Category: Basketball

We’re 24 hours out. A day away from tangible, real, meaningful Boston Celtics basketball gracing the court and our screens for the first time in 170 days. With that, there’s only one thing to do.

I invited Feed followers to exorcise all of their excitement and angst by sharing their “Hot Takes” about the upcoming Celtics season. Let’s analyze the spiciest of those takes, judge how likely they are to come true, and get ourselves riled up one last time before we embark on that long journey to Banner 19.

The Team Takes

“The Celtics finish top five offensively and top three defensively.” Celtics_fan_in_va

Starting us off, we need to address the elephant in the room. It can be difficult to come up with a truly spicy take when your subject is Joe Mazzulla’s Boston Celtics. Read through 90% of team sites, forums and local media, and a top-five finish on both ends would be suitably hot. UV protection required.

Dig into the data from Joe’s previous iterations of the Celtics and the take starts to feel a little frosty. Check out Boston’s finishes in offensive and defensive rating from 2022–23 through 2025–26, Joe’s full tenure as head coach.

Season	Offensive Rating	NBA Rank	Defensive Rating	NBA Rank
2022–23	117.3	2nd	110.6	2nd
2023–24	122.2	1st	110.6	2nd
2024–25	119.5	2nd	110.1	4th
2025–26	120.0	2nd	111.7	4th

In each of Mazzulla’s four seasons at the helm, Boston has finished comfortably inside the top five offensively, while ranking no lower than fourth defensively. In fact, according to NBA.com, Boston became the first team since turnovers were tracked in 1977 to finish in the top five on both ends in four consecutive seasons.

Nothing is a certainty in the modern NBA, particularly with injuries, but with no true emerging giant joining the ranks of Oklahoma City and San Antonio, I think it’s completely reasonable to expect Boston to rank in the top three defensively and top five offensively in 2026–27.

“Boston go 40-1 at home.” Eaglemike

Now that’s a take! Across four seasons, Boston is 127–37 (.774) at home. During the championship season in 2023–24, the C’s went 37–4 at TD Garden, one of the best home records in NBA history and the best of any team in the 2020s.

Eaglemike predicts that Boston not only surpasses that mark, but that a Jayson Tatum-led Celtics team joins perhaps the greatest team in franchise history, the ’86 Celtics, atop the mountain of all-time regular-season home records at 40–1.

The argument for it would be the degree to which this Celtics roster is optimised to maul teams night after night. There are options on the bench, depth throughout the roster, the added three-point volume of Paul George and Mitchell Robinson attacking the glass on both ends. If you view Tatum as essentially a swap for Brown from last year, I think it’s clear that the team Joe has access to for the majority of this season is far superior to last year’s roster.

This group is also far better equipped to survive cold shooting nights, thanks to its ability to rebound and generate turnovers. That speaks to Boston being a juggernaut both home and away, but I struggle to buy a Celtics team with ammunition still left in the chamber, and a number-one option returning from a serious injury, equalling one of the NBA’s most sacred records.

The Big Fella University Takes

“Queta wins 6th man of the year.” PDCeltics

Here’s a cleaned-up version that keeps your tone and structure while smoothing the flow and fixing spelling:

This is the season where Neemias Queta seeks to earn tenure at Big Fella University. Questions around Queta’s quality and consistency from last offseason feel as though they were voiced a long time ago. According to DataBallr, Boston was 6.3 points per 100 possessions better defensively last year when Queta took the court, and he played his part offensively too, scoring an efficient 10 points a night while doing all the big-man basics that helped facilitate higher-usage offensive players. Neemy was pivotal to Boston on both sides of the floor last year.

Rewarded with a $56 million extension, Queta is here to stay, but preseason outings against Charlotte and Philadelphia have suggested that he will take up a new role on this year’s C’s. No coach has employed the “Hack-a-Mitch” ploy more frequently than Mazzulla over the past couple of seasons. To avoid endless trips to the charity stripe in the final two minutes of quarters, it seems Robinson will be the nominal starter for the Celtics this year, opening up an opportunity for Queta to compete for a major accolade.

As it stands, the Portuguese big man can’t be found on either the short or long lists of Sixth Man of the Year candidates. Payton Pritchard has short odds at +400, so in fairness to PDCeltics, this is a hot take.

The case for Queta competing for the award would be an analytically driven one. I’d have to expect him to post magnificent on/off or EPM numbers, while also coming up with huge plays in pivotal moments, to truly vie for honors. Queta’s game doesn’t resemble those of the other bench big men who have walked away with the Sixth Man trophy. Naz Reid and Montrezl Harrell were spark plugs of sorts, with a unique proclivity for juicing an offense. Queta didn’t drag Boston’s offensive rating down when he was on the floor last year, but he didn’t accentuate it either.

The last true-blue big man to win the award for doing big-man things was Roy Tarpley in 1987–88. Queta winning would represent a landmark shift in how the award is judged. For that reason, while I think Queta could be one of the very best bench players in the league this year, his chances of winning 6MOY are rightly astronomical.

“The platoon of Queta and Robinson gives the Celtics the best 48-minute center combination outside of Denver and San Antonio.” Geno-Time

Geno-Time would make a great analyst. This is a brilliant level of hot take. It’s sufficiently spicy but I believe it bares real scrutiny. The Celtics are looking to imitate the success of their former Finals opponents, the 2024 Dallas Mavericks, with their big-man tandem of Robinson and Queta. Neither Robinson nor Queta possesses the skill set to vie for an All-Star berth, but together they provide an insanely high floor at the five for Boston. I’ll list a few other tandems and rotations below that I think are worthy of consideration once you take Denver and San Antonio out of the equation:

• Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams
• Donovan Clingan and Rob Williams III
• Naz Reid, Moussa Diabate and Ryan Kalkbrenner
• Rudy Gobert and Joan Beringer
• Isaiah Hartenstein, Chet Holmgren and Aday Mara

In my view, all of the above rotations possess more raw talent than Boston’s frontcourt. Injury concerns surrounding Steven Adams and Rob Williams, however, raise real questions about their ability to outplay Neemy and Mitch over the course of a season. The likes of Beringer and Aday Mara are also unproven at the NBA level, so there’s certainly an argument that Boston will have a true top-tier rotation at center this season.

