Category: Basketball

With NBA Media Days taking place this week, let’s take a look at some of the notable stories involving former Kentucky Wildcats.

Milwaukee Bucks

We’ve seen in the past that professional organizations tease some of their players by sneaking in a hat or shirt from another team for them to sign, and the reactions are always priceless. 

This edition of that is the Bucks sneaking in the players’ college rivals’ sayings or slogans, and Kentucky was featured in two of them. 

Tyler Herro was prompted to say “Go Cards!” and he responded, “No, sir. I don’t say that.” 

Boy Wonder wasn’t going to be fooled by saying that, and was holding strong to his old Kentucky home and the school he had tattooed on his body. This is coming on the heels of Herro making some noise this offseason after he recreated the iconic TJ Ford pictures. Good offseason so far for the bucket.

Nate Ament, a former Tennessee Volunteer, was given the saying, “Go Big Blue!” and he said it, and it sounded incredible. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves, Nate!

Snuck in some rival slogans. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/WjoebFi0hW

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) September 30, 2026

Oklahoma City Thunder

Otega Oweh is prepared to start his professional basketball career with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and at his first-ever NBA Media Day with the Thunder, he was asked a question that people could see coming from a mile away. 

“We know you spent time at OU and then Kentucky. They’re playing each other in a couple of weeks. Are we going to see you at the game in, like, the split-down-the-middle jersey, or are you going to pick a side?

Oweh’s response may shock some people, he said: “It’s crazy; I was just talking about that, like, I want to say yesterday. I probably don’t have enough time now to get a split jersey, but I’ll be supporting for sure. I’m not going to say who, but I just want to see a good game. 

Well, Big Blue Nation would prefer an answer somewhere in the Ballpark of “What’s a Sooner, I’m a Wildcat”, or “No question, I’m Big Blue all the way”. It’s a 26-minute drive from Paycom Center, where the Thunder play, to Gaylor Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, where the Sooners play football, so I would say it’s easier said than done. 

Hopefully, Oweh is there in a T-shirt with one of his buzzer beaters against the Sooners on it, but that may be wishful thinking. Very thankful for his time in Lexington; now we need to see him rep the blue and white.

With Kentucky and Oklahoma facing off in a couple of weeks, I asked former Wildcat/Sooner Otega Oweh whether he might attend the game in a split jersey of the two schools.

“Crazy, I was talking that about that today. Probably don't have enough time to get a split jersey, but… pic.twitter.com/te6NmiISR9

— Michael Martin (@MichaelOnSports) September 29, 2026

Philadelphia 76ers

The offseason NBA news has been all about the move of LeBron James leaving the Lakers to join the 76ers, and rightfully so. With that, Kentucky fans get to celebrate, or not, the fact that James now has a couple of Wildcats as his teammates and could potentially cut down the nets with them. Tyrese Maxey and Justin Edwards are now partnered up with the King and have high hopes for the city of brotherly love. 

My favorite takeaway from 76ers Media Day, though, is the pair of shoes Justin Edwards decided to wear for the special day. He chose to don the Kobe 5 Grey Kentucky PE’s in his pictures. As a lifelong, die-hard Kentucky fan and a big-time sneakerhead, this made me smile. Such a beautiful shoe on a player that all of BBN and I are rooting for this year; love to see it.

Justin Edwards rockin’ the Kentucky Kobe 5s during Media Day with the Philadelphia 76ers! 🔥😸 pic.twitter.com/x6ybrImOcq

— Cameron Waddle (@CameronWaddle) September 30, 2026

A Michael Jordan jersey from his 'Last Dance' season has sold for $12.3m (£9.3m), a record for a piece of game-worn Jordan memorabilia.

He wore the jersey in game three of the 1998 NBA Finals, his last season with the Chicago Bulls.

Jordan helped the Bulls win the series 4-2 for his sixth and final NBA Championship. He was named the Finals' Most Valuable Player in all six.

The previous record for a piece of Jordan memorabilia was $10.1m (£7.6m) for his jersey from game one of the 1998 Finals.

The game three jersey was put up for sale by entrepreneur Ryan Gough and sold at Joopiter, Pharrell Williams' digital auction house, which gave it an estimated price of $10-15m (£7.5-£11.3m).

Jordan's 1997 Ferrari 550 Maranello was sold for $2.7m (£2m), four times the auction record for that model.

"Few objects in the history of sport embody greatness as completely as Michael Jordan's game three jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals," Joopiter said in the auction posting.

"Worn during the Last Dance... it marks the culmination of an era that transformed basketball into a global cultural phenomenon.

"Today it stands among the most important game-worn sports artifacts ever to come to market."

The record price for a piece of game-worn sports memorabilia is the jersey worn by baseball legend Babe Ruth when he "called the shot" during the 1932 World Series, which was sold for $24.1m (£18.2m) in 2024.

