Category: Basketball

Nothing goes together like sports fans and saying “this is the year” when it almost certainly is not -- a tradition the Knicks’ faithful haven't genuinely participated in for decades. 

However, coming off their first Conference Finals trip of the millennium with a new coach and bolstered depth, New York is giving its fans a real chance to capture this timeless delusion.

While usually safer to lower expectations, the Knicks are in a real place to compete and believe they can win their first championship in over 50 years. 

Here are the reasons fans should think this is the year...

The talent is there and ready to be maximized 

Let’s not forget these Knicks came an unlucky bounce and one win away from making the Finals last year, while going through the ringer in the physical Pistons, champion Celtics and eventual runner-up Pacers. They’ve returned largely the same roster, with a coaching change and some depth additions that should assure the roster is reaching its potential.

It didn’t feel that way last year and the numbers reflected it. No Jalen Brunson-led, Karl-Anthony Towns-spaced offense should finish 16th in offensive rating post Jan. 1 -- or seventh in the playoffs. And Mike Brown was brought in to help turn that around.

Assuming he adds the necessary offensive zest without jeopardizing the defense, it’s hard to find better rosters on paper. New York has two top players at its respective positions and multiple borderline All-Star level guys to support them, with some of the best bench pieces in the league when productive. 

Add onto that Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele and you have the total package. These two not only bring strong individual production, but address specific needs that should keep the returning rotation in their ideal roles and fresher overall. 

The East is vulnerable

This isn’t just about how ready the Knicks are to win it all, but how unprepared the rest of their conference is. Make no mistake, anybody is susceptible in a seven-game series, but not having to seriously worry about the usual major threats inspires confidence.

The Pacers and Celtics, arguably the two biggest obstacles in the Knicks' way, will be going into this season without their best players -- Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum -- who both suffered Achilles tears during the postseason. 

Without them, these two teams aren’t title contenders, and their front offices appeared to operate from that mindset this offseason, so don’t expect these guys to get rushed back, either.

Cleveland has been lurking as a top seed and high-talent threat for years, but can’t seem to win a pivotal playoff series to take them over the hump. They’ve doubled down this season and look to be New York’s biggest foe, but they’ll have to prove it first.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid are still in the conference, but their teams are loaded with question marks coming off disappointing seasons. 

Milwaukee may fall victim to a Giannis trade request once he gets a feel of Myles Turner as his second best player, and the 76ers need to prove they can stay relatively healthy for more than a couple of weeks.

Chips will be on shoulders

For the reasons above, the Knicks are going to be expected to compete for a championship -- both internally and externally. 

This makes 2025-26 an especially pivotal one for a franchise that’s really been in a rebuilding phase until maybe last season.

Now is the time to actually win, everybody knows it, and they’ve all got a ton to prove in that pursuit. 

Despite All-NBA honors and postseason domination, Brunson is constantly dismissed in top player conversations and is still having to cement his eliteness like a plucky underdog.

Like every Towns year of the past five seasons, he looked shaky defensively in the postseason and some still questioned whether a team could win with him. Mikal Bridges is tied to the pick price it took to acquire him, a value only deemed fair once he’s helped deliver a championship.

OG Anunoby signed the biggest contract in Knicks history after they traded two homegrown, fan favorite pieces to get him. Leon Rose, the man who brought all these guys together, fired the coach who helped get them here to prove this team can win it all, and the entire legacy of his era now rests on that bet. 

And don’t think Brown isn’t looking to prove his championship mettle. After falling short with LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, he wants to show it was the fault of his stars and not his coaching.

Pre-camp Sixers questions: Can Sixers avoid another disastrous start to season? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Sixers will travel to Abu Dhabi for preseason games vs. the Knicks on Oct. 2 and Oct. 4. They’ll begin their regular season by facing the Celtics on Oct. 22. 

Before the action commences, we’re looking at key questions for the 2025-26 Sixers. 

So far, we’ve covered: 

• Are the Sixers about to enter a true youth movement?
• Can the Sixers be a passable rebounding team?
• Will the 2025-26 Sixers have any bargain role players?

Next up: Can the Sixers avoid another disastrous start to the season? 

In retrospect, the Sixers’ 2024-25 season was over almost as soon as it started. 

The injuries and losses escalated. When they were available, veterans performed poorly. The team’s game-to-game energy was uneven and frigid shooting stretches clearly seeped into the Sixers’ defensive effort. 