The key to Robinson and Queta providing more value than the bigs above lies with Boston’s stars. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving unlocked Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II, two non-All-Star bigs, to great effect, helping them outperform their individual talent level and making the Dallas frontcourt imperious throughout the 2024 season.

I don’t think Queta and Robinson will be the third-best big-man rotation in the league this year, but if they are, expect either the best season of Jayson Tatum’s career or a major leap from the subject of our next take to be the key to their success.

The Payton Pritchard Takes

“Payton Pritchard is named to the All-Star team as a coach selection or injury replacement.” Larksnado

PPayton winning Sixth Man of the Year isn’t a hot enough take to qualify for this list, so we have to skip a few steps and get into real Sean Evans, make-your-head-explode territory. Larksnado’s claim that Pritch makes his first All-Star team this year is one I’ve considered and investigated in seasons prior.

Fans and analysts alike have suggested for years that Pritchard, a game-breaking college guard who has improved in each of his six NBA seasons, could possess the requisite skills to make the jump from high-impact player to perimeter star in the same way Jalen Brunson has since taking up residence in NYC.

To figure out Pritchard’s chances of making an All-Star team, we can look at a few different things. Firstly, let’s consider his competition for places in the East ahead of the upcoming season. Here’s a list of Payton’s stiffest competition:

• Jalen Brunson
• Tyrese Haliburton
• Cade Cunningham
• James Harden
• Donovan Mitchell
• Tyrese Maxey
• Desmond Bane
• Derrick White
• Tyler Herro
• Coby White
• Nickeil Alexander-Walker

If healthy, Brunson, Cunningham, Mitchell and Maxey are close to guarantees for places on the All-Star roster. I haven’t included Haliburton in that group because we can’t be 100% certain that he returns to his pre-injury level, but his name can at least be pencilled in.

That leaves Harden and Herro, both former All-Stars who will be in contention, followed by Derrick White, Coby White, Bane and Alexander-Walker, all of whom occupy a similar position to Pritchard, on the outside looking in. Typically, there are a maximum of six guards selected per conference, but with injury replacements we could argue that number might rise to seven next season. Crucially, I believe every player listed above is more likely to start for their respective team. Starting leads to usage, usage leads to points, and points lead to All-Star recognition.

The scenario in which Pritchard makes the All-Star team looks something like this: it becomes clear within the opening ten games that Boston needs Pritch as Tatum’s legitimate second option when the two share the floor, as well as the primary option for bench units. That leads to a spike in usage into genuine All-Star territory.

Of the last 14 guards to make their first All-Star appearance, only Fred VanVleet (23.7%) and Tyrese Haliburton (23.8%) posted a usage rate below 27.1%. Pritchard’s career-high usage came last year, when he posted a rate of 21.6%, so we would need to see Payton empowered to a degree that he hasn’t yet come close to before.

Whilst that makes Pritchard’s All-Star case seem a little far fetched his lineup data with JB on the court last year is proof that he can play at an All-Star level:

Stat (per 75 possessions)	With Jaylen 1,665 mins	Without Jaylen 861 mins
USG%	18.5%	27.2%
PTS	16.8	26.7
AST	5.3	7.6
REB	4.4	5.3
TOV	1.3	2.4
TS%	56.6%	60.6%
3P%	36.1%	39.9%
+/-	4.2	9.6

If Pritchard keeps up that form in non-Jayson lineups this year and assumes an Austin Reaves like role alongside Tatum there’s a chance that Larksnado is looking awfully smart come February this season.

The Paul George Takes

“Paul George will play more games than LeBron James” Jeff Clark (That’s right, the Jeff Clark!)

Jeff was too kind commenting this on the Feed. This could be an article unto itself, and I’m sure it’s something we’re all rooting for heading into the season.

The numbers don’t look good. Over the last five years, LeBron has played 73 more regular-season games than George, with PG13 missing half the season or more in each of his last two seasons.

I believe Jeff’s take is rooted in the idea of role difficulty and need. George is entering his seventeenth season, and I believe the last time he had this little on-ball responsibility was his sophomore NBA season, fifteen years ago. George has already done some interesting stuff as a point forward for Boston in the preseason, but first and foremost I expect him to be a plus role player this year.

Hit the role-player shots, switch on defence, occasionally create off the bounce. Games played aren’t all the same. George shouldn’t be required to take on the most physical assignment on any given night this year. He’ll have the widest driving lanes to the rim that he’s experienced since the bubble, minimising the contact that can lead to awkward landings or contact injuries. George can be nursed through the season with a view to contributing each night and building towards playoff impact.

LeBron James, on the other hand, is still, even at 42 years old, LeBron James. Contact at the rim is inevitable. On-ball responsibility, touches and physicality are all givens when your talents, even in year twenty-four, still command the ball. I believe Jeff has read James’ sciatica quotes, empathised, factored in his usage and come to the conclusion that an injury could be on the horizon for James this year, whereas George might simply avoid that same level of wear and tear.