• Why everyone’s talking about The Last Dance
• Maradona's 'Hand of God' shirt sells for £7.1m

After putting together the best season of his NBA career, big man Neemias Queta enters next year with a familiar mindset: there’s still room to grow.  

The Celtics big man took a significant step forward last season, establishing himself as a reliable part of Boston’s rotation, but he isn’t treating that progress as a finish line. Instead, Queta is focused on continuing to round out his game and finding new ways to contribute.  

During Media Day, Queta was asked about the areas of his game he has emphasized improving heading into the season. He pointed to his mobility as a particular focus, an area in which he believes he has already made significant progress. 

“I’m working on my mobility. Obviously, I feel like I’ve taken great strides in that aspect, and I want to be able to keep on improving in that. Being able to be more versatile,” Queta said. 

In a separate Media Day interview, Queta expanded on those comments.  

“My versatility has gotten better, my ability to shoot the ball [has], too. Being able to be more of a mismatch killer too is going to be something that I’m trying to rely on this season,” Queta explained.  

What particularly intrigues me about Queta’s developing versatility and mobility is the potential stress he can place on defenses with the ball in his hands, particularly as a handoff keeper and downhill driver. We saw flashes of this last year.  

But when Queta says his mobility has improved over the offseason, I believe him. That progress was evident during his time representing his home country of Portugal in FIBA competition. 

 When discussing how playing in this setting can shape his development, Queta emphasized the opportunity to expand his role and experiment with different aspects of his game. 

“When I go down there, I’m scoring the ball a little more… I see it as an opportunity to get better.” 

Queta also highlighted the value of stepping outside his familiar structure of the NBA.  

“You might be able to test different coverages and different methods that you’re not as used to doing over here [in the NBA] and check your comfort zone, too.” 

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has also noticed Queta’s development in this area, saying at practice that, “The area that he’s gotten more confident in is just making plays, whether he’s in the seam, catching in the paint versus a small, just when he has the ball in his hands, something happening and not getting rid of it because we want something else to go to.”  

Queta, having a bigger impact as a handoff keeper/driver this year, aligns with the Celtics early intention on developing different ways to attack on offense.  

During Media Day, President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens described the direction coming out of the coaches’ meetings, saying, “It seems like there’s a lot of leaning into different ways to attack and different ways of playing.”  

Additionally, Stevens noted, “At times in the past…in the biggest moments we’ve had a tendency to be stagnant. I think this group can be more versatile in those ways.” 

To me, this is ultimately about having as many viable counters as possible available at any moment. I don’t want Queta to start isoing and crossing over opposing fives every chance he gets, but I do think he is more than capable skill and athleticism wise, to make his own offense especially when these opportunities will be coming with premade advantages.  

Playing alongside Jayson Tatum, Payton Pritchard, Paul George, and Derrick White naturally creates opportunities for Queta, as defenses are forced to devote significant attention to those perimeter threats. If Queta can consistently capitalize on the openings that attention creates, it gives the Celtics another layer to their offensive attack. 

The Celtics have had only three official practices since Media Day on Monday, but most of them have been balling at The Auerbach Center since the summer and some roles might already be solidifying. From their media availability and post-practice comments, we’re getting some dribs and drabs of what’s already getting established.

We’ll know a little more when the team returns from South Carolina and certainly after their first preseason game in Cleveland on October 8th, but let’s read between the lines jump to a couple of way-too-early conclusions.

Baylor Scheierman will start at QB

Scheierman hinted that he’s looking forward to more playmaking opportunities this season. The former high school quarterback pointed to his basketball IQ and situational awareness as strengths in his game. And after some glowing early reviews, it’s not farfetched that the 26-year-old gets a promotion to the starting lineup.

“The other day, Baylor, I think he got like four offensive rebounds in one possession, and I just said, ‘I like him.’ That’s all I need to know. I like him. I like him a lot,” Mike Conley said on Wednesday. “And obviously, he did a bunch of other things other than that, but his willingness to crash and keep possessions alive and make the right reads was impressive — stuff like that sticks out to me.”

Boston will most certainly pick up his fourth-year option for next season; the bigger question is whether or not Brad Stevens will lock him up with a rookie extension. If Joe Mazzulla has any influence with the front office, Scheierman could be here to stay.

“Baylor’s a guy that is extremely professional with his work and his development. If a guy earns it more, he earns it more. I also think it’s a natural progression for our team. The more guys that we have being able to do more things, the better it makes them,” Mazzulla said. “Baylor works on his craft. Yes, he’s great at the hustle stuff and the offensive rebounds, but he takes the other stuff just as serious. I think he’s gotten better at it more this summer.”

Here’s former CelticsBlogger Jack Simone on the emerging Scheierman:

Baylor Scheierman is about to have a breakout season, and it feels like the Celtics already know that pic.twitter.com/GZzCxuwl1d

— Jack Simone (@JackSimoneNBA) September 30, 2026

Paul George is replacing Jayson Tatum, not Jaylen Brown

When Brown was still a Celtic, it was Tatum that would come out midway through the first and third quarters to be the bridge between the first and second units. Now, he’ll most likely be the early workhorse and obviously the closer in even quarters. However, the highlight here is less about Tatum and more about Paul George.

