks past his injury for the knockout rounds Dec. 4 and 5, and the Cup Final, held in glamorous Indianapolis, Indiana, is just one month away.

This is the gamble the Warriors made when they assembled a veteran roster this year in hopes they could make a serious Cup run. Sure, they could try to trade Kristaps Porzingis for immediate help, but are teams really going to help a possible Cup opponent this close to the knockout round? Yaxel Lendeborg has been a revelation as a rookie, but he’s never had to prove himself under the Emirates NBA Cup spotlight.

The Knicks became the first team to win the double last season, taking home the NBA Cup and the Larry O’Brien trophy as NBA champions. The Warriors had a chance to be the first NBA team to win the “treble” — that is, Summer League, Emirates NBA Cup, and NBA titles. (As much as Adam Silver would like there to be, there’s still no Champions League for the NBA)

Sure, Curry has five months to get ready for the regular NBA playoffs, with Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody also set to return. But for the hardcore Emirates-heads out there, it’s looking like another lost NBA Cup season for the Warriors.

Things have been a bit rough in Toronto as of late, with the Raptors suffering a spate of injuries to key players. They will again play without both Scottie Barnes and Kawhi Leonard, as they did in Wednesday night’s loss to the Boston Celtics. The date of Barnes’s return is still TBD (Kawhi will undoubtedly be out for a while longer).

They’ve won just two of their last six and will be looking to hold down the fort on the second night of a back-to-back, all while missing some key players. The Raps will need young players like Ja’Kobe Walter and Collin Murray-Boyles to step up, especially if Barnes is still out. Can Toronto do enough on their own home court to keep their record from dipping below .500?

Know thy enemy

Unfortunately for Toronto, Philadelphia 76ers are off to a great start, but they’ve been a bit of an odd team so far. For all of their offensive talent — a starting lineup featuring LeBron James, Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey (not to mention Anfernee Simons off the bench) is absolutely bonkers — they’re just 21st in the NBA in offensive efficiency so far this year.

They don’t really shoot (or make) threes, partly a result of swapping Paul George for a more downhill player in Brown, and they don’t generate extra opportunities by crashing the offensive glass. They’re also surprisingly low in assists, especially considering the playmaking gifts of James and, to a lesser extent, Embiid, owed no doubt to some issues with spacing, a coach not exactly known for offensive ingenuity, and a lineup that’s still largely unaccustomed to playing together.

It also doesn’t help that Embiid is….well, if not cooked, then certainly in the process of being marinated. His recent injuries seem to have sapped him of his mobility and, while his skill is beyond question, you don’t really ever want to see a 7-footer hitting just 37% of his shots from the field (nor a ghastly 12.1% from three), albeit in a small sample size.

They’re also a bit thin aside from having a few useful perimeter players off the bench; their only actual backup centre is Adem Bona, who is shooting a whole percentage point better than Embiid from the field. Needless to say, they could use a boost on the interior. It’s great news for the Raptors, who are a bit lacking in interior size themselves, and who aren’t an especially good defensive rebounding team (23rd in the league in defensive rebound rate).

The Sixers have been a pretty solid defensive team though, with the seventh-best defensive rating in the league, and, while Embiid may not be able to switch onto guards anymore, he’s still a smart defender who can be an obstacle in the paint. His declining lateral quickness is less of a disadvantage of a team like Toronto that doesn’t space the floor exceptionally well.

On the last episode

These Sixers are very different from last year’s team and this will be the first time they face off against the Bron-and-Brown version of Philly. That being said, the two teams split the season series last year, 2-2, with both squads winning once at home and once on the road.

Key matchup(s)

LeBron and Embiid vs various ligaments might be the true matchup of the game. Both players are listed as questionable on the NBA’s official injury report, as is Adem Bona. If neither of them play, Toronto won’t exactly be facing a murderer’s row of big men on Thursday night, with the Sixers almost certainly having to call players up from the G League or play some very funky small-ball lineups to get by. Maybe we’ll get 30 minutes of Tacko Fall. Who knows!

Joel Embiid, LeBron James participate in shootaround; Adem Bona seeing a specialist https://t.co/HGBjeXingQ

— Liberty Ballers (@Liberty_Ballers) November 12, 2026

Besides that, the Raptors will likely need RJ Barrett to outduel Brown, and Immanuel Quickley, who struggled to score against Boston, to keep pace with Maxey. It’s not quite the marquee matchup fans hoped for after both teams’ major offseason moves, but it could be a fun one nonetheless.

This offseason, the Los Angeles Lakers invested a sizable amount in Sandro Mamukelashvili by inking him to a four-year, $52 million deal. Through three weeks, that’s been a remarkable move as Mamukelashvili’s absolutely thriving with the Lakers and providing critical, versatile minutes off the bench.

The Georgian big man is averaging 10.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game while shooting 41.2% from deep and 57.7% on 2-pointers. Los Angeles entrusts him with varying roles, whether it’s spacing the floor, operating as a playmaking hub, driving closeouts or toggling between power forward and small-ball center. It’s evident the organization, whether it be players or coaches, have the utmost confidence in him.

Now, the goal is to make sure Mamukelashvili himself embraces that autonomy and is unburdened by any fear of mistakes whenever he’s on the floor.

“I want him to understand how much his teammates, his coaches, myself, we believe in him. The focus on the next play, I think, is big for him,” head coach JJ Redick told reporters following Wednesday’s win, when Mamukelashvili recorded 23 points, three rebounds, two assists and one steal. “Being able to move on after a missed shot, a defensive mistake, whatever it may be, just move on to the next play and focus on that. But I think the big thing for him is understanding that he has a lot of freedom.”

Mamukelashvili said he feels the unbridled support rippling from coaches and teammates and is optimistic he’ll soon echo that credence in him. But he admitted achieving it is easier said than done.

“I hope I’ll start believing in myself as much as they do,” he told reporters Wednesday.

Sandro Mamukelashvili with a very open answer on why he hasn’t been able to just blindly accept the Lakers’ trust in him based on how the start to his career went: “I hope I’ll get better. I hope I’ll start believing in myself as much as they do. …” pic.twitter.com/uzuIAjYvLQ

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) November 12, 2026

Mamukelashvili’s finest two games of the season may have come Wednesday in Milwaukee and Monday against the Atlanta Hawks. During those two outings, he’s scored a season-high 23 points each time and averaged 5.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 steals. As he continues to grow more comfortable in his new environment, performances similar to those could become the norm — much to the Lakers’ benefit.