The theory that James will sit more often because of Philadelphia’s star power is also worth considering. With stars in their prime around him, LeBron can afford to skip back-to-backs and manage his schedule, just as his co-star Joel Embiid will. We know Boston will seek to strangle the regular season, and we know Philadelphia will seek to survive it.

“Paul George will be NBA Finals MVP” C’s the day (Great username)

Paul George calling “Ball Game” in the biggest game of his career would perhaps be the highlight of my NBA watching life and a worth while ending to my favoutite Basketball GIF of all time. Lets pray for this one.

The Important Takes

“JT starts a Twitch stream” Celts4life

The man has an eight year old son. Streaming with Speed feels like a before kids activity.

“Jaylen Brown gets married this year.” Celtics_fan_in_va

Could this be the end of the stream as we know it?

“KP and Horford retire at the end of the season” Celtics_fan_in_va

I thought KP retired in 2024?

“Hugo Gonzales marries Steve Jobs’ widow and buys the Celtics.” Saint Stephen

Lauren Powell Jobs has three kids and hasn’t remarried since Jobs’ death in 2011. Powell would also have to sell her 20% stake in the Washington Wizards to make this happen but let’s be honest… Who wouldn’t for Hugo?

See all the takes in the feed above. Apologies if you didn’t make the cut!

Dusty May might be the most fascinating person in the Mavericks organization this season.

Dallas hired him straight out of Michigan after he won the 2026 national championship, and the hire immediately became one of the offseason’s biggest swings. May had already built a reputation as one of college basketball’s brightest coaches after taking Florida Atlantic to a Final Four, then turning Michigan from an 8-24 team into a 37-3 national champion in two years. He also became the first college coach to jump directly to an NBA head coaching job since John Beilein left Michigan for Cleveland in 2019.

That history matters because this transition usually goes poorly.

Brad Stevens worked. Billy Donovan worked. A lot of others did not. John Calipari lasted just over two seasons in New Jersey, Rick Pitino struggled in Boston, and Beilein’s Cleveland experiment ended after only 54 games. The NBA asks coaches to manage adults, egos, travel, and a schedule with significantly less practice time than college basketball allows. May knows all of that.

He also believes the modern college game has prepared him better than some of those coaches. At his introductory press conference, May pointed to NIL and the transfer portal as experiences that forced college coaches to deal with agents, paid players, roster churn, and many of the same relationship-management issues NBA coaches face.

Now he has to prove that theory in Dallas.

Biggest question

Does Dusty May’s system actually translate to this Mavericks roster?

In theory, I love a lot of what he wants to do. May’s offenses have been built around pace, spacing, ball movement, and shot quality. He wants rim attempts, free throws, and catch-and-shoot threes. He does not want an offense that settles for bad midrange shots or spends 15 seconds watching one player dribble. His Michigan team had one of the most efficient offenses in college basketball last season, and his overall approach is much closer to the modern NBA than most college coaches run.

That sounds great until you look at the Mavericks. Kyrie Irving is basically the only proven high-level ball-handler on the roster, and he’s also one of the best midrange scorers ever. Cooper Flagg can create, but Dallas should not want him initiating every possession. Zaccharie Risacher is still figuring out what he is. The rest of the roster has plenty of wings, forwards, and bigs who attack better than they create.

May’s teams also tend to play with a lot of freedom, and that can lead to turnovers. That is what I worry about with this group right now. Dallas does not have a bunch of elite decision-makers who can constantly make live reads without mistakes.

Best case scenario

May becomes one of the rare college coaches whose style actually looks even better in the NBA. That is the dream. Dallas plays fast. Flagg becomes a monster in transition. Kyrie still gets freedom to use the midrange when it is there, while the rest of the team becomes much more disciplined about generating threes, layups, and free throws. Risacher finds an actual role. Morez Johnson Jr. develops quickly because he already understands what May wants.

May has also always been a relationship coach. Michigan’s culture was built heavily around unselfishness, development, and player buy-in, and that matters as much as any X’s and O’s. If he can get NBA veterans to buy in the same way his college players did, Dallas could establish an identity much faster than most young teams.

The defensive side is interesting too. May has shown he is willing to adapt to his personnel rather than forcing one system. At Michigan, he leaned into size and versatility and built the nation’s top-ranked defense instead of simply copying what worked at FAU. That adaptability is probably why I rate him so highly.

Worst-case scenario

The history wins.

The NBA isn’t college basketball, and May will find out quickly that a good system isn’t the same as having players who can run it.

The turnovers pile up. Dallas struggles to create offense whenever Kyrie sits. May wants to use versatile centers as passing and decision-making hubs, but Dereck Lively II is already dealing with injuries, and the rest of the center rotation may not be built for that kind of responsibility. The offense becomes too theoretical and not practical enough for the roster he actually has.

Then there is the relationship side.

May’s calm demeanor and collaborative approach should help. However, professional players still respond differently than college players. Beilein’s failure in Cleveland is a pretty obvious reminder that even an elite college coach can lose an NBA locker room quickly.

If May cannot adjust quickly, Dallas could spend the season trying to run a system designed for players it doesn’t have.

Season goal

Establish an identity. I do not think this season should be judged entirely by wins and losses. Dallas needs to know what a Dusty May basketball team looks like by April. Does Flagg look more comfortable? Does the offense create easier shots? Do players understand their roles? Can May develop young players while still holding veterans accountable? Can Dallas play with the pace and movement he wants without turning the ball over constantly? That matters more than whether the Mavericks win 39 or 44 games.

Overall

I am high on Dusty May. Part of that is probably because he came from Indiana (Go Hoosiers) and I loved what he did at Michigan, but there are real basketball reasons to believe in him too. His style is modern. His offenses make sense mathematically. He has shown he can adapt to different personnel. Players seem to buy into him, and his college teams already looked more like NBA teams than most.

