Category: Basketball

An eventful offseason for the Detroit Pistons made the last few months feel short. After the dust settled, suddenly, we had games! And with them came plenty of early impressions.

The overarching impression? Detroit looks really good again.

The Pistons have not only won their first three games, but they’ve looked like the big boys against the teams everyone expected to be among the conference’s big boys. All the talk about Detroit regressing this season may have played right into the hands of a team that needed an edge after a 60-win campaign last year.

Both Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson missed the most recent game against Philadelphia with injuries, yet the team arguably played its most complete game of the young season. The last time we saw Detroit, its weaknesses were exposed. But it’s easy to forget just how dominant the Pistons can look when opponents aren’t ready to match their level of intensity.

Let’s get into three thoughts from Detroit’s opening stretch of wins.

1. Spacing!

Outside of contract situations that dominated the offseason, plenty of noise came from doubters (like myself) who felt the front office hadn’t done enough to add scoring to a team that desperately needed it in the postseason. While I still believe there will eventually be a need, for now, that noise has quieted.

It was evident in the season opener against Boston that there has been a shift toward prioritizing spacing around Cade Cunningham. Duncan Robinson has been excellent through the first three games and clearly has the green light to let it fly, averaging 19.7 points and 5.0 made threes per game. The team as a whole ranks third in the NBA in three-point percentage and fourth in made threes per game.

We may look back at the end of the season and realize that prioritizing depth and shooting this offseason made a lot more sense than going all in on a superstar. On the flip side, teams will start to game-plan differently and try to limit what Detroit has done so well early on. There will likely be some regression to the mean, but for the Pistons to shoot this well against three teams with legitimate championship aspirations is a huge boost.

2. No Stew, no problem?

Isaiah Stewart’s impact on the identity of this new iteration of the “Bad Boy” Pistons has been well documented over the years. A fantastic defensive player, Stewart became a fan favorite during his six seasons in Detroit, making it easy to understand why many took issue with his offseason departure in a trade to Memphis.

His exit also raised questions about whether the team’s defensive identity would take a step back without him. So far, it hasn’t.

Through the first week, Detroit hasn’t skipped a beat defensively compared to what we saw last season. The Pistons rank fifth in points allowed per game, fourth in blocks and second in loose balls recovered. Yes, it’s a small sample size, but these are the kinds of numbers many might have expected to regress immediately without Stewart in the rotation.

That was evident in some games last year when Detroit was without its top players, but it’s increasingly clear that this team’s identity is rooted in collective defensive pride, not just a few standout defenders.

Daniss Jenkins said after the win over Philadelphia, “We feel like we’re the baddest dudes in the world.” That’s exactly what you feel watching this team compete for every possession, especially on the defensive end.

3. Ebuka Okorie’s role

When a top-20 draft pick has a hard time finding minutes on his new team, it’s usually a sign of one of two things: the team is loaded with talent, or the rookie is struggling to earn a role. Detroit likely falls into the former category, as its depth of experienced guards has made it difficult for Stanford rookie Ebuka Okorie to see much playing time through the first few games. Still, I don’t expect that to be a season-long theme.

Okorie got on the floor for a brief stint against Philadelphia and scored his first NBA points at the free-throw line after drawing a foul on a back cut. That short appearance could be a soft launch toward a larger role for a rookie who likely deserves the opportunity after a strong preseason.

Okorie was an immediate spark plug during the preseason, playing well down the stretch of games and, at times, willed the team to victory. Whether it’s because of injuries or his own development, I expect the rookie to find his way onto the floor more consistently at some point.

DENVER — In his first four games, Yaxel Lendeborg has already gone head-to-head against Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic. How’s that for a welcome to the NBA?

The way the 24-year-old rookie has responded to the test, the more pertinent question might be: How’s that for an introduction to Yaxel Lendeborg? And maybe another: How much better can this dude get?

After Lendeborg’s most impressive showing yet, leading the Warriors to their first road win over Jokic and the Nuggets since 2022, Draymond Green offered an answer: Eons.

“I don’t care what age you are, it’s the NBA. If you don’t know the NBA game, you’re already at a deficit. He don’t know the game,” Green said. “Not that he don’t know the game of basketball — he don’t know the NBA. And to be able to have the ability to go out there and still do that, not knowing what the NBA really, truly brings on a nightly basis is special. 

“It’s no different than what I’ve been saying for weeks now. I think he’s a special player.”

In other words, Lendeborg still has lots of room to grow, especially considering the fact that he only started playing the sport seriously after high school. Now, think about that and take a look at his stat line from the Warriors’ 134-114 win — his fourth career game: 31 points, 12 rebounds, six assists. Plus-27 in 31 minutes.

“Basically, at all the critical moments of the game, we just put the ball in his hands,” coach Steve Kerr said. “For a rookie to be that advanced already, it’s extremely rare. But it’s exciting because I think he’s gonna get a lot better, too.”

Two rookies in Warriors history have ever had a game like Lendeborg’s: Rick Barry and Wilt Chamberlain. Pretty good company. Tally it up with his first three games and it gets even better.

In the lottery era, only four rookies in the entire NBA have ever totaled 85 points and 35 rebounds in their first four games, according to OptaStats research: Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal — and Lendeborg.

Stephen Curry called him “kind of the full package” after the game on Peacock.

“He’s just got composure and feel, obviously his size on the court, he’s a matchup problem,” Curry said. “But he’s never really in a hurry and he’s starting to see the pictures really well. Distributing, being aggressive, getting to the free throw line, offensive rebounds.”

Green said that he “impose[d] his will on the game.”

Besides a Curry flurry in the third quarter, the Warriors more or less ran their offense through Lendeborg, who used his 6-foot-9, 241-pound frame to steamroll into the lane. 