“He’s just getting more confident as he plays more. He’s an extremely, extremely talented offensive player,” Walker Kessler said Wednesday. “We all believe in every shot he shoots and every play he makes. … We believe in his offensive game and he’s getting more confident and he’s really, really helping us.”

You can follow Jackson on Twitter at @jackfrank_jjf.

If Steph Curry is leading with his full government name, know that he means business. In a 90-second video released on Wednesday, from the Instagram account of “Wardell Curry”, he put the internet trolls who have been attacking his wife for years on notice. “Usually the noise doesn’t bother me, doesn’t bother Ayesha,” the four-time NBA champion and Paris Olympic knockout artist said. “But when you’re trying to step on the accomplishments of my wife, and feel the need to have to jump in and give an opinion on something that you really don’t know about, [it] kind of speaks to the bigger conversation on how you view women in this world and what they’re allowed and what they’re not allowed to do.”

Posterity will remember this as the NBA’s Oscar slap moment, but without the unnecessary violence. A bizarre turn in the parasocial compact when the restless fanboys pressured a superstar into publicly defending his wife. On this occasion, Curry had to defend his wife for the heinous crime of being the leading lady in a Christmas romcom: a Hallmark knockoff called Second Chance Holiday in which Ayesha Curry plays a dating expert with bad holiday luck and shares a kiss with a man who is not Wardell Stephen Curry II – her husband of 15 years and father to their four children. That apparently was a bridge too far for some of Curry’s former NBA peers.

Related: Yaxel Lendeborg is the NBA’s most entertaining rookie – and he’s not holding back

On a recent episode of his We Said What We Said podcast, former NBA mainstay Gilbert Arenas reserved an entire segment to take exception to Ayesha turning down the role of basketball tradwife. “She doesn’t act like the other superstars’ wives,” Arenas said. “You know Jordan’s wife. Cookie, that’s Magic’s wife. Savannah [James], right. We don’t want to hear from you. We just want to know you’re there. You’re fine. You’re taking the pictures, but we don’t want to know you.” Arenas went even further, calling Ayesha “the only blemish” in the Curry family as Nick Young, who played alongside Curry on Golden State’s 2018 championship team, nodded along. Arenas should consider himself lucky that Steph responded in a strongly worded social media statement instead of going the Javaris Crittenton route and pulling a gun on Arenas in the locker room.

Sports gossips have been making a game of picking apart Steph and Ayesha’s relationship since he shot to stardom at Davidson College. They seem to forget that while Steph was stealing hearts as the NCAA Tournament’s baby-faced bracket buster, Ayesha was carving out a solid career in Los Angeles as a working actor, with guest spots on Disney’s Hannah Montana and on CBS’s Gary Unmarried opposite comedian Jay Mohr – who is now the other half of LA Lakers president Jeanie Buss, incidentally.

The critics blanched when Ayesha joined the 2010s culinary craze with a blog and a YouTube channel, in which she shared dangerous, subversive recipes such as “Stephen’s five-ingredient game-day pasta”. When the hustle mushroomed into a full-blown lifestyle brand – with signature kitchenware and cookbooks, a Food Network show and a landmark CoverGirl deal – the gossips filleted Ayesha for daring to upstage her more famous husband, the real Chef Curry.

No matter what Ayesha did, it seemed, there was no winning over sports fans steeped in the manosphere’s retrograde views of women. They didn’t approve of her sharing bikini photos online or her body language in snaps with Drake or her candor about the struggle to hold on to her sense of identity and autonomy after marriage and motherhood. The point was driven home yet again when ex-NFL players Emmanuel Acho and LeSean McCoy, perhaps misunderstanding the concept of acting, debated the Curry kiss on their macho podcast – with Acho suggesting that Ayesha, through her words and actions, keeps telegraphing to the world that “she’s not that into Steph Curry”.

Intimacy work has become a wedge issue in Hollywood, with a number of prominent actors saying they will no longer participate in kissing or sex scenes – forcing some directors to get creative. But the Curry speculators aren’t arguing about the mechanics of making movies – a point Steph himself hastened to rebut in his video statement. They say this stuff as if they know the Currys. They don’t. They say this stuff as if they’re also still with their teen sweethearts. They’re not – and Acho especially is one to talk. They say this stuff as if audiences might also interpret Ayesha’s on-screen kiss as an act of adultery. They won’t. They’ll just let the 78 minutes wash over them as they fold laundry or scroll through their phones.

No matter what Ayesha did, it seemed, there was no winning over fans steeped in the manosphere’s views of women

These manosphere brains insist on typecasting Ayesha while giving other prominent athlete spouses plenty of runway. The recent marriage of Coco Jones, the Grammy-winning singer and star of the Fresh Prince update Bel-Air, and Donovan Mitchell, engine of the Cleveland Cavaliers, is treated as an equal pairing. The same goes for Major League ace Paul Skenes and his gymnast-influencer girlfriend, Livvy Dunne. When Travis Kelce started dating Taylor Swift, the talk was all about how he, the Kansas City Chiefs and the NFL stood to benefit. And when Kim K and her sisters take up with high-profile athletes, the manosphere brains roll their eyes, chalk it up to the game and blame any poor performances that might result on the Kardashian curse.

But when it comes to Ayesha, there is no room for self-reflection, growth or individuality. She is, and will always be, an NBA wife in the eyes of many. Her tiresome critics would much rather see her on the sideline managing the kids than see Steph gathering them up to bask in the afterglow of his biggest moments. Weirdly, the tradcasting doesn’t stop with Ayesha. Steph Curry’s mother has been dealing with the same gender policing since she divorced his father, a former NBA player, in 2021 and remarried last month. That all this outrage is building at a time when gender roles in sports have become a culture-war battleground shouldn’t be lost on anyone.