Pre-training camp stories are always drawn from the well of wishful thinking. And with that qualifier, by all accounts including himself, Paul George is feeling great and looking like his old self so far. The 36-year-old is entering his 17th season, but consider this: he only played 78 games for the 76ers over two seasons, not unlike the 95-game sabbatical Al Horford took in two years split between Philadelphia and Oklahoma City.

Even if it’s just for 62-67 games this season, if George can tap into a vintage version of his former self, he could be the Robin to Tatum’s Batman and the veteran scorer next to Pritchard and the rising tide lifting all boats off the bench.

I built a potential rotation using a roster-building tool created by CelticsBlog’s Nate Moskowitz. You’ll see that George’s minutes lines up a ton with more specialized wings like Sam Hauser and Jordan Walsh. Mazzulla can only do that if PG13 can carry a superstar-lite load.

Pencil in Neemias Queta as a starter, too

Queta coined the term “Big Fella University” for the center room that includes himself, newly signed Mitchell Robinson, his battery mate from last season, Luka Garza, and young bigs Chris Cenac Jr. and Amari Williams.

But if we’re being honest, Queta graduated from BFU a long time ago. Following in the shoes of Luke Kornet, Neemy shuttled between Maine and Boston on a two-way contract, earned a standard deal, and this summer, signed a four-year, $56 million contract to solidify his standing as a franchise cornerstone moving forward.

And if seeing is believing, along with Scheierman, is getting a lot of run with the black shirts that include Derrick White, Paul George, and Jayson Tatum:

Heart & Hustle 🫡 pic.twitter.com/61R3XlLcA2

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) September 30, 2026

Over the summer, Queta worked on his mobility and ability to score and drive away from the rim. He showed off some of that off during his FIBA play this summer and if that translates to the parquet, any debate about whether he or Robinson starts is moot. Queta will be the big man on campus.

And for what it’s worth, four players have bobblehead nights at TD Garden: Jayson Tatum, Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, and…Queta on January 27th.

Let’s check out the Southeast Division Dub Nation, a spicy part of the NBA this year. Last season, the Warriors split two with Miami, and only one of them still stings. The Heat took the first one 110-96 in November, against a Golden State roster so short-handed it looked like a Santa Cruz scrimmage. Then on MLK Day at Chase Center, the Warriors won 135-112, and in the third quarter Jimmy Butler came down awkwardly on his right knee and didn’t get up. Torn ACL, against the one team on the schedule he’d most want to beat. Basketball has a mean sense of humor sometimes.

So here we are. Steph and Draymond are still chugging along, still making a way out of no way, with Jimmy in tow and working his way back. He told everybody at media day his testing numbers are off the charts and he’s ahead of schedule, which is exactly what Jimmy would say, and I believe him anyway.

And the man is happy here. You remember how he left Miami. January 2025, after a loss to Indiana, Butler stood at the podium and said the quiet part out loud: “I want to get my joy back.” Somebody asked if he could find it in Miami. He gave them two words, “probably not”, and a few weeks later he was a Warrior. Bad knee and all, he found joy.

Which makes this Heat summer kind of beautiful, because Miami turned around and became the place other stars go to find theirs. Giannis Antetokounmpo spent a year being dragged through every trade rumor on earth in Milwaukee and finally got out. Klay Thompson took a buyout from Dallas and signed with Miami in late August. Two guys who had soured on where they were, landing in the same building as Bam Adebayo, the one guy who never left. Riley went shopping in the clearance aisle of NBA discontent and came home with a two-time MVP and a four-time champion.

Giannis and Bam. Bam and Giannis.

We can’t wait to see Year 1 of this All-Star frontcourt duo in 2026-27 ‼️ pic.twitter.com/jJvMNXvzq4

— NBA (@NBA) September 28, 2026

It wasn’t cheap. Miami sent Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis and three first-round picks to Milwaukee to make the Giannis deal happen. Then they spent the rest of the summer filling in around him with Klay, Tim Hardaway Jr., Bobby Portis and extensions for Andrew Wiggins and Pelle Larsson.

Now here’s the question I actually can’t stop chewing on. Are Bam and Giannis the greatest modern NBA frontcourt? Let’s be honest about who’s ahead of them. Tim Duncan and David Robinson are clearly first: two MVPs on one front line, with two titles together. Ben and Rasheed Wallace have the 2004 ring and enough technical fouls to fund a small city. And dammit I’m gonna put Draymond Green and Kevin Durant here too, two titles with Draymond at center and KD doing whatever he wanted at the four.

Call that the Banner school of thought. You want to be the best frontcourt, show me the rings.