He chased down a block in transition and got back for a bucket on the other end. He made it to the foul line 13 times, only missing once. And as an exclamation point, he slammed home a lob from De’Anthony Melton with 4:36 left. Amid it all, he made just one of his eight attempts from downtown.

“On the night that I can’t make a 3 for nothing, it’s crazy that it’s my best game so far,” Lendeborg said. “Because it was very frustrating for me. I’m just glad that we got our first win. I would have cried if we lost again.”

Another bucket and Lendeborg would have tied or surpassed Darius Acuff Jr. (33 vs. Portland) for the most points by a rookie so far this season. But, he said, “I’ve never been a stat-padder.”

Imagine the numbers he’d be putting up if he was.

For the past six months, the Detroit Pistons have heard it all about their playoff failure.

A wave of roster changes and blockbuster trades in the Eastern Conference has all but relegated J.B. Bickerstaff’s crew to an afterthought in championship oddsmakers' minds. But have the pundits gotten it wrong, so far? Maybe, but based on Detroit’s early vacation from the postseason, it wasn’t a stretch to question their realistic title aspirations.

The team with the conference’s best regular-season record in 2025-26 needed seven games to beat the Orlando Magic in the first round after falling behind 2-0, then was bounced in the semifinals by the Cleveland Cavaliers, losing by 31 at home in Game 7.

It's another edition of Knicks Mailbag, with SNY NBA Insider Ian Begley answering your questions surrounding the team. Let's get started...

Why is Andre Drummond, the star of the first game of the season, all of a sudden being benched as the KAT backup? - @NBAStatCorrect

I don’t know, specifically, why Drummond was benched against Orlando on Sunday. But Mike Brown hinted at the reasons behind his decision before the game when he was asked why James Wiseman wasplaying in place of Drummond against Boston.

"We have our starting five. Other than that, anybody can play," Brown said before tipoff against Orlando. "When you’re a backup in this league, that doesn’t mean you’re always gonna be the seventh man or you’re always gonna be the eighth man. No, no, no, no, no, no. It’s competitive. And it’s less so with the starting group if your starting group is established, which ours is, but everybody else after that starting five, I can throw in front of the next guy in a heartbeat."

Brown then referenced the Knicks' standards, which are spelled out in a document signed by all staffers.

"We will make sure that everybody embraces (those standards), not just accepts (them)," Brown said.

Clearly, Drummond violated one of those standards at some point between the first half of the Sixers game (when he was great) and late in the first half against the Celtics.

Drummond presumably violated one of New York’s agreed-upon standards in the first half on Sunday when Brown pulled him in favor of Wiseman. The substitution happened after Drummond was beat down the floor in transition by Wendell Carter Jr.

After the game, Brown explained that he plans to use Drummond in "spurts" as opposed to long stretches.

"He played well for us in (the game against the Sixers) and I kept him out there, and it was the wrong thing to do. So for me, I'm going to play him in bursts, whether it's three minutes, four minutes, five minutes, six minutes, but he'll be in bursts," Brown said. “I felt our transition wasn't good during that time (when Drummond was subbed out for Wiseman against Orlando), not just because of him, but I wanted to go with a change. Wiseman's been playing well in practice. I wanted to give him an opportunity and I thought his first stint, he was pretty good. And so I decided to go with him a second stint (in the second half against the Magic). But Andre will go out there as a backup (Tuesday night against Detroit). But again…our starting five is what it is, but everybody else after that, you know, until we can find something where we're consistent, I'm gonna try to give guys opportunities."

Brown’s approach with Drummond is noteworthy for many reasons. One is that Drummond was brought in to replace Mitchell Robinson, who signed with the Celtics over the summer while the Knicks voluntarily capped themselves at the second apron in team salary.

Drummond is a veteran and I’d expect him to bounce back and remain in Brown’s rotation. If I’m wrong and Brown continues to take Drummond in and out of his rotation, the Knicks’ decision to let Robinson go will come under more scrutiny. Maybe even without second apron constraints, the Knicks wouldn’t have offered Robinson the deal he ended up signing with the Celtics (three years, $47 million with a player option in Year 3). But they still needed to adequately replace him once he left. That’s why Drummond’s performance – and role – will be noteworthy during this early portion of the season.

QUICK HITTERS

Ian, can this notion that our starting 5 is so locked in actually be a negative connotation to the greater group? No matter if one of them is literally the worst person on the floor (-23 last night)? How does that actually motivate the group? We can’t keep living in the past. - @JaredEummer

This is an interesting point and one worth considering. But in the Knicks’ case, I don’t see an obvious lineup change. Do you replace Josh Hart in the starting lineup with Landry Shamet? Do you replace Mikal Bridges with Shamet or Miles McBride? There is no obvious fix here. But I understand Jared’s larger point. You certainly don’t want the starters to have a sense of entitlement about their role.

Is there a bad vibe in the locker room towards James Dolan currently with the lack of contract extensions/the second apron/ring phishing/political distractions? - @theslim3

I don’t know. I haven’t heard of anything. Obviously, Karl-Anthony Towns has made his frustration known re: the extension. But from what I’ve heard, Towns has maintained a very professional approach early on. In other words, any frustration he has with the situation hasn’t impacted how he shows up to work. Are the assistant coaches upset over reportedly not having rings at the ceremony? I don’t have any insight there, either. The report from The Athletic noted that Oklahoma City Thunder assistant coaches also did not receive their rings on ring night. In checking around, assistant coaches for the three champions prior to OKC did receive their rings on ring night.