Ultimately, though, the relentless snooping into the Curry marriage reveals a deeper insecurity about Steph. Here’s a God-fearing, wholesome family man who speaks up for female empowerment and walks the talk when he’s not burying clutch threes – and he’s still getting the job done for the Warriors at age 38.

Curry has spent his career making doubters rue the day they said he was too small for pro ball, and that same bracing self-belief has helped him thrive away from the court as a venture capitalist, Hollywood producer and Bay Area philanthropist. Through 18 NBA seasons, he has remained free of scandal, extramarital or otherwise – no mean feat for an NBA superstar, much less a Silicon Valley giant. And that just makes the sports and celebrity hounds who are only following along for the potential of a Will Smith – or Tiger Woods – like train wreck push harder in their relentless pursuit of dirt.

But for dedicated knuckle-draggers like Arenas and his cohort, who still don’t see an alpha male when they behold Curry, it isn’t just that he could be with pretty much anyone else, given his wealth and fame. It’s that he chooses Ayesha and that there still isn’t a rift between them to be found, even after all these years of trying.

The armchair analysis of the Currys’ marriage isn’t likely to stop anytime soon. But it’s a stargazing exercise in the end, with vast distances between the picture in view and the elusive reality. The constant churn of speculation only serves to show the willful ignorance at play, particularly when it comes to the difference between an on-camera kiss – again, Ayesha was acting – and an act of infidelity. With his forceful social media defense, Steph didn’t just offer a reminder of what true manhood looks like. He delivered a message that should sound awfully familiar to Ayesha’s haters – and give them pause: Keep my wife’s name out your mouth.

As a former teacher, conferences were always a bit of a mixed bag. On the hard side were the additional four hours of work tacked on top of a school day and the social anxiety of having the first in-depth conversations with parents, never fully knowing what kind of energy they would bring to the conversation. However, whether a student was struggling or thriving, the majority of the time, the conversations were very beneficial in getting everyone on the same page.

Each conversation really came down to the three main points:

1. Something the student is doing well
2. An area of improvement
3. The question of “Is there anything I can be doing as a teacher to better support them?”

In our season-long grading project, this is the first opportunity to track progress and get a look at how the categories, statistical ranges, and grade direction are shaping up. These stats reflect the first 11 games of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ season, so the sample size is small, but large enough to begin to get a sense of the good, the bad, and to see if there are better ways to capture what each player is doing on the floor in their role.

Buckle up, it’s conference time.

A few reminders as always:

1. These grades are roles-based, so the stats I’m looking at for each player are different and meant to highlight their team role.

2. Roles on the team can change as the roster and playing time changes—I will alter or add statistical categories throughout the season as needed. Especially in a preseason article, the expectation is that some of these initial stats will change as we get to know the team better.

3. The grade ranges and their correlation to stats are educated speculation based on previous career averages, team role, and minutes expectation. Like the categories themselves, if there is a range that is clearly missing the eye test, expect some tweaks as the season goes along.

LaMelo Ball:B (86%)

First off, the fact that you are well on your way to a perfect attendance award is remarkable. While the season is long and nobody is going to count any chickens before they hatch, going 11/11 in games played deserves an immediate gold star. Well done!

You know what else deserves a gold star? The team offense. Despite losing the team’s most important offensive cog, you’ve helped hold things together and guide the squad to the seventh-best offensive rating in the league, a number that, wherever it ends up after thirty-ish games, will probably be the floor of the season.

Now let’s talk about rebounding. Honestly, it turns out this may just be a bad stat to track for you on this team. The team is rebounding fantastically to start the season as other players have stepped up. I mean, if you are an English major, who cares about your math scores, right? So maybe we need to focus on something else going forward…

Ah, yes. There it is. Four turnovers a game. 5.2 turnovers per 36 minutes, which would be the second-worst in the NBA for rotation players. That number is getting alarmingly close to being one that could soft-launch a bakery. Let’s clean that up a bit and bring it closer to your career average of 3.2 going forward, okay?

Anthony Edwards:Incomplete

*Sigh* There isn’t much that can be said with just a four-game sample size of numbers, so I’ll just use this space to opine for a moment. 

This Wolves team is the most excited I’ve been about a group since the 23-24 squad had their meteoric rise and won over our hearts and minds with defensive grit and intensity. This season’s squad is flashing that kind of defensive performance too… but only with an offensive ceiling to mirror it, assuming a healthy Anthony Edwards. 

Teams that have both a top-five offense and defense often play a lot of basketball deep into the month of May and beyond. Get healthy soon, Ant!

Jaden McDaniels:A (97%)

Don’t tell the other students, but you continue to be my favorite. Efficient shooting from deep and midrange, and being a key component of the number one defense in the league? Night in and night out, this team knows exactly what it is going to get out of you and, quite frankly, it’s phenomenal.

Sometimes you have a conference that is short and sweet because nothing about the student’s effort and production needs to be changed. Keep doing what you are doing, and we’ll do everything we can to get you your first All-Star trip!

Jonathan Kuminga: B+ (88%)

Welcome to Minnesota, Mr. Kuminga! Much like Jaden McDaniels, your work on the defensive end has been astounding. It is a wholly un-Wolves-like experience to go into matchups with the variety of power forwards there are in the league and feel as though you have a matchup for them. Raising your defensive EPM to an 86th percentile defender is JUST what the doctor ordered for this roster.

Here’s the curious thing – you are shooting 40% from deep and yet have a near career low in true shooting percentage? Let me check the numbers here… ah okay. There it is. 52.5% from the free throw line. Have you been spending too much time with Mr. Gobert outside of class? As a career 70% shooter from the line, let’s clean that up a bit and you’ll see your grade in the “A” range in no time!

Rudy Gobert: C+ (77%)

Let’s talk about the good first – you are the anchor of the number one defense in the league through 11 games. For everything else that we are going to talk about, that’s the most important thing, and it’s the reason that you are on this team. You are one of the greatest defenders to ever play the game, and once again, anchoring a top defense in the league is truly a special career achievement. 

It is really important that you understand how much we all appreciate your defense before anything else is said, okay?

But my God, has the goatee grown so thick that it is affecting your peripheral vision and ability to hit a layup? A non-rookie season career-low of 50% from the floor? Just 1.7 dunks per game despite having one of the best passing point guards in the league? This was supposed to be an apex offensive Gobert season!

