It took overcoming an 18-point deficit, but the Lakers remained 3-0 with Sunday’s road win over the Utah Jazz, led by Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves combining for 81 points.

​LA’s major offseason addition, Walker Kessler, struggled to contribute offensively as Utah game-planned to overload the paint. He finished 1-2 from the field for two points with seven rebounds and a block. Still, the former Jazz big man ended the night with a plus-minus of plus-six.

​While the return to Utah was quiet offensively, his first two games in the purple and gold were anything but. Kessler finished lobs and dump-off passes near the rim to average 24 points per night in those contests.

​His scoring consistency will fluctuate throughout the season, but the Lakers traded for him to be a defensive anchor every night and he’s immediately been a force on that end. Over three games, the Lakers have a 105.6 defensive rating with Kessler on the court, which would be good for sixth overall, along with a +26 net rating.

​The team’s entire defense hinges on his ability to protect the basket. The Lakers prefer to keep him in a drop coverage scheme, where he engages the ball handler enough for his teammate to chase over and recover, without letting his man roll behind.

​Kessler has a quick-twitch jump and elite mobility for his size, allowing him to react timely to offensive players. Watch below as Kris Dunn rejects the ball screen and heads to the rim. Kessler is in position to dissuade the pass to the big man while easily rejecting Dunn at the basket.

While the Lakers would love to park Kessler near the rim at all times, that’s not how the modern game works. With the volume of screen actions every play and five-out offenses around the league, an elite big man must be able to defend the perimeter and still recover to the rim, sometimes multiple times per possession.

The counter against a drop coverage is ball handlers with a pull-up jump shot, especially on 3-pointers. Against the Clippers and Darius Garland, Kessler was asked to meet the screen at the level to hedge the ball handler, as shown below, and recover to his man. Watch as he forces the ball out of Garland’s hands and still recovers to block Rui Hachimura at the basket.

Kessler leads the Lakers in rebounds, is tied for second in the league in blocks and leads the team in 3-point contests per game. Head coach JJ Redick, at his opening media availability, noted he hopes to use Kessler similarly to how the Spurs use Victor Wembanyama.

​It’s a strategy where you start a rim protector on a less dangerous corner shooter. There’s a trust that he can protect the rim while recovering out enough in time to closeout effectively. Watch below as Kessler not only gets back in time to contest, but erases the rookie Keaton Wagler’s shot entirely.

Kessler’s mere presence taps into the strengths of the defensive talent on the roster. LA signed two-time All-Defensive player Matisse Thybulle and young, athletic wing Ziaire Williams to be perimeter pests.

​He lets them be ultra-aggressive, knowing he’s flanking behind them. Watch as Thybulle chases over and takes multiple swipes at the ball against Draymond Green. If he’s out of position, Kessler is there to hinder any attack on the basket.

While the Lakers haven’t played a row of contenders to start the season, roles have been clearly defined throughout the team. For Kessler, that’s been just as crystallized as everyone else.

His job is to maintain his defensive motor and focus for every minute he plays. With his offensive responsibilities set to be a play finisher, he can save energy for the other side of the floor.

​There’s still a long way to go this season, but so far Kessler has answered the bell on what he was brought here to do.

​You can follow Raj on X at @RajChipalu

The Los Angeles Lakers have opened the 2026-27 NBA season with Arthur Kaluma, Chris Mañon and AK Okereke occupying their trio of two-way contract spots. But according to Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, Los Angeles was intrigued by the possibility of adding Pete Nance on a two-way deal when Nance was a free agent earlier this month.

“The 76ers and Lakers, league sources say, both registered two-way contract interest in Pete Nance after Milwaukee released the 26-year-old last weekend,“ Stein and Fischer reported. ”But the Bucks, as The Stein Line reported last Sunday, believed they could get Nance to stay in Brewtown on a two-way with them and were proven correct. Nance is still a Buck.“

Since going undrafted in 2023, Nance — the younger brother of former Laker Larry Nance Jr. — has spent time with the Bucks, Sixers and Cleveland Cavaliers. As Milwaukee labored through a lost season last year, Nance received the most run of his brief career thus far. He played in a career-high 47 games, logged a career-high 737 minutes and averaged a career-high 5.4 points per game, headlined by a 23-point outing against the Houston Rockets and 11 other double-digit scoring nights.

Nance’s standout trait is seemingly his outside shooting, having drained 41.7% of his career triples (60-of-144). While he wouldn’t have presumably factored into the Lakers’ rotation, that floor-spacing as a legit 4 could’ve provided a nice duplicative element behind Sandro Mamukelashvili in times of rotational crisis. For now, though, he remains with the Bucks while the Lakers roll with Kaluma, Mañon and Okereke.

Among the three, only Mañon’s logged regular-season minutes (three) to this point, with two of the Lakers’ three wins being undecided until late in the fourth quarter. Most of their playing time will likely come with the South Bay Lakers in the G League, which begins its season Nov. 6 with the Tip-Off Tournament.

Both Kaluma and Mañon played for South Bay last season while Okereke is a rookie. In 35 regular-season appearances, Kaluma averaged 14.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists, and shot 54.5% from the floor (36.4% beyond the arc). Mañon made 33 appearances, averaging 10.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.0 steals.

You can follow Jackson on Twitter at @jackfrank_jjf.