What is an acceptable time frame for a "championship hangover?" - @Mario4eva1118

Haha. I don’t think the Knicks want to use the championship as an excuse for their 0-3 start. But several players have referenced the idea that all of the praise over the summer is impacting their play early in the season. Jalen Brunson has said several times that the first couple of weeks of the season will tell him a lot about the Knicks. He says this because he knows that, as defending champs, the Knicks will get everyone’s best shot every night. He also knows that it’s human nature for people to let their foot off the gas, so to speak, when they receive constant praise and adulation.

"Everyone has been telling us what a great job we did, how fun it was, what we did for the city, the constant praise (for winning the title)," the Knicks captain said. "So now we need the opposite."

My two cents: Let’s see where the Knicks are on Dec. 1. They have enough talent and shared success to win a lot of games in the regular season. If they are hovering around or under .500 on Dec. 1, it means something is off.

Two former Illinois basketball stars are making an early impact for the Minnesota Timberwolves as Ayo Dosunmu and Terrence Shannon Jr. help the team get off to a hot start in the 2026-27 NBA season.

Minnesota won its first three games by at least 20 points before falling just short in a 127-125 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night.

Dosunmu has been a valuable contributor off the bench, providing scoring and playmaking for the Timberwolves. The former Illini guard scored 16 points in Minnesota’s season-opening win over Miami before recording 14 points, seven rebounds and nine assists against Orlando.

Through four games, Dosunmu is averaging 12 points, 4.5 rebounds and four assists per game while shooting efficiently from the field.

Shannon has also gotten off to an encouraging start. The former Illinois star has scored in double figures in all four games, including a 15-point performance against Toronto on Sunday.

The third-year forward followed that outing with 14 points, four rebounds and five assists against Cleveland. Shannon is averaging 13 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game while shooting 14-of-27 from the field.

Both players are carving out important roles for a Minnesota team with significant aspirations in the Western Conference. Dosunmu’s versatility and playmaking have made him a productive option off the bench, while Shannon has provided another scoring threat.

DENVER — It’s been a “weird” start to the season for Steph Curry, but maybe not for the reason you think. His knee hasn’t been a concern, and he’s taking the Warriors’ 1-3 start in stride.

Curry says he’s capable of playing 30 minutes in a game.

He just hasn’t yet.

“I’m feeling good,” Curry said Monday after the Warriors’ 134-114 win over the Nuggets. “It’s been weird because I still haven’t gotten to the 30-minute mark, but that’s not because of an inability to do it. It’s game situations and obviously the plan, too. I’ve asked to do that, or if the game calls for that, I’ll be ready. But we haven’t gotten there yet.”

Curry sat the final 10 minutes of the blowout win and logged only 26 total minutes. He got the same treatment in a lopsided loss to the Lakers on opening night and finished at 21, almost played 30 minutes against the Grizzlies and sat out the second half of their back-to-back a night later in Phoenix.

It’s all part of the plan to manage the load on Curry’s runner’s knee that cost him 27 games last season. That, and the ebbs and flows of the scoreboard in the NBA.

He still managed to log 24 points in his abridged time on the floor against the Nuggets. Curry connected on all eight of his shots from the field.

Believe it or not, the greatest shooter of all time had missed at least one in every other game he has played, except one. In 1,227 career games, including the postseason, the only other time Curry had a perfect shooting performance was Feb. 5, 2011 — on five attempts for 14 points.

It didn’t look like it was going to be Curry’s night early. He went into halftime with just three points and one attempt from the field. Then, came a classic Curry flurry.

Curry went off for 17 points in the third quarter as Golden State pulled away.

“I didn’t go into the game thinking that’s what it was going to be,” Curry said. “But I did go into it with the mindset of not trying to force anything, get the ball moving.”

At halftime, Kerr orchestrated a game plan to get Curry going, setting screens in the back court, extending the Nuggets’ defense and forcing them to chase him around.

“We just decided to free him up right away,” Kerr said. “And he got hot right away.”

The Warriors went into halftime leading 60-56. By the time Curry checked out for the final time with 8:01 left in the fourth quarter, Golden State had extended its lead to 110-91.

In a sense, Curry played himself out of more minutes.

But he shouldn’t be complaining.

The Warriors need him to make it through another 79 games.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Bucks fans and fans across the country.

With the first week of NBA action in the books, we can start digging into what’s happening on-court for the Milwaukee Bucks. Despite putting themselves in position to win their opening two games against the Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls, the Bucks came up short. Since then, they’ve admirably challenged the Philadelphia 76ers and beaten the Indiana Pacers. But to focus solely on outcomes is reactive (and reductive). How, then, do you feel about the Bucks’ processes? More specifically, how do you feel about Taylor Jenkins’ rotations?

Starting lineup

Jenkins has leaned on veteran experience in his starting lineup, running with Myles Turner, Kyle Kuzma, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Tyler Herro, and Ryan Rollins to begin each game so far. Combined, this lineup has 34 years of NBA experience to help it battle other teams’ best units. But it’s not just experience that matters here. Relative to the rest of the roster, these guys are all at, approaching, or just past their playing primes.

Regular reserves

So far, Jenkins has gone with a ten-man rotation. Somewhat surprisingly, Kasparas Jakučionis has become the team’s sixth man—and he’s revelling in it, playing the best basketball of his young career and looking like the Bucks’ best floor general (or at least its most natural). After him, Jenkins has turned to a forward—Ousmane Dieng in the first two games, Nate Ament in the next two—before rounding out the rotation with Kel’el Ware, Brayden Burries, and AJ Green. Combined, these players have just 11 years of NBA experience. And, honestly, that these guys have played over Gary Trent Jr. and Caris LeVert is at least somewhat surprising, especially after what we saw during the preseason.