I should note that your turnover numbers are at a non-rookie season career low… which is something… but that something may be YOUR INABILITY TO CATCH A PASS, INCREASING EVERYONE’S TURNOVERS AROUND YOU!! If the league tracked fumbled passes, you’d be having A WILT CHAMBERLAIN-ESQUE RUN!!!

Okay, I just had to get that out of my system. It had been brewing for a while, and conferences are a time for honest feedback, right? Plus, my therapist told me I should let it out so I’d stop mumbling “catch the damn ball, Rudy” in my sleep. Please re-read the first paragraph to know what is most important, and then let’s just be better on the offensive end, okay?

Ayo Dosunmo:A- (92%)

An “A-” grade that mostly reflects the slow-cooking EPM metrics. If you were to keep consistently playing the kind of basketball you are, that EPM will be in the green in no time!

That points-per-shot-attempt number continues to be elite, and if this NBA season plays out similarly to previous ones, it would be a 95th percentile number, which is remarkable considering the increased offensive load and defensive focus. That PIE number (player impact estimate) would put you inside the top forty players in the league – quite the value for a player making $19 million this season.

Since the Anthony Edwards injury, no one has upped their usage more and with that, you’ve been the team’s leading scorer over the past seven games, averaging 21.6 points per game. Turns out the “As You Wish” bench superstar is just a fantastic basketball player.

Joan Beringer:B+ (87%)

A B+ grade in your role to start the year because you are doing EXACTLY what is needed. Incremental steps of improvement to earn minutes, flashing an elite skill (offensive rebounding), and utilizing hustle to minimize mistakes and earn the coaching staff’s trust.

Would I like to see a few more blocks per game? Sure, but it is clear that part of your game is being intentionally restrained to help you stay out of foul trouble as you keep getting your feet wet. Like a good stew, we’re just going to keep letting you cook in a limited role that will pay dividends later in the season.

TJ Shannon:B (84%)

Before we begin, I need to ask you a question. Have you been turning in your “finishing at the rim” homework? Because the numbers here tell me that we’re actually on pace to finish worse than last season’s 52.9%, which was an area of improvement we had marked over the summer.

You’re thriving within the concept of team defense (a huge jump from the preseason’s -1.1 mark!), and you are getting to the rim and drawing fouls at more than twice the level of any time in your career. Talk about excelling in your role!

The only thing that is missing is a bit more of that deft touch around the basket to complement your elite downhill first step. Far be it from me to try to activate a healthy inter-team competition, but here’s where the rest of the roster stands when finishing within 5ft of the basket:

Maybe everyone on the team should be spending more time with Trey Lyles. Speaking of…

Trey Lyles:A- (90%)

I’ll be honest with you, Mr. Lyles – when you transferred here, the only real sense of your skill set I had was a player who could space the floor with shooting and not much else. It is a testament to how wrong I am that the shooting really hasn’t come around yet, and you are being a player who is consistently driving winning.

The defensive rating and defensive EPM (1.1) are really encouraging. In fact, that EPM number is fourth on the team, only behind Gobert, McDaniels, and Kuminga! 

Know what else has been surprising? Your ability as a rebounder and, dare I even say it, a dunker?! Like most Timberwolves fans, these first 11 games have invoked a lot of “I was not familiar with your game” utterances. Start hitting those threes, and you could be hunting the ever-elusive A+ grade.

Bones Hyland:C (73%)

Let’s talk about the scoring. That 25.1 points per thirty-six minutes is astounding. It would put you within the top twenty-five of the league on a list that includes mostly current NBA All-Stars. That you are doing it from more than just beyond the arc is the other really encouraging thing! This Wolves team needs a flamethrower scorer while Anthony Edwards is out, and you’ve stepped up to be just that.

I cannot explain the pace number being so low, but I am keeping it for now as a stand-in for the rest of your game. Despite the scoring inferno, you are the only rotation player to have a negative net rating (-10.1), a 15-point swing from the next closest rotation player. Because of this, your EPM numbers have dropped more than anyone else on the team, which means there is probably quite a bit lacking on the defensive end. An elite offensive game with a bad defensive game will land you comfortably in that “C” range.

Jaylen Clark:A (94%)

I really don’t want to jinx this, so I’m just going to whisper it between us, okay?

… Did you know that you are shooting 38% from deep this season on over two attempts per game? If this were to be maintained, when partnered with your defensive splash/hustle plays, it may turn out that there is a real and consistent role in the rotation for you. A player who has a limited role, steps into it, and goes beyond to earn more minutes? That is a role-based “A” if I’ve ever seen one!

A video of Jaylen Clark doing a Jaylen Clark thing is a perfect way to close out these first conferences because it encapsulates so much of what we’ve loved about this team so far. I’ll be back in ten games with the finalized first-quarter report cards!

Update, 1 p.m.: LeBron James has officially been ruled out with low back/sciatica management.

The Toronto Raptors have ruled out Scottie Barnes (left groin strain) and Trayce Jackson-Davis (illness). Kawhi Leonard remains out with a left knee injury.

---

As the Philadelphia 76ers gear up for tonight’s home game against the Toronto Raptors, we received a good sign on the availability of two of their stars. Joel Embiid and LeBron James both participated in morning shootaround after being placed on the injury report as questionable yesterday evening. Embiid even spoke to reporters, but could not provide any further information about whether he will suit up tonight.

Joel Embiid spoke to reporters after shootaround this morning. “I have no idea,” he said when asked if he would play tonight.

— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) November 12, 2026

Nevertheless, you’d rather see the two of them out there than not. The Sixers could certainly use their two largest starters against Toronto, particularly with the handful of absences already in the frontcourt.

On that note, Dominick Barlow also participated in shootaround, but there is still no timeline for his return. Barlow has yet to make his season debut due to back soreness, but does appear to be getting closer. On the less optimistic side of things, though, backup center Adem Bona was said to have seen a specialist and will be out at least a week before being re-evaluated. He last played on Nov. 4 in Detroit, sitting out recent games due to a cervical spine sprain. Without Bona, the Sixers have been playing small in the minutes when Embiid sits. Nick Nurse has not opted to utilize two-way contract big man Tacko Fall, who has only appeared in three minutes of garbage time this season.