But this is still a massive gamble. The history of college coaches jumping directly to the NBA is ugly, and Dallas’ roster isn’t built perfectly for what May wants to do. He could be the next Brad Stevens. He could also find out very quickly why almost nobody makes this jump successfully.

It’s still preseason in the NBA – the regular season doesn’t start until Tuesday – but former Blue Devil Cameron Boozer has made an impression on many people, not least of all, former All-Star and NBA Champion Kevin Garnett.

Obviously, Garnett knows what he’s talking about, and he has nice things to say about Boozer. Check it out:

“I like him, I like him. 

“He is really polished. And he plays defense too… 

“He is going to be in (Rookie of the Year talks). He got the most give, he got the most – I can get away with anything any night – he can mess up and still (produce). 

“He gonna be 20/10. 

“He got a little Jokic in his game. He is a little more athletic, he will dunk you. The high-post where he can make decisions.

“He nice, I like him. He got a high IQ too. Shout out to Boozer.”

For people who were sure that Boozer wasn’t athletic enough, there’s a pretty good indication that you might be wrong.

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Onsi Saleh has consistently emphasized financial flexibility, but his latest comments offer an important clarification: Atlanta has the authority to enter the luxury tax when the right opportunity comes.

During an appearance on SiriusXM, the Hawks’ president of basketball operations discussed navigating the NBA’s apron restrictions and making responsible roster decisions.

“Even with us, we could go in the tax and we have full authority on the tax,” Saleh said.

That statement matters because maintaining flexibility can sometimes leave fans wondering whether an organization is willing to spend. Saleh’s explanation suggests Atlanta’s approach centers on choosing the right investment and understanding the consequences that follow.

The luxury tax and the aprons are separate thresholds. Paying the tax carries a financial cost, while crossing the apron levels brings additional roster-building restrictions. At the second apron, teams lose tools such as the midlevel exception and the ability to combine outgoing player salaries to acquire a more expensive player. Those limitations can make improving an already expensive roster considerably harder.

For Atlanta, keeping options available can create opportunities when other teams need to reduce spending. Saleh discussed that advantage, and the Hawks’ offseason already provides an example of how it can work.

"Even with us, we could go in the tax and we have full authority on the tax."@ATLHawks president Onsi Saleh talks to @BGeltzNBA and @SamMitchellNBA about staying out of the second apron

Hear more: https://t.co/Y9UPq024mapic.twitter.com/H6KeJRVMX2

— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) October 16, 2026

Oklahoma City traded Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe in moves that helped bring the Thunder below the second apron. Atlanta acquired Dort and Wiggins, adding championship experience and perimeter depth while Oklahoma City addressed its financial commitments.

The Thunder were not prohibited from keeping those players. However, the costs and restrictions associated with an expensive roster helped create circumstances Atlanta could exploit. That distinction illustrates why financial discipline can have basketball value beyond the money saved.

Saleh’s challenge is recognizing when preserving flexibility becomes less valuable than using it. Keeping room to maneuver helps Atlanta pursue upgrades, but that flexibility ultimately needs to translate into a stronger team around Jalen Johnson.

His comments do not establish a spending timetable or identify a particular move. They do, however, indicate that entering the tax is an available option rather than a boundary the front office has been instructed never to cross.

That leaves the central decision with Saleh and his staff: determining which opportunity justifies the commitment. Spending on a roster that still needs substantial work could leave Atlanta paying more while making its next improvement harder. Spending when the right pieces are in place could help sustain a team capable of competing deeper into the postseason.

For now, Saleh’s message remains consistent. The Hawks want to make smart decisions, benefit from opportunities elsewhere and preserve the ability to act decisively. His willingness to discuss entering the tax adds substance to that approach. When Atlanta believes the moment has arrived, Saleh says the authority to spend is there.

The Clippers will have their hands full when the season opens trying to contend in the always tough Western Conference after being slapped with the harshest penalties in league history for violating salary cap circumvention rules.

With Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and Ivica Zubac gone from last season’s team, they’ll focus on developing a new core of stars, including rookie Keaton Wagler, when they open play Wednesday by hosing the Sacramento Kings at Intuit Dome.

Another positive for the team: Tyronn Lue is a proven asset as coach and he’ll be tasked with developing and blending in the younger players. Wagler spent the summer building up his body and has potential to be a strong defender.

The league’s year-long investigation is over and the Clippers have a clear path, albeit rocky, to move on and again become competitive in the West. They finished ninth in the conference last season and were eliminated by the Warriors in a play-in game.

Now fully recovered from a foot injury, two-time All-Star guard Darius Garland will be counted on to provide floor leadership. Also returning are former All-Star guard Bradley Beal, guard Kris Dunn, forward Derrick Jones Jr. and center Brook Lopez.

“I think we can surprise a lot of people,” Garland said.

Garland is fully recovered from toe and foot ligament injuries. In 19 games last season, he averaged 19.9 points with 6.4 assists. With a full offseason and training camp, Garland is expected to be one of the team’s top players.

Other young players to watch are guard Kobe Sanders, who had a productive rookie season when averaging 7.3 points and nearly 20 minutes a game as part of the rotation, and center Yanic Konan Niederhauser, who had his rookie season end early because of a foot injury but he showed promise over 41 games.

Additions include All-Star forward Brandon Ingram and guard Gradey Dick, who were part of the Leonard trade to Toronto, wing Max Strus, guard Jalen Pickett, forward Baba Miller, forward Isaiah Jackson and forward Nick Martinelli.