Collecting DNPs

That leaves the DNPs, one of the few stats players don’t want to lead their team in. Up to this point, as far as players on the 15-man roster go, Gary Trent Jr., Caris LeVert, Bogoljub Marković, and Jericho Sims (for all intents and purposes) are “leading” the charge. Notably, there are distinct divisions here: players past their prime (LeVert), players theoretically in their prime but who aren’t really needle-movers (Trent, Sims), and youthful projects (Marković). Outside of these guys, the three two-way players—Pete Nance, Cormac Ryan, and Kam Jones—have, understandably, also yet to see any action.

Having recapped the rotation, are you happy with Jenkins’ decisions? Let us know your thoughts by voting below—and don’t forget to explain your reasons in the comments.

DENVER — It’s been easy to forget at times in his first four NBA games that it wasn’t too long ago Yaxel Lendeborg was just another guy on a basketball team at a junior college in the middle of the desert, five hours from anywhere. Like, not even four years ago.

One person it hasn’t been lost on, despite his outspokenness, is Lendeborg.

The Warriors rookie’s willingness to say whatever is on his mind, on the court or in press conferences, has already earned him a certain reputation. But it has also resulted in an endless stream of soundbites, some of which offer some actual insight.

For example, Lendeborg didn’t hold back on Peacock after the Warriors’ 134-114 win over the Nuggets on Monday night. He led the way with 31 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, the best performance in a historic start to his career — but not even he saw this coming.

“I definitely thought I was gonna wet the bed,” Lendeborg said. “Definitely didn’t have the best hopes for what I was gonna do.”

While that’s the open book we’ve come to know, it doesn’t exactly express the kind of confidence that would lead a 24-year-old rookie to chirp back-and-forth with Luka Doncic.

It sounds like the rookie who took six tepid shots in his first preseason game — a little more than three weeks ago, that’s where Lendeborg was. Inside a 10,000-capacity gym in Honolulu, he made one shot and finished with four points in an exhibition loss to the Clippers.

What happened afterward might have changed the course of Warriors history.

“After the game in Hawaii, where I think I had like three points and only took like three shots,” Lendeborg said, undercounting on both, he approached Steph Curry and Draymond Green. 

“I asked them, you know, just for some guidance and advice. They told me, just try to be confident, be aggressive and play through the mistakes. I’m gonna be in a position to do that. Just hearing that from those two guys, I was coming into the game timid, like I don’t want to mess up what they’ve got going on. And they pretty much just gave me free roam.

“So they helped me out, and from then on, I just vowed to be a little more aggressive.”

Curry, Green and coach Steve Kerr all backed up the message publicly after Lendeborg’s underwhelming preseason debut: They didn’t just want him to be aggressive — they needed him to be. If nothing else, Lendeborg has proven to be a quick learner.

Message No. 1: Received.

Lendeborg has scored in double digits in every game since — eight including the remaining four in the preseason — averaging 20.1 per contest on 13.1 shots. He’s the first Warriors rookie to reach double figures in the first four games of his career since Chris Webber in 1993.

“He’s definitely getting better each and every day,” Green said. “It’s extremely exciting because there’s so much he don’t know. He don’t know a lot.”

Lendeborg said the game is already slowing down for him, at least offensively. He acknowledged he still has lots to learn on the other end of the court.

“I still have to figure out my weakside help,” Lendeborg said. “I gave up a lot of buckets down low. Just thinking my teammates gonna get back, and they’re thinking I’m gonna stay there. So it’s just a little confusing.”

Green has been more than eager to teach Lendeborg all of the tips, tricks and hints he’s learned over his 12 years in the NBA. Advice has been coming at him like a firehose.

And Lendeborg just keeps gulping it all down.

“I find myself talking to him the entire game,” Green said, “just telling him something different. And I think what’s most of it is he can apply it right away. Like you tell him something, and he comes down next play, and it happens. He applies it right away. So that’s special in itself.”

When it’s not coming from Green, it’s coming from Kerr.

“It’s definitely gonna be trial and error for me, but I really appreciate him for continuing to talk to me, have patience with me,” Lendeborg said. “He’s not screaming at me; he’s talking to me like a human. … There’s nothing for me, to be like, acting arrogant, or in a negative way toward it.”

Lendeborg, it seems, doesn’t miss a moment to learn something new. Even in his postgame interviews. Back on the Peacock set with Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter and Carmelo Anthony, Lendeborg turned the questions around on the trio of NBA legends.

“Do you guys have any advice, just to keep going, things I gotta work on?” Lendeborg asked the hosts. “Things that you guys see that I don’t see?”

It’s a Master’s level course on the league for a player who just four seasons ago was averaging single digits for Arizona Western College, an NJCAA school on the western border in Yuma.

Since then, of course, Lendeborg has gone on to win a national title at Michigan and earned his No. 11 overall selection in this past June’s draft. That’s a steep climb, and it would appear that Lendeborg’s arrow is still pointing sharply up and to the right. 

“I think that’s the exciting part – where this can go,” Kerr said after Lendeborg’s 31-point night. “Because there’s still probably 10 plays that I can pull up on tape, either mistakes defensively or offensively not recognizing something that he needs to recognize. Despite all that, he just dominated the game and took over. At 24, in his fourth game. So, pretty impressive.”

Well, here we are again, talking about backup center as a problem for the Philadelphia 76ers. You know how the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

It was predictable, yet at the same time, who saw it coming this quickly? In case you haven’t seen the splits by now, so far on the season the Sixers have a 112.3 offensive rating when Joel Embiid is on the floor and prior to Sunday’s loss to Detroit, the team was averaging only 92.8 points per 100 possessions with Embiid off the floor.