We’ll await word closer to game time on the availability of Embiid and James. Either way, expect plenty of minutes for Dean Wade and Jabari Walker. Stay tuned.

The Golden State Warriors were already without one star. Now they’ll be without their Most Valuable Player candidate, Stephen Curry, for the short-term future, too.

The Warriors announced Thursday, Nov. 12 that an MRI confirmed Curry suffered an oblique abdominal tear and added that he would be reevaluated in two weeks. The injury took place Wednesday, Nov. 11 in an eventual 115-108 loss against the Houston Rockets.

Curry walked off the floor midway through the first quarter, clearly grimacing and favoring his right side.

The sequence took place just 5:35 into the game. Curry had scored 3 points on 1-of-3 shooting by that point. He did not return to the floor for the rest of the first quarter, and he was not back at the bench area to start the second period.

ANALYSIS: What does Curry injury mean for Warriors? Can they weather the storm?

The Warriors announced minutes into the second quarter that Curry would not return for the rest of the game with right abdominal soreness.

After the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said that Curry said he “tweaked something in his abdominal area,” which Curry told Kerr he had never done before. Kerr added that “concern is high” though he reiterated that he had no idea of the extent of the injury.

During the game, Curry did have a collision with Rockets forward Amen Thompson earlier in the game, when Curry had driven to the hoop on an attempted layup. Then, Curry had been fighting off a screen against Rockets center Alperen Şengün. As soon as that sequence ended, Curry once again grabbed his side.

Finally, just moments before he left the game, Curry curled around a screen and put up a 3-point shot. As soon as he landed and stepped backwards, he grabbed at his right side, near his hip.

Curry had been in the midst of a renaissance and had been elevating the play of the Warriors, who entered Wednesday night 8-3, which was tied for the third best record in the Western Conference.

Prior to suffering the injury, Curry was averaging 30.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game in nine appearances. He was converting 3-pointers at a blistering 45.7%, which would mark a career-high. His scoring total entering Wednesday night had ranked second in the NBA, behind only Luka Dončić’s historic 39.3 points per game, for all players with at least five games played.

The Warriors were already without Jimmy Butler, who has missed the start of the season as he rehabs the torn anterior cruciate ligament he suffered in January 2026.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Warriors reveal Stephen Curry injury diagnosis after MRI on abdomen

The magical 8-game winning streak came to a crashing halt last night after Steph Curry left in the first quarter with an injury and today the season at large feels on the verge of collapse as the Golden State Warriors have announced that their franchise cornerstone is out with an oblique abdominal tear.

The timeline for his return ought to be an open question at this point, as their press release mentions that he’ll be reevaluated in two (2) weeks. That tracks with the reporting last night that he felt a pain he had never felt before.

This type of injury can be overcome without the need for surgery, but in that scenario, it’s usually a 3-4 week timeline for recovery… if it’s closer to a strain. But this is being described as a “tear,” which could very easily mean a couple of months recovery time. There’s a lot of fast and twisting upper body motion needed to get an open shot or disrupt a passing lane.

It was only a couple of days ago that the Warriors lost Steph’s backup to a hamstring strain, so the injury picture has grown from outsized to overwhelming. Steph, Brandon Williams, Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody, Gary Payton II, Will Richard, Kristaps Porzingis — it’s not as though Golden State had All-Star backups or were the deepest team in the association heading into the season, but there’s “testing a team’s depth” and there’s “Oops! All injured,” and, folks, we’re here.

There’s no making up for Curry’s ~28 a night and clutch shots, but if there is one throughline through this weird start to a season it’s that rotations have had a pretty solid flow to them in spite of the injuries. As Draymond put it last night:

“The spirit of this team is better,” Green said. “We’re more certain of who we are, what makes us a good team. I think that puts us in a better position to be successful without him as opposed to where we were last year. Then obviously [Yaxel Lendeborg], having a guy you can give the ball to and he can create an advantage. [Brandin Podziemski] is playing a lot better. … It puts us in a better position.”

This isn’t to suggest that Yaxel & Pods will each score 40 a night and everyone else who’s left will step up, but this puzzle that the team had been working hard to piece together already just has to keep up that effort and see what shakes out.

Hopefully, the Warriors are able to weather this surprise storm until Steph Curry returns.

Stephen Curry could miss closer to a month with an oblique abdominal tear, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on NBA Today, even though the Warriors announced he will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Curry left Wednesday’s loss to the Houston Rockets midway through the first quarter and underwent an MRI after the game.

He had reached for his right side after drilling a 3-pointer, then walked to the locker room during a time-out. The Warriors ruled him out with right abdominal soreness to start the second quarter.

Shams reported that Golden State is preparing for Curry to be sidelined for at least two to four weeks. The team expects to get a clearer sense of his recovery and rehabilitation after evaluating him again in about 14 days; his absence could stretch to three or four weeks or longer.

Curry finished Wednesday’s game with three points and a turnover in six minutes. Coach Steve Kerr said Curry told him he had tweaked something in his abdominal area that he had “never done” before. Curry spoke to his teammates at halftime before leaving the arena.

The injury interrupts a scorching stretch: Curry scored 34, 29, 41 and 25 points in his four previous games. He has started all 10 games this season, averaging 27.8 points, 3.9 assists and 3.7 rebounds.

Curry’s absence would further test a team already dealing with injuries to Jimmy Butler III and Moses Moody, as well as Kristaps Porzingis’ absence. Golden State went 13-26 in the 39 games Curry missed last season.

The Warriors also lost an eight-game winning streak in Houston and now sit at 8-4. Yaxel Lendeborg led Golden State with 25 points and 10 rebounds, while Brandin Podziemski added 19.

No matter what their strength of schedule might suggest, the Sixers have started the season with a fairly brutal slate of games. They’ve already had two games each against the New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons, along with one game against the Boston Celtics and one against the injury-ravaged Indiana Pacers, who were without both Tyrese Haliburton and Ivica Zubac at the time. Sure, they’ve had the occasional Milwaukee Bucks or Chicago Bulls sprinkled in there, but most of their opponents have been fellow title hopefuls.