Then there’s the Freak school of thought, and it deserves real weight, because nobody on that list was built like this. Giannis is a 7-footer who runs like a wing and finishes like a truck. Bam can guard all five spots, and last March he dropped 83 on Washington, the second-highest scoring game in NBA history. The AP summed it up in four words, “It’s Wilt, then Bam,” and I still don’t fully believe it. One of these guys can give you buckets every night; the other one gave you 83 in a single night!!!

The problem is space, which is why Klay matters more than his age suggests. He spent years spacing the floor so Draymond could run the offense from the elbow without anybody guarding him honestly. He’s done this job before, he’s just 36 now doing it in Florida humidity.

Klay Thompson: “What’s the Miami Heat single-season three-point makes record?” 👀

Already has his eyes on the Heat record book. Love it. pic.twitter.com/4Gs2YOuLlt

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) September 2, 2026

From where we sit, Miami’s in the East, so this team matters to Golden State twice a year and then again only if June gets weird. But those two nights are going to be appointment viewing. Draymond versus Giannis is one of the best defensive staredowns of the last decade, Klay walks into Chase wearing Miami red for the first time, and Jimmy gets another crack at Miami after his last meeting ended with that knee injury.

If you really want an answer on the best modern frontcourt, there’s one guy in Miami who can tell you from the floor. Klay’s about to watch Bam set a screen and Giannis roll to the rim, and he’s going to recognize the feeling, because he won four rings standing next to Draymond and two of them standing next to KD too. If Klay says this one’s better, Dub Nation, I want to hear it from him in March, after they’ve played.

Wellp we did it Dub Nation, we took a look at the entire Atlantic divison to start the season. And we end it with the champions.

The Golden State Warriors went 1-1 against the New York Knicks last season, winning 126-113 at home in January and dropping a 110-107 game at the Garden in March. Those were two regular-season games in a long year, and you can set them aside, because the Knicks team Golden State saw back then hadn’t found the version of itself that ended up holding the trophy.

That version showed up late. In April, the third-seeded Knicks were down 2-1 to the sixth-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the first round, and CJ McCollum was carving them up like a holiday ham. Russell Richardson at Posting and Toasting walked through the moment everything flipped:

“With their backs against the proverbial wall, coach Mike Brown recognized the need for a change. His central adjustment placed Karl-Anthony Towns in a facilitating role farther out from the basket. This reduced the creation load on Jalen Brunson, highlighted Towns’ vision as a passer, drew opposing bigs away from the rim, and created opportunities for the wings to cut and screen effectively.

New York’s overall scoring efficiency rose sharply, posting an offensive rating near 124 points per 100 possessions and a record-shattering point differential. Operating in high gear, they went on a 15-1 run that delivered them to the promised land. And there was great rejoicing.”

"AFTER 53 YEARS, THE KNICKS ARE FINALLY NBA CHAMPIONS ONCE AGAIN!"

THE NEW YORK KNICKS WIN THEIR FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP SINCE 1973 🏆 pic.twitter.com/7JqXe4cU9e

— NBA (@NBA) June 14, 2026

Fifteen and one, sheesh! Warriors fans remember the last playoff run that looked like that, because it was Golden State’s. The 2017 Warriors went 16-1, and Mike Brown was on that bench, running the team as acting head coach while Steve Kerr was out with his back issues. Brown went 11-0 in that stretch. So the man has now been in the building for a 16-1 run and a 15-1 run, and he was a Warriors assistant for the 2017 and 2018 titles too. When the Knicks talk about trying to repeat, they’ve got a guy in the front of the room who’s actually done it.

And that’s the part of this Knicks offseason that hits closest to home. ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill framed the whole season around that: “The last teams to repeat in 25 years were led by one-name supernovas: Steph and KD, LeBron, Kobe.”

Yes, Steph and KD are the last ones to do it. The Warriors’ back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018 are eight seasons old now, and every champion since has gone home empty the following June. New York is coming for that, and I’ll be honest, I like being the Dubs last team to pull it off. I’m sure they would like to keep it that way for a while.

This season the Knicks brought the band back on a budget. Fifty-three years without a title, and the first thing Dolan does after winning one is check the receipt.

To be fair to New York, they kept almost everything. All five starters are back. Jordan Clarkson, Jose Alvarado and Landry Shamet all took below-market deals to run it back. The one guy they couldn’t keep was Mitchell Robinson, who took more than $15 million a year from Boston. The replacement plan is Andre Drummond, who can rebound with anybody alive.

Karl-Anthony Towns talks about the Knicks losing Mitchell Robinson and signing Andre Drummond this offseason:

"I was very surprised that Mitch wasn't going to be back here with us. I think all of us were, so it was a surprise to everybody. Thought something would get done there,… pic.twitter.com/Mhd7SYc7pf

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) September 28, 2026

Mike Brown’s answer in camp is to lean harder into what won, per Posting and Toasting:

Early reports from training camp indicate that Towns’ hub role will remain a priority, as the coaching staff plans to increase elbow involvement for KAT and explore additional ways to involve the wings across the floor. Their options include testing new Knick Andre Drummond as a secondary facilitator and giving OG Anunoby more minutes at center. During the playoffs, OG in particular produced some of his strongest stretches by generating offense off the bounce. Moving him into a small-ball center role with more interior and mid-floor actions could help maximize his impact, especially with limited traditional center depth behind Towns.