So, now what? Philly is again in need of a backup center and Ariel Hukporti isn’t magically going to be available. Players who signed free agent contracts this past summer are eligible to be traded on Dec. 15. By then, there are probably some more willing parties to negotiate with Mike Gansey on a trade. December is also when they could theoretically sign a veteran big still on the market on a prorated deal.

But the big question that we all have to ponder is if the Sixers can afford to wait just shy of two months before making a trade for another big man. There’s two paths that the Sixers can choose between now and the middle of December. They could opt to be more aggressive with Embiid’s minutes and overall availability than they would have if Hukporti was healthy. That seems unlikely. Perhaps the more plausible scenario would be Philly sitting on its hands and waiting it out, not altering Embiid’s minutes at all, losing some more games than anticipated early in the season, and making a trade when the NBA calendar is more trade-friendly.  Are you willing to sacrifice your playoff seeding for this, Sixers fans?

Maybe the better question is, do the Sixers even have a choice here? This is where whiffing on Johni Broome, and Adem Bona not developing into anything more than he already is become particularly costly. Yes, those two players were recent second-round picks by the Sixers, and on some level all second-rounders are lottery tickets, but it’s also not impractical to want your second-rounders to become serviceable bench players.

If you’re unhappy with the status quo behind Embiid at the moment, maybe your only hope is that whenever Dominick Barlow gets healthy, he can be a functional small-ball 5. But again, is that a tenable option behind Embiid for what would be about 15-20 games at the bare minimum before more frontcourt help was brought in?

Philadelphia has not shot the ball very well from the three-point line to start the season. That could always be a remedy here as well. If the Sixers can have some lights-out shooting games, they won’t need a paint presence for the minutes Embiid isn’t available. Sure, maybe they’ll allow opposing centers to have big nights inside, but any team would trade 2s on defense for 3s on offense.

On some level, it feels like we’re just spit balling a bunch of scenarios and coping mechanisms here because it’s all we can do as we go through another season in which we’re routinely wondering what’s going to happen when Embiid isn’t on the floor. 

It is interesting how much the narrative has ballooned up and down surrounding Embiid in the last 2-3 years. A little over one week before he suffered a brutal knee injury in January 2024, Embiid had a 70-point game against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs. He came back from the knee injury and had a 50-point playoff game against the Knicks that spring. Then he won a gold medal in the Olympics only to have the knee injury plague him for all of the 2024-25 season. Just when it looked like he was becoming one of the worst contracts in the NBA, he went off against the Celtics in the 2026 postseason. We’re now again talking about how much he is missed when he’s not on the court again.

Sadly, it hasn’t seemed to matter who is running basketball operations for the Sixers or who the head coach is. The same problems come up regarding frontcourt depth behind Embiid. Right now, it doesn’t seem like there are any buttons for Gansey to push. Anything you get from Tacko Fall or other players you could bring in on two-way deals is a hope and a prayer.

But at this point, it looks like that’s all they can do until the middle of December.

A hangover can be a sobering experience. A lot of people know that. One moment you are on top of the world, the life of the party, drinking and dancing in the middle of a crowd to a song that seemed like it was written just for you. And then all of a sudden you wake up and feel like a reborn “Night Train” Lane is using your head as a tackling dummy. That upcoming brunch with the not-so-close relatives doesn’t seem that enticing anymore, does it?

You might have heard that your beloved New York Knicks are dealing with something similar these days. They sure have been told once or twice. Actually, if they could get a dollar for every time someone brought up the famous movie title in relation to their recent basketball exploits, they might soon be able to play for good ol’ Jimmy for free. That’s what you get for starting your title defense with no wins in three games: you will hear about it. With that said, some Knickerbockers definitely have it a little worse than others.

While the main crew is stumbling through the club and trying to dissect the poor-tasting regular beverage of a long, grinding season, one of last year’s heroes hasn’t even been invited back to the party yet. What it is exactly that’s keeping Mohamed Diawara on the pine is anybody’s guess, but there surely is something that doesn’t sit well with head coach Mike Brown. It’s not the sneakers or the baggy shorts, so much we can say.

No minutes so far for Mohamed Diawara

It seems as if Diawara really hasn’t fully recovered from hitting the rookie wall late last season—both physically and mentally. After surprising everybody by clearly outperforming his late draft status, he got lost in the shuffle later in the year. As his earlier unwavering confidence wavered, he more often than not looked like a shaken gallic rooster in the headlights. With every subpar outing, it seemed to creep deeper into Mo’s head, as he looked visibly frustrated at times. But even if he wasn’t part of the playoff rotation, many in Knickland were still confident that the guy who locked up Jaylen Brown in Boston and drilled triples in Wemby’s face at the Garden would have a significantly bigger role going forward. The Knicks apparently agreed, giving him a new four-year contract in June.

So far these expectations haven’t been met. Like at all. An injury-shortened, bad summer league and an average-at-best preseason didn’t exactly get the hype TGV rolling again. Physically, Diawara certainly looks bigger, but transforming your body can be quite a challenge for a young player, especially when the added pounds take away from the nimble movement skills you once possessed. Judging by the few glimpses we got of Mo in the summer, it seemed that he wasn’t exactly confident in his new skin yet as a player. Understandable but unfortunate nonetheless.

What makes his stagnating development especially frustrating for New York is that the young Frenchman, in theory, is exactly the type of talent their roster could use right now and going forward. Outside of their starters OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, the Bockers really do not have any long wings at their disposal, and it becomes an even more glaring circumstance when you consider that their lineup features a lot of smaller guards to begin with.