Fresh off a demoralizing loss to their longtime rival Boston Celtics on Tuesday, the Sixers have a chance to get right back off the mat and dust themselves off. They’re heading into their easiest stretch of the season yet, which should give them an opportunity to stack wins while continuing to experiment with different lineup combinations and tactical adjustments.

On Thursday, the Sixers are welcoming the depleted Toronto Raptors into town. The Raptors, who blew a huge lead against the Celtics on Wednesday, are on a back-to-back and will be without at least Kawhi Leonard as he works his way back from left knee swelling. They have yet to release their injury report, but Scottie Barnes has missed the Raptors’ past three games with a left groin strain, while both Collin Murray-Boyles (illness) and Immanuel Quickley (hamstring) were originally deemed questionable for Wednesday’s game before eventually playing.

After Thursday’s game against the Raptors, the Sixers have two days off before welcoming the Pacers to town. Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle told reporters Wednesday to “check back in 10 days” on Haliburton’s status, which suggests he’s going to miss Saturday’s game. (For those looking further ahead, the Sixers have another game against Indiana on Nov. 27.)  

After hosting the Pacers on Sunday, the Sixers will head to Brooklyn on Monday to take on the Nets in the second night of a back-to-back. They’ll presumably stagger LeBron James and Joel Embiid, much like they did in their first back-to-back of the season against Milwaukee and Detroit. Here’s guessing Embiid plays against the Pacers, which will give him two days off on either side of that game, and LeBron suits up against the Nets.

The Sixers’ brief road trip continues on Wednesday against the Orlando Magic, who could still be without both Paolo Banchero (ankle) and Jalen Suggs (knee). And they wrap up the bum-slaying portion of their calendar at home against the Bucks after two more days of rest. That will be the third game in four days for the currently 1-11 Bucks, who could be running on fumes by the end of the second half.

Embiid and LeBron are both questionable for Thursday’s game against the Raptors, while Dominick Barlow (back) and Adem Bona (cervical spine strain) are still out. There’s a chance that both teams are comically short-handed for that game. Ironically, that could give the Sixers a valuable learning opportunity.

After Tuesday’s loss to the Celtics, head coach Nick Nurse told reporters that the Sixers needed to “see if there isn’t something we can do different” when they deploy small-ball units with Jabari Walker or Dean Wade as the nominal center. “Maybe we can do a little more switching, maybe we can do a little more blitzing, things like that,” he added.

The Raptors have a 7-foot starting center in Jakob Poeltl, but aside from that, they largely skew on the smaller side as well. Thursday’s game could give Nurse and Co. a chance to deploy some tactical changes to their small-ball looks to see how they can better survive defensively despite their glaring lack of rim protection.

As long as the Sixers stay relatively healthy over this upcoming five-game stretch, this should be a golden opportunity for them to stack some early-season wins. Beating up on the dregs of the Eastern Conference won’t tell us anything about how they match up against other title contenders, but they can still derive value from these games.

“We can get better,” Embiid said after Tuesday’s loss to the Celtics. “I keep saying it, I keep repeating it, I don’t really look at the record. I just look at the process of how we’re getting better every day. We can always do a better job in all phases of the game.”

If the Sixers spend all season beating up on bad and/or injury-ravaged teams, they don’t need to sweep the other championship hopefuls as well. Even if they go roughly .500 against the latter, they should still be in solid position for a top-six seed and a guaranteed playoff spot. From there, they’ll just have to pray to the injury gods.

As Tyrese Maxey pointed out after Tuesday’s loss, every one of the Sixers’ starters is “playing a different role than they played last year, and some of them probably ever.” He added that he’s had to adjust like this before, which is easing his acclimation period, but it’s otherwise a work in progress that will take time to smooth out.

The Sixers are going to out-talent their next few opponents. They could rely on iso-ball and sheer force to stack some wins, but that won’t help them in the long run. They need to continue working on optimizing their offensive and defensive schemes, even if that leads to some closer-than-expected games. The more they work on throughout the 82-game regular season, the less they’ll have to figure out on the fly in the playoffs.

With that said, the Sixers would also benefit from a few “professional wins” where they take care of business early against an overmatched team and keep their starters’ minutes in check. The next few games could afford them a chance to do that.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

Follow Bryan on Bluesky.

CJ McCollum hit the game-winning shot in the Atlanta Hawks' Game 3 victory over the New York Knicks in the first round of last year's playoffs.

Not only does he remember that shot, but he remembers enjoying being a guest on Prime Video's "NBA Nightcap" postgame show where he appeared in his pajamas and the hosts joked he put the Knicks "to sleep." They all laughed about his role of villain as his son popped in to say hello.

The party doesn't have to stop there as NBA on Prime announced on Thursday, Nov. 12 that the 14-year veteran guard will be a player commentator for several programs this season starting with "NBA Nightcap" on Friday, Nov. 13.

"The conversation and team analysis that night was really fun," he told USA TODAY Sports of the postgame memories, "and I thought the chemistry was there, and I felt like it made a lot of sense (for me to join the Prime team). And I have a great appreciation for what NBA on Prime is doing, what the crew is doing, and how they educate and share authentic analysis."

McCollum, 35, majored in journalism at Lehigh University and has experience hosting his own podcast with "The CJ McCollum Show" and "Pull Up with CJ McCollum."

Among Prime's All-Star team of talent that he is joining is a mix of longtime broadcasters, including Kevin Harlan, and basketball greats like Udonis Haslem, Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Candace Parker. McCollum said the team is "a really cool atmosphere, really great environment of people that I respect and admire."

"They're very honest. They watch the game. They're students of the game. They’re people who appreciate the game and they do a great job of describing why certain things are happening," he continued. "... When you have that group of professionals who have played the game, have talked the game, have lived the game, have been around it and seen it for so long, you get various impactful moments where viewers are able to really get a glimpse of what's actually happening, why it's happening, in an insightful way that they can digest."

McCollum appreciates the craft of journalism and how showing the human element of any story brings people together. As journalism continues to face industry challenges, the 2016 Most Improved Player has hope.

"Storytelling is vital. I think it makes the world a better place," he said. "Being able to hear people's stories, being able to see people's journeys not just in the sports world but in life, I think is something that we all can appreciate.