“It’s been affecting us all year that way. … It’s hard,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said after a Nov. 24 blowout loss to the Clippers. “Just at the start of the game, when you see that you’re actually doing some good things and some of your better players are getting those looks and they just continually don’t go in, I think it does affect your defense in a couple of ways.

“One, you’re playing off a long rebound. And then you’re playing a little bit off of some disappointment that you did all that work to get a great shot and then it didn’t go in again. But hopefully, those will start going in.”

Nurse’s team dropped to 3-14 in its next game, an overtime defeat to the Rockets. The Sixers then strung together their best month of the season — 10-3 between Nov. 30 and Dec. 30 — but it wasn’t sustainable and the injury deluge never subsided. 

As usual, the most important variable will be the health of the Sixers’ stars. The team has shown Joel Embiid and Paul George out on the floor in recent social media posts. Embiid had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in April, George in July.

Upgraded health is no guarantee, but it’s also a rather low bar to clear after the Embiid-George duo totaled 60 games last season. The Sixers hope their youngsters help mitigate the injuries that inevitably pop up throughout the year. 

As far as the Sixers’ early-season schedule, there’s pros and cons:

• The Sixers will play the Jayson Tatum-less Celtics three times in their first 11 games.
• They’ll face bottom-five Eastern Conference teams last year in four of their first nine games.
• Over the Sixers’ first 15 games, they have four back-to-backs.
• The Sixers don’t have a road trip over three games until a five-gamer between Dec. 26 and Jan. 3.
• Their first extended homestand is a six-game stay in Philadelphia from Jan. 14 to Jan. 24. 

It feels like much more than two years ago, but the Sixers had a very strong start to Nurse’s first season. Following an opening-night loss to the Bucks, they won eight games in a row and sat at the top of the Eastern Conference standings. 

While that sort of turnaround would exceed expectations, it’s obvious the Sixers need some sort of bounce-back start. 

Ramp to Camp: Predicting the Celtics' starting five on opening night originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

With the departures of Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Luke Kornet, and (eventually) Al Horford — combined with the absence of a rehabbing Jayson Tatum to start the season — the Boston Celtics are without a group that combined to start 234 games last season and 474 games over the past two seasons.

The Celtics’ starting five on opening night of the 2025-26 season will feature at least three new players. Will some familiar faces slide into those spots? For the 16th installment of our Ramp to Camp series — and kicking off “Predictions Week” — we asked our panel to predict the opening night starting five for the Celtics.

Our five: Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, and Neemias Queta.

We’re basically trotting out the remaining core of the 2024 title team and leaning heavily into both their familiarity and skill. It’s one of the few groupings that we have some actual data on from past seasons. 

Our starting five has played 67 minutes together over the past two seasons with a +9.6 net rating. That includes a sizzling 144 offensive rating, per PBPstats tracking. That group shot 41 percent on 3-point attempts with a 68.7 true shooting percentage.

The bad news: That five-man unit was pretty rough on defense, giving up 168 points in 125 defended possessions. Opponents shot 41.5 percent on 3s with a 62.2 true shooting percentage.

It’s hard to pluck too much from that sample, especially when you consider their 67 minutes together was over the course of 18 games. This five never played more than nine minutes together in a game.

We have obvious concerns about rebounding with this lineup. It’s rather undersized and puts a lot of pressure on Queta to control the glass (though we’ve often joked that Pritchard might lead the team in total rebounds with his penchant for chasing down offensive caroms).

We like the idea of putting as much shooting as possible around Brown to start games, then letting newcomer Anfernee Simons get ample touches with reserve pairings. If Pritchard elevates to a starting role, the Celtics do need someone who can be the glue for a younger second unit, and it will be intriguing to see who earns Joe Mazzulla’s trust in that bench group. 

Maybe you need to slide Pritchard or Hauser to bench role at some point to best balance the rotation. Maybe the Celtics need to go bigger and add size at the starting power forward spot. But to start the season, this group is getting the first crack and Mazzulla can tinker from there. 

Training camp reps will be vital to figuring out exactly which players accentuate each other’s talents.

Let’s see what our panel came up with for starting fives:

Darren Hartwell, Managing Editor

Derrick White, Anfernee Simons, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, Neemias Queta.