The clock is ticking on this group too. Towns is up for a massive extension, and with the aprons where they are, this championship roster already has an expiration date. Oh, and remember LeBron? The guy we just spent a whole column on in Philly? He told Dave McMenamin this week that he would have signed with New York if they hadn’t won the title. He’d pictured finishing his career at the Garden, and once the Knicks beat San Antonio, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. But he brought himself to their division to immediately rain on their parade.

LeBron James told ESPN's @mcten that he envisioned joining the Knicks as a free agent to finish his career, but ultimately put a stop to those plans after the Knicks won the NBA championship.

"I had visions of playing in [Madison Square] Garden and finishing my career in the… pic.twitter.com/OuNa8c2hfE

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) September 28, 2026

So the Knicks won a championship and lost LeBron in the same night. Somewhere Dolan is doing that math on a napkin.

That closes out the Atlantic, Dub Nation. The only place Golden State sees this team when it matters is June, with Mike Brown on the other bench trying to take the last back-to-back away from the franchise where he learned how to win one.

The word on the street coming out of the islands is Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr spent the first day of camp in Laie, Hawaii, drilling transition defense. He called the live work controlled, with possessions going up and back maybe three times max. Let’s hope that live work translates because anybody who sat through last season watching this team give up layups like they were handing out free samples at Costco wants this defense to snap out of the funk it’s been in over the past handful of seasons.

Most of the optimism this fall belongs to a coach. Frank Vogel came over as associate head coach and he will run the Warriors’ defense. His pitch for why he took the job was simple. “You want your defense to have teeth,” he told the SF Chronicle, and then he explained that Draymond Green used to scare the hell out of him every time he played the Warriors:

“I don’t know how much I want to say about it publicly, but I have a lot of confidence in what’s ahead of me, when the time comes,” Vogel continued. “But it’s very important to me that, your piece — that’s for when it happens. I am not hunting it. I’m excited about being in this role, for this team, and supporting Steve, and helping Steph and Draymond get another chance at a ring.”

Vogel will have to implement a new defensive system without two key wing defenders in Butler and Moody, who are both rehabbing knee injuries. Still, he sees a path. That starts with Green, the nine-time All-Defensive supercomputer who Vogel said was a “big reason” he took the job. 

#Warriors guard De’Anthony Melton said GSW’s defense will have “teeth” under Frank Vogel.

Said at media day Golden State’s goal is to have a top-3 defense. Asked him why that’s a realistic goal.

“We got more size at positions that we needed it.”

More: “We got to punch first.” pic.twitter.com/OVPDg282ts

— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) September 30, 2026

Bad defense was something I long associated with the Warriors of my youth, run and gun teams that would try to score 120 but give up 135. When Kerr got asked years ago how he turned the Warriors into a defensive team, he refused the credit. “I didn’t; Mark Jackson did,” Kerr said, remembering how bad Golden State’s defense looked from the broadcast booth before Jackson arrived.

The last two Jackson seasons tell the story. In 2012-13 the Warriors allowed 105.5 points per 100 possessions, 14th in the league and basically average. One year later they were at 102.6 and 4th overall. Ten spots in one season is an astronomical jump. He drilled connectivity, grit, and consistency and had the personnel to make it happen. With Andrew Bogut patrolling the paint, Andre Iguodala locked in, and a young fireball named Draymond Green coming off the bench learning how to be a problem, the pieces were all there.

Then Jackson got fired, Kerr walked in, and the 2014-15 Warriors posted a 101.4 defensive rating. That was No. 1 in the NBA and Kerr said he didn’t change one thing defensively. I believed him, and kudos to him for letting another coach’s ingrained philosophy continue on.

Steve Kerr talks about Frank Vogel:

"Frank is running the defense obviously, so we're using some of his transition defensive drills, some of his rebounding drills. We've been watching tape of Dallas' training camp from last year, the drill work that Frank did with them. Frank… pic.twitter.com/njGLOGNj7z

— Chef (@CurryForGame) October 1, 2026

Now I’m sure everybody remembers the threes the Dubs rained down like hellfire during the dynasty. But I absolutely remember the stops that came right before them.

That’s how the dynasty worked. Draymond would blow up a pick-and-roll, somebody would poke the ball loose, and four seconds later Steph was pulling up from 30 while the other team was still arguing about the switch. The defense lit the fuse on every fireworks show.

The one that surprises people is 2022. After two years of lottery tickets and injury reports, the Warriors allowed 106.9 per 100, and returned to No. 1 overall. Relative to its era, the “nobody believed in us” team had the nastiest defense of all four champions. Kevon Looney was everywhere, Andrew Wiggins clamped on the opposing stars like a pitbull, and Draymond still lorded over the defense barking out rotations and stymieing opposing gameplans. That was the most maniacally dogged version of the whole thing, and I mean that as the highest compliment I can give a basketball team.