"And journalism isn't dying. It's just evolving. But I think the people who move with integrity, who do things the right way and really appreciate the craft are continuing to thrive for sure."

McCollum shared with USA TODAY Sports some thoughts about various NBA topics as a sneak peek of what fans can expect from him as a guest commentator on Prime Video.

CJ McCollum on Hawks' season so far, scoring 17k points, Jalen Johnson's success

McCollum re-signed with the Hawks this summer after joining the team from the Washington Wizards last season in the Trae Young trade. He remains a veteran leader even as he is coming off the bench and reached the 17,000 points mark when he scored 21 in Atlanta's loss on Monday, Nov. 9 to the Los Angeles Lakers.

"It means a lot," he said of reaching the scoring mark. "It's a sign of longevity, being able to be around for a long time and play at a high level. It’s a sign of hard work and appreciation for the sport. But it’s also a sign of playing with good teammates, good coaching staff, people that have been able to help me get the best out of my talent and utilize a lot of the resources that we have around us and turn that into some success on the court."

Jalen Johnson is a rising star for Atlanta who helped the Hawks get to a four-game winning streak before the loss. On Saturday, Nov. 7, the 24-year-old scored 30 points in his return from an ankle injury to help with a comeback win over the Brooklyn Nets.

"Obviously, the scoring speaks for itself," McCollum said. "His vision, I think, could be one of his best traits. He's a great passer, leading transition, elite on the break, great paint finisher, and a guy who rebounds at a high level as well. And I think he's a guy that really appreciates the game, is a student of the game, studies it, lives it, and I think the sky is the limit for him."

Atlanta was on full display last month when the Atlanta Dream made it to the WNBA Finals. Angel Reese and company lost the championship to the Golden State Valkyries, but made headlines with performances from Quavo, Big Boi and a heartwarming national anthem from T.I.'s daughter, Heiress Harris.

McCollum pointed out that, at the time of the interview, the Usher and Chris Brown tour was in town and the Atlanta Falcons were in the middle of the NFL season as extra reason that the city was the place to be.

"The energy is always high in Atlanta," he said. "... Atlanta's in a really great place. It's obviously a place of its own, where you have food, you have culture, you have people from different walks of life."

CJ McCollum on Damian Lillard's comeback

Something this season that NBA fans were anticipating was the return of Damian Lillard. McCollum was teammates with the nine-time All-Star on the Portland Trail Blazers, where they both started their careers. McCollum was there for eight seasons before being traded to the New Orleans Pelicans midway though the 2021-22 season.

Lillard tore his Achilles tendon in the 2025 playoffs with the Milwaukee Bucks and missed the entirety of last season after going back to Portland. In his comeback this fall, he's averaging 20 points per game, had two 25-point efforts and his jumpshot still looks like water.

McCollum was not surprised "at all."

"I think there was uncertainty from the outside. But for people that knew Dame, know his work ethic, his diligence, his approach to things, we knew he was going to have this type of comeback," he said. "He's worked extremely hard, and I'm thankful and happy to be his friend and have played with him for so long. And to see him be able to overcome something like this is not surprising at all.

"I've seen how he's worked. (We’ve) been in contact with each other consistently. That's my guy, spent some time together in Oregon when I was out there in the summer, and this is a guy who takes his craft very seriously. He’s a pro’s pro, takes care of his body, takes care of his mind, and he's in a great space being home again and being back in Oregon, where it all started, that I think is a match made in heaven for him, and I'm happy to see him thriving."

CJ McCollum on NBA apron conversation, Fred VanVleet as new NBPA president

Another hot topic of conversation in the NBA is the second apron, which was established in the 2023 collective bargaining agreement when McCollum was president of the NBPA. The rule creates what can be compared to a hard salary cap that has firm penalties if exceeded.

"The conception of this years ago was more about creating parity," McCollum said, "owners, teams, the union coming to an agreement that there needed to be some changes within the systems of how to strengthen some of the lower tier markets."

The second apron has been criticized for doing too much to squash superteams and breaking up championship rosters. Bruce Brown specifically said that he had trouble in free agency and teams were using the second apron as a reason not to sign him. Karl-Anthony Towns, who won the NBA Finals with the Knicks last season, also said he's had difficulties getting a contract he thinks he's worthy of.

McCollum said that only three years into the new CBA, it's too early to determine if a rule like the second apron is working.

"When you're creating something, you don't necessarily know how it's going to turn out, obviously," he continued. "And as you kind of go through something, you kind of figure out the amendments that need to take place, make sure that teams aren't being punished for drafting well.

"... We're only a few years into it. There's more things that need to be evaluated. It's hard to project what types of impacts something like an apron is going to have on the actual management and construction of a roster and how that affects contracts in the long run. But I think you need more data, more information to truly judge whether or not you're heading in the right direction."

Houston Rockets guard Fred VanVleet became NBPA president in 2025 and McCollum applauded his successor's handling of the role.

"He's doing a phenomenal job," he said. "A guy who's very mature, has continued to figure out ways to help build the business of basketball, collaborating with the NBA from a partnership standpoint. I think he's doing an excellent job. I think his leadership, obviously, on the basketball court, but his leadership off the court is something that people respect, his peers respect, and excited to see what he continues to do for not only our players but also for the league."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: CJ McCollum joins NBA on Prime crew, discusses role on Hawks, Damian Lillard's comeback

When the Phoenix Suns kicked off the season, the front court had already seen some setbacks. Last year’s starting center, Mark Williams, who earned a nice extension, was reportedly out with a torn labrum. This would force the Suns to sign Duop Reath to a two-way contract to ensure they had a third center on the roster for opening night. Not only that, but it raised an even bigger question: who would start on opening night? Would it be Oso Ighodaro, the veteran big man who took over as the starter late in the season, or Khaman Maluach, the lottery selection from the Suns in the 2025 draft, who is set to be the center of the future?

That question was answered when Khaman Maluach saw the floor with the starters as the Suns took on the Trail Blazers on opening night. Unfortunately for the Suns and Maluach, the lights were brighter than expected, and the team was run off the floor basically in the first quarter. The Suns bounced back in their next game against Golden State, but with Ighodaro injured in the opener, the center rotation was thin. With the Suns also facing the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets, this didn’t help, as Maluach was forced to play against top-tier bigs and defensive teams, which disrupted his chance to build momentum.