“I know [there are] little to no expectations for us this year,” said Ingram, who will miss the start of the season while recovering from May surgery for a partially torn Achilles. “We have enough in the building to compete. This is what we love to do. So, we’ll go out and compete every single night, learn, go on to the next game and get better and better.”

Strus also will be out for a while after injuring his right foot during training camp.

Departed from the team are forward John Collins, guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, forward Nicolas Batum and wing Bennedict Mathurin.

Also noteworthy: owner Steve Ballmer won’t be sitting courtside after being banned by the NBA for a year as part of the team’s steep punishment for circumventing salary-cap rules. Top basketball executive Lawrence Frank has been banned for six months. The penalties included the loss of five first-round draft picks.

“I give our players a lot of credit … the leadership is great [and] the morale is great, even in these tough situations,” Lue said at the start of training camp. “That’s good to see, when you have your players coming in every day, giving everything they have; a lot of teams don’t have that.”

Staff reports contributed to this story.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Greetings, internet users. Welcome to The Scratching Post, your home for open conversation with your fellow Carolina Panthers fans.

Feel free to use this thread to chat about (almost) anything you want: video games, food, movies, non-football sports, you name it. As long as it’s allowed by the site’s ToS, it’s fair game here.

This is now an open thread

The 2026-27 NBA regular season opens Tuesday, Oct. 20 with a highly-anticipated triple-header, as all 30 franchises are beginning with a clean slate. And all teams are chasing the New York Knicks, who snapped a 53-year title drought with a historic run through the 2026 NBA Playoffs.

Yet, no team has repeated as NBA champion in eight seasons, not since the Golden State Warriors did so in 2018.

The NBA, however, did see some seismic changes in the offseason, none more impactful than in the Eastern Conference, where the Miami Heat acquired two-time Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo, where the Philadelphia 76ers pried away LeBron James and Jaylen Brown and where Kawhi Leonard is returning to Toronto to lead the Raptors.

In any case, it’s a new day, and optimism abounds. The title pursuit begins now.

With that in mind, here are the record predictions for the entire 2026-27 NBA season, with a sneek peek at the playoffs below.

NBA regular-season record projections

Predicting how each division will shake out following 82 games in the 2026-27 season:

NBA playoff projections

Our predictions for the 2026-27 NBA postseason from the first round in each conference to the NBA Finals:

Eastern Conference

First round

• (1) 76ers def. (8) Raptors
• (2) Knicks def. (7) Cavaliers
• (3) Pacers def. (6) Pistons
• (4) Heat def. (5) Celtics

Conference semifinals

• (1) 76ers def. (4) Heat
• (3) Pacers def. (2) Knicks

Conference finals

• (1) 76ers def. (3) Pacers

Western Conference

First round

• (1) Thunder def. (8) Suns
• (2) Spurs def. (7) Jazz
• (3) Timberwolves def. (6) Lakers
• (4) Rockets def. (5) Nuggets

Conference semifinals

• (1) Thunder def. (4) Rockets
• (3) Timberwolves def. (2) Spurs

Conference finals

• (1) Thunder def. (3) Timberwolves

2027 NBA Finals

• Thunder def. 76ers

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NBA record projections for all 30 teams: Are Thunder still top threat?

When Kawhi Leonard became a Toronto Raptor for the first time in the summer of 2018, he looked shellshocked. “There’s just more questions you have to ask me in order for me to tell you about myself,” he said, introducing himself to an organization and city he reportedly had no interest in joining.

Leonard had fallen out with his former team, the San Antonio Spurs – one of the most respected franchises in professional sports – due to differences in opinion about an injury that had limited him to just nine games in the 2017-18 season. The Los Angeles native had hoped to end up in southern California, but instead the Raptors risked it all by swapping franchise cornerstone DeMar DeRozan for one year of an injured, malcontent Leonard. It worked: Leonard led the Raptors to their maiden championship on the back of a historic playoff run, averaging 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.7 steals en route. Leonard won his second finals MVP to go alongside the one he had claimed with the Spurs when he helped them to the title in 2014.

Related: LeBron James is everything Philadelphia wants. And everything it can’t stand | Bryan Armen Graham

“The narrative of not wanting to come to this city is gone,” the team’s president, Masai Ujiri, said at that 2018 press conference, speaking to insecure Raptors fans who had watched American players like Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, and Chris Bosh leave Toronto since the franchise opened its doors in 1995. “We should move past that. Believe in this city. Believe in yourselves … We are proud of who we are.”

But even a historic season wasn’t enough to convince Leonard to stay north of the border. After a long and contentious free-agency period managed by his uncle, Dennis Robertson, Leonard spurned the reigning champions in favor of his hometown Los Angeles Clippers. “There wasn’t as much anger in 2019 as there was with Vince Carter or some of the other guys who left,” says Bruce Arthur, who has covered Leonard since 2018 for the Toronto Star. “I think he was given a little bit of special dispensation because he was going home, because he had delivered a title, and because I never felt like there was ever a connection outside of Kawhi the basketball player, with Toronto.”

Raptors fans’ anger was instead directed towards the Clippers, who not only showed up to almost every Raptors game during the championship season, but who also, we now know, went under the table to ensure Leonard signed lucrative endorsement deals totaling over $50m – violating the NBA’s salary cap rules.

Robertson was suspended for five years and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was handed the harshest punishment in NBA history, including the loss of five first-round draft picks and a year-long suspension. However, thanks to a side-deal between the NBA and its Players Association executed to avoid arbitration, Leonard was given a relatively light $700,000 fine (he has earned $375m in salary so far in his career).