Since then, the defense has been predominantly mid. After that last title, the Warriors have ranked 17th, 15th, 7th, and 17th in defensive rating. The only season with some bite was 2024-25, when Jimmy Butler showed up and the Warriors finished 2.8 points better than average and 7th overall. Average those four post-title finishes and you land on 14th, something Pastor Mark Jackson would have lost his mind over. For a franchise that built its identity on making opponents miserable, 17th feels like a team losing its identity and relying on offensive pyrotechnics to bail them out. Let’s recap, courtesy of Basketball Reference:

Mark Jackson era

2012-13: 105.5 DRTG — 14th
2013-14: 102.6 DRTG — 4th

Kerr dynasty defenses + 2022 title run

2014-15: 101.4 DRTG — 1st
2015-16: 103.8 DRTG — 5th
2016-17: 104.0 DRTG — 2nd
2017-18: 107.7 DRTG — 11th
2021-22: 106.9 DRTG — 1st

Post-2022 Warriors

2022-23: 114.4 DRTG — 17th
2023-24: 115.2 DRTG — 15th
2024-25: 111.7 DRTG — 7th
2025-26: 115.6 DRTG — 17th

With Butler and Moses Moody unable to play as they nurse themselves back to health from injury, the team has lost their two primary wing defenders for the time being. Can the Dubs survive the early part of the season without them on the defensive end?

Steph Curry and Draymond Green are the last two people in that gym who heard Coach Jackson preach defense in 2013. Everything Vogel is selling, they already bought once. What nobody in Laie can answer yet is whether a 38-year-old and a 36-year-old can sell it to Lendeborg, Melton and Brandin Podziemski fast enough for that old magic to come back in time for ring #5.

Isiah Thomas is back in the Knicks orbit.

The Hall of Famer will be appointed to the Knicks board of directors when Madison Square Garden Sports Corporation splits the Knicks and Rangers into two publicly traded companies next month.

The transaction, contingent on approvals by the NBA and NHL, is set to be completed Oct. 26, creating MSG Knickerbockers Corporation (which will own the Knicks and Westchester Knicks) and MSG Rangers Corporation (which will own the Rangers, the MSG training facility and the Hartford Wolf Pack).

It’s a normal board of directors role that answers to shareholders — not a basketball role that would involve him in roster decisions. Members of the board of directors are not employees of the company.

But it rekindles Thomas’ involvement with the Knicks — though he’s long been involved with MSG at large — despite a disastrous tenure as both president and coach.

Thomas served as Knicks president for five seasons, from 2003-04 to 2007-08. After the Knicks fired Larry Brown, Thomas named himself head coach — a position he had for the final two years of that tenure.

The Knicks went 138-237 in the five seasons he was president and 56-108 in the two seasons he was head coach.

He was fired from both positions after the 2007-08 season.

And in the middle of his Knicks tenure, Thomas was accused of sexual harassment in a lawsuit by former team executive Anucha Browne Sanders. MSG eventually settled the lawsuit for $11.5 million, though Thomas was not himself found liable for monetary damages.

After Thomas was fired as president and coach, the Knicks intended to bring him back as a consultant. But Thomas took a collegiate job as FIU head coach, and the NBA did not allow him to work for both FIU and the Knicks.

Thomas maintained a relationship and influence with Knicks owner James Dolan, however. In 2010, he was part of the Knicks’ failed pursuit of LeBron James, attending a meeting between the two sides in Cleveland.

That same offseason, the Knicks publicly credited Thomas for his role in helping the team sign Amar’e Stoudemire.

A year later in 2011, former NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Thomas played a pivotal behind-the-scenes role in the decision to trade for Carmelo Anthony, though the Knicks denied it.

And Dolan, in 2015, hired Thomas as president of the WNBA’s Liberty, which Dolan owned at the time. He served in the post until 2019, when Dolan sold the Liberty to Joseph Tsai.

Since 2020, Thomas has been on the Sphere’s (Sphere Entertainment) board of directors. The Sphere is owned by Dolan.

Former Knicks president Steve Mills, who was serving on the MSG Sports Corporation board of directors, will transition to the MSG Rangers Corporation board of directors. Mills served as Knicks president for four years from 2013-14 to 2019-20.

The Washington Wizards have been floated as a potential trade destination for Jalen Duren over the past week. It remains unclear whether there is any actual fire amid the billowing smoke.

The Wizards were among four teams ESPN’s Marc J. Spears mentioned during Monday’s episode of NBA Today that were said to “have interest in a potential sign-and-trade” for Duren. Washington’s inclusion in the report caught Jorge Sedano off guard, to the point that he felt the need to interrupt Spears.

“The Wizards one, let’s just recklessly speculate for a second,” Sedano said. “There’s one salary, one particular one that still is unsigned moving forward in Anthony Davis that could make the math work.”