When Ighodaro returned from injury, many fans expected him to get the starting job, but Maluach still started. This continued for a few more games until game seven, when the Suns faced the Orlando Magic. This was a must-win for the Suns, as they had just lost at home the night before to the Portland Trail Blazers in embarrassing fashion.

In this game, the Suns found their offensive groove and punished a team that couldn’t make a shot defensively, taking command and winning to show fans they are the team they have been preaching about. A big reason was plugging in Oso Ighodaro as the starting center; his screening allowed Devin Booker to hunt his shots early and score 23 first-half points. What was nice to see, though, was that Maluach looked more comfortable with the bench unit.

Against the Magic, he had eight points (4-for-6 FG), six rebounds, two assists, and two steals, and finished with a +13 in 22 minutes, which is solid for him as he settles into that new role. His active hands helped on defense, and even though he struggled against Wendell Carter Jr. to get all the boards, he put up some fight, which was nice to see. In his next opportunity against the Rockets, though, he showed that this potential can be great with this bench mob.

"Mindset doesn't change whether I'm starting or not starting."

Khaman Maluach after not starting in Suns win over Magic.

8 points, 6 rebs in 21 minutes.

"It's a process and I'm willing to take all the steps in the process. I'm going to embrace everything that comes with it… pic.twitter.com/EEsvHoIkDC

— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) November 6, 2026

Versus the Rockets, he had eight points (3-for-4 FG), ten rebounds, one steal, two blocks, and finished with a +11 in 18 minutes. Once again, he seemed more comfortable with the bench unit and hungry to grab boards. Without Steven Adams and Clint Capela, the Suns still struggled against a tall Rockets team, but Malauch held his own and kept fighting for opportunities. He also did a solid job on the defensive end against Alperen Sengun, really limiting him until the final quarter. His active hands helped him get three stocks, and that trend will continue to help his stock rise in fans’ eyes.

Look at the multiple efforts in a full court variety, from Khaman Maluach.

Also, Dillon Brooks is in his bag lol. pic.twitter.com/qQDDndZR4D

— Stephen PridGeon-Garner 🏁 (@StephenPG3) November 8, 2026

After two solid games, the Suns took on last year’s Western Conference champion, the San Antonio Spurs, and it was a rough one for them ultimately. However, Maluach looked solid (as solid as a sophomore backup big can be) in minutes against Victor Wembanyama and gave Suns fans something to look forward to. Even if he only had five rebounds, he scored 11 points (4-for-6 FG) and showed his range by hitting his only three-point attempt.

Khaman Maluach is back to the bench, and his minutes are already looking better.

He needs the pressure off of him. This role allows him to develop, but not be depended on.

— Robbie (@SunsAreBetter) November 10, 2026

The game that really made this clear, though, was the latest one against the Los Angeles Clippers. Similar to the Blazers game they lost, the Suns needed to win the second half of the back-to-back in commanding fashion, just like they did against the Magic. Luckily, the Suns did, beating them 133-110, and once again Man Man showed his ability to be impactful. In just 22 minutes, he posted 11 points (4-5, 0-for-1 3FG) and went 100% from the FT line in back-to-back nights. Add seven boards and three assists to that night, and you see his nightly growth.

Quality rep from Khaman Maluach here.

Great screen angle gets Collin's guy to trail. Forces the late-switch. Khaman roll's the late-switch down to the post & puts his arm up Randy Moss style.

Salute Collin for waiting til Struss had to reset the 2.9, to throw the entry pass. pic.twitter.com/5fl2NSssqu

— Stephen PridGeon-Garner 🏁 (@StephenPG3) November 11, 2026

He has to show he can beat down these bad teams, and he went up against Isaiah Jackson for most of the night. In this recent game, he showed his knack for keeping the fight on the glass and the awareness to recognize when to make a smart pass. Not only that, but his two-person game with Collin Gillepsie has really grown, with CG finding easy passes for two points in the paint for Man Man. Truly, this switch has not only helped Maluach and his development to find himself and not be rushed to go against the Nikola Jokics of the world yet, but also aids the starters as well.

One of the most encouraging Suns numbers so far 10 games in is the 135.4 offensive rating when Gillespie is playing with Maluach (87 MIN). Still able to get the offense going without Ighodaro. Gillespie/Dunn with a 14.0 net rating in 129 minutes (122 ORtg). The bench is benching.

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) November 11, 2026

With Ighodaro now thrust into the starting lineup, the Suns have someone who isn’t going to play hero ball. They have someone who will do the dirty work and make the smart plays with them, which is what they need. Ighodaro’s screening has received high praise from Booker this season, and it gives him the freedom to get to his spots efficiently and wide open. His passing also helps, as he can set up valuable back-door cuts, find the right man, or make the extra pass. This allows the offense to move the ball more, stay more fluid as a unit, and generate looks for the open man.

Devin Booker on 30-point night (4-of-8 from 3) to go along with 8 assists in Suns win over Magic: "Shout out Oso (Ighodaro). Great screening angles. Forcing the team to go over. I think I got two early 3s to start. Then that just opens everything up the rest of the way. The… pic.twitter.com/eVIhxC9HJA

— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) November 6, 2026

All in all, this move has been beneficial, as a healthy lineup of Gillespie, Goodwin, Kennard, Dunn, and Maluach can rival some of the league’s best benches. This will benefit Maluach as he learns to grow and become a starter in the future. Gillespie’s ability to set up Ighodaro and Williams in the past, when they were on the bench, makes me confident he can do the same with Maluach. You also add that this move makes the starters look a bit better, and it’s pure joy. For Man Man, I think this was the best move of his young career, and he’ll have fans buy into his potential as a true centerpiece of this team, and I cannot wait to see that unfold before our eyes.

One of the most encouraging Suns numbers so far 10 games in is the 135.4 offensive rating when Gillespie playing with Maluach (87 MIN). Still able to get the offensive going without Ighodaro. Dunn/Gillespie has a 14.0 net rating in 129 minutes (122 ORtg). The bench is benching.

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) November 11, 2026