Diawara could improve Knicks’ balance

The Knicks worked around it admirably during last year’s playoff run, even if it didn’t make sense at times. Three-guard lineups with Jalen Brunson and Jose Alvarado somehow worked against a vaunted Spurs defense in the Finals, Landry Shamet turned into some super sub on his minimum deal, Jordan Clarkson impersonated Dennis Rodman off the bench, and no Knick ever really got exposed physically that much. It was awesome to see, but somehow it also felt like the stars aligned just right for a play here, a game there, then even a series and a run. Matchups favored the Knicks and they managed to hide their shortcomings perfectly at just the right time.

But can all of that happen again? Can we trust the rather smallish roster to hold up for another year without opponents finding the obvious problems with it? It might, but having a better balance on the depth chart would also be a welcome sight. Championship teams often struggle when they just do the things they did a year ago and expect things to also just go exactly the same. In terms of a roster and a team, you need a certain level of disruption, some new impulses to keep the group humming, interested. C’est peut-être Monsieur Diawara pour les Knicks de New York.

Diawara can push the vets in front of him a little bit, and he could challenge their inner mentor. Some veterans tend to be more engaged when they have younger guys looking up to them, guys that force them to be role models in practice and on the court. I’m sure our beloved and extremely professional Knicks aren’t slacking in that regard, but if a youngster is out there in the real games with them, there is certainly another dimension that could make them focus a bit more themselves.

Make no mistake about it: Mo Diawara has to earn his minutes. He has to be a gain, not a distraction. Limited history suggests, though, that if the Knicks are serious about his development, they might want to try him rather sooner than later with their regular rotation. Diawara has always looked like a guy who thrives with better teammates, carving out and excelling in a limited role as a defensive, three-point-shooting specialist. The gained confidence from another opportunity could unlock him again and send him back in the right direction. Which in turn would be a win for the entire team. For all the hope that Mo might expand his game immediately after his rookie year, he and his trainers might have jumped a step or two, who knows. That doesn’t change the fact that he is a player who might add something the team lacks right now.

You don’t have to let him run the bar immediately. But a little time on the dancefloor, maybe a song or two, could be a good idea. At least we could see if he still has some moves.

Philadelphia 76ers star Jaylen Brown’s representatives have forcefully denied recent reports claiming that Brown demanded a trade from his former team, the Boston Celtics, telling ESPN that such rumors are "10000% a lie."

The clarification from Brown’s camp to ESPN came in response to comments made by former NBA player and current NBC Sports Boston analyst Brian Scalabrine, who claimed that Brown had not only requested a trade from Boston, but also presented the team with a list of demands and expressed interest in being traded to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Brown’s representatives emphasized that he never asked to be traded to the Bucks, nor did he submit any list of demands.

LeBron Log No. 2: Sixers firsts, Philly kicks and a night at center originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

LeBron James has played more NBA seasons than some of his teammates have been alive. Philadelphia still managed to give him a week full of firsts.

Over six days, James made his first regular-season start as a Sixer, scored his first points, played his first regular-season home game, recorded his first double-double with the team, sat out for the first time, started at center and experienced his first loss.

Not every first deserves a plaque. Together, they made for a busy opening chapter.

Welcome to the second edition of the LeBron Log.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

James’ first assist as a Sixer also produced Jaylen Brown’s first points with the team.

With 8:58 remaining in the first quarter against the Knicks, James found Brown cutting to the basket for a layup. Joel Embiid returned the favor later in the quarter, finding James inside for his first Philadelphia points.

Brown assisted James’ first Sixers dunk early in the third quarter. James finished the alley-oop to tie the game at 58 and helped Philadelphia turn a four-point halftime deficit into a seven-point lead entering the fourth.

James finished his debut with 14 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, one steal and one block. More importantly, the Sixers left Madison Square Garden with a 106-100 win after watching the Knicks raise their championship banner.

Two nights later, James’ first shot in his first regular-season home game became his first three-pointer as a Sixer. VJ Edgecombe found him on the left wing for a 27-footer that gave Philadelphia an early lead over Cleveland.

The evening became far more memorable from there.

James recorded his first Sixers double-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals. Philadelphia erased a 29-point deficit for the largest comeback win of James’ career and the franchise’s largest in the play-by-play era, which dates to 1996-97.

He also received his first complete introduction to the Philadelphia crowd. The Sixers were booed into halftime and cheered off the floor after their 114-106 win.

“We got the boos,” James said. “That was amazing, and we deserved it.”

His daughter Zhuri celebrated her 12th birthday courtside, while his mother was also in attendance.

It was quite a first night at home.

ONE RED, ONE BLUE

James began his Sixers career at Madison Square Garden wearing a purple-blue Nike LeBron 24 player-exclusive with iridescent branding.

The inspiration behind the colorway has not been revealed. House of Heat reported that the shoe could be tied to one of the five themes behind the LeBron 24 line: wonder, family, fear, luck or discovery.

For his home debut, James went with something unmistakably Philadelphia.

He wore a red Nike LeBron 24 on his left foot and a blue one on his right. The mismatched “Philly” edition featured a textured knit upper, metallic lace hardware and James’ crown logo on the tongue.

Only 76 pairs were released, a nod to his new team. They were made available through James’ Welcome to Philly pop-up, which ran from Oct. 20 through Oct. 22 at 901 Market East.

James did not have to choose between the Sixers’ two primary colors. He wore one of each.

CENTER, FOR NOW

James sat out Saturday’s win over Milwaukee as the Sixers managed the lower-back pain and sciatica that has followed him since last season.

He returned Sunday to find a very different assignment waiting for him.

Embiid was unavailable for the second half of the back-to-back. Jabari Walker, Dominick Barlow and Tacko Fall were also sidelined, leaving the Sixers short on frontcourt options against Detroit.