“I think you are probably doing good math,” Spears replied.

REPORT: If Jalen Duren doesn’t sign an extension with the Pistons, four teams could be interested in a sign-and-trade:

🦌 Milwaukee Bucks
🦅 Atlanta Hawks
👑 Sacramento Kings
🧙‍♂️ Washington Wizards

THE WIZARDS⁉️👀

(via @MarcJSpears, h/t @ohnohedidnt24) pic.twitter.com/MNULpSJblr

— SleeperWizards (@SleeperWizards) September 28, 2026

A report published Wednesday by The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Hunter Patterson initially corroborated Spears. At first, the article “confirmed an ESPN report indicating that the Washington Wizards would have interest in a Duren-for-Anthony Davis trade,” which was supposedly not of interest to Detroit.

The Athletic later removed the Wizards mention from the article entirely and included an amendment clarifying that the earlier reporting was erroneous.

“An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that the Wizards would have interest in a potential Duren-Anthony Davis sign-and-trade. The article has been corrected by removing that reference,” the amendment read.

It’s possible the Wizards tried to gauge interest in a Duren-Davis swap and covered their tracks once they realized there was none, so as not to risk shaking up team chemistry. It could also be that the reporting was simply wrong or overblown from the beginning.

The regular season starts in three weeks, folks.

I’ve been in the Warriors birthday letter business for a minute now. I wrote Brandin Podziemski one when he turned 22, then another when he turned 23 and was ripping down 30 boards in two games like the ball owed him money. I wrote Jonathan Kuminga a whole armchair therapy session for his 23rd. So when I sat down to wish the newest homegrown hope a happy birthday, I did the math and almost spilled my coffee on the keyboard. Yaxel Lendeborg turns 24 today, and the rookie is officially older than every player I’ve ever written one of these things for.

It gets funnier. Kuminga turns 24 on October 6th which makes Yax six days older than the guy Golden State took seventh overall in 2021, back when JK was an 18-year-old with 13 inefficient G League Ignite games to his name. Podz was 20 when the Warriors called his name at No. 19 in 2023. Yaxel went No. 11 this June as the oldest first-rounder in the whole draft, at least three years older than all ten guys picked ahead of him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the newest member of Dub Nation, @Yaxel_Lendeborg 🥳 pic.twitter.com/Xc293TECTn

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) September 30, 2026

The internet loves treating a 23-year-old draft pick like a carton of milk you found behind the leftovers. Check the date, give it a sniff, toss it. I absolutely get the instinct; by the time Steph Curry was 24 he was already in season four, dropping 54 on the Knicks in Madison Garden. I also think it misses the entire point of this kid, because Yaxel spent the years most lottery picks spend in AAU gyms doing something way less glamorous.

He played 11 varsity games in high school. Eleven! He ended up becoming a national champion at Michigan while taking Big Ten Player of the Year averaging 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds and hitting 37.2% from deep.

So what did Mike Dunleavy buy with the 11th pick? A 6-foot-9 forward who connects things, and Vegas showed it. Yax walked out with the Summer League MVP trophy, after averaging 14.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists, then put up 21 and 10 to beat Memphis in the title game. And then he graded himself a C-plus or B-minus, saying he could have been more aggressive and needs to get in better shape. The humility!

"I feel like the guy who will have the opportunity to be the next face of the Warriors after Steph Curry is here, and it is this guy. He has the personality and the confidence to handle the role."@Mark_T_Willard with HIGH praise for rookie Yaxel Lendeborg | @WillardAndDibspic.twitter.com/oHvbEAkDsy

— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) October 1, 2026

It’s also why the fit makes sense. Steve Kerr just rolled out a 5-Out offense at camp, and a 6-9 forward who spaces the floor and makes the extra pass is the type of piece that system eats with.

All of which brings me back to the letter I wrote Kuminga, because the whole thing was built on one question: who decides when it’s taking too long? This franchise has spent a decade struggling to answer it. Wiseman got two and a half seasons. Poole won a ring and got shipped out a year later. JK got five years of flashes and stretches of searching. The Warriors kept drafting teenagers and then asking them to grow up on a contender’s schedule.

Yaxel Lendeborg said he wants to be All-Rookie first team: "I feel like I could be Rookie of the Year, but that's not my main focus."

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) September 28, 2026

With Yax, they flipped it. Steph is 38. Draymond is 36 and starting his 15th season. So the front office went out and drafted a grown man who already did his growing up in Yuma and Birmingham and Ann Arbor. The patience problem doesn’t go away this time, rather it just lands on him faster, because a 24-year-old rookie doesn’t get the “he’s still a baby” grace period JK got for four years.

Happy birthday, Yax. Next Tuesday, Kuminga blows out the same number of candles you did today. Sunday night in Honolulu, you get your first preseason minutes against the Clippers, and Dub Nation finds out if Golden State finally drafted someone who is gonna be here for the long haul.