“Kawhi’s … gotten away really clean from what is obviously out-of-bounds behavior,” says Arthur, who reported that Leonard – as much as he pleads ignorance to all this – was in the room when Robertson asked the Raptors for an ownership stake in the Toronto Maple Leafs and at least $10m per year in no-show sponsorship deals in 2019. “So, perfect heist-type stuff from Kawhi.”

Despite being one of the greatest players of his generation, the 35-year-old has burned bridges on his way out of every franchise he’s played for. Spurs fans are still upset by the way his injury was handled in 2017-18, while Clippers fans are distraught about being left holding the bag without even a genuine apology from Leonard. But Raptors fans have much more complicated feelings towards the seven-time All-Star – arguably the best player in franchise history.

On the one hand, “There was a sense of defiance, especially the first year after Kawhi left [when the Raptors lost to the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals] ... and there was a great deal of pride that went into that,” says William Lou, the host and creator of the Hello and Welcomepodcast. But as time went on, “The Clippers were humbled in a basketball sense. They never could get that version of Kawhi … that Toronto got in their one year, and so it’s hard to be too mad.”

Arthur says Raptors fans will always associate Leonard with the championship win. “I think the bottom line isn’t necessarily about a lack of moral reckoning by Raptors fans as much as: this guy’s so good that you forgive him, right?” says Arthur. “The [championship] was the greatest moment in franchise history by galaxies. Two and a half million people on the streets of Toronto for the parade. That was one of the best days Toronto’s ever had.”

The sentiment was seemingly shared by the organization. Despite being frustrated by the way his previous free agency unfolded, the Raptors front office couldn’t pass up the opportunity to grab the lifeline Leonard represented – even in his mid 30s. The Raptors have failed to win a playoff series since 2020, a stretch that includes three grim seasons of 30 wins or fewer. Last season, the franchise pulled itself out of the dregs of the league thanks to a star leap from 25-year-old Scottie Barnes and a handful of smart trades and draft picks, but the Raptors looked like a relatively expensive, middle-of-the-pack team with a difficult path towards contention until Leonard not only became available, but pushed his way towards Toronto.

“This city took a liking to my family, and I took a liking to this city,” Leonard said in the team-owned documentary series Open Gym after the Raptors traded Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two first-round picks, two second-round picks and a pick-swap for him in mid-September. “Hopefully they embrace me back and [I] give them my all again, and we can make something special happen once again.”

Although there were extenuating circumstances leading to Leonard’s return – he and the Clippers are under investigation by the Justice Department – it is meaningful that he chose the Raptors over big-market championship contenders like Miami, Minnesota, and Detroit. It’s also important that he proclaimed his desire to retire a Raptor before signing a two-year, $115m extension with the franchise. “He deserves to have his jersey retired somewhere,” says Lou. “But due to the circumstances of his career, he kind of was a player without a home.”

Leonard now has a chance to rewrite his complicated legacy with a familiar franchise. Leading the Raptors back to anywhere near the promised land would ensure him a jersey retirement ceremony, a first-ballot Hall of Fame induction, and Canadian sports immortality.

The Raptors, meanwhile, aren’t just getting an upgrade at the wing position; they are getting an all-time great coming off one of the best seasons of his career – an American superstar who experienced all the small cultural discomforts of playing in Toronto and still had such positive memories of the fans, organization, and city that he chose to return to.

“It’s a little surreal having this guy who leaves after a championship, and you think the story’s done there, and then he becomes the biggest scandal in the NBA, and then somehow forces his way to the Raptors,” says diehard Raptors fan Imman Adan. “But I definitely think him coming back cements Toronto’s legacy.”

It’s complicated, of course. It always will be so long as the Raptors are the lone NBA franchise outside of the United States. But no matter how Leonard’s second tenure in Toronto plays out, his return is a stamp of approval – one that many Raptors fans have been waiting for since the franchise began.

Brief Steph Curry injury scare exposes the fragility of the Warriors this season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – The worst of all fears for the Warriors and their fans flashed before their eyes Sunday afternoon during an open practice at Chase Center.

The sight of Stephen Curry limping off the court and into the locker room.

Everything seemed normal as Curry was dribbling up the court, darting from the left wing to the right wing. But when he stopped to pivot, he suddenly froze, took two more dribbles and tossed the ball behind him as he left the court favoring his right leg. The immediate concern was that this could be a reoccurrence of the runner’s knee diagnosis that sidelined him for nine weeks last season.

That is not the case, according to the Warriors, who say Curry tweaked his right ankle.

“He said he’s fine,” coach Steve Kerr said, unusually tersely, nearly an hour later.

How sad is it, though, that Curry tweaking an ankle allows the Warriors and their fans to breathe easier? That it could have been worse?

“Always, always,” Kerr said when asked if his heart skipped a beat when Curry limped into the locker room.

“But he’s fine. I went and talked to him after he went downstairs, and I went in the training room. He’s doing fine.”

If Curry is indeed “fine,” the Warriors and their fans can restore their most optimistic hopes for successful start to the regular season that begins Wednesday night against the Lakers in Los Angeles.

Yet the momentary scare on Sunday is an overt reminder of Golden State’s fragility as it prepares for the next 82 games. Neither Jimmy Butler III nor Moses Moody is expected to be available before 2027. The availability of Kristaps Porziņģis, who missed training camp and all six preseason games, is an ongoing mystery. Butler and Porziņģis represent 40 percent of the projected starting lineup, and Moody started 49 of the 60 games he played last season.

Age is an obvious issue for these Warriors, but it’s only one factor within the overall health that can dictate how high they can fly. Most NBA observers see their roster and immediately dismiss them as non-contender.