For only the 15th time in his career, James started at center. It was his first start at the position since the 2021-22 season.

James won the opening tip against former Sixer Paul Reed and scored 18 points on 8-for-15 shooting. He added five assists and two rebounds in Philadelphia’s 106-93 loss.

Do not expect the experiment to become permanent.

“Well, s—, we got an MVP over there,” James said. “I’m not here to have a sustainable role at the five.”

The Sixers were outrebounded 54-37 and surrendered 24 second-chance points. When James was asked how the team could improve on the glass, he borrowed an answer from former Lakers teammate Taurean Prince.

Prince happened to be sitting on Detroit’s bench Sunday. His blunt explanation of rebounding after Baylor’s 2016 NCAA Tournament loss to Yale remains one of college basketball’s great press-conference clips.

“In the great words of Taurean Prince, who I saw tonight on the bench, a good friend of mine, the ball goes up into the air, and then you go grab the ball,” James said.

Adem Bona did much of the traditional work at the position. He grabbed 13 rebounds, including five on the offensive end, in a season-high 25 minutes.

“I thought he was amazing tonight,” James said. “His energy, his effort.”

James can play center when the Sixers need him there. He also made it clear that he did not come to Philadelphia to take Embiid’s job.

“HE CAN BUY ME A NEW NOSE”

James and Edgecombe connected for the former’s first home basket. Their next notable connection did not work out as well.

During the third quarter against Cleveland, the two went after a missed Jarrett Allen free throw. James inadvertently caught Edgecombe across the face with his elbow, leaving the 21-year-old guard with a bloody nose.

Edgecombe remained in the game with cotton in his nostril and helped the Sixers finish their comeback.

After the game, he was able to joke about the friendly fire.

“It’s nothing bad,” Edgecombe said. “But if it was, he can buy me a new nose.”

Three games into James’ Sixers career, the partnership has already produced points, a comeback win and a potential medical bill.

With the Mavericks floating around .500 and Cooper Flagg establishing his place as one of the league’s young superstars, I find myself quoting the first John Wick movie as the Mavericks head home to face the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.

It’s been a tumultuous 20 months to be a Dallas Mavericks fan. We’ve gone through the worst trade in league history, seen a GM get fired, switched out head coaches, traded away most of the roster that led the team to the 2024 NBA Finals, and control just one first round pick in the next five NBA Drafts.

Yet, after Monday’s 113-109 win in Miami, I’m feeling like Keanu Reaves.

“People keep asking if I’m back and I haven’t really had an answer, but now yeah, I’m thinking I’m back.”

Dallas now sits at 2-2, having beaten Indiana and Miami on the road, while suffering losses to San Antonio and Houston. Heading into the year, I would’ve prayed for a 1-3 start and if you had told me Flagg would’ve been out for a game and a half and Kyrie Irving would be sitting the second night of a back-to-back, I’d have braced for 0-4.

But there’s just something about this Mavericks team.

“Our guys simply made big, big plays and big shots at the end,” first-year head coach Dusty May said in his postgame comments on Monday. “It’s a lot of fun when your two superstars are as unselfish as [Flagg and Irving] are, and they show as much grace as they bring along these younger players. It’s been fun to be a part of and see it so far. Obviously a long way to go, but this is a very, very good win for our team.”

After a disappointing season-opening loss, Dallas has shown bright spots in three straight games and kept a game against the defending Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs close for three and a half quarters without its two best players — Flagg and Irving. They’ve earned two road wins over key Eastern Conference opponents that hope to make deep runs after disappointing 2025 campaigns.

Flagg has been exceptional. His per game stats won’t tell the entire story since he missed half of one of his three games following a controversial foul by Pacers guard Aaron Nesmith that forced him to miss a game and a half, but even with that caveat, the 19-year-old is averaging 25 points per game on 57% shooting. He has 11 steals and five blocks in three games and his playmaking has taken another leap, averaging over six and a half assists a night.

While Flagg’s ascension will get most of the attention — and he’s owed that respect — it’s the rest of the team that gives me hope that Dallas could defy expectations this year and maybe even make it to the playoffs.

Walter Clayton Jr., who was signed the day of the Mavericks’ first game in Houston, has been a perfect fit for this team. He scored 15 points in 17 minutes in Dallas’ win over Miami and was a team-best +22 in those minutes. He’s giving Flagg and the Mavericks an outlet when drives to the basket stall or when someone loses their dribble and has to reset.

Zaccharie Risacher has also made an impact. While his shot may not be falling, his defensive impact cannot be ignored. He led the league in stocks (steals + blocks per game) going into Monday’s game, only to be passed by Flagg and a couple others during the night’s action, and Risacher’s block of Davion Mitchell’s layup sealed the win Monday. He’s not the No. 1 overall pick Atlanta wanted two years ago, but Dallas doesn’t need him to be that and he’s filling into his role beautifully and helping Dallas stay competitive.

P.J. Washington is as steady as ever, averaging over 15 points and seven boards a night while bringing the defensive toughness that helped this team reach the Finals two years ago. Daniel Gafford is ready to go to war every night and his physical play in Monday’s game energized Dallas in moments where they may have folded last season.

It’s not a perfect team, and there are still moments that make me want to tear my hair out — like a 30-17 fourth quarter against the Spurs or a 38-12 second quarter against the Rockets or having to come back from a double-digit deficit twice in one game because Dallas’ concentration lulled after the first comeback — but this is a young team and they’re going to make some dumb mistakes. They’re going to have lapses, and some games are going to get ugly because of them.

But the signs of life this team has shown in the first week of the season have me hopeful. Hopeful that we might just have something cooking in Big D for the first time in three seasons, and that the pain of the last two seasons can be forgotten with a young team that never gives up.