It’s hard to know exactly what to make of the new-look Sixers through four games. There have been encouraging signs, especially when it comes to the starting group. Injury, rebounding and backup center concerns have all come up as well.

All that said, they’re 3-1 heading into a matchup with the Indiana Pacers Wednesday. It should be a stiff test for Joel Embiid — Tyrese Haliburton and company want to run, not unlike this current Sixers group. Embiid has been a net positive so far this season, but this will be a good gauge of where he is more than a week into the season.

What’s on your mind as the Sixers get set to play their fifth game? Hit me with your thoughts and questions and I’ll do my best to respond to as many of you as possible.

Sixers-Pacers preview: Haliburton has Indiana moving again after a lost year originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Indiana Pacers spent one season outside the Eastern Conference conversation. They did not spend it rebuilding.

Indiana reached Game 7 of the NBA Finals in June 2025. Tyrese Haliburton ruptured his right Achilles early in that game, missed the entire following season and watched the Pacers fall to 19-63.

Now Haliburton is back, several members of Indiana’s Finals core remain and the Pacers again expect to be part of the East race.

Whether Haliburton will face the Sixers on Wednesday is uncertain. Indiana listed him as questionable Tuesday because of left hamstring tightness. The designation came one day after he played 35 minutes on the second night of a back-to-back.

That is the team the Sixers will meet Wednesday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse — much different from the depleted group they swept last season, but reshaped since coming within one victory of an NBA championship.

Haliburton looks like Haliburton

Four games do not erase the work required to return from a torn Achilles. They have shown that Haliburton’s playmaking and creativity remain intact.

He has averaged 21.8 points and 9.5 assists while shooting 51.6 percent from the field and 37 percent from three-point range. Haliburton has recorded 38 assists against nine turnovers.

That control is central to an Indiana system that has ranked among the NBA’s top five in both ball and player movement for six consecutive seasons.

Haliburton had 23 points and 12 assists in his first regular-season game in more than 16 months, leading Indiana to a 123-120 win over New Orleans. He followed it with 24 points and 10 assists Sunday against Brooklyn, including a self-assisted alley-oop off the floor that prompted a simple assessment from Rick Carlisle.

“He’s back,” the Pacers’ head coach said.

Haliburton then played 35 minutes on the second night of Indiana’s back-to-back and finished with 22 points and nine assists against Milwaukee. The Pacers led by 11 at halftime but lost, 110-102, after missing their final 10 field-goal attempts.

Afterward, Haliburton acknowledged that his conditioning and shooting legs are still returning.

“Just getting my legs back is the biggest thing,” Haliburton said Monday night. “It’ll take a couple weeks.”

The Pacers are 2-2 and have already experienced four very different games. They rallied to win their opener, allowed Dallas to score 77 first-half points in their home opener, routed Brooklyn and then gave away a second-half lead in Milwaukee.

As Haliburton said following the Dallas loss, “It’s not all fairytales, sunshine and rainbows.”

Wednesday will be Indiana’s second home game. Its first went poorly.

The Pacers trailed Dallas by 34 points at halftime and heard boos during Haliburton’s first regular-season game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in 490 days. Carlisle called it “one of the best crowds I’ve ever seen here,” but said his team did not compete well enough to reward it.

Both of Indiana’s wins have come on the road. The Sixers will get the Pacers’ second attempt to give their home crowd something to celebrate.

The Finals core has changed around him

Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith and Obi Toppin remain from Indiana’s Finals rotation. Siakam has led the Pacers in scoring at 23.5 points per game and is coming off a 20-point, 13-rebound performance against Milwaukee.

The frontcourt looks different.

Myles Turner left for Milwaukee following the Finals. Indiana acquired Ivica Zubac from the Clippers last February, sending Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson and significant draft capital to Los Angeles.

Zubac gives Indiana a more physical presence around the basket than Turner did, but he changes how the Pacers play. Turner could space the floor by popping behind the three-point line. Zubac is a traditional screener and roller who does most of his work around the rim.

The Sixers will not see that version of Indiana on Wednesday.

Zubac sprained his left ankle Sunday against Brooklyn and has been ruled out. Jay Huff started in his place Monday, recording six points and six rebounds in 23 minutes. Larry Nance Jr., Toppin and Jarace Walker also received frontcourt minutes.

The Sixers have been vulnerable on the glass, but Indiana may not be positioned to exploit that weakness as well as expected. Without Zubac on Monday, the Pacers were outrebounded 61-48 and allowed Milwaukee to score 24 second-chance points.

Philadelphia, meanwhile, will have Joel Embiid back. Embiid is not listed on the injury report after sitting out Sunday’s loss to Detroit for right plantar fasciitis management.

VJ Edgecombe is also off the report after missing Sunday with an abdominal contusion. Edgecombe and Tacko Fall were full participants in Tuesday’s practice, although Fall remains out against Indiana with a quadriceps injury.

The Sixers’ other unavailable players are Jabari Walker, who will miss his second straight game with left knee soreness, and Dominick Barlow, who remains sidelined by a lower-back stress reaction.

A familiar face in Indiana

The Pacers’ other significant addition is Kelly Oubre Jr.

Oubre signed a two-year, $17 million deal with Indiana after spending three seasons with Philadelphia. He started 150 of his 178 regular-season appearances as a Sixer.