“We don’t really pay attention on that much on this,” Gui Santos said. “It doesn’t matter a lot what the big noise or what they say about us because at the end of the day, what really matters is what we show on the court. if we have, like they say, ‘the old guys,’ but it’s Steph . . .  Steph can go there and drop 30 every night. And Dray (Draymond Green) is one of the best passers and the best defender of the league.

“We still have those guys with us.”

When everyone is healthy, the Warriors have a roster that can beat any team in the league. On paper, general manager Mike Dunleavy has done a commendable job of integrating accomplished veterans with intriguing youngsters. In reality, Golden State will enter the season with the most injury-weakened starting lineup in the league. 

The plan is for the available veterans like Green (36), Al Horford (40), Gary Payton II (33) and Georges Niang (33) and – hopefully Curry (38) — to stay upright and prop up youngsters like Santos (24), Brandin Podziemski (23) and rookie Yaxel Lendeborg (24).

No one is more essential than Curry to ensuring Golden State will have a fighting chance against all opponents. His presence still scares the rest of the NBA.

On Sunday, seeing him come to a halt and limp off the court put a scare into the Warriors and their fans, who understand how they’d look without him.

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With eight different teams the winners over the past eight seasons, it is hard to predict who takes home the NBA's Larry O'Brien Trophy in June.

If there is to be a ninth different name in as many seasons, you might look to San Antonio Spurs, with Victor Wembanyama leading the team to the Finals last season before coming unstuck against the New York Knicks.

Maybe the Philadelphia 76ers off-season moves to acquire Jaylen Brown and sign the NBA's all-time leading scorer LeBron James is an attractive pick, or perhaps the Cleveland Cavaliers.

As the season tips off, the first British-born coach in the NBA, Tim Lewis will be hoping he can assist Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves to their first NBA title.

Lewis has been something of a journeyman in basketball.

Born in Saint Asaph, Wales, he went on to represent the country in the 1990s, before forging a coaching career that spans almost the entire globe.

He has coached the Thailand and Qatar national teams and had spells in Germany, Belgium, Canada, the United States of America and Panama. He most recently worked in Japan as head coach of Eneos Sunflowers who he helped to the Empress Cup in January.

That is not including more than 15 years of coaching England and Great Britain age groups, where he was an assistant to now Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch at the London 2012 Olympics.

Lewis was one of the Team GB assistant coaches, alongside Philadelphia 76ers head coach, Nick Nurse.

But Lewis and American Finch's friendship began way before that.

"We played against each other when I was back at [Crystal] Palace and Chris was at Sheffield [Sharks], he said.

"I've had stops with Chris when he was in Belgium and then before the Olympics, I spent six months at Houston with him.

"We've become close, it's almost like brothers. We've known each other 25 years and it's a strong bond."

After a previous brief spell with Minnesota, Lewis left to continue to be a head coach in Japan for three years, but Finch was persistent.

"For the last year and a half, Chris has knocked on the door and said, 'come back, come back'.

"Eventually I gave in this summer again and gone back for a more influential role, with more of an input and impact on things with stuff that's going on and I'm excited."

Lewis had a spell as a replacement coach with Minnesota's G League team, the Iowa Wolves during Covid, before joining the staff the following season with a responsibility for post-game analysis.

"I would just go through all our game plans," he told BBC Sport Wales.

"I had a little bit of player development, but it was time consuming, nobody had done it before.

"Teams do the analysis pre-game of what we're going to do and how we're going to do it with plans, but not post-game.

"I'm not sure how many of the other staff appreciated me critiquing what was going on, but that was my role, and it stayed in place."

As Lewis returns to Minnesota, his role has expanded.

"Pablo [Prigioni] is going to take the lead on the offence and my role will be to help create some of these game plans offensively," he said.

"It's a full assistant's role with responsibility for offensive game planning.

"I look at what the other team are doing defensively and what can we do to maximise our ability to beat them offensively.

"On top of that, some player development with a couple of the young bigs."

A new-look backcourt pairing

In July, Minnesota acquired Josh Green and LaMelo Ball as part of a four-team trade.

Ball scored with 272 three-point shots in the 2025-26 season, the second most of any player in the NBA.

His partnership with Anthony Edwards in the backcourt appears to be an offensive coach's dream.

"Anthony and LaMelo and those guys are going to be exciting to watch," said Lewis.

"With LaMelo, you've got somebody that can now throw the lob and Rudy becomes a bit more of a rim threat, which we haven't necessarily had.

"It takes the pressure off Anthony.

"Teams will find it harder to double-team him when you've got people like LaMelo on the floor with him."

Lewis says Edwards is "easy to coach".

"I don't know whether or not Anthony wants the burden of being the next face of the NBA, who knows?

"He is an immense talent, very responsive, a great kid overall and he's a great person, very coachable and wants to get better."

An NBA title?

It will be a daunting start for the Timberwolves this season, with Giannis Antentokounmpo and Miami Heat first up but Lewis says the team are ready for the challenge.

"We come out of the gate hard, Miami, Orlando, and then Toronto," he said.

"They've all got three bruising power forwards, which is one area where we're a bit light.

"Everybody's worried we don't have size at the four, but Chris [Finch] will figure out how that looks.

"One of the things Minnesota's going to be lucky to do is be able to play different ways and the team's going to be exciting to watch."

The ambition is clear for Minnesota and Lewis, the NBA title is the ultimate goal for 2027.

"We want to make the play-offs and get to the championship games, everybody wants to win a championship, but you've got 29 other teams that are trying to do the same thing," said Lewis.

"Fifty-plus wins a season is what you want, that puts you in a great position to make the play-offs and to be a contender for that first seed.

"You don't ever want to jinx it but everybody's saying this team has an opportunity to go a long way this year, but you never know, we've been close every year.