This was a harder exercise than I expected. In the backcourt, I’m choosing not to mess with a good thing and let Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard be a super-sub, while White can help offset any of Simons’ defensive limitations. You could make the argument for going double-big with Chris Boucher and Queta, but Hauser’s experience earns him the nod as a stretch four for now.

Michael Hurley, Web Producer

I guess I’d go with Derrick White, Anfernee Simons, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser and Neemias Queta? 

Like many, I’m still not entirely convinced Simons will be in Boston to start the season, but I still like the idea of Payton Pritchard coming off the bench, even if he sees a big bump in minutes.

I’ve had some fairly high expectations for the team in terms of finishing with a winning record and winning a playoff series. But now that you’ve made me spell out the starting five like this, I’m tempted to adjust ever so slightly. Brown is going to have to do so much heavy lifting.

Josh Canu, Media Editor

Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Jaylen Brown, Neemias Queta.

This seems like the obvious choice with the way this team is constructed. Five carry-over players who Joe Mazzulla will trust and we know all can play together. An undersized lineup for sure, but I think we will have to get used to that this season.

Kevin Miller, VP, Content

Payton Pritchard, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Chris Boucher, Neemias Queta.

A focus on shooting with this lineup. Queta needs to be an aggressive offensive rebounder, while Brown needs to be an aggressive defensive rebounder.

Adam Hart, EP, Content Strategy

Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Chris Boucher, Neemias Queta.

I like the idea of Anfernee Simons leading the second unit and spreading the offensive firepower, versus packing that starting five.

Kayla Burton, Celtics Pregame Live host

Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Sam Hauser, Anfernee Simons, Neemias Queta. 

I struggled coming up with a starting five because I want to throw Payton Pritchard in there, but I think he is such a spark off the bench and thrives in that role. They also need bigger guys out there as a physical presence in the frontcourt.

Joe Mazzulla may play with the lineup early in the season to figure out his puzzle. 

Jimmy Butler reveals unique way he's preparing for first full Warriors season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Jimmy Butler is locked in and preparing for his 15th NBA season, but not the way you might think.

The Warriors star recently got involved in the rapidly growing sport of padel, a racquet sport played by two or four people on an enclosed court that combines elements of tennis and squash. Butler is Reserve Padel’s honorary chairman of the Reserve Cup, which is an annual padel tournament in Spain.

But Butler’s involvement in the sport isn’t solely for entertainment purposes during the NBA offseason, as he explained how padel actually is helping him become a better basketball player.

“I get to be better on the basketball court because of this, I mean it,” Butler said Friday during an interview on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” from Spain. “Now hear me out: I like to play so many different sports to train for whatever upcoming season. This is another one. So I would like to say that my biggest investment is I kind of get to get better at basketball throughout this entire thing for myself.”

Interesting.

Butler was traded to the Warriors at this past February’s NBA trade deadline, and in 30 games with Golden State, he averaged 17.9 points on 47.6 percent shooting from the field, with 5.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.7 steals in 32.7 minutes.

It’s also no secret that Butler revived the Warriors’ postseason hopes, as the team posted a 23-7 record with the six-time NBA All-Star in the lineup.

But now he’s doing every little thing he can to commit to the Warriors in his first full season with the organization, which apparently includes padel, as he further explained how the sport could help improve his hoop skills.

“Hand-eye coordination, reflexes, being able to pivot when a ball comes off the wall,” Butler said. “All the movement. All the conditioning you do. Seeing these guys work up a sweat, it’s super incredible. I don’t know if I have it in me to do it for that many straight sets, I won’t lie to you. But it looks exhausting and it can definitely help on a basketball floor, I promise you.”

Getting involved in any physical extracurricular activity always poses the risk of potential injury.

And at age 36, Butler can’t take that risk as the Warriors are trying to go all in on their win-now mantra.

But Butler is taking appropriate precautions with padel.

“Yeah, of course. I’m not going super hard,” Butler explained. “I don’t know the ins and outs of the game like these pros that I get the opportunity to be around. Yes, I do play, but I’m not going all out. I’m not trying to hit the ball out of the arena. I’m not trying to run outside and hit it back in.

“But I do like to pretend I’m a pro. I would like to think that sometime soon, I’m going to be ranked No. 1 in the world.”

The Warriors will need that confident mindset to translate from the padel court to the hardwood with the 2025-26 NBA season opener just about one month away.