Oubre started Monday with Nembhard sidelined and scored nine points in 23 minutes. His role against Philadelphia could extend beyond facing his former team. Haliburton praised Oubre for taking difficult defensive assignments while Indiana’s rotation has been depleted.

Nembhard is questionable again Wednesday because of neck soreness. If he remains unavailable, Oubre could start and spend time against one of Philadelphia’s primary scorers.

Indiana’s backcourt depth may be tested even further if Haliburton sits. Former Sixer T.J. McConnell is out with a right hamstring strain, while Ben Sheppard and Johnny Furphy remain sidelined by significant knee injuries.

Nesmith and Toppin are listed as probable.

Matchup to watch: Who gets the game moving?

Haliburton and Tyrese Maxey will not necessarily defend each other throughout the night. If Haliburton plays, they will have the greatest influence over the game’s pace.

Maxey was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week after averaging 28.8 points during the Sixers’ 3-1 start. Philadelphia’s best offensive stretches have often come when its defense creates opportunities for Maxey to attack before opponents can organize.

Haliburton looks for early outlet passes, advances the ball quickly and frequently initiates offense before the defense has selected its matchups.

That makes Philadelphia’s transition defense important. The Sixers cannot allow missed shots or turnovers to become open Indiana threes. When Haliburton is forced to operate against a set defense, the Pacers become easier to contain.

The same applies in the opposite direction. Without Zubac protecting the rim, Indiana may be more vulnerable when Maxey, Edgecombe and Jaylen Brown get downhill before its defense is set.

If Haliburton is unavailable, Indiana will lose the player most responsible for establishing its pace and organizing its offense. That would place more creation duties on Siakam, Oubre and potentially Nembhard.

What Vegas thinks

The Sixers were favored by 2.5 points Tuesday afternoon. The total sat between 238.5 and 239.5 points, depending on the sportsbook.

Those numbers may move based on Haliburton’s and Nembhard’s final statuses.

Philadelphia swept last season’s series, 4-0. Haliburton did not play in any of those games. In the previous two seasons, the Pacers went 5-2 against the Sixers.

The Sixers already know how little last year’s results mean. Whether he plays Wednesday or not, Haliburton has given the Pacers their engine back.

Three points. One make on seven shots. Two nights after breaking a franchise record with 43 against Golden State, Devin Booker posted his lowest-scoring night since his rookie season, and the Phoenix Suns got pushed around in Oklahoma City.

It wasn’t just Devin Booker’s fault. Or Miles Bridges’ fault. Or Dillon Brooks. Or Jordan Ott.

It was everyone, collectively. You could pinpoint so many different issues happening simultaneously… it’s not encouraging.

The most frustrating part? This was the softest the Thunder will look all year. They were on the second night of a back-to-back, missing Jalen Williams after a brutal injury, and they lost Alex Caruso in the second quarter. No Chet, no Cason Wallace. It didn’t matter. OKC still controlled the game wire to wire. And yes, even with the injuries, they are still a very good team. I am not saying the Suns had to win, but I expected a little more competitiveness in this one.

Three games in, nobody should be writing off this season. But the loss put a spotlight on problems that have been building since opening night: a hit-or-miss franchise player, a team constantly losing the rebounding fight, and an offense with no clear identity.

And it wasn’t just this loss, or the 41-point loss on Opening Night, that made me feel uneasy about this team. Even their win against the Warriors’ backup squad looked sloppy.

Should Booker force the issue?

After his 43-point, 7-rebound, 7-assist opener, Booker said he wanted to be more assertive this season. In OKC, he took seven shots. Give the Thunder credit for the game plan, but Booker owns a big piece of this one.

When your franchise player goes passive, the whole roster feels it. Suns fans would rather see Booker go 2-for-15 hunting his shot than 1-for-7 waiting for the game to come to him. Nobody blinks at a superstar forcing it to get going. The playmaking dried up too, and his frustration showed on several possessions. I’m not suggesting he shoots over three defenders as he mentioned postgame, but there were times I thought he played a bit too passively.

There’s a bigger issue underneath. Teams can load up on Booker this easily because the unit around him doesn’t punish them for it. That’s a roster construction problem that has been sitting there all along, and the Thunder exploited it.

So, What’s the Issue?

The talent is there. The starters just haven’t figured out how to play together yet. Possessions stall, the ball sticks, and too many trips end in a contested jumper. The Suns play too small and do not gang rebound to make up for their deficiencies on that end.

The question is… is the fit there? I think not. Does that mean it won’t change? Absolutely not, but there need to be significant structural adjustments made for this to work.

The Brooks and Bridges pairing sums it up: roughly 5-of-20 combined from three, minimal playmaking, and very little ball movement between them. It makes for a disjointed watch, and it puts even more weight on Booker to create everything.

What stings most is the offseason message. Continuity was the selling point all summer, with the whole group in the gym together and a reputation as one of the hardest-working rosters in years. You’d expect that team to come out of the gate faster than this.

There have been bright spots. Jalen Green looked comfortable early and finished with 20 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists on 8-of-13 shooting, and he and Maluach connected on a sharp backdoor feed for an easy finish. Luke Kennard, Goodwin, and Collin Gillespie combined to go 10-of-21 from deep.

I will try my best to pump the brakes on the panic, but not ignore the film. It’s a fine line.