I can’t tell you how many games Dallas will win this year, but I can promise you this: it’s gonna be a lot of fun to watch.

Monday, October 26th was a disastrous day for Utah Jazz big men. Before gametime, Jaxson Hayes was ruled out due to right shoulder soreness. In the first quarter, Lauri Markkanen suffered a nasty wrist injury on his shooting hand, and he staggered back towards the locker room. Not too long after that, Jaren Jackson Jr. sustained a right knee injury after Ty Jerome stumbled into his leg – if the tweet found below correctly reads coach Hardy’s lips, this could keep Trip out for a long time.

So, with 4 separate 7 footers now riding the bench with injury (Nurkic was looking classy as usual), where does the coaching staff turn for big man production? Surely, surely this would be the time for Kyle Filipowski, 3 year Jazzman with thousands of prime developmental minutes under his belt, to step up and show that all of the priority placed on his improvement since the 2024 draft was wisely spent. This would be that magical moment where Flip proves to all that his stats were not empty and his skills not gimmicky. In the face of necessity, Filipowski stands ready.

Instead, this quickly became the Mo Bamba game. And it was fun! He blocked shots, ran the court hard, and climbed Mount Edey in a way I’ve never before seen. Our defense was struggling, so I get it – Hardy wanted an anchor down low, and Bamba fits that archetype better than Filipowski does. However, Bamba was not the only bench big to get the call-up in the second half; Tony Bradley also reacquainted himself with Jazz fans, to the tune of one of the worst 5 minute stretches of basketball I can remember.

Ultimately, in a game where the Jazz were lacking some serious size in the frontcourt, Kyle Filipowski only played 8 minutes. Last season, he started half of the season’s games, and played nearly half of the 48 minutes of each game. And he showed us something! He was a really solid defensive rebounder, and his passing from the top-of-the-key was the perfect fit for Hardy’s offense. Of the bench youngsters at the end of last season (Collier, Flip, Cody, and Brice), Filipowski was the one that I was most confident would be a winning NBA player in our first non-tanking season (even if I preferred Brice in the long run). He needed to be able to eat minutes for our bench lineups to make sense.

Throughout the first 4 games, however, we have not been so lucky. Filipowski has flashed nothing so far. The rim protection has not taken the leap that many were (perhaps irrationally) hoping, and it seems that some added weight over the offseason has prevented Flip from playing any meaningful minutes at the power forward spot. On offense, he has been completely invisible. He is shooting 1 for 6 from the field across 3 games (DNP against the Lakers), with zero assists and zero offensive rebounds. On both ends of the court, he has been floating, and it seems that Hardy has noticed and cut his playing time accordingly.

Now, I want to give Filipowski the benefit of the doubt and offer an alternative theory. While training during the Summer, Flip suffered a herniated disk in his back which kept him out of most of the Jazz’s preseason contests. Could this disappointment be attributed to rust or justifiably poor conditioning? Has his flexibility been hampered by the remaining effects of his injury? Will Flip be playing more minutes, more effectively in a few weeks when he is completely recovered? I do not know the answer to any of these questions, but the uncertain nature of his injury leaves room for Filipowski to be an unfortunate victim of circumstance.

The insult to this injury is just how well an actualized Filipowski would fit with this team. The Jazz are currently lacking playmaking, especially in the frontcourt with Jusuf Nurkic out. If we could go back to a dribble hand off, top of the key offense, we’d take some of the pressure off of Isaiah Collier which has led to him being one of the worst watches in the league so far. Flip has been able to function this way his entire basketball career up until this season, and he chose the wrong time to lose this superpower. Additionally, one of the lineups I was most looking forward to were the JJJ+Flip combos – their strengths and weaknesses complement each other in a way that I thought would unlock the funkiness of Kyle’s game. However, if Flip has meaningfully lost aggression/flexibility/touch, then even that synergy with Jaren isn’t enough to get him consistently onto the court. In an ideal world, that doesn’t seem to me to be too unrealistic, this very well could’ve been the best year of Filipowski’s career.

So, what should we be looking for as we track Flip’s journey back up to his old production? First, he needs to understand his role in Hardy’s offense. Currently, it seems that no one really understands their role in Hardy’s offense, so this may come in time. But, even if confusion persists and Flip doesn’t become a top-of-the-key playmaking hub, he still must find ways to make his presence felt on offense. Crashing the glass, setting hard screens, quick decision making: every scheme requires these things, and even if Hardy’s isn’t quite getting implemented right now, Flip would certainly be a much more beneficial offensive player if he solidified the little things. Additionally, picking up his defensive rebounding would be a huge sign of life for the young big man. He’s snagged 2 rebounds in 3 games, and for a team lacking consistent boardmen, this is unacceptable. Flip is not only a good rebounder, but he’s a good passer too – some of our offensive struggles in the first few games could be mitigated with more semi-transition attempts, which may be borne with some solid outlet passing. These are not big changes that Flip needs to make, but they provide a base level of value, even if the shot isn’t falling.

Jaren may be out for a long time, and who knows how long Lauri will be sitting on the bench next to him. Hayes will come back soon, and Nurkic won’t be too far behind, but as long as 7 footers are healing up, there is a hole that Filipowski can fill. More than ever, this team needs Kyle to prove that the last two years weren’t flukes, or the product of tanking teams, because if he doesn’t, Tony Bradley might just end up bear-hugging opposing defenders again, for no discernible reason. The Utah Jazz need Kyle Filipowski to play well, and as Kyle nears second contract negotiation time, he may very well need that too, if his goal is to stick around the league for more than a cup of coffee.

How have you felt watching Filipowski thus far? Sound off below!