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Why Jonathan Kuminga can't ‘be the player he wants to be' on Warriors' roster originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Like any agent worth his commission, Aaron Turner is his client’s biggest cheerleader, as he is first among those who believe Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga is a starting role away from becoming a perennial NBA All-Star.

Maybe he is, but that’s not happening in Golden State. Not as long as the core trio – Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler – remains intact. And if there’s no room for Kuminga in the starting lineup, he can’t be the player he wants to be.

“It’s probably true,” Turner said Friday during a guest appearance on “Dubs Talk.” “But that doesn’t mean that it can’t work, or it’s not OK for the time being. JK’s an ambitious 22-year-old. I’m not going to take that away from him. I love that. He should be. (He’s) young. You want to keep growing and get better.

“The way JK moves is he wants to keep pushing the envelope, and I’m not going to take that away from him. I actually agree with it. Can he be the player he wants to be here, right now, with this roster composition? No. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to win and he’s not willing to sacrifice for the group.”

That concession is bound to have an impact on any contract offer. How high are the Warriors willing to go for someone slotted to come off the bench as a sixth or seventh man?

Golden State’s latest offer, roughly $75 million over three years, really is a two-year deal because Year 3 is a team option. That offer was made with considerable reluctance, and bumping up to $100 million or more is does not seem to be on the horizon.

Turner acknowledges that Kuminga’s contract value is lower than most of his fellow lottery picks in the 2021 NBA Draft, largely because he entered the league with a team with an incumbent superstar. A team built not to develop but to chase championships.

“Those other guys didn’t really go to teams that were winning,” Turner said. “If the Warriors didn’t win in ’22, (negotiating a new contract) is probably very fluid and easy. But they did, and that kind of complicated things.”

Five of the six players selected before Kuminga in the 2021 NBA draft signed extensions last summer.

No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham (Pistons), No. 3 pick Evan Mobley (Cavaliers) and No. 4 pick Scottie Barnes (Raptors) received five-year $224 million rookie maximum deals. So, too, did No. 8 pick Franz Wagner (Magic), who was selected right after Kuminga. No. 2 pick Jalen Green (Rockets) took a three-year extension worth $106 million and No. 5 pick Jalen Suggs was extended for five years at $150.5 million.

Each of those players joined a rebuilding team. Cunningham, Green, Mobley, Barnes, Suggs and Wagner were starters from Day 1.

So, too, was Josh Giddey, selected sixth overall by Oklahoma City. The Thunder studied him for three seasons before tapping out last summer and trading him to Chicago. After one season with the Bulls, Giddey received a four-year extension worth $100 million.

Four years into their careers, each has been identified as a cornerstone for his current franchise. The same can’t be said of Kuminga, who also entered with much less experience.

Blame it on the circumstances, if you will, as there is no way to project how high JK might be flying if he had been drafted by a team without an established core.

Kuminga is acutely aware of the nine-figure contracts among his peers and dreams of having one. He is worth it, according to Turner.

“JK does a good job of running his own race,” he said Friday. “He’s not too caught up in what everyone else is doing. He understands his circumstances are unique and accepting of that.

“But does he think he’s on the level of those guys and the money they’ve gotten? Yeah, he does. He does. And, frankly, I do too.”

The Warriors have no desire to offer Kuminga $100 million or more. Four seasons into his NBA career, they do not unanimously perceive him as a franchise cornerstone. They hope he can be the path to acquire a veteran who would be more compatible with their core.

If Kuminga enters next season with the Warriors, he’ll be a reserve. Someone who can come off the bench and change the direction of a game. With so many veterans expected on the final roster, his youthful energy will have tremendous value.

It’s one thing to accept such a modest role, quite another to embrace it with joy.

“If you look at any championship team, sacrifice is required,” Turner said. “It needs to come from somebody with talent. That’s just part of it. JK’s probably got to be that guy. Not saying the other guys don’t have to do it on the team as well, but he’s going to have to sacrifice his personal ambitions and goals, which he’s not gotten a chance to chase yet.

“He hasn’t gotten that part of his career like some of his peers, where he gets to kind of figure out exactly who he is. That’s kind of been suppressed by the first championship the Warriors won in ‘22 and then kind of everything they came after that.”

Coming off the bench doesn’t speak to Kuminga’s heart. Barring a last-minute trade – and such discussions have a way of being revisited – he’ll have to land an opportunity where he can become a starter. And be the player he wants to be.

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