Last season’s group started 1-4 and still found its way to 45 wins. This roster can turn it around too, as long as players accept some sacrifices and some new roles. If not? It could get ugly.

The Lakers’ unbeaten start has been exciting, but there are still worrying signs that have emerged, perhaps none more so than the team’s lack of depth at center.

Kevon Looney has struggled in the opening three games of the season and hasn’t played in the second half of the last two contests. Naturally, that was a big talking point in this week’s mailbag, which included solutions for the problem either externally or internally.

Let’s dive in!

Does JJ think that Vando started the Pallisades Fires? Should be blink twice if Reddick has stolen his dog, too? Does Vando need someone to free him from JJ like Charles and Jake got Jay Chandrasekhar away from Nutraboom?

Can we really spend a whole season with Vando and Hardy taking nearly $20 million of salary cap space like we had done with Kleber last year? — Johnny Tuttle

It’s pretty clear Kevon Looney is not going to be playable in most matchups this season and the Lakers are going to need a viable backup center.

It’s rare for trades to be made before Dec. 15, though not impossible. Still, the Lakers will likely have to look internally for the opening months of the season before most teams are willing to discuss deals.

So far, the solution has been playing Sandro Mamukelashvili at center. But there’s also been a growing call for Jarred Vanderbilt, who has been buried on the bench since the start of the preseason.

On the one hand, this is different from his usual situation. He’s not needed as a wing this time around. In theory, that means his weakness as a 3-point shooter wouldn’t be as glaring while his strengths as a rebounder could flourish. If the team is going to have five-out spacing without a traditional center, it means Vando won’t clog as much up offensively.

On the other hand, Vando’s shortcomings on that end of the floor are often summed up as an inability to hit threes. However, he also can’t finish around the rim, either. From a scoring standpoint, he’s a black hole offensively and hasn’t made any sort of gains on that end.

That remains the biggest issue for him getting playing time. Defenses are just never going to respect him offensively, which throws off the spacing on that end of the floor and negates the five-out offense they’re trying to run.

As things stand, things are working with Mamu at center and the Lakers don’t particularly need Vando to play. There is an argument for him to get a shot, and maybe it plays out a bit differently this time given the circumstances, but it’s also easy to see how the same problems causing many of the same issues again.

Everyone’s asking about finding a backup big. What options are available overseas, and more importantly, how does it work if the Lakeshow were to identify a player they wanted to sign (already knowing that they’d have to trade someone or release another player)? Is there a waiting period? If a buyout is required, is it counted against the cap? — Coops Knee Highs

It’s pretty unlikely the Lakers will sign a player overseas midseason, but it isn’t impossible. Most any player who signs in Europe who has any chance of playing in the NBA has a buyout in their contract. That buyout doesn’t count against the cap.

Having said all that, it’s unlikely the Lakers are going that route to address the issue for a number of reasons. If a player is going to Europe at this stage in their career, it’s almost always because the NBA interest is gone. There’s a reason you rarely hear about a player coming over from Europe or Asia in January and making an impact on an NBA team.

The bigs we’re talking about playing overseas who were recently in the NBA are players like Kelly Olynyk and Maxi Kleber. With all due respect as a blogger sitting in his home office, the drop in talent is quite large. Kendrick Nunn flamed out badly with the Lakers and is thriving in Europe as one of the best players. Talen Horton-Tucker is a borderline top-10 player.

There’s a career to be had for a certain level of player and I actually would encourage more players to make that jump to Europe. But it’s not a place teams find in-season upgrades.

With centers on contending teams like Jalen Duren and Joel Embiid already missing games, how urgent is the need to find and trade for another center behind Kessler and have the Lakers shown themselves to be enough of a contender that they should be be willing to overpay to beat teams like Philly and Detroit, who may have more tradable assets to work with, to the punch in order to acquire one before the market becomes even more limited?

An alternative phrasing might be, how viable is Mamu as a smallball, floor stretching, backup center instead of Looney? — SirTuppy

A backup center is so far the only glaring need through 3 games. I feel like there’s one more move they’ll need to establish themselves as true contenders, but what move is it exactly? Who are the potential targets for either move? — nesto2k

While I do think the Lakers need a backup center, it’s still too early to tell how urgent that need is. Through the opening three games, Mamu has been sufficient more often than not as a spacing five and the team is going to figure out ways to maximize those lineups as things go.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if the team is looking at potential two-way big men to potentially step in and get some spot minutes. That’s a lot easier path to find players and the team has had success with two-way signings in recent years.

As things stand, I don’t think there’s a race to get a backup big man, even with recent injuries. Neither Jalen Duren nor Joel Embiid is out long-term, though the Sixers are likely also searching for a backup big man after Ariel Hukporti’s injury.

We’ll see how things shake out in the coming weeks and months with rotations and playing time, but a couple names worth monitoring are Jericho Sims, who is not in the rotation for Milwaukee despite them wanting two second round picks for him, and Karlo Matkovic, who was linked to the Lakers previously and is on the edge of the rotation in New Orleans.

I haven’t seen anything offensively from Kessler other than lobs. He’s been awesome, but does he have any sort of post-up game or offensive moves? Is that something that you foresee the Lakers using or is he just a lob threat? — KershawsLegacy

I wouldn’t hold my breath on getting a look at the post moves of Kessler. The asks of him offensively will be very streamlined in that he needs to roll to the rim and dunk.