After being an unrestricted free agent for less than a day and receiving multiple two-way offers from around the NBA, lead guard Ryan Nembhard has signed with the Denver Nuggets. Combo guard KJ Simpson was released from his two-way contract in order to make space for the former Gonzaga Bulldog, who will become teammates with fourth-year wing Julian Strawther.

Nembhard was traded by the Dallas Mavericks to the Atlanta Hawks back in July before being acquired and waived by the Charlotte Hornets in September. The Consensus NBA was the first to report Denver’s initial interest in the all-time Zag.

Welcome to the squad pic.twitter.com/A7aHfhoP6K

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) September 30, 2026

At an undersized 5-11, the rookie averaged 6.6 points on a shooting split of 41.5 field goal percentage/35.6 three-point percentage/80.6 free throw percentage, 5.3 assists, and 2.2 rebounds in 19.5 minutes across 60 appearances in the 2025-26 campaign. Nembhard set an NBA rookie record with 23 assists in Dallas’ season finale against the Chicago Bulls.

Entering his second season in the NBA, the 23-year-old primary ball handler looks to play meaningful minutes during the regular season for coach David Adelman while spending some time with their G League affiliate Grand Rapids Gold. The Nuggets training camp has already begun in Boulder at the CU Events Center on the University of Colorado’s campus.

Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on X @a_cravalho

Gonzaga Bulldogs great Kelly Olynyk is leaving the NBA to join BC Roma of Italy’s Lega Basket Serie A and the EuroCup, according to multiple reports. The club was co-founded by Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, who also serves as a minority owner.

On his way to an NBA Finals appearance with the San Antonio Spurs this past summer, the seven-foot forward/center averaged just 3.2 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 8.6 minutes across 42 appearances off the bench. He also made the 2020 NBA Finals with the Miami Heat inside the league’s COVID-19 quarantine bubble in Orlando, Florida.

According to Italian reports, NBA veteran Kelly Olynyk is close to reaching an agreement with BC Roma! 👀🇮🇹

The 35-year-old Canadian could become the latest big name to join the ambitious project backed by Luka Doncic and Donnie Nelson! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/zSbJjeA756

— Basketball Sphere (@BSphere_) September 30, 2026

Olynyk, the 13th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics, has suited up for 842 regular-season games with eight different franchises in his 13 seasons in the NBA. The now 35-year-old Toronto, Ontario, Canada native put together career averages of 9.8 points on a shooting split of 48.6 field goal percentage/36.9 three-point percentage/79.4 free throw percentage, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game.

Gonzaga now has a total of 12 alums in the NBA to be listed on an opening day roster for the 2026-27 season.

Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on X @a_cravalho

When asked what Michael Porter Jr. had to show amid salary negotiations, Nets GM Sean Marks was transparent in saying consistency and intangibles. 

Porter was just as honest in his self-evaluation, admitting he has more to prove to get the kind of contract he wants from Brooklyn. 

“Yeah, of course. There’s always more to show,” Porter said. “The main thing is winning. Who cares about putting up 20-plus points a game if you’re not winning? So I think I’ve got a lot more I want to show and prove. 

“Obviously one of the big things is being a winning player in this role. I think we can win a lot of games with me being a focal point on offense. So, we’ve just got to win and it’ll take care of itself. But like I said before, I’m not really tripping about it. I’m just excited to play basketball and get the season rolling.” 

Despite Porter having become extension eligible on July 6, he and the Nets haven’t reached a deal yet. 

Porter is on a $40.8 million expiring deal. He can sign for up to four years, $234 million. He won’t get that much, but how much will he and agent Mark Bartelstein press for? And considering he’s 28 and coming off a career year, what else can he show Brooklyn that he hasn’t already? 

“Great question. First and foremost, you’ve got to give the coaching staff a lot of credit there, not only what they did for Mike, but for the whole roster in general,” said Marks, who eschewed the typical GM-speak. 

“For us, we’re looking for consistency from [Porter]. We’re looking for him to take another step on the defensive end of it, rebounding. … So just become more of a complete player on the court. The other one is what can you do [in terms of] the intangibles. That’s important for us in the locker room.” 

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Rookie lottery pick Mikel Brown Jr. is still recovering from rolling his left ankle, not yet having advanced to contact yet. 

“He’s been doing noncontact. He’s in good spirits. He’s engaged with the practices. He’s learning what’s going on, getting the reps that he can,” Jordi Fernández said. “So far that’s where we are right now, which is a small setback. 

“But mentally that’s going to also be a positive thing for you, is how you overcome adversity and fight through it. It defines who you are. Those are the type of players and people that we want in this organization, people [that] have grit.” 

Porter praised the 20-year-old in his work coming back from the minor injury. 

“Yeah, he’s doing what he can,” Porter said. “He’s staying in shape, getting on the VersaClimber, getting on the bike, lifting weights, doing what he can to be ready to go once his ankle gets better.” 

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The Nets open the preseason Tuesday in Charlotte.