"Teams are going to have to adjust to the way Minnesota plays and the personnel we have."

In terms of his own predictions for the season, Lewis offered a few suggestions for potential Larry O'Brien trophy winners.

"It's one of the things about the NBA at the moment, it's somewhat unpredictable," he said.

"Teams that maybe surge in the regular season but aren't built to compete in the playoffs.

"San Antonio could be that team, Minnesota could be that team.

"We've had Denver's number now for a number of years, other than the year they won it [2023].

"Who knows what Philly's going to do with the additions they've made."

Lewis says an NBA title would mean "so much" to Minneapolis.

The franchise formed in 1989 as an expansion team, with the supporters patiently waiting to make it to the NBA Finals.

"Minnesota fans are unbelievable," he said.

"It goes way back to Minneapolis Lakers [1947-1960] that are now the Los Angeles Lakers, who did win a championship.

"As an organisation, being able to win in that environment against a bigger market team is always a huge success.

"It's more for the city, it would be an amazing accomplishment."

Former Kentucky Wildcats standout Cason Wallace is staying in Oklahoma City, as Shams Charania reports that Wallace signed a five-year, $139 million rookie-scale contract extension with the Thunder.

Wallace has been a valuable piece for the Thunder since being drafted in the first round in 2023. Last year, coming off the bench for the Thunder, Wallace averaged 8.6 points per game to go along with 3.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.

However, Wallace’s value has consistently been on the defensive side of the ball, where he has averaged almost two steals per game the last two seasons and has been one of OKC’s most reliable perimeter defenders and one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, as evidenced by being named a member of the 2025-26 NBA All-Defensive Second Team.

After some offseason moves, including trading Luguentz Dort to the Atlanta Hawks, Wallace is expected to see an expanded role with the Thunder, and it’s clear from this contract extension that the Thunder see Wallace as a key piece to the team long-term.

Just in: Oklahoma City Thunder All-Defensive guard Cason Wallace has agreed to a five-year, $139 million rookie-scale contract extension, agents Jeff Schwartz, Max Lipsett and Marcus Monk of Excel Sports Management tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/vCNVSJjp0q

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 19, 2026

Congratulations to the former Kentucky Wildcat!

A false alarm was rang during the Golden State Warriors’ open practice on Sunday.

The hearts of everyone gathered in the Chase Center sank when Steph Curry was seen limping off the court and into the locker room.

According to Nick Freidell of The Athletic, head coach Steve Kerr said that Curry left practice early because of an ankle injury.

Freidell reported that Kerr spoke with Curry “in the training room, and he’s fine.”

As of now, nothing is imminent on how Curry is feeling, but Anthony Slater of ESPN reported a team source told him his ankle injury is not considered serious.

Curry, 38, was limited to only 43 games last season after spending the second half of the season due to a runner’s knee injury.

When he was healthy last season, Curry averaged 26.6 points, while having a 46.8 shooting percentage from the field and 39.3% from downtown.

He was also averaging 3.6 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.1 steals per game with 30.9 minutes per game.

When Curry wasn’t on the court, Golden State went 13-26. When he was playing, the Warriors were 24-19.

Staying healthy will be key for the Warriors this season, as the team will already begin the season dealing with injuries, as they will be without Kristaps Porzingis and Jimmy Butler.

Last Wednesday, Porzingis made an announcement on X that he will be out indefinitely, as he and his doctors are working on finding a way for him to be his old self again.

Butler is expected to be back around late January or early February next year as he’s working his way back from a torn ACL injury he suffered last year.

Curry is set to kick off his 18th season in the league this week when the Warriors open their season on the road against the Lakers on Wednesday night.

Last month, Curry and the Warriors agreed to a two-year $116 million contract extension that includes a player option after the 2028-2029 season.

With the start of the 2026-27 NBA season right around the corner — NBC has a tripleheader on Tuesday! — it’s the time of the year where teams start nailing down the details of contract extensions as deadlines to file rapidly approach. That has benefited a former Marquette Golden Eagle, as Oso Ighodaro has agreed to terms on a three year extension with the Phoenix Suns, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

The Suns are picking up Ighodaro's $2.5M team option for 2027-28, so the extension starts in 2028 and runs through 2031 for the franchise's second-round find who has established into a reliable center. https://t.co/wPhFMCxiZm

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 18, 2026

When Ighodaro was drafted #40 overall in 2024, he signed a deal for three years with a team option for a fourth. The 2026-27 season is the third and final full year of the deal, which the Suns guaranteed for the former Marquette center back in June. Part of the process of agreeing to this extension is Phoenix already picking up the option for the 2027-28 season and thus guaranteeing Ighodaro his nearly $2.5 million salary for that season.

The three year extension then kicks in after that, guaranteeing Ighodaro a paycheck through the end of the 2030-31 season. Spotrac’s breakdown of the deal has him making just under $9 million in 2028-29, $9.7 million in Year Two, and then $10.3 million in Year 3. Oso Ighodaro is a $10 million a year player in the NBA, what a time to be alive.

Ighodaro played in 61 games as a rookie for the Suns, starting six times and averaging 4.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, and just over an assist per game in 17 minutes a night. Last season, he played in all 82 games, getting 24 starts for Phoenix. He averaged 6.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 22 minutes per game overall, but as a starter, that was up to 8.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in nearly 27 minutes per game. Ighodaro started all four games of Phoenix’s first round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder last spring, putting up 7.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists in more than 32 minutes. That’s, uh, not too shabby for a former second round pick, so you can see why the team is enthused about locking him up on a deal that’s worth roughly 5% of the salary cap through 2031.

Phoenix opens their season on Wednesday, October 21st, with a road game against the Portland Trail Blazers.

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