That’s obviously oversimplified, but they aren’t tossing him the ball on the left block and having him create a look for himself late in the clock. I do expect there to be growth with him in the short roll, which might lead to him showing off a bit of a floater or intermediate game.

Sexton has been off the ball quite a bit so far, even though he’s most effective with the ball in his hands. Is this a Redick issue, or is this a (foreseeable) fit issue playing next to two usage-heavy star creators? — Raison dBasketball

Sexton has played two basketball games alongside Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, so I struggle to have too many takeaways from how he’s used yet.

I don’t imagine the team brought him in to be a guard just standing around the perimeter watching Luka or Austin work. At the same time, Luka and Austin are going to have the ball a lot. The opening weeks and months of the season will be the team finding the right balance between optimizing him while also keeping the ball in the hands of your best players.

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

Kawhi Leonard’s return to Toronto has started off with a familiar feel.

Just two games into the two-time NBA champion’s return to Canada, Leonard, whose signing by the Clippers resulted in the franchise being punished for salary-cap circumvention before getting traded back to Raptors, is out indefinitely with a swollen knee.

An MRI revealed that Leonard has no structural damage, and it will be about rest and rehab to get him back on the court.

“Yeah it’s always frustrating missing time,” Leonard wrote in an X post Tuesday afternoon. “I came back to compete with this team and I’m focused on getting back to 100. Toronto, I’ve appreciated the love since I’ve been back. Returning soon.”

Leonard, 35, has had problems with his left knee before, missing time last season with what was called irritation. 

This is not the same knee that he’s had surgically repaired multiple times, as he tore his right ACL in 2021 and later his meniscus in 2023. 

Leonard missed Sunday’s loss to the Timberwolves after being a late scratch due to fluid buildup around his knee joint. 

The star forward has not played more than 70 games in a season since the 2016-17 season when he was a member of theSpurs. 

It is unclear how much time he will miss, though ESPN’s Shams Charania called it a “period of weeks,” making it almost certain that Leonard will not play 70 games again this year. 

This also makes it unlikely he will be featured in any awards or All-NBA teams, as those mostly require at least 65 games played. 

Leonard received a slight fine this offseason as punishment for his salary-cap circumvention scheme alongside his Uncle Dennis.

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was fined $30 million and banned from the team for a year as a result of the transgressions.

The Raptors will rely heavily on former Knicks RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to help them replace some of the offensive production lost with Leonard’s absence.

Scottie Barnes will be the team’s focal point as their lead wing. 

The Raptors are 2-1, with both wins coming while Leonard played limited minutes, topping out at 28 minutes spanning those two appearances.

BOSTON — The Celtics will not sit Jayson Tatum, Paul George, or Mitchell Robinson when they face the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night. All three players — who have dealt with major injuries in recent years — are available to play after also lacing up on Monday night against the Chicago Bulls.

The only players on Tuesday’s injury report are Devin Carter, who remains out with illness, and Derrick White, who is listed as probable with right hip synovitis.

Robinson typically did not play in both nights of back-to-backs as a member of the New York Knicks, but in an interview with Knicks Fan TV earlier this month, he made clear that would not be the case in Boston.

“It ain’t going to be the same in Boston [as it was with the Knicks]. I’ll be able to play back-to-backs,” Robinson said. “I’m very excited for that; it’s been a long time coming. Now I can go out there and play basketball, just go out there with a free mind and just hoop.”

George has also made clear he’s as healthy as he’s felt in years; he badly hyperextended his knee two years ago, and never fully recovered during his two-year stint with the Philadelphia 76ers.

“This summer really was a chance to continue to work: strengthen my body, strengthen my knee,” George said on Media Day. “It’s almost like a kind of rebirth, or reborn again — to be in a system, to be in a winning culture, a winning environment, and to feel good. To be able to work, to be able to train again in the summers — my summers the last couple of years were dedicated to rehab.”

Tatum, meanwhile, has looked like his old self so far this season after tearing his Achilles 17 months ago.

Joe Mazzulla did not specify Monday when asked how the team would manage back-to-backs.

“It just depends,” he said. “We trust the sports science team that we have, we trust the competition of those guys. At the same time, our locker room has built on 1-15, 16, or 17 being able to impact winning. It’s just a combination of all those things. At the end of the day, we have to do what gives us the best chance to win. At the same time, keep those guys healthy and validate the whole locker room by putting guys in situations where they gotta win games for us.”

The Celtics have gone with the same starting lineup every game so far

The Celtics have used the same starting lineup in all three full-strength preseason games and in their three regular-season games so far—a loss to the Detroit Pistons, a win over the New York Knicks, and a win over the Bulls. That lineup has consisted of Derrick White, Jordan Walsh, Jayson Tatum, Paul George, and Mitchell Robinson.

The Celtics play on the second night of a back-to-back after beating the Bulls 134-99 on Monday night at TD Garden. Pritchard exploded for 28 points in 21 minutes, while Tatum added 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.

Celtics-Nets tips off on Tuesday night at 7:30pm ET.

Last week was some of the best sleep I had gotten in a long time. Climbing into bed with the biggest, dumbest grin on my face, giddily scrolling through my phone on Canis, Reddit, and YouTube, seeing what everyone had to say about just how awesome the Minnesota Timberwolves are. Seriously, it was great.

I would whisper myself to sleep, repeating the mantra “82 and 0, 82 and 0…,” then dream of show-stopping sequences like Ant juggling the ball through traffic and rocking the rim, Melo doing the jump rope shuffle into a one-footed rainbow three, Beringer blocks, Kuminga lobs, TJ step-back threes, and secret handshakes that will be studied by kinesics experts and nonverbal communication researchers for decades. 

There were also dreams of glory, of hoisted hardware, of an “anything is possible” redux with the legend himself, KG, sitting courtside, tears of joy glistening in his eyes. One can dream, but most of these dreams actually did happen, so why not that one as well? 

Why not us?  

Yes, I know the Wolves will officially not be going 82-0 this year, and that’s too bad. I had high hopes we could get it done this year. I’ve reached out to the NBA about reviewing the tape and possibly getting that loss to Cleveland reversed. They haven’t responded, but that’s on them.

Barring a reversal, just because we’re not going 82-0 doesn’t mean we can’t go 81-1, and putting the Cavs debacle aside there is still so much to be giddy about when it comes to this new look Wolves team. So let’s overreact, shall we? No single loss is going to stop us from listening to our hearts on repeat.

The heart is always right.

Best in the West

Is this year’s Wolves squad reminding anyone else of the 95-96 Chicago Bulls? You don’t even have to squint to see that Anthony Edwards is obviously MJ, while Scottie Pippen has undergone some sort of bifurcation process and split off into both LaMelo Ball and Jaden McDaniels. Then you’ve got defensive stalwart and human highlight reel Jonathan Kuminga, the Stifle Tower Rudy Gobert, Ayo Dosunmu, TJ Shannon, the French Prince Joan Beringer – hold up…

Are the Wolves actually better than the 95-96 Bulls? How is that even possible? 

With a small enough sample size, anything is possible.

Also worth noting, in that historic Bulls season, they played their third game at home against the Toronto Raptors, and their next game on the road against…you guessed it…the Cleveland Cavaliers. Of course, unlike us, they beat Cleveland, but they weren’t on the second night of a back-to-back. Just something to consider when we’re comparing our respective places in NBA history.

That Bulls team also still holds the best net rating in NBA history at +13.4. While I do think that’s beatable, I firmly believe the Wolves have a real shot at breaking the NBA record for point differential, previously held by the 2024-25 Oklahoma City Thunder at +12.9 PPG. 

Right now, even with the loss to the Cavs, the Wolves are second in the league in point differential at a still absurd +17 PPG, behind only Micah Nori’s Portland Trail Blazers. We love Micah, but there’s no way his team keeps this up. The Wolves, on the other hand, will, because of the power of friendship and Rudy’s goatee that Chris Finch strokes for good luck when no one is looking.  

If the Wolves continue to not just beat the teams they should beat, but consistently crush them, a double-digit differential is sustainable.

And it wouldn’t hurt to embarrass some of our fellow West contenders while we’re at it. 

By the way, last year’s Melo-led Hornets team had a double-digit point differential from January 3rd onward, and this team is leaps and bounds better than that fun but flawed Hornets squad. To add to that, as those mid-season buzzsaw buzzers were just starting to take flight, one game that especially turned heads was a 27-point drubbing of the Thunder in OKC.

Can we get in on that, please?

Ant is winning MVP

I’ve hitched my wagon to the Ant MVP train, and so far so good. With LaMelo allowing him to slide into his more natural shooting guard position, this fully realized version of Ant has never had this much space to work with. So far, after four games, he’s putting up 33.3 points per game on 72.1% true shooting. Ant has increased both his scoring and true shooting averages every year, which means…cue Disco Stu…

If the Wolves go 81-1, it will be hard not to give him the nod. But if, for whatever reason, something goes horribly wrong and the team finds itself struggling to claw its way to 60 wins, I think those numbers will still suffice, and Ant will have himself his first real piece of NBA hardware.

Ayo 6MOY campaign loading

It’s as simple as this: Ayo is a stud, and the Wolves are going to be the best team to come out of the West. Historically, the studliest bench player on the best team wins Sixth Man of the Year. This isn’t even an overreaction; it’s just the most logical take.

Jaden makes his first all-star game

Your favorite player’s favorite player gets to play on everybody’s favorite night. /s 

Jaden will get a considerable number of player votes. What remains to be seen is how he fares in the fan voting, but with this team’s popularity having skyrocketed, I expect to see some favoritism swing the Wolves’ way. He’s more than earned the recognition.

What’s more, Jaden will win all-star MVP because Ant will continuously feed him the ball, and then at some point Jaden will do this…

Terrence Shannon Jr. will finish top-10 in the league in three-point percentage

Hey, he’s shooting 50% from long-range. Did I see this coming? No. Is it sustainable? Yes. How so? I don’t know. Through Crunch, all things are possible.

We’ve all heard the stories of TJ as a known gym rat. First player to arrive at the gym, last player to leave. It should come as no surprise that a player with his work ethic has managed to add this wrinkle to his game. I, for one, welcome our new three-point overlord.

Elsewhere Around the League

Miami Heat will miss the playoffs, again

The Heat are bad. Like, really, really bad. It’s basically Giannis and an assortment of chips, and I guess Bam but sometimes he is so invisible that calling him out at all, I feel, is one acknowledgement too many. And by the way, aren’t you supposed to trade the bag of chips? That’s how we got Ayo. 

From what I’ve seen, this is a play-in team, at best. To all the talking heads out there who think the Heat will be fine: stop it. They will not be fine. They are atrocious, and after the Kalshi shareholder’s stunt in Milwaukee, I choose to bask in the schadenfreude of it all. 

If I go to the gym and the Heat are playing, I will watch the game while on the treadmill and declare myself an honorary member of the 2026-27 Miami Heat.

Ty Jerome for Most Improved Player is a lock 

Who had Ty Jerome averaging nearly 30 points per game on the 4-0 Memphis Grizzlies on their bingo card? And if you did, have you ever actually played bingo before?

With Ja finally gone, the Grizzlies are no longer just “fine in the West”. They’re on a roll, with Ty as the engine. He’s always been a bucket getter, but for the first time in his career he’s getting a chance to really let it fly, putting up nearly 20 shots a game (his previous high was 8.8 two seasons ago on the Cavs).

From logo threes to his signature floater, there’s no reason to believe he won’t keep his scoring output at least in the low-to-mid-20 point-per-game range. And if the Grizzlies keep winning, this race is all but over.    

Denver is on life support 

I will admit to this very much being confirmation bias. 

It doesn’t help that the Nuggets got absolutely dismantled the other night at home by a Golden State Warriors team we all project to be pretty bad this season. But the Nuggets peaked in 2023, and they haven’t done much to disabuse that notion.

While they still might win enough games purely on the back of professional horse whisperer Nikola Jokić, they are nowhere near the top-4 and should probably be looking over their shoulder at those pesky Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers nipping at their heels. However the regular season pans out, I’m just not buying it.

The top two West teams are not who we thought they were

With OKC’s devastating key injuries (Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace are expected to miss several months, if not the entire season), the sky isn’t falling for them, but it is lowering considerably and moving quickly while doing so. 

Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs’ rather clunky start is showing us that progress is indeed not linear. Even if they are choosing to cruise to the playoffs, that could make things awfully contentious in the upper bracket of the Western Conference as the rest of the season shakes out. 

The Houston Rockets have been the most impressive team in the West so far, besides the Wolves, of course. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if those four teams are the ones wrestling for top seeding. 

Obviously, the Wolves will be sitting comfortably in first, 20 or so games ahead of the next tier of teams when it’s all said and done. 81-1 is undefeated. That made more sense in my head.

Yaxel Lendeborg could be the first player to retire during his rookie season due to having lost all respect for the league

When asked what contributed to his surprise decision to leave the NBA so abruptly, Lendeborg simply said, “I ain’t no h**.”

Editor’s note: Technically, Gene Melchiorre retired from the NBA after his point-shaving scandal in college was discovered. Despite being the first overall pick, he had no way of fighting the story and walked away before Maurice Podoloff banned him

Now, you have faces of the league convincing people to gamble their savings away on prediction markets with no repercussions.

That’s sad.

What are your overreactions to the first week of NBA play? Do you agree that the Wolves will finish 81-1? Have you also reached out to the league about the Cavs game? Sound off in the comments below.

The reigning champion Knicks fell to 0-3 on the new season, pointing to either violent regression or a debilitating hangover, depending on who you ask. While fans and media have their theories, head coach Mike Brown points to three on-court causes. 

Brown blames missing quality shot attempts, lacking physicality/pace, and the combination of careless turnovers and poor defense in transition, per SNY NBA Insider Ian Begley. Everybody has their piece of the picture, but zoom out and the problem may be a short-term sacrifice that bears fruit in the long run, like one the Knicks dealt with last year. 

Brown was brought in partly to, and partly won a championship off, the willingness to use the regular season to experiment over trying to maximize wins. He installed a brand new offensive system, shortened starters’ minutes to save them for the rigors of the postseason, and constantly tried new players and lineups.

This strategy paid off in spades. Karl-Anthony Towns as a passing hub saved their season in the first round, third-stringers stepped up all year round and Jalen Brunson-Jose Alvarado lineups closed the greatest comeback in playoff history.

Coming into 2026-27, Brown has much cooler expectations, being the coach that accomplished the impossible versus the one that’d better or leave town. He’s also watched eight consecutive new NBA teams win and fail to make it back to the NBA Finals, and knows the Knicks can’t afford to be stagnant if they want to repeat. 

Given he has more leash and political capital than any New York coach in recent history, and both the incentives and blueprint for innovating, it’s only natural he’d go even further in using the regular season, conceptually, to prioritize spring wins over winter ones. We’ve seen it in numerous ways these first three games, perhaps contributing to the early malaise by throwing new questions at a team trying to cheat off a test from last year. 

Despite losing three games by single digits, all of which went down to the wire, the Knicks starters are playing about the same average minutes as they did last year. Brown has held firm with losing and bench-heavy units to see more of those combinations. 

Speaking of bench-heavy units, the Knicks have poured 19 minutes into lineups without Brunson or Towns in three games this season. For comparison, outside of garbage time, they played these combinations for 47 minutes, total, in last year’s playoffs.

During training camp, Brown pointed to bigger offensive roles for his wings, so this trend aligns. We’ve seen OG Anunoby self-create much more of his offense.

The offense in general isn’t simply what the Knicks trotted out last season. They’ve heavily leaned into their freelance motion approach over set plays to start the season, a challenge that could help explain their 29th overall offensive start. 

Brunson isn’t getting his usual amount of on-ball reps either, with his possession rate dropping from 45.7 percent last season to 29.6 percent this season, per film analyst DJ Zullo. This could be a factor in his poor shooting start.

Brown’s even shifted the rotation in these opening contests, closing with James Wiseman as the primary backup center over Andre Drummond in their latest contest. This, along with adjusting between defensive schemes, has given the Knicks a steady flow of new looks instead of allowing them to ride the championship’s coattails. 

While these may make things somewhat tougher in the short term, if Brown is correct like he was last season, they’ll pay off down the line. A Knicks team that’s better prepared to make offensive plays when Brunson’s having a bad night, or rely on a deep bench cut in a pivotal Game 6, is one that’s better prepared to repeat.

There is a downside, as the Knicks are looking to rebuild their mettle and regain their rhythm amid a landscape that’s changing despite familiar faces. The ring bought them at least three games of rope, but if the losing continues, the noise won’t stay quiet. 

Brown faced similar circumstances last year and successfully pivoted, so if that situation arose again, there’s no doubt he’d be able to do the same. But if the price for another championship is a 2-6 start in November, Brown, his team, and their fans should be happy to pay it. 

Basketball Hall of Famer Paul Pierce said he’s “tapped out” after his final check from FS1 in August, leaving him without a steady income amid a custody battle with his ex-wife, Princess Santiago, according to court documents obtained by TMZ.

Paul — who earned $195.1 million in salary over his 19-season NBA career, per Spotrac — pays around $28,000 in child support and another $20,000 in spousal support to Santiago per month, the court docs state.

The ex-couple share a son, King Rafael, who was born in February.

Paul spends around $48,000 a month in bills, including $8,000 in childcare, $5,000 in groceries, $7,000 on eating out, $3,200 on utilities, $1,000 on clothes and $3,500 on entertainment, among other expenses, per the court documents.

The 49-year-old adds that he has $300,000 in the bank and $3 million in property to his name.

Paul’s final check from Fox Sports came in August — and his average monthly income was $119,000 as an employee of the network.

Pierce says he earned around $23,000 in September from his partnership interests in other business ventures.

Pierce is asking the court to deny Santiago’s request for $40,000 in legal fees and another $10,000 for a forensic accountant, whom she allegedly hired to review his financial records.

The Celtics legend’s attorney said his client, who is “financially drowning,” would have “great difficulty” paying these fees since his Fox Sports income ended.

Pierce and Santiago, an event director in Los Angeles, have been in a custody battle for months.

View this post on Instagram

Santiago previously filed a paternity suit in January, claiming Pierce was the father of her son.

In court documents obtained by TMZ in August, Santiago provided text messages claiming Pierce ignored her throughout her pregnancy and “prioritized love interests and vacations” over their son.

She asked the court for sole legal and physical custody of their child, as well as child support payments.

At the time, Paul filed court docs opposing Santiago’s previous request for $30,000 per month in child support, plus another $100K for legal fees in the case, TMZ reported on July 31.

Pierce hosts the “Ticket & The Truth” podcast alongside former teammate Kevin Garnett. He also hosts the “The Truth After Dark,” a weekly relationship and pop culture podcast co-hosted with Azar Farideh.

Paul worked as an analyst for FS1 after he was fired from ESPN in 2021 due to his conduct on social media.

At the time, the 10-time NBA All-Star shared a live Instagram video at a poker game that included strippers and smoking weed.

Pierce later revealed he was unapologetically “having a good time.”

“Come on, I didn’t do anything illegal,” he said at the time, later adding, “I’m divorced. I’m retired. I’m having fun.”

Pierce played 15 of his 19 NBA seasons with the Celtics and won a championship and Finals MVP with Boston in 2008.

He also had stints with the Nets, Wizards and Clippers.

The Celtics retired his No. 34 jersey in February 2018, after he retired the year before.

The Washington Wizards’ 2026-27 regular season is young. And though AJ Dybantsa has still yet to make his season (and NBA) debut, the Wizards’ two established All-Stars, guard Trae Young and forward Anthony Davis, are producing the numbers fans expect.

Both Young and Davis are averaging 22 points a game each, both in the top 30 for the NBA. It should also be no surprise that Young and Davis are also taking the most shots per game. That said, Davis is making only y 44 percent of his shots so far this season, well below his career rate of 52.2 percent. That said, Davis has only played four games so this percentage should move up over time.

Young has started off on a hot streak with assists where he leads the NBA with 11.0 per game. Though he averaged just 8.0 assists per game last season though it was in just 15 total appearances with the Wizards and Atlanta Hawks. From the 2022-23 through 2024-25 seasons, Young averaged at least 10 assists per game though it also came with him averaging over 4 turnovers per game. This season, Young is only averaging 2.3 turnovers though four games is a small sample size.

If Young and Davis stay consistent, the Wizards should be a significantly improved team this season, even if they can’t carry Washington to a Top-4 finish in the Eastern Conference. Now, we’re just waiting on when Dybantsa to get cleared for his professional debut.